Google Ads 2022 ... Latest Google Ads Targeting Update

If you are currently using Google Ads, you need to understand that Google Ads has changed some of its core targeting features drastically. And these changes go to the very core of what Google Ads has always been about since it launched in late 2000. The key core benefit of Google Ads is that it gave you, the business owner or the digital marketer, the power to choose exactly which keyword phrases you wanted your ads to appear for. So historically with Google Ads, if you wanted your ads to only appear when someone put a specific keyword search phrase in Google of one bedroom pool villa in Seminyak, you could set up this keyword in Google Ads using the exact match. And this made sure that your ads would only appear when someone used those exact keywords in that exact order. So if they searched one bedroom pool villa in Bali, your ads will not appear because they use the keyword barley and not Seminyak. But since late 2021, this has all changed. And the reason for that is because Google Ads has switched over to an intent or, or meaning based keyword targeting. And the big problem with that is that Google might have a different meaning to what your meaning is. And that means that you need to watch this video so I can show you some real life examples, but more importantly take you through the exact optimization actions that you need to be completing in your Google Ads account right now. If we haven't met yet, my name is Aaron Young and I'm your 15,000 hour Google Ads master. And because I manage multiple Google Ads campaigns that have collectively generated well over $17 million in sales last year alone, I get to see any changing trends in Google Ads very, very quickly. And on top of that, I then split test different strategies and account structures to find out the most profitable strategies in Google Ads right now. And this is where I share all of those structures and strategies that you can use. So if you want to stay up to date with the current strategies that are working in Google Ads right now, why don't you give me a quick subscribe? Okay, let's get straight into that example. In this example, I'm going to show you the effect on a search campaign. So firstly with the search campaign, now these were the actual keywords that we were targeting, which was all blacks headphones and all blacks kids. And what you can see right here with Google actually changing the exact matching from these actual keywords and moving it to intent, you can see that we saw all of these other non related keywords start entering into our search terms. And these were the search terms that our ads were actually appearing for things like All Blacks baby clothes, All Blacks backpack and all Blacks ball, All Blacks onesie and even down to all Blacks props and all Black's rugby jacket. So you can see here very, very clearly that we had a different meaning to what Google had historically because we had set these keywords as exact match keywords. These would have been the only two keywords that users could have used to trigger our ads. And now let's go over and look at a shopping example. And for the shopping example we saw the exact same thing happen. Now with shopping, you may be aware that Google triggers your ads or of two core components. Firstly your product merchant feed and then also your product title which we see here. And since this changed, Google did two things. It actually broke this product headline into two different products. Firstly there was the Kids Emuff products and then secondly there was actually also the Kids All Blacks products. As you can see very, very clearly on this page, we were only offering one type of product and that was a kid's earmuff that had All Blacks logos on it. So from that example I showed you in the search campaign and in the shopping campaign, you can actually see the big difference that was made by Google switching their exact keyword matching over to a meaning or intent based keyword matching. And the direct effect is, is that your ads are now going to be triggering for keyword searches which aren't the ones that you actually want your product or your services to show for. And this can have that bottom line effect of increasing your costs with no extra conversions or no extra money into your own bank account, which can ultimately mean that you're not making profit with your Google Ads campaigns anymore. And let's not forget that is the only reason that we run Google Ads campaigns so that we can make more money for our own businesses. But the good news is it is actually easy to fix. So you don't need to be stressing or even thinking about giving Google Ads away, because I'm still a big believer is that Google Ads is the number one platform that you should be marketing on if you're running any type of business. And I do want to make a point that this isn't only for your search and your shopping campaigns. Because even in Google's new campaigns, like their Performance Max campaigns, they actually make it very, very clear of regardless of the audiences and the keyword targeting that you put into your asset groups, Google CL clearly states that Performance Max will go beyond your selections to find new conversions for your goals. And this is saying the same thing, that regardless of the audiences and the keyword targeting that you put in. Google will be using its AI and its algorithms to try and find new traffic sources and new audience sources. And while this sounds amazing, from the examples I showed you, we know very, very clearly is that some of these keyword things don't need any testing because we know they're not going to be profitable. Yes, you may get one or two extra conversions, but but the cost is going to be so much higher from targeting those specific keywords and audiences, which you know are the bread and butter for your business. So let's now talk about the solutions and what you need to do in your Google Ads optimizations. And the main thing is, is that you need to actually adjust how you approach doing your optimizations in Google Ads. Previously, in Google Ads, you would tell Google Ads exactly the keywords that you wanted to target and exactly the audiences and the demographics that you'd want to target. And Google would go and do that, no questions, no changes. Like the perfect student in school who listens to everything that the teacher asks. But now Google is integrating a lot more of its AI and its machine learning into all of its campaigns, with the implication that regardless of what you tell Google in terms of which keywords to target and audiences to target, they are still going to go and try some certain things to related keywords and related themes. You need to think of Google now more like a rebellious teenager saying to you, I don't care what you told me, I I'm going to go and try these new keyword themes and audience groups because I think they might be successful. So when it comes to optimizing your Google Ads campaign, you need to change your thinking. Now, it's not about telling Google what you want it to do. It's more about telling Google what you don't want it to do. So along with your keyword and your audience targeting, you also need to build out other lists where you're telling Google a big no, we don't want you to go down and try those keyword themes and we don't want you to go and test those audiences. So right now, let's go through the four things that you need to start doing in your Google Ads account right now. Number one, one, you need to increase the amount of search term audits that you are completing on your Google search and your Google shopping campaigns. And I'd be recommending that you're doing these two times a week or every 72 hours. Now, if you don't know what a search term audit is, that's the process of going in and reviewing the search terms. So not the keywords, the search terms that actually triggered your ads. And then you go through that list and if you see any search terms which you know are not related to your product, you just add them as a negative keyword. And the goal here is that after a couple of weeks, you should have a negative keyword list of a couple of hundred different negative keywords that you've added. And this will stop Google running down some different paths which you know are not going to be successful. And the second thing you need to do, and this is for people who are running search, display or performance max campaigns. And with this, you need to actually go through and complete split testing on your ads every three to four weeks. And what we're wanting to do here is we wanting to pause any ads that have low click through ratios or low conversion rates. And by completing this action, this allows Google to spend more budget and complete more testing on your ads that have higher click through ratios and and high conversion rates. And this action will ultimately increase the total performance of your campaign. Now the third thing, and this is for people who are running shopping campaigns. Now if you're running shopping campaigns, you need to review your individual products or your product groups every three to four weeks. And similar to what we were doing with the ad copies, you need to pause or exclude any of those underperforming products. And this will then allow Google to be able to focus more budget on your products that have great conversion rates. And then finally, regardless of what campaign you're running, whether it's search, display, shopping or performance max, you need to make sure that you're leveraging all of your efforts with audience and demographic targeting. Although Google Ads was built on keyword targeting, the real success in Google Ads is when you add your keyword targeting with audience targeting and demographic targeting. And by adding in that audience and a demographic targeting, you can actually start to filter out and exclude any audiences or demographics which you know are not giving you results. So there are my four recommendations of what you need to be doing in your Google Ads optimization right now. And the great news is, is to help you with this, I've actually created a free tool that I want to give to you today. And it's my Google Ads Optimization checklist. And this lists the optimizations that you need to complete in your Google Ads campaign every 72 hours, every week, every month, and every 90 days. And if you want to get your copy right now, why don't you go and follow the link in the description below. And finally, if you'd like to know more about optimizing your Google Ads campaign through audiences, demographics and locations, I want you to go through and watch this video right here. As always, thank you for joining me and I look forward to seeing on our next video. See ya.