Google Enhanced Campaigns POV. Matthew McGill Director of Search Marketing

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1 Google Enhanced Campaigns POV Matthew McGill Director of Search Marketing January 2013

2 The Change Google Advertisers Will Learn to Appreciate Slowly In these modern times where everyone is connected to the internet at all times, Google has taken steps to address the changing world in terms of search engine advertising. Search engine queries are no longer restricted to people sitting in front of a computer in their home or at their office. People are constantly looking for content on their smart phone, tablet, laptop, or (although in declining numbers each year) on their desktop. Google has migrated to a new campaign setup, representing one of the most significant changes to Google AdWords, and paid online advertising, arguably since the inception of the advertising platform. 2

3 Prior to Enhanced Campaigns Launch Prior to the launch of Enhanced Campaigns, Google AdWords advertisers had the option to segment their search marketing efforts into three primary tiers based on user device: Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile. With the deployment of Enhanced Campaigns, all three device platforms will be seamlessly integrated into a single campaign. AdWords advertisers will no longer have the option to segment campaign structure by device for granular bidding and customization of individual campaigns. 3

4 Google s Own Words In Google s own words: Marketing in a multi-screen world presents a lot of new opportunities for advertisers and some challenges as well. Google recently introduced AdWords Enhanced Campaigns to help advertisers more simply and smartly manage their ad campaign in this multi-screen world. 4

5 Device Options & Flexibility Advertisers will still maintain the option to make Mobile device bid adjustments for advertising on Mobile search queries along with the option to completely opt out of Mobile targeting. Advertisers will not have the same flexibility to opt out of Tablet search queries, or to make Tablet bid adjustments in comparison to Desktop bids. Essentially, Google s stance is that Desktop and Tablet search and user behavior is similar and both devices should be treated as singular from an advertising perspective. 5

6 The Pros: 1 Advertisers have a better chance of capturing user search queries that cross device platforms. Imagine shopping for a new product or service from your office on a laptop or desktop. You leave work prior to completing the entire search process, and continue the process on your commute home. You likely jumped to a high-speed smart phone during your commute to continue your effort to find that desired product or service. Now you have arrived at home and continue your pursuit via a popular tablet device from the comfort of your couch. 6

7 The Pros: 1 (Continued) In the Enhanced Campaigns world, advertisers have a much better chance at capturing this type of user behavior as it spans multiple devices. This ultimately serves the brand with a more holistic marketing approach and is invaluable from a brand saturation and impression standpoint. 7

8 The Pros: 2 Advertisers will also deal with less account clutter in the post Enhanced Campaigns world. In the past, advertisers were often required to create two duplicates of their primary Desktop campaigns to maintain similar keyword coverage on separate devices for Tablet and Mobile. This process led to a 3x multiplier in terms of account management and the time required to maintain, track, and report on a three-to-one campaign ratio for the same product or service offerings. 8

9 The Pros: 3 Ad Extension enhancements are another benefit to the Enhanced Campaigns migration. Sitelinks and other ad extensions will have enhanced capabilities including day-parting options. There will also be increased flexibility for deploying and pausing ad extensions on a schedule. Ad extensions will also have improved reporting metrics for advertisers with more granular statistics. 9

10 The Pros: 4 Another new feature of Enhanced Campaigns that advertisers can look forward to is the anticipated cross-device conversion tracking that will be featured in the near future. If and when realized, this new feature will be a huge advantage to advertisers leveraging more complex or weighted attribution models that attempt to give too much or too little credit to multiple touch points in the conversion cycle across multiple device platforms 10

11 The Pros: 4 (Continued) If a user is exposed to a brand via one device, but ultimately converts on another device, the hope is that the advertiser will have a better understanding of how multiple devices interact together to ultimately drive brand awareness and profitable conversions. 11

12 The Cons: 1 Initially, many third-party account management and automated bidding solutions will need major overhauls and retrofits to properly function in the post Enhanced Campaign environment, particularly those heavily reliant on the Google AdWords API. Advertisers using third-party platforms may anticipate some performance declines during this ramp-up period. Legacy tracking solutions may become antiquated, which would compromise associated bidding solutions driving actions off of legacy conversion tracking and historical data. 12

13 The Cons: 2 Advertisers will now be forced to bid and compete on Tablet devices. Advertisers that previously excluded Tablet devices in their traffic mix will have to reevaluate their budget allocations and ensure that overall efficiency metrics are not diminished by the inevitable traffic shift. Advertisers that previously segmented Desktop and Tablet campaigns and leveraged per-device conversion tracking to optimize performance will be required amend historical bidding methodologies and possibly redeploy or consolidate conversion tracking across devices. 13

14 The Cons: 3 Skilled search engine marketers that wish to opt out of Mobile bidding will preemptively update their new Enhanced Campaigns to reflect that desire by using Mobile bid adjustments to negative out search queries from Mobile devices. Untrained or inexperienced search engine marketers may not be prepared for the migration to Enhanced Campaigns, which may lead to unwanted clicks from Mobile users until understood and reconciled. This could potentially drive up costs without driving incremental conversions and could compromise performance at large scale. 14

15 The Cons: 4 Product managers may feel an additional burden in the post Enhanced Campaign world because there will be increased importance on producing and maintaining a sound Tablet and Mobile product, or in many cases, working to develop Tablet/Mobile products. Mobile will still be an option since advertisers can exclude Mobile device targeting, but having landing pages and products optimized for Tablet devices will be a necessity for any brand serious about competing in search now and moving forward, particularly if the brand has been historically Desktop reliant for conversion volume. 15

16 Conclusion: 1 of 2 Enhanced Campaigns is one of the most impactful updates Google has imposed on its advertisers in the last decade. With it come numerous opportunities and challenges. Advertisers with diverse product portfolios will be served well by increasing their market coverage across multiple devices, and will likely have more granular data for marketing refinements and optimizations. This could ultimately lead to increased market share and additional revenue opportunities. 16

17 Conclusion: 2 of 2 Skilled search engine marketers will immediately leverage the opportunity, and also insulate against any new risks or initial pitfalls associated with Enhanced Campaigns. Unseasoned search marketers may falter during the initial stages of Enhanced Campaigns deployment. Advertisers with outdated websites, lagging product development or stale product portfolios, and non-tablet or Mobile presence may struggle greatly with AdWords advertising until strengthening their marketing efforts and solidifying their product portfolios. 17

18 About SEM RPM SEM RPM is a leading strategic internet marketing agency and search engine marketing firm based in San Francisco, California. SEM RPM specializes in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), including Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Display Marketing. The company was founded in 2009 by former big agency employees hoping to change the way search marketing companies serve their clients. 50 California Street, Suite 1500 San Francisco, CA

AdWords Enhanced Campaigns. Guide: February 2013. For more info: info@the-media-image.com SA Office: +27 021 461 0715 UK Office: +44 207 183 2645

AdWords Enhanced Campaigns. Guide: February 2013. For more info: info@the-media-image.com SA Office: +27 021 461 0715 UK Office: +44 207 183 2645 Guide: AdWords Enhanced Campaigns February 2013 For more info: info@the-media-image.com SA Office: +27 021 461 0715 UK Office: +44 207 183 2645 www.the-media-image.com/blog 1 Background On February 06,