There is so much going on in the world of PPC lately that we’re spending an entire week introducing the changes and letting you know how to make the most of them. It goes beyond Google’s new “Enhanced Campaigns” feature to Facebook and Analytics. Over the next week, PPC Hero is going to take a look at each of these updates in a series of posts designed to get you ready for all of the added functionality, the new best practices and even more.
Today, we’re going to lead off with the big, neon-pink elephant in the room: Device segmentation is going away.
It’s been a long-standing best practice in the PPC industry to tightly segment your campaigns by device type. Common knowledge and personal experience have shown time and time again that campaign performance on a desktop can vary wildly in comparison to campaign performance on a tablet or mobile device. Searcher location, intent, ad copy, selected keywords, heck – keyword length: these factors need to be taken in to account when creating and managing a mobile campaign. We’re going to be losing quite a lot of that specificity in our account management going forward.
How so? Basically, they’re eliminating the ability to strictly segment by device type in our campaigns. Campaigns will be opted in to all devices by default, and the only level of control on these devices will be a simple percentage-based bid modifier. No individual keyword-level bids, just a blanket modification. As one astute PPC pro tweeted: “We need scalpels, not machetes.” Indeed.
Now, you can choose to set a bid modifier low enough to not bid on mobile devices at all – so you still have the option of a non-mobile campaign. That’s kind of like a bright side, I guess? However, the converse is not true: there is no way to have a Mobile or Tablet-only campaign going forward.
Why are they doing this?
The cynic in me says: “Because of their last earnings call.”
The optimist in me says: “… Yeah, I’ve got nothing.”
An ever-increasing portion of Google’s traffic now comes from Mobile and Tablet devices, which have shown over time to come in at a much lower average CPC. By removing the ability to strictly segment campaign device types, we lose the specificity and efficiency required to manage mobile traffic in a truly effective manner.
This increase in inefficiency will likely bring mobile and desktop average CPC closer to parity with one another, bolstering Google’s bottom line.
For all the flowery language regarding our “living in a multi-device world”, the motive behind this particular change seems purely driven by profit. Managing mobile bids entirely through a percentage modifier sounds pretty nightmarish, and it’s my intent to hold off hitting that upgrade button for as long as possible.
To start, there’s going to be a gradual rollout over the next few weeks – you’ll have the option to opt in to the enhanced campaign format early and get your best practices in line. Otherwise, you’ll be migrated over to the new system in the middle of 2013.
How do I know if I’m eligible now?
Easy. Go in to your Settings tab on any given campaign and you’ll be greeted with the following message:
In addition, you’ll also see an “Enhanced” column appear on your Campaigns tab, indicating whether or not the Campaign has opted in to the new Enhanced Campaigns, or if you’re using Legacy campaign settings.
Once you’ve elected in to the new campaign type, you’ll wind up managing your bids via the “Settings” tab like so:
To accentuate the positive side: I can appreciate their desire to make things easier for the small marketer with limited funds and time to throw in to their AdWords account. That’s probably why their example detailing the benefits of this change was centered around a tiny bed-and-breakfast cafe. As others have pointed out: the level of device segmentation might have been a bit overwhelming to some. But by removing the ability to fully control and segment our traffic, they’re going to do some serious harm to our accounts in the interim.
We’ve got a lot of work to do.
What can I do to prepare?
The targeted launch for this change is June 2013. In the mean time, I recommend taking stock of your existing mobile bids to get an idea of the general bid modifiers you’ll require to keep performance on par with where it is now. You might also consider creating a separate mobile-focused campaign containing your absolute best mobile keywords – but take care to utilize the bid modifier system to (attempt to) segment them properly. For those of you not using mobile: be ready on the launch date to set your bid modifiers as low as they’ll go.
Oh, and MAKE A MOBILE SITE. This is essentially Google’s way of saying “Take the time and care to invest in mobile, and make it work for you. Or the kitten gets it.”
I’m sure you all have thoughts on this issue – we’ll continue to explore the ramifications of each change throughout the week, but this is certainly the hot-button issue of the moment. Much like the ad rotation settings debacle, a similar petition has come about, so consider signing it. Leave your comments below regarding this new “Enhanced” campaign feature and, as always, thanks for reading!
