When it comes to online advertising, important changes come often. As you look forward to the rest of 2023, it's smart to prepare your online business for upcoming Google Ad changes. To simplify this, we've created an easy-to-follow guide on the noteworthy Google Ad changes that your company should be preparing for.

1. Starting May 1, 2023, Google Ads will no longer generate similar audiences (also referred to as “similar segments”). If you have active campaigns with similar segments, those will remain with until August 1, 2023. After August 1, similar segments will be removed from all ad groups and campaigns. (Details)  
   
   Why this change? Because of privacy reasons, Google wants to stay closer to automated solutions such as: optimized targeting, audience expansion and smart bidding.
2. Expanded Ads are no longer in use. They started to deprecate in 2022 and were successfully replaced by Responsive Ads. Responsive Ads use a combination of headlines and descriptions to serve the ads that are more likely to convert. (Details)  
3. Updates with the "Remove Redundant Keywords" recommendation. Google used to only suggest edits on keywords within the same ad group, destination, bidding strategy, and match type. Google now includes recommendations on keywords of different match types. 
   
   Why this change? Redundant keywords are equivalent to higher-performing or broad match keywords. Removing them or consolidating them across match types will make managing your account easier. It doesn’t negatively impact your performance, and still allows your ads to appear on the same searches. (Details) 

Being up-to-date with the changes to Google Ads is an easy way to be more efficient with your company's ad spend. If you would like more help with your digital marketing strategy, contact us at Slicedbread. Our team of experts are here to help.