No MobileFinalUrl for Mobile Preferred Ads?

[Oliver]

In the adwords web interface, and when creating a new text Ad, I see the attached screenshot (ss1) when trying to create an Ad with device preference = All. It allows me to define both the FinalUrl and MobileFinalUrl.

However, when trying to create a mobile preferred Ad, I see only the FinalUrl (see attached ss2). This field gets set to the FinalUrl field and not the MobileFinalUrl (I tested it).

This doesn't make sense. I understand the case when device preference = All (these Ads can run on all devices). However, why can't mobile preferred Ads set MobileFinalUrl?

[Oliver]

sorry... files now attached.

[Anthony Madrigal]

Hello,

When creating a mobile text ad, the finalUrl is implicitly going to be the same as the finalMobileUrl. Mobile text ads will then only have one field for the final Url.

Regards,

Anthony, AdWords API Team

[Oliver]

Not sure I understand your answer?

When I create a mobile text Ad ad set the only final url field shown in the web interface, and then download the AD_PERFORMANCE_REPORT, it has a value for only the FinalUrl. The MobileFinalUrl is blank. This is telling me that the MobileFinalUrl is not set.

Can you please elaborate?

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Oliver,

It appears that if you create a TextAd through the API and set the devicePreference to 30001 (mobile), then AdWords will simply use the finalUrls when serving that ad. The finalMobileUrls value will be saved, but my assumption is that it won't actually be used when devicePreference = 30001.

Since the above is simply based on experiments that Anthony and I ran, I've reached out to the upgraded URLs team for confirmation. I'll send you an update as soon as I hear back from them.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Oliver,

The recommendation from the upgraded URLs team is to set both finalUrls and finalMobileUrls when creating an ad with devicePreference set to 30001 (mobile). When serving ads on mobile devices, AdWords will use the finalMobileUrls if they are set, else it will fall back to the finalUrls. However, the API requires that you set finalUrls if you also want to set finalMobileUrls, so you'll need to populate both fields in this case.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Oliver]

Hi Josh,

Thanks. But that still doesn't answer my original question.

I understand it is recommended to set both final URLs for mobile preferred Ads.  But my question is there is no way to set the Mobile Final URL in the web interface when trying to create a mobile preferred Ad. Please see the screenshot I attached earlier.  

I know it's possible to set the Mobile Final URL programmatically via the API but the way the web interface works raises many questions as to why users can't do the do via the web interface, hence severely limiting this functionality.

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

I realize the user interface doesn't allow you to set the final URLs and this can be a bit confusing, but the end result will be the same on an ad with devicePreference=30001 whether you:

a. Set only finalUrls (as the user interface does) to your mobile final URL

OR

b. Set both finalUrls and finalMobileUrls to the same mobile final URL

Could you elaborate on how this limits functionality? Are you referring to the case where the ad does not have devicePreference=30001? In that case, the user interface and the API will let you set separate final URLs and final mobile URLs, and they'll be used according to the device type of the user when serving ads.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Oliver]

Hi Josh,

Let me give an example to illustrate my point why the web interface is limiting.

Imagine an adgroup with 2 Ads. Both Ads were created as mobile preferred Ads (i.e. the mobile preferred option is checked). In this case (and assuming the mobile bid adjustment is anything but -100%), these 2 Ads will run on all devices (both desktop and mobile devices) i.e. they will behave as if they were both created without the mobile preferred flag checked.

Now, since they will run on all devices, I'd like to define both the finalUrl and the mobileFinalUrl.  However, as you know, creating mobile preferred Ads via the web interface does not allow you to define the mobileFinalUrl. So I now have Ads that run on desktop devices using finalUrl and on mobile devices using also the finalUrl.

The question is why there is a discrepancy in how the web interface works? If it allows us to define finalUrl and mobileFinalUrl for deskptop Ads, why doesn't it let us do the same for mobile preferred Ads? The end result is not the same in this scenario.

Oliver

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Oliver,

For the vast majority of users, they'll only check the mobile preferred flag if they have at least two ads in their ad group: one for desktop, and one for mobile. In the setup you described, there's no real benefit to setting the mobile flag to true, because you're actually expecting the ad to serve to both desktop and mobile users. In that situation, I'd recommend setting the finalUrls field to a desktop-appropriate final URL, and the finalMobileUrls field to a mobile-appropriate URL, and then not set the devicePreference at all.

One point of clarification/correction: earlier I mentioned that the recommendation was to set both finalUrls and finalMobileUrls when creating a mobile-preferred ad via the API. This was incorrect. The correct recommendation is to simply set finalUrls (same as the user interface) in this situation. You can also set the finalMobileUrls and they will be used for mobile impressions, but in the standard use case where a mobile-preferred ad exists alongside non mobile-preferred ads in the same ad group, there's no real benefit to doing this.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Oliver]

Hi Josh,

The scenario I described is not normally what the user sets out to configure from scratch.  It commonly happens when the adgroup starts with having 2 ads, one for desktop and one for mobile, but then the desktop Ad gets paused (for many reasons including budget, ROI, etc.).  When this happens, the remaining mobile Ad starts running on all devices simultaneously (whereas before, it used to run only on mobile).

The adwords user would have liked to have configured the 2 URLs from the beginning so the correct landing page continues to be displayed in circumstances like this.  With the current way the web interface works, that mobile Ad will not work as the marketer expects.

Anyway, I was curious to know if there was a good reason the web interface works as it is, but it seems to me there isn't.

Oliver

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Oliver,

Thanks for the feedback. The motivation behind having the user interface only have the one URL field for mobile preferred ads was simplicity. For the most common use case, if a user is filling out the URLs for a mobile preferred ad, it would be potentially confusing if we prompted for both desktop and mobile URLs. I realize, however, that this decision creates confusion for the less common case you described. I'll pass your feedback along to the team handling the user interface.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team