With the COVID-19 pandemic causing various significant shifts in online shopping behaviors, it can be difficult for marketers to keep up with the changes in their niche, and optimize their campaigns accordingly.

Which is why Google is adding new emerging trend insights within Google Ads, based on Google search activity, which will alert marketers to relevant shopping and discovery changes in their sector, enabling them to update their ad strategy in line with demand.

As you can see here, the new trend charts will highlight rising search interests in your field, along with additional details of more specific elements, which could help you capitalize on the latest opportunities.

As explained by Google:

“Consumer demand continues to change, and it’s more important than ever for marketers to keep up. For example, at the start of the pandemic, searches for “curbside pickup” increased by over 3000%. Earlier this year, we saw a surge for “staycations,” and now, we’re seeing a surge for “watch party.” We’ve heard from many of you that you need more insights like these to inform your business and marketing decisions. That’s why we rolled out the Insights page (beta) last year in select countries to help businesses stay on top of emerging trends. Starting today, the Insights page is available to all advertisers globally.”

Various advertisers saw success in the initial beta test of the new insights, which has prompted Google to push forward with a broader launch of the tool.

Based on this, Google recommends that marketers:

• Review keyword, budget and bidding strategy recommendations to optimize your account for emerging trends
• Use broad match and Smart Bidding to help reach the right customers at the right value
• Use Keyword Planner for keyword ideas based on the emerging trends in your account
• Plan inventory, promotions, and landing pages based on trending search interest

In addition to this, Google’s also adding a new process which will enable marketers to automatically apply optimization recommendations to their campaigns, based on emerging trends and behaviors.

As you can see here, the new process will enable marketers to choose from a range of automated optimizations, which Google will then apply to your campaigns.

“This means that every time our algorithms detect an opportunity to improve a campaign, brands can implement these recommendations instantly, enabling them to be fast and helpful for their consumers and save time.”

How effective that will be will really come down to experimentation, and will vary by campaign, but Google’s systems are always improving, and are able to identify a range of key elements that could provide new opportunities.

It’s likely worth testing at the least, while the new insights will provide new, potential opportunities for your marketing efforts, which could help you tap into entirely new audience subsets.