• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Google this week launched Ask Maps, a conversational AI feature powered by Gemini that lets people ask Google Maps complex questions for personalized answers.

I cannot help but wonder whether Google’s map feature will soon integrate directly into Gemini or AI Mode, and become a tool of the past since many of the questions can be found in the company’s AI platforms, including driving directions and length of time it takes to get somewhere based on current traffic.

The integration of ads could become much simpler. It came together for me after reading Genn Gabe’s analysis of ads in Ask Maps. He wouldn’t be surprised if one day ads appear in the app, but I’ll take it a step further to say Google Maps will completely disappear after it integrates into Gemini.

It would become easier for Google to explore and add different techniques in tools like “Smart Bidding,” which is designed to find potential traffic for a campaign that might fall outside an advertiser’s safe bidding pattern. It can help advertisers explore specific queries to find conversions that might be missed.

Ads Decoded, a Google podcast, Episode 4 explores how to fuel your bidding and budgeting for better campaign performance. It explains how advertisers can use “Smart Bidding” without needing weeks of data.

Ginny Marvin, ads product liaison at Google, spoke with Google managers specializing in budgets and bidding this week during the Ads Decoded podcast.

Marvin spoke with Carlo Buchmann, product manager of bidding at Google. He said marketers should start with the bidding strategy they want to optimize toward, and the system will learn based on new conversion values coming in and adjust whether using target CPA (tCPA) or Max conversions.

A new campaign might have new keywords that the marketer wants to optimize toward, but it’s not isolated from all others, meaning the marketer needs to start from scratch, Buchmann said.

Kristina Parks, product manager for budgeting at Google, said the more inputs and data the better because the platform can learn about business needs.

A feature called “limited by target” shows when the targeting strategy is too restrictive, Parks said. It limits the system from participating in auctions. It sees the campaign can gain a conversion, but not at the assigned efficiency target, so it doesn’t bid on the auction.

Advertisers should approach targets and target changes to limit performance volatility in campaigns more aggressively these days, per Buchmann. Making target changes every minute might not be the best thing to do, but rather make a change and then wait for one conversion cycle.

He said the system will always try to optimize toward the conversions the marketer wants, but there can be instances that the system assumes there’s a really high-value customer. But generally, there are lots of reasons why marketers can see big swings in CPCs, such as changes in the auction or different advertisers bidding more aggressively.

Smaller businesses with lower budgets are more sensitive about sitting through AI learning periods. Buchmann gave guidance on performance for smaller businesses – find something to optimize that isn’t too sparce or delayed that would give Google an indication on what he called “meaningful” consumers.

Lots of good stuff in this video podcast, especially after 8:08, which focuses on value-based bidding.