In 2000, Google launched AdWords, a platform for running text ads on desktop Search, with roughly 350 advertisers. During that time, AdWords offered the most technologically advanced features that enabled advertisers to quickly design a flexible program to achieve their digital marketing goals.
As June 2018, as everyone knows, the platform has grown leaps and bounds, and allows advertisers to do more than just run text ads via desktop Search. Now, AdWords supports many different ad formats — text, shopping, display, video — across Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps and more. It is safe to say the platform has outgrown its name.
With that being said, Google has decided to rebrand the platform. What is now known as AdWords will become Google Ads. The company believes the new Google Ads brand represents the full range of advertising capabilities offered by Google and their other properties, partner sites and apps today.
Coincidentally, the AdWords rebranding announcement came right as Google began to completely phase out the old AdWords interface. In March, Google announced that it would retire the old AdWords interface by the end of the year. This week, some advertisers received notifications from Google that their accounts will be switched over to the new interface, starting in July.
In addition to changing the platform’s name and interface, Google is also launching a new campaign type called Smart Campaigns, which will become the default mode for small business advertisers. Smart Campaigns allows those advertisers to identify the actions – phone calls, store visits or purchases – that they are prioritizing, then Google Ads will use machine learning to optimize the images, text and targeting to drive more of those actions.
If you have any questions, please reach out to the Digital Marketing experts at MoreVisibility here.