Today we’re delving back into the dark and stormy world of Google AdWords. We’re predominantly an SEO company, so it pains us a bit to say it, but Google AdWords has it’s place in the digital marketing spectrum, and you should always be looking for that edge. Today, we have such an edge for you, in the form of an interesting viewability option that has been newly introduced to the platform. Let’s take a look at what it is and what it means for your search engine marketing efforts.
The viewability option is specifically about Google AdWords display ad targeting products. In the past, you paid when your ad was delivered, whether or not it was seen. Do you have a guess what percentage of ads usually go unseen? Any guess at all? The answer, according to the ever reliable ComScore, is a surprisingly large 31 percent of display ads are never actually seen by users. Think of that. Nearly a full third of the ads you pay to serve aren’t even seen.
That’s what this new viewability option aims to fix.
As you can see in this screenshot from Marketing Land, the new option has been quietly added to the settings, seen below:
With this new option, you only pay for ads that are viewed by your targeted audience. It likely won’t be 100 percent effective, but it will cut that 31 percent number dramatically.
Google added the feature quietly, almost like they were trying to sneak it in, and they haven’t commented on it since. We’ll keep our ear to the ground (like always) and let you know if anything interesting develops. In the meantime, if you use AdWords as a part of your digital marketing strategy, be sure you check out this new feature and see if it changes your effectiveness at all.