Google previewed several updates to its advertising measurement tools, including a new open-source incrementality testing solution and an enterprise platform for marketing mix modeling.
The announcements come ahead of Google Marketing Live on May 20, where the company says it will share more about how Google Analytics is evolving.
What’s New
The updates cover data management, incrementality testing, and marketing mix modeling.
Data Manager Updates
Google’s Data Manager is getting a new visual summary with a map view in the coming months. The feature will show how data flows from platforms like BigQuery, Google Drive, HubSpot, and Shopify into Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Google Marketing Platform.
In the coming weeks, the Data Manager API will also allow advertisers to combine foundational tags with additional data signals, including store sales.
The Google tag is also getting a visual setup flow so marketers can set it up without writing code. The company says the update will centralize settings and user access while making tag setup easier for marketers who don’t write code.
Citing internal finance-sector data, Google said advertisers who upgraded to Google tag gateway saw an average of 14% more conversions. The company cited partners including Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly, Google Cloud, and Webflow as helping with adoption.
Meridian GeoX
Google announced Meridian GeoX, which it describes as an open-source, geographic-based incrementality solution. The tool is designed to run geographic experiments that provide causal measurement of media performance.
The tool is built on an auditable codebase and integrates with Meridian, the company’s open-source marketing mix model, Google says. GeoX will begin testing later this year.
The methodology behind GeoX is not entirely new. Google’s GitHub repositories for geographic experiment matching (google/trimmed_match and google/matched_markets) have existed for some time. This announcement formalizes the technology as a named product within the Meridian ecosystem.
Meridian Studio
Google is introducing Meridian Studio, a Google Cloud-powered enterprise platform for teams that manage high-volume marketing mix models. The company says it gives teams options for customization and access to a richer signal base.
Google listed eight measurement partners for its Meridian and Data Manager tools, including Adswerve, Choreograph (WPP), Brainlabs, Epsilon, Fifty-Five, Jellyfish, Making Science, and Merkle.
Why This Matters
Google is tying several measurement tools into the same story: stronger first-party data, causal experiments, and marketing mix modeling.
Meridian GeoX adds an incrementality layer to Meridian, giving advertisers a way to test media impact by geography. That matters because MMM can show modeled relationships, while experiments can help validate whether media drove incremental results.
Google has been building toward this across its measurement products. Recent examples include Tag Diagnostics, Meridian’s launch, a Data Manager API expansion, and Scenario Planner.
The main limitation is timing. Data Manager updates are coming in stages, GeoX begins testing later this year, and Google didn’t share access details for Meridian Studio.
Looking Ahead
Google said it will share more at Google Marketing Live on May 20, including how it plans to connect data and causal measurement across its ad products.
The company also teased upcoming Google Analytics changes but didn’t provide details. Until then, the main open questions are when each tool becomes available, who can access Meridian Studio, and how GeoX testing will work in practice.
Featured Image: PJ McDonnell/Shutterstock
