Most people know Google AdWords as a tool that simply allows you to bid on keywords associated with your website, products, or services in order to outrank competitors interested in attracting customers searching for the same (or similar) terms.

This certainly was true in the early days of Google’s PPC (Pay Per Click) service. Over the last few years, however, the toolbox has expanded quite a bit and now includes features that even the most experienced marketers are finding impressive.

Here are five of those features that all search marketers should know.

1. Customer Match 

If you have a customer email list or newsletter subscribers, you are in for a nice surprise. That’s because Google Adwords now allows you to “retarget” those users right in their Google search engine.

“Customer Match lets you upload a list of email addresses that your customers have given you, and, when they’re signed into Google Search, YouTube, or Gmail, you can show them ads,” the tech giant provides in a product description.

All you have to do is to set up an email list in your AdWords account and then create a “Search Network only” campaign that targets your list. Now, customers who are signed in to their Google account(s) will be exposed to the particular ad you created to “remind” them of new products, offers, promotions, or other information that will drive them back to your site.

2. Targeting to Specific Demographics

Until now, AdWords has been known for keyword targeting, while Facebook and Twitter have established themselves as powerful players in demographic-specific targeting. There is, however, a new kid on the block…

You guessed it. The Google Display Network now also offers a version – albeit a less sophisticated one – of demographic targeting that allows you to select which gender or age group, for example, you would like to aim for when pushing out an ad.

The best part? With this tool you get more detailed campaign reports, which now include demographic data. This will help you determine who is responding to your ads, which, in turn, will enable you to establish a more accurate profile of your target audience and create more effective campaign slogans and messages.

3. Google AdWords Editor

Google recently launched an entirely overhauled and more powerful version of the AdWords Editor, which is a free desktop app that allows you to download entire campaigns (even in bulk across multiple accounts) for offline editing to make managing large AdWords accounts much more efficient.

That’s because offline editing – especially with all the new tools the upgraded AdWords Editor provides – is far superior to and faster than editing on the web-based interface.

After you completed editing, you can simply re-upload your campaign(s) to AdWords and you’re done.

4. Promote App Downloads Directly

With mobile app usage on the rise, Google now also provides AdWords users with the option to run a new type of campaign called “Mobile App Installs” on the search and display networks and “TrueView For Mobile App Promotion” on YouTube.

The goal of these types of campaigns is to get more people to download your app by featuring a simple “Click to Install” button right inside your search, display, or YouTube ad.

This eliminates the extra step of having to go to your website and then being re-directed to the app store. With this new feature, AdWords reporting now also supports tracking installs as a conversion metric.

What’s more, “Based on the mobile operating system for the app you choose, AdWords can find your most likely customers and focus on showing ads to people who don’t have your app yet,” Google explains.

5. Ad Customizers

If your business relies on time-sensitive promotions as a marketing technique a lot, then you will be happy to hear that Google can make your life much easier.

The new “ad customizers“ feature turns your AdWords ads into interactive units that can automatically change the displayed text to adapt to different search queries and terms.

Why does this matter to businesses with time-sensitive offers? Because until now, if you had an ad with a countdown to the final day of a sale, for example, you would have to upload a new ad text with an updated number every single day. With Ad Customizers, however, you can simply set up dynamic campaign parameters and Google Adwords will take care of the rest for you.

The ability to inject dynamic information is also crucial for businesses who constantly have to balance their discount rates with available supply and demand.

As you can see, Google AdWords as evolved quite a bit and is now a more powerful tool than ever.

Note: The opinions expressed in this article are the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of Caphyon, its staff, or its partners.

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