Category Archives: Inside AdWords

Google’s official blog for news, information and tips on AdWords

An update on our Privacy Sandbox commitments

For further background on this topic, please see our blog from June.

Since we announced our Privacy Sandbox commitments earlier this year, we have continued to work with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to address feedback that was raised as part of its public consultation process. We have also continued to update and seek feedback from the market and the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on our proposals.

We are determined to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox is developed in a way that works for the entire ecosystem and, as part of this process, we have now offered revised commitments, which can be found in full on the CMA’s website.

These revisions underline our commitment to ensuring that the changes we make in Chrome will apply in the same way to Google’s ad tech products as to any third party, and that the Privacy Sandbox APIs will be designed, developed and implemented with regulatory oversight and input from the CMA and the ICO. We also support the objectives set out yesterday in the ICO’s Opinion on Data protection and privacy expectations for online advertising proposals, including the importance of supporting and developing privacy-safe advertising tools that protect people’s privacy and prevent covert tracking.

The revised commitments incorporate a number of changes including:

  1. Monitoring and reporting. We have offered to appoint an independent Monitoring Trustee who will have the access and technical expertise needed to ensure compliance.
  2. Testing and consultation. We have offered the CMA more extensive testing commitments, along with a more transparent process to take market feedback on the Privacy Sandbox proposals.
  3. Further clarity on our use of data. We are underscoring our commitment not to use Google first-party personal data to track users for targeting and measurement of ads shown on non-Google websites. Our commitments would also restrict the use of Chrome browsing history and Analytics data to do this on Google or non-Google websites.

If the CMA accepts these commitments, we will apply them globally.

We continue to appreciate the thoughtful approach and engagement from the CMA and ICO as we develop our Privacy Sandbox proposals. We welcome, and will carefully consider, any comments that people provide during the consultation process.

Read Article

Our commitments for the Privacy Sandbox

Google proposes a set of commitments for Privacy Sandbox to the U.K.’s competition regulator

Read Article

Power your holiday strategy with helpful insights

This year’s holiday shopping season is shaping up to be one of the biggest yet. In fact, 53% of consumers plan to shop online more this year compared to last year.[1b9db3]To help you prepare, check out the Google Shopping Holiday 100, featuring our predictions for the most popular categories and products in the U.S. this holiday season.

The Holiday 100 is a great way to help you understand what people are shopping for. The Insights page in Google Ads was designed to keep businesses up to date on similar trends and insights, which is especially useful during the holiday season. In the coming weeks, you’ll see four new features roll out on the Insights page globally to help you drive results this holiday season and beyond.

Demand forecasts (beta): Previously, the Insights page focused on historical performance — trends that explained why your ads performed the way they did. Now, you’ll see more forward-looking trends with demand forecasts (beta). By combining machine learning technology with past seasonal search trends, these forecasts predict emerging search interest over the next six months. These insights are personalized to your business, meaning that you’ll see trends based on the categories where you advertise.

For example, let’s say you’re a beauty retailer. You might see a prediction that search interest in "perfumes & fragrances” will start to trend in the middle of November with an increase of 27%. Interest then peaks to 93% on Black Friday and tapers off in the following weeks. To help you understand this forecast, you’ll see trendlines for predicted search interest, actual search interest, and your clicks (the amount of traffic you’ve already received from this trend).

On the right side of the page, you can view trend details to see the specific searches that are predicted to increase — like “clean perfume” or “sandalwood.” These insights help you better prepare your budgeting, marketing and merchandising plans to meet the rise in consumer demand.

A desktop screen showing increasing interest for "perfumes & fragrances" on a line graph
Our clients find strategic value in demand forecasts, especially as we approach Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Some of our clients are even using this data to help inform inventory and product development. Aaron Levy
Head of Paid Search, Tinuiti

Consumer interest insights (beta): Are you interested in learning how people search for your business? Consumer interest insights (beta) aggregate and anonymize the top-performing search query themes that drive performance in your campaigns. You’ll see the number of people who searched for each theme, its growth, and how it performed in your account.

As that beauty retailer, you might see that the top themes in the “perfumes'' category are “affordable” and “floral,” and that your overall impressions for the theme increased by 12%. These themes can be found in the search themes section of the page, and can help you update your marketing and product feed copy to include similar words and phrases.

A desktop screen showing a "consumer spotlight" page for a beauty retailer

Audience insights (beta): With audience insights (beta), you can understand more about the interests and affinities of your customers, including what creative resonates the most with them. As the beauty retailer, for example, you might discover that people interested in beauty products prefer the headline “10 must-buy winter fragrances” — and that the audience took part in 57% of the conversions in your campaign.

A desktop screen showing a page titled "understand who is engaging with your campaign," with different boxes for audience insights

Change history insights and auction insights (beta): Now, you can find both change history insights and auction insights throughout the Insights page. This can help you understand how shifts in auction competition or changes you made in your account impacted performance.

Many businesses are already using the Insights page to drive growth. Etsy saw an increase in searches for “Sweatshirts & Hoodies” on the Insights page and used that information to help inform their website merchandising, content strategy and ad copy. This contributed to a 49% lift in sales for Google Search and Shopping campaigns in that sub-category.

These updates will launch in the coming weeks at both the campaign and account level. In the meantime, visit the Insights page on Google Ads to check out the latest trends for your business.

That’s a wrap: Tips on keeping holiday gifts organized

Because I have an enormous family and am the type of person who squirrels away random gifts over the course of the year, holiday gift giving can get disorganized to say the least. Last year, I decided to stop simply trying to write down my list and keep track of gift shopping and delivering by hand. In lieu of these mental gymnastics, I added some structure to the whole endeavor. And now, ahead of the holiday shopping season, I’m sharing my system with you.

Start the hunt with Google Shopping

Whenever I get an idea for a gift, I’ll head to Google Shopping and search for an item, select the product page and check typical prices across the web to see if I should grab it now or wait. If the price is high or I’m not quite ready to make a decision, I turn on “Track price” so I’ll get a notification if it drops.

Animated gif showing how price comparison works on Google Shopping.

But there are also folks on my list who I don’t know as well…and there are a few White Elephant gifts I’ll need, too. For these purposes, I keep an eye on the deals feed on the Shopping tab. I also take note of the price badges on product cards — they’ll tell you things like “$5 off” or “25% off,” which can be helpful so I know if the deal I’m getting is actually a good one or just a small price drop.

Animated GIF showing the deals feed on Google Shopping.

Stay organized in Gmail and Sheets

Once I decide on a gift, it goes in my “gift tracker” that I use Google Sheets to make. I keep track of what I bought and whether I’ve wrapped and delivered it or not. (Go ahead and make a copy of my template and create your own if you want.)

Screenshot of a Google Sheets document titled “Gift tracker” with a list of names and different gift ideas and checkboxes for “bought,” “wrapped,” and “sent/delivered” labels across the sheet.

And when the actual purchase confirmation or receipt hits my inbox, I add it to a label I’ve made for gifts. All these emails are nested under a designated folder so they aren’t mixed in with the rest of my emails. Plus, that way, if I missed the mark with a present, it’s easy to find the gift receipt…hey, it happens to all of us.

That’s a wrap: Tips on keeping holiday gifts organized

Because I have an enormous family and am the type of person who squirrels away random gifts over the course of the year, holiday gift giving can get disorganized to say the least. Last year, I decided to stop simply trying to write down my list and keep track of gift shopping and delivering by hand. In lieu of these mental gymnastics, I added some structure to the whole endeavor. And now, ahead of the holiday shopping season, I’m sharing my system with you.

Start the hunt with Google Shopping

Whenever I get an idea for a gift, I’ll head to Google Shopping and search for an item, select the product page and check typical prices across the web to see if I should grab it now or wait. If the price is high or I’m not quite ready to make a decision, I turn on “Track price” so I’ll get a notification if it drops.

Animated gif showing how price comparison works on Google Shopping.

But there are also folks on my list who I don’t know as well…and there are a few White Elephant gifts I’ll need, too. For these purposes, I keep an eye on the deals feed on the Shopping tab. I also take note of the price badges on product cards — they’ll tell you things like “$5 off” or “25% off,” which can be helpful so I know if the deal I’m getting is actually a good one or just a small price drop.

Animated GIF showing the deals feed on Google Shopping.

Stay organized in Gmail and Sheets

Once I decide on a gift, it goes in my “gift tracker” that I use Google Sheets to make. I keep track of what I bought and whether I’ve wrapped and delivered it or not. (Go ahead and make a copy of my template and create your own if you want.)

Screenshot of a Google Sheets document titled “Gift tracker” with a list of names and different gift ideas and checkboxes for “bought,” “wrapped,” and “sent/delivered” labels across the sheet.

And when the actual purchase confirmation or receipt hits my inbox, I add it to a label I’ve made for gifts. All these emails are nested under a designated folder so they aren’t mixed in with the rest of my emails. Plus, that way, if I missed the mark with a present, it’s easy to find the gift receipt…hey, it happens to all of us.

Helping European small businesses grow and succeed

Today marks the beginning of the European SME week, a time to recognize the contribution that millions of small and medium-sized businesses make to Europe’s economy, as well as an opportunity to explore how they can be supported to continue to grow and thrive.

This time of year is especially critical for small businesses. Shoppers really care about supporting their local communities, with 56% of holiday shoppers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa saying they will intentionally shop more at local small businesses this festive season.

Small businesses are the key to recovery from the pandemic, and our digital tools have helped them sustain their business through lockdowns and enable new jobs, growth and exports. That’s why we rapidly adapted products to improve support and provided training to help them make the most of digital technology. Supporting small businesses is a group effort, though — and the right skills and tools need to be underpinned by the right policies.


Providing helpful tools to connect with customers

The past year and a half has underlined the importance of technology in all parts of life — and small businesses are no exception. Research has found that small businesses in Europe with a sophisticated use of digital tools were able to build a ‘digital safety net’ during the pandemic, resulting in 80% better sales and 60% better revenue.

One example of this is the German company, das schöne leben. Opened in 2016, the store specializes in exceptional food and designer products for everyday living. When the pandemic hit, the founders of the store started advertising online alongside their in-store sales, and set up a Business Profile on Google Search and Maps to help existing and potential customers find them. Das schöne leben now has customers of all ages throughout Germany and has tripled their direct online orders with their first in-house search campaign.

A smiling picture of Manon Weßels, the owner of das schöne leben

Manon Weßels, owner of das schöne leben

Particularly for smaller businesses, Google Ads is the key for visibility and findability online. We would never have reached so many suitable new customers without the advertisements. Manon Weßels
Owner, das schöne leben

The example of das schöne leben and countless others show that online ads help businesses of all sizes find audiences they otherwise may lack access to, help them enter new markets and help build brand awareness.

At Google, we continue to innovate and invest in making all our products and tools more helpful — launching more than 200 features since March 2020 to help businesses connect with their customers in this shifting landscape.

We're also making it even easier for small businesses to manage their presence and connect with customers online. Businesses in Europe can now easily claim and verify their Business Profile directly on Google Search or the Google Maps app, and respond to messages directly from Search. Having more complete information online can have a huge impact for businesses: in Germany, for example, complete Business Profiles receive an average of over five times more calls compared to an incomplete profile. Moving forward, we recommend small businesses manage their profiles directly on Search or Maps. To keep things simple, “Google My Business” is being renamed “Google Business Profile.”


Ensuring that SMBs have the skills to get ahead

We know that providing the right tools is only helpful if businesses are able to use them. To make the most of the digital opportunities available to them, business owners need the right skills. Research has found that 22% of small business owners feel they lack the skills and knowledge to increase their use of digital tools.

Today, we are delighted to kick off our first-ever ‘Google.org Skills Week’ to help support select nonprofits mentoring thousands of underserved small business owners in Europe through scaled tech solutions. As a recent study highlights, medium, small and micro-enterprises — especially those led by women, young people, ethnic minorities, and migrants — were significantly impacted by COVID-19 with 70-80% facing major financial difficulties.

During this week, Google volunteers and product experts will share their skills and best practices through workshops, design sprints and 1:1 mentorship, to help educate select nonprofits that provide mentorship to underserved SMB owners. This week of training touches on many different skills including product management, design, marketing and AdGrants, Artificial Intelligence, YouTube, impact measurement, and aims to better equip the nonprofits to help small businesses improve their online presence.

A video about helping small businesses
10:25

We have seen how powerful these skills can be in helping to grow and scale businesses across Europe.

For Andrea Li Puma, the owner of the food truck Pastammore based in Bucharest, access to digital skills was essential to reach new customers and grow his business. The pandemic meant that Andrea had to take his food business online and pivot to deliver Pastammore’s homemade pasta directly to consumers at home. With support from Google.org-funded nonprofit Digital Nation, Andrea was able to develop an online marketing strategy, optimize his website, and launch new advertising campaigns that helped Pastammore survive through the tough period and even grow with sales increase by 15%.

A picture of Andrea Li Puma, the owner of the food truck Pastammore based in Bucharest, in a white coat in front of his truck

Andrea Li Puma, owner of food truck Pastammore in Bucharest

Since 2015, over 18 million people across Europe, the Middle East and Africa have participated in our Grow with Google training, resulting in more than four million people getting a new job, growing their career or growing their business*.

To make sure our programs best help tackle the barriers to digital success, we developed partnerships with training experts, public agencies and policy makers. For example, in France we collaborate with FFAC — French Association of Local Stores — in supporting 30,000 local shop owners everywhere in France in their digital transition.


A more inclusive economic recovery

The pandemic has been disruptive and small businesses have been at the sharp end of this change. While challenging, this past year and a half has also underlined how resilient small businesses can thrive through partnership, openness and innovation. Europe has a great opportunity to build a digital, inclusive, and sustainable recovery that works for everyone. We are excited to play our part in this.

*Analysis by Google based on internal data and a survey by Ipsos from Sep 2016 to Sep 2021 amongst EMEA residents trained via Digital Workshop.

Shop what’s trending this holiday season

It’s that festive time of year when we start planning holiday gatherings, swap out our iced lattes for hot cocoa, and once again, try to find the perfect gifts for our loved ones.

To help you zip through your holiday shopping this year, we’re sharing the Google Shopping Holiday 100 — a list of what we predict will be the 100 most popular categories and products in the U.S. for the holiday season, according to Google searches.

This year’s Holiday 100 reflects the realities many of us are still living in. Home equipment like coffee makers and fitness gear continue to make the list. But we’re also seeing more items that suggest people are getting out more, like fragrances and beauty products.

Spanning ages and interests, the 2021 trending categories include tech, gaming, kitchen gear, sports and fitness, health and beauty, fragrances, and toys and games. Let’s explore a few of them.

The year of the fragrance

Looking for a new fragrance to add to your collection? You’re not alone. This year, perfumes and colognes are trending higher than in years past. It could be that we’re all after a new signature scent, or maybe we’re sending hints to those who have been in their (less than fresh) loungewear for too long. Ranking highest on the list includes Christian Dior Sauvage Eau De Toilette Spray, Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540, and Versace Men's Eros Eau de Toilette Travel Spray.

Brewing at home

While coffee makers are no stranger to the kitchen gear category, we saw an uptick in the number and types of at-home coffee makers on this year’s list. So no matter how your loved ones take their cup of joe, you’re sure to find something for them. The top coffee maker is the Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine, followed by the Keurig K-Mini Single Serve Coffee Maker.

Gaming goes big

Gaming has become an increasingly popular category over the years, and 2021 is no exception. At the top of the gaming consoles list is the Nintendo Switch OLED, and top trending games include NBA 2K22, FIFA 22 and Metroid Dread. And you won’t just find the latest and greatest gaming products. This year, we saw 80’s and 90’s nostalgia play out with high rankings for the Nintendo 64 (ranked #6 in gaming consoles) and the Game Boy (ranked #8 in gaming consoles).

This holiday season, Google Shopping is helping you find deals, track the price of a specific item, check a product’s availability and more. Whether you’re looking for your family, your best friend, or even yourself, we hope you find the perfect gift with Google.

Shop what’s trending this holiday season

It’s that festive time of year when we start planning holiday gatherings, swap out our iced lattes for hot cocoa, and once again, try to find the perfect gifts for our loved ones.

To help you zip through your holiday shopping this year, we’re sharing the Google Shopping Holiday 100 — a list of what we predict will be the 100 most popular categories and products in the U.S. for the holiday season, according to Google searches.

This year’s Holiday 100 reflects the realities many of us are still living in. Home equipment like coffee makers and fitness gear continue to make the list. But we’re also seeing more items that suggest people are getting out more, like fragrances and beauty products.

Spanning ages and interests, the 2021 trending categories include tech, gaming, kitchen gear, sports and fitness, health and beauty, fragrances, and toys and games. Let’s explore a few of them.

The year of the fragrance

Looking for a new fragrance to add to your collection? You’re not alone. This year, perfumes and colognes are trending higher than in years past. It could be that we’re all after a new signature scent, or maybe we’re sending hints to those who have been in their (less than fresh) loungewear for too long. Ranking highest on the list includes Christian Dior Sauvage Eau De Toilette Spray, Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540, and Versace Men's Eros Eau de Toilette Travel Spray.

Brewing at home

While coffee makers are no stranger to the kitchen gear category, we saw an uptick in the number and types of at-home coffee makers on this year’s list. So no matter how your loved ones take their cup of joe, you’re sure to find something for them. The top coffee maker is the Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine, followed by the Keurig K-Mini Single Serve Coffee Maker.

Gaming goes big

Gaming has become an increasingly popular category over the years, and 2021 is no exception. At the top of the gaming consoles list is the Nintendo Switch OLED, and top trending games include NBA 2K22, FIFA 22 and Metroid Dread. And you won’t just find the latest and greatest gaming products. This year, we saw 80’s and 90’s nostalgia play out with high rankings for the Nintendo 64 (ranked #6 in gaming consoles) and the Game Boy (ranked #8 in gaming consoles).

This holiday season, Google Shopping is helping you find deals, track the price of a specific item, check a product’s availability and more. Whether you’re looking for your family, your best friend, or even yourself, we hope you find the perfect gift with Google.

Connect with local holiday shoppers

The holidays are quickly approaching and 40% of U.S. consumers have already started their holiday shopping. Supporting local businesses is top of mind this year. In fact, 60% of U.S. consumers who are planning to shop for the holidays say they will shop more at local small businesses.

If your stores are open for in-store shopping or dining, you know it's important to make sure your customers can easily find you online. We’ve unwrapped new local solutions plus a local holiday guide to help you stand out on Google and connect shoppers to your stores.

Engage with customers using your Business Profile

Starting this week, you can easily claim and verify your Business Profile directly on Google Search or the Google Maps app. Search for your business by name and you’ll see an option to claim and verify the associated Business Profile. Once your business is verified, you can edit your business’ information, including the address, store hours, photos and more.

A search results page on both desktop and mobile. Both show the Business Profile for “Mo’s Diner.” Options shown in clickable boxes with the titles “Get verified,” “add photo,” and “add business number.”

Update your Business Profile and engage with customers directly from Search and Maps.

We’re also adding new ways to get even more out of your Business Profile. You can now message customers directly from Search, and merchants in the U.S. and Canada can use call history to see which inbound customer calls came from their Business Profile on Google.

Mobile phone screen shows the call history for a business. The top of the screen shows “Calls” and below is a box with a time period that can be changed via a drop down. Below that are two large numbers, the first is the number of answered calls (shown in black) and the second is the number of missed calls (shown in red). Below that, the calls are in list format in order of how recently they occurred. Some show just a phone number while others show a contact name.

View your call history from your Business Profile.

Moving forward, we recommend small businesses manage their profiles directly on Search or Maps. To keep things simple, “Google My Business” is being renamed “Google Business Profile.” And in 2022, we’ll retire the Google My Business app so more merchants can take advantage of the upgraded experience on Search and Maps. The existing Google My Business web experience will transition to primarily support larger businesses with multiple locations, and will be renamed “Business Profile Manager.” We’ll share more details on these changes in the months ahead.

Show your local inventory

Holiday shoppers want to know what’s available before they get to your store. In a recent survey, more than half of U.S. holiday shoppers said they’ll confirm online that an item is in stock before going to buy it. There are a few ways to make sure your business shows up when holiday shoppers search for the products you offer.

We recently announced the new “in stock” filter on Search so shoppers can see only the nearby stores that have a specific item. To make sure your products show up, retailers in the U.S. and Canada can sign up for Pointy from Google — free of charge and right from your Business Profile on Search. Pointy helps you automatically upload all your in-store product inventory by connecting directly to your existing point of sale system. If you already have a local inventory feed, you can submit your feed through Google Merchant Center. To showcase individual products, you can also manually add them to your Business Profile on Search.

Mobile phone screen shows a GIF of a customer’s shopping journey on Google Search. The first image is a Google search results page for “kids bike helmets near me.” The user sees a map with various stores that sell bike helmets. The user clicks the “in-stock” button and is shown a list of stores that have kids bike helmets currently in stock. The user clicks the first store listing for “Mike’s Bikes” and then views pictures and prices of the helmets they have in stock.

Shoppers can now use the “in stock” filter on Search to see only the nearby stores with a specific item on their shelves.

Promote your nearby store locations

If you want to focus on store-specific goals, like promoting in-store products or seasonal menu items, you can promote your location to nearby shoppers using Local campaigns. Easily connect with shoppers searching for businesses like yours across Google Maps, Search, Display or YouTube, and help them find what they need at your local store, restaurant or dealership.

Now it's even easier to plan your Local campaign budgets heading into the holidays using Performance Planner. This tool helps you create plans for your local advertising investment, and see how changes to those plans might affect your outcomes and performance.

Laptop computer screen shows the Performance Planner forecast within the Google Ads UI. A line graph shows “spend” on the X axis and “conversions” on the Y axis. A gray point on the graph shows the “existing settings” and a blue point above it shows the “planned settings.” There is a blue line drawn through the blue dot going up to the right, indicating the increase in forecasted conversions you’d receive if you grow your investment. The text at the top of the graph says “you could get an estimated 1.5K conversions at $26.66 CPA for $40K.”

Local campaigns Performance Planner can help determine how much to invest this holiday season and beyond.

Even franchises like Wendy's use Performance Planner to more easily determine the appropriate investment for their Local campaigns to drive their store-level business goals.

Because the holidays are a critical time of year for your business, you should continue using Local campaigns to reach shoppers this season. However, when the time is right for your business, you can also start testing Performance Max campaigns before next year’s campaign upgrades. Performance Max allows you to promote your business across all Google Ads channels to help you drive more foot traffic to your physical locations — and includes new inventory and formats not currently available in Local campaigns.

For more on how to make this season even merrier — and easier — for local shoppers, check out the Local holiday guide or the Google for Small Business holiday checklist.

Connect with local holiday shoppers

The holidays are quickly approaching and 40% of U.S. consumers have already started their holiday shopping. Supporting local businesses is top of mind this year. In fact, 60% of U.S. consumers who are planning to shop for the holidays say they will shop more at local small businesses.

If your stores are open for in-store shopping or dining, you know it's important to make sure your customers can easily find you online. We’ve unwrapped new local solutions plus a local holiday guide to help you stand out on Google and connect shoppers to your stores.

Engage with customers using your Business Profile

Starting this week, you can easily claim and verify your Business Profile directly on Google Search or the Google Maps app. Search for your business by name and you’ll see an option to claim and verify the associated Business Profile. Once your business is verified, you can edit your business’ information, including the address, store hours, photos and more.

A search results page on both desktop and mobile. Both show the Business Profile for “Mo’s Diner.” Options shown in clickable boxes with the titles “Get verified,” “add photo,” and “add business number.”

Update your Business Profile and engage with customers directly from Search and Maps.

We’re also adding new ways to get even more out of your Business Profile. You can now message customers directly from Search, and merchants in the U.S. and Canada can use call history to see which inbound customer calls came from their Business Profile on Google.

Mobile phone screen shows the call history for a business. The top of the screen shows “Calls” and below is a box with a time period that can be changed via a drop down. Below that are two large numbers, the first is the number of answered calls (shown in black) and the second is the number of missed calls (shown in red). Below that, the calls are in list format in order of how recently they occurred. Some show just a phone number while others show a contact name.

View your call history from your Business Profile.

Moving forward, we recommend small businesses manage their profiles directly on Search or Maps. To keep things simple, “Google My Business” is being renamed “Google Business Profile.” And in 2022, we’ll retire the Google My Business app so more merchants can take advantage of the upgraded experience on Search and Maps. The existing Google My Business web experience will transition to primarily support larger businesses with multiple locations, and will be renamed “Business Profile Manager.” We’ll share more details on these changes in the months ahead.

Show your local inventory

Holiday shoppers want to know what’s available before they get to your store. In a recent survey, more than half of U.S. holiday shoppers said they’ll confirm online that an item is in stock before going to buy it. There are a few ways to make sure your business shows up when holiday shoppers search for the products you offer.

We recently announced the new “in stock” filter on Search so shoppers can see only the nearby stores that have a specific item. To make sure your products show up, retailers in the U.S. and Canada can sign up for Pointy from Google — free of charge and right from your Business Profile on Search. Pointy helps you automatically upload all your in-store product inventory by connecting directly to your existing point of sale system. If you already have a local inventory feed, you can submit your feed through Google Merchant Center. To showcase individual products, you can also manually add them to your Business Profile on Search.

Mobile phone screen shows a GIF of a customer’s shopping journey on Google Search. The first image is a Google search results page for “kids bike helmets near me.” The user sees a map with various stores that sell bike helmets. The user clicks the “in-stock” button and is shown a list of stores that have kids bike helmets currently in stock. The user clicks the first store listing for “Mike’s Bikes” and then views pictures and prices of the helmets they have in stock.

Shoppers can now use the “in stock” filter on Search to see only the nearby stores with a specific item on their shelves.

Promote your nearby store locations

If you want to focus on store-specific goals, like promoting in-store products or seasonal menu items, you can promote your location to nearby shoppers using Local campaigns. Easily connect with shoppers searching for businesses like yours across Google Maps, Search, Display or YouTube, and help them find what they need at your local store, restaurant or dealership.

Now it's even easier to plan your Local campaign budgets heading into the holidays using Performance Planner. This tool helps you create plans for your local advertising investment, and see how changes to those plans might affect your outcomes and performance.

Laptop computer screen shows the Performance Planner forecast within the Google Ads UI. A line graph shows “spend” on the X axis and “conversions” on the Y axis. A gray point on the graph shows the “existing settings” and a blue point above it shows the “planned settings.” There is a blue line drawn through the blue dot going up to the right, indicating the increase in forecasted conversions you’d receive if you grow your investment. The text at the top of the graph says “you could get an estimated 1.5K conversions at $26.66 CPA for $40K.”

Local campaigns Performance Planner can help determine how much to invest this holiday season and beyond.

Even franchises like Wendy's use Performance Planner to more easily determine the appropriate investment for their Local campaigns to drive their store-level business goals.

Because the holidays are a critical time of year for your business, you should continue using Local campaigns to reach shoppers this season. However, when the time is right for your business, you can also start testing Performance Max campaigns before next year’s campaign upgrades. Performance Max allows you to promote your business across all Google Ads channels to help you drive more foot traffic to your physical locations — and includes new inventory and formats not currently available in Local campaigns.

For more on how to make this season even merrier — and easier — for local shoppers, check out the Local holiday guide or the Google for Small Business holiday checklist.

Performance Max campaigns launch to all advertisers

In an unpredictable year, change has been a reliable constant. And we’ve seen this clearly in online consumer behavior. For example, Google Image searches for "yard landscaping ideas" have grown globally by over 80% YoY1 as people look for more ways to spruce up their homes. Meanwhile, searches for "best all-inclusive resorts" have grown globally by over 200% YoY2 as people get inspired to travel again.

Thankfully, advertisers don’t have to predict the future to be ready for it. If change is the challenge, automation is the solution businesses and agencies are using to stay ahead of ongoing shifts in consumer demand. Last year, we introduced Performance Max campaigns as a new way to buy Google ads across YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps from a single campaign. They complement your keyword-based Search campaigns to help you grow performance across Google’s full range of advertising channels and inventory.

After strong beta results, Performance Max campaigns will roll out to all advertisers around the world starting today. They will also become the next generation of Smart Shopping and Local campaigns, which will both upgrade to Performance Max next year.3

Illustration of six mobile devices lined up next to each other, each showing a different ad example across Google’s channels. From left to right, they show ads on YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Google Maps. Above the phones are the logos for each.

Performance Max campaigns help you increase conversions across Google’s full range of advertising channels and inventory.

Find more customers where they are

Consumers are moving seamlessly between online experiences to find buying inspiration. 70% of U.S. shoppers report buying from a brand after seeing it on YouTube,4 and 91% of Google feed users say they took some kind of shopping or product-related action immediately after discovering new products, services or brands on their feed.5

Performance Max allows you to promote your business across all Google Ads inventory. As a result, you can show up for more customers and drive more conversions based on your goals. In fact, advertisers that use Performance Max campaigns in their account see an average increase of 13% total incremental conversions at a similar cost per action.6 Whether you’re focused on increasing online sales, generating leads, or growing offline sales, Performance Max helps you achieve your goals in four main ways:

1. Increasing conversions and value: Automation optimizes your budget and bids across channels to help you capture new conversion opportunities in real time.

Performance Max has helped us activate a complementary, full-funnel strategy. Thanks to advanced machine learning capabilities, we’ve been able to gain incremental reach and conversions very efficiently. Inmaculada Lestayo Campos
Digital Marketing Manager, Allianz

2. Finding new customers: Unlock new audience segments by using Google’s real-time understanding of user intent, behavior and context to show up in the right moments with more relevant ads.

Performance Max can be activated quickly and at scale to optimize the web journey and drive more subscriptions. It delivers strong targeting signals for a more competitive CPA and dynamic budget optimization by channel. Guylain Meykiechel
Head of Global Media Strategy, Deezer

3. Gaining richer insights: Performance Max campaigns are now part of the Insights page to help you understand how automation is working and how you can improve your campaign. Using the Combinations report, you can also see how your top-performing assets are being combined to build creatives.

  • Image of the Insights page in Google Ads. The first section shows a line graph in the center with red and blue trend lines going up. There are additional sections titled “Top insights” and “Zoom in on conversion changes within your campaign.”

    Explore the Insights page to understand what’s driving performance.

  • Image of the Insights page in Google Ads. The top of the image includes two cards, each labeled “Audience Insight.” Below the cards is a chart titled “Top audience segments,” with columns for “Audience segment,” “Type,” “Share of conversions” and “Index.” The first three rows of audience segments have a green “Optimized” label next to them, while the last two rows have a blue “Signal” label next to them.

    See which audiences are influencing performance the most — including new audience segments you might not have expected or known about before.

  • Image of the Combinations report in the Google Ads interface, titled “Top image combinations.” Below are six cards, each with a colorful illustration, including a woman with her cat and dog, a dog being examined at the vet, and a dog and cat sleeping on the couch next to each other. An example illustrated logo shows an animal paw superimposed on a shield. Text headlines are: “Get top-rated coverage”, “Pet insurance”, “Protect your pet with trusted insurance” and “Low deductible, includes a 24/6 chat line.” At the bottom right of each card is a blue link to preview each ad.

    See which assets perform the best together in the Combinations report and get ideas for future assets to upload.

4. Working together with automation: Steer automation by providing high-quality creative assets and sharing your expertise about which audiences are most likely to convert.

The results from Performance Max campaigns were amazing. They helped us enter a new market to grow potential customers in a short period. We’d like to roll out Performance Max to other markets as well! Evelyn Zhao
SEA Regional Marketing Manager, SAIC-MG Motors

Get new features designed for retailers and local marketers

Performance Max campaigns allow retailers and local marketers to access new ad inventory and formats not currently available with Smart Shopping or Local campaigns — including on channels like YouTube, Search and Discover. To help you increase sales, Smart Shopping and Local campaigns will both upgrade to Performance Max in 2022. We’ll work closely with you and your partners to get feedback and build the right tools to help you easily transition your campaigns. Stay tuned for more information early next year.

We know the holidays are a critical time of year for your business. You should continue using Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to reach more shoppers across online and in-store experiences this holiday season. However, when the time is right for your business, you can start testing Performance Max campaigns before next year’s campaign upgrades.

Not only did Performance Max outperform our previous Smart Shopping campaigns, but it also took our efficiency to the next level, and allowed us to grow our revenue in a more profitable way. Eric Tsai
VP of Marketing and Business Development, Joybird
Performance Max became such a significant contributor towards our marketing objectives that we are now planning to roll it out across all of our accounts. Simon Achermann
Head of Online, microspot.ch

In the next few months, we’ll introduce new features in Performance Max specifically for retailers and businesses with store locations. For example, you’ll have the option to focus your campaigns to exclusively optimize for new customer acquisition. If you’re a retailer with a local inventory feed, you’ll also see new Search and Maps ad formats powered by your products to help drive more foot traffic to your stores.

Upgrading Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to Performance Max next year will help you get more value from Google Ads while simplifying the number of campaigns you use to achieve your goals. We’ll continue investing in Performance Max and improving our automation technology over time to help you get better results.

To set your Performance Max campaigns up for success, check out our new best practices guide and video. You can also take the Skillshop e-learning course for Performance Max campaigns to get more tips on how to use them to their full potential. And explore the Demystifying Automation interactive demo to learn how different automation technologies can supercharge your marketing capabilities.

1. Google Data, Global English, Jun 22, 2021 - Aug 20, 2021 vs Jun 22, 2020 - Aug 20, 2020
2. Google Data, Global English, Jun 22, 2021 - Aug 20, 2021 vs Jun 22, 2020 - Aug 20, 2020
3. In Europe, Performance Max campaigns can be used with any Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) you work with. The ads will show on general search results pages and on any other surfaces the CSS has opted in to.
4. Google/Talkshoppe, US, whyVideo study, n=2000 A18-64 Genpop video users, Feb 2020
5. Google/Ipsos, Google Feed Consumer Insights, June 2020, Online survey. Americans 18+ who made a discovery on at least one Google feed (feeds defined as Google app, Chrome app, YouTube, Gmail) on a mobile device. Base: Feed users n=1,053
6. Google Data, Global, Ads, July - September 2021