Here are top 10 features of Google Adwords from 2015 that are still impactful

With Google AdWords, change is the only constant. We keep looking forward to all new features and updates that Google keeps releasing.

These features have such a great impact on us as digital marketers that we keep waiting for ‘What Next’. Though there have been a plethora of updates in the year gone by, we decided to list down the Top 10 feature updates, which are extremely impactful and our favorites.

1. Callouts- With this extension, you can include additional text with your search ads. This highlights or summarizes your business offering and is 25 character piece of text. You can have minimum of two and maximum four callouts per account, campaign, or ad group for an ad. There is no cost to add callout extensions and these are shown in the order in which they have been created.
2. Pivot reports- The reporting section in AdWords is a pivot table making tool. This drag and drop pivot table is quick and easy to use and allows to slice and dice the data. You can generate reports as tables or graphs (line, bar, pie).
3. G Mail Ads- These were formerly known as Gmail Sponsored Promotions. Gmail Ads platform is inside the AdWords interface and targets users with high-impact, message-like ad format. These are technically a display campaign. The users are shown collapsed ad at the top of the tabs in their Gmail account. The collapsed ad opens to an expanded ad.
4. Customer Match –You can use e-mail addresses to target ads, the e-mail list must contain at least 1,000 gmail.com users. With this, you can reach customers on Gmail, Search or YouTube and target specific people for specific keywords. You can also use broader keywords because of limited audience. You can bid more aggressively on your most valuable email lists. Customer Match can be paired with additional targeting options.
5. vCPM Bidding-This is Viewable Cost Per Thousand Bidding and is a bidding method for display ads. You pay for viewable/visible impressions. “Viewable" is defined as 50% or more of ad showing for one second or longer. In this, the bids have to be slightly higher to remain competitive.
6. Structured Snippets- This highlights specific aspects of your products and services in the ad. It allows generating a categorized list of items to enhance search ads and is displayed under main ad text. AdWords supports 12 different categories. This extension gives customers a better sense of website content before they click on the ad and also helps improve ROI, CTR and drive more informed traffic.
7. Audience Insights- With this you can get more insight into the remarketing audiences. It shows demographics, locations, devices, location and interests of people on remarketing lists. You can find new and relevant audiences to expand ad group targeting.
8. YouTube Remarketing – The tailored ads are shown based on viewers past interactions with YouTube. You can remarket based on actions specific to your YouTube videos and grab your potential customer’s attention. This is a step outside of the 70-character limit of conventional text ads. With this you connect more directly with customers and improve your ROI.
9. New Ad Customizers- This gives the ability to use time-dependent data to generate custom ads. They are useful for advertisers managing huge volume of ads. The product variations, pricing adjustments and promotions can be managed at scale. The simplest method is the event countdown timer.
10. Mobile Bid Adjustment Simulator-Shows you how changes to your mobile bid adjustment might affect your ad performance on different devices. The feature offers clicks, cost, and impressions estimates. It is available for shopping and search campaigns running for mobile devices. This is not available for campaigns using automated bid.

(This article is authored by Amitabh Verma, CEO and Founder of AMP Digital, a firm into online training and agency space)