Mobile search queries are certainly on the rise, with over 15 billion searches in Google alone this last December, so there remains the challenge of modifying many common tools so that more actionable insights can be drawn on mobile phones. Yes, such insights are drawn from commonly known platforms such as Google Analytics and Google AdWords which allow users to see the before & after affects of features they’ve chosen to implement, however these platforms do not accommodate the growing number of mobile users. For this reason, Google has developed the Ads Data Hub, however we have to consider the effectiveness of this tool since it may not provide for the data transparency needed for businesses to make the types of intelligent business decisions they want.
As mentioned earlier, Ads Data Hub is providing actionable insights on mobile devices for tools like YouTube, and other Google ad platforms such as the Google Display Network and DoubleClick. The information is detailed and specific to advertisers’ businesses, helping them make changes to their strategies which will yield to more growth in the industries which they reside. For purposes of privacy, impression-level data can only be obtained for analysis and generating insights which is safely secured in a Cloud environment, helping advertisers to buy media that better meets their business needs based on the huge amount of data and custom queries that Ads Data Hub provides.
However, the question still remains if this is just Google’s attempt to market a product which will appeal to mobile users looking for insights or if the tool will actually be effective and convenient enough to provide insights that will improve advertisers’ business decisions. For one thing, the tool does not provide impression-level data for privacy reasons and subsequently, advertisers must give third party measurement vendors such as comScore, DoubleVerify, and Integral Ad Science access to the system in order to obtain these insights. So while Ads Data Hub does provide useful insights, there are limitations to the tool which can make it a little less useful for advertisers looking for more detailed information even though it’s accessible on mobile phones.
So is the tool worth it? I think so when you consider the moves Google is making to actually accommodate mobile users who may not necessarily have access to these insights on their phones. And although there are limitations, there are continuously massive movements made by the public to make both Google and Facebook allow for independent measurement tracking, and essentially more data transparency. We cannot assume progress will stop here, and for the time being, advertisers can simply access the information which is currently available to them with Ads Data Hub or merely turn to Analytics and AdWords on their desktop for the information which they believe is lacking. The choice is theirs to make.