Introducing Google Adwords Enhanced Campaigns

Posted by Carrie-ann Sudlow in Internet Marketing      Comments Off

Anyone who has tried to run an Adwords campaign across multiple devices will tell you it’s time consuming. There’s been no integrated interface for Adwords users to manage the multiple campaigns. This has meant a lot of tinkering and duplication of effort.

All that’s changed with the launch this month of Google Adwords’ Enhanced Campaigns. This gives Adwords users one control centre /interface from which to manage their pay per click campaigns. Enhanced Campaigns will be rolled out to advertisers as an option over the course of the next few weeks. From there, all Adwords’ accounts will be converted around mid-2013.

An example will help relay the impact. You can imagine an Italian restaurant may want to show one ad to someone searching for Italian Restaurant at 1pm from home and another to someone searching on their smart phone in the evening within a mile of the restaurant. In theory, Enhanced Campaigns is designed to help advertisers reach the right people with the right ad. So now, without having to set up different campaigns Google says you can now factor in location, time of day and device type.

So what new features does this development bring?

Improved targeting

Bid adjustments will allow advertisers to alter their bids to suit their business.  Bids can be adjusted according to location, time of day and device. For example, a take-away coffee shop may want to find people searching for ‘takeaway coffee’ or ‘takeaway cappuccino’ on smart phones. Using bid adjustments the advertiser can choose to bid higher on people less than half a mile away and higher or lower again at different times of the day.

Improved Contextual Advertising

Enhanced Campaigns allow advertisers to display different ads on different devices. For example, a flower delivery company may show ads on smartphones with a click to call advert and have ads available to people searching on PC focused on their ecommerce site.

Expanded Conversion Reporting

Searchers can now take action on a website or blog in many ways. They can download an app, call you or complete a form. Many actions are possible. Enhanced Campaigns allows advertisers to track a wider variety of potential customer actions.

Now all this sounds good in theory. But just be aware Google often releases developments expecting users to suggest future changes. It’s likely then that we’ll see further ‘fine tuning’. Many commentators aren’t happy that tablets and desktops can’t be split within the new system.  This may not change, but we can expect refinements.