Google Gallery Ads
What if you and your business were missing out on the hottest new marketing opportunity?
Google’s Gallery Ads are a unique opportunity for companies to revolutionize their advertising. However, you can’t capitalize on this opportunity unless you understand everything about it.
What Are Google’s Gallery Ads?
We’ve put together a solid guide for how and why Google’s Gallery Ads will change the marketing game. First, though, we must define exactly what these gallery ads are.
This is basically Google’s answer to Facebook’s Carousel ads. It allows images to be included as part of paid search ads, which creates a fundamental shift in customer engagement.
You must include a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 images. These images may include special taglines, and the entire ad can be topped off with a CTA.
With the reveal of these ads, Google has shown that they see the writing on the wall. In an increasingly visual culture (especially online culture), imagery is one of the best ways to get someone’s attention.
There Can Be Only One
There are many advantages that Gallery Ads have over traditional paid advertisements. And one of our favourites is a kind of exclusivity at the top of the search results.
With the more traditional text search ads, users may receive up to 4 different ads at the top of their results. So even if your business has paid for the privilege of that spot, you must still compete with others to secure the customer’s business.
With Gallery Ads, only one such ad appears at the top of the results. This makes it easier for customers to navigate and ensures their search results aren’t a crowded cluster of images.
But it also means that your company enjoys a real marketing advantage with a gallery ad. You can visually compel the customers without having any visual rivals to steal your limelight.
Smartphone-Friendly
In recent years, responsive design has become more important than ever. The reason is simple: more people are browsing the internet through their smartphones and tablets than through their desktop computers. And they have for several years now.
Google understands this and went out of their way to create smartphone-friendly gallery ads. In fact, users can simply swipe through all of the different images with the flick of a finger.
In this way, these ads are similar to advertisements users may see on Facebook and Instagram. And their familiarity with the format will make it easier for users to embrace this new kind of ad.
So far, these gallery ads are only planned for smartphones. But they may evolve as we head into a marketing future.
A painting is more visceral than a page, and an image is always more engaging than a word.
A Thousand Words
So far, we have discussed user engagement with these visual ads. However, it’s worth posing the question: what unique advantages does imagery have over persuasive text?
The answer is something we have all known since we were children: pictures really are worth a thousand words. A painting is more visceral than a page, and an image is always more engaging than a word.
Most businesses do their best to create an emotional connection between their products and their customers. With image-driven ads, you can create such a connection in an easy and organic way.
Visual Culture
Even if the imagery was not naturally more engaging, we must face the fact that modern culture has changed. And more than ever, we live in an age of visuals.
It’s why Instagram and Youtube have skyrocketed in popularity. Users don’t want you to tell them about an amazing product or experience. They want you to show it to them!
Using Google’s Gallery Ads helps you piggyback off of the visual culture that has been created by social media and media streaming sites. Ultimately, you’re giving the audience what they want in a way that offers unique engagement and brand-building opportunities.
Taglines Ahoy
Obviously, we’re big fans of images over text. But there’s no need for you to pick only one side and stick to it.
Google’s Gallery Ads let you include a tagline for each one of the images in your ad. That means that you can have up to 8 separate taglines as part of your gallery.
This allows you to cast the widest possible net with your advertisements. And you can simultaneously appeal to those driven by imagery and those driven by text.
And these taglines mean you don’t necessarily have to reinvent the wheel. Instead, you can fold more of your existing marketing and taglines into a new gallery ad campaign.
Built-in CTAs
No matter the form of the paid advertisement, the goal is always the same: get the customer to click on the CTA.
When Google announced their gallery ads, many were concerned that they would lose out on more traditional CTAs. And without those CTAs, the advertisements would not be as directive as they needed to be.
However, this fear proved to be unfounded. Each Google Gallery Ad has an integrated CTA.
This lets you have the best of both worlds in terms of advertising. You can re-use some of your most effective CTAs or design something brand new to take advantage of this new medium.
Customized Headlines
One of the biggest marketing challenges in recent years has been creating dynamic advertising. In an ever-changing SERP world, no business wants to be stuck with static ads.
With Google Gallery Ads, you get that dynamic quality built into the headlines. In fact, you can create up to three unique headlines per gallery ad.
Google’s algorithm selects which headline to display to each customer. This way, even those who keep encountering the same ad may find something new the second or third time around.
Gallery Ads, Google, and You: The Bottom Line
Now you know all about Gallery Ads, Google, and your business. But do you know who can help you make the most out of this new form of advertising?
We are experts in all aspects of social media and search engine marketing. To see how we can give your business an edge, just contact us today!
Written by Jason, Account Manager