Google shows AdWords updates for our mobile-first world

On Tuesday, May 24, Google held its live-streamed Performance Summit where it showed updates to some of its product lines including AdWords and Analytics.

If you didn’t have time to catch the stream, don’t worry, we’ve got your recap right here! The theme of the summit was mobile-first and the idea that we need to design everything (ads, websites, etc.) for our mobile consumers. Google shared that 30% of mobile searches are location-related and that more than 50% of website traffic comes from smartphones and tablets. These statistics set the tone of the summit and reminds us that mobile dominates the web these days and these searchers expect a mobile-friendly experience with your online presence.

The other theme was around micro-moments, those moments that can be described as I want to: know, go, do, or buy moments. Being able to present the right ad to the right consumer in these micro-moments is what makes the difference between a conversion and alienating a consumer.

How is Google planning on meeting the needs of mobile searchers and its advertisers for these micro-moments?

AdWords updates

  • A redesigned interface to make it more user-friendly and present the information advertisers care about upfront. 
  • 50% more text in ads with expanded headlines and description lines. Instead of 25 characters for your header, there’ll now be two 30-character headers and an expanded 80-character description line.

How it looks as of today:

Ad creator in Google AdWords
 

How it will look:

Extend ads creator in Google AdWords

Photo via our friends at WordStream

  • Responsive display ads editor to help ads perform better on a variety of devices and websites. With more than two million websites and apps included in the Google Display Network it can be hard to have ads look good on all of them all the time. Google is going to help advertisers out by making sure their ads display appropriately and are fully-functional with the new ad creator tool. You provide the headlines, description, images, and a URL and Google will take care of the rest.

Responsive Ad Display

Photo credit: Google

  • Better bidding options and the ability to prioritize ads on specific devices, such as smartphone or tablet. This is excellent news as you may have seen better ad performance with your tablet consumers but couldn’t specifically adjust your bidding for that device, well now you can!
  • Getting consumers from their initial mobile search into your business’ physical location was another trend that Google’s addressing with its updates. By adding in search ads into Google Maps, you can reach local audiences searching for specific things near them with the right location extensions. Google is also testing promoted pins where local businesses can display in-store incentives or discounts to Maps users.

Watch the full stream on YouTube.

Published: May 27, 2016