TRAFFIC
an option whereby your keyword analysis
can be limited to mobile search volume and
the subsequent keyword bid suggestions
will adjust to focus on mobile bids as well.
Considering the single space available on
a mobile search, however, expect these bid
suggestions to be higher than desktop.
An additional point to remember here
is that when searching for a casino or
sportsbook on a mobile device, there is a
high likelihood that a prospective player
wants to make a bet right away or is looking
for the highest rated mobile options. This
may on the face of it seem like a somewhat
trivial practice, but it’s extremely useful.
Put yourself in the shoes of the player, and
determine how your searches might differ
when made from a mobile device. Instead
of ‘best online casino’ you might be looking
for ‘best mobile gambling app’. Instead
of ‘football odds’ you might be looking
for ‘best Premier League odds for today’s
matches’ or ‘best live Premier League
odds’ for players on the go. There is a lot to
consider from the perspective of mobilespecific keywords, but it’s an important set
of considerations.
Pay close attention to your Quality
Score
If you’ve run AdWords campaigns in
the past, then you know all about your
Quality Score. Your Quality Score is the
variable that Google uses to determine
both your ad placement and, in a lot
of cases, your cost-per-click. To review
your Quality Score, simply visit your
Campaigns list, choose your Keywords
tab from the menu and hover over (or
click) on the speech bubble under your
selected keyword’s Status. There you’ll
see your overall Quality Score, relevance,
click-through rate (CTR) and your landing
page experience (more on that below). It
is always a good idea to maintain your
Quality Score above a 6 (at the very least)
and aim for 8 or higher (obviously, 10
being the highest).
There are a lot of factors to consider
when trying to improve your Quality
Score, such as past CTR, ad relevance,
on-site performance, device performance,
keyword relevance and landing page
experience. But one practice you’ll want
to start implementing right away is the
ongoing maintenance of your account.
Figure 2: Creating rules for
campaigns in AdWords
What exactly does that mean? Start
turning off ads, ad group and keywords
that are underperforming. The reality is
that your account performance factors into
your Quality Score, and if, for example,
60% of the ads that you’re running are
generating no results, your entire account
(which includes things like CTR and ad
position) will suffer the consequences.
Develop mobile-specific landing
pages
As noted, one of the major contributing
factors to your Quality Score are your
landing pages. Landing page experience
is a major factor to consider when
running an AdWords campaign, and the
importance of this factor has increased
tremendously as mobile has moved further
into the core of the search experience.
Today, organic search rankings will
plummet unless you’ve created a mobilefriendly or, better yet, fully responsive
website. The same holds true for your paid
campaigns. If you’re directing a user to an
offer page, make it a mobile offer page. If
you want a higher conversion on that offer,
make it easy to use. Updating technology
for one-touch login or deposit on a mobile
device makes the mobile experience
seamless, and that is what leads to results.
Create effective rules
You shouldn’t be afraid to make changes to
your ads if you’re not the top result. Once
again, on mobile, there is only one spot on
top of the search results for a paid ad, and
you’ll need to make any effort to capture
that valuable space - even if it means
spending a little bit more. But don’t worry,
even with rules in place to adjust your
budgets, you won’t necessarily go above
your monthly budget.
Creating rules is a simple and effective
practice. In the menu above your account
data, you’ll see the ‘Automate’ tab. Here,
you can begin creating rules that adjust
your bids, create or pause campaigns or
alert you when a specific event takes place
(see Figure 2).
Let’s say, for example, that your bid
on the mobile search campaign for ‘best
mobile casino app’ isn’t reaching the top
position. You can use this AdWords feature
to automatically increase the bid to a new
maximum bid value or percentage amount
until such a value that it reaches the top
spot. Of course, there are other factors at
play (discussed above) but this helps tackle
the budget issue.
Conclusion
Google is constantly updating its algorithm
and products, so keeping up with the
best practices can often be a significant
chore. But as we see the importance of
mobile surpassing even the highest of
expectations, it is crucial that we begin
to place the medium at the forefront of
any strategy. These mobile AdWords best
practices can help improve results and drive
a new generation of search traffic to your
property.
COREY PADVEEN is the
Director of Global Social
Business Strategy at t2
Marketing International.
He has helped develop datadriven strategies in markets
ranging from gaming to not-for-profit.
Corey regularly writes for international
publications, and has been featured at
conferences and summits around the
world.
iGB Affiliate Issue 57 JUN/JUL 2016
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