Dive summary:
- Google announced during earnings call in Januarythe roll out of Enchanced Campaings, changes to AdWords meant to make advertisers' campaigns effective regardless of device.
- The changes are planned to launch mid-2013 and focus on three areas: bidding, creative, and management to help maximize the value of mobile ads.
- AdWords users can now set a base pay-per-click price with adjustments for location (e.g. 30 percent more for mobile ad when user is near restaurant) or device (e.g. set the price 20 percent lower for desktop ads at home).
From the article:
"The new bid adjustment capabilities could set aside any setbacks Google may have in equalizing mobile cost-per-click rates with desktop CPCs, something that plagued Google ahead of its third-quarter earnings call leading to criticisms that Google was struggling to monetize mobile users. Assuming most advertisers adopt Enhanced Campaigns as a single mechanism to run their AdWords campaigns after Google completes the roll-out, the base bid prices those advertisers set and the adjustments they allow for could create new standard ad rates—rates that in theory would be closely tied to a user’s likelihood to convert, in theory erasing any artificial reasons for undervalued mobile CPCs compared to desktop prices. That shift would be bolstered by Google’s move last year to integrate AdWords with its AdMob mobile ad network of 300,000-plus mobile apps."