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Introducing Google's New Ad Format

Picture of Honcho Honcho : Nov 25, 2009 4:20:47 AM

With Google’s core principle “getting the right ad to the right person at the right time” they continue to think of new innovative ways to give users the information that they want. In the past couple of weeks Google have been experimenting with various search ads, and have now decided to explain what each version does and how it works on the Google Blog. The format of the new search ads provides the user with different media and types of information that is not text. Sometimes pictures and videos are a more useful media type that the conventional text based Ads, especially when searching for things including the latest movie releases, or looking for an address of a certain shop. Susan Wojcicki, Vice President of the product management team at Google explains “If you’re looking to buy your mom a new handbag for the holidays, for instance, you might want to see pictures, prices, the addresses of boutiques in your area and a map of how to get there — all within the ad” Google have been introducing these new functions for a while and some will not be new to regular users of Google such as the recent BETA trial of AdWords Sitelinks. If you are in or have been to the U.S recently you may have already seen a number of these ad formats whilst searching Google. Starting today U.S advertisers “can get started with a new feature of AdWords called product extensions”. This feature allows to use your existing Google Merchant Centre account to promote your products directly in your search ads. Therefore if a user searches for ski jackets and you have a search ad and products related to the ad your products might appear with image, product name and title allowing the user to make an informed decision before choosing the advert.

Although advertisers in the U.S are able to use the product extensions feature of Adwords, it remains in a BETA testing state outside the U.S. Dan Friedman, part of Google’s Inside AdWords crew states “Over time, we hope to offer product extensions to all advertisers globally.” Another new feature to the ad format might help you find an address, telephone number or locations of specific stores in the area you are searching for. This might come in use if you are in an unfamiliar city and need to find a certain shop, restaurant or location.

Other new ad formats include the Comparison Ads and Video Ads that Google hope help provide the user with the information that they require. Susan Wojcicki finished by saying “We’ll keep trying new things until we discover the “perfect” ads that improve your overall search experience.” What are your thoughts of the new Google Ad Formats? Do you think the new formats will push the natural search results further down the page and what effects will that have?

About Shivam Patel — Shivam Patel is a Senior Account Manager at iThinkMedia. Learn more about Shivam Patel on LinkedIn or follow him on twitter @Shivam_Patel.