Paid search managers, what seemed like the entire gamut of marketers who has ever used AdWords and even clients have been hyping the coming of Google’s Enhanced Campaigns in AdWords for close to half a year. The hype was so dramatic there seemed to be pending a zombie apocalypse.
Bloggers, speakers and tweeters alike have been heralding the changes, how to prepare, and what to expect in the post-apocalyptic world. Like many sign holders and the beginning of every Plants Vs. Zombies game, everyone shouted, “They’re coming!”
“You will need axes, call extensions, water purifiers, mobile bid adjustments, a field guide of edible plants, ad group-level site links, and really comfortable running shoes.”
The dreaded launch day of Enhanced Campaigns, dubbed E-Day by some, recently came and went. Gruesome self-contradicting monsters are rampant with half a face showing higher CPCs and the other half, looking like Google, saying CPCs are going down. What? Attack that thing with a chainsaw and move on; one person’s experience may be very different from another’s.
Enhanced Campaigns Didn’t Change Your Goals
Every PPC manager is results-oriented and — argue this all you want, but check this out — the “new” changes still allow you to be results-oriented. Best practices are still best practices. Targeting still matters a hell of a lot, mobile is on your radar when it should have been already, and you are still free to find efficiency that allows you to scale.
Sure, some of my clients have seen CPCs go up, yet others have seen them go down. You know what’s consistent? Results. I made sure every client was bitten by, or at least exposed to, Enhanced Campaigns well before E-Day. I’ve seen them struggle with the internal changes, yet the results for both my clients and me have been positive.
If you run PPC or have simply read about Enhanced Campaigns, you know the changes, how to implement them and what people are telling you to expect. I hope to God you have actively adjusted everything to fit your clients’ needs and are not being ship wrecked. Of course, if you are, and we will help you out.
If there is one thing I hope we can all agree upon now that E-Day has past, I hope it’s this: they are only called campaigns, no longer Enhanced Campaigns. Stop referring to anything campaign as Enhanced; the campaign structure and settings are commonplace and standardized. Knock it off.
After all of the hype, now that the dust has settled, the conclusion I’ve made is that the Enhanced Campaigns zombie apocalypse was about as climactic as Y2K. If you have other thoughts on the transition, let me know in the comments!
