Earlier in August, Google unveiled multiple changes to their mobile market that will significantly impact overall paid search marketing strategies. First, cross device conversions will now automatically be tracked under all conversions within AdWords. Second, Google will be making long-awaited changes to their device level bidding. Both of these updates will allow more control over the mobile market, as well as the ability to attribute mobile performance more appropriately and make more informed decisions.
Although mobile traffic is on the rise, customers are constantly researching before they buy, and often times, this research can occur on multiple devices. For example, if you are looking to purchase a new camera, you may do some initial research on your mobile phone during your work commute, but then finally take the plunge, and purchase later that day on your desktop. According to Google, 61% of internet users, and a whopping 80% of online millennials will start shopping on one device, and then purchase on another. When using AdWords conversion tracking, the purchase from the example above would get attributed as a desktop conversion. However, in reality, that purchase was initiated on a mobile device. Cross device conversions allow for proper tracking and the understanding of where conversions are coming from. As of September 6th, Google is now automatically tracking cross device conversions within all conversions in AdWords. Cross device conversion tracking is likely to cause paid search marketers to see the true influence of mobile, which is often under-valued.
Now that we are able to see to real impact of mobile performance on our campaigns, Google’s latest announcement is going to allow marketers to cater their marketing strategies to revolve more around mobile performance. Previously, users were only allowed to adjust their mobile bids, by applying a blanket bid multiplier to campaigns or ad groups, while desktop and tablet bids were grouped together. In the next few months, Google will be unveiling a brand-new strategy which will allow users to set baseline bids regardless of the device. Therefore, bids can be set specifically for mobile, with desktop or tablet bid multipliers applied vice versa. Users will have the ability to adjust bids up to 900% for each device. Now, advertisers can create mobile, desktop, or tablet specific campaigns with unique ads and bids designed to target specific markets.
These two new Google updates go hand in hand in letting paid search marketers have a deeper understanding of mobile performance for their accounts, with the ability to actually take action on their strategies. Cross device conversion tracking lets us realize what keywords or ads perform best on certain devices, and soon, we will be able to fully optimize our bids based on this data. And last but certainly not least, perhaps the most long-awaited change, is that we can finally set negative bid adjustments on those pesky tablets.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can more effectively leverage a mobile bidding strategy, please contact us by email at
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or by phone at 781-591-0752.
