Google has spent the last few years tweaking its search engine for mobile screens. Now it is trying to get advertisers to join in.
On Tuesday, at its annual AdWords conference, the company was expected to introduce several new ways to buy, display and track ads on mobile devices that are quickly becoming the dominant computing device.
From picture-centric car ads to new ways to target consumers who are in close proximity to stores, restaurants and other brick-and-mortar outlets, the moves amount to a significant overhaul of the company’s search ads, which continue to account for a majority of Google’s revenue, according to analysts.
Google became one of the world’s largest corporations by selling ads next to searches, allowing advertisers to find consumers when they were thinking about buying a camera or booking a vacation to Tahiti. But much of that activity has shifted to mobile phones, a move that has eroded the company’s market share because people spend most of their time in mobile applications instead of the web.
One big difference between mobile and desktop computers is that it can be awkward to click on things. And people start searching when they are closer to making an actual purchase.
“We see people searching for plane tickets in airports, looking for reviews in stores and getting auto insurance at car dealerships,” said Jerry Dischler, a Google vice president who works in AdWords. “The user has this instantaneous need, and we have to be there with a great experience.”
Chief among these are two new ad formats — one for hotels, another for cars — that try to eliminate many of those research clicks by aggregating lots of product data into one place. Google’s new Automobile Ads, for instance, has a carousel of images that contain information like the horsepower or average gas mileage. Hotel Ads includes prices from several sources along with aggregated reviews and maps of a nearby location, and the ability to book a room through the ad.
In a little under a decade, mobile phones have completely upended how people shop, search and consume media. In several countries, including the United States, people do more searches on mobile than on desktop or laptop computers, according to Google. Last week, at an event for advertisers in New York, Susan Wojcicki, chief executive of YouTube, said the video service reached more 18- to 49-year-olds on mobile phones than any cable network did on television.
Despite that, many big advertisers remain hesitant to shift ad dollars to digital from TV. Google has tried to counter this by giving new tools to drive sales and measure their impact, such as local ads that aim to push consumers to brick-and-mortars stores at the exact moment they are looking to buy something.
For example, a person searching on their phone for “umbrellas nearby” during an unexpected downpour would see an ad for a local store that sells them. And with new data from Google, the advertiser would then be able to determine whether its ad resulted in a sale.
“Half of the people who do local searches on their smartphones visit a store within a day,” said Mr. Dischler. “What we’re really seeing on mobile is it’s not just this cross-device value, but there’s a lot of offline value.”
Google also announced that it was expanding its Google Compare auto insurance comparison-shopping site to several new states, including Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Previously, the service was only available in California in the United States. The company said it was also adding mortgages to Google Compare in the United States, but did not announce when or in which states.