Google Enhanced Campaigns POV

Google Enhanced Campaigns: Focus on the User, Not
the Device
Search giant re-thinks how paid search 2/6/2013
is managed, reception is mixed

Background

It’s hard to find a place where we can’t be connected at this point —
we’re “online” whether at home, in the office, in the car, checking email
on one phone while talking on another, etc. Regardless of the device or
context, we’re looking for content. And so, Google has begun the shift to
align the online advertising structure and mindset to better fit this reality.

Over the next several months, Google will gradually roll-out a new
campaign structure in AdWords that looks to tear down device-specific
silos in digital advertising and better align digital media strategies with user
behavior. This means that advertisers will not have to (or, be able to)
create separate campaigns targeting specific devices, which presents
both a challenge and an opportunity to advertisers. It will reduce the
complexity of an advertiser’s AdWords account by consolidating all
device targeting into a single campaign, introduce new bidding controls,
and allow for more relevant messaging based on a multitude of variables
(time of day, location, device, etc.). For example, it should be easier to
target and increase bids on a person looking for a place to eat dinner

225 N. Michigan Ave., 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601 | www.ResolutionMedia.com | (P) 312.980.1600

(from 5 – 8 p.m.) within a certain distance of your store locations, and to
speak to them with mobile-specific messaging.

In doing so however, they are also removing something that advertisers
have grown accustomed to and planned marketing budgets around –
the ability to allocate budgets based on device (i.e. desktop, tablets, or
mobile). With this consolidation, Google is taking the key step of
beginning to provide visibility into cross-device behavior – showing, for
example, that a user who started their search on their phone may have
later made a purchase on their desktop computer. This level of visibility
has been a major industry challenge and to-date has only been possible
in very limited circumstances with additional technology integrations.

Google’s partners and agencies, including Resolution, noted that in many
ways, account management was becoming too fractured and complex.
While search managers typically like this level of control, it also led to
complicated and time-consuming account structures and an approach
that didn’t lend itself to thinking holistically about the searcher, but rather
the device. This is Google’s first step in trying to encourage advertisers to
shift their approach.

Why this? Why now?

By combining data across devices, platforms, and other data sources
(such as in-store POS systems), Google is now able to deliver a much more
complete picture of how media dollars are being spent, understand
performance across channels and devices, and finally make some solid
steps forward towards closing the online/offline loop. With this, they have
also taken the opportunity to streamline the tools that advertisers use to
manage their advertising against these data points. Resolution welcomes
this push forward from Google towards evolving how paid search is
managed. However this is new territory and as such there are going to be
stumbling blocks and differences in opinion as to the best way to
proceed.

Resolution POV:


Benefits

While there are many components to this update, there are several new
features we are very excited to introduce to our campaigns:

Consolidated Bid Management/Account Structure

Google will remove the ability to break out campaigns by device type.
This means setting a budget for a mobile-only campaign will unfortunately
no longer be possible. To help users manage the different behavior of
various devices, Google is introducing bidding tools to allow advertisers to
set multipliers to increase or decrease bids on various devices based on a
single max bid. So, you might set desktop at 100% and mobile at 50% if
you want to emphasize desktop, for example. The current understanding
is that each campaign will maintain its own device-specific Quality Score
so that one advertiser’s strong desktop quality score does not impact
another advertiser’s mobile Quality Score for example. Additionally,
Google has a component of this called “stacked bidding,” where
advertisers can include several layers of bid preferences based on a
variety of circumstances such as the one mentioned above.

More Granular Site Link Management/Reporting

Now that device campaigns will be consolidated, Google is enabling
advertisers to create separate sets of site links by device so that an
advertiser can include mobile-only links, for example. As part of this,
Google will also report on full performance breakouts down to the
individual site link level. Combined, this will allow advertisers to deliver a
more relevant site experience when site links show, and allow more
effective optimizations to be made.

Situational Bidding and Ad Creation

With the increased visibility gained regarding user behavior across devices
and locations, Google now enables advertisers to break out ad copy and
set bids based on the user’s situation. For example, it may be beneficial
to show one set of ads to a customer showing geo-specific intent with
their query, versus another set to users who appear to be doing


comparison shopping for products at home. Or, for instance, a retailer
could increase bids on people that are within a close proximity to their
store locations who previously searched for products the store carries on
their home computer.

Multiple Conversion Types

While before advertisers had some limited control over conversion types,
Google is now facilitating this through an expanded list that includes more
formal recognition of call conversions, as well as finally adding support for
offline conversions (assumedly provided by 3rd party data integrations).

Cross-Device Conversion Attribution

Google has said that advertisers will finally be able to measure conversion
paths that may have spanned multiple devices. This means, for example,
that when a user searches for a product in a retail location on their mobile
device to compare prices, and later decides to purchase it through a
paid search ad when they get home, there will be a thread that ties these
two touch points together in the reporting. When viewed in aggregate,
this will give a much more complete attribution picture of how users are
truly behaving as they go about their day interacting with a variety of
devices/channels.

The details on the release and full functionality of this feature are still
somewhat in question at this time, so we suspect that this may be more of
a long-term enhancement.

Challenges

While Resolution is excited for a large number of these changes, there are
several that we have reservations about based on initially available
information. We anticipate a few challenges that are worth highlighting:

Bid Volatility

We’ve seen that when Google releases major changes regarding how
bids are managed or new targeting options, bid behavior tends to


fluctuate. We expect to see some variance in average CPCs at the
account level — particularly around mobile where Google will be
removing its Smart Pricing algorithm that helped keep mobile CPCs low for
some time.

It is quite possible that average CPCs will see a net increase as a result of
this change. This bidding by device will be set at the campaign level,
which removes a level of control previously taken advantage of by more
sophisticated advertisers and potentially further increases CPCs.
Resolution will be closely monitoring this and teams will take appropriate
action, including shifting spend away from Google to other engines (such
as Bing) if necessary.

Conversion Data Segmentation / Third Party Tools

For clients who manage AdWords through a 3rd party bid management
technology, it is possible that some granularity in conversion data at the
device level may be lost with the consolidation of campaigns. Google is
making changes to their AdWords API to support this update, and will be
working closely with their technology partners to minimize any potential
impact or loss of visibility.

Budgeting/Device Control

Many of our clients recognize the importance of mobile and tablet
devices and have frequently chosen to support them through initiatives
that often include device-specific budgets. Based on how Google has
chosen to consolidate device targeting, this will no longer be an option.
Resolution has provided feedback on the importance of being able to
manage device budgets independently, and we will be working closely
with our clients on potential solutions for this shortcoming.

Summary

Resolution will be working closely with Google to ensure that Resolution
client teams and clients are fully aware of best practices, changes to the
accounts, and implications for performance and targeting options. This
new structure will be tested quickly upon release during the ramp-up


period so that all of the new functionality and performance repercussions
are understood by the time of the full transition, which takes place in the
summer, according to Google. Resolution will be working with Google
agency leads to ensure agency-wide transition.

For more information, visit the resources below:

http://www.google.com/adwords/enhancedcampaigns/

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2013/02/introducing-enhanced-
campaigns.html

For information about Resolution, visit our website:
www.resolutionmedia.com.


Google Enhanced Campaigns POV

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