Google Adwords Enhanced Campaigns: The “Legacy” Dies

Google has been talking about Enhanced Campaigns and encouraging AdWords users to switch over to the updated model for months. On 6/22/13 Google will update all Legacy Campaigns into this format, leaving the old structure in the dust. So what does this mean for the current Legacy community? These updates will significantly impact many users who prefer more control over their campaigns. Users who have built out extensive, targeted, and individually managed strategies will experience the biggest changes. Other accounts with basic campaigns and already Google optimized accounts will not experience any earth shattering changes. So what are the differences?

The Mobile Difference:

The era of mobile separation will come to a screeching halt. Managers will no longer create extensive campaigns specifically for their mobile searchers but will now manage mobile bids within each campaign. This will now function as a % bid adjustment that will cover all keywords in the ad groups. Fortunately, you can also adjust bids on an ad group level. Since we create very granular accounts with large quantities of ad groups, we’ll be able to maintain tight control over mobile bidding. If your campaigns aren’t built that way, it might be something worth looking in to.

But what about mobile ads?!? The new features allow you to create specific ads and extensions that can be scheduled to show only on your mobile device targeting. However, you will not be able to target specific ads or extensions to tablets, they will be lumped together with desktop users.

Call Conversions will be implemented to help track which of your “conversions” are coming in from click to call extensions. While many of these features slightly hinder control, this feature will definitely help to track mobile performance.

Targeting:

Location and Time bid adjustments will also be managed through the % bid adjustment with the new Enhanced Campaign features. This will in effect, create the same “radius” targeting that was previously available by adjustments between -100% and 300%.

As I’ve written before, there are many benefits to extensions in Adwords, even if there hasn’t been great tracking available. The new enhanced campaigns will enable greater targeting and reporting features for extensions.  Specifically, time of day targeting will be available, and different site link extensions will applied at the ad group level instead of the campaign level. Similarly, data will be more granular and viewed at the actual link level, rather than the group of site links. This means less work and tracking back and forth between Analytics and Adwords.

But I don’t Want to Upgrade:

Too bad. You can hold off until June 22, but you will be forced to move into this new arena. My advice: do it now so you can become familiar with the new settings before everyone else is pushed in. Also, take advantage of the new features that will help you separate you data even further and target more specifically. My favorite upgrade of the Enhanced Campaigns is the ability to target more specifically with sitelink extensions.

There are a lot of changes coming with this upgrade from Google, so hunker down and prepare your campaigns and clients. Be prepared for a lot of backlash and questions (these come with every Google update). And look out for Mike’s article on why Google is making these changes and what they might mean for you (here’s a hint… Google will definitely make more money, but will you?).