Ashley Black

8 insights on Paid UA from 2 talks and podcasts, each with the quote and a link to the moment it was said.

Paid UA 8

Paid UA

Dig deep in the Google UI to find hidden features/data like viewing ad placements to identify underperforming areas or high-traffic sources; you can then ask your rep to block certain apps to optimize ad performance or leverage the insights for outside-of-google initiatives.

Do you need a Google-specific creative strategy? · Featured in Growth Gems #115

Sylvain's take:

I believe Ashley is referring to the not-so-well-known App campaigns placement Report. It’s worth looking at it, but:

There are no details for “Google Owned & Operated,” which usually represents the most significant share of Impressions by far
You can only get Impressions data, nothing about Clicks and conversions 😢

Still, you can understand more about the apps and videos where your ads are displayed. Use Filter → “App campaigns placement type” to visualize Impressions by type of placement.

Paid UA

Explore the “Columns” options of your Google App Campaigns reporting to find data advertisers rarely know about. Example: you can get the “View rate” of your YouTube video for In-stream, In-feed, and Shorts videos.

Do you need a Google-specific creative strategy? · Featured in Growth Gems #115

Sylvain's take:

Below is the kind of data you can get on view rates, which informs you to some extent about video placements.

If you want actual performance per video, I also recommend:

Looking at each video asset performance in Google Ads
Looking at video analytics directly on YouTube for your different assets (if you use “unlisted” videos, you know the data is only from your App Campaign)

When using the ad group reporting UI, here are some more basic recommendations from me:

Make sure you have the “All conv.” column: when you segment by “Conversions → Conversion action”, this allows you to see all the different conversions (even for the events you’re not optimizing for)
Frequently segment by “Network (with search partners)” so you can understand where your ads are placed (Search vs. Display vs. YouTube)

Two less-known Segments:

1/ Top vs. Other - understand where your Google search ads display

2/ Ad destination - for Android, you can better understand the performance of just the Play Store inventory (“App store”)

Paid UA

You need different creatives for Google’s different inventory types, even for YouTube itself. Advertisers often make the mistake of testing creatives on platforms like Meta and then directly applying them to Google without considering the different content types and audience behaviors. On YouTube itself, you have:

In-stream 16:9
Bumper (6s) 16:9
Shorts (where Meta/TikTok creatives might perform well)
Homepage 16:9

Do you need a Google-specific creative strategy? · Featured in Growth Gems #115

Sylvain's take:

Ashley insisted that only having UGC content on YouTube limits performance. She shared the example of someone about to watch an SNL clip on YouTube, where there are probably better formats than a UGC-style video to advertise within pre-roll.

In the App Masters episode, she also mentioned you need to make sure you have these ads in various durations (15-second spot, 30-second spot).

Paid UA

Consider your app type when deciding where to invest creative effort because your category significantly influences the traffic it receives from Google. Therefore, fitness or fintech apps receive higher search traffic and need to spend more time on their text assets. Mobile games primarily rely on AdMob and YouTube inventories and might want to spend more time on their videos.

Do you need a Google-specific creative strategy? · Featured in Growth Gems #115

Sylvain's take:

The one placement she mentioned she wouldn’t invest in was banner ads.

Paid UA

Having a Google Ads representative can provide access to advanced reporting insights not available in the front-end UI. Example: data going beyond the “Network” Segment (Search, YouTube, Display), like % of ads going to Shorts, Play Browse vs. Play Search, etc.

Do you need a Google-specific creative strategy? · Featured in Growth Gems #115

Sylvain's take:

There are also other benefits to having a Google rep:

Adding negative keywords at the campaign level (not just the account level)
Running video-only campaigns
Participating in betas like the one to bid on a SKAN conversion value
Getting occasional ad credit to try beta/features
Getting data shared from data.ai

However:

Paid UA

If you’re not running video in a substantial way in Google Ads App Campaigns, you’re really limiting the amount of traffic and coverage you have on Google’s inventory. This is particularly true on iOS because Android has the Play Store inventory.

An ex-Googler’s guide to winning on iOS for Google UAC campaigns · Featured in Growth Gems #115

Paid UA

In Conversion settings, you can opt-in for 6-second bumper ads. These perform well for some advertisers.

Do you need a Google-specific creative strategy? · Featured in Growth Gems #115

Sylvain's take:

Here is more about bumper ads for App campaigns, measured with “engaged-view” conversions. On 6-second videos, I’m thinking this might lead to some over-attribution…

Paid UA

On Android, bidding on Firebase events is a must: it will increase performance because some of the data collected is related to device ID. On iOS, you might not see an increase in performance, but there is no harm in bidding for Firebase events. For both platforms, Firebase will be the gatekeeper for any new features and products (e.g., on-device measurement for iOS)

An ex-Googler’s guide to winning on iOS for Google UAC campaigns · Featured in Growth Gems #115

Sylvain's take:

On-device measurement for iOS works for apps that collect email addresses and/or phone numbers and is Google’s way of mapping users with actions happening on Google’s ad networks (in what is supposed to be an Apple-privacy-compliant way).

I have not tried this yet.

Ashley Black

Paid UA

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