Google Releases Device-Level Bid Adjustments for Tablet & Desktop Devices
July 31, 2016
In 2013, when Google first announced enhanced campaigns, one of the major changes was that all campaigns would target all devices. Advertisers could control their mobile bids with a mobile bid adjustment, but apart from that, advertisers had little control over how they could adjust their bids on tablet and desktop devices. At the time, Google asserted that advertisers wouldn’t miss control over their tablet and desktop bids because “as devices converge, consumer behaviors on tablets and desktops are becoming very similar.”
Many PPC advertisers, like Matt Umbro, were not convinced:
Device-Level Bidding Is Back, Baby!
Well, starting today, PPC advertisers have reason to rejoice because Google has given us all the ability to adjust bids for desktop and tablet devices with device bid adjustments. Advertisers can now adjust their bids for desktop and tablet devices at the campaign or ad group level by navigating to “Devices.”
The news comes as a relief to many advertisers who have lamented that cross-device behaviors have changed drastically since Enhanced Campaigns were first introduced in 2013. For instance, mobile clicks now make up the majority of all paid search traffic:
Not only has the device mix of search traffic evolved considerably, but the CPCs advertisers have been paying on these devices have changed drastically as well:
Since we never saw desktop and tablet CPC or user behavior converge, I expect many SEMs will take advantage of these new device bid adjustments to address the differences in performance for these devices!
Want help figuring out how to navigate this feature and other new features released this week (including Expanded Text Ads and Responsive Display Ads)? Sign up for my free webinar later this week.
Data Sources:
The aggregated data in this post is based on a sample of 834 US-based WordStream client accounts whom were consistently advertising on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices on the Google Search Network from January 2013 to July 2016.
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