Google Enhanced Campaigns: What To Expect

Well by now most of you have already heard about the new Google Enhanced Campaigns and may have even noticed the changes start to appear in the platform. Today Google hosted the first of a series of Webcasts over the coming weeks to introduce advertisers to the new upgraded platform, what Google is saying is the biggest change they have made to date.

The concept behind the change is simple: users are always connected nowadays and seamlessly transition from browsing the web on their mobile phones to their tablets to their desktops. Google wants to look at device type to determine intent and says they can do a better job then the advertiser who currently segments campaigns by device type. We will see in the coming months if Google has figured it out. In theory it sounds great; currently advertisers duplicate campaigns across different devices, and this is one way of minimizing the leg work. However keeping it separate makes tracking and reporting simple; will combining three-in-one complicate things? Will it increase cheaper-than-desktop CPCs? Like all changes in life, this one may just take some getting used to.

One thing to look forward to is the new control advertisers will have over sitelinks:

1. Currently sitelinks can only be set on a campaign level but with the transition sitelinks will be controlled at the ad group level.
2. Metrics will be provided on each individual sitelink performance (side note: I personally look at sitelinks more as a way to occupy screen real estate and less as a means for directing users to different sections of the site; if you manage your campaigns correctly, your ad destination URL should accomplish the job of sending users to where they are initially looking to go. But that’s just me.)
3. Sitelinks scheduling: you can show different sitelinks at different times of the day, different days of the week, etc.

Two other additional Adwords changes rolled out in the past week separate from Enhanced Campaigns include taking the Offers Extension out of beta (this hasn’t happened yet as of this writing), and also offering Search Funnel data as columns (assisted click/conversion stats) in your Adwords view.

Anyway, we plan to test out the features of Google Enhanced Campaigns over the coming weeks – advertisers have until May to fully transition – and will definitely make sure to compare my results to see if Enhanced Campaigns is in the best interest of the advertiser, or if evening out the mobile playing feel will have a negative impact on ROI.

Stay tuned as we continue to blog about the trials and tribulations of Google Enhanced Campaigns!