Enhanced Campaigns: Nearly One Year Later

By Les Hostetler on 03/24/2014

Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns Effects

In late July of 2013, Google enacted a change to AdWords called Enhanced Campaigns. The change tied mobile bids to desktop bids using a “vectoring” system, in which the mobile bid was a percentage of the desktop bid. By tying the bids together, Google essentially forced search marketers to participate in the mobile space by default. “This may be the most significant shift in AdWords since its inception,” said Chris Copeland, CEO of GroupM Next, GroupM’s digital research arm, at the time.

Search marketers were not happy with the change and have since had the opportunity to experiment, learn and adapt. Were their initial fears justified? Looking back over the course of the last year, the answer is yes.

Pre July 2013, mobile search campaigns (including tablet) could be kept separate from desktop campaigns, allowing search marketers to take advantage of the historically lower cost-per-click’s (CPCs) available in the mobile space. Experienced search marketers routinely took advantage of this on behalf of their clients. However, Enhanced Campaigns threatened the low CPCs because the ability to optimize mobile CPCs was reduced by linking mobile bids to desktop bids, and costs were expected to rise with the flood of new advertisers forced to participate in the mobile space. Wails were heard; teeth were gnashed. Google remained steadfast.

Although there are workarounds to opt out of mobile, many advertisers don't know to leverage these options. Furthermore, Enhanced Campaigns now includes tablet queries within the desktop search auction, rather than enabling advertisers to craft a separate device strategy, as had been previously the case.

For one Maxus client in the travel vertical with a significant mobile footprint, CPCs are up 25% per click from the baseline. And even a year later, finding the best vector for mobile bids remains a hit-or-miss proposition. “Not being able to bid mobile separately is tough on performance – we still have to jigger mobile adjustments to find our sweet spot,” said one search director who works in the finance vertical. “Not being able to isolate tablets stinks too.”

Feelings on Enhanced Campaigns haven’t been completely negative, however. “From a campaign set-up perspective, it has made things easier,” said one director, currently working with clients in the consumer products vertical. “The accounts aren’t cluttered with campaigns [separated] by device, which has made budget allocation easier. And while the level of detail may be a loss for campaigns that looked at ROI/sales/ CPAs at a granular level, low budget or scope campaigns are less work and more simplistic to manage.” This leaves more time for strategic thinking and planning.

Even so, the fear that search marketers had – that Google was reducing the methods by which marketers could take advantage of complex environments in mobile – have proved warranted over the long-term. “I believe that, for more sophisticated search professionals, our abilities were limited,” said one account manager. “For one of my accounts, our mobile campaigns outperform computers and tablets, yet we can’t really capitalize on this knowledge. I can put in a ‘preferred’ mobile ad but have no guarantee it will show. I can increase or decrease the mobile bid multiplier, but cannot effectively target the optimizations we would like to make in order to scale efficiencies.”

As mobile search continues toward becoming the default method of asking questions in the digital space, this “new normal” will continue to affect marketers’ abilities and clients’ budgets.

Enhanced Campaigns: Nearly One Year Later

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