Today, Google introduced new creative tools and ad experiences at its annual Google Marketing Live event, held in New York. Here’s what marketers can expect to see at Google, either now or in the coming months.
Search ad experience. Among the most inventive improvements to search is a new ad experience currently in testing and slated to become more widely available later in the year. This experience helps guide users through complex purchase decisions based on additional information that the user volunteers. For instance, if the user is looking for a nearby storage facility, the engine can recommend a storage option with the right dimensions based on photos of the possessions that the user uploads.
To trigger this experience, a search result will provide a clearly-marked sponsored ad with a blue button that takes the user to a separate page where pictures or other information can be uploaded and the recommendations can be made to the shopper.
Brand profiles. Google announced new brand profiles available on search. The profiles are built from information provided by merchants in the Google Merchant Center. The profiles were inspired by the Business Profiles users find in search and Google Maps.
According to the company, more than 40 percent of shopping queries in search mention a brand or a retailer.
Performance Max creative controls. Soon, advertisers will be able to upload their brand guidelines, including font, colors and image reference points, to help automatically generate new asset variations that remain on-brand.
Advanced Gemini AI models were announced in February. Performance Max campaigns can be used across all of Google’s ad inventory.
Image editing. Retailers advertising through Google Merchant Center will have new tools for editing images. They will be able to experiment and ad new objects in the ads, as well as extending the background to fit all sizes and formats with the help of Google AI.
These features aim to help marketers add new products to existing creative, or to improve existing creative in other ways by adding eye-catching backgrounds and other elements to these assets. The new assets can be used by the brand on all digital channels that support the images, not just on Google channels.
Shopping Ad experiences. New immersive experiences will soon be available on Shopping ads. These include 3D spinning ads and virtual try-on. For instance, ads featuring shoes will support 360-degree rotation of the product. Virtual try-on will support apparel brands, where customers of all body types will be able to virtually try on tops like shirts and sweaters.
Additionally, later in the year, an even better user-driven experience will allow advertisers to include product videos, summaries and similar product recommendations within the ad format.
Some of these features were available previously in organic search, but they are now coming to ads.
Ads in AI Overview. Google announced it will begin testing search ads and shopping ads in AI Overview.
Gemini-powered AI Overviews in search were announced this month. The experiences are currently rolling out in the U.S. and will become available in other countries soon.
According to a blog post from Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president, general manager, Ads, the result of AI Overviews is that users are visiting a broader mix of more diverse websites. Users are searching more now that AI Overviews are available, and they are more satisfied with the results, Srinivasan stated.
Dig deeper: Google rolls out AI Overview for more complex searches
Why we care. With these new tools and features, Google is offering approaches to at least two major ways in which generative AI promises to reinvent our digital lives. First, genAI answers in AI Overview will change the way users search for information. They’ll be asking longer questions and having more of a two-way conversation as they try to get the answers they need. When appropriate, relevant ads (clearly marked “sponsored”) will surface.
Secondly, genAI will help creatives scale content by generating new ad iterations that stick to the brand playbook. And those assets will appear at the touchpoint that makes the most sense to consumers, with the aim of improving performance for ad campaigns. GenAI will also make measurement more intuitive, allowing marketers to ask natural language questions to Google Analytics and gain the insights they need to improve their campaigns.
