By: Andrew Booth

The number of smartphone users...

continues to increase at a dramatic rate.  As this trend continues, people need to get smarter about how they are advertising online. Nielsen just reported that a recent survey of mobile users showed 43 percent of Americans with mobile phones are using smartphones.  

At BKV, we typically see up to 20% of a client’s PPC traffic coming from mobile devices. Luckily for us, Google continues to recognize this trend by creating features, reports, and best practices for mobile advertising in AdWords. Below are 3 things you need to be doing to get the most out of your mobile traffic.

Separate Mobile Campaigns

If your current advertiser hasn’t created mobile campaigns in AdWords that are separate from your main campaigns, they are doing it wrong!  The competitive landscape on mobile is completely different than on desktop. In most cases, there is much less competition on mobile search, which can result in a lower average cost-per click. In addition, the actual listings are different as well.

Just this morning, a desktop search for “dog houses” gave me 14 sponsored listings. That same search on my iPhone returned just 5 listings, with 3 of those being at the very bottom of the page. Having mobile and desktop search in separate campaigns allows you to establish unique keyword bids for the very different environments in which these devices operate. Google has shown that having separate mobile campaigns can deliver a nearly 30% increase in mobile clicks. In addition to the ability to tailor your bids to the device, separate campaigns also allow you to take full advantage of Google’s Ad Extensions.

Mobile Ad Extensions

Depending on your industry, direct phone calls from potential customers are generally much more valuable than sending users to your landing page. Before Google created call extensions, an advertiser had to use up valuable space to display a phone number in their ad. Those days are over! Using call extensions, you can now show a clickable phone number in your search ad. This phone number is in addition to the 70-character limit in a Google text ad, and when that number gets clicked, you get charged the same as if the user clicked-through to the landing page. Google has shown that mobile ads using call extensions have seen 6%-8% higher average click-through rates than without!

If your business has physical locations, you can use location extensions to get the most out of mobile search. Google will display the address of the location closest to the mobile searcher, allowing the user to click on that address and view the location on a map. Google even uses what they call Hyperlocal ads on mobile, which tells the searcher how far away they are from that location.

Sitelink extensions for mobile are another great way for your ad to stand out. The advertiser selects pages within the website that would be most valuable to the user, and Google displays these links in your ad. This gives the user a quick way to navigate to the page they’re most interested in within your mobile site. Google has shown that including sitelinks in your mobile campaign can increase your click-through rates by 30%.

PPC Mobile Website

Before we get to mobile websites, let’s talk about websites in general. PPC traffic should always be going to a website that was designed specifically to convert paid traffic into a lead/sale/signup, etc. You’re paying for traffic for a reason, and often your main site can distract the user from the action you want them to take.

Having a website designed specifically for paid traffic allows us to create an experience for the user that is focused solely on getting them to take the action you want them to take. It also gives us a lot more freedom to test different elements of the website to increase your conversion rate.

Take a look at the screenshots above.  Both of these are BKV’s website accessed from my iPhone, but the one on the bottom was specifically designed for mobile devices. It’s pretty clear that the mobile site is much easier to navigate and read on my mobile device compared to the main site. A clickable link at the top right will even dial our office for you!

The point of a mobile site is to make it very easy for your users to get the information they need and to complete the goal that you intend for them. Simply put: sending your mobile paid traffic to a mobile version of your PPC site can double your conversion rate.

About BKV
Established in 1981, BKV is a direct marketing and interactive agency specializing in helping marketers meet business goals with strategies that generate leads, convert those leads into sales and finally, into established and loyal relationships. The company uses a combination of traditional and digital media along with high performance creative and strategies that ensure we're driving response while measurably growing clients’ brands and sales. With offices in Atlanta and Kansas City, BKV serves local, national and international clients and is a member of the ICOM Agency Network, a professional association of marketing and advertising agencies from all over the world. Want more information? Visit BKV.com or