Discovery Ads: reach new channels easily

New opportunity in Google Discovery

All the new features of Google Ads are presented in beta form and this could not be less. Today we are going to talk about Discovery Ads, something that seems very interesting for the opportunities it presents.
Google Discovery is something that was already part of our daily lives. Machine learning analyzes our browsing and consultation habits to offer us, at the start of the application, information in the form of cards. These contents are intended to be very close to our interests; information about news, websites, the weather, the new album of a singer we follow, a news item about our city's basketball team... and so on and so forth.

We can directly provide Google with precise information about our interests. In the cards themselves we can configure that we are not interested in the content or the website that offers it. Or globally in the interest settings in Google.
The website owners configure the data from the Search Console to better position themselves in Google Discovery.

What is Discovery Ads

For Google Ads this beta is good news, the Discovery Ads tool allows us to create campaigns to appear in these same spaces reserved for the user's content of interest. We already know that Google does not miss the opportunity to monetize and this was not going to be less. But in this case, and despite being sponsored content, it must be adapted to the interests of customers, and it will be machine learning, in addition to the configuration of our campaign, who determines when it will be shown and to whom.
We can appear in You Tube, Gmail and Google Discovery, creating a small native feed of images. In these ads we will add titles, descriptions, calls to action and the url where we want to direct our ads.

A website that does not have a channel or the possibility of creating videos can use this type of campaign to integrate advertising on You Tube. In the same way we can generate campaigns for Gmail with a simpler configuration and without the need to have good display banners.
We will be able to segment the audiences in which we are most interested, although it will be Google, with the analysis of customer interests, who will finally insert the card in Google Discovery.
With this new tool, there are now 4 Google image campaigns, along with shopping, display and YouTube. Images continue to lead advertising, where video is the king. This type of ad, together with YouTube and Gmail, is more intrusive than shopping. The big difference is the ability offered by Google Discovery to show information more refined to the user's interests, which gives a turn towards inbound marketing.

How to create Discovery Ads campaigns

To create Discover campaigns we can make it possible by choosing Sales, Sales Opportunities or website traffic as the campaign objective.

Next, we can select the Discovery campaign objective. We configure the campaign according to the parameters selected for our account. It will be necessary to select the images we want to use, either we can try to make a branding with generic images and the claim, or we can show products or product categories, according to the seasonality of the moment, even promos or other events.

The bidding strategy is only set to maximize clicks and a target CPA can be added, which at the beginning would be difficult to establish so it is normal to let the campaign run and in a few weeks analyze the results to be able to give more details to the configuration.

It allows us to select audiences to give more data to the campaign depending on the objectives we want to achieve, either using remarketing or prospecting, or both, in which case it is more advisable to separate groups of ads, even campaigns.
It is interesting to remember that, despite the fact that we establish target audiences, which will limit the audience we want to address, it will be Google's machine learning that will end up establishing how and to whom it will show our cards according to the interests shown by the users.

Types of Discovery Ads

As in almost all Google campaigns, we will be able to include two types of ads, quite interesting in both cases. On the one hand, an adaptive ad that works as a native feed where we can add several images, titles and descriptions, and it will be the program itself who will make the composition of the ads, which allows us to generate a large number of combinations.

On the other hand, we have the carousel ads, which are quite reminiscent of platforms such as Facebook. We will configure independently each of the cards that the user will be able to slide with the finger. This type of ad comes in handy when we want to show several types of products or services with more personalized messages.

Or it can be configured as an adaptive ad, creating a native feed.

Implement this option in shopping campaigns

In shopping campaigns, which are not configured as Smart, it is also possible to add this type of ads in the segmentation. In Networks we have the possibility to select this option, and the shopping cards can work as Discovery Ads. Obviously we don't have as much control over how it works. We also can't see the results in the segments within networks, but hopefully soon the information will be available and we will be able to accurately measure these results.

Data analysis

However, as a good beta we will not yet be able to make deep analysis of the results. Google does not allow to segment the data to see the results for each of the channels, but we hope that the configuration and analysis will be implemented. Google betas do not always prosper, betas are born and betas die. But possibly this one is here to stay, maybe not as it was born... but evolving to adapt.
Google Discovery is a platform in full development and cannot be left without its advertising space. In the same way that You Tube will not be reserved only for those websites that have a channel and videos, thus offering the possibility of branding and showcasing products through Google Ads.
And like everything else, it will be necessary to test, measure and analyze to see the impact on advertising accounts, and wait for Google's development, which will also have its accounts.