Identity Verification Rolls out in Google Ads & This Week’s Digital Marketing News [Podcast]

On this week’s episode of Marketing O’Clock, hosts Greg Finn, Mark Saltarelli, and Jess Budde break down the biggest digital marketing news of the week.

If you’re unable to listen on Spotify, check out the video version of this week’s episode on the Search Engine Journal YouTube channel.

Identity Verification Rolls out in Google Ads

We’ve all been warned that identity verification was going to be coming to Google Ads since March 2020, and yet it’s beginning has been a little shocking.

On Twitter, Amalia Fowler shared her identity verification email from Google Ads and her concerns with how they are going about showing information in the SERPs.

This is going to be an interesting adventure, PPC friends #ppcchat. As an agency who runs accounts for my clients this will be fun.

Also, look at the bottom. pic.twitter.com/3PL4EXAxie

— Amalia Fowler (@amaliaefowler) January 7, 2021

Google Ads’ poor wording of the email made it seem like they would be showing the full name of the individual – which is very concerning for agencies – who are working on multiple Google Ads accounts, along with the personal privacy for anyone creating ads through the platform.

It was later clarified that only the name of the company whose ad it is will show, along with their business location.

Google News Reports Added for News Publishers in Google Search Console

Google Search Console now offers reporting on Google News for news publishers. This report is great to determine how many times a website’s articles have been shown on Google News, along with how many times users have clicked on them.

Before these reports were added, publishers were not able to isolate their data from Google News. They can now find this report in their Search Console if their articles are showing on Google News, but it may not be visible to those whose articles are not frequently appearing on the platform.

This week’s take of the week is a follow up from our take of the week last week, from Kirk Williams, author of “Ponderings of a PPC Professional,” along with Mike Ryan, Head of Retail Insights at Smarter Ecommerce.

They’ve coined the term “black hole” as “a business logic deployed: not an inevitable outcome of Google’s product technology but a deliberate outcome of their product strategy.”

listening now, thanks for including! A definition I have been using more of is from @mikeryanretail in regard to automation, like Smart Shopping. He prefers “black hole” to “black box” when referring to data. Black box hides the algo/process, whereas black hole hides the data.

— Kirk Williams 🏔 (@PPCKirk) January 8, 2021

Next, in our ICYMI segment, Brooke Osmundson shares how Google Ads’ “non-significant search terms” are driving conversions, but not data.

We have a smaller, niche client who only receives a handful of conversions every month (anywhere from 5-15).

With @GoogleAds change to Search Query data, we can only see 2 out of the 10 conversions from last month in our SQR.

Another hit for small businesses and I've had enough

— Brooke Osmundson (@BrookeOsmundson) January 8, 2021

Then we answer your burning digital marketing questions during our lightning round segment:

• Who told you that paid advertising on Google Ads directly affected organic search results?
• What do you think of the new AR released by TikTok?
• Where are the cool events at? Find out on Snapchat!
• When did subtopics roll out on Google?
• Why am I receiving so many lead gen emails from LinkedIn?
• How can Hulu help my video campaigns?

Check out the Marketing O’Clock site to subscribe to the show (and our newsletter!) and read all the articles featured on this week’s show!

Featured Image Credit: Samantha Hanson