Google publicly announced their introduction of Enhanced Campaigns to AdWords in February of 2013. This was very important news for anyone offering pay per click marketing services. The announcement featured a glowing account of the improved targeting, measuring, and reporting opportunities that were being made available. Alongside all of the benefits, though, was a hint at the complete transition to enhanced campaigns that is (allegedly) in store for the summer.
In the ensuing months, numerous digital marketing professionals are put to the task of determining whether or not to make the switch early. This is a decision that does not necessarily translate seamlessly from client-to-client. Thus, marketers need to consider the positives and negatives that enhanced campaigns will offer each of the accounts that they are managing.
ADVANTAGES
Location Targeting – Statistics are now being provided on a per-location basis. Campaigns that have multiple locations can now view information on each of these targets and are offered the opportunity to adjust bids accordingly. Thus, if certain locations are performing better than others, marketers can make sure they are gaining a higher share of those impressions.
Ad Extensions – Certain ad extensions can now be applied to ad groups, rather than campaigns. On top of that, sitelink extensions can now have their own ad scheduling settings. Overall, this provides marketers with far more flexibility in determining how to structure their accounts, given their heightened ability to apply these extensions.
Call Tracking – Upgraded call extensions now provide advertisers with extensive call tracking information. As a dimension of their advertising campaigns, marketers can view details on the calls that they have produced for their clients. Accounts will be charged the standard cost-per-click for click-to-call extensions on mobile devices, and will not be charged anything for the manual dialing of a Google forwarding number.
DISADVANTAGES
Mobile Targeting – Mobile-only campaigns are becoming a thing of the past. Enhanced campaigns only offer the ability to adjust mobile bids. Thus, although you can effectively create a campaign that targets everything BUT mobile, you will not be allowed to target only mobile users. Mobile segmentation–e.g. device model, carrier–will also be highly restricted compared to the past.
Tablet Targeting – Tablets are now bundled in with desktops and cannot be targeted separately. This will be problematic for anyone whose original strategy was to send tablet visitors to specified-tablet-URLs. Enhanced campaigns require that websites detect whether or not a visitor is coming from a tablet and adjust to show them the proper webpage, accordingly.
CONCLUSION
If you are going to make the switch to enhanced campaigns, get ready to spend some more money. Improve the quality of information provided on each advertising campaign is intended to improve the ability to offer optimal online marketing services. Unfortunately, this will likely come at a price. Introducing bid adjustments for locations and mobile devices may steadily drive up the average cost-per-click across the board, especially for the most fruitful visitor demographics. Similarly, setting ad extensions on a per-ad-group basis will likely also increase advertising competition. Ultimately, there are many things for any internet marketing firm to consider when making the decision to switch; extra time and effort will be needed to ensure the smoothest transition.
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