The Search Marketer’s Guide for Migrating to Google Enhanced Campaigns: Best Practices, Part 2

Last week we delved into best practices for Google enhanced campaigns, and now we’re back with six more ways to ensure your transition is as seamless and profitable as possible.

Best Practice #6 – Use Mobile-Optimized Landing Pages

Make sure to use mobile-optimized landing pages to ensure a good experience for mobile users. If you leverage creative-level destination URLs that direct users to various landing pages, use the {ifmobile} and {ifnotmobile} ValueTrack parameters. For example: {ifmobile:m}{ifnotmobile:www}.marinsoftware.com.



Best Practice #7 – Track Conversions and Revenue by Device

Google’s new {device} ValueTrack parameter enables advertisers to track paid search performance by device. If destination URLs are tagged with this parameter, a “c,” “t,” or “m” will be inserted based on the device the user has clicked and converted from. To make use of this new feature, it is critical to migrate your URLs correctly and confirm their function properly. We recommend migrating URLs after merging parent and sibling campaigns in order to reduce the number of URL changes required.



Best Practice #8 – Leverage Upgraded Ad Extensions

During a campaign merge, ensure that all ad extensions in sibling campaigns are present in the parent campaign. If your mobile sitelink or call extensions are unique from your desktop ad extensions, you will want to leverage upgraded extensions. Simply specify “Mobile” next to device preferences to customize your extensions for a mobile-optimized experience. Mobile-optimized extensions will be triggered more frequently over standard extensions for searches on mobile devices.



Best Practice #9 – Generate Mobile Preferred Creative

If you have creative that specifically target mobile devices, set the device preference to “Mobile” for these creative in the parent campaign. Creative text that contains phones numbers will be disallowed, so use call extensions instead. To make the most of your mobile campaigns, consider creating ads that leverage location identifiers. Finally, remember that mobile-preferred creative are eligible to show on desktop and tablet devices, so you will want to create desktop optimized creative as well.



Best Practice #10 – Separate Display Campaigns

At this time, advertisers are not required to merge separate, network-targeted campaigns. Continue to separate search campaigns from display campaigns in order to calculate optimal display mobile bid adjustments based on display performance. “Display Network only” campaigns can still target creative by device models and operating systems.



Best Practice #11 – Monitor Performance

Be sure to monitor the performance of your new enhanced campaigns to ensure they are achieving your performance goals and satisfying your business requirements. Generate recurring reports segmented by device, and create alerts to identify significant shifts in key performance indicators. This will allow you to successfully analyze and respond to your campaign results.



This concludes our series on best practices for Google enhanced campaigns, but you don’t have to stop there. Download our full guide, “The Search Marketer’s Guide for Migrating to Google Enhanced Campaigns,” for even more information on how to successfully advertise using this new upgrade.