Google rarely hands out technical advertising tips.
Thankfully, they didn’t stay quiet when Performance Max lead gen ads started snagging too many fake leads for advertisers…
-Server-side validation
-Double opt-in
-Recaptcha https://t.co/QZ5zIntszW
-Offline conversion measurement & optimization: OCI https://t.co/T0CFv2Utqd or Enhanced Conv for Leads https://t.co/lplrN6zGCE w/ Qualified & Converted conversion categories https://t.co/tGBHoG6JVM
2/2— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) October 18, 2022
Coping mechanisms: Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Liaison, said the company is actively working to “address concerns” and prevent this from happening again.
To help marketers reduce fake lead counts in the meantime, she provided a list of tips, including enabling server-side validation, double opt-in, recaptcha, and more. Sigh.
Also, Google’s letting people be selective: Or as they say, your ad, your choice. Their new My Ad Center allows users to control the kinds of ads they see across Google properties.
Users can now block or disable ads they find irrelevant. Keep that in mind when you run campaigns…
On the bright side, Google made shopping easier with two new updates:
- Trending now for shopping. Google started showing a “Trending now box” on search results pages, showing shoppers the most popular product related queries.
- Shoppable search on desktop. The Shopping Graph on desktop is getting more visual, with an expanded feed, dynamic filters, and more.
Why we care: Performance Max is far from complete, unfortunately, so you can probably expect more issues. And while the tips above can help, they can only mitigate the problem, not solve it.
On the other hand, both Shopping updates could give your products a lift in search. Just need to play those ad and SEO cards right…