Despite posting increased revenues and paid clicks, Google’s latest results showed that cost per click fell 4%. Alistair Dent, head of PPC for Periscopix, argues that a shift to mobile is becoming vital if the company wants to keep its dominant position in web advertising.
The problem Google has is it can’t control the volume of searches, so it has to try to control revenue per search. It’s seen traffic moving to lower cost-per-click platforms, and so naturally Google wants to mitigate this.
When Google introduced ‘enhanced campaigns’ in February, it spelt the end for mobile-only or tablet-only campaigns. Keywords that run on a mobile or a tablet will soon compete with desktop campaigns, which will push up cost-per-clicks for campaigns that were originally designed to be mobile.
It makes sense from a user point of view; the difference between mobile and static devices is increasingly blurred. But of course the overall effect of this will be better revenues for Google. The switchover is coming next quarter, so we won’t see the impact of Enhanced Campaigns on earnings until its Q3 results.
User behaviour is changing to shift the focus of search and ads towards mobile. Google had no choice but to find a way to increase cost per click from mobile, and Enhanced Campaigns will be the way to achieve this.
What will be interesting is to see what Google does next. Once you start getting near market saturation, you have to innovate. I’m looking forward to seeing how ad revenue will come from new products such as Google Glass and Google Now.
Google has always innovated, and has more or less got the balance right between user experience and revenue generation. It’s come a long way from the quiet ads next to search results of the early days. It needs to be a step ahead of user behaviour to spot the next revenue stream.”
By Alistair Dent
Head of PPC
Periscopix
http://www.periscopix.co.uk/