AdWords Adds Top vs. Side Reporting

To help AdWords users get more accurate feedback on how their ads are performing, Google is adding a new data table option that contrasts the statistics for ads appearing on the top of search with those appearing on the side.

The Why and What of Top vs. Side
Average ad position in Google Analytics can sometimes be misleading, because position one on the top has different success than position one on the side. As Google's Chief Economist said, "on average, ads that appear above the search results tend to get substantially more clicks than ads that appear on the right-hand side." This is basically intuitive, but unfortunately, AdWords reporting didn't reflect the reality.

Because all that data was combined into a single heap, there was no way to tell how top and side reporting impacted the success of an ad, or even to know exactly what position you should target. The new reporting method, released July 13, now gives an option to view the separate figures for both top and side placement of ads. You can view all your standard metrics, including impressions, clicks, CTR, conversion rate, and cost for both position blocks.

The search terms and ads also figure into whether Google utilizes a block of ads at the top, so this new set of data also lets users gain insights into what's triggering their specific placement. Adjustments can then be made to optimize the ad itself or keyword targeting to more frequently appear on the top.

Checking Out Top vs. Side Reporting
It's fairly simple to look at this new set of data, but it isn't enabled by default. Here's the brief walkthrough to viewing Top vs Side:

Log into AdWords.
Visit the campaign or sub-section where you want to see the data.
On the top bar, directly to the bottom-right of "Campaigns," you should see a "segment" option. Click on that.
Choose "Top vs Side.
The top and side data will be listed as two separate rows for each item (campaign, ad, etc.), letting you see the differences at a glance. This new reporting feature is available to all AdWords users.

Google Graduates AdWords Tablet Targeting

In a world where increasing numbers of users are accessing the web on the go, mobile targeting is more than sensible: it's mandatory. Refining mobile ad targeting further, Google has graduates their AdWords tablet targeting feature.

Details of Tablet Targeting
We previously discussed tablet targeting when it was first demonstrated and released for testing back in May. Now those features, including all the micro-targeting contained within, are available to any AdWords account user.

To enable tablet targeting for a campaign, or to target a campaign only to tablets, visit the "Networks and Devices" section of the campaign settings. You'll see a new check-box labeled as "Tablets with full browsers." You can select this box exclusively or as part of several targeting options, and can further specify which tablet operating systems and mobile carriers you want to display to through the "Advanced mobile and tablet options" menu.

Users could previously target the iPad as one of several mobile options, but as tablets come into their own, the need for broader support and detailed specifications has become apparent. This feature graduation addresses that.

Further Foreshadowing of the Tablet Empire
Right now the iPad provides about 97 percent of all tablet-based traffic in the U.S., but despite its small market share, Android OS tablets are continuing to sell effectively. That's thanks to the growth of tablets overall; as the Google Mobile Ads blog entry announcing the graduation of tablet targeting tells us, there are "more than 165 million tablets expected to ship over the next two years."

Tablets are largely being used to browse the web, and especially news stories. Reading standard books via tablet has also exploded, leading some to predict the demise of the ereader by 2015. In any case, it's a sure thing that tablet traffic is growing, with tablets acting as the source of as much as 10 percent of all web traffic.

"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," said Surojit Chatterjee, Google's Product Manager of Mobile Ads. This tablet-oriented initiative for advertisements is likely to be just the first of many tablet innovations from Google and the technology industry as a whole.