Yesterday Google launched Enhanced Campaigns for Google Adwords, letting advertisers now reach target markets by running ads specific to a consumer’s location, time of day, and type of device being used.
Advertisers can specify a bid 25% higher for people searching within a half-mile radius, 20% lower for searches after 11am, or 50% higher for searches on smart phones, for example.
Bid adjustments can also now be made to apply to all ads and keywords within a single campaign.
The changes may in part be due to Google’s research into understanding cross-platform consumer behaviour. Google researched over 15,000 media interactions and nearly 8,000 hours of activity to gain insights into how media is used in daily life, what motivates consumers to engage with media, and how consumers use multiple screens to accomplish their tasks. Google’s research showed that people rely mostly on smartphones as the most frequent companion device to other screens such as laptops or tablets.
Research findings from Google
Google also states they believe that consumer behaviour on tablets and desktop computers is becoming very similar. Google will merge tablet and desktop targeting options, allowing only varied targeting against mobile devices.
Advanced AdWords reports will also be available, giving marketers the ability to count downloaded apps or phone calls of 60 seconds or longer as conversions, allowing them to easily be compared to leads, sales and downloads.
Tom Cull, director of search and social at media planning and buying agency Carat told The Drum that he agrees the upgrade will help marketers with budgeting. “The cross device reporting and attribution will provide a huge step forward in allowing brands to assign the correct value to their search marketing pounds and help further refine strategies to ensure we accurately map search activity to consumer behaviour,” he said.
Further resources for AdWords Enhanced Campaigns are available here.
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