Last August, Google unveiled a groundbreaking new search ad type during their Marketing Live Keynote. They announced the inclusion of images into search ads through a new format they’re calling “gallery ads.” Normally after Google announces a new feature, it takes some time for it to be available to advertisers. Last week, gallery ads became an option for a few of our accounts. We are excited to see them start popping up and below are a few reasons why!
What are they?
Gallery ads function as normal text ads that show above the search results when someone does a search on Google. But instead of being composed of only clickable blue links and gray description text, these new ads include a slideshow of images customers can scroll through much like carousel ads you see on Facebook and Instagram.
Why this matters:
Big picture- images are more powerful than text. Normal text ads are very effective and generate high volumes of clicks, but the early numbers we’ve seen from gallery ads prove that people love seeing something more visually gripping. Since creating gallery ads for our eligible clients, we’ve seen click through rates over 20% (for reference, most text campaigns have click through rates are between 3% – 5%). The cost per click on these ads are the same as the regular text ads for the same ad group since the ad auction works the same for both ad types.
Takeaway:
It’s likely these will continue to perform well, and Google is going to reward advertisers who implement them early. Gallery ads, in almost all cases, will show at the top of the page (since they take up so much dang room, Google will only show one gallery ad and it’ll be at the top). Being an early adopter will give you the edge of getting that ad placement before your competitors even have created gallery ads to run! Although they’re more time consuming to create, they’re definitely worth implementing across all your search campaigns.
