A guest blog post by: Russell DeCorte
So, The day we’ve all dreaded has come to pass and all our AdWords campaigns have transitioned over to Enhanced. While this has caused anxiety for some, many are just trying to make the best of the situation by getting under the hood and starting to learn how to best take advantage of the new enhanced campaigns.
Really, What’s the alternative?
Wait for your YouTube Videos and SEO Efforts to grow wings?
Or possibly worse yet, Use display traffic?
Personally, I’ll go with none of the above for $200 Alex!
So, Let’s talk a little bit about what Enhanced really is, Critical changes you’ll notice upon logging into your campaigns for the first time, and what actions need to be taken at the campaign level to ensure you’re still getting the proportionate ad serve to the device type you are looking to target. (If you’re looking to target mobile handsets only, Let’s make sure you know how to do that!)
What is AdWords Enhanced?
Well, According to Google, Enhanced campaigns were launched to help advertisers reach people with the right ad. Based on their context like location, time of day, and device type, without having to setup and manage several separate campaigns.
Bid settings for your campaigns have changed with the upgrade, However, Your budget will remain the same.
As I said in the previous paragraph, Bid settings have changed with the upgrade, so here’s a helpful little explanation to keep the facts straight.
There are three basic devices you can target with Enhanced: Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile.
The most logical way this affects your mobile search traffic when running Pay Per Call offers is, Before Enhanced, You could target JUST mobile devices. However, With Enhanced, Now you automatically target Desktop, Tablets, and Mobile Devices.
The default mobile bid adjustment you will see for this targeting option is, +0% adjustment (Same bids across all devices).
Read More: Adwords Pay Per Call Bonus Features: An Overview for Beginners
So, What Does This Look Like In My AdWords Interface?
Campaigns that have been auto-upgraded will be labeled, “auto-upgraded” in the upgrade center.
Here’s how you check:
The first thing you’ll need to do is login to your AdWords account interface. Click on the “Campaigns” tab. Now click the upgrade center link on the left (Note that the links on the left may be minimized, If so, Click on the little right pointing arrows on the left hand pain).
Open the “Advanced mode” and click, “view all campaigns”. Click “View: all but deleted campaigns” from the menu on the left. Review the campaigns labeled, “auto upgraded” under the “Migration status” column.
Last, but not least you’re going to want to review your mobile bid adjustment. (If you’re anything like me and target nothing but mobile handsets for Pay Per Call) This is where you are going to make your adjustments to maximize impressions to mobile handsets as opposed to tablets and desktop devices).
Now it’s time to adjust your mobile bid. Just to keep things simple, Let’s say you’re default keyword bid is $10.00. If you adjust your mobile bid by 50%, that means you’re willing to spend $5.00 more for a mobile click than for a tablet or desktop click.
Quick tip, I would start significantly higher, Say with a +50% bid adjustment on a relatively small spend, Roughly one quarter of your daily budget and see where you stand with mobile clicks and most important, conversions at the end of that small testing budget.
If you want to keep paying the same for traffic that you always have, Simply set the default cost per click (CPC) 50% – 100% lower than you previously had it and then set your mobile bid adjustment to +50% – +100%.
Like any other kind of new traffic source, there’s bound to be a small learning curve. The key is to test small then scale up when everything is working.
What’s Next?
Possibly the coolest thing about this entire Enhanced upgrade is that one of the upcoming features is Upgraded call extensions (Coming on September 23rd). This will allow for the management of call extensions at the ad group level, Allowing for more detailed reporting and measuring phone calls as conversions, BOOM!
Another powerful feature coming to Enhanced is upgraded sitelinks, This will allow management of sitelinks at the ad group level. This will allow for testing of multiple mobile landing pages all within the same ad group without the need for setting up multiple ad groups.
See, there is a silver lining to every cloud!
Some Takeaways
- Enhanced campaigns are here, Good, Bad, or Indifferent
- According to Google, Enhanced campaigns were launched to help advertisers reach people with the right ad based on their context, Like location, Time of day, and device type, Without having to setup and manage multiple separate campaigns
- Chances are, If you’re running Pay Per Call offers, You’ll need to adjust your mobile bids up
- The best is yet to come for Pay Per Call campaigns with the upcoming additions to Enhanced campaigns
Read More: How to Get The Most From Call-Only Campaigns in Google AdWords