SEO
Free Google Ads Script To Dynamically Change Target ROAS
With the continuing onslaught of automation from the ad engines like Google, should we still care about ad scripts?
I believe so.
Scripts are the perfect tool to execute an automation layering strategy.
They give you a technique to use your own simple automations to control, monitor, and improve more sophisticated machine learning automations from Google.
Unfortunately, as Google advertisers have adopted smart bidding in larger numbers, AdWords scripts have become less capable of working in the new way of doing things.
The reason is simple: AdWords Scripts don’t support modifying target CPA or target ROAS bids, so they’re limited in how useful they can be for the modern PPC marketer.
But AdWords Scripts have finally started evolving again and will soon be replaced by Google Ads Scripts.
That’s right, almost four years after AdWords became Google Ads, it’s time for scripts to make the change, too.
In this post, you’ll find an example of how you can use a Google Ads script to manipulate your target return on ad spend (tROAS) setting based on external factors.
How To Use A Google Ads Script To Change tROAS
While you can extend this example to use any external data that is available through an API, we’ll use the true-and-tried example of bidding by weather for the purpose of this column.
In my recent book, Unlevel the Playing Field, I shared an example of an automotive parts store that wants to take full advantage of a spike in car battery sales when the season’s first frost hits and wipes out car batteries that were already on their last leg.
One shortcoming of the “maximize conversion value” smart bidding strategy is that it likely doesn’t know there is a correlation between frost and car battery sales.
But the store’s owner has been in business for enough winters to know what to expect when the temperature dips below freezing.
So the company decides to bid more aggressively when there is a large potential for more sales due to weather conditions.
That means setting a lower target ROAS when the temperature goes below 32 Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius.
The reason for lowering the tROAS is that Google will likely make some inaccurate predictions about conversion rates.
It will assume typical conversion rates when in reality the conversion rate will be much higher because people looking for a car battery during the first frost are more likely to have a dead battery that needs immediate replacement (rather than just shopping for a new battery to replace one that may eventually die).
As Google underestimates the conversion rate, and the advertiser indicates a willingness to get a lower ROAS, these two factors will balance out and the advertiser is likely to get more conversions while still maintaining the same ROAS they usually get.
How To Try The New Google Ads Scripts
The script relies on some functionality that is only available in the new experience so you will need to toggle the setting that enables this new experience in your Google Ads account.
The script consists of two core parts:
- Fetching external data like the min forecast temperature for tomorrow.
- And setting a new tROAS bid.
How To Connect Weather Data To Google Ads
To fetch weather data, we can use an API like that from Open Weather Maps.
There is a free tier of the API so you can easily test the functionality before committing to any costs.
Paired with a free Ads Script, this means this solution won’t cost you anything to try.
With just about 20 lines of code, we can write a function that queries the weather API for a particular location.
You tell it the latitude and longitude of the location for which you want a forecast and then it returns the forecast for that location.
In my example, I am fetching the lowest temperature for the next day but you could easily request a different weather-related number by updating the following line of code:
Var min = json.daily[0].temp.min;
Note how that code corresponds to the data from the API.
For every part of the text after the “=” sign, I have placed an arrow next to the associated data in the weather response below to help you understand the mapping.
Use a JSON preview tool to navigate the weather data we’ll use in our code.
How To Update tROAS With Google Ads Scripts
Next, we need a function whose job it is to change the tROAS of a campaign.
That code takes about 11 lines.
It takes a campaign name and a bid adjustment as inputs and it scales the current tROAS by the bid adjustment factor.
The bid adjustments is a simple multiplier.
It’s trivial to change how the tROAS is changed by simply changing the formula:
newTRoas = bidAdjustment * currentTRoas
Putting The Parts Together To Change Bid By Weather
Finally, we write the simple logic that tells our script when to change the bids.
This can be done in around 10 lines of code.
Of course, we also need some settings so that we can easily change things like the campaign we’re manipulating or the temperature at which we want to adjust the tROAS, and how much we want to change the tROAS.
The settings look like this:
When we put it all together, we get the complete code that you can copy and paste and run in your own Google Ads account.
Scripts Housekeeping
This script does very simple automation for free. But chances are you will want to extend the functionality to really meet your own needs.
For example, if you operate in many locations, you may want to change the tROAS for some external factor in each of those locations.
That means repeating the code many times, which is simple but not elegant.
Or, you could write more elegant code that maps the primary geo-location where each campaign gets impressions to a location encoder and then fetches the weather data.
Ideally, you’ll also label any campaigns you adjust so that you can run an automated rule the next day to restore the tROAS to pre-frost levels so that bids don’t remain too high after the spike in battery sales has passed.
The beauty of scripts is that I’ve given you a working set of code that can be the basis of all these enhancements.
All the documentation for the new scripts experience can be found here.
Conclusion
It’s exciting to see Google once again investing in Google Ads scripts, enabling advertisers to automate their most time-consuming tasks even when using modern bid management techniques.
Grab the full code and try the script from here.
More resources:
Featured Image: Pepgooner/Shutterstock
SEO
brightonSEO Live Blog
Hello everyone. It’s April again, so I’m back in Brighton for another two days of Being the introvert I am, my idea of fun isn’t hanging around our booth all day explaining we’ve run out of t-shirts (seriously, you need to be fast if you want swag!). So I decided to do something useful and live-blog the event instead.
Follow below for talk takeaways and (very) mildly humorous commentary. sun, sea, and SEO!
SEO
Google Further Postpones Third-Party Cookie Deprecation In Chrome
Google has again delayed its plan to phase out third-party cookies in the Chrome web browser. The latest postponement comes after ongoing challenges in reconciling feedback from industry stakeholders and regulators.
The announcement was made in Google and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) joint quarterly report on the Privacy Sandbox initiative, scheduled for release on April 26.
Chrome’s Third-Party Cookie Phaseout Pushed To 2025
Google states it “will not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4” this year as planned.
Instead, the tech giant aims to begin deprecating third-party cookies in Chrome “starting early next year,” assuming an agreement can be reached with the CMA and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The statement reads:
“We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem. It’s also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence, including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June.”
Continued Engagement With Regulators
Google reiterated its commitment to “engaging closely with the CMA and ICO” throughout the process and hopes to conclude discussions this year.
This marks the third delay to Google’s plan to deprecate third-party cookies, initially aiming for a Q3 2023 phaseout before pushing it back to late 2024.
The postponements reflect the challenges in transitioning away from cross-site user tracking while balancing privacy and advertiser interests.
Transition Period & Impact
In January, Chrome began restricting third-party cookie access for 1% of users globally. This percentage was expected to gradually increase until 100% of users were covered by Q3 2024.
However, the latest delay gives websites and services more time to migrate away from third-party cookie dependencies through Google’s limited “deprecation trials” program.
The trials offer temporary cookie access extensions until December 27, 2024, for non-advertising use cases that can demonstrate direct user impact and functional breakage.
While easing the transition, the trials have strict eligibility rules. Advertising-related services are ineligible, and origins matching known ad-related domains are rejected.
Google states the program aims to address functional issues rather than relieve general data collection inconveniences.
Publisher & Advertiser Implications
The repeated delays highlight the potential disruption for digital publishers and advertisers relying on third-party cookie tracking.
Industry groups have raised concerns that restricting cross-site tracking could push websites toward more opaque privacy-invasive practices.
However, privacy advocates view the phaseout as crucial in preventing covert user profiling across the web.
With the latest postponement, all parties have more time to prepare for the eventual loss of third-party cookies and adopt Google’s proposed Privacy Sandbox APIs as replacements.
Featured Image: Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock
SEO
How To Write ChatGPT Prompts To Get The Best Results
ChatGPT is a game changer in the field of SEO. This powerful language model can generate human-like content, making it an invaluable tool for SEO professionals.
However, the prompts you provide largely determine the quality of the output.
To unlock the full potential of ChatGPT and create content that resonates with your audience and search engines, writing effective prompts is crucial.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the art of writing prompts for ChatGPT, covering everything from basic techniques to advanced strategies for layering prompts and generating high-quality, SEO-friendly content.
Writing Prompts For ChatGPT
What Is A ChatGPT Prompt?
A ChatGPT prompt is an instruction or discussion topic a user provides for the ChatGPT AI model to respond to.
The prompt can be a question, statement, or any other stimulus to spark creativity, reflection, or engagement.
Users can use the prompt to generate ideas, share their thoughts, or start a conversation.
ChatGPT prompts are designed to be open-ended and can be customized based on the user’s preferences and interests.
How To Write Prompts For ChatGPT
Start by giving ChatGPT a writing prompt, such as, “Write a short story about a person who discovers they have a superpower.”
ChatGPT will then generate a response based on your prompt. Depending on the prompt’s complexity and the level of detail you requested, the answer may be a few sentences or several paragraphs long.
Use the ChatGPT-generated response as a starting point for your writing. You can take the ideas and concepts presented in the answer and expand upon them, adding your own unique spin to the story.
If you want to generate additional ideas, try asking ChatGPT follow-up questions related to your original prompt.
For example, you could ask, “What challenges might the person face in exploring their newfound superpower?” Or, “How might the person’s relationships with others be affected by their superpower?”
Remember that ChatGPT’s answers are generated by artificial intelligence and may not always be perfect or exactly what you want.
However, they can still be a great source of inspiration and help you start writing.
Must-Have GPTs Assistant
I recommend installing the WebBrowser Assistant created by the OpenAI Team. This tool allows you to add relevant Bing results to your ChatGPT prompts.
This assistant adds the first web results to your ChatGPT prompts for more accurate and up-to-date conversations.
It is very easy to install in only two clicks. (Click on Start Chat.)
For example, if I ask, “Who is Vincent Terrasi?,” ChatGPT has no answer.
With WebBrower Assistant, the assistant creates a new prompt with the first Bing results, and now ChatGPT knows who Vincent Terrasi is.
You can test other GPT assistants available in the GPTs search engine if you want to use Google results.
Master Reverse Prompt Engineering
ChatGPT can be an excellent tool for reverse engineering prompts because it generates natural and engaging responses to any given input.
By analyzing the prompts generated by ChatGPT, it is possible to gain insight into the model’s underlying thought processes and decision-making strategies.
One key benefit of using ChatGPT to reverse engineer prompts is that the model is highly transparent in its decision-making.
This means that the reasoning and logic behind each response can be traced, making it easier to understand how the model arrives at its conclusions.
Once you’ve done this a few times for different types of content, you’ll gain insight into crafting more effective prompts.
Prepare Your ChatGPT For Generating Prompts
First, activate the reverse prompt engineering.
- Type the following prompt: “Enable Reverse Prompt Engineering? By Reverse Prompt Engineering I mean creating a prompt from a given text.”
ChatGPT is now ready to generate your prompt. You can test the product description in a new chatbot session and evaluate the generated prompt.
- Type: “Create a very technical reverse prompt engineering template for a product description about iPhone 11.”
The result is amazing. You can test with a full text that you want to reproduce. Here is an example of a prompt for selling a Kindle on Amazon.
- Type: “Reverse Prompt engineer the following {product), capture the writing style and the length of the text :
product =”
I tested it on an SEJ blog post. Enjoy the analysis – it is excellent.
- Type: “Reverse Prompt engineer the following {text}, capture the tone and writing style of the {text} to include in the prompt :
text = all text coming from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-bard-training-data/478941/”
But be careful not to use ChatGPT to generate your texts. It is just a personal assistant.
Go Deeper
Prompts and examples for SEO:
- Keyword research and content ideas prompt: “Provide a list of 20 long-tail keyword ideas related to ‘local SEO strategies’ along with brief content topic descriptions for each keyword.”
- Optimizing content for featured snippets prompt: “Write a 40-50 word paragraph optimized for the query ‘what is the featured snippet in Google search’ that could potentially earn the featured snippet.”
- Creating meta descriptions prompt: “Draft a compelling meta description for the following blog post title: ’10 Technical SEO Factors You Can’t Ignore in 2024′.”
Important Considerations:
- Always Fact-Check: While ChatGPT can be a helpful tool, it’s crucial to remember that it may generate inaccurate or fabricated information. Always verify any facts, statistics, or quotes generated by ChatGPT before incorporating them into your content.
- Maintain Control and Creativity: Use ChatGPT as a tool to assist your writing, not replace it. Don’t rely on it to do your thinking or create content from scratch. Your unique perspective and creativity are essential for producing high-quality, engaging content.
- Iteration is Key: Refine and revise the outputs generated by ChatGPT to ensure they align with your voice, style, and intended message.
Additional Prompts for Rewording and SEO:
– Rewrite this sentence to be more concise and impactful.
– Suggest alternative phrasing for this section to improve clarity.
– Identify opportunities to incorporate relevant internal and external links.
– Analyze the keyword density and suggest improvements for better SEO.
Remember, while ChatGPT can be a valuable tool, it’s essential to use it responsibly and maintain control over your content creation process.
Experiment And Refine Your Prompting Techniques
Writing effective prompts for ChatGPT is an essential skill for any SEO professional who wants to harness the power of AI-generated content.
Hopefully, the insights and examples shared in this article can inspire you and help guide you to crafting stronger prompts that yield high-quality content.
Remember to experiment with layering prompts, iterating on the output, and continually refining your prompting techniques.
This will help you stay ahead of the curve in the ever-changing world of SEO.
More resources:
Featured Image: Tapati Rinchumrus/Shutterstock
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