A look back at the biggest changes in search

It’s that time of year again –\xa0happy birthday, Google Ads!

Historically, we’ve celebrated the big day every five years by putting together a tribute to the world’s leading search engine, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics giant that we know as Google.\xa0Take a look at their big 2-0.

But considering what a whirlwind year it’s been in search, we’re sure you’ll agree it’s time to pop the champagne, cut the cake, and settle in for a new,\xa0yearly, honoring.

Let’s get to it!

2023

New products at Google Marketing Live

Google announced a strong of new AI-powered ad products at this year’s Google Marketing Live (GML), including:

At Google Marketing Live 2023, the search engine talkeded a lot about AI, but the focus wasn’t on AI taking over. The tech giant emphasized that AI is meant to help advertisers with their tasks, not replace them entirely. These changes aim to save time and offer better control in managing automated campaigns.

Ads on SGE

Google rolled out search ads on the Search Generative Experience (SGE) when it launched in August 2023. All ads appeared in designated ad positions and carried a sponsored ad label.

The search engine wanted to closely assess ad performance and user experiences, so didn’t initially give advertisers the choice to opt out of displaying ads on this new platform.

While it was crucial to monitor ad performance on the new Google Search Generative Experience (SGE), during the experimental phase, tracking differences in ad performance between SGE and the old Google Search wasn’t immediately feasible. However, the search engine promised to continually evaluate, test, and adjust its approach to ensure that the ad experience benefited both searchers and advertisers.

Retirement of attribution models

Google retired four rules-based attribution models for all properties in Google Ads and Google Analytics in mid-October 2023:

• First-click.
• Linear.
• Time decay.
• Position-based.

The models listed above were removed from both the Analytics user interface and Admin API.

The retirement of these four attribution models was attributed to their dwindling popularity, as less than 3% of conversions in Google Ads were utilizing these models, as confirmed by a Google spokesperson.

Federal antitrust trial

Google sent shock waves through the PPC community at the federal antitrust trial as its leaders were interrogated over it advertising policies by the Department of Justice.

The search engine revealed that:

• It quietly increase ad prices by as much as 10% without telling advertisers.
• The highest bidders of ad auctions don’t necessarily win.
• It used RGSP – which has resulted in more ad revenue.

\xa0U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta isn’t expected to issue a ruling until early 2024.

If Google loses the case, it could mean it is no longer automatically installed as the default search engine on everyday products, which could threaten its position as the world’s search leader.\xa0

Demand Gen

Google replaced Discovery Ads with Demand Gen, and started rolling out the new product globally in October 2023. Described as the “next generation of Discovery campaigns,” it has new features, inventory, and insights, as well as an enhanced ad creation flow.

“Demand Gen campaigns combine image + video ads in one place and can be used to drive conversions, site visits and actions like sign-up and add-to-cart across YouTube, Discover and Gmail,” Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin explained in a\xa0thread on X.

Google has set a deadline for all existing Discovery campaigns to transition to Demand Gen by early 2024, marking a significant shift in their advertising strategy.

2021-2022

Keyword match types

Keyword match types seem to be the gift that keeps on giving, or in Google’s case, taking away. This time\xa0Google’s simplified phrase match\xa0worried advertisers with some acknowledging how similarly BMM and phrase match have behaved, and others denouncing the change as a move to strip away more data and controls from advertisers so that Google can extract as much profit from auctions as possible.

Farewell, broad-match modified keywords. Google expanded phrase-match to be included in broad match, to the chagrin of advertisers everywhere.\xa0

Audiences

Advertisers will be able to use\xa0connected TV campaigns\xa0to target viewers across YouTube and “most” other connected TV apps. The new development will bring affinity, in-market, and demographic audience segments to connected TVs.

Advertisers will be able to reuse audiences across campaigns. When you build an audience to use in a campaign, Google Ads will save it so you can use it again in a future campaign.

Google Ads is renaming some key terms in your audience report and throughout Google Ads. You may have seen this already in some accounts. Google revealed this via this\xa0help documentation\xa0in September 2021.

RSAs and the end of ETAs

Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) became the\xa0default ad type\xa0in 2021. RSAs allow advertisers to input multiple headlines and ad copy variations, and Google Ads uses machine learning to determine which variations to use based on what queries people are searching for.\xa0

An\xa0open beta\xa0allowed advertisers to see Display ads alongside search and YouTube for the first time in the Google Ads attribution report. Advertisers can see the ads in Top Paths, Model Comparison, Assisted Conversions and Path Metrics reports.

Automated vehicle ads\xa0were launched. The new format uses vehicle data feeds in Google Merchant Center to match users’ searches with ads.

Nine new policies were added to the\xa0three-strike system\xa0to target clickbait, misleading ad design, and more.

Automation

Bundled bid strategies\xa0have replaced standalone options. The Target CPA (tCPA) and Target ROAS (tROAS) Smart Bidding strategies will be bundled with the Maximize Conversions and Maximize Conversion Value bid strategies, respectively, Google\xa0announced Tuesday. Moving forward,\xa0Maximize Conversions\xa0will have an optional tCPA field, and\xa0Maximize Conversion Value\xa0will have an optional tROAS field.

Everyone’s favorite campaign type,\xa0Performance Max, became available to all advertisers. PMax includes Smart Shopping and Local campaigns, though Google eventually sunsetted Smart Shopping campaigns for good starting in January 2022.

Changes to automated extensions\xa0include extensions being shown together, an “Automatically Created Extensions” report, and the ability to add them at ad group, campaign, or account level.

Privacy Concerns Deepen

The depreciation of\xa0third-party cookies\xa0was supposed to happen in 2022 but was ultimately pushed to 2023. With that, an alternative targeting technology known as Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) was\xa0opened for advertiser testing\xa0in Q2 2021, with adoption slated for Q4 2022.

The FLEDGE sandbox has been\xa0unveiled\xa0along with plans to roll out several Privacy Sandbox initiatives on Android, including the\xa0Topics API, the FLEDGE API for custom audiences and remarketing, and the Attribution Reporting API.\xa0It began testing\xa0in March 2022.

Honorable mentions

2015-2020

Audiences

Google’s 20th gave rise to an era of\xa0predictive marketing, using AI and machine learning to identify intent and predict customer needs, behavior and marketing outcomes.

YouTube gains access\xa0to Google data for audience targeting, effectively improving ad targeting and measurement across search and YouTube.\xa0

GA4\xa0was also introduced, giving users expanded predictive insights, deeper integration with Google Ads, cross-device measurement capabilities and more granular data controls.\xa0

Keyword match-type decline

The way we manage search terms has changed.\xa0Close variants\xa0are no longer what they used to be and marketers are being forced to adapt to machine learning. “Google says its machine learning is now good enough to determine when a query has the same intent as a keyword with a high enough rate of success that advertisers will see an overall performance lift.” Awkward.

Google has loosened the reigns on close variant keywords. Broad match is super broad, exact match is more like phrase match, and phrase match is, well, gone?

Privacy concerns have forced Google to limit\xa0Search terms reporting. In a statement from Google, a spokesperson said, “In order to maintain our standards of privacy and strengthen our protections around user data, we have made changes to our Search Terms Report to only include terms that a significant number of users searched for. We’re continuing to invest in new and efficient ways to share insights that enable advertisers to make critical business decisions.”

Automation ramps up

RSAs and the start of the end\xa0for Expanded Text Ads began in 2020. The option for text ads was no longer the default option in the Ads dropdown. Advertisers are seeing only Responsive Search Ad (RSA) and Call ad.\xa0

Local Campaigns\xa0were introduced and aimed to drive in-store visits. Google automatically optimizes ad delivery across Search, YouTube, Maps and websites and apps in its ad networks.

Smart Campaigns\xa0debuted and were designed for small and local businesses that don’t have dedicated marketing staff and may not even have websites.

Smart Campaigns became the default campaign type for new advertisers in Google Ads. The campaigns are almost entirely automated and goals include phone calls, website visits and requests for directions.

Honorable mentions

Other new advancements in Search included:

2000 launch to 2015

While this is by no means a complete list, here are a few product development highlights from when Google launched the AdWords platform in 2000, all the way up to their 15th birthday.

2015

By 2015 Google maintained nearly 64 percent of\xa0search\xa0share\xa0on desktop and almost 90 percent of mobile in the US.

The Google\xa0shared library\xa0is sunsetted.\xa0

Google\xa0launches\xa0dynamic structured snippets for AdWords. The automated extensions display industry-specific, structured information about products and services on advertisers’ sites.

Google has opened up access to its home services ad program in\xa0AdWords Express. The home services ad program\xa0launched in beta in the San Francisco area\xa0to connect service providers with local residents searching for help.\xa0

Starting in October, Google\xa0changed the conversions columns\xa0to include only those conversions that are set for optimization: i.e., optimized conversion actions.

Google\xa0launched Smart Goals\xa0in early December. Smart Goals are designed for advertisers that don’t or can’t have conversion tracking on their sites. It aggregates conversion data from the thousands of sites that opt to share data with Google Analytics and, with machine learning, identifies visits deemed most likely to convert on the advertiser’s site.

2014

CNBC\xa0reports\xa0that Google is now banning porn businesses from utilizing their ad network.

To help retailers maintain consistent visibility in PLAs, Google has launched\xa0“automatic item updates”\xa0in AdWords.

Google\xa0announced\xa0it is extending its popular product listing ads (PLAs) to retail and e-commerce sites across the Google Search Network. The ads are served via a new Google product called\xa0AdSense for Shopping.

Automated Extensions\xa0report starts rolling out.\xa0

AdWords 11 is launched.\xa0Google released a fully-redesigned version of AdWords Editor that supports several of the bulk editing features that have recently been added to the web interface and introduces new functionality to the desktop tool.

2013

Google announced plans to add\xa0enhanced campaigns\xa0for AdWords to aid with campaign management catered to multiple-device users. The enhanced campaigns aimed to include advanced reports about users. This move was controversial among advertisers.

Ad group-level mobile bid adjustments started to\xa0roll out.

The\xa0AdWords Keyword Planner\xa0finally launches.\xa0

Google has announced the official beta for\xa0Image Extensions\xa0in AdWords.\xa0

Google announced the beta release of\xa0Review Extensions\xa0which allows advertisers to append a quote of endorsement from a reputable publication in their AdWords ads.\xa0

2012

Google Product Search is renamed to\xa0Google Shopping\xa0and only merchants that paid will be listed.\xa0

Google is testing the effect of adding\xa0“Trusted Stores” badges\xa0to qualifying advertisers’ search ads, as it considers deploying the badges more widely.

Google\xa0introduced\xa0the ability to target more than 30,000 ZIP codes in AdWords, giving advertisers the ability to find potential customers in a familiar, granular way. Another new feature, Location Insertion, is aimed at letting advertisers with multiple locations create one ad, and have information dynamically inserted depending on the user’s query or location.

Google\xa0released a new report\xa0— Auction Insights — that helps marketers understand how their ads stand, compared to others in the same auctions.

Testing begins for a new ad format on its\xa0Hotel Finder\xa0product that lets marketers bid to appear at the top of search results. Promoted Hotels ads are ranked based on a combination of bid and quality score, and are sold on a CPC basis.\xa0

The remarketing tag gets a\xa0makeover.

Google has begun notifying merchants that it won’t allow them to continue listing\xa0weapons-related items\xa0for sale in Google Shopping.\xa0

2011

Google is now letting AdWords advertisers automatically optimize what ads display most based on\xa0conversion rates.

Google will\xa0begin charging\xa0$1.00 for calls completed using the unique number it provisions, but solely when the call originates from someone using a computer who dials the number themselves from a phone. When the call is from a mobile device, or someone on a PC calls from the computer itself by clicking, the standard click charges apply. Previously, the calls dialed on a phone were free, as they didn’t involve a click, per se.

Google rolls out the ability to target ads to users by interest based on their\xa0previous browsing activity, or behavior, to all of its advertisers.\xa0

Cost per lead tests start. Google is testing search and display versions of a cost-per-lead ad format that would allow users to request an advertiser contact them.\xa0

Google is opening wider a beta test of\xa0Dynamic Search Ads. This ad type is designed for retailers or other advertisers with a large, often-changing inventory. Google automatically generates ad copy, based on the advertiser’s template.\xa0

Google\xa0officially announced\xa0it would begin serving AdWords at the bottom of search engine results pages on Google.com.\xa0

2010

Google has announced a new lab-type area called\xa0Google Ad Innovations, which is where it’ll “show you some of our latest ideas around advertising technologies and get your feedback.” Think of it as Google Labs for Ads.

Google has enabled access to the\xa0AdWords dashboard\xa0and other features for smartphone users. It’s configurable and provides on-the-go access to account data and stats. The new mobile interface is currently available for iPhone, Android and Palm/WebOS users.\xa0

Google starts testing a feature with a small number of advertisers in which a\xa0phone number\xa0can be included within the ad to help them more effectively engage with customers who prefer to connect over the phone.

A new keyword type,\xa0broad match modifier, begins testing.\xa0

Google Product Listing Ads\xa0are offered to all advertisers.

2009

Google’s\xa0newspaper ads\xa0initiative shuts down. Google said they are discontinuing this service because “the current Print Ads product is not the right solution.”

Google announced that they’re officially\xa0shutting down Google Audio Ads and Google Radio Automation.

The Google Base blog\xa0announced\xa0the launch of the new\xa0Google Merchant Center. The Merchant Center is replacing Google Base for those who submit products to Google.\xa0

Google Blog\xa0announced\xa0you can now buy\xa0YouTube Promoted Video ads\xa0directly in the Google AdWords console. Previously, all YouTube Promoted Video ads were managed on YouTube at\xa0ads.youtube.com.\xa0

Google has\xa0acquired\xa0AdMob (www.admob.com), a popular mobile display ad company, for $750 million. This acquisition gives Google access to AdMob’s more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications.

2008

Google pitched its\xa0media buying dashboard\xa0to very skeptical agencies.\xa0

Google also announced\xa0third-party tracking\xa0for the content network. Thanks, Google!

This same year, Google also began testing showing\xa0product ads in search results.\xa0

The Inside AdWords Google Blog announced that all US-based advertisers should now have the\xa0TV ads option\xa0in their account. In fact, you should see the option after logging in to your AdWords account at the bottom, where it says “Other Campaign Types.”

2007

Google started promoting\xa0audio ads. The landing page it takes you to tells you to call one of Google’s sales offices if you wanted to advertise on the radio.

Pay-per-action ads were launched\xa0this year, allowing advertisers to only pay when their preferred action was completed, such as a sale or click. \xa0

Google also began testing its\xa0Keyword Tool, showing the number of the previous month’s searches. The tool shows actual numbers in search volume for the previous month for keywords.\xa0

Also happening this year,\xa0Google acquired DoubleClick\xa0from The New York Times for $3.1 billion.\xa0

In July Google announced that those\xa0personalized ads\xa0you see are influenced by previous searches. In response, Google said “What you’re seeing is that we look at the user’s previous query and see how well it intersects with the current query. If it’s significant, we’ll use it to help targeting on the current query. We simply look at what’s in the referring URL (every time you load a web page, the HTTP header includes your previous URL as the “referrer”).”

Google reaches 1 million advertisers! “An analyst from UBS estimated Google has between 1.3 million and 1.5 million advertisers. According to the analyst, it shows there is still room for a lot more growth in terms of the advertiser base.”\xa0

2006

In 2006 Google decided to push forward with testing\xa0newspaper ads. If you’re curious, you can read the results\xa0here.\xa0

In the same year, they also began testing\xa0in-stream video ads\xa0with Beet.tv.\xa0

2000

Google launched\xa0its new self-service advertising program called AdWords. The program enabled “any advertiser to purchase individualized and affordable keyword advertising that appears instantly on the google.com search results page.”

The AdWords program replaced Google’s first ad program called\xa0Premium Sponsorships.\xa0

Check out this article\xa0we found from The Search Engine Report in 2000.\xa0