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Data-driven Attribution Becomes The Default? You can still opt out!

author image Written by: Rabije Gashi Corluka           Categories - In The News, Paid Ads

Google is all about automation, whether you like it or not. In their e-mail to advertisers, they let them know about their ad accounts switching to data-driven attribution.

In the e-mail, Google tells the advertisers which of their accounts qualify for the switch and gives them a deadline for cancelling the auto-switch, Search Engine Land reports. We went through our e-mails and here’s what we got:

But, wait – what is this data-driven thing now?

Back in September, Google revealed its plan to turn data-driven attribution into a default model. At the same time, they said that the other five rule-based models will still exist and be available for usage.

By using advanced machine learning techniques, data-driven attribution can understand the contribution each marketing touchpoint made to lead to conversions. Google says data-driven attribution accounts for several factors, such as ad format and time between ad and interaction.

As Barry Schwartz explained in this article, data-driven attribution checks the website and your ads on various platforms and uses data from your account to figure out which keywords and campaigns have the biggest impact on your business. In the end, it checks out how people engaged with your ads and comes up with a plan to move forward.

Learn how data-driven attribution works here.

“Data-driven attribution allows us to assign the right credit to every touchpoint. With automated bidding and data-driven attribution, we’ve seen an 18% reduction in cost of sales over last-click” – Lara Harter, Head of Online Marketing, DocMorris

So according to Lara, this could help save up some resources and direct them somewhere else. This option could work well with Smart Campaigns, but as always – you should do your own mini research.

Read More: Smart Campaigns Will Be Gone For Good Soon

The Backlash

However, not everyone is happy with this move by Google. For example, David Melamed expressed his opinion on LinkedIn:

“Data driven attribution doesn’t understand your cashflow needs. It doesn’t understand the human side of your account. Conversion & attribution models SHOULD NEVER be taken out of the hands of advertisers… Especially when Google owns the auction house.”

Others have a bit different opinion:

If you don’t want Google to make the switch, you can turn the option off using the link you got in the email.

Sure – data-driven attribution might actually work for you, but make sure you analyze everything first.

Compare the changes that would happen if you do make the switch.

Read More: Google Adds Four New Features To Performance Max

 

Rabije Gashi Corluka

Rabije always enjoyed finding different angles to a story, so it’s not surprising her curiosity influenced a move to a new continent, widening her perspective. She enjoys hearing people's stories and learning about different cultures and places - but most of all, she loves putting her thoughts on a piece of paper. Her love for writing led to her studying Journalism and PR, but she actually became a storyteller during her radio-hosting era. Now, she uses her skills, experience, and love for writing to help your brand stand out.

You Can Use Third-party Cookies For An Extra Year

08/03/2022

We should have said goodbye to third-party cookies by now, but Google changed its mind. Again. The search engine is delaying its deprecation of third-party cookies and plans to kiss them goodbye in 2024, instead of early next year.

This is not the first time Chrome has prolonged the usage of these cute little assets – their plans changed last year when they decided to stop the usage of third-party cookies in 2023. This is the second extension.

Third-party cookies have been a go-to solution for years when it comes to measuring digital ad performance – and once Google stops supporting them, it will be way harder to see view-through conversions, especially if someone saw your ad and converted on your website later.

Why Is Google Extending Again?

Because they need more time to test the Privacy Sandbox initiative, Search Engine Journal reports. The Privacy Sandbbox initiative is supposed to be a low-key solution for targeted advertising.

“The most consistent feedback we’ve received is the need for more time to evaluate and test the new Privacy Sandbox technologies before deprecating third-party cookies in Chrome…

This deliberate approach to transitioning from third-party cookies ensures that the web can continue to thrive, without relying on cross-site tracking identifiers or covert techniques like fingerprinting.” –  said Anthony Chavez, Vice President of Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative.

So, instead of just replacing the cookies with something new and wild, Google is taking a more rational approach and plans for a more gradual transition. The trial version of the Privacy Sandbox API is available to developers and should be available for millions of people this month too. More testing for more people is planned for next year.

Read More: Advertisers Working Hard To Find Alternatives to third party cookies

Other than using first-party cookies, you have some extra options for dealing with Google not supporting third-party cookies. This includes:

  • Identity Solutions – email address, phone number, login ID. This uses 1st-party cookies on your website
  • Google’s Privacy Sandbox – still developing
  • Publisher Provided Identifiers (PPIDs)
  • Contextual Targeting – doesn’t rely on personal data, but on the web page’s contents for keywords and phrases (time spent browsing)
  • Data Pools or Data Clean Rooms – storing a large amount of data
  • User Identity Graphs – combines personal identity information (email address) with 1st-party cookies and publisher IDs.
  • Digital Fingerprinting – identifying users by recording their IP, plugins, screen size, browser, time zone and OS.
Read More: How To Handle the removal of third party cookies

 

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Smart Campaigns Will Be Gone For Good Soon

07/22/2022

Google began rolling out automatic updates to convert Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max – Search Engine Land reports.

For most users, the updates will finish rolling out in two months. They will receive a notification around 2 or 3 weeks before the updates take effect. They will also be notified of the specific date when the campaigns will be converted. However, some Smart Shopping campaigns, like the ones using vehicle ads, will be completed early next year.

Read More: Google Updated Performance Max Campaigns

Don’t Wait For Google

You don’t have to wait for Google to do this for you. Actually, you shouldn’t – take this into your own hands and have more control over the settings of your campaigns.

If you want to update campaigns on your own, because you’re smart, strong, and pretty – you can do that by using the ‘one click’ upgrade tool.

Whether your campaigns are automatically- or self-upgraded with the tool, all the history and learnings from your previous Smart Shopping Campaigns, along with its settings are automatically transferred over to your new Performance Max campaigns.

Read More: Google Performance Max Getting 7 New Updates

New Ad Creation Tools

Google also launched three new ad creation tools which could help drive better results, especially on YouTube:

  • Asset Storage
  • Video Ad Templates
  • Voice-over Audio

These new tools should help advertising teams out there create and collaborate on campaigns without leaving the ads platform.

Read More: Discovery Ad Users Get Four New Features

Read More: Data-driven Attribution Becomes The Default?

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