Another Google Marketing Live Keynote event has come and gone, and with it came a whole new list of Google product announcements, upgrades, and improvements. Google has stated several times that it will be more upfront with consumers and advertisers concerning its advertising network, which is largely expected given the global movement toward a privacy-first and more transparent internet.

However, while privacy remains a priority among consumers, those consumers still want and need more choices on how they search and find what they need online. Part of that comes from consumers themselves, but another part comes from consumers needing and using so many different devices and digital channels during a given day. That means Google has had to adjust to a changing marketplace for consumers and advertisers, and advertisers must leverage new strategies moving forward.

A Changing Marketplace Requires Changing Approaches

Digital advertising is in a constant state of flux, and that doesn’t look to change anytime soon. In fact, “change” was essentially the theme of this year’s event. How much has changed, why it has changed, and how well advertisers, Google, and consumers react to change will continue to be the hot topic of 2022.

Global user privacy concerns and the subsequent phasing out of third-party cookies by internet stalwarts like Facebook, Google, and others, have ushered in a new era on how advertisers reach consumers. However, that’s not all that’s changed.

Consumer preferences are constantly changing, as are how consumers find the product and services they need online. Consumers are now combining keyword searches with audio, voice, and visual search. This change becomes more prevalent with Google’s recent launch of its Multisearch tool. So, with change being a theme for today’s consumers and advertisers, what are some of the new announcements made at this year’s Google Marketing Live?

Heavy on Visuals

Google made visuals, and visual ads, a critical component of this year’s show. Google is pushing advertisers and consumers towards visual-based searches. This means advertisers must leverage all their visuals, photos, and imagery in their Google asset library and drive them across all the channels they use to reach their audience.

Retail and Shopping Visuals

Google continues to improve how consumers search and find the products, services, and brands they love. The aforementioned Google Multisearch allows users to take a picture of something they like or want and combine it with a search-based question. This is an ideal solution for consumers who know what they want but often don’t have the right words to describe what they’re looking for.

Increased Video Ads for YouTube Shorts

Keeping with the theme of video search, Google also plans to increase video advertising on YouTube Shorts. Videos will be present on product feeds and app advertising campaigns. Product feeds themselves were a new announcement at this year’s event.

Video Ads for Google Discover

Google will also be introducing short video display ads within its mobile Google Discover feeds. Discover provides articles, videos, and images to mobile users, and the content is personalized to the user’s preferences and search history.

Augmented Reality via 3D Imagery

Google will be leaning heavily on augmented reality (AR) in 2022 by pushing 3D Imagery on search. This will help retailers connect consumers to the brands, products, and services they love. AR will allow them to interact with these brands like never before. Consumers will be able to inspect products at every angle and see how they would look and feel in a real environment. Companies need to access their Google Manufacturer Center to be able to provide 3D image feeds to customers.

Improving Shopping Experiences    

Google also announced a pilot program for Google search and YouTube with a select few merchants. They plan to provide updates at some point in 2022. The pilot program’s goal is to help improve shopping experiences for end-of-journey customers. This is aimed at streamlining the buying process for those customers who are ready to buy. These customers will be able to go from Google search to a retailer’s checkout page, where they’ll see their product already allocated in their shopping cart.

Google Performance Max Campaign Improvements

Google has decided to provide advertisers will more tools to help them fully leverage their Google Performance Max campaigns. Among these tools include doing A/B split testing and being able to feature sales and discount items more prominently. In-Store Goals is another announcement where Google will focus on optimizing in-store sales and visits.

Google will also roll out optimization scores and offer Google recommendations to improve those scores. Seasonal campaigns – referred to as burst campaigns in Google’s Performance Max – will also play a more significant role, allowing advertisers to take advantage of seasonal events and activities.

Google Display and TV App Optimizing

As mentioned, visuals played a significant role at this year’s Google event, which invariably means a greater emphasis on Google’s Display network. One such announcement includes leveraging Video 360 alongside your display ads as a means of increasing your reach to audiences using TV apps like YouTube.

Improved Insights Page

Google announced plans for upgrading its insights page with performance metrics on auction, audiences, and attribution insights. With improvement in auction insights, you’ll have better tools to maximize your ad budget through auction insights, identify which customer segment is generating the highest ad returns on audience insights, and be able to see how all your ads perform through attribution insights.

Improved Asset Library

Google also announced upgrades to its asset library that will allow advertisers to create videos in as little as 60 seconds. This ability to create a video in just one minute will be accessible at the account level of the new asset library. This is where you keep all your photos, images, logos, and videos. Google will also help with a feature that will aid in the creation of these assets with responsive search advertisements. This feature is in testing but will involve Google crawling your website and putting ads together based on your website’s photos, images, and videos.