WiFi and Operating System Targeting Gives a Boost to Mobile PPC

In mid-January, Google announced on its mobile ads blog that new targeting options would become available for mobile advertisers. These two new features allow advertisers to:

1. specifically target users who are performing searches within a WiFi network, and
2. target mobile devices using a specific operating system (OS) like Apple’s iOS, Android, or webOS

If you are new to the idea of taking your pay-per-click (PPC) mobile, it might be best to re-read why a mobile strategy is critical for success and some of the results that made mobile one of the Top 5 PPC Strategies in 2011.

These new targeting options offer some exciting opportunities, namely:

• WiFi connection is better suited for high bandwidth features like videos, images, etc.
• WiFi is ideal for guests who would be visiting a mobile booking engine

  Under Networks and Devices, the advanced options now offer WiFi targeting

• Mobile operating system: specifically relevant for applications that might only be available for a certain OS (i.e. through Apple’s App Store)

  The advanced options also allow advertisers to select the operating system

  In addition to OS, advertisers can also choose to target specific versions

Along with these changes, some predictions can also be made:

• As the strongest signal, WiFi is the obvious choice to start targeting connection speeds. Beyond WiFi, we might also see targeting options for other connection speeds (i.e. 3G, 4G LTE, etc.) or possibly the exclusion of slower connection speeds
• This will allow more high bandwidth content (i.e. videos, images, etc. to be included on mobile landing pages within a WiFi range)
• As with any new targeting, early adopters will get the benefit of increased ad relevancy and potentially lower costs
• Bing’s AdCenter and Facebook Ads will probably be expanding their targeting to incorporate these targeting options as well in the near future
• The two targeting options are currently only available in select countries, but will most likely be rolled out for all countries in the near future

The next steps will involve testing these new targeting setting with a combination of keywords, ad copy, and mobile landing pages to analyze how they can best be applied to increase the likelihood of conversion and revenue.

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*Contributed by Jonas Pauliukonis, Sr. eStrategist