Responsive Display Ad Strategies

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Now that Google made responsive display ads the new default ad type for the Display Network, it’s time for businesses to start making the most of this option. Responsive Display ads offer a variety of benefits, but in order to really make the most of them, you need to develop a strategy. In this post, we’ll offer some tips for developing a solid strategy for utilizing Responsive Display Ads, but first, as a refresher, you can read a brief overview of the new default ad format.

What Are Responsive Display Ads?

This new default ad format for Google’s Display Network is powered by Google’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. Basically, the technology allows advertisers to test multiple inputs and then determines the best-performing combination of inputs to show a specific audience.

With responsive display ads, advertisers can include up to:

  • 15 images
  • 5 videos
  • 5 headlines
  • 5 descriptions
  • 5 logos

Creating responsive display ads is simple – just upload all your assets, including images, headlines, logos, videos, and descriptions. Now Google will use machine learning technology to automatically generate the appropriate ads to be shown on the Google Display Network.

Best Practices for Responsive Display Ads

While they are certainly simple to set up, responsive display ads require a solid strategy. Below, we outline some of the best practices to make the most of your responsive display ads:

  1. The More Headlines, The Better: You should provide as many headlines as possible because this increases the opportunity for a relevant ad to be shown. Ultimately, this increases your ad’s performance.
  2. Unique Selling Points: When you’re creating your ads, thing about the specific benefits your product or service offers. Highlight what sets you apart, such as solving a specific problem that other products or services can’t.
  3. Test Out Headline Lengths: You don’t always need to use the maximum character count for your headlines. In some cases, shorter headlines perform better, so it’s important to test them out. After you look at your ad’s performance, you can take this strategy and apply it to future campaigns.
  4. Different Descriptions: Don’t use the same description for all your ads. You should have at least two different descriptions. This is important because Google’s machine learning technology needs to test out different options to get the most out of your responsive display ad experience.
  5. Use the Combinations Report: While it might seem difficult to manage the performance of all the different combinations of ads, the combinations report simplifies matters for advertisers. The report shows which groupings of assets and copy are performing best. This way, you can get insights into what works and what doesn’t. The report has separate sections for different combinations based on images, text, dynamic feeds, and videos, so that you don’t have to rely solely on machine learning.
  6. Ad Strength Scores: Ad strength scores are already available for responsive search ads, and now a variation is available for the responsive display ads. The ad strength scorecard checks that the right number of distinct headlines, images, and descriptions are used. In addition, the scorecard highlights “Next Steps” you can take to improve your ad strength.

Of course, these are just some of the basic tips to start setting up your responsive display ads. There is so much more to learn as you create your ads and analyze the performance.

Skyrush Marketing Uses Responsive Display Ads

Even though the responsive display ads become the default format on Google quite recently, Skryrush Marketing has been utilizing this ad format consistently since it was available. Our team is highly skilled in all aspects of digital marketing and our agency is a Google Premier Partner, so we are always up-to-date on the latest Google developments. We’re here to take your brand’s digital marketing to the next level.

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Is Your Website ADA-Compliant?

In 2019, there have been multiple lawsuits filed over ADA compliance specifically dealing with website accessibility, but the rulings from the court are mixed. While some companies are settling and removing sections from their website that aren’t ADA compliant, other companies are claiming that they don’t know how to ensure that their site is ADA compliant. In fact, oftentimes the court can’t rule against businesses regarding websites that aren’t in line with ADA Title III because there are no explicit instructions for website accessibility in the existing ADA legislation, even after undergoing amendments in 2008.

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What is Stated in ADA Title III?

Title III of the ADA applies to owners, lessors, and operators of a “place of public accommodation”. The legislation requires that those mentioned above provide equal access to users who meet the ADA standards for disability, which includes both physical and mental disabilities. Initially, this only applied to physical barriers, as the legislation was created before the rise of the internet. Therefore, there is no explicit section of the ADA Title III as it related to websites.

 

But clearly, things are changing…

While there is isn’t a clear statement related to websites, considering the fact that the majority of individuals make purchases online, it seems logical that the concept of equal accessibility should apply to websites. It’s true that many courts across the country have ruled that commercial websites are places of public accommodation – meaning, they are subject to ADA rules. However, as we stated earlier, other rulings go against this notion as certain courts determined that the ADA as written does not specifically apply to online users.

 

The Bottom Line

Even though the rulings are inconsistent, businesses should be ensuring that their websites are ADA-compliant. First, this will avoid any serious lawsuits against the company and negative press related to inaccessibility. Second, as we live in an age of inclusiveness, it is important to ensure that all website users have the right to the full online experience.

In Europe and other nations around the world, the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are applied to business websites. Even though these specific standards aren’t required in the United States, some courts that have ruled against businesses with inaccessible websites provided the WCAG standards as a guideline for companies to ensure that there is no question about whether their sites are ADA-compliant.

 

 

The Major Factors to Consider

Below we list some of the common problems Skyrush Marketing has seen with website accessibility related to the perceivable and operable guidelines, and how to address them according to WCAG:

  • Non-Text Content: All non-text content should have a text alternative which should serve the same purpose. For instance, if the form of CAPTCHA is non-text, it should have an alternative form must be provided which use output modes for different types of sensory perception to accommodate different disabilities.
  • Time-Based Media: WCAG require websites to provide alternatives for prerecorded audio-only and video-only content. For instance, a video should have an equivalent audio file. In addition, prerecorded audio content needs to have captions. One technique that is recommended is to include a note that says “No sound is used in this clip” for video-only clips. Captions should never omit important dialogue or sound effects or fail to identify a synchronized media alternative to text as an “alternative”.
  • Adaptable: The content displayed on a website needs to have the ability to be displayed differently without losing the main information or structure. For instance, the content of a highly complex website must be able to adapt to a simpler format. In addition, instructions for understanding and operating the site can’t rely only on sensory characteristics such as shape, size, visual location, orientation, or sound.
  • Distinguishable: Websites must be presented in a way that allows users to easily see and hear the content. This involves using readable fonts, using at least 14 point text in images, and ensuring good contrast between text and images.
  • Keyboard Accessible: All website functionality should be operable through a keyboard. This involves allowing users to disable keyboard shortcuts that use only letter, punctuation, numbers, or symbols.
  • Enough Time: Users must have enough time to read and use the content on the website. If there is a time limit, users should be able to turn this off to ensure adequate time for reviewing the content.
  • Seizures and Physical Reactions: Never design content in a way that is known to cause seizures or physical reactions. For example, web pages shouldn’t contain anything that flashes more than three times in any one second period, or flash is below the general flash and red flash thresholds.
  • Navigable: Websites must provide multiple ways to help users navigate the site, find content, and determine where they are. Examples of compliance include limiting the number of links on a page, providing ways to navigate to different sections of the content of a web page, and highlighting search terms.
  • Input Modalities: Various inputs other than the keyboard should be provided in order to make it easier to operate functionality. One specific example is including text as the name of user interface components with labels including images of text.

These are some of the top guidelines that often get left out in the website development phase. To ensure that your company doesn’t run into legal trouble, it’s best to contact a web development agency with expertise in ADA compliance.

 

Skyrush Marketing: Proven Success With ADA-Compliance

The web development team at Skyrush Marketing has been developing and redesigning a variety of websites to ensure accessibility for all users with disabilities. We work with all businesses across all industries, including medical, legal, automotive, retail, and B2B. We hold ourselves to the WCAG standards and ensure that all websites meet and even exceed Level A compliance. Learn more about our web development services.

Contact Us For A Website Audit Today