Ad Customizations – Reach each user with a personalized ad

With automated Google Ads, you can reach each of your users with a tailored message, saving a lot of time in setting up your campaigns. The following explains how to create such Google Ads with automatic adjustments.

How Do Automated Adjustments Work?

A good text ad is relevant to the search query and meets the user's expectations. Creating a suitable Google Ads ad for each keyword or each product can be labor-intensive. With the help of ad customizations, you can cover hundreds or even thousands of variations with a single ad. The ads are automatically filled with elements from a feed. In the feed, you need to define which elements (price, color, date, model, brand, etc.) you want to use in your Google Ads ad for specific search queries.

Optimizing Google Ads: The Data Feed

Google Ads draws the necessary information for text creation from a data feed, which forms the dataset basis for all adjustments.

To create the feed, you need to select a targeting. That means you define the trigger that determines when the ad is triggered. Options include when users enter a specific keyword or are located in a certain region.

Fig. 1 Creating a Data Feed

The dataset must be uploaded to Google Ads in a table file. To upload the feed, go to the “Shared Library” tab and click on “Business Data.” Then click on the blue button “+Upload Feed” and “Ad Customization Data.” Name your feed and upload your document (csv, xls, etc.).

In the Google Ads Help, you can find more information about possible targeting options.

Example with Keyword Targeting

One of our clients offers services across Germany. For instance, we want each search query in the form “service + city” to display an appropriate ad.

The columns of our feed contain the following elements:

• 1st Column: Target Keywords => all keywords you wish to bid on in your campaign.

• 2nd Column: Keyword Option => Exact, phrase, or broad (For the match-type “Broad Match Modifier,” enter “Broad” and add a + before each keyword).

• 3rd Column: Custom Attributes (Text) => City.

• 4th Column: Target Campaign => Name of the campaign in which you will create the ad with automatic adjustments.

• 5th Column: Target Ad Group => Name of the ad group in which you will create the ad with automatic adjustments.

Please note that the title and text lines, including ad customizations, must meet the corresponding character limits (Title 1: 30, Title 2: 30, Title 3: 30, Text Line 1: 90, Text Line 2: 90, Path 1 & 2 each 15).

Fig. 2: The Data Feed with Necessary Information for Ad Creation

For example, if a user searches for “tutoring Gützkow,” the following ad will be displayed:

Fig. 3: Example of a Google AdWords Ad

In our example, the city is the dynamic element. You have the option to replace this optionally with other attribute types (e.g., Model (Text); Capacity (Number); Type (Text); Start Price (Price); Offer End (Date), etc.) or with multiple dynamic elements.

If you have questions about the individual attribute types, consult the relevant Google Ads Help.

Creating a Google Ads Ad

You can use the text ads with real-time updates like normal Google Ads (in the Search and Display Network). You utilize the personalized parameters in the headline and in the first and second text lines of your Google ad. You may not alter the URL, which remains static.

To create a Google Ads ad with ad customizations, follow these steps:

1. Create a normal Search or Display campaign, or go to the campaign where you want to create the new Google Ads ad.

2. Create a new ad group.

3. In the