New Google AdWords Design will favor Mobile Advertising
Mobile is the hot topic in eCommerce sales right now – because it works so effectively to reach the most buyers. At the Google Performance Summit, the big news for AdWords account managers centered on statistics like, “Every year there are trillions of searches on Google.com and over half of those searches happen on mobile.”
Consumer Behavior Changes Prompt AdWords Redesign: Google announced a number of changes coming to AdWords and Analytics coming within 2016. They prioritize advertising to the mobile-first world. Mobile advertising has slowly increased its portion of overall digital spend, often at a lower cost per click, Consumer behavior and preferences are changing, and the AdWords update intends to reflect what consumers what, how they want to shop and help the businesses that pay attention to their choices.
Google is Redesigning AdWords for Improved Advertising to the Mobile-first World
Every business, that earns its revenue online, endeavors to ensure that Google is happy to send visitors to their online web pages. That includes a fast-loading, mobile-friendly, easy to navigate website, one that adheres to current best practices in digital advertising, trends, and markets in such a way the new buyers can find it and click through to mobile websites. Marketers are more heavily tasked with SEO techniques, tougher competition online, and fewer spots available to show up in search engine results pages (SERPs).
The updates and new features within Google AdWords give tremendous advantages to mobile advertisers. We’ll take a closer look at what you can achieve through mobile advertising on Google AdWords and the advantages of new search technologies that can help your business be ready for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which Google favors. http://www.google.com/adwords/start/marketing-goals/
Augment Your Online Sales with Mobile Advertising
Small business marketers aspiring to augment sales can get intensely focused on (and distracted by) the myriad of marketing strategies and free advice available. One question that frequently is asked is, “how important is mobile in search marketing?” Or, “How can I make my AdWords Advertising more profitable” If your company has completed the complex work of developing a mobile app to drive business, you’ll want to take advantage of new advertising opportunities within Google AdWords. Mobile users that engage your business or app may generate significantly more revenue and user loyalty over the long-term that improve your flow of income.
The progress of digital marketing technology within the retail and e-commerce industry is an exciting arena for those who know how to enter it with the finesse that engages consumers and keeps them returning. This starts with a keen understanding of buyer’s behavior and interaction patterns within your industry. Internet users are embracing mobile search and new technology faster than many business owners can adjust to capitalize on consumer needs, enhance customer experience and increase conversion rates from their ad spend. What Google proposes to do in AdWords will simplify that process and make mobile marketing easier. The shift to mobile is no longer something to anticipate – it has happened!
Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google Senior Vice-president of Ads and Commerce reported that out of trillions of searches on Google, over half of those search queries take place on mobile devices. Google reported at that summit that more than half of all web traffic already comes from smartphones and tablets. Smartphones have become an indispensable companion that buyers turn to in their I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do and I want-to-buy moments that transpire throughout each day. “To help marketers succeed in this mobile-first world, we have redesigned AdWords — from the ground-up — and re-thought everything from creatives and bidding, to workflow and measurement,” Ramaswamy expounded.
If you are in the retail and e-commerce industry, the new Google announcement reveals how AdWords can transform your approach to reaching mobile customers who are shopping for your products. Mobile users find that researching a purchase from their smartphone can be a comprehensive and enjoyable experience. They don’t need to go home and turn on their desktop computer.
5 Significant Updates Coming to AdWords Mobile Advertising
1. New Expanded Text Ads
2. Improved In-Store Conversion Measurement
3. New Ways to Manage Device Bidding
4. Maps have an Increasing Role on the Google Search Network
5. Responsive Display Ads
6. Attribution within AdWords
IN-DEPTH LOOK AT EACH UPDATE AS GOOGLE REDESIGNS ADWORDS
1. New Expanded Text Ads
The biggest buzz among marketers about the redesign includes excitement for the new, expanded text ads. The ability to use a headline which allows for more controlled visibility is expected to help improve click-through rates (CTR). AdWords advertisers will shortly be permitted to have two 30-character headlines, an improvement from just one headline limited to 25 characters. Google reports that it determined that this change alone was credited to have dramatically increased CTR – by as much as 25 percent. The overhaul of the AdWords interface that’s currently in progress will give more commanding space to text, surprising some marketers as trends toward image search and video consumption is so strong. It reflects that the power of well-chosen keywords is still very much a part of search.
For some time, ad extension or call extensions are giving mobile text ads additional presence in Google SERPS, which leads to an increase in CTR by near 12 percent in some tracked scenarios. If a buyer is giving more information about the page before clicking on it, it stands to reason that when applying the same premise, then we can expect that double headlines will offer even higher conversion success rates. Google projects that longer headlines should produce better-qualified traffic for advertisers, which would be a significant reason for businesses to put more dollars into paid search. Given the tiny viewer space on smartphone screens, a larger headline will be very prominent. New expanded text ads may be a surefire way to extend the message you want buyers to read – and your marketing budget when your improved CRT turns into revenue.
2. Improved In-Store Conversion Measurement
Mobile PPC Strategy: Are You Missing Out On Conversions?
Most purchases start with a search that is triggered by asking a question. Landing pages should be able to answer comsumer’s queries. If your mobile pages aren’t converting well, invest in market research to know what questions you’re leaving unanswered.
Currently we can glean data proving that people are clicking on AdWords ads, which ones, and time of day. It is all very helpful to drive traffic to a local business, but it falls short of revealing more precisely “how much”? The new AdWords can make it easier for more businesses to bridge gaping holes between the digital and physical worlds by measuring in-store conversions.
While this isn’t completely “new”, it still plays into narrow gaps and making store conversions available to additional business types. Getting to these insights is of paramount importance considering the projection that 90 percent of sales will happen in stores, as opposed to online.
With ease, Google can gather from a phone’s location history to establish whether the individual who searched and clicked on your ad took the further action of visiting your storefront. At the summit, Google used Nissan UK as an example. They reported that 6 percent of people who clicked on ads went to the dealership, resulting in a profitable 25x ROI.
A business measuring their foot traffic already knows what percentages of shoppers who stop in make the choice to buy a product(s). This will provide a much needed missing link to know what percentages of Internet users who click on an ad actually visit a physical store.
3. New Ways to Manage Device Bidding
Google is modifying its ad auction process to permit advertisers to set unique bid amounts for each platform used within a single ad campaign. Much of the AdWords bidding process is being revamped and will provide new ways to modify ads to maximize mobile advertising. The current method of setting a base desktop bid and next configuring mobile bids as a multiplier on the base bid was introduced back along with Enhanced AdWords Campaigns. Going forward, this is being revamped. AdWords account managers will have the controls to determine mobile bids, desktop bids, and tablet bids individually rather than under bulk settings. This offers business owners more flexibility and further underscores Google’s mobile-first viewpoint. It flips the former desktop bid to placing an emphasis on the Search Giant’s move to a mobile-first world.
4. Maps have an Increasing Role on the Google Search Network
New paid advertising features will be rolling out for Google Maps during the remainder of the year. Google ads appearing on the maps platform are called the “next generation” in local search ads. Such new ads are to show up on the Google Maps app, in addition to both the desktop and mobile versions of a site, and across Google.com. For prospective buyers who go onto Google Maps, the new ads, brand logos, and advertising offers will be presented right there on the surface of the map, versus next to it.
This fits the mobile-first theme, which means just as organic search has changed in ways that favor the mobile experience, paid ads need to adapt too. PPC marketers need to know about how to take advantage of this new opportunity for visibility right on Google Maps. Think of how many people travel around daily using their GPS and the advantages of reaching them this way.
Offer more value to AdWords advertisers. Marketers can reach consumers searching for physical business locations easier through the newly introduced new local search ads. Advertisers that have location extensions set up will love being able to more prominently showcase each business location when consumers use search queries like “emergency car repair nearby”, or “closest vet clinic”; or “pharmacies in the neighborhood”. Expect to see different results as Google is experimenting with a variety of ad formats on Maps that will make all this easier for mobile users. It is very simple to recognize pins for nearby restaurants, flower or coffee shops, gas stations or public centers along their driving route. The updated Google AdWords Editor makes these tasks simpler.
5. Coming Up: Responsive Display Ads
For those who may feel overwhelmed with keeping up on all the changes, Responsive Display Ads are one of Google’s ways of making it super easy to step into the world of apps in the GDN. After providing Google with a URL, headline, description, and the image you prefer being used, then Google will do the rest of the work and generate a responsive display ad automatically. Adhere strictly to the AMP rules for best mobile advertising results. This means that your ads will deftly adapt to the content of the websites they’re on, including native ad inventory. The varying formats of creative ads, whether skyscraper, leaderboard, square, or rectangle, will be determined automatically based on the just where it is being served up.
The ability to generate mobile-friendly, innovative and highly effective ad formats lets businesses get more creative. Compelling images and copy leadss to captivating new audiences for your brand.
6. Switch in Google Best Practices for Attribution in AdWords
In May the option to update the attribution model in AdWords first surfaced. Now in June the update attribution model in AdWords is available to every account. This update empowers businesses to go beyond last-click measurement, which formerly was the default in AdWords; now marketers can grasp the customer’s journey on a more granular level. Now in June, this privilege is available to all AdWords accounts. The customer journey isn’t always simple or short, and can be more complex when shoppers use multiple devices in the process of making a purchase across devices. If your paths to purchase are sufficiently direct, the default last-click approach may still be the best choice.
Before you formalizing such a change to an AdWords campaign, tests should be conducted that determine whether it delivers a higher volume of profitable conversions. This isn’t about traffic; this is about the money you may earn with a new attribution model. Each campaign can be a landing page specific to best align with where the potential buyer is at in the purchasing funnel. The new guidelines for attribution models can help better match each ad to search queries.
Revamp Your Marketing Goals & Reap Advertising to Mobile-first World
The new AdWords platform will offer businesses additional compelling ways to encourage new customers to find you online.
Mobile is an ideal place to let newcomers get exposed to your brand, learn what your company sells, what services you offer, and makes it easy for them to connect with you. Machine learning mandates that AMP web pages used for e-Commerce landing pages must be technically correct.
PPC that utilizes text and display Ads offers advertising that can boost your business by getting your website’s visitors to engage you. A PPC audit will reveal how to improve your landing pages to make it clear and simple how visitors can take action steps like reviewing your bio, filling out a contact form, signing up for your mailing list, or make a purchase.
Once you have a new client that found you through paid search, the customers that you acquire are yours to keep. As long as you provide an excellent product and service, not only will they come back for that product, but by running an AdWords remarketing campaign, you can reach to them with new and related products. Mobile product carousels assist a shopper’s decision.
We all feel more confident when we can see what we are buying; providing high-resolution, optimized images may help surface your products in visual search.
5 Key Findings about How Shoppers Use Mobile to make a Purchase
A custom Nielsen study, commissioned by Google was conducted to understand the role of mobile in consumers’ path to purchase.
1. Potential buyers spend an average of 15 hours every week researching on mobile sites and apps, and peruse websites six times during their purchasing journey, according to the Google and Nielsen study titled Mobile Path to Purchase: Five Key Findings, November 2013.
2. The ability to make an immediate purchase is critical to reaching today’s digital buyers. More than one-half of all consumers demand the ability to complete a purchase within one hour of conducting product research from their smartphone.
3. Mobile buyers begin their research by conducting an Internet search. The majority of smartphone users begin researching potential products or services they will buy from a search engine vs. a branded mobile website or an app.
4. Local search is a huge factor. How close a business is to the buyer’s location proximity counts. 69% of the average clientele want businesses to be within 5 miles or less from where they are located.
5. Whether or not it is easy to reach your business on mobile influences buyers across multiple channels. 93% of individuals who use mobile to research a purchase go on to complete the ordering process of a product or service. Most purchases transpire in brick and mortar stores.
Join the Fans of Mobile-First AdWords Advertising
The new AdWords design promises to roll out features aimed at helping advertisers better manage ads for micro-moments that happen on mobile using deep learning.
The Mobile Path to Purchase study yields glimpses into the always-on and on-the-go sense of immediacy behind consumers’ intent when they are researching a purchase online. Your business needs to be there in the moment they are looking for someone or something that you offer. The new AdWords interface will provide marketers with the information they crave to better engage ideal audiences at the optimal time and place.
We watch changes in SERPs for each of our clients, especially in the midst of the excitement of something this big rolling out. For example, sometimes we see promotional ads showing up in local business pages for in a business’s Google Knowledge Graph, and then the next week it doesn’t show up. This may be Google’s explanation: “Search is constantly evolving. In a typical year, we experiment with tens of thousands of possible changes. Every change is tested in an experiment where some users see the change and others don’t. By getting your feedback on our experiments, we learn which experiments are successful and should become part of Google Search for everyone.”
We are passionate about all things that help empower businesses of every size to expand their digital reach. We know that for you to gain the best results, you need to get your foundational SEO right. Read more tips on how to get the most out of AdWords.
“Every year, Google is innovating in mobile to provide a compelling experience for users and make sure advertisers are able to reach consumers at key moments. At a bare minimum, you’ll need to leverage mobile ad formats, and get ready for these new formats on the horizon, to make sure you’re attracting and converting mobile searchers when they’re using commercial search queries and looking to find a business fast.” – Wordstream*
“Consider the youth market, where the smartphone is at the center of the consumer’s life. For generation Y, the mobile phone is the primary place where they communicate with others and entertain themselves; soon it will be the place where they do most of their living, learning, working and buying. They might use other digital devices and even analog channels in their day to day life – often watching two or more screens at once – but the mobile screen is the one that matters.” – The Marketing Site
“Google needed webmasters and marketers to understand the importance of optimizing their website for mobile usage, because their search results rely heavily on users being satisfied with their browsing experience. If that experience is less than optimal, users will go elsewhere to find what they need, not only for websites but for search engines as well.” – Marcel Digital
“In many verticals and markets, mobile has become the first screen of interaction that a consumer has with a business or brand, but this shift is even being seen in the B2B markets. Mobile needs to be considered as a vital part of an overall business strategy for any business going forward as the way people research and consume content continues to shift to mobile screens.” – Dale Brose of LTR Digital
Get Results with The Most Effective & Affordable Mobile Marketing
If you aren’t convinced yet that mobile is that important, read more about where the mobile market is headed. For example, the global augmented reality application in retail and eCommerce is anticipated to climb to the $14.07 billion figure by 2020. That is growth at an annual rate of 96.9% according to report by MarketsandMarkets.
While the evolution of the new AdWords redesign is sure to present businesses with many opportunities, deciphering which ones are best, and tasks that come along with the adoption of such changes brings a responsibility to advertisers, agencies, and marketers to ensure their clients will thrive. With mobile users empowered to block ads and protect their location privacy, advertising strategies need to be well-planned and executed. Change can be for the best. Make sure you are ready for the mobile marketing wins that can increase your paid advertising conversion rates and revenue.
Google’s AdWords update offers both a brand new look and offers paid advertisers more ways to be up-to-date with multi-screen and buyers who prefer mobile devices. We are told that the modern layout will be effortless to navigate in addition to functioning better with all type of campaigns ranging from search ads, display ads, and re-marketing campaigns with less need for advanced skills by advertisers.
With more and more people believing that shopping happens easier from mobile for a search to purchase, then it is key for business owners of shopping carts to get onboard and optimize their AdWords account. We’re in the mobile-first world! Your web pages should be all about helping customers quickly find what they’re looking for and the ability to obtain the exact information they want with links to relevant pages and compelling call-outs for unique offers. If you want to say more with your ads and web presence on both earned and paid search, we can help you.
Take action today to move your business forward online. Call Jeannie, owner of Hill Web Marketing to learn how to take advantage of solutions that Google offers to help your company connect with your ideal customers. Call 651-206-2410 and ask about our Minneapolis Paid Search Marketing Services
* wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/05/24/google-mobile-first