When it comes to digital marketing, it’s important to stay abreast of news and trends affecting the market. The smallest change can have a huge impact on how marketers make and distribute their ads. At Versa Creative, our digital and strategy teams are always on the lookout for new marketing trends and news. In this month’s blog, we’ll discuss a new Google update that occurred last month as well as a brief overview of mobile PPC strategy.
This past month, Google made a change to its device-targeting options that may very well have a significant impact on advertisers, pay-per-click ad display efforts. Google now only allows advertisers to target desktop, tablet, and mobile users in an effort to reach its ever-growing Google Display Network audience. This change is forcing advertisers to re-strategize how traffic is tracked.
A quick list of effects of this change:
- Advertisers can no longer exclude mobile app traffic from their display campaigns through device targeting options.
- Advertisers can no longer use “adsenseformobileapps.com” as a placement exclusion to help exclude mobile app traffic.
- Advertisers now have to factor mobile traffic into their display efforts, and in a larger sense, their mobile PPC strategies.
While it may take some time for the dust to settle for people to determine the actual impact that this change will have for their strategies, as with all things involving PPC, it is best to try to be as proactive as possible when it comes to significant changes such as this update from Google.
Many advertisers have long shunned the use of mobile app traffic within their display efforts, but since it will now be unavoidable, it is worth trying to consider the possibility that it may actually be beneficial.
Implementing Change in Your Business
While we are not advocating that you allow mobile app traffic to run rampant in your display campaigns, some mobile app traffic may actually help drive conversions and value to client business(es).
With this update, it is also important to become even more diligent about ensuring that client websites are fast and mobile-friendly to give them the best opportunity to make the most out of the increased mobile traffic and help drive more conversions from your mobile PPC strategies.
PPC Strategy for Mobile
Mobile PPC Strategies and tactics have long been used to more effectively promote products and services. They streamline mobile search efforts and lead targeted audiences to mobile sites with minimal effort. To offer insight into sound mobile PPC strategy, we’ve put together a short list of industry best practices to consider.
Set Goals
In the industry, we often refer to SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. These guidelines help us stay on track with our mobile PPC efforts. As a rule of thumb, it’s important to ensure your business goals align with your PPC strategy. Whether you want to increase your click-through rate, raise your conversions, or improve your website clicks, you need to know what to achieve.
Define Your Audience
When developing mobile PPC strategies, it’s crucial to define who you’re talking to. In order to properly match search queries with your ads, you should be mindful of the location, time, and device used to make the search. To further help you define your audience, consider the 5 W’s: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Who are your customers? What are they looking for? When did they search for it? Where did they make the search? Why did they search for it? Hopefully, these key questions will set you on the right path.
Find Adwords Mobile PPC Keywords
Keywords are the lifeblood of any successful PPC campaign. The keywords you choose will allow Google Adwords to effectively expose your ads to the users that searched with relevant queries. As always, you need to understand your audience as well as their motives to determine these keywords. However, the task can still seem daunting. Thankfully, there are keyword suggestion tools available to streamline your efforts. Keep in mind that negative keywords are just as important as the ones you choose. Negative keywords are words that you inform Google Adwords to NOT associate with your campaign. This helps hone in on the specific audience you’re targeting.
Looking for more industry news and updates? You’re in the right place. Check out the Versa Creative blog for more insight into new developments. At Versa Creative, we dare to dream boldly to make an impact on local and national brands. Visit us online to learn more.
