Unified Device Targeting (UDT), the latest upgrade from Bing Ads, allows marketers to target smartphones by default, in addition to tablets and desktop.
This enhancement follows October’s tablet-related device-targeting changes. Starting today, smartphone targeting will be automatically tacked on to any PC- and tablet-only campaigns, aligning Bing Ads with Google AdWords. With the streamlined targeting approach, Bing’s goal is to simplify things for its advertisers.
During migration, Bing Ads won’t change quality scores, though they may change anyway due to the automatic targeting naturally resulting in an increase in competition. Bids and adjustments will also remain unchanged.
A smartphone ad with a bid of $1 and a modifier of more than 50 percent will be imported the same way. Because tablet conversions are generally within 15 to 20 percent of those of PCs and laptops, -100 percent bid adjustments are not available for tablet traffic. However, bid modifiers for smartphones are available from 300 percent down to -100 percent, which means smartphone ads can be omitted from a campaign. On the flip side, ads can be set at “mobile-preferred.”
Though UDT doesn’t have any required actions, Microsoft recommends that advertisers combine campaigns with overlapping keywords. Now, separate campaigns with duplicate keywords – for example, “fresh roses” and “freshest roses” – will compete against each other, potentially raising the maximum bid. In the event that happens, ads still won’t double serve.