Posted by Marisa D'Amelio, Search Supervisor, Draftfcb New York
According to Morgan Stanley “More users may connect to the internet via mobile searches than desktop PCs within 5 years”. More people using mobile to search means more opportunities for advertisers.
Google now allows advertisers to opt in and out of mobile for paid search advertising. It is even possible to specify the specific mobile devices (Android, iPhone, Palm webOS) and mobile carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, & More) you want your ad to run on. This is great news for anyone running paid search. So why not capitalize on this opportunity?
It is best to create a campaign that is solely driven to mobile so you can test and optimize keywords, bids, ad text, and landing pages. Mobile and desktop search traffic are different and should be treated and managed in separate campaigns.
One distinct difference is search behavior. In sponsored search, best practice is to launch with long-tail keywords (keyword phrases that consist of multiple keywords). Tail terms are more specific, resulting in less competition and greater cost efficiency. Search queries on mobile phones tend to be shorter and more generic due to the limitation of the keypad. Furthermore, in our experience a mobile user is more responsive to a more direct, concise message. Finally, adding geo-targeting location refrences to creative messages has also worked well with mobile. Testing is imperative since there is a lot to learn on mobile advertising best practices and mobile search behavior.
Once advertisers test, optimize, and report on these mobile and desktop paid seach separately, they should see a higher return on investment on advertising.