Updated links added 7/29/11

We’re excited about the growth we’ve seen in tablet usage over the past year, and we’re continuing to improve the user and advertiser experience on tablets with full internet browsers. Today we announced the launch of a refreshed Google Search for tablet users. Now tablet users can experience an optimized version of Google Search designed to maximize the screen real estate of a tablet and be easy to navigate via touch.  
 
In turn, we’ve updated the look and feel of search ads on tablets to customize the experience for tablet users. Aside from the visual changes, the number of ads which show on Google Search will now be dependent on the orientation of a tablet:

• If you enter in a search query when the tablet is in landscape mode, there will be a maximum of two top ads above the search results.
• If your search query occurs when the tablet is held in portrait mode, there will be a maximum of three ads above the search results.
• Similarly to high end mobile devices, there will also be a maximum of three ads at the bottom of search results regardless of tablet orientation. 

All campaigns targeting tablet devices will show on this new tablet-optimized search experience. However, here are some ways in which you can make use of AdWords account features to review and manage tablet ad performance:  

• Earlier this month we introduced the ability to target tablet devices in Campaign Settings, offering greater control over specific tablet device types and the ability to target specific types of tablet users.
• Just as you can segment by Search or Display network traffic, you can now segment by the type of device in your Campaign reports to view traffic and conversions from ‘Tablets with full browsers’.

We hope that this updated tablet search experience will help users continue to find the most relevant information, and advertisers to see improved performance on tablet campaigns. We’re excited for the ways in which tablet devices will help businesses and consumers connect with each other. Learn more about targeting tablet devices here.

Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Product Manager, Mobile Ads 

Do you or your business promote a mobile app on Google Search? You can already drive customers to your app and drive downloads in the iTunes App Store or Android Marketplace via Click-to-download ads, but today we’re making these ads more visually appealing by adding a new feature: application icons. 

   Previous Click to Download format, no icon         New Click to Download format, with app icon.

We’ve improved the existing Click-to-download format by automatically finding and displaying the icon that is registered in the iTunes App Store or the Android Marketplace. The icon gives richer visual information to users, and more clearly indicates the purpose of a Click-to-download ad. This improves the ease by which people can discover and download new mobile apps. A click on the app icon or ad text link will bring users to the download page in the iTunes App Store or the Android Market.

If you are already running Click-to-download ads, you’ll automatically begin to see app icons appear next to your ads on Search. If you’re interested in getting started with Click-to-download ads, learn more here.

Posted by Takashi Sakamoto, Software Engineer, Mobile Ads

Simply Business is the UK’s leading insurance broker for small businesses. With the company’s customer acquisition taking place entirely online, Simply Business faces a challenge. In order to expand their customer base, it’s essential that the company look beyond traditional methods in their highly competitive business-to-business field.

Simply Business explored other avenues that would enable them to acquire new customers, and recorded good results using click-to-call functionality in mobile search advertising. They then decided to give mobile display advertising a try through a one-month trial. Simply Business created a campaign and launched display ads on the AdMob network using click-to-call and click-to-site within their banners.

Through AdMob, Simply Business was able to reach a core audience of business customers, a perfect target group for their products and services. The campaign was tailored to BlackBerry devices and ads were served in AdMob’s news and business channels. These content-based bundles of publisher sites include well-known brands frequented by professionals, such as The Independent, News24 and Aljazeera.

As soon as the campaign went live, the company noticed a sharp rise in calls to the call centre. With their mobile site already tagged with Google Analytics, Simply Business witnessed increases in clickthrough rates of up to 800% compared to previous weeks. The quality of calls and leads surged beyond expectations too.

Off the overwhelming success of their AdMob activity, Simply Business is putting increased emphasis on mobile advertising in the future. They’re currently building a new improved mobile-optimised site based on the findings of the campaign.

In common with plenty of business-to-business enterprises, Simply Business requires advertising that is response-driven. All too often, display advertising is considered a vehicle for branding rather than direct response. But the experience of Simply Business illustrates that mobile display is capable of driving exceptional results in real conversions. Because advertising on the AdMob network uses a cost-per-click model, it’s attractive to performance marketers and in business-to-business, where return on investment is critical.

Learn more about the AdMob activity of Simply Business and how to repeat their success by reading the full case study here.


Posted by Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager, EMEA Mobile Ads

Mobile capabilities launching today -- video coming this Summer

Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Publisher blog

Display advertising is becoming about much more than ads in web browsers. People are watching video, reading newspapers, magazines and books, and listening to digital music at an ever-increasing rate. They’re turning to a plethora of new devices—smartphones, tablets, e-readers and even video game consoles to consume information and browse the web.
 
In order to help growing publishers capture new monetization opportunities from these emerging trends, we’re continuing to evolve DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business to give publishers a complete solution that can deliver ads across all screens and formats—including display advertising on the desktop, video, mobile ad delivery and more.

Today, as part of this effort, we have fully integrated mobile ad trafficking, inventory management, forecasting, reporting and ad serving directly into the core platform you’re familiar with. Later this year, we will be integrating video capabilities into DFP Small Business so you can begin managing and selling your video ad inventory all from a single platform. If you’re a DFP Small Business publisher and are interested in early access to video functionality, please let us know here.

As part of today’s release, you’ll find mobile specific targeting options, creative types, and mobile-optimized ad tags built directly into the workflow you’re familiar with.

Mobile Targeting

In addition to helping publishers sell their mobile ad inventory directly to advertisers, the Google AdSense and AdMob networks are integrated into DFP Small Business to help you fill any mobile ad inventory you haven’t sold directly. These networks allow you to manage all of your mobile inventory, whether it is sold directly or indirectly, so you can fully monetize your mobile web content.

Over the next few weeks we will be enabling all DFP Small Business accounts with these exciting new mobile features. For publishers who require greater levels of customization and an advanced mobile feature set including support for feature phones and richer ad formats, we will be rolling out advanced mobile functionality into the premium version of DFP over the next few months. Contact us to learn more.

We’re committed to helping publishers streamline operations by offering a complete solution to manage, serve, and report across all sales channels, formats, and devices. 


Posted by Marcel Gordon, Product Manager, DoubleClick

It’s time for our sixth post in our Mobile Insights series featuring viewpoints from our Google mobile ads team. This week, our guest contributor is Grace Dolan, Account Executive. Grace shares her insights on how mobile advertising can help boost brand awareness and sales during the Back to School season.

During the summer months, more users turn to mobile devices to shop. Summer is also when the Back to School shopping season begins. This is a perfect opportunity for marketers, especially in retail, consumer electronics, and cable/telecommunications, to get in front of their target customers who are hungry for information to make purchases. Last year we saw a lift of 500% in mobile searches for retail and consumer electronics categories over the summer months. (1)

I experienced the growth in mobile searching personally over this past 4th of July weekend. My brother is in college, he was researching options for a new laptop for school. During a family barbecue, he and my father were on his smartphone, comparing features, prices, and getting opinions from others (photo featured below). My brother was able to interact with everyone during the get together instead of being inside on his computer.

This isn’t just happening at my parents’ house. The Back to School demographic is on mobile devices, often several hours a day, for more than just a phone call or text message. According to Sergio Alvarez, Chief Operating Officer of the interactive marketing agency Ai Media Group, "The Back to School crowd is leading the way with mobile. As mobile phones increase in versatility and power, they have become more like pocket computers than phones. Colleges and institutions are taking advantage of this technology. We consider mobile to be an integral part of our marketing strategy, and we will continue to make it part of all our campaign portfolios.”

As a marketer, how can you maximize Back to School success with the peaked traffic? Here are a few tips:

• Prepare for the massive traffic spikes with appropriate budgets in place.
• Be on top 24/7. Bid to be in “above the fold” positions on Back to School categories. This is essential on mobile.
• Give them incentive. Include Mobile Offer ads to help drive redemption in-store, online or on the phone.
• Be local. Direct customers to your store by adding your location to your ads.

Back to School is a great opportunity to be in front of your target audience, especially if you maximize the potential of mobile marketing. Don’t miss out; visit the mobile ads site today to find out more.


Posted by: Grace Dolan, Account Executive, Google Mobile Ads

Source:
(1) Google Internal Data (2009-2011)

In May we let you know that tablet targeting options would be coming soon.  We are excited to announce that tablet targeting is now available to all advertisers. Tablet targeting is a new AdWords campaign targeting option that allows advertisers more precise control to target tablets and effectively reach the growing number of users of these devices.

You can find the new “Tablets with full browsers” targeting option under the “Networks and Devices” section of your Settings tab within your AdWords account.  While you were able to specifically target Apple iPad devices in the past under “Mobile devices,” the new tablet targeting option elevates the tablet to its own device category and enables you to target your ads to all tablet devices. In addition, the new tablet targeting option provides more granular control as you can also select specific operating systems. For example, to display your ads only on the Apple iPad, you would choose “Tablets with full browsers” as your device targeting setting and “iOS” as your operating system setting. 

With this launch, your ads will automatically start running on tablet devices and no further action will be necessary on your part.  If your campaigns were specifically targeting Apple iPad devices, you may notice an increase in impressions and costs as we include more tablets in our ad serving options. If you don’t want your ads to appear on tablets, you can change your tablet targeting settings by following these step-by-step instructions.

With more than 165 million tablets expected to ship over the next two years, we believe that the strong growth of tablet adoption and usage will provide significant opportunity for marketers to connect with consumers in more powerful and relevant ways. We hope this new tablet targeting option helps you better capture this opportunity.  

Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Product Manager, Mobile Ads

Welcome to the fifth post in our Mobile Insights series featuring viewpoints from our Google mobile ads team. This week, our guest contributor is Matt Dorfman, Account Executive. Matt shares his insights on how mobile advertising in the consumer packaged goods space can make lasting connections with consumers.

Mobile is playing a central role in how customers interact with consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands. According to a recent smartphone study, 79% of users rely on smartphones to help with shopping – 69% for more product information, and another 70% while shopping in the store. (1)
The price-conscious shopper may want to redeem a mobile coupon to save $1 on a tube of toothpaste. Another may want to know the most eco-friendly brand of detergent as they shop in store. Or, the more competitive among us may use their mobile device to win a prize via a promotion for their favorite sports drink.

CPG companies typically rely mainly on brand advertising – often through TV campaigns – to connect with consumers. Mobile, provides new ways for consumers to experience CPG brands and connect with products and offers, yet many CPG marketers are not using mobile to reach consumers – and they are missing out.

Whether someone is looking for offers or trying to find your nearest location, many consumers are searching for you on mobile devices. Google’s research shows that 12% of mobile search queries are related to food and beverage items, and 15% of queries center around home and personal care. So how can CPG marketers mobilize their brands and make sure they stake their claim to the mobile marketing landscape?

Make consumers an offer
First, provide something useful or solve a problem that a customer has. Try couponing on mobile exclusively – and be sure you’re dovetailing with retailers to close the loop. 
 
In December 2010, Adidas offered customers 15% off purchases made in an Adidas store of $75 or more. The mobile Offers Ads campaign doubled in-store coupon redemption and increased the average in-store order value.

Go local
Mobile users are searching for information locally. Now, you can use hyperlocal distance information with location extensions, an enhancement that lets your customers know how close they are to a business. In this case, the business would be a retailer you have partnered with that carries your products. This high-end mobile device feature provides users with down-to-the-block-level detail about a business including address, phone number and location on Google Maps for Mobile.

Just test it!
Run a few mobile-focused campaigns to experiment with mobile advertising. In Q4 2010, Mindshare, Kimberly-Clark’s interactive agency, implemented a comprehensive mobile ad test program honing in on specific brands, devices and keywords. The combination of CPC and click-through rate (CTR) for mobile was 70% better than the same stats on the desktop for the test brand.

Get creative
Think of an experience for consumers that is unique to mobile. To engage Android device users across US, Coca-Cola decided in 2010 to promote a lighthearted holiday live wallpaper app. Says Wendy Clark, Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing for Coca-Cola, “If your plans don’t include mobile, then your plans are not finished.” (2)

We tend to agree. CPG brands need to have a strong mobile strategy, and Google mobile ads can help.


Posted by Matt Dorfman, Account Executive, Mobile Ads


(1) The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users,” a study from Google and conducted by Ipsos OTX, an independent market research firm.
(2) IAB Annual Leadership Meeting 2011

Cross-posted from the Google Conversion Blog

This is the third post in a series on optimising mobile websites for conversions. The previous two posts covered Content Prioritisation and White Space.

In Summary: Buttons rule on mobile devices. The rule of thumb means that big, well spaced buttons with clear calls to action will likely result in more conversions.

Before looking at how buttons can make the mobile user experience better we must first understand the way mobile users navigate. Think about the way you hold your phone. More often than not it’s in just one hand and because your fingers are gripping the phone from behind, you are left only with your thumb for navigation of the screen. The thumb is far less precise than a mouse pointer.

As you can see from this image, fingers are behind the phone leaving the thumb to do all the work

The Mobile Rule of Thumb: If it cannot be done with the thumb, it cannot be done.

The hyperlink is a poor user experience on a touchscreen mobile device because it is very hard to use with an imprecise instrument like the human thumb. If that’s not all, mobile devices are often used by people on the move, so hitting a small point on the screen is just getting harder and harder. The best way to alleviate these issues is to build your links into big buttons which allow for greater levels of inaccuracy.

Here are are a few things to consider when building button links:

Buttons Should be Big
In a recent study of iPad users, Jakob Nielsen, the father of human computer interaction studies, recommends that buttons be at least 1cm x 1cm in diameter. That’s 28px assuming the standard web resolution of 72dpi. There’s a lot of debate around this area.

Apple is recommending 44x44 at a minimum for buttons in apps.

A very interesting introduction to designing for different screen sizes on Android can be found here.

This is something you really need to test when building your site. Without a mouse or even a stylus, buttons need to be big. Put simply, you should build buttons for thumbs. And err towards large thumbs. There is also the issue of light. Many mobile screens perform poorly in daylight or bright light environments – big buttons make it easier to perform tasks while visibility is low.

Buttons Should be Isolated
How many times have you tried to click a button on a mobile device only to find that you have inadvertently clicked something else? It can be a really painful experience and is also a sure-fire way of making a user give up in frustration and go somewhere else. One way to avoid accidental clicks is to ensure that buttons have a little space between them. Call-to-action buttons especially should be isolated. Where possible, leave a little white space around buttons.

Buttons Should be Reachable
The placement of your buttons is also important. Just as we need to consider big thumbs for button size, we need to think about what is comfortable for thumbs when placing buttons. The standard navigation button is across the whole page on mobile sites so it isn’t really an issue but many mobile sites have call-to-action buttons which are shorter and sit on one side of the screen or the other. If possible, these buttons should be made longer and centred more. Not only does that make them larger but it’s easier for both left and right handed people to reach the buttons with their thumb. If you must choose a side of the screen, contrary to the right side placement often found on desktop, it is actually more comfortable for a right-handed thumb (the majority of users) to click a button on the left side of the screen.

Kiddicare found button placement on the left side of the screen was easier for users than the right

Smaller Buttons Should be Padded
Padding refers to making clickable an area larger than the button itself. This can be especially useful for check boxes or buttons that need to be smaller so as not to draw attention away from the main call-to action. The trick is to make the area immediately around the button clickable as well. In the case of check boxes, it is important to leave sufficient space between boxes and then to make the text next to the box clickable too.

Buttons Should Look Like Buttons
This might seem like common sense but it is not unusual to find links on mobile sites which behave like buttons but do not look like them. Whether it is a link that looks the same as the text around it or a button that looks like a heading, the user needs some form of visual cue to help them understand where to click. Make buttons look three dimensional and they are more likely to invite clicks. It is also important that your site clearly indicates to a user which button they have clicked. Some sites do this really well, but others are a little patchy. Touching any part of a button should result in a visual signal for the user.

Why use buttons? Imagine the difficulty of picking the right link in the example above.

So does this mean we can never use hyperlinks? Of course you can. But you should use them minimally and don’t put lots of them into the same space. As a rule, try to have no more than one link per band of text. For example, In the point above about making buttons big enough, I have spread the points with links across multiple lines to make it easier for touchscreen users to tap them on the mobile version of this blog.

Of course when it comes to a mobile site which is trying to convert visitors into customers, try not to have much text.

In summary, buttons on mobile sites should be:

1. Big
2. Isolated
3. Reachable
4. Padded
5. Obvious
6. Prioritised
7. Descriptive

Buttons that have been well thought out and follow the guidelines above should help increase conversions on your mobile website.

Mobile Website Testing Tip: When you are building your mobile site, physically test it while you are in motion to best replicate the real-world user experience.

The next post will be looking at how to make conversions easier to complete on a mobile website. If you have feedback, please leave a comment.

Posted by Shane Cassells, Google Conversion Team