The Benefits Message

On the surface, this consolidation of the Google AdWords platform has some benefits. This will in fact help to simplify campaign management across multiple devices because those devices will now be housed in the same campaign.

Below are the three key benefits that Google is selling for Enhanced Campaigns:

• Powerful advertising tools for the multi-device world: Ability to manage your bids across devices, locations and time (e.g. bidding higher when showing your ad on mobile devices or to users who are within a half-mile of your store)
• Smarter ads optimized for varying user contexts: Ability to show the right creative, site link, app or extension based on the context of your prospective customers and the devices they’re using
• Advanced reports to measure new conversion types: Ability to track new conversion types, such as calls, digital downloads, and conversions across devices

Having said that advertisers could already opt all devices into one campaign in the existing AdWords platform. The difference being that today, this was considered against best practices by Google and Google teams would frequently tout the importance of segmenting out campaigns by device.

How It Will Work – The Short of It

• Your tablet / desktop and laptop / mobile devices will be targeted and housed in a single campaign
• You will not be able to segment campaigns by device
• Different ad types will be eligible to appear on all devices
• You will have the ability to optimize your ad text or extensions for each device and the Google AdWords system will show the most relevant ad based on device
• Bid adjustments will be used to set different bids and show different ads based on a user’s device type, location and time of day. The bid adjustments will be the only control mechanism in the campaigns
• The only way to limit exposure on any of the devices will be through bid adjustments – there is no opt out available

The Catch

Google is running a business and so with any product enhancement, the question is, how does this make Google more lucrative?

What this change does, at its most fundamental level, is that it makes all AdWords advertisers, mobile advertisers. It is now going to be more important than ever to ensure that businesses have some type of meaningful mobile experience, because whether they like it or not, they will now be advertising on the mobile platform.

What Google does not explicitly state in any of its content is that there will be no ability to opt out of devices, the way that you can today. The only tool available to advertisers to limit exposure, will be through the bid adjustments, which in themselves appear to be more complex and will require some learning. Default bids will be set at the desktop/tablet level, and the mobile bid will be based on a multiplier of that bid.

It is only inevitable that there will be loss of transparency and control. Tablets and desktops will be grouped together and it will not be possible to segment out data or reporting between the two.

Google sources indicate that for mobile, it will not be possible to segment out by carrier, which again puts another mobile campaign best practice on its head.

Search Engine Watch writes that ‘overall, the enhancement is designed to make AdWords much easier to target users and manage the complex settings in a single campaign’.

Though there may be some benefits to this change, it seems to me that what this will do is make the settings in a single campaign a lot more complex and it will be another steep learning curve for large advertisers, SMBs and agencies alike. Steep learning curves in AdWords cost money and negatively impact ROI.

Advertisers have until mid-2013 to determine a game plan in rolling out their campaigns to this new format, at which time, all campaigns will be switched over.

The change is coming; no one can get away from it, so start planning!

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About the Author:
Marta is the Group Manager of Performance Media at Mediative, specialising in paid search (PPC) account management. She drives PPC strategy on several key accounts with multi-million dollar investments. She also ensures PPC projects across the company are meeting KPIs and exceeding client expectations, in addition to identifying new opportunities to grow each client’s digital footprint. With a background in marketing and economics, Marta has an intuitive understanding of clients’ business goals and is adept at identifying the strategic foundation of the project, while possessing the technical skills to manage the tactical analysis and execution of PPC campaigns. Having lived in various countries around the world, Marta’s accent is as linguistically dynamic as the many industries in which she has managed PPC campaigns in the B2B landscape.