With Mobile Outpacing Desktop Search, Google Doubles Down On Smartphone Advertising

In its latest AdWords blog post, Google delves deep into how it's making its advertising platform better for the future, and also gives us an update on what devices people are using to conduct their searches.

From the blog post: "And at these times, consumers are increasingly picking up their smartphones for answers. In fact, more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan."

No one should be surprised that mobile search is big business, but to learn that more people now search on their phones versus their desktop or notebook? If you're an advertiser that hasn't been taking mobile platforms too seriously, this new fact should help inspire you.

In its update, Google says that it's made some major improvements to its AdWords platform over the past year, which includes improved promotional tools, and the monitoring of advertising success when people switch from one device to another, called "cross-device conversions". So, what about the future?

Via a livestream that broadcast to 20,000 people, Google unveiled a great number of AdWords improvements, including of course updated ad-types that can greatly benefit the consumer. One example is with automotive ads; companies can now place ads that shows an image carousel of the vehicle searched for, and even give them quick access to local dealers that could stock it. Hotel and mortgage ads are two other types added that could prove to be a boon to both advertiser and consumer alike.

Google has had an automated bidding mechanic in place for quite some time, but for advertisers, the information provided could lead to a bit of confusion or uncertainty. Google's now taken care of this by introducing a new reporting dashboard that provides more transparency and control. Further, the company has also rolled out significant updates to its Dynamic Search Ads, which includes fetching ad-types based on a category rather than keywords on a page.

It doesn't stop there: Google's refined much of its AdWords platform to make it more effective than ever, so be sure to hit up the link to make sure no little detail is missed.