For weeks now, top level Google AdWords advertisers were rumbling and kicking their feet about an upcoming change they have been hearing about from their Google reps. That was officially announced yesterday, called Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns.
In short, it is suppose to make it easier for business owners to create ads that target both desktop and mobile users. The goal is to simplify the ad creation and management process for the "multi-device world."
The problem with the approach Google is taking is that with simplicity, AdWords control is lost. I.e. if you are an expert AdWords advertiser, you probably want to control your mobile, smart phone, tablet, and desktop campaigns differently. You probably want to bid different, show ads differently and not have Google make those decisions for you.
Google explained:
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.
Yea, that is nice in theory. But I think advertisers may want more control, not less. Of course, Google wants more advertisers, more spend, more impressions and higher CPCs.
In a Google+ thread, one advertiser said "Loss of control and transparency? Moving in the wrong direction Google." In a Google AdWords Help thread another advertiser believes "this will increase CPC on mobiles a lot, which has so far been cheap in comparison with desktop," which most other advertisers agree with. Greg Sterling on Google+ asks who this benefits more, Google or the advertiser? I am more surprised the folks in WebmasterWorld have yet to get annoyed about this either way.
Here is Google's video on the topic:
Are you happy with these changes? If so why? If not, why? Are you concerned with not having control? Prices going up? Reporting being limited? What are your concerns?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Google AdWords Help & Google+.
