Google’s AdWords is getting a makeover. The search giant announced this week that they’ve made several updates to make its advertising tools more suitable for mobile.
With an emphasis on location-related mobile searches, a category that Google says is growing 50 percent faster than other searches, the company is introducing new local search ads across Google search and Google Maps. If a customer searches for something like “record shop” businesses can pay for their location to show up.
Google is also introducing “promoted pins”, meaning that a company’s logo will appear on a map, making it easier to identify the nearest Starbucks location, for example.
These changes are “designed to help [you] increase foot traffic to your stores”, said Sridhar Ramaswamy, senior vice president of ads and commerce at Google.
New expanded text ads in AdWords will also allow for more content to be visible before a user clicks on the link. The 25-character headline is getting expanded to 30 characters and the 35-character description line is getting upgraded to 80 characters. Google says it’s found that more preview information increases click-through rates by 20 percent.
Google says it’s also enhancing the imagery of its ads, called “responsive ads for display” for a native approach, with the ads matching the look and feel of the content they’re browsing.
The bidding process for ads is also changing. In the coming months, advertisers will be able to set individual bid adjustments for each type of device. That means they can pay a different price for ads viewed on mobile versus desktop, as it impacts clicks.
Advertising has always been a critical part to Google’s business, and it’s hoping this revamped approach will encourage advertisers to spend more money on its services.