Mobile devices were responsible for 49.7% of webpages viewed as of February 2017 with desktop claiming the remaining majority according to Statista research. In 2018, mobile phones alone accounted for 52.2% of all webpages generated worldwide, also noted by Statista research.
This is not to say that desktop traffic is obsolete, but as an advertiser you definitely need to be paying attention to the devices your consumers are using. You could be leaving a significant amount of traffic on the table if you do not consider adjusting your bids based on these devices. Knowing what your consumers are using and converting on will allow you to more specifically cater your ads to certain platforms such as mobile and desktop while also understanding which devices you should be bidding more of your budget on.
What Are Bid Adjustments?
Before we get into device bid adjustments specifically, we should take a quick look at what bid adjustments are as a whole. Bid adjustments are percentage increases or decreases to a bid that allows an advertiser to specify with more control where their ads are and are not shown.
For example, an advertiser may find it worthwhile to more aggressively target a certain city due to an increase in traffic from that area and would thus increase their bids for that location. They also might find that their overall performance is better during lunch time hours when compared to the evening and may choose to schedule their ads more frequently earlier on in the day and increase their bids during those times.
Device Bid Adjustments
Device bid adjustments take the same rationale and apply it to devices such as computers, mobile phones, and tablets. So if over a period of time say 30 days or more, you notice that your ads are getting more clicks and conversions on mobile devices versus computers and tablets, you may want to consider bumping up your bids for mobile devices.
Likewise if you notice that computers tend to have better performance or even tablets, you could increase your bids on those devices. The idea here is to more aggressively target the outlets that are generating the most traffic and conversions. As well you can choose to decrease targeting of certain devices if they are not performing as well as others. A step by step process for adjusting your device bids has been demonstrated below.
How To Adjust Device Bids
1. Click the campaign tab to view all campaigns or select a campaign type on the left if youâd like to make adjustments within a particular campaign type.
2. Select the campaign youâd like to adjust device bids for.
3. Now that youâre inside the campaign youâve selected, click “Devices” on the left menu.
(Note: You can also select an Ad Group and then click âDevicesâ on the left menu tab to adjust bids within the ad group level. The following steps apply)
4. Click the pencil bar that corresponds with the device you would like to adjust bids for. Here I have chosen “Computers”.
5. Enter the percentage amount that you would like to increase bids for on that device and click save. In the example above I have chosen to increase bids on computers 10% which means a $10 bid becomes an $11 bid.
6. (Optional) As well you can choose to decrease bids on a particular device if it is not performing well or youâd like to more specifically focus on other devices. Enter the percentage youâd like to decrease and hit save. In the example above I have chosen to decrease bids on computers by -10% which means that a $10 bid becomes a $9 bid.
(Note: Decreasing a bid by -100% means you will NOT show up for that device.)
After you click save you will see the percentage increase or decrease on your bids for the devices you have chosen to adjust.
This is a very basic way to get started with device bid adjustments. You do not have to go in and make big sweeping adjustments of 30% increases or more to your devices. You can simply start with small incremental changes to see how they affect your overall performance.
Start out by increasing bids on your best performing devices by 5-10% and monitor how they perform over the course of a few months. The more you keep an eye on this data, the more you will start to notice opportunities for growth and improvement.
Take Away
The idea to really take home here is that you should be putting more emphasis on the outlets that are generating the best performance for you. In regards to desktop, mobile and tablet, you should be focusing more of your targeting on the devices that are bringing you the best results performance wise.
This idea is not exclusive to only device bid adjustments. As mentioned earlier, if you notice that certain locations are generating better results than others, target those higher performing locations more aggressively. Run your ads more aggressively during the times of the day they are more likely to convert.
Where and when your consumers are operating is where you want to be as often as possible! Whether thatâs on a smartphone or a laptop, make sure they can find you!
Learn More
If you want to learn more about the importance of understanding which devices your consumers are using, check out Three Signs Mobile Search is Taking the Lead by one of our content creators Ross Eugene. If youâre interested in working with an agency that will focus on your success by creating a marketing plan that targets your consumers and the outlets they use the most, contact the team at Aronson Advertising here today!
