Google Enhanced Draws Scepticism

If you’ve logged into your Google AdWords account recently, you may have received numerous notifications heralding the introduction of Google Enhanced campaigns.

Google Enhanced (or could be described as Google Simplified) is an attempt by Google developers to make the process of targeting campaigns towards desktop and mobile users and much easier process. This is a direct response to the trends that forecast mobile search traffic will overtake desktop search traffic in 2013.

However, as with most things that are watered down to become simplified, by engaging this program, we surrender some control over the AdWords account. Google wanted to make it easier for advertisers to analyse pay-per-click data by merging the statistics from several devices into one easy-to-read set of metrics.

Google announced this on Inside AdWords, their flagship information distributer for AdWords. “With enhanced campaigns, instead of having to cobble together and compare several separate campaigns, reports and ad extensions to do this, the pizza restaurant can easily manage all of this in one single place. Enhanced campaigns help you reach people with the right ads, based on their context like location, time of day and device type, across all devices without having to set up and manage several separate campaigns” (Google Blogspot, 2013).

Diligence and scepticism must be emphasised here when looking at Google’s true motives for releasing this. Advertisers are businesses and like any form of marketing, AdWords must be accountable for the return on investment effect it creates for a business. Advertisers and internet marketing specialists alike would be more inclined to have more control over their campaigns, in order to safely assert the elimination of irrelevant traffic, and capitalise on elements that are generating solid ROI. Google Enhanced effectively removes control over those elements – surrendering the ability to hold AdWords to the same accountability for business purposes. Google is also a business, and generates its revenue on AdWords from clicks. From a business perspective, Google would prefer to have more clicks, in order to encourage advertisers to commit to spend more on AdWords.

To our existing clients, please speak with your internet marketing specialist about the effects Google Enhanced can have on your campaign and any impacts that could be caused on our ability to analyse your campaign’s data. If you aren’t a client, call us today for a free health check and learn the benefits and risks of a Google Enhanced campaign.

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