Google announces 4 new features for Discovery ad users

Google Discovery ad users may see a few new features starting today. Google says these features are aimed at helping keep audiences engaged throughout the upcoming holiday season. The new features are:

• Better ad experiences
• Improved creative support
• New insights
• Enhanced campaign management

Better ad experiences

Google says that they’re working on making ad experiences more browseable in the Gmail Social and Promotions tabs by including richer details, like product images and prices. They’ll also use machine learning to match the asset to the right audience at the right time.

Improved creative support

The onboarding flow for creating Discovery ads has been rebuilt. During the ad creation, advertisers will see prompts to add additional aspect ratios, unique headlines, and adding text overlays across images. Users will also receive live feedback on ad strength with ratings from “Poor” to “Excellent,” as well as an optimization score with actionable guidance. 

New audience insights

Discovery advertisers can now use the insights page to see which audience segments may deliver the biggest impact. Advertisers can also use asset reporting to view performance across the Discovery ads. Users can compare the performance between assets and decide which ones to turn off, switch, or edit. Advertisers can also use optimized targeting to assess information about keywords and landing pages to find audiences that can meet your campaign goals.

Enhanced campaign management

There is a new audience builder advertisers can use to create and reuse audiences across campaigns. Users can also use the Google Ads Editor as well as API to manage campaigns at scale. 

What Google says. You can read the full announcement from Google in their help guide. 

Why we care. New and old users of Discovery ads should test these features before going all in. Only you know your audiences and KPIs. Following Google Best Practices is a great place to start, but adjust as necessary and always review auto-generated assets.

About The Author

Nicole Farley is an editor for Search Engine Land covering all things PPC. In addition to being a Marine Corps veteran, she has an extensive background in digital marketing, an MBA and a penchant for true crime, podcasts, travel, and snacks.