Google Auction Insights: Bridging the Visibility Gap

How much of your spend goes to search terms hidden in Google’s “other” category compared to terms included in your reports?

Adthena analyzed accounts from various locations and found that on average 51% of spends are related to search terms that Google does not display, categorizing them as “other terms” or similar.

As marketers, the question arises: how much of our budget is falling through the cracks?

This lack of transparency also applies to the Performance Max (PMax) campaign. In Adthena’s study, only 26% of PMax traffic was related to visible search terms, leaving much of your performance in the dark.

Why can search term visibility gaps cost you money?

Google’s failure to disclose certain search terms creates blind spots in performance analytics and reporting.

It’s disturbing to know that 51% of your advertising budget can be wasted on words that don’t convert.

This data gap skews performance metrics and risks leading future strategies in the wrong direction.

Hidden reporting challenges you didn’t know about

Without full visibility into search terms, reporting becomes incomplete.

A significant portion of your budget may be allocated to low-performing search terms, and yet you lack the data to accurately identify them.

This reporting gap makes it difficult to provide accurate performance assessments and make data-driven decisions for future campaigns.

Unlock true campaign optimization with complete data

Without visibility into hidden terms, it becomes almost impossible to identify negative keywords, limiting campaign optimization.

How to solve the search term visibility problem

Adten fills the data gap by providing deeper analysis and insights, enabling advertisers to optimize campaigns based on more comprehensive data.

For example, VodafoneZiggo used Adthena’s insights to optimize its paid search strategy, achieving: Orders increase by 500%..

By reallocating ad spend to off-brand terms and pausing low-performing keywords, VodafoneZiggo improved its impression share by 70% and saved significant costs by eliminating five underperforming “Lone Ranger” terms.

• “The valuable insights we get from Adthena are simply not available elsewhere. Every hour and euro we invest in paid search is spent wisely,” said Jerry Jacobs, head of paid search at VodafoneZiggo.

The limitations of Auction Analysis are explained

Auction analysis provides valuable data, but has limitations that can complicate decision-making:

1. Only overlapping dates: Auction analysis only shows dates where your bids match those of your competitors. Even for the same conditions, data is limited to the times when they coincided with them in the auction.
2. Limited visibility of competitor activities: You can only access auction statistics for auctions in which you participate, which means that in your absence you may not obtain important information about your competitors’ behavior on these terms.
3. Impression share threshold: You lose visibility when your activity falls below the minimum 10% impression share threshold, limiting your ability to fully evaluate your performance in the auction environment.
4. No integration with Looker Studio: Lack of integration with Looker Studio makes it difficult to seamlessly incorporate competitive data into reports, increasing manual work.

What can you do about it

Here’s how Adthena can help you bridge this gap and get more significant results.

1. See the terms where your competition appears

WITH Adtenyou can determine where your competitors are bidding, but you don’t. This includes potential terms for the categories you want to compete in to ensure you can successfully launch your new business.

For example, PrettyLittleThing used Adthena’s competitive intelligence to determine exactly what search terms its competitors were targeting, enabling them to connect with consumers who were ready to buy.

This approach allowed them to appear on 1,400 additional terms in text and product ads compared to the previous year, which resulted in Increase in click share by 47%. on general text ads and a 225% year-over-year increase in Google Shopping ads.

• “Search is the channel we rely on to make lower-funnel decisions that drive new revenue. Adthena’s data has helped us increase share and capture the attention of our fashionable, fashion-forward customers who are already searching for our products in the marketplace,” said Matt Holmes, director of digital marketing at PrettyLittleThing.

2. See the full competitive landscape

Unlike Auction Insights, Adthena provides insight into your competitors’ activities, even if you are not participating in the auction. This allows you to identify market opportunities and observe interests, which will help you compete effectively in new categories.

For example, Journey Further obtained a market-wide view of its customers’ performance compared to competitors in a given category.

As a result Journey Further delivered a 97% increase in revenue from Google Shopping campaigns and a 27% increase in impression share.

Return on ad spend (ROAS) also increased by 38%, meaning the customer’s shopping campaigns were a huge success.

• “Adthena gives us visibility across our entire marketplace, which has been a huge help with our Google Shopping campaigns. We had a feeling we could do more with Google Shopping, but without the right data, we didn’t know how to do it. Thanks to Adthena, we could see exactly how we stack up against the competition, where we can become more aggressive and how we can increase revenue from our campaigns,” says an e-commerce manager at a home improvement store.

3. Improved performance metrics

Adten provides unique search term performance metrics such as average position, spend share, click share, and impression share – for you and all your competitors.

Use these insights to evaluate and compare the performance of your campaigns with those of your competitors and make more informed optimization decisions to ensure better ROI.

For example, Adthena’s observations helped Dentsu achieves 360% increase in demand and a 140% increase in traffic for their client on Black Friday.

Dentsu said its top competitor reduced its budget in the Image and Micro categories while offering lower discounts.

This enabled Dentsu to strategically increase spend, resulting in a 37% increase in impression share and significant revenue growth during this competitive period.

• “Thanks to Adthena’s strategic insights, we were able to identify our best opportunities compared to the competition, which allowed us to increase our revenues in the most important month of the year,” said Celia Rosado, Paid Search Analyst, and Rubén Fernandéz-Avilés, Paid Search Manager, Dentsu .

4. Unlock statistics for shopping campaigns and PMax

If you run Google Shopping or PMax campaigns, the lack of detailed data can be frustrating.

Adthena fills this gap by offering product-specific data on impressions, ad listings, and prices seen on your ads and on ads served by your competitors.

You can build such a view for competitive metrics (impression share, clicks, spend, and average position).

For PMax campaigns, you’ll have visibility into additional search terms triggering ads that Google doesn’t often provide, as well as a search term report for terms specifically triggering your Shopping ads that Google doesn’t provide visibility into unless you have a standard Shopping campaign.

This transparency allows you to customize your campaigns by optimizing the shopping channel, text ads, negative keywords, and more.

Take it interactive tour of the Adthena platform to find out how we can provide you with shopping insights to help you plan now.

5. Streamline reporting with seamless integration with Looker Studio

Adthena integrates directly with Looker Studio, making it easy to incorporate detailed competitive data into your reports.

This means your reports will be more comprehensive and allow you to present stakeholders with a complete picture of campaign performance without missing out on key data.

Take back control with Adthena

Adthena’s search analytics platform will give you a competitive advantage.

Our technology provides a comprehensive view of the search landscape, enabling you to confidently optimize your campaigns, increase ROI and ensure that every penny is invested wisely.

Book a quick demo with our search consultants to see how Adthena can fill the Google Auction Insights gap. Change your search strategy.