Even with enhanced campaigns, Google is still dealing with dropping CPCs.
The decrease in the average cost-per-click paid by our advertisers was driven by various factors, such as the general strengthening of the U.S. dollar compared to certain foreign currencies (primarily the Euro), the revenue shift mix between Google websites and Google Network Members’ websites, the changes in platform mix due to traffic growth in mobile devices, where the average cost-per-click is typically lower compared to desktop computers and tablets, and the changes in geographical mix due to traffic growth in emerging markets, where the average cost-per-click is typically lower compared to more mature markets.
Though they have pointed at a number of causes, the one that those pesky SEC people seem to keep on coming back to are mobile phones. Specifically ads on mobile phones. Unfortunately requests for detailed information on the impact of mobile on average cost per click across all of Google are still being rebuffed. All those numbers and mobile device classifications sound confusing, and the last thing you want is for someone get the wrong idea and come up with their own conclusions from a bunch of figures.