SEARCH DUDES

I still roll my eyes when people talk about advertising on mobile devices.

Ever seen a banner ad on an iPhone? it’s a joke. Especially poorly designed ones where it’s obvious the company took a traditional 768×90 web site banner and sized it down to fit mobile.

Dumb.

But what about AdWords?

To maximize our clients’ spend in Google AdWords, we typically try to stay away from fluffy campaign settings and tighten down ad display geographies and demographics to their most relevant states.

One of the ways we do this is to primarily show our clients’ ads on “desktop or laptop computers”, and stay away from the mobile display options.

Quality over quantity is the mantra of the ‘dudes.

Recently, however, my own mobile surfing habits have caused me to question this practice. While I still don’t believe many clients in the retail space will experience a sales boon via mobile devices (today, anyway), I do believe that for branding and awareness, showing your AdWords campaign ads on mobile devices might just be a good idea after all.

Quality real estate

For one, the limited screen real estate ensures that you’re ad gains considerable exposure.

Below is a Google search, on iPhone, for “surety bonds”.

Notice how much exposure the top two ads receive; plus, without all the noise typically found on a web search result page, and assuming it matches their query, it’s much more likely the user will interact with the ad.

Apps are for efficiency, browsers for research

A mobile user who is looking for a restaurant will most likely turn to an app designed for that purpose, like Google Maps, or for a movie, perhaps the Fandango app; but when a user is stuck in the dentist’s office, and breaks out the ol’ iPhone, Android, or Blackberry device, they will most likely turn to a browser.

And we all know what the number starting point for Internet research is, right?

It’s more cost effective than you might think

The same rules that apply to ad auctions on desktop and laptop devices, also apply to mobile devices. And since the most ads I’ve ever encountered on a mobile device, above the fold, is two, relevancy becomes that much more important if you want to be seen.

Give it a try.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Create a campaign specifically for mobile-only display.
• Keep your ad headlines succinct and targeted to your main keyword.
• Encourage users to learn more as opposed to buy now.
• Keep in mind that default iPhone and iPads cannot view flash content on landing pages.
• Lastly, since the user may likely be on a mobile phone, consider providing a phone number in your ad copy.

Things are changing all the time

What happens when mobile searches take over desktop searches? What will mobile devices look like then?

Who knows, but one thng you can never stop doing is thinking, adapting and trying new things.

The ‘dudes are all about new things.