Last Updated on December 22, 2020
The end of the year is coming close.
We’ve been sprinting since long before Black Friday, so it feels good to reach the end of the holiday sales. Those early conversations about stock levels or shipping back in August are now far behind us, and the numbers have been put on the board. I hope they’re good.
It’s been a rollercoaster year but, at least financially, has been very good to those of us that have gambled their careers on ecommerce.
Hopefully we can continue that trend in 2021, but do some of the things we’ve been missing out of as well.
But before we do that, it’s time to take a break and look back at 2020.
In this overview, I want to give you a taste of what we’ve been up to in 2020.
Top Google Ads Articles 2020
Let’s start with the top 10 articles we published during 2020.
10 – Harvesters and Seeders: Why You Can’t Grow Your Business With Google Ads
We start with the article that I’m most proud of.
It wasn’t an easy article to write, because I used to make money selling the idea that Google Ads was a great investment, for any kind of business.
Luckily I’m more mature now and able to take a step back and know that Google Ads is only a tool. And today I know exactly when and how it should be leveraged for maximum impact.
9 – 9 Important Google Shopping Ads Benchmarks
Most advertisers like to know how they stack up compared to their competitors. So I’ve put together a list of benchmarks specifically for Google Shopping. While they’re not always super actionable, it’s always interesting to see if you’re underperforming in certain areas.
8 – Product IQ: The Missing Ingredient In Most PPC Campaigns
In ecommerce, it’s all about the products that you sell.
That might sound very obvious, but for many PPC managers (including me), it wasn’t. We’re often brought in to focus only on the advertising side of things. But for that to work, it’s essential to really get to know the product catalog. This article will help you do that in a structured way.
7 – How Survival Brand Judy Uses Google Ads
In this teardown, I break down what survival brand Judy does when it comes to Google Ads. I take a look at which campaigns they are running, what tactics they are using and how much they are spending. In the past, I’ve done a few of these teardowns. They’re fun to do and get a great response, so I’m carving out time to do more of these in 20201.
6 – The Google Smart Shopping Dilemma: Control Vs Automation
Smart Shopping has been on the rise for the last few years. Part of that is the results of Google pushing this campaign type ever harder. In most of my experiments, the results still haven’t caught up to regular campaigns, but there are some cases where it actually makes sense to have a look at Smart Shopping. And if you do, make sure you do it safely 🙂
5 – How Keyword Match Types Work In 2020
This one goes back to basics. Keyword match types have evolved quite a bit in the last few years. Those changes also have important consequences for how you organize and optimize your campaigns.
4 – Why I’m No Longer a Google Partner (And Why You Shouldn’t Either)
Another controversial take 🙂
Early 2020 Google announced they were overhauling their Partner program. One of the biggest changes was that they would tie the Partner status to the Optimization Score in an account. In short, I didn’t agree with that decision. Read the article to find out why that is, and what alternative I’ve launched instead!
3 – The Ultimate Guide To Google Ads For Ecommerce
We eat sleep and breathe Google Ads and ecommerce.
That combo resulted in the longest article of our site. In this massive guide, I break down everything from thinking about starting to advanced optimization tactics.
If you want a make a change to your Google Ads in 2021, this is the article to start with!
2 – How To Fix Your Google Shopping Feed Without Going Crazy
This is one of our all time favourites. I had published it a few years ago, but we completely overhauled it during 2020. So if you’ve got feed troubles, or would like to know if you’re doing everything right, this article is for you!
1 – Google Shopping Ads: The Definitive Guide
Our top article of 2020 was our guide on Google Shopping. It covers all you need to know from setup to advanced optimization. So if you need to step up your Google Shopping game, you know what to read!
Top Download
Besides our articles, we also create many new extras like swipe files, cheat sheets or guides.
Here is our top download:
List of 26 Google Shopping Optimization Tactics
Google Shopping can seem like a black box, to help you find new ways to optimize your campaigns, we’ve put together a list with all tactics that we use.
Top Lesson
2020 was also a year where we made a ton of improvements to our courses.
We added 20 new video lessons, updated 5 and added a ton of new downloads and bonuses. (These updates are free for our existing customers 🥳)
We also hosted live office hours during Covid and a whole series leading up to Black Friday.
Our most popular lesson:
Search Query Level Bidding
It has been the favourite of our customers since we’ve added it. And in 2020 we overhauled it with more current tactics and examples.
That was it!
🙏 Thanks for reading and I hope to see you again in 2021.
