Google has announced a re-brand – or really a merging – of their ad offerings, better unifying the key elements, while also enabling them to more easily roll out new functionality.

The three big naming changes Google has announced are these:

• ‘Google AdWords’ is becoming ‘Google Ads’, better representing the full range of Google advertising products
• The new ‘Google Marketing Platform’ will incorporate its existing DoubleClick advertiser products and the Google Analytics 360 Suite
• And DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange will now come under the single title of ‘Google Ad Manager’, simplifying the categorization of the tools

Most of the changes are in name only - though that in itself is important to note for digital marketers.

However, Google has also taken the opportunity to announce some new tools, most notably for small businesses using the new Google Ads (formerly AdWords).

Within the new Google Ads process, Google is making their new ‘Smart’ campaigns the default option. Smart campaigns utilize Google’s advanced machine learning tools to help small businesses generate better results with their Google Ads.

As explained by Google:

“For 90% of small business owners, the main goal of advertising online is to get customers to call, visit a store, or make a purchase. When you use Smart campaigns, we’ll ask how it’s working for your goals, so we can fine-tune your ads to get the results you care about most.”

And the Smart process has been generating good results – Google says that Smart campaigns are 3x better at getting your ad in front of the right audience. 

You can opt out of Smart campaigns and revert back to the regular AdWords process, but it may also be worth giving the Smart process a look, and utilizing Google’s machine learning tools to see whether they improve your ad performance.

Overall, the biggest changes here are in name, but the new monikers will enable Google to better streamline their ad products, and offer improved tools across its entire suite.

Changing names may not seem like a major shift, but it’s definitely a key point to note, and will likely become more relevant as new features are rolled out.