Google AdWords has made it easy for advertisers to promote their mobile application with a new Ad Extension called the Mobile App extension. In the past, Google has extended its Ad Extensions from desktop to mobile devices, but this new extension will streamline the ability for advertisers to grow mobile application downloads and users.   With the Mobile App extension, visitors are able to download an advertiser’s mobile app directly from a paid search link extension and are still able to click through to the advertiser’s main site through the headline.

Please note that only one mobile app extension can be displayed per text ad, unlike ad sitelinks where up to four links can be added to a text ad.  Also, note that Mobile App Extensions are not yet available for tablet devices.
To add a Mobile App Extension, in the Campaigns tab of your AdWords account, select the Ad extension tab. Select “+ New Extensions” and choose the campaign you’d like to enable the extension and select “Mobile app extension.”

Please note that your mobile application must be available within an app store like Google Play or the Apple App Store. Then, select the operating system of your mobile app and you will be prompted to add the Android Package Name or iOS App ID of your mobile app. Enter the text link you would like potential users to see, as well as the URL of the link where users can download your app from the app store.

Google says that Beta participants saw a 6% lift in CTR for campaigns using Mobile App extensions, compared to control campaigns.

If you follow the trends of digital marketing you know that targeting mobile devices is really hot at the moment. Everybody talks about mobile campaigns and how fast mobile is growing. For these same reasons, I will show you a practical approach to mobile marketing or as I like to call it – to get mobilized.

Before going too far into getting mobilized you should check your traffic to see how many visitors you get every week via mobile devices, and then compare these numbers to your total amount of visitors. Monitor how they move through your site. By gathering this data, you will be better to assess if going mobile is the right choice for you.

The strategy you set will depend on what you want to accomplish. Ask yourself the following:

• Do I want to be mobilized in order to drive sales through mobile devices?
• Do I want to increase brand awareness and drive more traffic to my site?
• Do I want to increase the number of calls I receive?
• Am I going to be using a mobile application and is my goal to generate downloads?

By answering these questions you will be able to prioritize the objectives of your mobile campaign; which will help you implement the right strategy.

If you are thinking about directing mobile traffic to your desktop site, you might want to reconsider and invest in a mobile site instead. Even with the best smartphone your desktop site might look too busy and may be hard to navigate. Believe me, there is nothing worse than putting together a great campaign only to send traffic to a page where the user will get frustrated due to a poor experience. Optimize your landing pages and make sure they are mobile friendly. Remember, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to convert on your goals.

From here, it is just a matter of setting up your AdWords campaigns and following their best practices.
 
Once you are mobilized, remember to track and analyze your mobile data to measure the effectiveness of your new efforts.

When most clients think of paid search conversions, they think of searchers who are using computers and laptops. However, paid search conversions can also come from mobile devices and tablets.  It would behoove businesses to do a device assessment of their campaigns to see the true source of conversions.

Most companies are taught to ask which campaigns and keywords are converting and which ones are converting at the best cost/conversion. Yet many should consider asking which devices are bringing in these conversions. This was not a question that companies needed to ask a few years ago, because mobile devices and tablets weren’t as heavily used as they are now. However, times have changed and the results bare witness.  Let’s say for example that a particular campaign produced 20 conversions in the month of December at a cost/conversion of $5.00. If the keywords and ad copy have good click through rates it may seem as if that particular campaign is well tuned. However, a deeper analysis may show that 15 of those 20 conversions came from mobile devices.  Now what? Break out that one campaign into two separate campaigns. Why? In order to capitalize on the conversions even more.

When a campaign is targeting all media devices, then no one device is truly being tested. However, if you create a version of the campaign that is only targeted to mobile devices and one that is targeted to laptops and computers, it then gives each device an opportunity to show its true potential. One may find that certain campaigns convert better on mobile devices than they do on computers and laptops.

 In the world of paid search, it’s all about testing and making adjustments. Take the time to find out how your campaigns perform on mobile devices. It might be an unexpected surprise to find that mobile devices and tablets are giving your company a better bang for your buck.