It feels like we’ve discussed mobile search ads forever, yet many advertisers still struggle, wasting money and losing conversions. PPC to the rescue!
The Importance of Effective Mobile Advertising
Let’s start with key statistics. Mobile search dominates desktop in the US, representing around 57% of traffic of all searches. It boasts the most significant ad spend growth, projected to hit 72% of total digital budgets by 2021.
However, data from Adobe reveals desktop conversion rates are almost triple those on smartphones. This highlights a massive opportunity to boost mobile search ad CVR. Furthermore, nearly 90% of smartphone users are more likely to buy again from brands with excellent mobile experiences, but they are 60% less likely to repurchase after a negative experience.
Despite this, a 2018 Forrester Research report shows 58% of marketers claim their mobile services mirror their desktop versions, overlooking the critical need for platform-specific optimization. Clearly, mobile user experience is paramount, but less than half of advertisers get even the basics right. Here are seven strategies to optimize your mobile search campaigns.
1. Enhance Your Landing Page Experience
Before even considering ads, ensure a seamless landing page experience. Poor mobile experiences lead to low engagement, cart abandonment, and ultimately, low conversion rates. Speed is crucial. Neglecting your mobile site speed likely means losing business. Google found that in retail, “every one-second page load delay can decrease conversions by up to 20%.” Start by using Google’s Speed Scorecard and Impact Calculator to benchmark against competitors. It examines like this. Consider minimizing CSS and HTML, enabling compression, and deferring non-critical JavaScript to improve load times. One of our clients saw their mobile ROI double after optimizing their mobile site for conversions. Also, factor in voice search’s impact. ComScore predicts 50% of searches will be voice-based by 2020. Hard to fathom? The rise of digital assistants makes it entirely plausible. Adapt now! Target long-tail keywords and craft natural-sounding landing page copy that directly answers voice search queries.
2. Tailor Ad Copy to Devices
Device-specific ad copy significantly impacts click-through rates. Small additions like IF-statements make a world of difference. For instance, generic desktop copy like “Use our service today” becomes “Use our service on your mobile today” for mobile. Phrases like “Browse on your mobile” and “Shop on your phone” also work wonders.
This consistently improves mobile ad CTR compared to desktop ads across various sectors for our clients. Another tip: incorporate location into ad copy. Studies show a strong link between mobile searches, user intent, and location. Leverage location-specific copy in descriptions or H2 tags.
3. Utilize Mobile-Friendly Extensions
Ad extensions are universally beneficial but exceptionally valuable on mobile, providing additional ad information. A Google study revealed call extensions boosted CTR by 5% on average. Moreover, calls from mobile ads converted three times better than website clicks. Message extensions offer an alternative for direct user contact and excel on mobile.
Price, promotion, and sitelink extensions enhance user experience, significantly boosting mobile CTR. Finally, location extensions highlight your business address, a major plus given the strong connection between location and mobile intent.
4. Prioritize Call Conversions
Calls are invaluable lead sources; prioritize promoting them. In addition to call extensions, utilize call bid adjustments to manage extension visibility and call-only ad frequency. If calls outweigh website visits in importance, test call-only ads. These ads initiate direct calls instead of landing page visits. Their minimalist design necessitates leveraging structured snippets and callout extensions to differentiate your brand and provide extra information.
5. Implement Device-Specific Bidding Scripts
Optimizing mobile and desktop bids demands a level of control that Google Ads (AdWords) sometimes lacks. Our answer? Hourly bids for both using our 24/7 bidding tool. We used 24/7 bidding and Bayesian statistics to model user behavior, surpassing Google Ads limitations, for a food sector client aiming to grow their mobile user base. While maintaining desktop growth, mobile traffic increased from 40% to 50%, with mobile conversions reaching 42% of the total. Mobile CTR rose by 21%, while CPA decreased by 22%.
6. Leverage Auction Insights
Besides Google’s Speed Scorecard, other tools help monitor competitor activity. Google Ads’ Auction Insights tracks competitor bidding strategies, identifying their strong devices, and highlighting desktop/mobile strategy differences. These reports provide device-specific data on impression share, outranking share, overlap rate, average position, position above rate, and top of page rate. Let’s visualize a hypothetical example using our script to demonstrate changes:
Here, Blue employs a regular on/off strategy across devices. Red remains stable but bids more aggressively on mobile than desktop, showing consistency in their approach. Yellow reacts strongly to payday, evident in their aggressive mobile bidding a week prior. Due to Yellow’s strategy, our top-of-page rate on mobile declines earlier. Based on this, we might adjust bid timings to capitalize on Blue’s off periods. By monitoring fluctuations, Auction Insights reveals mobile dominance and potential areas for performance maximization.
7. Continuously Evaluate Your Mobile Strategy
Google’s mobile focus has steadily intensified in recent years. Forrester projects US mobile ad spend to reach $57.3 billion in 2018, dwarfing desktop’s $37.8 billion. While everyone acknowledges mobile’s growth, many still grapple with their overall strategy. Google’s research reveals over 40% of users prefer completing their entire shopping journey, from research to purchase, on mobile. This experience must be seamless, as even a “neutral” encounter can negatively impact brand perception. Embrace mobile users – capturing this expanding market isn’t as daunting as it seems and should be a top priority for all marketers.