{"id":9774,"date":"2023-06-06T12:59:40","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T12:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/"},"modified":"2023-06-06T12:59:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T12:59:40","slug":"4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Google Ads Custom Columns you need to use \u2013 and why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re a control-loving performance marketer like me, Google hasn\u2019t given you many reasons to smile lately in its headlong rush toward an AI-driven world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But there is one that has the potential to provide incredibly helpful <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/guide\/what-is-paid-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PPC<\/a> reporting nuance and customization for marketers who know how to use it.<\/p>\n<p>Yup, I\u2019m talking about <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-ads-updates-2022-good-bad-jury-still-out-390323\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Custom Columns<\/a>, my favorite Google update of 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, you\u2019ll learn:<\/p>\n<p>What Custom Columns are.<\/p>\n<p>Why marketers should use Custom Columns.<\/p>\n<p>The four most important use cases I\u2019ve seen in action.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/#What_are_Custom_Columns\" >What are Custom Columns?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/#Why_marketers_should_use_Custom_Columns\" >Why marketers should use Custom Columns<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/#Use_case_1_Segmenting_by_conversions\" >Use case 1: Segmenting by conversions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/#Use_case_2_Average_conversion_costs_for_specific_time_periods\" >Use case 2: Average conversion costs for specific time periods<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/#Use_case_3_Competitive_analysis\" >Use case 3: Competitive analysis<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/#Use_case_4_Spend_anomalies\" >Use case 4: Spend anomalies<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/4-google-ads-custom-columns-you-need-to-use-and-why\/#Using_Google_Ads_full_functionality\" >Using Google Ads\u2019 full functionality<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_are_Custom_Columns\"><\/span>What are Custom Columns?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Custom Columns are reporting columns you can create in the Google Ads UI to provide metrics and calculations important to your specific business. <\/p>\n<p>They allow you to expand reporting outside of what\u2019s pre-built in Google Ads. They\u2019ve existed for almost 10 years, but they got a big upgrade about a year ago that Search Engine Land contributor Greg Finn <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-ads-custom-columns-get-major-upgrades-383601\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">covered in good depth<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_marketers_should_use_Custom_Columns\"><\/span>Why marketers should use Custom Columns<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are hundreds, if not thousands, of possible use cases for Custom Columns. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve found Custom Columns particularly useful for businesses with more than one conversion type because you can associate a variety of metrics according to different conversions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With Google (along with Microsoft, Meta and everyone else) moving hard toward AI and automation, one of the few remaining controls marketers have is feeding <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-ads-tracking-offline-conversions-best-practices-389544\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">offline conversion data<\/a> into Google\u2019s system to improve the precision of bidding, targeting, etc. Custom Columns reporting is key to this functionality.<\/p>\n<p>For businesses with a single conversion type, though, Custom Columns can be used to set up quicker and more efficient trend recognition that can help give marketers a competitive edge. It can even keep Google from getting overaggressive on budgets, as we\u2019ll show in one use case.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_case_1_Segmenting_by_conversions\"><\/span>Use case 1: Segmenting by conversions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>I most frequently use Custom Columns to analyze different conversion types \u2013 lead, MQL, SQL, opp, trial, subscriber, etc. <\/p>\n<p>This custom column type can be used for any industry and any business using multiple conversion actions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p>The above data gives you extremely useful insights into each conversion stage. <\/p>\n<p>You can also look at different views to see which search terms, keywords, and ads drive them, which lets you get very specific about places you need to optimize, cut, or increase budget.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re not using this functionality, you\u2019re making any optimization decisions based on one roll-up view. This doesn\u2019t matter if you only have one conversion type, but it means you lose lots of precision if you have more than one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say, for example, that a campaign is driving high volumes of leads and MQLs but rarely driving SQLs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This may mean that you\u2019re pouring money into audiences that may love what you offer and are taking the initial desired actions but can\u2019t move past the sales qualification stage because of size or budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Knowing this would help you scale back spend without any revenue impact \u2013 and would be great information to feed back to the Product team.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_case_2_Average_conversion_costs_for_specific_time_periods\"><\/span>Use case 2: Average conversion costs for specific time periods<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Another favorite use case of mine is analyzing average conversion cost for a certain time period, whether that\u2019s yesterday, last week, the last 30 days, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve used this for all conversions and by conversion type \u2013 it\u2019s useful for all scenarios.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p>Whatever your time period, fixing the range and comparing metrics to historical data is a great way to see where costs are significantly above or below average.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This enables adjustments to budgets and bidding and helps you catch issues before they can snowball. The comparison columns align much more cleanly than Google\u2019s general UI.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<div class=\"nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0\">\n<p class=\"inline-form-text text-center mb-0\">Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0\">\n<div class=\"form-nl-inline\">\n<div class=\"row g-0\">\n<div class=\"form-group col-12 col-lg-8 mb-0\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-4 col-xl-4 mb-0\">\n<div class=\"d-none\">\n<p>Processing\u2026Please wait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-dark inlineButton w-100 rounded-0 font-weight-bold\">SUBSCRIBE<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1\">\n<p class=\"text-center mb-0\"><a class=\"nl-terms\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/termsofuse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">See terms.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_case_3_Competitive_analysis\"><\/span>Use case 3: Competitive analysis<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Want to look good for your client or exec team?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Build a custom column that looks at decreases in click-through rate and increases in CPC to gauge potential market competition and activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Flagging data here can help indicate when to look into Auction Insights to see what\u2019s going on externally.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p>This is extremely helpful for monitoring activity on brand keywords (e.g., competitor poaching), but it\u2019s valuable information for key non-brand terms as well. <\/p>\n<p>Increased costs and competition could be a great trigger for testing new ad copy and differentiators (or taking on competitors directly in ad copy). And it\u2019s great information to relay to higher-ups who crave information on what competitors are up to.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re not using this column set-up, you\u2019re likely over-reliant on Auction Insights to catch competitor activity. Auction Insights are helpful, but they leave much to be desired in recognizing trends \u2013 a gap that Custom Columns can close for you.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_case_4_Spend_anomalies\"><\/span>Use case 4: Spend anomalies<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>How many of us (raises hand) have seen Google take liberties with budget caps?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To combat this, I like to build a column to identify spend anomalies. It essentially flags instances where yesterday\u2019s spend was more than 120% of the average spend over the last seven days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p>These fluctuations are important to spot and diagnose in touchy accounts, especially bigger-budget accounts. Adding this column means you won\u2019t have to rely on your normal reporting cadence to catch them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Assess irregularities at the campaign, ad, and keyword levels, and make sure performance is justifying reasons for increased spend and that Google\u2019s not just going a little rogue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Whether the performance is or isn\u2019t the reason for the spend increases, calling out the alerts and subsequent findings is great EQ for your client or manager. In extreme cases, it can cause you to engage your Google rep for some make-good requests.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Using_Google_Ads_full_functionality\"><\/span>Using Google Ads\u2019 full functionality<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The 2022 updates added tons of agility to Custom Columns. If I had a wish list for other reporting features, it\u2019d be short. (But since I mentioned it, I\u2019d love to see competitive metrics like top-of-page and absolute top-of-page rates, plus a less glitchy UI that helps troubleshoot formula errors.)<\/p>\n<p>At this point, it falls on marketers to learn to use the tool&#8217;s full functionality, which shortens the analysis\/action loop by keeping everything directly in Google&#8217;s UI.<\/p>\n<p>Custom Columns can help you surface trends and insights to answer some of your most important account-related questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even for the most straightforward ad campaigns, the different views available by date range and formula functionality represent a chance for you to go from Google Ads Data 101 to EQ and analytics powerhouse \u2013 all for the cost of a little elbow grease.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-ads-custom-columns-use-why-427868\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4 Google Ads Custom Columns you need to use \u2013 and why<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re a control-loving performance marketer like me, Google hasn\u2019t given you many reasons to smile lately in its headlong rush toward an AI-driven world.\u00a0 But there is one that has the potential to provide incredibly helpful PPC reporting nuance and customization for marketers who know how to use it. Yup, I\u2019m talking about Custom Columns, my favorite Google update of 2022. In this article, you\u2019ll learn: What Custom Columns are. Why marketers should use Custom Columns. The four most important use cases I\u2019ve seen in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}