Daphne Tsouvala

Daphne Tsouvala

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Daphne Tsouvala

About this Author

Daphne is a PPC Executive at iProspect UK. She has worked for a wide range of clients and currently specialises in retail and travel.

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Using Parallel Tracking to Drive Growth in a Mobile-First World

Delivering a positive user experience in today’s digital economy is becoming even more important. While a second may seem like an insignificant amount of time, it can have a negative impact on conversion rates. According to Google, having a one second delay in page load time can decrease conversions by up to 20%. In addition, as page load time goes from one to five seconds, the probability of bounces increases by 90%. Alongside features such as AMPs (Accelerated Mobile Pages) and the Mobile Speed Scoreboard, Parallel Tracking is Google’s latest advertising tool to improve page speed performance. It can reduce lost visits and can lead to increased conversions and improved ad performance. Google has stated that, since its launch advertisers have been able to reduce page load time by up to five seconds. What is Parallel Tracking? Advertisers are now able to send users directly from an ad to the final landing page, by processing click measurement in the background while the page loads. This advertising tool changes the way click measurement takes place when using third-party platforms, such as Marin, Search Ads 360 or Kenshoo, that rely on redirects outside the Google ecosystem. How Does Click Tracking Work? Advertisers who are using Google Ads click tracking system, should specify their landing page URLs in the FinalUrls, FinalMobileUrls or FinalAppUrls, depending on the ad type and network. Once users click on an advertiser’s ad, they are taken directly to the landing page URL. If advertisers use custom click tracking (i.e. third-party platforms), then a tracking server URL needs to be specified. At serving time, users click on an ad and then sent to an intermediate landing page first (tracking server). Following this, they are redirected to the final landing page URL. This process is called linear or sequential tracking. How Does Parallel Tracking Work? Despite the redirects of sequential tracking being invisible to users, they can negatively impact the user experience by decreasing the page load time. As mentioned above, with parallel tracking users are taken directly to the landing page URL, whilst click measurements (tracking URL) are loading in the background. This means that users are not sent to the tracking URLs. Users are landing directly to the final landing page, ultimately improving user experience and increasing conversion rates. From the new tracking system, mobile landing pages on slower browsers are the ones likely to see the highest impact. For users on desktop or faster browsers, the increased loading speed will likely be unnoticeable. Finally, Google Ads will be extending the parallel tracking update to Display and Video campaigns, effective in March 2019. This update means that advertisers will now be able to take advantage of parallel tracking in all campaign types; search, shopping, display and video. 0 3 min read

Bing Ads Will Continue to Serve all AOL Search Inventory

Following the annual Bing Ads web conference, Microsoft Bing Ads has announced an extended partnership with Verizon Media. The new partnership will enable Yahoo search traffic as well as search traffic from the other Microsoft Oath platforms and partners to be exclusively served by Microsoft Bing Ads. Bing Ads, Yahoo, and AOL will be accessible under the Microsoft Bing Ads umbrella and managed in the Bing platform. Back in 2015, when Microsoft and Yahoo last renegotiated its advertising partnership, Yahoo was looking to build its own platform (Gemini) and retained the right to serve up to 49% of search ads on its properties through Gemini, with the remaining 51% being served through Bing Ads. As part of this new partnership, all ads will be served through Bing. In addition, Microsoft will be introducing new ad placements on MSN, Oath’s ad platform’s native marketplace will have exclusive access to the new MSN inventory. This means that the Microsoft Audience Network (MSAN) for native ads will gain access to the inventory that the Verizon Media platforms offer, indicating that advertisers will be able to reach an expanded Microsoft Audience Network. According to Bing Ads this partnership will benefit advertisers with an increase in click share and volume share. Kya Sainsbury-Carter, VP of global partner service for ad sales at Microsoft, said; “While exact results will vary by client, Bing Ads users should closely monitor their budgets to ensure they are ready to capture these potential increases in click volume” Microsoft said it estimates that this could lead to an increase in clicks of 10 to 15 percent in the U.S. The worldwide transition will take place by the end of March 2019, ending with 100 percent of Verizon Media’s search volume served exclusively by Bing Ads. What should advertisers know about the transition: Advertisers currently running campaigns on Oath Ad Platforms should continue to do so throughout the transition to avoid losing traffic. In the meantime, Microsoft recommends running parallel campaigns in Bing Ads to captivate the traffic and spend shifts. Keep budgets in the Oath Ad Platform during transition time, to avoid loss of search volume. Start copying the ads from the Oath Ad Platforms and upload them to Bing, with a 10 percent budget increase as a cushion. Ads will continue to serve on both platforms, so closely monitor traffic, budgets as well as bids. Expected by the end of March, the Oath Ad Platforms paid search traffic will stop completely, and 100% of the Yahoo traffic will be served via Bing Ads. Monitor your Bing Ads campaigns closely. 0 3 min read

Daphne is a PPC Executive at iProspect UK. She has worked for a wide range of clients and currently specialises in retail and travel.