Google AdWords Changes: What You Need to Know

Big changes are coming for UK businesses advertising using Google AdWords this month.

At Banc Media we have put together a free guide to help users find out how the changes will affect your campaigns.

A big part of the changes will see the integration of both mobile search and desktop search into one campaign.

The enhanced campaigns will be optional, until June, when all PPC campaigns will automatically be upgraded.

The new enhanced campaigns have three main features:

Management of Campaign and Budget: Many users are now searching online, using a smartphone.

Recent data has shown that nearly half of all searches are performed using a mobile device.

Campaign and budget management is one way Google is utilising this data.

Advertisers with a local presence are able to increase bids based on context - such as location, time of day or device.

For example a restaurant serving breakfast may want to target people searching for “breakfast or “coffee” on a smartphone.

Using adjusted bids the restaurant could bid higher for people searching within 500 metres of the restaurant, bid lower for searches after midday and bid much higher for people using smartphones.

This can all be adjusted in one single campaign.

Bid adjustments will be found in the campaigns settings tab.

Context Based Ads: Advertisers will now be able to differentiate between different mobile devices, taking into consideration the capabilities of a specific smartphones and are able to specify whether a certain device can download apps or make phone calls.

Ads based on context will be a type of ad selection in AdWords.

New conversion types: One of the most interesting features of Google’s updates is the ability to fully analyse mobile traffic.

It will now be possible to view AdWords reports for phone calls from click-to-call ads as well as app downloads.

This new feature will make it easier to analyse the full value of campaigns across different platforms.

This feature will be an additional column as a conversion in reporting. Also introduced will be cross device tracking, which hasn’t been available previously.

This will allow marketers to see how mobile searchers drive desktop searches and purchases and vice versa.

How the New Enhanced Campaigns will Affect your Current Campaigns

The new mobile changes coming to Google’s mobile search will no longer make tablet targeting optional.

By the end of June 2013 Google will automatically upgrade all new accounts to the new structure.

Depending on how you currently run your campaigns will affect your upgrade path:

The most straightforward upgrade will be for users who have never bothered to separate desktop and mobile advertising. The only thing you’ll need to do is set your mobile bid adjustment factor.

If you set up a campaign to be desktop-only then it will automatically be upgraded to run on both desktop and mobile devices.

If you set up a campaign to be mobile only then it will automatically be upgraded to run on both desktops and mobile devices.

If you previously made copies of the same campaign to run on both desktop and mobile, then you will need to merge these back together.

In theory, the enhancement will make AdWords easier to target users and manage all of the complex settings in just one campaign.

These enhanced campaigns will be available to advertisers in the next few weeks and are optional until the end of June, when all campaigns will automatically be upgraded.

If you want to find out more about how the new Google AdWords changes will affect you, or need help managing a PPC campaign: get in touch with the PPC specialists at Banc Media today on 0845 459 0558, or visit www.BancMedia.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Colin McDermott .