Mountain View, California — Everything in today’s most engaged environment occurs in real time, even ad management. To ease task Google has just rolled out its AdWords for Mobile applications allowing advertisers and agencies the option of managing their accounts on the go from the iPhone, Android and Palm Pre devices.
Many AdWords clients have requested with Google for such a mobile feature. Google, sure to please its cash cow, could not keep them waiting for long. AdWords mobile is designed to streamline your experience for on the go access to your account, with key alerts and statistics as well as a facility to make quick changes to your AdWords settings even while on the move.
Although, users would not be able to access the full suite of core AdWords functions — forget about starting a new campaign or adding keywords from your phone — but they will have the ability to control some of the core AdWords functions, such as changing bid prices, ending campaigns, deleting keywords, and customize the feedback they obtain from certain sectors of their account.
“AdWords for mobile works fittingly when you customize your experience,” says Miles Johnson of Google’s Inside AdWords crew. “Before using the mobile website, you should log in from your desktop computer and choose the parts of your account that you want to monitor closely. Set up custom alerts for key account events (like when your campaign reaches 90% of your daily budget, or when your traffic drops substantially compared to the previous week), and saved filters to flag your most important keywords and campaigns. You will then see these filters and alerts on your AdWords for mobile home screen.”
Furthermore, the mobile app also contains a link that enables you to switch to the desktop interface of your AdWords account in case you need to do major edits to other parts of your AdWords account.
“It is simply the real-time quality of the channel,” said Matt Strain, principal at search shop Trademark Interactive, who has tested the mobile version. “It allows us to see and adjust any fluctuations outside of the norm.”
The new capabilities have been unveiled after advertisers requested mobile access, according to a Google spokesperson. Google in 2008 created the Adwords Advisory Council, a group of agency and advertiser representatives that gave feedback to Google on changes to the user interface of AdWords. One bit of feedback included, per Google: cut down on horizontal scrolling.
“We devised AdWords for mobile to help you quickly access the essentials in your account, so we have focused on letting you view and make basic edits to campaigns and keywords through the mobile application,” adds Johnson. “If you need access to the other parts of your account, like ads or campaign settings, you can switch to the desktop version of AdWords through a link at the bottom of the screen.”
In short, AdWords for mobile will serve you in better administering your AdWords account and you will no more have excuses to say that you failed to make some changes since you are on the move.
While a select group of phones will automatically default to AdWords, most will be phased in over the coming weeks. During launch, Google is supporting users with iPhone, Android and Palm devices. It would not work with BlackBerry, however.
More advertisers in more languages will get the feature in the coming weeks. If you are impatient to start tracking statistics immediately, just direct your cellular to http://adwords.google.com/dashboard/Dashboard.