Today at BIA/Kelsey’s Leading in Local Conference, Google Channel Sales Bus Dev lead Kesh Patel uncovered several aspects of Google’s local efforts. Besides his former life as a 7-11 franchisee (before it burned down), and his first Google role to filter adult content, Enhanced Campaigns stole the show.

This was quite appropriate, as the recent Google move (see our posts here and here) has the search world buzzing, and was the most prominent theme that emerged at the conference. It was especially a big topic in my mobile forum and Andrew Shotland’s search panel.

Patel characterized Enhanced Campaigns as the latest step in a continued evolution since AdWords’ birth ten years ago. Back then, the touch point was more or less singular (desktop) and contextual differences in location, device and daypart weren’t as relevant as in today’s multiscreen world.

“This is basically the largest [AdWords] overhaul since its inception,” he said. “It’s been ‘re-imagined’ for many screens, making ads simpler in the contextual world we live in today, yet providing the right reporting and platform to work with.”

He went on to describe the three main tenets of Enhanced Campaigns.

1. Ad Placement: This includes focusing ad dollars on the context that matters, including time of day, proximity, and type of device.

“A user half a mile from business might be more important than one who isn’t,” said Patel. “We want to allow users to move levers around so that context is important and accessible.

2. Ad Copy: What the ad says is almost as important as where it shows up. A mobile search for pizza in the middle of the day should compel a different ad than a late PM search from home. The context is different, even if the search term is the same. One should see messaging to get pizza nearby (think maps and/or promo), while the other might be more receptive to delivery (think click-to-call).

“Enhanced Campaigns will allow bidding structure and messaging for these contextual situations to be more consistent and automated,” said Patel.

3. Reporting: Joining the advancements in where an ad shows up and what it says are the corresponding tools to measure their impact.

“Measuring app downloads, offers, and click-to-call, will be unified in the product,” said Patel. “We have 27 million click-to-calls per month. When you tie that in with local extensions, it’s causing a 6 to 8 percent lift in CTR.”