AdStage Now Supports Google Shopping Campaigns Management

Self-serve ad management platform AdStage has unveiled support for Google Shopping campaigns through a new integration with Google Merchant Center.

Users will be able to manage and report on Shopping campaigns from the AdStage platform, which also facilitates ad management for AdWords text ads, Bing Ads, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook campaigns.

The Merchant Center integration offers advertisers a lot of functionality including the ability to create new Google Shopping campaigns, set up automated rules and optimize campaigns based on Google Analytics reporting accessed from within AdStage. The platform’s Google Analytics integration rolled out in June.

AdStage says Google Shopping support is just one of several upcoming updates for e-commerce marketers, including Pinterest ads, Facebook carousel ad formats and Twitter product pages.

“We’re expanding the AdStage platform capabilities to be more flexible for eCommerce advertisers. We’re working on even more new features to that will provide cross­-network value for this audience,” said Sahil Jain, CEO and co­-founder of AdStage. “We’re sticking to our overall vision for the platform, to help advertisers consolidate their ad efforts by bringing in all their advertising tools under one umbrella.”

The company claims over 4,000 agencies and advertisers are now using the platform, which launched just over two years ago, to manage search, social and mobile campaigns. Pricing plans start at $199 per month.

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How Google Beacons Could Transform Local Business

Imagine walking into your house and having your phone remind you to turn on its WiFi. Of course, you don’t have to imagine, because that technology is already here for both Android and IOS.

That functionality relies on the Global Positioning System (GPS) standard; so, while your phone can pinpoint where you are within 11 feet if permitted, our smartphones don’t know what floor we’re on, or how close we are to the window or refrigerator.

What if your phone had a way to do this, so that it could, say, remind you to send your grocery list only when you actually walked into the kitchen, or only tell you to pay your bills online when you sit down at the computer in the family study on the first Tuesday of the month?

That technology, too, is already in existence. Apple debuted iBeacon technology at a developer’s conference in 2013 with a major caveat: it only worked with the company’s devices. While iPhone and iPad users with the feature enabled can currently use it in Apple stores and at many Major Baseball League stadiums, adoption has been slower with retailers — perhaps because it leaves out a sizable portion of shoppers.

Google recently released an open source version of the software that enables Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon hardware technology to communicate with smart devices running either Android or iOS, called Eddystone. Google says the name comes from a famous UK lighthouse.

What Is A BLE Beacon?

The imagery of a lighthouse is deliberate.

Just as a lighthouse sends out a signal in the form of light to all ships within its radius, devices enabled with this Eddystone technology are able to transmit to (as well as receive information from) smartphones in the background. They can broadcast or simply house data that can then be pushed to or requested by the user of the smart device.

These transmitters work by using low energy Bluetooth to send signals that can be picked up by devices with this same technology nearby. As long as your phone is in range of a beacon, it can get updated information about the environment you’re in.

For example, let’s say you’re on vacation in another city, and you want to find out if the bus stop you’re standing in front of can take you to your destination, or if you should hail a taxi.

The sign for the bus stop itself could potentially be a beacon in disguise that could emit this information to your cell phone in the background. Just as paper or electronic bus schedules are widely available now at no cost, so could this be in 15 years.

Instead of searching your phone for the bus stop information, when you looked at your smartphone, smartwatch or tablet, it would show you that there was an information beacon nearby that was already sending that data to you, and if you cared to receive it, you could have that bus schedule in one swipe.

Theoretically, this could be updated in real time by the beacon’s communications with other data sources — so instead of just the bus schedule, it might be able to tell you whether the bus was on time, show what traffic was like, or link you to alternative modes of travel.

It could connect you to a stream of data that would tell you what points of interest were on the way, what coffee shop you have a coupon for, and if your travel companion was close enough to come pick you up on their way instead.

Why Is It Important To Local Businesses?

If you’ve ever watched Minority Report (or similar films set in a highly technological future), you’ve seen an imagined vision of highly personalized advertisements, shopping assistants that are hyper-local to the customer, and coupons pushed to a browsing customer’s wallet.

As this technology matures, applications could be developed that give local businesses access to the same technology that Apple’s iBeacon offers, but open to every customer with a smart cell phone, watch or tablet.

For example, you’re likely already familiar with “near me” searches, where you open your phone and conduct a search such as “restaurants near me.”

If you were a restaurant owner, here’s what you could do utilizing beacons:

• Broadcast the specials to all receptive smart devices in the area.
• Share how freshly brewed the coffee is.
• Offer turn-by-turn directions to people walking on the street.
• Let your customer pay without ever taking out their wallet or cell phone.
• Send updates about upcoming events.

How Does My Business Take Advantage Of This?

It’s a bit early for most businesses to run out and purchase BLE beacons that will work with this cross-platform, open-source Eddystone format that Google has released. However, you could theoretically start testing the technology in-house.

Here’s what you would need.

1. Eddystone-compatible BLE beacon hardware
2. An idea of what you’d want your app to do
3. A developer who can create with both the Nearby and Proximity APIs

With these in place, you could hire a developer to start creating simple apps for your place of business to see how the beacon and smartphones interact. Or, if you’re savvy, you might be able to start this project yourself.

Maybe instead of checking a security badge log to see when employees arrive, you could have their cell phones register with a beacon. Employees could avoid foot traffic jams at popular office locations such as the kitchen or printer if a beacon could tell them how many people were gathered there at the moment.

These same studies might give you an early look at possible concerns that could arise, such as privacy and legal issues. When and how can you begin interacting with a customer via beacon technology? How do you make sure that customers know they can opt out?

You could also get a head start on explaining how any existing apps that you’ve already created for your customers will work when they get the Eddystone upgrade.

However you take advantage of this technology in its infancy, just as with the Web, this change is upon us and likely unavoidable. As previous trends have shown, it’s better to adopt these technological changes ahead of your customers. Better to embrace the exciting changes than to be left behind.

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HERE Maps Sale Confirmed, German Car Makers Will Continue To License Platform

Consistent with previous reports of a sale of its HERE mapping unit to a consortium of German automakers, Nokia issued a press release earlier confirming the sale.

The German group includes AUDI AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG. The purchase price, €2.8 billion ($3.07 billion), was slightly higher than the roughly €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) earlier reported. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2016.

The HERE sale was motivated by the company’s move to acquire network equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent. Nokia now has two business units: Nokia Networks and Nokia Technologies. The company said the latter “will continue to provide advanced technology development and licensing.”

The $3 billion sale is far less than the $8.1 billion Nokia paid for Navteq in 2007, which became the basis of HERE. At one time Nokia envisioned HERE as a global challenger to Google Maps when it was still in the handset business (it will soon be again but as a licensor of its brand rather than as an OEM).

According to Nokia, HERE had an operating profit of €28 million ($30 million) for the first half of 2015, roughly 1/100 of the selling price.

As previously discussed the German automakers were motivated to buy HERE to support their self-driving car initiatives:

HERE is laying the foundations for the next generation of mobility and location based services. For the automotive industry this is the basis for new assistance systems and ultimately fully autonomous driving. Extremely precise digital maps will be used in combination with real-time vehicle data in order to increase road safety and to facilitate innovative new products and services. On the basis of the shared raw data, all automobile manufacturers can offer their customers differentiated and brand-specific services.

The automakers said they would continue to invest in HERE and license its technology and data to third parties. In the press statement they affirmed that HERE would continue to be a “strong and independent provider of maps and location-based services . . . available to all customers across industries.”

It remains to be seen whether they will continue to invest at levels that maintain HERE’s global mapping competitiveness.

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Google Search Analytics Report Data Missing; Google Working On A Fix

Google’s Search Console, formerly Google Webmaster Tools, is having a data issue with their Search Analytics report. Data for July 28 is missing from the report, and there are widespread reports of the issue.

Although not everyone is affected, I am able to replicate the issue across my account. If you scroll over the Search Analytics chart, you will see it skip from the July 27t to the July 29, completely missing July 28.

I created this animated GIF showing the issue:

Gary Illyes from Google told me that Google is aware and is working on fixing the issue.

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Google Hires More SEOs

Last week, we reported that Google is hiring an SEO to work as an employee in their Google Cloud Platform division.

This weekend, I was forwarded an email from an SEO I know that shows Google is now hiring SEOs on a 12-month contract basis to work on the Google Store web site at store.google.com.

The contract job means Google will not be hiring you directly but instead a company named Zenith Talent will be your employer. You will however be working on site in Google’s offices at Mountain View, California. The job title is an “SEO Specialist/ Project Manager II” and the SEO contractor will be responsible for marketing Google’s devices, i.e. Nexus phones, tablets, Android Wear watches, Chromebooks, Nest, Chromecast, accessories, etc., through Google e-commerce storefront at store.google.com.

I do not want to reveal too much information here, but I posted a screen shot of the job listing below.

I do not see a way to apply for this job, rather, Zenith Talent is reaching out to SEOs they think would be good at the job. I believe it pays around $60 per hour, which I am told is low for the Silicon Vally region.

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The Locals Take On Google’s Home Service Ads

Last week’s appearance of Google’s Home Service Ads sent a bit of a shockwave across the Local Search industry. My TL;DR take:

• This may really screw with organic local pack displays in the SERPs. (Time to rebrand as “Local Lead-Gen Guide?”)
• This kind of pay-per-lead ad unit requires a significantly high-touch backend process — not one of Google’s traditional strengths.
• How does this affect local lead-gen players like HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List? I am betting once Google gets the system down, they will want to partner with more experienced players in the space to drive liquidity — similar to the way the big yellow pages (YP) players resell AdWords. Of course, most YP companies are not crazy about that arrangement.
• This, combined with Facebook’s recent chess moves into Local, is increasingly reducing the amount of organic inventory for local service customers. Local marketers are going to have to continue to get creative in working within and around these systems to hit their objectives.

For a bit more color, I asked a few Local Search veterans to weigh in on this new development:

Craig Smith, CEO of Home Advisor

We’ve seen this coming for a long time. While Google is clearly a great source of local traffic for us, we have eased our reliance on search over the past few years and have focused on building a solid direct brand with homeowners. This year, we are spending $40 million on national direct response TV ads and are crushing it.

Google clearly has a big funnel of consumer and homeowner traffic, but they haven’t done the hard part of this business yet. What everyone in this space is underestimating is the investment needed in the professional network.

We’ve spent 15 years and $1B in building this network, with nearly 100K service professionals and three million ratings and reviews. We have 1,200 people working on getting the pros into the network, hand-holding them through the process and educating them on how these products work. We’ve been trying to get service professionals to self-serve for 15 years, and we know how hard that is. Our licensing/background check algorithms are very complicated because each state is different. And if we see a professional get a negative review, we have an entire process to work with them to mitigate the situation.

Our MarketMatch program is similar to Google’s, but we’re seeing more and more consumers want on-demand scheduling. We just launched Instant Booking, our Uber, where you can book directly onto a service professional’s calendar. We have 60 people working on this initiative. To do this, you have to have huge network liquidity available. You need a deep bench of plumbers because calendars are all over the place.

Managing these small budgets requires sophisticated tools and algorithms. I have no doubt that Google has a lot of smart people working on their service, and they have the traffic — but if you put customers and service professionals in front of a firehose of demand without an effective system to manage it, no one is going to be happy. We are focused on bringing consumers not just to a service professional, but to an available one.

Managing demand efficiently is a trick. It doesn’t just require algorithms — it requires humans.

Mitch Ratcliffe, Senior Analyst BIA/Kelsey

Google’s approach has strengths and weaknesses. Its design, featuring the service provider, is clever and personalizes the experience from the first click. We are not confident that Google’s requirements for participation in the program will avoid regulatory backlash; the background checking, licensing and insurance coverage an on-demand provider must provide may be interpreted by states as employment conditions.

If Google’s AdWords pricing model for on-demand units is not adjusted — downward — the service may struggle to be competitive against branded sources, such as Thumbtack, Porch or TaskRabbit, which do not charge the service provider, taking a share of revenue instead.

Perry Evans, CEO of Closely

The value-add to the consumer is contact convenience plus a shopper’s “trust factor” that is implied in the background check. I buy the convenience part, but for trust, on Yelp I see 373 reviews for one five-star rated locksmith, while the Google ad unit shows businesses with three or fewer Google reviews.

Google can’t make up for its lack of review content with background checking. As a consumer, I’d much rather see this experience on top of Yelp’s content foundation (reviews, photos, links, etc.).

What’s not addressed, which has been the challenge to these models for years, is availability. When SMBs don’t respond in a timely manner or there’s no availability at the time desired, the experience is never as simple as it sounds.

This still feels like a rough hack test. The plumber request time frame form shows “today, tomorrow, within a week, within a month” — clearly missing a primary use case of “I need a plumber now!” (Compare this to the sub-category-specific depth you see in the inquiry forms of places like HomeAdvisor.) How hard would it have been for Google to put an extra half day’s thought into the inquiry form and tune it for common use case inquiries?

Chris Marentis, CEO of Surefire Social*

When Google showed the results from the local knowledge graph/Google Maps and Google My Business pages at the top of the SERP, the objective was a better user experience.

Service providers who took care of customers, earned good reviews and had a well-established online presence had a good chance of appearing high in the SERPs. (It helped if they had a good SEO team.) This new Google product may affect these businesses that have worked hard to establish their Web presence.

Pay-per-lead customers generally are price sensitive and are “shopping.” This causes more competition for the in-home sale. This may not be as big an issue for plumber or cleaning service-type categories, but when you get into more considered purchases (replacement windows, roofing), the in-home sale is crucial to success. So it’s not clear the service is going to work as-is for lots of local service categories, and I expect a fair amount of iteration over time.

Many small businesses won’t like the “get several quotes” approach. Some of the benefits of PPC I frequently hear from clients are the ability to promote unique selling points, cut through the clutter and potentially capture exclusive leads. Also, many are focused on selling quality over price. This goes the opposite direction, somewhat making it a price comparison engine for Company A vs. Company B vs. Company C.

If testing is successful, I see this product combining with or replacing AdWords Express, which has not delivered on its promise for local SMBs. Most aren’t using it as a simplified way to get started with PPC, and feedback on results has been poor. Google is hoping this will make it even easier to advertise on Google and power their revenue growth.

I think for national brands supporting local independent entrepreneurs they depend on to drive their business, having a coordinated strategy becomes even more important. Brands matter to consumers, and in the SERPS, consistent use of brand identity in all channels will help win the click, even if Google sets this up to bias top three results with their new home services product.

Manpreet Singh, CEO of TalkLocal

A whole business day… THEN Google emails me to tell me they haven’t responded in that long? Meanwhile, every business I’ve sent this request to gets my contact information?

Consumers wants an experience that’s not just convenient, but efficient and secure. At TalkLocal, we do it in just 90 seconds, while protecting consumer privacy. I look forward to getting more details about this program, as I expect Google will make huge improvements before expanding. They have a reputation to uphold.

*Disclaimer: Surefire Social is a client of Local SEO Guide.

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AdWords Adds Bulk Uploads For Shopping Campaigns

To help make management easier, Google has added bulk uploads for Shopping Campaigns to AdWords. You can make mass changes to Shopping campaigns’ product groups, bids, tracking templates and custom parameters with bulk uploads.

To get started, from the Product Groups tab in Adwords, select all the columns you want in your report (you cannot use segments). Then click the download button.

Save a copy of the original in case you need to go back to the original setup. Then make your changes in another copy of the exported document (saved as a .xlsx, .tsv, or .csv file). Each product group is shown on a separate row with a partition type and the path of subdivisions in that product group.

Google says, “For tracking templates and custom parameters, you can make changes to all product groups that aren’t subdivided, except for those marked Excluded”. Below is a breakdown of the ways product groups are divided in a bulk export.

Once the changes are all made, upload the spreadsheet back into your account to have them automatically applied.

For more details on using bulk uploads for Shopping campaigns, check out the support page here.

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