While search engine optimization is a critical aspect of your online marketing strategy, Google has added a new feature that may convince you to invest some bucks in paid advertising.
I know I’ve talked about this before, but I can’t really overemphasize how important visual culture is becoming. People are still reading lots and lots, but it’s the short bursts of text that punctuate images, which means that an online marketing strategy has to involve images.
Because Google understands this, they’re making it easier in all kinds of ways. They have changed the layout of Google+ to emphasize visuals by creating a Pinterest-style timeline that allows you to zoom in on photos, and have added Google Author, which enables content writers’ pictures to appear next to their posts in a search results page. And now, Google has gone one step further and will be adding images to its search advertising products.
When you buy paid advertisements from Google for certain keywords, your site will appear at the top or the side of a search results page, but it’ll just be the text. Having the option to add an image to your advertisement is going to further increase the value of your advertisement and your conversion potential.
Google will be monitoring and reviewing the images that advertisers intend to use for review; however, this is a great opportunity to purchase paid advertising space even if you are focusing on organic search.
Sources
Bishop, Bryan. “Google Banks on the Visual by Bringing Images to Search Result Ads.” The Verge. http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/5/4400404/google-banks-on-the-visual-by-bringing-images-to-search-result-ads. (6 June, 2013).