Google Promoting Mobile Ads As Extension Of Desktop AdWords, Requiring Opt Out

Although Google has been testing/running ads on mobile for at least a year, the company is now starting to formally promote mobile to its advertiser base and SEM firms. Here are the FAQs. If AdWords campaigns conform to Google’s mobile ad requirements and limits they will be automatically included in mobile AdWords distribution for free until November 18. On November 19, clicks on mobile AdWords will be charged unless marketers opt out.

Here’s a copy of an email (originally appearing on Mike Blumenthal’s site) that went out today:

We are happy to announce a new feature that will allow you to easily reach additional qualified customers who are searching Google from their mobile phones.

In the next few days, your search ads will be eligible to run on Google Mobile Search pages (like they currently do on Google.com). We are offering this feature – and any resulting clicks – for free through November 18, so you can experiment with the rapidly growing mobile platform while still reaching qualified customers.

Each ad’s eligibility will be determined by its landing page and only ads with landing pages that can be adapted for viewing on mobile browsers will be shown. You can monitor each ad’s performance via a special performance tracking page within your account called “Performance Data: Search Ads on Google Mobile Search.”

Again, you will not be charged for clicks on these ads until November 19, at which time we will begin charging the usual CPC prices. And as always, you may opt-out of this feature at any time.

We hope you find this new feature helpful and profitable, and we urge you to learn more about it at our AdWords Help Center:

http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=72226

Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team

Thus Google is no longer setting up mobile as a separate ad “product.” Rather it’s treating mobile distribution as an extension of Internet AdWords. It’s interesting that Google is making this an opt-out rather than an opt-in for marketers. This may reflect a lack of mobile-specific adoption during the trial period. Both Microsoft (with context ads) and Yahoo have done similar things at points in the past, requiring marketers to opt out of new or under-utilized programs.

Marissa Mayer stated at SES that Google had seen a “surge” in mobile usage this past summer and in mobile Maps in particular after the release of the iPhone.

We’ve got an inquiry in to Google and will update this post after we speak to Google representatives.