Is Google Inc (GOOG) Forcing the Mobile Question?

Additionally, some advertisers are concerned that companies that do not have the capacity to manage complex campaigns will be given little option due to the lack of control. If you cannot control where your ads are seen, you are forced to develop smartphone versions of your ads; this places an undue burden on small businesses goes the argument. Search marketing firm iProspect said (link opens PDF): “Advertisers who do not have a smartphone strategy will be forced to come up with one, or leverage the bid multiplier workaround (setting the bid multiplier to negative 100 percent) to opt out of smartphones. Advertisers who don’t take the time to make this adjustment, or are unaware of it, will start serving ads on smartphones unintentionally.”

Still, even the critics finding issue with Google’s move have commented that it will ultimately be good for the search King’s revenues. iProspect went on to say: “This is an example of Google deciding what is best for the advertiser-however, in this case they’re not just opting you into a setting by default, they’re removing the option of opting out or using a workaround. iProspect believes that the increase in the number of advertisers participating in the auction on smartphone searches will lead to increased overall CPCs.”

The bottom line
Ultimately whether or not you think the move is “fair,” it should benefit Google’s revenue and help to close the monetization gap in mobile. Without wanting to sound like a cynic, this is business and even those complaining the loudest are not saying they will abandon Google. Nobody likes having to pay for something they have been getting for free, but faulting Google for capitalizing on the service it is providing hardly seems reasonable. At the bottom line, the move should benefit the company and shareholders, making the stock a buy on the news.

The article Is Google Forcing the Mobile Question? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Doug Ehrman.

Fool contributor Doug Ehrman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google.

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