Dave McIninch says, “Today, Google ends support for Converted Clicks in Google AdWords. Advertisers still using this metric in reports or for Target CPA bidding need to take a few steps to successfully migrate to the Conversions metrics instead. This article outlines how this change may affect you and what you need to do. What This Change Means Converted Clicks is a metric that came about in 2001 with the introduction of conversion tracking, and has lost much of its relevance since AdWords made updates to the Conversions column in 2015, at which point AdWords encouraged anyone still using... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Whether you are in marketing and advertising or product design and management, it is impossible to avoid the term ‘customer experience’. The two words litter agency pitches, vendor websites, trade press and conferences and, increasingly, job titles. Improving customer experience is not a novel concept, but it has become more important as digital technology has increased competitive pressure in almost every market. Aaron Dignan, investor and writer, puts it as follows: “As products and the means to create them have become digitized (often referred to as software... [...]

Dave McIninch says, “Today, Google ends support for Converted Clicks in Google AdWords. Advertisers still using this metric in reports or for Target CPA bidding need to take a few steps to successfully migrate to the Conversions metrics instead. This article outlines how this change may affect you and what you need to do. What This Change Means Converted Clicks is a metric that came about in 2001 with the introduction of conversion tracking, and has lost much of its relevance since AdWords made updates to the Conversions column in 2015, at which point AdWords encouraged anyone still using... [...]

Ellen Bartolino says, “Banner ads get a bad rap, and are often thought of as old-school due to their disruptive nature. But believe it or not, there’s way to make inbound-y banner ads that actually drive results. However, even marketers that recognize the value of banner ads struggle to design ones that don’t seem spammy, let alone ones that get desired results. You have to learn how to present the right message, to the right audience, at the right time, which is why HubSpot and Bannersnack teamed up to bring you How to Make Banner Ads That Don’t Suck. In this guide you’ll... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “This week, Adblock Plus threw its hat in the ad tech ring. That is, the ring that makes money from serving, not blocking, digital advertising. Eyeo GmbH, the company behind the ubiquitous ad blocking browser extension, announced on Tuesday it is testing a programmatic ad platform for its Acceptable Ads program. Just a day later, the experiment appears to have hit a snag. Adblock Plus’s partner for the programmatic piece is ComboTag, a supply side platform that enables publishers to set up private marketplaces for ads from Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange and AppNexus. Both... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google introduced a new format for YouTube TrueView video ads on Wednesday: TrueView for action. Sridhar Ramaswamy, SVP of ads and commerce at Google, made the announcement at the DMEXCO conference in Germany on Wednesday. The new ad format follows other goal-driven TrueView formats — TrueView for app promotion and TrueView for shopping — designed to move video advertising on YouTube beyond general branding. Ramaswamy said Google will test TrueView for action ads throughout the year. A Google spokesperson says the reporting and user experience are being fine-tuned,... [...]

Ural Cebeci says, “Building content — no matter the quality — doesn’t necessarily build an audience. As former BuzzFeed Vice President Jonathan Perelman noted,“Content is king, but distribution is queen and she wears the pants. It’s not nearly enough to create a good piece of content.” You need to be thinking beyond owned and earned channels in your content marketing programs. Enter native advertising, one of the hottest trends in marketing today. But where exactly does native advertising fit within the larger context of a content marketing strategy? It’s useful first to consider... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “While some in the industry are alarmed by ad blocking others dismiss it as overblown, it continues to grow. The latest evidence comes from Blockmetry, a company started by former Googler Pierre Far. Far told me last week that he became fascinated by content (ad and analytics) blocking during his last couple of years at Google. His new company, Blockmetry, tracks the percentage of page views blocked rather than the number of users adopting ad blocking. This metric, says Far, better reflects “ad blocking’s real impact on websites.” Blockmetry releases a periodic... [...]

Patricior Robles says, “YouTube is facing a backlash after popular content creators claimed that the platform is failing to monetize their videos. The row focuses on YouTube’s Advertiser-Friendly Content Guidelines, which users claim they were not told about and that they feel are ambiguous. As Gizmodo’s Bryan Menegus explained, the Advertiser-Friendly Content Guidelines, which describe “content that is considered inappropriate for advertising,” have been in place for some time. But a change to the way Google notifies content creators about videos that run afoul... [...]

Frederick Vallaeys says, “We’re now seeing many of the changes AdWords announced in May rolling out to all accounts. This is great news in terms of enabling new opportunities, but it’s bad news if you thought your account was perfectly structured. While each new feature will work just fine with your current account structure, your setup may no longer be the most efficient — so now may be a great time to revisit the AdWords account structure debate. I’ll cover how each of the new features may change your opinion on the right structure for an AdWords account. Expanded text ads (ETAs) All... [...]