On June 27 2018, Sridhar Ramaswamy (the Senior VP of Ads at Google), announced that “Google AdWords is becoming Google Ads”.
Why Did Google Change the Name?
When Google AdWords launched way back on October 23, 2000, everything was quite different. In summary, Google AdWords focused on keyword-based searches that triggered text-based ads. In summary, you entered a search query into Google’s search box, and Google showed you text ads in addition to the organic SEO results. Over the years, Google started showing their ads in more and more places, and those ads were served in more and more formats.
Since Google Ads can be triggered by keyword searches, video views, or while browsing millions of content sites, calling it Google AdWords doesn’t seem to make as much sense as it used to. And since those ads can now be text, images, videos, pins on your mobile phone and much more, the name change just seemed to be a logical next step for Google.
What Does This Name Change Mean to You?
In summary, it’s probably time to review your Google Ads and determine if the right mix of ad formats is in place. As we’ve spoken to different groups over the last several months, we commonly hear “We’ve tried Google PPC in the past, and it just didn’t work very well.” In most cases, the person just didn’t have the right combination of targeting options (keywords, website placements, audience targeting, etc) and ad formats (text, image, video, etc).
Mr Ramaswamy wrote:
People quickly switch from searching for products, to watching videos, browsing content, playing games and more. As a result, marketers have more opportunities to reach consumers across channels, screens and formats. The opportunity has never been more exciting, but it’s also never been more complex. Over the years, Google ads have evolved from helping marketers connect with people on Google Search, to helping them connect at every step of the consumer journey through text, video, display and more.
Are you comfortable with how your PPC spend is working? If not, talk to your contact at Sebo today!