Part 5: Google Shopping / Google ads (bigmoney.vip)

YouTube advertising in numbers

YouTube is the second largest search engine (after Google, of course). For 2019 it is used by more than 2,000,000,000 logged-in users every month — half of the total Internet population. They watch a billion hours of video a day.

Cisco predicts that in 2022, 82% of Internet traffic will come from video.

The site operates in 80 different languages and has local versions for 91 countries. At the same time, only 16% of users are from the United States, the rest are in other countries of the world.

Berry on our pie: 96% of surveyed users find videos useful when making purchasing decisions online. Well, setting up or ordering video ads on YouTube is just a must-have for the vast majority of entrepreneurs, see, right?

YouTube ad history

Since then, it's become clear that YouTube has really focused on integrating with business needs. So now advertisers have more control over ad impressions and create scalable campaigns that can cover both DISPLAY and search, as well as YouTube ad spaces. Not bad, isn't it?

In theory, we figured it out - it's time to delve into the practical application of advertising on YouTube.

Advertising on YouTube involves placing promotional videos in a video on YouTube itself and, in some cases, even in the CmC. The technical requirements for video ads are detailed in Google Ads Help, which is important to review to avoid downloading difficulties. Especially if you decide to set up campaigns yourself, and not to order contextual advertising services from agencies.

You can place video ads, plain text and image ads on YouTube using the Display Display campaign, and Shopping ads. First, let's look at the video.

YouTube Video Ad Formats
Several formats are available for video advertising:

TrueView In-Stream with skip capability;
TrueView In-Stream without skipping capability;
TrueView Discovery;
Splash ads;
Out-Stream;
Masthead ads
TrueView for action.
We will go through all of them in more detail.

Worth knowing! At the SMX West 2019 conference, one of the representatives of YouTube said that Google includes YouTube in the list of partner search networks.

TrueView In-Stream video ads with skipping capability
Video ads appear at the beginning, middle, or end of another video.
used in YouTube videos and CMC websites;
Can be skipped after 5 seconds;
If you use a cost per view, you will only be charged if your ad plays for 30 seconds. the user watched it to the end (if the video is shorter than 30 seconds); or if the user interacts with it (for example, clicked);
You can use a cost per 1000 impressions.
the duration of the video is not limited, but the Help does not recommend using videos longer than 3 minutes. We recommend that you make a video of at least 12 seconds and no more than 6 minutes.

The final goal when setting up or ordering advertising on YouTube of this type is not that users watch the video to the end, but that the video is so familiar that it would be remembered by a wide audience and later would cause a desire to get acquainted with the brand.

In-Stream video ads without skipping capability
Appears at the beginning, middle, or end of another video.
is shown on YouTube, CMC websites;
allows you to show ads in their entirety, there is no skip function;
payment for 1000 impressions;
The ad lasts no longer than 15 seconds (for some countries no longer than 20 seconds).
Discovery Announcements
Shows ads in the list of related videos, on the search results page, plus on the homepage in the mobile version of YouTube.
The ad includes text and a video icon.
by clicking, the video is shown on the viewing page;
payment is charged only when you click on the video icon.
 

Splash ads
Display: At the beginning, middle, or end of another YouTube video. on the websites and annexes of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces;
A maximum of 6 seconds is shown;
without a pass;
payment for 1000 impressions (CPM-model).
According to research by Google and Eye Square, if you supplement TrueView ads with such screensavers, the memorability of advertising on YouTube will be much higher.

TrueView for Action Advertising
An ad with the possibility of skipping;
includes a companion object, a customizable call-to-action overlay, and a final splash screen.

Available on YouTube and Google's video partner resources
Target CPA or Maximum Conversions strategy
suitable for advertisers who want to increase the number of clicks on the site, stimulate conversions (conversions, subscriptions or purchases) and attract more customers.
Masthead Ads (Reservation Campaign)
Can only be launched with Google sales reps.
Appears at the top of your YouTube homepage and feed.
price per day (masthead with CPD) or 1000 impressions;
Available on YouTube on computers and mobile apps
Displaying a reservation-based ads on TVs is only possible for 1000 impressions.

Out-Stream
designed for mobile;
Ads are shown on mobile on partner websites and apps.
Not available on YouTube.
automatically starts without sound (the user can turn it on himself);
payment only if more than half of the ad area is shown on the screen for at least 2 seconds;
the payment format is for 1000 impressions in the visible area.
If you don't want to order a YouTube ad setup from a contextual advertising agency, the next section is for you.
Set up ads on YouTube
To access the settings, you need to link your Ads and YouTube accounts (as always through Google Ads → Tools → Linked Accounts).
To run, you need an edited optimized video uploaded directly to your YouTube channel. Detailed requirements for YouTube ads are listed in Google Ads Help.
To run YouTube ads, as always, go to the Campaigns tab → the "+" button → New Campaign → Goal → the "Video" type.
Now an important nuance. Depending on the purpose you choose, the list of available subtypes of video campaigns will change, for example:

Take this into account when choosing settings and do not mindlessly click on any goal - so you can cut yourself the possibilities.

Basic settings
In the Frequency Limiting section, you can configure the frequency limiting of ad impressions for a single user. So, you can choose how many times a day one ad can be shown to one person. This is a useful feature, because if there are too many impressions, YouTube ads will become intrusive for the user and will only be annoying.

Nearby, you can exclude the display in topics that are not suitable for your video. For example, it will not be good if the user watches the news about the crash of the plane along with the announcement about the organization of children's holidays.

The rest of the settings are familiar to you: these are targeting, budgets, bids, languages and other parameters. We will analyze only a number of settings.

Types of targeting

Almost all types of targeting are available for YouTube ad campaigns, as are for Search and Display ads.

Audiences by Interest
To create a regular audience by interests, select the Audiences section → "What are their interests and habits" and then highlight those areas that are characteristic of your target audience.

To create a special audience by interests, select "What are their interests and habits", and then click on the "Special audience by interests" button. Penguin-team wrote in detail about this topic in the article "Special audiences by Youtube intent: what they are and how to use them" - read, a really interesting setting.

Combined audiences
Combined audiences help to more accurately get into your target audience, combining several different audiences, as well as narrow the audience by any criteria. For example, you sell apartments in a residential complex, and your target audience is families with children. We will create a combined audience of parents of children under 12 years old and will show videos only to those who are going to buy a house, using the Narrow option.

Keywords and negative keywords
How keys and negative keywords work is similar to other RKs. As semantics are formed, create lists of keys that are meaningfully related to each group's ads. And we recommend using 2-3 word keys that are most effective for YouTube ad campaigns.

Also, when setting up YouTube ads, remember about the main "non-targeted" audience - children and children's cartoons, which parents turn on from their accounts, and then go on business and do not see advertising. To partially avoid non-targeted impressions, you need to:

(a) Specify the correct negative keywords;

b) exclude specialized cartoon channels - more on this later.

A few main directions from where to "dig" minus-words:

cartoon names: Masha and the Bear, Hello Kitty, Peppa Pig, Luntik and their ilk;
marker words: cartoon, cartoon, animation, etc.;
as well as age: toddler, preschooler, child, children, children, children.
You can add negative keywords in the "Video Targeting" tab – "Keywords".

Keep in mind that for video ads, negative keywords don't work the same way they do in search:

First, negative words are negative words, negative phrases will not work. An effective approach is to divide the phrase into separate words. It is convenient to collect negative keywords using the NegativeKeywords tool from Penguin-team.
It can take a couple of days from the time a video is uploaded to YouTube until it is indexed. That is, when a new series of "Masha and the Bear" comes out, the first couple of days it will show even the announcements of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the negative words "masha" and "bear".
Video ad placements
Here you can choose the placement on the CMC websites or even specific pages; Choose to show in mobile apps, on YouTube channels, and in specific videos. You can select channels for display manually by entering different queries (future keys) into the search box and selecting suitable channels by the number of subscribers / views, subject, and so on.

You can automate the process using a script.

Exclude video channels
In some cases, negative keywords are not enough and it is necessary to exclude specific places of display, in particular, this is also one of the ways to combat screenings on children's channels. Sites, like negative keywords, can be excluded at the level of RK or at the level of an ad group in the targeting settings.

Remarketing
Video ads can be targeted to both regular visitors and users who visited your company's YouTube channel, watched a specific video on it, left a comment and took another action. Plus, for remarketing lists, you can create a look-alike.

To start using the remarketing feature, you need to link your Google Ads account to YouTube through Settings – Linked Accounts.

Remarketing lists can't be created for those who have watched splash ads—only TrueView.

Themes
Thematic targeting on YouTube replaces targeting by placements and keywords: topics in Google Ads correspond to specific areas and interest groups.

The system will select videos and cmc sites corresponding to the selected topics and will display ads on them.

In addition, the "Expand your audience" function is available: you can select users who are similar to those who are part of the audience selected during the setup. This allows you to show ads to potential customers who were previously unreached.

Banners with CTA
Contain only a clickable phrase – a call to action – on a translucent plate.

The advantage is an increase in the total "clickable" area on the page, through which the user can go to the brand channel.

There are two options for banners:

make your own - then stick to the size of 300x60 and weight no more than 150 kb;
use ready-made banners offered by the system - then Google itself will select the appropriate CTA, focusing on your video ad.

STA-overlay
Contains CTA and URL.

Advantage: it is the CTA overlay that allows you to maximize the potential of advertising on YouTube, plus it is a good way to personalize your offer - after all, the plate indicates not only the CTA, but also the URL.

If you choose this option, the CTA will be superimposed on the video in the form of a translucent die. The upside is that you'll be able to combine the text and visual effects of the overlay die with your video ad.

The allowable size of the die is 74x74.

To add a CTA overlay to a video ad, open the YouTube RC and go to the Videos tab. On the page there will be an Analytics button with a drop-down list - click on it and select edit CTA to configure.

Other types of advertising on YouTube
In addition to videos, you can set up or order a service from a contextual advertising agency for ordinary text and image ads, overlays, banners and more. Let's talk about each of the options in more detail now, because not the video is unified.

Text and image ads on YouTube
For text and image advertising, ads with a size of 300x250 and 300x60 are used. What is important to know:

This option is cheaper than In-Stream.
Ads are displayed only on the desktop and tablet, i.e. mobile Internet users will not see advertising.
To target specific videos/channels, use their URL when targeting placements.
YouTube ads will appear to the right of the video your potential customer is watching.
Overlay Ads
Overlays, they are also Overlay Ads are displayed directly on the watched video at the bottom of the player. The dimensions of such advertising are 468x60 or 728x90. An overlay can also be a text ad.

Shopping Ads
When a user searches for a query like [review of something], a Shopping ad may first appear at the top of the page, followed by video results. Such ads can now also be displayed on the homepage between videos.

Audio Ads
Audio ads on YouTube are designed to reach users who use formats and creatives that are optimized for listening, including in the background. This can be both in music and non-musical content. The main goal is to increase the recognition and memorability of the brand.

Audio ads are up to 15 seconds long. Payment – CPM.

 
Top Tips for YouTube Ads
There are a lot of vivid examples of brilliant RK on YouTube - these are the previously mentioned Burger King videos, and stunning Duracell advertising, and ads of dozens of other brands, which can be viewed in the Success Stories section on YouTube Advertising.

How did all these brands gain popularity and become what they became?

When you work with YouTube ads without using remarketing, you'll probably see a minimum of conversions.
Reduce the "threat of supply" by making the steps from watching videos to converting easier and more unburdensome. Use your video ads to answer customer questions or curiosity.
In most cases, the "client at a glance" will not work. So develop a strategy to guide users through conversion sequencing.
Do "five-second magic." It is the first 5 seconds of the ad that decide whether the user will watch or not; will remember you or forget you; will be interested or frowned upon.
Talk about the brand so that it's clear who you're talking about. The brand should appear in the first 5 seconds of the video for better memorization.
Share emotions, show stories, intrigue, laugh, captivate: so you can make you want to watch the video to the end.
Guide users, tell or show them what to do next: see about the brand, visit the site, watch more videos, download the application, come to the office, etc.
Test: different creatives on the same audience segment, one creative on different audiences, testing different formats.
Google has a academy with detailed lessons on working with YouTube – take a look, there are a lot of useful things there.

Part 7: Google Ads Guide: Part 7 // Remarketing ; What is Remarketing? (bigmoney.vip)