Which Dynamic Search Ads Option Allows An Advertiser To Group Web Pages Under Custom Labels?

This guide will illustrate how properly leveraging labels and associated page feed best practices unlocks superior discovery, lower costs and simplified management through enhanced segmentation.

Quick Answer: Dynamic Search Ads empower advertisers to apply custom descriptive tags called labels to website pages submitted in feeds, enabling the grouping of related pages by categories, topics, product types, locations and more for superior ad targeting and performance analysis.

Key Takeaways:

• Descriptive tags called custom labels allow categorisation of website pages into logical groupings within Dynamic Campaigns for superior targeting and analytics.
  
• Strategic page feed optimisation using labels boosts ad relevance by aligning user searches with pages selling those items based on taxonomy.
  
• Properly structuring catalogue sections through label hierarchies simplifies reporting dashboards and focuses bids on high-priority content.
  
• Continuous label refinement attuned to latest search intelligence and on-site behaviour enables advertisers to stay on pulse with shifting consumer intent.
  
• New or updated website pages must be carefully realigned to appropriate labels so targeting integrity and relevance is maintained as site content evolves.

Understanding Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) and Their Benefits

Aspect	Details
Basics of DSAs	DSAs are automated text ads generated by Google Ads based on website content.
Benefits Over Traditional Ads	DSAs offer improved ad relevance, broader query coverage, automated management, and performance insights from web content.
Key Components	Includes web content crawling, landing page feeds, automated ad generation, keyword targeting, and auction-based ad serving.
Role of Custom Labels	Custom labels segment web pages in campaigns for more relevant targeting and simplified management.
Setting Up Page Feeds	Essential for DSAs, comprising URL, custom labels, and optional attributes like titles and descriptions.

Understanding Dynamic Search Ads

Basics of Dynamic Search Ads

Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) are a powerful form of search advertising offered by Google Ads that automatically generate relevant text ads based on the content of a website.

Rather than manually creating multiple versions of an ad to target different search queries, DSAs leverage Google’s web crawling technology to scan a site and identify key information to populate ads.

The key benefit of DSAs is that they create highly customised, tailored ads for every search query.

When a user searches for a term related to a company’s offerings, Google will automatically match that search to relevant pages on their site and craft an ad using details from those pages – things like product names, service types, business categories and location.

This level of relevance is difficult to achieve with traditional static search ads.

For example, a clothing retailer could enable DSAs for their online store.

When someone searches “red dresses Birmingham”, Google will identify relevant product and location pages on their site to make an ad like: “High Quality Red Dresses in Birmingham. Free Delivery Available. Shop the Latest Styles Today.”

The ad text is fully customised for that specific query using details dynamically pulled from the site.

Benefits of DSAs Over Traditional Ads

DSAs provide a range of advantages over traditional search ads that use pre-defined static ad copy:

• Improved Ad Relevance: DSAs create tailored ads for every search query related to a business, leading to higher relevance, clickthrough rates and lower cost-per-click. Static ads cannot achieve the same level of customisation.
• Broader Search Query Coverage: By leveraging site content, DSAs can cover a practically unlimited range of search queries related to a business. Static ads require manually defining targeted keywords.
• Automated Management: Once implemented, DSAs automatically generate new ads as new content gets added to a site. No ongoing optimisation work is required like for static campaigns.
• Performance Insights From Web Content: The performance of DSAs provides insight into which types of site content are most relevant for users. This allows for data-driven decisions when producing content.

Overall, DSAs eliminate much of the ongoing management overhead that comes with traditional search ads.

Their automated, dynamic nature offers improved performance through relevance.

Key Components of DSAs

Several key components come together to enable the Dynamic Search Ads functionality:

• Web Content Crawling: Google utilises web crawler programmes to index websites and understand page content, topics and products. This allows matching to relevant search queries.
• Landing Page Feeds: To make site content eligible for ads, page URLs are submitted to Google via page feeds. Feeds indicate to Google which pages can be scanned and mined for ads.
• Automated Ad Generation: Software automatically generates ad copy and headlines by mining landing pages for relevant calls-to-action, offers and other details matching search queries.
• Keyword Targeting: Businesses add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant queries from showing their ads and limit searches to relevant categories. Location, language and other filters can also be applied.
• Auction-Based Ad Serving: Just like static search ads, the ads then participate in Google’s advertising auction to determine which are shown for searches and the cost per-click.

Understanding these key phases of DSA functionality provides deeper insight into how they utilise website content to drive automated, highly targeted search ads suited to each query.

The Role of Custom Labels in DSAs

Concept and Importance of Custom Labels

A vital capability offered by Dynamic Search Ads is applying custom labels – that is, attaching descriptive tags – to groups of web pages feeding into campaigns.

Consider an online fashion retailer “Spring Style” selling women’s apparel across categories like dresses, tops, skirts, jackets and more.

With a catalogue spanning thousands of product pages, they can leverage custom labels to categorize inventory by attributes like:

• Seasonality – summer-dresses, winter-jackets
• Style – floral-prints, lace-accents, boho-looks
• Occasions – office-wear, casual-weekends, wedding-guest
• Colors – red-items, neutrals-collection
• Materials – cotton-apparel, silk-pieces
• Sizes – plus-sizes, petite-ranges

Grouping pages selling similar dress types, prints, seasons allows for more relevant targeting.

Labels also enable segmenting the product catalogue to simplify reporting and optimization.

Without it, targeting capability diminishes.

For instance, if someone searches for “floral cocktail dresses”, labels can match that search with pages tagged cocktail and floral to show the most relevant ad possible.

Dynamic copies can pull right from those items.

Custom Labels in Ad Targeting

Strategically tagging website pages is crucial for retailers to maximize Dynamic Search Ads value.

Consider some examples for Spring Style:

Matching Searches to Products

Labels align searches with pages selling those items – searches for “white dress” target pages labelled “white-dresses”. Some phrases can combine labels like “white summer dresses” targeting the intersection.

Promoting Catalogue Sections

Certain sections like “new-arrivals” or “clearance-deals” can be labelled and prioritized accordingly with adjusted bids. Lifestyle sections like “work-styles” or “going-out” equally.

Adapting to Seasons

Rotate label priorities along with seasons – winter coats get higher priority in autumn/winter, while spring/summer focuses more on sundresses. Location targeting also plays a role.

Identifying High-Value Pages

Labels like “bestsellers”, “high-converting” or “premium-lines” can boost visibility for proven products. Low-value ones get decreased exposure via “phase-out” labels.

Such customization delivers relevance impossible otherwise. Labels multiply options to slice performance data.

Organizing Ads with Custom Labels

Proper taxonomy architecture through labels also enables simplifying oversight on catalogue scale. Spring Style can structure their Dynamic Campaigns around these axes:

Primary Product Categories

Level 1 labels cover core categories – Dresses, Tops, Bottoms, Outerwear form the first layer. This shapes overall reporting dashboards.

Secondary Attributes

Cross-category labels like seasons, colors, styles, materials and occasions cut across primaries as second-level segmentation. Paints a multidimensional picture.

Tertiary Catalogue Sections

Additional labels serve specific business needs – new arrivals, bestsellers, promotions etc. Useful for focusing bids.

This hierarchy combined with ability to shift pages between labels provides adaptable control.

Underperforming sections get reduced exposure, while hot categories see increased bids. No need to rebuild campaigns.

Thoughtful custom label planning unlocks major optimization potential within Dynamic Search Campaigns both for ad relevance and operational oversight.

The labels can evolve alongside the catalogues.

Setting Up Page Feeds for DSAs

Creating a Page Feed for DSAs

Page feeds form the foundation of any Dynamic Search Ads campaign.

A page feed is essentially a file submitted to Google containing details of website pages eligible to have ads generated against them.

To assemble a page feed suitable for enabling DSAs, the key components needed for each page are:

• URL – The full web address of the page being added to the feed. This allows Google to index the content.
• Custom labels – The relevant category and taxonomy labels assigned to that page based on its content. Labels should be consistent across related pages.
• Supporting attributes – Optional details like page titles, descriptions and images to assist with ad generation.

For example, a page feed entry for an online shoe retailer’s “Men’s Running Shoes” category page would look like:

URL: https://www.shoestore.co.uk/mens/running-shoes 
Labels: mens-shoes, running-shoes, trainers
Title: Men’s Running Shoes
Description: Shop our wide range of performance men’s running…
Image URL: https://images.shoestore.co.uk/mens/run/image1.jpg

Ideally, the feed should contain most if not all important site product and category pages – the more pages, the greater potential ad variations and coverage.

Tools like Google Sheets simplify assembling large page feed documents encompassing hundreds or thousands of site pages with their attributes which can then be exported in the correct file format for upload.

Uploading and Managing Page Feeds

Once a page feed file has been created, uploading it into Google Ads to activate DSAs involves:

• Navigating to Tools > Asset Manager > Page feeds in your Google Ads account and choosing to create a new page feed. Provide a name.
• Upload the page feed CSV or TXT file previously created. Google will then process and validate the feed.
• Monitor the Processing Status column and rectify any flagged errors shown. URLs must lead to valid live site pages and formatting must comply.
• Set a Bid modifier to adjust page feed priority level in the ad auction to optimise performance. Can be adjusted over time.
• Under Site diagnostics, ensure sufficient sample pages are crawled, indexed and ad ready for robust ads.

Ongoing feed management entails:

• Using the Last parsed data to verify the feed is being regularly updated. Processing failures trigger alerts.
• Reviewing search impression and click metrics to determine optimal bid modifiers at the page label or URL level.
• Adding and removing site page URLs fluidly over time within the feed as catalogues evolve.

Following best practices around site structure and page optimisation further maximises quality score for expanded reach.

Troubleshooting Common Page Feed Issues

Some common challenges when managing page feeds for DSAs include:

• Incorrect page URLs – Any invalid, misformatted or broken URLs will show errors during processing. Verify URLs lead to live pages.
• Labels not matching pages – Google checks that custom labels accurately describe labelled pages based on content scanned. Align labels to pages.
• Low quality score pages – Fix pages flagged for issues like broken links, slow load times, distracting ads etc which restricts ads.
• Limitations on ads per page – Page feeds requiring 100+ ads per URL should be split into smaller targeted feeds.
• Sudden processing failures – Server errors or unexpected site development issues can sometimes disrupt feeds, requiring the affected URLs to be removed and resubmitted.

Troubleshooting page feed errors promptly and aligning web pages to Google’s recommended quality guidelines ensures maximum processed entries and minimises blocked pages.

This allows full utilisation of website content within Dynamic Search Campaigns for optimal results.

Best Practices for Page Feed URLs

Optimizing URLs for DSAs

The URLs submitted in page feeds form the backbone of Dynamic Search Ads campaigns.

Each one points Google’s crawlers towards website content eligible for powering relevant ads.

Following optimisation best practices ensures URLs contribute maximum value.

Avoid Duplication

Identical or highly similar URLs should not be added multiple times, as this creates redundancy without improving reach. For example, a parameter change like /page?variant=2 duplicate actual content.

Prioritise High-Quality Pages

Prioritise URLs leading to popular, high-converting product/category pages with rich content. Deeper niche URLs should be secondary for fuller coverage once core pages meet impression share targets.

Facilitate Site Crawling

URL paths should be “crawler friendly” to maximise indexation probability for ads – short and simple structured directories, no excessive dynamic parameters or complex URL rewrites obscuring actual pages.

Provide Contextual Page Titles

Though optional, adding page <title> texts via title feeds gives useful context for ads without crawlers needing to process pages. Helps quality scores.

Use Campaign Parameters

Append campaign parameters like ?utm_campaign=dsa for reporting. But avoid excessive parameter usage impacting URL length and complexity.

By structuring page feed imports around such guidelines, administrators can methodically build efficient core URL sets.

Additional peripheral pages can then expand reach.

Managing URL Redirection and Tracking Parameters

Many sites use URL redirection and tracking parameters (?utm=, ?ref=) posing challenges for feed submissions:

• Origin Page URLs Preferred: Submit canonical origin URLs rather than post-redirect targets where possible so ads reflect true landing page content more accurately. If unavoidable, add redirects.
• Consolidate Tracking Codes: Condense multiple affiliate/campaign codes into simplified concatenated parameters to minimise excessive URL length.
• Implement Server-Side Tracking: Migrate tracking from URL parameters to server-side analytics libraries like Google Tag Manager to simplify links.
• Regular Crawling to Detect Odd Redirects: Periodically sample a subset of URLs to verify no expired legacy redirects exist polluting feeds with inaccurate landing data.

Keeping submissions aligned to the structures crawlers best interpret ensures maximum URL adoption and minimises processing hiccups that disrupt campaigns.

Regular Maintenance and Updates of URLs

Even optimally configured page feeds demand ongoing maintenance as websites evolve:

• Prune Broken Links: Invalid 404 URLs automatically get blocked but still consume processing quota. Prune routinely.
• Reflect Site Architecture Shifts: Major information architecture changes like category merges require URL reorganisation.
• Add New Content Pages: Frequently update with new products, articles and pages to expand ads scope.
• Adapt Bid Modifiers: Boost or reduce priority URLs based on periodic performance reviews to optimise conversions.
• Review Label Alignment: As pages shift topically, realign custom labels to maintain targeting accuracy.

DSA success involves continually aligning page feeds to mirror current site content hierarchies rather than treating feeds as one-off static projects.

Dedicated management establishes sustainable high-performance foundations.

Ideally, feeds should automatically pull URLs from product databases or site maps to minimise manual overhead.

This enables scaling URLs in line with catalogues efficiently. Automated imports facilitate maintenance focus shifting purely to bid and budget optimisations.

Centring URL curation around promotion of relevant performant pages supplemented by spot checks for technical issues provides the basis for impactful Dynamic Search Ads.

Keeping page feeds aligned to site content at scale is crucial.

Targeting Options in DSAs

Overview of DSA Targeting Options

One of the key strengths of Dynamic Search Ads lies in the expansive targeting capabilities they offer to reach users searching for related products and services.

Advertisers can tailor ads using:

Website Content – Pages added via page feeds automatically allow matching user searches to their topics. For an online shoe store, searches about running shoes can show ads from fed pages on running footwear.

Custom Labels – Labels attached to groups of pages enable precise targeting around defined categories like styles, colour ranges, brands etc. For example, searches including “black dress shoes” can specifically target pages labelled with both black and dress shoes.

Location Targeting – Location custom labels define geographic regions to traffic ads accordingly. UK retailers can set London, Manchester or country-level targets to focus budgets. Physical store pages get local area labels.

Device Targeting – Ads can be limited to solely smartphones, tablets or desktops/laptops if a website is optimised for specific devices. Useful for retailers with responsive mobile sites or apps.

Demographic Targeting – Basic criteria like gender, parental status and age brackets allow tailoring messaging and products like fashion ranges for over 50s. Retargeting leverages browsing history.

Audience Targeting – Detailed consumer classification around interests/habits like tech enthusiasts, movie lovers or luxury shoppers filters searches effectively for relevant pages using machine learning insights.

Schedule Targeting – Ad scheduling not only rotates daily budgets but also targets – ads for late night takeaways only run evenings while office products show during weekdays. Useful for industries with demand fluctuations.

Using Custom Labels for Advanced Targeting

Custom labels truly unlock detailed targeting dimensions in Dynamic Search Campaigns.

Some examples include:

Prioritising Specific Catalogue Areas – Boost page feeds for high-priority product ranges like newly launched items or brands offering higher margins.

Adapting Seasonally – Retailers dynamically shift label priorities for winter coats in cold months and summer dresses in warm periods by location.

Qualifying Queries Through Negative Keywords – Additional negative keywords prevent irrelevant yet wide-matching searches from triggering largely unrelated ads. A toy brand adds “-battery” to avoid ads showing for battery related searches instead of kids’ toys.

Reaching Micro-Segments – Niche interest targets are possible, for example fitness lovers looking for workout gear within women’s categories.

Excluding Overly Broad Matches – General searches around very common words like “shoes” often dilute relevancy. Negative brand and product name keywords constrain searches to maintain focus.

Combining Targeting Strategies for Optimal Results

Layering custom labels, page content matches and modifiers like negative keywords provides superior precision and control.

Some effective combinations include:

Product Categories + Locations:

Labels denoting product types combined with metro area labels target local buyers efficiently. For example, ads featuring London stores target searches for “shoe shops in London”.

Catalogue Sections + Demographics:

Department page labels aligned to male/female filters maximises relevance for fashion sites. Label pages “mens-suits” together with male demographic targeting.

Interests + Time Scheduling:

Ads matching searches indicating buyer interests can focus solely on weekends or evenings when commercial intent peaks for some segments. A restaurant targets “dinner ideas” searches after 5pm.

Expansive targeting dimensionality unique to Dynamic Search Ads through robust page feeds and custom labels coupled with built-in campaign options offer advanced options to hone in on prospective customers cost-efficiently.

Implementing the optimal targeting strategies for a given business relies on analysing search data and web analytics to determine combinations providing the greatest commercial value. Testing permutations to gauge performance is key.

Troubleshooting Common Issues with DSAs and Custom Labels

Identifying and Resolving Page Feed Errors

As the fuel powering Dynamic Search Ads, page feeds are pivotal yet can succumb to both minor and major errors that completely disrupt campaigns if left unchecked.

For example, a major UK fashion retailer may suddenly notice a dramatic drop in impressions.

Upon investigating, they identify hundreds of landing page URLs are now blocked due to the launch of a new authentication system requiring login.

These URLs now generate crawl access errors.

Unfortunately, several of these were category and product pages with priority tags driving conversions.

Some tactical fixes include temporarily allowing crawler access to these pages by adjusting robots.txt settings as developers urgently rectify the issue.

Additionally, converting rich category content on these pages into funnel entrance pages visible to all visitors helps retain lost impressions as teams restore access functionality.

Such troubleshooting processes must be ongoing from a technical standpoint.

Monitoring weekly automated URL crawl reports helps detect not just errors like dropped pages but also incremental issues slowly building up over months – small numbers of broken links from outdated promotional pages or increasingly sluggish load times degrading clickthrough rates.

Early flags make prevention achievable.

Optimising Custom Labels for Better Performance

Advertisers launching new floral summer dress designs specifically for weddings may erroneously assume matching existing category, style and colour labels to these pages provides ample visibility.

However, persistently low results prompt analyising search queries. It becomes evident users focus more on terminology around guest dresses rather than general floral, indicating fresh visitor intent shifts.

Simply branching “wedding guest” dresses into a separate label immediately boosts discovery and sales.

This exemplifies the need for continuously optimising labels based on latest on-site behaviour and search intelligence rather than relying solely on product attributes or hierarchies.

As consumer interests and needs evolve in nuance, so should label strategies.

Refinement options range from consolidating groups of highly specific labels if spread too thin, to expanding popular but saturated categories with fresh subdivisions able to target previously untapped searches with suitable new pages.

The possibilities are vast, especially when incorporating external signals like social buzz, current affairs and seasonal influences to stay on pulse.

Dynamic optimisation founded on real data enables staying highly resonant.

Addressing Targeting and Relevance Issues

Sometimes ads for products like luxury watches for gentlemen simply fail to generate impressions despite strong inventory.

On evaluating geo targeting configurations, it becomes evident that while location bid adjustments focus budget at major metro areas, cross-reference reports reveal virtually no searches from one of the highest revenue cities.

Even ultra-high net worth individuals search for luxury items yet this hub somehow had become excluded inadvertently via other location overrides. Including it returns strong outcomes.

Such scenarios underline the need to not just review the typical metrics around clicks, impressions and conversions but also diagnostics around where ads AREN’T appearing.

For instance, low impressions could arise from tight radius targeting or device specific feeds limiting wider visibility.

Ads missing against entire expected regions or viewer groups signify lost chances and revenue.

Even if current KPIs seem reasonable, assessing uncovered areas is worthwhile to maximise opportunity.

Equally, ads sometimes surface in irrelevant areas with minimal commercial value.

While branded terms offer awareness for some, excessive unrelated mid-funnel clicks on hyper-general keywords drain budgets without moving buyers nearer decisions.

Carefully pruning excessive title matched keywords through negatives and realigning to commercial flavour helps quality and return.

In essence, well-rounded optimisations assess both existing visibility as well as potential reach being constrained by avoidable technical and configuration factors to build 360 degree relevance.