Jyll Saskin Gales spent 6 years at Google helping their largest advertisers to grow internationally. Now she’s all about helping all of us to improve our Google Ads results via her coaching and courses, the “Inside Google Ads” Podcast AND her bestselling, book “Inside Google Ads: Everything you need to know about Audience Targeting”.
In this episode, Jyll cuts through the latest Google Ads updates, explaining which new features are worth using and which you can safely ignore. She also shares what advertisers should be doing now to prepare their campaigns for the holiday season.
Dive in:
[04:58] Explaining Google Shopping campaigns
[09:12] Explaining Smart Bidding Exploration
[11:17] Explaining Customer Lifecycle Goals
[13:17] Common Google Ads mistakes
[19:33] Google Merchant Center AI features
[23:11] Using AI for product photos
[25:49] Using YouTube for holiday campaigns
[29:52] Insider Tips from Jyll!
Focus on the Google Ads features that can improve holiday performance
Google is adding more bidding, targeting and automation features, but that does not mean every eCommerce business needs to use them. Jyll recommends starting with the features that solve a clear problem in the account. For example, Maximize Conversion Value can help Shopping campaigns focus on revenue rather than clicks, while Promotion Mode is designed to help campaigns respond to a sales period. The key is to choose features that match the business goal and the campaign stage. Don’t switch on new features simply because they are new.
Get your customer data and product feed right before relying on AI
Google’s newer features depend more than ever on good data. Customer Lifecycle Goals can help advertisers target new, existing and high-value customers, but only when the customer lists are set up correctly. Jyll also highlights the growing importance of the Merchant Center feed, with new product attributes helping Google understand and present products in more ways. This means eCommerce brands should review their customer lists and product data before the holiday rush. Better inputs give Google’s automation and AI a stronger foundation to work from.
Don’t chase every new AI feature
AI Max for Shopping, AI creative tools and new automated campaign features can open up new opportunities. But Jyll’s advice is not to adopt every feature just because it is available. AI Max for Shopping, for example, offers a middle ground between Standard Shopping and Performance Max for advertisers who want more automation. Google’s AI tools can also help smaller teams create backgrounds, scenes and video assets without relying on a large creative team. The best approach is to test the features that solve a real need, while keeping strong campaign structure, tracking and creative fundamentals in place.
Prepare for the holidays early and resist the urge to over-optimise
Holiday Google Ads success starts well before Black Friday. Jyll recommends having the holiday strategy locked by September and campaigns ready by October at the latest. eCommerce brands should plan beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday, including December, post-Christmas and potentially January. She also warns against making constant changes in the name of optimisation, as too much testing can hurt performance. Plan early, give campaigns time to work and focus your changes on the things that can make a real difference.
Takeaways:
Find the notes here: https://keepopt.com/319
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