Yahoo! search marketing experts answer your burning questions…
Back in the day, if you faced a dilemma and needed some advice, you could turn to Dear Abby for guidance. Well, we want you to know that if you ever face a search advertising dilemma (or just want a little expert insight) our devoted Yahoo! Search Account Management team is here to listen and help. Below, we enlist one of our AMs to answer a common search advertiser question.
Question:
Dear Search Expert,
What are the current trends for mobile & tablet search, and how can I take these into account when building a mobile campaign in adCenter?
Thanks in advance,
Typed with my thumbs
Answer:
Dear Typed With My Thumbs,
Smartphones and tablets are taking an increasing role in our everyday lives. As more of these devices are sold in the US (Verizon reported that in Q2, 50% of their postpaid customers have smartphones, up from just 37% in Q2 of 2011), the number of people who use them to research online for products or services also increases. For advertisers that aren't already doing so, search advertising is a great opportunity to reach them - wherever they might be.
According to Nielsen, we take these devices with us on our commute to work and even use them to keep us company while watching TV. adCenter gives advertisers the opportunity to break their campaigns and groups up by device type and platform. This allows you to reach smartphone or tablet users on the whole, or single out a specific platform (e.g. iOS) to reach with your ads. Device targeting can be used along with our other targeting options (such as day, time or location) to pinpoint the specific audience you want to reach.
In addition to reaching people on their smartphones, tablets and PCs, adCenter also provides the ability to reach people on feature phones. There are still many people not using smartphones, but who are still using the mobile web from their phone. For advertisers who may not have a site designed for feature phones, adCenter gives you the ability to create call-only ads where someone is able to connect to you over the phone when they click your ad.
search 3
Whether you create ads to target feature phones, smartphones or tablets, here are a few best practices to keep in mind:
- Establish clear campaign goals by device (such as engagement, CTR/traffic or app downloads), and tailor your ad's call to action accordingly.
- Include language in your ad copy that acknowledges that you understand someone is using a specific device, and keep call to actions clear and concise.
- Test sending traffic to device optimized sites, as well as your current PC site, to understand the difference in how people behave. With so much growth in mobile, learnings will need to be continuous.
- Use a combination of high volume and brand specific keywords to ensure exposure to people looking for your company or the product /service you provide.
- When targeting feature phones and smartphones, bid aggressively at first to earn a higher CTR and maximize volume since only a limited number of ads are shown on mobile search.
- Participate across all devices to make sure your message is available to people searching on their phone, table or computer.
I hope this helps!
Luigi Ferguson, Sr. Account Manager
(Luigi is based in our Atlanta office and has been with Yahoo! for over a year.)
Have a search advertising question that's keeping you up at night? Head to our Facebook page and ask away.
---The Team
