Digital Recap: New Features for Google Local Ads

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Apple’s iOS 14 Updates Causing Headaches

While in-app targeting restrictions have been delayed, last week’s rollout of iOS 14 updates is generating new tensions in the advertising world. As outlined for Adweek by Ronan Shields and Sara Jerde, Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) is, by default, turned on in Google Chrome on iPhones in this release. For advertisers, this means limitations on our ability to identify specific audience types. It heightens the demand for adapting to a cookie-less future. Further analysis is shared in Shields and Jerde’s article, “Apple’s iOS 14 Brings Us a Cookieless Future Sooner Than We Thought.”  

Facebook Removes Ad Restrictions on Text Content 

Creatives take note! Facebook is now removing restrictions on ads with more than 20% text in the main image. These ads will no longer be penalized in ad auctions and delivery. Andrew Hutchinson, writing for Social Media Today, notes that this update remedies a sore-spot for advertisers, who have had to play the formatting game to comply with Facebook’s rules. Facebook maintains that ad images with less text do perform better, but with the update, ads won’t have reach restrictions imposed due to a higher text percentage. Learn more about the update with Hutchinson’s article, “Facebook is Removing its Restrictions on Text Content in Facebook Ad Images.” 

Yelp Launches New Set of Ad Tools 

Yelp just released new advertising tools to improve local campaign management and performance. Laurie Sullivan covered the update for Media Post. Here are a few of the notable features: 

• Advertisers can choose the type of engagement they want to drive, whether phone calls, site visits, or messages, and Yelp can optimize for the greatest returns. 
• Keyword blocking – advertisers can prevent their ads from running on searches they aren’t interested in. 
• Advertisers can see how their ad settings will impact the potential audience size. 
• With One Click Restart, advertisers can resume paused campaigns while maintaining previous settings. 

For more new features and details on the mentioned, read Sullivan’s article, “Yelp to Add Heat Maps Keyword Blocking For Advertisers.” 

Google: New Features for Local Ads 

On Wednesday, Google announced a trio of exciting features for local ads that lean-in to the increase in online-to-offline shopping behavior. In his piece for Search Engine Land, Greg Sterling provides details on the release, which includes: 

• Service attributes for Local Campaigns 
• “Pick up later” for Local Inventory Ads 
• Smart Bidding optimization for in-store sales 

Google is building tools to meet the ‘buy online pickup in store’ consumer use case and is investing – more than its competitors – in online-to-offline capabilities. Read Sterling’s article for more information: “Google local ads gain Smart Bidding for store sales, ‘pick up later,’ service attributes.” 

 

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