Google’s New Ad Brand Good for Small Businesses, the Company Says

Google AdWords is done, dead, no more. But Google Ads is a new thing; and it’s supposed to be great for small business (looking at you, home improvement guys). 

Google Ads (being released alongside Google Marketplace and Google Ad Manager) is the combination of Google’s total range of advertising capabilities, across all its properties, partner sites, and apps. But think of it more as a streamlining than a shake-up. If you’re using Google AdWords now, your existing work won’t be affected. “Changes to the Google Ads branding will not impact your campaign performance, navigation, or reporting,” according to Google’s initial announcement.

The overall point is to make things simpler in an increasingly omni-channel world. A new feature, Smart campaigns, is designed to make advertising easier for small businesses. It’s a “default ad experience,” the release reads, which builds basic ads based on a company’s goals for the campaign—whether it’s to drive traffic or generate leads. Google promises that the new system means better targeting than regular ads. “We’ve found that Smart campaigns are 3 times better at getting (a business’s) ad in front of the right audience,” the release reads.