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August 27, 2008

AdWords Report Center Will Remove Older Reports September 2

Google AdWords will remove older reports from its Report Center beginning September 2. Reports that are 6 months old or older, or before March 2, 2008, will be removed.

The data will not be removed, just the reports.

Until September 2, you can export these reports to Google Spreadsheets or .CSV files, Excel, HTML or another format.

Expect the purging of 6 month old or older reports to happen periodically going forward.

via Inside AdWords

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 22, 2008

Implications of Google's AdWord Changes

Google quietly announced the changes to AdWords on Thursday through their blog. Last day of Search Engine Strategies conference may have been a strategy in itself.

I had not heard of this during the conference - though it was a hectic one to say the least.

But from what I have read, Google is about to turn back on all inactive keywords - that is a lot of accounts that will suddenly see a spike in spend. So long as the bids are low enough it may not be too big of an impact - but if the rest of the words in the account have a high default bid it could be creating some major spends.

Add to that that we are now seeing bids required to occupy front page positions, it sounds like a push to the former Overture bidding system - is being attempted.

Google has become a lot more aggressive in its promoting of its products. The new Ad Placement tab was a major effort to reignite interest in the content network. Is this an attempt to ignite bidding on the main paid search listings?

We need to make sure we are not going through another let the customers paying for our tweaking of minimum bids. Now that many people leave terms that have gone inactive still in their groups, this turn on could net Google a nice spike in income.

Add that to the spike in CPCs when bidding for front page takes off and I think the shares I have in Google will be going up a little in the near future.

Posted by Frank Watson at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Google to Roll Out AdWords Quality Score Improvements

The team at Google AdWords has announced that they will be rolling out improvements to Quality Score in the coming weeks. There are three major improvements to expect:

Quality Score will now be more accurate because it will be calculated at the time of each search query
Keywords will no longer be marked 'inactive for search'
'First page bid' will replace 'minimum bid' in your account

Google gave an example of how the improvements all work together:

Nancy's Dairy advertises on the keyword 'milk.' Nancy's ads perform better on the keyword 'milk' in the U.S. than in Canada. Her ads also perform better on the query 'milk delivery' than on 'milk,' and better on certain search network sites than on others. Instead of one static Quality Score and minimum bid that determines whether the keyword 'milk' is eligible to trigger an ad for all search queries, we will now determine eligibility dynamically, based on factors such as location, the specific query, and other relevance factors. For that reason, Nancy's keyword 'milk' will be able to trigger an ad for search queries where it's likely to perform better, i.e., in the U.S., on 'milk delivery' and on certain search network sites.

The updates will be rolled out to a few users in the coming days before they're rolled out to everyone. Also, Google is hoping to update AdWords Editor and the AdWords API to support first page bidding, but for now, it still just supports minimum bidding.

What do you think of the announced improvements? Give us your reaction in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 21, 2008

AdWords Editor Update Launches Performance Statistics Download

Just over a month after releasing Adwords Editor 6.0, the team at Google AdWords has released a new update. The update launches a highly requested feature: the ability to download performance statistics. If you have AdWords Editor, you should be prompted automatically to download the new update, Version 6.0.1.

The update will not affect comments or unposted changes. Because of this, Google says:

You don't need to export an archive of your account. In the auto-update prompt, choose the 'Update without Backup' option.
After you upgrade, your account will already be in the new version. You won't need to download your account again.

What do you think of this update? Give your opinion in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 18, 2008

Auto-tagging Adwords and URL Redirects: Please Pass the Gclid

To pass the gclid or not to pass the gclid, that is the question. At least, if you're trying to tag your AdWords URLs in Google Analtyics it is. On the Google Analytics blog, they're talking about using auto-tagging in Adwords in order to facilitate easy viewing of info in Analytics. But problems may arise if you've got some URL redirecting going on.

Basically, auto-tagging inserts a little snippet of code into destination URLs. But if you have several redirects, the snippet could get stripped. That snippet is "gclid." What happens if the gclid gets snipped?

While Google Analytics still records the visit and the subsequent user activity, it doesn't have the information necessary to properly attribute the visit to your Google ad. As a result, some of this traffic will be included in the "direct" category while other visits may show up as "not set". Furthermore, your Adwords Campaigns report in Google Analytics may show cost metrics, but your visits columns may show zeros.

If this is happening to you, you have two options.

Ask your site administrator to configure their servers to pass the glid
Manually tag your Adwords

So how do you figure out if you're passing the gclid? Follow these steps:

Scenario 1 If your destination URL has no query parameters and looks something like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/:

1. Paste this URL in your browser's address bar, but before you press Enter, append "?gclid=test" to the end, like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?gclid=test.

2. Now press Enter.

3. If the gclid is present on the final landing page URL, you're golden.

Scenario 2 If your destination URL already has query parameters and looks something like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?param=a¶m2=b:

1. Paste this URL in your browser's address bar and before pressing Enter, append "&gclid=test" to the end, like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?param=a¶m2=b&gclid=test.

(This is why the "?" and the "&" distinction were important to note earlier. It's a matter of URL syntax. Luckily, auto-tagging knows the difference.)

2. Press Enter.

3. If the gclid is still there, you're in good shape, and need only to enable auto-tagging.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 16, 2008

Google to Hold Ad Planner Webinars

Google recently announced Ad Planner, its new media measurement tool. The tool is designed to help media buyers in their ad campaign spend planning. Though the tool is currently in private-beta, anyone is welcome to attend two upcoming webinars introducing the tool. Both webinars are free of charge. You must register to attend, so check out the links and info below:

July 16, 2008 (TODAY!)

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm EST Register Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239 Registration password: agency1 Event number: 573 433 113 Event password: planner1

July 18, 2008 (Friday)

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm EST Register Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239 Registration password: agency1 Event number: 577 712 627 Event password: planner2

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Google's Path to Domination

And you may ask yourself, 'how did we get here?' Today's search landscape is a result of Yahoo trying to integrate large acquisitions too fast, while Google focused on core disciplines, small complimentary acquisitions, and smart build-outs. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Google's Path to Domination," Kevin Ryan points out that today, Microsoft is trying to do the same thing Yahoo failed at five years ago. Think it'll work this time?

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

SEW Experts: Bernstein Research Predicts the Future of Paid Search

In a full-blown recession, what's the future of paid search? In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "Bernstein Research Predicts the Future of Paid Search," Kevin Heisler looks at a new study from Sanford C Bernstein's research arm that's a virtual crystal ball into Google and search engine marketing.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 9, 2008

AdWords Keyword Tool Now Shows Numerical Data

If you hear loud shouts of exuberance coming from your SEM department (or consultant), that's because keyword research just got a whole lot easier. I'm super-excited to report that Google announced that it has officially added numerical data to its AdWords Keyword Tool. Now instead of staring at green bars, hoping to decipher how much of a difference there is between keywords, you have a ballpark figure. Tests of numbers in Keyword Tool were being seen as early as March 2007.

Here's a screenshot.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

July 7, 2008

Does Google Analytics Share Data with Google Trends and Ad Planner?

Google is assuring users of its Analytics product that their data is protected. Apparently, the recent announcements of Google Trends for Websites and Google Ad Planner had some web site owners concerned about how much data sharing was going on among the various offerings.

Brett Crosby from the Google Analytics team went to the blog to allay fears:

Google Analytics doesn't share individual, site-level information with Google Trends for Websites or Google Ad Planner. These products gather data from multiple sources, then check the data against anonymous, aggregate, industry benchmarking data within Google Analytics. This helps Google Trends for Websites and Google Ad Planner calibrate category data and correct for under- or over-reporting in certain verticals. The benchmarking data comes from Google Analytics customers who've chosen to share their data in aggregate.

This isn't the first time fears over data collected by Google Analytics have popped up. But not everyone is worried.

When I spoke with Crosby last month, he told me that for every person who expresses fears over data collection in Analytics, there is another who wants to know why more isn't being done with the data. He told me that Analytics works hard to strike a balance for people of both viewpoints, allowing those who want to share in the hopes of developing deep integrations with other Google products the ability to do so.

Of course, there's only so far you can take integration. Google Analytics does not affect a site's rankings in Google's search results.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

July 1, 2008

Google Nixes AdSense Referrals, AdWords PPA; Rebrands DoubleClick Performics

Google has a slew of announcements about its advertising products, including AdSense, AdWords, and DoubleClick.

First up, AdSense is no longer accepting referrals. They're advising users to remove the code from their sites, but to save the data collected through the referrals. Meanwhile, AdWords is phasing out the AdWords Pay-Per-Action program. Both programs have the last week of August as the expiration date.

Users of AdSense Referrals and AdWords PPA are being pointed to the Google Affiliate Network, formerly known as DoubleClick Performics. Performics was previously both an affiliate network and a search marketing company. Google divested itself of the Performics search marketing business for the obvious conflict of interest. The affiliate portion of the business is what is being rebranded.

Advertisers will be able to set CPAs for campaigns or design custom payments to affiliates. Publishers must apply and be accepted to the program, similar to the application for Adsense.

Finally, while the three remain separate programs for now, an integration could be in the future. Trevor Claiborne, writing on the Inside AdWords blog, "The Inside Adwords blog The Google Affiliate Network is currently a separate product from AdWords and AdSense." (emphasis mine) That sounds like a hint of things to come, don't you think?

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 25, 2008

SEW Experts: Yahoo's Suicide Pact with Google

Who cares if Yahoo outsources its search advertising to Google? You should. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Yahoo's Suicide Pact with Google," Kevin Ryan asks, 'On what planet is having only one place to buy anything a good thing for competitive pricing?'

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 24, 2008

Google Officially Introduces Ad Planner

Earlier today, we brought you news of Google's new media measurement tool. The official announcement has been published on the Inside Adwords blog. The new tool will be called Ad Planner (yes, there is a space between the two words), and is in a private, invitation-only beta. You can request an invitation, if you're interested.

Ad Planner was developed for media planners in the hopes of creating a better connection between advertisers and publishers. Here's how it works: Media planners enter their target audience demographics as well as sites that their audience already visits. Ad Planner will use the data to determine what other sites the target audience is visiting. The list of sites will include those on and off the Google Content Network.

The data can then be used to create plans, which can be exported via CSV. You can also export data to DoubleClick's MediaVisor, another media planning platform. Google completed its acquisition of DoubleClick earlier this year.

Here's what the Ad Planner platform will look like:

What do you think of Ad Planner? Will you request an invitation? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Conversion Optimizer Now Supported by Adwords Editor and API

Google's Conversion Optimizer was released in January and was designed to streamline the AdWords bidding process. Now, Google has announced that the tool is supported by AdWords Editor and Adwords API.

In order to use Conversion Optimizer, you must have AdWords Conversion Tracking enabled and have accrued 200 conversions over the past 30 days. Conversion Optimizer uses several factors to determine an optimal CPC bid based on the maximum CPA set by the user. Factors include broad matching, content network or search partner site where an ad is displayed, and where the user is located.

Writing on the Inside AdWords blog, Trevor Claiborne explained, "The keyword "flowers" may have a 2% conversion rate while the keyword 'roses delivery' may have a 7% conversion rate. That doesn't mean that you don't want any clicks on 'flowers,' but you probably wouldn't want to spend as much on that keyword as you might be willing to spend for clicks on 'roses delivery' The Conversion Optimizer uses information like this to adjust your bids based on how valuable each click is for you."

What do you think about Conversion Optimizer being supported by AdWords Editor and API? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 19, 2008

Quality Score Now Affected by Landing Page Load Time

Google warned us this would happen and beginning today, landing page load times will affect Adwords Quality Score. The reason behind the change is something that Google often touts: it's what's best for the user. Google argues that faster load times are better for users, so pages that load faster will be rewarded accordingly.

In May, the Adwords team launched a load time metric to help you evaluate your pages.

And you might be surprised what you can do to improve your load times - and increase your conversions. Recently, the Website Optimizer team suggested testing best practices. They gave an example of a page that removed an image of a customer service rep. Best practices said leave the picture up, but the tests showed conversions increased by leaving the picture out. Of course, images generally increase load times.

Before you do any drastic changes to your pages so they'll load faster, testing your new page can help you know whether or not your changes will convert.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2008

Google's Greenberger Ties Obama, McCain Victories to Adwords Spend

More than any previous election, search advertising will influence the vote of the presidential election. Google, in its ever-present planning for the future, planned for this shift when it employed Peter Greenberger as part of its sales team. Greenberger's job is to convince candidates that advertising on Google search is essential to political success. Recently, ClickZ's Kate Kaye interviewed Greenberger for his insights into the 2008 election.

Reading Greenberger's statements, you get the idea that spending on search ads will make or break the election. He attributes the success of John McCain and Barack Obama to their paid search campaigns. Greenberger also points out that Hillary Clinton was inconsistent in her Adwords campaign, dismantling it for the last two quarters of 2007 and starting it up again only after the New Hampshire primary.

Of course, polls during those times showed Clinton with a substantial lead. It wasn't until after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries that a tight race was clear. Some political analysts have suggested that the ultimate difference between Clinton and Obama was that Clinton's campaign was focused on a top-down strategy while Obama's strategy was more grassroots, building from the ground up. Looking at campaign strategies in that light, it makes sense that Obama would engage a response-directed campaign. But Greenberger's job is to persuade the candidates that Adwords is the chicken and not the egg.

Greenberger also talked about how Obama used geotargeting during the Texas primary and how John McCain is ahead of the game in the use of video ads. Read the full interview with Google's political ad guy, Peter Greenberger, over at ClickZ

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

June 6, 2008

Google Launches Adwords Editor 6.0

Google has announced the launch of Adwords Editor Version 6.0. According to the Adwords Agency blog, here are the new features:

New bulk editing tools: Spell check, append text, and drag and drop ad groups within the tree view.
Account statistics features: Export performance statistics to CSV, update minimum CPC bids, and experience improved downloading of account performance data.
Compatibility with AdWords features: Version 6.0 now supports CPC placement targeting and certain functions with Conversion Optimizer campaigns.

Kerrie Lenhart, Product Specialist Team, writing on the Adwords Agency blog, reminded users to export an archive of current accounts before upgrading. Once installed, simply import the archive file.

What do you think the upgrades? Have you given Version 6.0 a spin yet? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 19, 2008

SEW Experts: Placement-Targeted Campaigns: Taming the Beast

Having trouble with Google AdWords placement-targeted campaigns? In today's Content Advertising column, "Placement-Targeted Campaigns: Taming the Beast," David Szetela shares the secrets of getting those stalled campaigns off the ground, churning out conversions like the best search campaigns.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 14, 2008

Advertisers Can't Sell Hard Liquor But Google Can

Google AdWords has a strict no advertising rule for hard liquor, as they call it. You will not find ads for terms like rum, gin or vodka. Well... vodka searches now add a twist. Google has started to promote their vodka sellers with the top entry.

Before you get to the search results, there is a Google Checkout listing promoting various vodka sellers. Now that does seem like they are contradicting their own rules.

One hopes this was an oversight, since there are none for rum or gin as yet. Maybe vodka is just such a good Checkout seller that it has reached some number where it automatically gets the Checkout promo?

Hopefully someone at Google will publicly address this one. Right now, I would guess every vodka seller is signing up for a Google Checkout account. Not a bad mistake to make, if it generates new shopping cart customers.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

SEW Experts: Google's Superiority Complex

In the end, is Google's search advertising system better than Yahoo's, or are they just monetizing better? In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Google's Superiority Complex," Kevin Ryan says it sounds like a little bit of both, but we shouldn't count Yahoo out.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Editor a Great Tool for Content -- and for Yahoo/Microsoft!

Time is money, and these two tips will free up many moneymaking hours for you. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Editor a Great Tool for Content -- and for Yahoo/Microsoft!," David Szetela explains how Google has created a tool that will increase ad revenue for itself, but for Yahoo and Microsoft as well.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 9, 2008

Google Adwords Launches Landing Page Load Time on Keyword Analysis Page

Recently, Google announced that landing page load time will become a factor in determining quality score for Adwords. Today, they have launched a landing page load time metric for Adwords users.

The metric can be found on the Keyword Analysis page.

The load time factor will begin affecting Quality Score in mid-June. Need help improving your landing page load time? Google helps you out with, "How does load time affect my landing page quality?"

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 2, 2008

Getting Cozy with Online Ad Formats

The SEO community has been a-buzz lately about standards. There's the epic conversation going on about SEO standards. And then there's the new mobile image ad guidelines that immediately outdated Google's new mobile ads.

Today, Google's Adwords blog got in on the action by talking about general online ad formats. Specifically, the Adwords team has published an online ad format guide. The one-page PDF guide is super simple to read and comprehend. There are recommendations for 6 different ad types:

Text ad
Local Business ad
Image/Flash ad
Click-to-play video ad
In-video ad
Gadget ad

The guide provides the following info on the 6 types:

Description of the ad type
When to use it
Where to use it
Ad sizes
Metrics

So go ahead and get your online ad on!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:42 AM | Permalink

April 22, 2008

Google Sued for Ad Fraud; Another Class Action Settlement?

Today Google was slapped with a an advertising fraud lawsuit that will be fascinating – and important – for AdWords advertisers to watch.

The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, was filed by the firm of Kabateck Brown Kellner, on behalf of David Almeida, a Massachusetts-based private investigator. The lawsuit claims that Google defrauds advertisers by obscuring the fact that new AdWords campaigns are set by default to display ads on both Google’s search results pages (and like pages served by partners like AOL) and pages owned by site publishers who display AdWords ads via Google’s Adsense programs.

Readers of my weekly SEW Content Advertising column are familiar with this phenomenon, and my suggested best practice of creating separate search and content campaigns.

At the risk of making life harder for my friends at Google, I need to point out that the suit seems to get one important fact wrong. Reports today in CNET, Yahoo! Finance, Wired and other outlets imply that advertisers are presented with the ability to “opt out” of displaying ads on the content network during campaign creation. Here’s the way Yahoo puts it:

“During this process, users encounter two adjacent boxes. Into the first, customers enter the amount they wish to pay per "click" of an ad displayed on Google.com. The second box is marked "optional." Into this box, a user can enter the amount they would be willing to pay per "click" of an ad appearing on a third party web page. But leaving the box blank does not prevent ads from appearing on third-party sites.”

The truth is, advertisers don’t see this option during campaign creation. The only way for them to opt out of displaying ads on the content network is for advertisers to explicitly edit the settings of their campaign after creating it, and un-check the box labeled “Content Network” – which is checked by default. Some would reason this makes Google even more exposed to fraud charges.

Another irony: some of the reporting claims the content network is inherently flawed in some way. Here’s how Yahoo! puts it:

“Ads on third-party sites are widely-acknowledged to be far less effective (and therefore less valuable to the advertiser) than ads on Google.com.”

Readers of my column know that the content network is not “less effective;” savvy advertisers realize that great, profitable results can be obtained by advertising on content sites. The rules and best practices for creating effective content campaigns are, however, much different than for search campaigns. To Google’s credit, they’ve been trying to make these differences more clear.

I’ll dig into this subject more deeply in the next installment of my column. Meanwhile, my predictions, no matter which way the lawsuit is decided:

1. Google will finally make opting out of the content network much more straightforward, with clear instructions during campaign creation.

2. Google’s advertiser education efforts, via their tutorials and help files, will much more explicitly teach the differences search and content ad campaign best practices.

Posted by David Szetela at 7:53 PM | Permalink

April 11, 2008

AdWords Launches New Conversion Tracking Tool

A new update to AdWords tracking has been reported by the guys over at AccuraCast. Seems they have improved the conversion tracking allowing users to separate different things to track to conversion.

This ability to track email, sales, and other conversion elements individually will be a great help for online marketers. Plus they can be seen in summary form of overall conversion total and the unique conversions to the elements a user sets up.

Good job Google, now if you could only ban my competitors....

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:32 PM | Permalink

April 9, 2008

Yahoo to Test Google Ads – Take That, Mr. Ballmer!

Yahoo announced today that it "will begin a limited test of Google Inc.'s AdSense for Search service, which will deliver relevant Google ads alongside Yahoo's own search results."

The test will affect about 3 percent of Yahoo search queries, and will only apply to search traffic from yahoo.com in the U.S. and will not include Yahoo's publisher network or other partners. The test is expected to last up to two weeks.

This can be seen as Yahoo thumbing its nose at Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who basically implied in his ultimatum letter last weekend that Yahoo had no other options than to take Microsoft's offer. But this test is not really an indication of anything concrete, as Yahoo specifically says, "the testing does not necessarily mean that Yahoo will join the AdSense for Search program or that any further commercial relationship with Google will result."

According to the Wall Street Journal, the test is "designed for the two sides to evaluate the revenue potential of a broader search ad outsourcing arrangement. They have been discussing such an arrangement as part of Yahoo's pursuit of alternatives to Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited acquisition offer, according to people familiar with the matter."

Stay tuned to the ongoing saga of Microhoo. In our next episode, Yahoo will announce that it's teaming up with Apple to put Yahoo ads on the iPhone. At least that's what "people familiar with the matter" have told me.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 4:41 PM | Permalink

April 7, 2008

SEW Experts: A Look at Demographic Bidding for AdWords

Google's new demographic bidding for content campaigns seems to promise much better control over where ads are served, and hence better ROI. In today's Content Advertising column, "A Look at Demographic Bidding for AdWords," David Szetela explains why he considers it a "must try" tool for content advertisers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

April 4, 2008

Google Updates Trademark Rules for UK/Ireland Adwords

Beginning on May 5, 2008, the AdWords trademark policy for the UK and Ireland will change. The new policy will be aligned with the current one established in the United States and Canada.

AdWords users in the UK and Ireland will be able to bid on keywords that contain trademarked words, but will not be able to include trademarked names in their ad text. Until now, accounts in those countries could not bid on trademarked terms.

The U.S. policy has sparked controversy in the courts, which can't seem to agree on the use of trademark in PPC bidding. The change comes in the wake of recent reports that clicks on Google paid search results have been declining.

March 31, 2008

Will We Pay More For Google's Fewer Clicks

The drop in AdWord clicks over the past two months has created a bump Google's ongoing success. But not to worry, CEO Eric Schmidt told Business Week, people will eventually pay more for the better quality clicks.

There has been a lot of press about this lately. I think "Google's Gamble" as Business Week called it may be expecting too much. If the cost of their clicks continues to increase through their minimum bid and Quality Score push people may start using Yahoo and Microsoft first.

While their popularity will continue to give them the high volume of traffic, if Yahoo and Microsoft offer lower CPA (cost per acquisition) then the strategy of starting with Google because of that could be changed to get the lower costing conversions first and then test the successful ones over at Google.

If this happens then the edge Google has could drop. It is one thing to be the popular search engine for users, but if they lose their position as the popular engine for advertisers then they are almost back to the days when they had no idea how to monetize their engine.

Obviously in some cases where there is a big enough margin in what is being marketed advertisers will buy the more expensive clicks. But in the case of companies selling small margin items such a move will make it difficult.

Apart from the Quality Score influence, this move suggests Google is using information they are getting from Google Analytics to determine if people will pay more. This is a dangerous step for a number of reasons - one, the privacy issues could be a problems and stop this and two, many people using GA may not be doing so effectively, measuring the wrong thing and thus giving Google information that they use but is not real.

We will all have to wait and see if their hopes are founded.

Posted by Frank Watson at 4:59 PM | Permalink

March 24, 2008

Google's Demo Targeting: No Panacea

Last week, Google announced its full demo targeting offering. They also provided a limited list of sites where you can buy ads today based on demographics, including notables like MySpace, YouTube, Fotolog and others. On the surface, it’s worth a try by advertisers who want to reach or exclude, say, 18-24 year-olds.

It’s not a targeting panacea. First, demographics are error prone, and only as reliable as what people submitted when they signed up for services. Second, we know that age is a common factor but not the only one. The targets are expressing many interests and behaviors, yet Google can’t easily leverage them on social or multimedia sites.

Where does this leave contextual ads? Since Google targets contextual ads based on page content and semantics, this is a difficult problem to solve with sparse text. Demographics represent a refinement, given these challenges. Google will need to keep developing other approaches or workarounds for social or multimedia pages, to improve monetization.

Anyway, let's keep an open mind about demographic targeting. Targeted buys represent a balancing act, between cost/acquisition and overall acquisition volume. Advertisers will be able to refine their buys on these social sites now -- and then judge results for themselves.

Posted by Deborah Richman at 3:46 AM | Permalink

March 17, 2008

SEW Experts: Tips for Google Site and Category Exclusion Tool

Google has launched an important new tool that prevents your Content Ads from showing on poorly-performing sites: the Category Exclusion tool. In today's Content Advertising column, "Tips for Google Site and Category Exclusion Tool," David Szetela shares some best practices for using the tool to exclude whole swaths of site types that are not likely to convert for your site. Share your thoughts on this new tool for AdWords in the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

March 14, 2008

PPC Triage Now! Emergency Action Steps for Dying AdWords

Lately prospective clients have been coming around with extremely colorful and eerily similar Google PPC disaster stories. Cost are skyrocketing, conversions are plummeting, and attaining decent paid rankings is difficult or impossible. This threatens the viability of PPC itself as a marketing strategy.

At least a dozen potential PPC client-portfolios have meandered across my desk this month with these exact symptoms, usually with a precipitous decline over the last 6-8 months. There’s a shortage of qualified PPC professionals out there in the streets, so it might take a little time to find a vendor who’s a great fit for your firm. The purpose of this post is to provide immediate tactics for in-house marketers running PPC, to stem the downward spiral immediately.

There are many excellent authors writing about PPC tactics and techniques. Next week, Search Engine Strategies NYC has quite a few sessions which are well worth the investment. Much has changed in the paid search world over the last year, rendering many (or most) set-it-and-forget-it PPC campaigns neutered. Here’s a 15 minute checklist of Emergency action items which will likely impact your bottom line immediately to help right the ship.

1 Check the landing page SEO. I know, that sounds counter-intuitive. SEO is only about organic search right? This is not so anymore. Whereas “bid” used to equal any given ad’s position on the paid SERPS, now the ever-imposing “Quality Score” (Q-Score) + “bid” equals position. Q-Score at it’s most basic level is Google’s algorithmic assessment of the relevancy-relationship between your keywords, ad copy and landing page. The Q-Score impacts the cost of placing your ads higher on the paid SERPS.

Go back to your SEO roots on the landing page. Check the landing page copy, which is more commonly associated with organic optimization. These days the landing page portion, of what are several Q-scores, is less stringent (Google decides yes/no on relevancy). Make PPC landing pages directly correlate to the AdGroup’s keywords and ad copy. An excellent approach is to optimize the landing pages for keywords in the referring AdGroup with the highest Click-through Ratio (CTR). Certainly include the ad copy and the most important keywords from the AdGroup on the landing page. It’s even a great choice to put the Ad headline in the landing page’s HTML Title Tag. If it’s emergency-time and PPC is tanking, take the approach that multiple AdGroups require multiple landing pages. Even if the algorithm does need read a particular SEO attribute, results could be affected as pertain to human behavior if not Q-Score. Finally, be advised that Google has recently announced that PPC landing page load times will soon affect the Q-Score.

2 Tighten up the relationships between AdGroups and the keywords within. One way to immediately move the needle is by segmenting the AdGroups to where every keyword is in the ad copy itself. For instance, say the AdGroup is “Coupons” and contain keyword permutations of “Printable Coupons,” “Downloadable Coupons,” and “Food Coupons.” Create separate AdGroups to house each set of permutations. To clarify now we’re talking about the “Printable Coupons,” “Downloadable Coupons,” and “Food Coupons” AdGroups. It then becomes easy to craft ad copy which literally contains every keyword in the group.

Combine the technique of hyper-focused AdGroups with landing page optimization and there lies the makings of a significantly improved Q-Score. This will lower costs, help attain higher ad placement on the paid SERPs, and increase CTR. It may just stem the decline in itself. Also users are more likely to convert, since the landing page is tightly focused to the incoming keyword query.

Another added benefit to this thinking is potential organic prominence for your PPC landing pages, provided there is a link-path from the homepage drilling into the PPC landing page. Landing pages can be placed at any level on the site. It’s not uncommon for PPC landing pages to be “makers” organically on the heels of this approach.

Google’s never ending quest to improve the relevancy of paid SERPs has led us all to work harder to improve Q-Score. In light of declining PPC effectiveness, take these steps to set things straight. As with all-things-SEM, there are basic best practices to undertake as first steps in every case. In Pay per Click, focusing landing page SEO and AdGroup segmentation should be the first emergency actions undertaken in set up or as effectiveness of an existing campaign plummets.

Posted by Marty Weintraub at 12:28 PM | Permalink

March 6, 2008

AdWords Annouces, Explains Load Time Usage In Quality Score

The Adwords blog just announced the details of the inclusion of page load times in calculating Quality Score. This is an important announcement for all AdWords advertisers as it is a direct impact on your pricing.

We have been discussing it in the forums and was told about the announcement by the Google AdWords Rep who posts on the forums giving Google help.

Their stance is "users have the best experience when they don't have to wait a long time for landing pages to load" and that many possible infractions take added load times. Always looking out for the users.....

The help guide states "we evaluate your load time relative to the average in your server's geographic region."

What that exactly means should be more detailed. What happens if a particular region just has slow times and you are impacted by that? Would finding a slower overall region help fast loading sites? Would moving to a slower region for that matter help a slow site?

Could this create situations that competitors could take advantage of... is there a slow speed hack yet to be created? Is this a Pandora's Box of troubles yet to come?

Posted by Frank Watson at 8:20 PM | Permalink

March 4, 2008

Load Time Impacts Google Quality Score

A member over at WebmasterWorld found that web page load time is now a factor in Google's Qulaity Score for AdWords.

This was started last month and may be the one thing people have been overlooking when examining what impacts their QS numbers.

The big question is does Google set a table or range or is this fastest to slowest for ranking impact?

Discussion of this has been started at the SEW Forums as well.

Posted by Frank Watson at 7:34 PM | Permalink

February 29, 2008

Google Content Network Ads Performing Better?

An informal poll by Enid Burns at ClickZ News finds that many agencies that advertise on Google's content network have seen improved results over the past six months.

Some credit the changes Google has made to improve the network, such as placement targeting, performance reports, and new ad units on Google's search, content, and mobile networks. Google also shrank the clickable area of AdSense ads to to limit accidental clicks.

Incidentally, that shrinkage is attributed by some as the cause for ComScore’s report of flat click growth for Google, among other declining click volume theories.

This fits with the trend of decreasing AdSense income being reported by publishers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:00 PM | Permalink

February 25, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Contextual Advertising Mystery Solved

Readers have tried running placement-targeted campaigns, and found many AdSense publisher sites don't seem to be available to them. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Contextual Advertising Mystery Solved," David Szetela shares a way to work around issues with the tool Google offers to discover new sites to advertise on.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 20, 2008

Google Tightens Restrictions on AdWords Display URLs

Beginning April 1, Google will no longer make exceptions to its policy requiring advertisers to match the display URL in an AdWords ad to the landing page to which it leads. Google's existing policy already requires that an ad's display URL matches its destination URL in the AdWords interface and the landing page to which it leads, but exceptions had been made for things like redirects or vanity URLs.

Under the new rules, all advertisers, regardless of past exceptions, will need to show users the same top-level domain in the display URL and the landing page where a user is sent.

The only exceptions allowed will be for using tracking URLs as the destination URL, as long as the URL of the landing page matches that of the display URL. For example, a display URL of www.google.com/adwords could use a destination URL in AdWords of www.trackingurl.com/google123, if the landing page where the user arrives is www.google.com and not www.trackingurl.com.

Display URLs will be allowed to show different subdomains or directories, as long as the top-level domain shown in the ad (such as google.com in the above example) is matched.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 6:08 AM | Permalink

February 11, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Targeting: Expect More, Pay Less

Google AdWords placement-targeted campaigns on the content network can be a useful tool, if you can find the sites that support it. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Targeting: Expect More, Pay Less," David Szetela discusses AdSense publishers' options for showing or blocking placement-targeted ads.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 5, 2008

SEW Experts: 4 Ways Google AdWords Can Increase Small Business Profits

Sometimes AdWords accounts are set up with the best of intentions, only to languish or be turned off because they're not meeting expectations. In today's Little Biz column, "4 Ways Google AdWords Can Increase Small Business Profits," Carrie Hill outlines four key areas most new-to-PPC marketers overlook that cost them money.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 29, 2008

Google Bar Codes and Three Martini Lunches

Google is now the network that connects the social graph of the advertising industry. From global AAAAs to interactive agencies to SEM firms and SEO consultants, there are less than six degrees of separation. Last night was deja vu all over again, reminding me of AdWords early days when Google just wanted parity with Overture (Yahoo Search Marketing) in corporate search budgets.

Peter Grill, Mimeo.com vp of marketing AKA The Rogue Marketer emceed the panel and mentioned that Mimeo is now a client of Efficient Frontier.

Two of the leading authorities on search marketing joined me last night at Google: SES Chair Kevin Ryan and SEW Forums Editor Frank Watson, AKA aussiewebmaster. Frank's take on Google products and Google exec panelists differs from mine.

Ryan, Watson and I were in the distinct minority based on folks I chatted with and questions from the floor. (Exceptions: Sendtec and Dani of DaniWeb.com IT forum) More proof? Witness upcoming Ad Club of NY events: Magazine Day Forum and Radio Forum 2008.

Search marketing firms have a tremendous competitive advantage over traditional ad agencies. Managing campaigns based on ROI is second nature. Analytics and technology platforms, a necessity. They understand the dynamics of online auctions and advertising exchanges.

If Google is Goliath, ad agencies would be foolish to think of themselves as David.

Google's success in moving beyond the "self-serve" model will depend on the buy-in not only of global ad agencies like Publicis Groupe, but the AAAA clients who drive their decisions. For years in SEM, Google has had a vertical industry focus with corporate clients, providing consulting to executives who make agency decisions. Google's vertical sales team will win the day.

Last night at Googleplex East, Google execs outlined the future of Google TV, Google Audio, and Google Print Ads in an Ad Club of New York Meetup. In my Search Engine WarGames column, " Future of Search: All the Media That's Fit To Be Googled ," Google shares how you can produce ads on Google TV, when you can buy a spot on "WWE RAW," and why Google Print Ads 2D Barcodes won't fly.

Dan Frommer shares his take on Google 2D bar codes, while Michael Learmonth shares his on self-serve Google AdWords TV Google TV ads from a Silicon Alley Insider perspective.

The key takeaway for Madison Avenue: Google has warned you. Google has publicly stated -- and again, last night -- that your model is broken. Your clients say so, according to Google executives. Last night, Google director of agency relations Derek Kuhl said, you know it too.

The Google Publicis Digitas alliance will shape the future of advertising both online and offline.

Humans are winning the search engine WarGames, for now. Agencies will cling to clients through long-standing relationships that originated in the era of the three martini lunch.

Only technology can produce scale and efficiency in advertising. And it will.

Welcome, traditional advertisers, to the Google Ecosystem.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:26 PM | Permalink

January 24, 2008

Google AdWords Beta Testing Demographic Bidding

Seems Google is taking advantage of some of the DoubleClick features already. Demographic bidding is now being beta tested, according to the latest entry at Inside AdWords.

"Demographic bidding is a way to help your ads reach audiences of a certain age or gender. If you want your ads to be seen by women aged 18-24, or people over 55, demographic bidding can help," the AdWords Help Center states on the page you can sign up for the beat test.

This will prove to be an interesting addition - though the MSN offering has not proven outstanding as yet - given the amount of traffic Google has to sort in to age demographics.

Have a product that is particularly of interest to women between the ages of 21-35 - give it a shot. Why pitch to a male searcher when they would not be interested.

We will follow this addition with interest. A thread to discuss it has been set up here (thanks beu for bringing this late breaking news).

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:02 AM | Permalink

January 22, 2008

Two New Ways Google Teaches You to Market on Google

Google has come out with two new tools for advertisers and search marketers. The first is a Google Webmaster Tools Quick Start Guide. This 10-page guide walks webmasters through the features available in Google's Webmaster Tools. Hat tip to beu in the SEW Forums for spotting this one.

The second is a 156-page AdWords textbook, "Marketing and Advertising Using Google." As David Szetela notes, the book is part of Google's Online Marketing Challenge program launched last week to train/indoctrinate college students to market using Google's AdWords product.

UPDATE: I just came across a third new educational tool from Google (must be a common New Year's Resolution at the Googleplex). This one's an update to Conversion University, a resource center for learning about Google Analytics.

It seems like Google's on top of their game when it comes to educating new advertisers. What are Yahoo, Microsoft, and others doing to catch up? Share your thoughts in the SEW Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:41 AM | Permalink

January 16, 2008

Google American Idol: Competition For AdWords Local Search Talent

Search marketing firms and in-house teams often have a hard time finding qualified PPC employees. Now Google may change all that by challenging students all over the world to compete with others in an AdWords marketing competition, indoctrinating college students to the PPC culture and boosting SME participation in local search.

Professors and over 8000 students (724 US teams) from all over the world are already signed up to participate before the Feb 1 deadline for entries.

What's the Google grand prize? And how much Google "monopoly" money do students and local businesses get to play with?

The lucky winners will compete to visit Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters and connect with the acclaimed AdWords team. Each student group will receive $200 in AdWords credits and will set out to market local businesses after crafting a strategy.

After submitting a report, a global panel of experts will judge the competition. “The Challenge is open to any higher education institution from anywhere in the world. To participate, register before Feb 1st 2008. Please note that to register, you must be an academic employed by a higher education institution and conducting lectures or seminars for students. Students cannot register”

Professors and over 8000 students (724 US teams) from all over the world are already signed up to participate. More details can be found at http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/index.html

Posted by Marty Weintraub at 10:51 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

January 14, 2008

SEW Experts: How To Use Google Site Exclusion Tool to Increase ROI

All Google AdWords content campaigns have dead wood. Google Content Network sites that display your ads but deliver few clicks or conversions rob you of profits. In today's Content Advertising column, "How To Use Google Site Exclusion Tool to Increase ROI," David Szetela shows you how to use Google's Site Exclusion to increase ROI.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 11, 2008

Google Conversion Optimizer Out of Beta

Google has expanded its Conversion Optimizer bid management feature to make it available to all advertisers whose campaigns have enabled AdWords Conversion Tracking and accrued at least 200 conversions in the past 30 days.

Advertisers specify a maximum CPA bid, and then the tool will use historical information about the campaign to automatically generate an optimal CPC bid for each auction. Advertisers still pay per click, but no longer have to manually adjust their bids to reach CPA goals. The product launched in beta in September.

There are some limitations to campaigns using Conversion Optimizer. According to the AdWords Help Center, the features that are not compatible with Conversion Optimizer include position preference, budget optimizer, placement targeting, advanced ad scheduling, preferred cost bidding, and separate content bids. Also, Conversion Optimizer campaigns may not be modified using the AdWords Editor or the AdWords API.

For campaigns meeting these criteria, the product can be a real time-saver, doing the heavy lifting to ensure ads are shown when they are most likely to convert. Conversion Optimizer takes into account factors like the conversion history of a given search query, location of the user, and conversion history of particular sites in the Content Network.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:44 AM | Permalink

Is the AdWords Competitor-bidding Party Over?

1-800-Contacts is trying to force a legal ruling that could put a chill on the widespread practice of PPC advertisers bidding on competitors' trademarks.

According to this article in MediaPost:

IN THE LATEST EXAMPLE OF a marketer suing about search ads, 1-800-Contacts this week filed a lawsuit in federal court against LensWorld for purchasing search links triggered by the term "1-800-contacts." The company, which has brought several other similar cases, says it's trying to guard against confusion. "The worry that they have is that these advertising methods will make consumers think there's an affiliation between these other companies and our client," said 1-800-Contacts' lawyer, Bryan G. Pratt.

Many advertisers experience great conversion results bidding on competitor terms, so the impact on the search advertising community as a whole could be huge.

Posted by David Szetela at 8:17 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Google AdWords 101: Landing Pages

Last time, we looked at the basic steps to set up a Google AdWords campaign. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Google AdWords 101: Landing Pages," Frank Watson shows you how to use A/B testing to improve it.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 7, 2008

SEW Experts: Increase ROI: Google Performance Placement Reports

As an advertiser, you're always looking for perfect insight into how well your Google content ad campaigns are performing. In today's Content Advertising column, "Increase ROI: Google Performance Placement Reports," David Szetela shows how Google's new Placement Performance report can help you fine-tune your content campaigns to make sure you're getting the most out of your ads.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 4, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords 101

The Internet is overflowing with high-level discussion of how to plan a search advertising campaign. But sometimes, a new advertiser needs to know the actual steps of setting up an AdWords campaign and look into the methodology of setting up ads and A/B testing. In today's debut SEM Crossfire column, "Google AdWords 101," Frank Watson, aka AussieWebmaster, gives new advertisers a lesson on how to launch their first ever Google AdWords campaigns.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

December 20, 2007

Free Google Flip Video Camcorder --No purchase necessary

OK, strike "no purchase necessary." Free Flip video camcorder: "big purchase necessary?"

Google gave big-time advertisers and SEMs (whose clients spend big) a Flip Video Ultra Series camcorder with recording time up to 30 min. and 1GB internal memory.

Search marketer Shimon Sandler recorded an Oscar-worthy short film (YouTubed) of his Google Video Ultra gift being unwrapped. You'll watch the film again and again, if only to get into the Xmas spirit of green envy that children of all ages feel during the Holiday Season.

Google Flip flopped with all the SEMs who only received Google 2GB USB memory cards instead of the Google Flip (with MSRP of $149.99!). The 2GoogleByte USB card was described by our friends at SERoundtable as more or less a lump of coal -- way inferior to last year's Google gift gadget: a sweet digital picture frame.

It would seem only the FTC approves of Google acquisitions these days.

Here at Search Engine Watch, we'll be providing the P.O. Box for Google Customer Returns and the address of the secret Google Gift Exchange location.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:46 PM | Permalink

December 16, 2007

AdSense Ad Review: Good for Advertisers?

A few days ago Frank Watson blogged here about a new AdSense feature that lets site publishers exclude AdWords ads they feel may be inappropriate for their sites.

AdSense publishers will be able to view ads that advertisers have directed to their sites via Placement Targeting, and choose to block ads they don't feel are "relevant" to their site visitors.

This will certainly be used by AdSense publishers to (attempt to) maximize AdSense revenues - - publishers will block ads that they deem "low-revenue" in favor of ads that visitors will click on more frequently.

But is it good for advertisers? Well, yes and no...

Most AdWords advertisers who create Placement Targeted campaigns have done time-consuming research to identify sites that have proven (or are expected) to be relevant, in terms of producing valuable clicks and conversions. Knowing their ads can be blocked at the whim of an AdSense publisher might make advertisers more reluctant to spend the time necessary to target their advertising.

AdWords advertisers will be able to see the reason an ad was blocked - if the AdSense publisher chooses to provide it. Google says "This feedback gives advertisers more insight on how to increase coverage by adjusting ad quality, content, and relevance. We also use this information internally to help improve products."

Nice theory -- but will AdSense publishers really provide (optional) constructive feedback?

As I've pointed out in my SEW Experts column, Content advertising requires significant work and diligence -- arguably more than for Search advertising. Dealing with blocked ads -- understanding why an ad was blocked, and possibly even corresponding directly with a site owner to appeal the decision -- could just add unnecessarily to the advertiser's workload.

Hopefully this won't happen often - and the system will work to each side's satisfaction and benefit.

But let's keep an eye on it.

Posted by David Szetela at 11:31 AM | Permalink

December 12, 2007

AdWords Editor 5.0 Having Problems

Seems there are some minor install problems with the latest version of AdWords Editor.

There was one discussed on the forum here. And Google gave some information about what they had been seeing.

"The potential exists for v5 on Windows to crash on start-up. This will most likely be experienced by users who have Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. The work-around for this is to remove all copies of Google AdWords Editor from the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel (there will probably be two), then reinstall," Google suggested.

Posted by Frank Watson at 3:10 PM | Permalink

December 7, 2007

Google Improves AdWords Location Targeting

Google AdWords advertisers now have new options for location targeting of their ads. The geo-targeting feature now shows advertisers an interactive map showing the locations selected for each ad. Targeting options have been made more flexible, according to the AdWords blog: "For example, let's say you run an online store, and you ship to all of the United States except Hawaii and Alaska. With these new targeting options, you can target your campaign to the U.S. and exclude those two states. Or, you might run campaigns that are relevant to markets across the United States and a few cities in Europe -- now you can target all of those locations in one single campaign."

Advertisers can search or browse for countries, regions, and cities; select a preset bundle of locations; choose a point on the map and specify a radius around it where ads will appear; or target a custom shape on the map. In all methods, advertisers can also exclude areas within the selected locations.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:29 AM | Permalink

December 6, 2007

Google Improves AdWords Troubleshooting

Google has upgraded its Ads Diagnostic Tool, a tool that allows AdWords advertisers to determine why their ads may not be showing on a given SERP. Where it previously listed just one reason why an ad might not appear, it now lists multiple reasons, and multiple issues that should be fixed.

The tool is accessible within an AdWords account, either via a magnifying glass icon next to an individual keyword in an ad group or in the account's 'Tools' page.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:23 PM | Permalink

November 8, 2007

Google Refines Site Targeting, Adds Bid Options

Google has changed the way it allows advertisers to target ads by site in its content network, and added a cost-per-click (CPC) bidding option for those ads. While advertisers have been able to target a specific site through site targeting for the past two years, they will now be able to target specific subsections of a site through the newly renamed placement targeting feature. So advertisers can now serve ads only to the sports section of a news site, or only to ad units above the fold on a given page.

AdWords advertisers can also buy these placement targeted ads as cost-per-click (CPC) units, in addition to the CPM-based option. A CPC-based bid model has been one of the most-requested feature of ads on the content network, according to Google.

This is good news for advertisers, as it moves away from the one-size-fits-all approach, and lets advertisers have more control over their content network spending.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:40 AM | Permalink

October 23, 2007

Google Sheds Light on Ad Quality Score

Ever since Google implemented Quality Score as a criteria for AdWords ad placement, advertisers have been clamoring for more transparency into how Google calculates the score.

In the "good old days," an advertiser could boost an ad's ranking just by bidding more. Now, Google and other search engines incorporate a quality score, which takes into account elements like historical performance of a given keyword, relevance of keyword to ad text, landing page quality, and other factors.

While Google is not eliminating the black box that is the quality score algorithm, it is pulling back the curtain a bit with a new Keyword Analysis page in the AdWords console.

The page will offer advertisers clues about why a keyword is not triggering an ad, and rate the quality score as "Great," "OK," or "Poor." It will also dig deeper and show how the different components that factor into quality score are performing.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:18 PM | Permalink

October 1, 2007

Has Change In Google PPC Algorithm Created New Budget Busting Possibilities?

The current cost jumps in cost per clicks at Google may have created a way of pushing a bunch of your less savvy competitors out of the mix. If they have unlimited funds then you are out of luck, but I have noticed that not many people really do have or want to use a "zero sum game" approach.

So how do you do it?

First you want to spend some time looking at your traffic numbers. If you can determine your best hours of lead acquisition - I know all of them are decent etc. - generally there will be a couple of hours a day where you get high clicks and impressions and either don't get the click or it does not convert as well as other hours.

These would be the first things I would turn off. This pushes that traffic to your competitors and pushes them to the top, sending them many more impressions and many more clicks. The CPCs are going to be impacted by improved CTRs - but not like it used to be - so it is still going to cost them more especially when there are a few of them.

Dropping some of your bids during the other hours so that you are at number 3 as opposed to 1 will also give the competitors the higher and more costly spots.

This all works if they have daily and monthly budgets.

The increases will bring them a lot of garbage traffic as well as converting traffic but the increase in volume and cost will sooner or later impact their bids.

Budgets can be busted easily using this method and when that happens you are back on top at a much reduced rate.

If you have any comments on this let me know here.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:19 PM | Permalink

September 25, 2007

Google to Offer AdWords Conversion Optimizer

Google is making cost-per-acquisition (CPA) based bidding available to AdWords advertisers through a new Conversion Optimizer tool. Advertisers specify a maximum CPA bid, and then the tool will use historical information about the campaign to automatically generate an optimal CPC bid for each auction.

Advertisers still pay per click, but no longer have to manually adjust their bids to reach CPA goals.

Conversion Optimizer requires that a campaign currently uses AdWords Conversion Tracking and has at least 300 conversions in the last 30 days. Ads can appear on both the search and content network.

Google also offers CPA-based pricing on its pay-per-action (PPA) beta, where advertisers pay only when an action they define occurs, such as a purchase on their site or newsletter sign-up.

Tried Conversion Optimizer? Share your thoughts on it in the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:34 AM | Permalink

September 20, 2007

Getting Vertical Key to Google's Ad Success

Today, Google hosted an Industry Press Day at its New York offices, inviting mainstream and trade press to learn more about its efforts in five verticals: automotive, retail, financial services, entertainment & media, and healthcare. Several members of the SEW/ClickZ team were there, which made it possible for us to cover all five breakout sessions. See "Google's Vertical Ad Honchos Talk Campaigns and Results" at ClickZ News for a wrap-up of what those sessions contained.

Tim Armstrong, president of advertising and commerce in North America, opened the event with a short history of Google's industry-specific efforts, and the changing face of the online ad industry. He outlined three main factors that mark the new reality of Google's ad model: the ability to market all products all the time, incorporating customer insights into marketing plans, and letting the economy drive ad efforts, instead of the other way around.

With performance-based pricing and more automated and dynamic ad creation, Google's ad model has shifted from broad-based targeting to a model that harnesses consumer interest into small buckets. This fundamental change has allowed some advertisers to expand from advertising 8 to 10 products a year five years ago to more than 12,000 products today, Armstrong said.

The idea is to take an inventory of all of your company's assets and create an "asset map." When Google undertook this exercise internally, there was not a single person that could name all of Google's consumer-facing offerings, he said. That's how the company knew it was time to streamline its offering, and do a better job of articulating what was available to advertisers, he said.

Another key change in the industry is the idea of "letting customers into your meetings," or using customer insight to drive marketing decisions instead of making decisions in a closed boardroom. Customers, through their search and other online behavior, can teach a marketer what features of a product are important, how they like to talk about a product, and how to connect with them, Armstrong said.

The third main change in Google's advertising product strategy is the idea of letting the economy drive ad efforts, instead of the other way around. It's what Armstrong calls "knowing the GDP (gross domestic product)," which involves localization of ads, and the creation of industry-specific ad programs. Back in 2000, Google created industry-specific ad sales teams at a time when naysayers thought they were over-investing in infrastructure.

That investment has paid off in spades, Armstrong said, with Google taking its place at the table with CEOs and CMOs, ad agencies, and other decision-makers in these industries that see search advertising as an integral part of their business model.

A typical ad cycle ten years ago might have consisted of blasting a message for six weeks, measuring and repeating. Today, campaigns are running all day, every day, creating an ecosystem that mimics what's happening in the broader economy.

Advertisers are learning to be more open-ended with their ad budgets, letting customer behavior lead the way. For instance, instead of assuming that users might be interested in learning about a product during a certain six week period, an advertiser can let consumer actions – manifested through search behavior – show them when it's the right time to push a certain product.

This is a key aspect of Google's strategy, Armstrong told me afterwards. Since the goals of many advertisers are outside of the traditional direct response strength of text ads in search results, Google's efforts to bring in more big brands include steering them toward ad units they are more comfortable with, such as video ads on YouTube or display ads on its content network, while stressing the new measurements and new levels of understanding afforded by search. In this way, advertisers can apply what happens in search to these other areas, improving their results across the board.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:50 PM | Permalink

Google To Stop Preannouncing Quality Score Algorithm Changes

The insights into the changes being made to Google's Quality Score algorithm will no longer be pre-announced - if they are detailed at all - according to a recent post at Inside Adwords blog.

"Since our systems frequently visit landing pages and update Quality Scores on a regular basis, we will no longer post advance notice of upcoming updates. We will, however, continue to inform you of any significant changes to landing page quality guidelines or the factors which are considered in calculating landing page quality," the post reported.

The part of this that shows we will not be getting all the details is in "continue to inform you of any significant changes to landing page quality guidelines or the factors which are considered in calculating landing page quality".

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:37 PM | Permalink

September 19, 2007

Google Makes Brand Advertiser Push

Google has launched a new format for AdWords advertisers: Gadget Ads.

Gadget Ads are an interactive ad unit that will appear on sites in the AdSense content network. Gadget ads can include things like data feeds, images, or video and can be developed using Flash, HTML or a combination of the two. They support both cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-impression (CPM) pricing models, and offer a variety of contextual, site, geographic and demographic targeting options.

The units are a clear attempt to woo more brand advertisers to Google's platform. To help in that regard, Google has also hired Andy Berndt as managing director of a new "Creative Lab," according to a Wall Street Journal report. Berndt was most recently co-president of Ogilvy & Mather's New York office. The New York-based Lab will look for ways to work more closely with traditional agencies, according to the report.

While the move may seem like a push into the agency business, a spokesperson told ClickZ News that was not the case: "We are not in any way setting up our own agency. We want to be very clear about that."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:24 AM | Permalink

August 9, 2007

Implications of Google's New Bid Calculations

Maybe I am having an off week, but Google's announced changes to the PPC cost calculations seem a little like a magic show and the expected audience is novice search advertisers.

Their FAQ about the coming changes started my apprehension. I always was under the assumption that your Max CPC was factored in to the calculation. I remember being given a lesson about 4 years ago about Max CPC x CTR = eCPC which was then used to order the rankings and the prices were determined from there.

Okay then they added the Quality Score which included values for landing pages and criteria of the information in the ads themselves (keyword insertion seeming to be one of them).

Google states "The core components of the top ad placement formula will remain price and quality. However, we are improving the way we factor price into the formula. We're also adjusting the way your actual cost-per-click (CPC) is determined for ads in top spots. As always, only ads that meet our stringent quality requirements will be eligible to appear in top spots"

No longer will the CTR impact the eCPC.... The max bid is not stand alone like Overture but is impacted now by Quality Score as opposed to CTR. Does this mean they have no faith in the quality of the decisions made by their users - the CTR?

"[I]f you have a high quality ad, you now have more control to achieve a top position by increasing your maximum CPC," Google seems to be greedily stating.

So does the Quality Score now include CTR? Will keyword insertion now be a major factor? Who makes the human evaluation? The users and click backs are counted? Or is Google Analytics being used? Or some form of behavioral response?

Or is an effort to have more long tail terms being exact matched the reason?

"We anticipate that most of your ads will continue to perform as they have in the past. In some cases, you may see that ads previously shown alongside search results are now shown in top spots, and vice versa. As a result, you may see a change in the average number of clicks and average CPCs for impacted ads," they state.

Is this just in case it does not work properly?

One wonders whatever happened to if it is not broke don't fix it.

Please let me know what you think.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:33 PM | Permalink

Google Makes Changes to Ads Quality Calculation

AdWords advertisers whose ads are on the cusp of earning the top spot on Google's search results pages may soon find it easier to break through, in some circumstances. Google is planning on rolling out a change in the way it calculates the ad placement for a given keyword.

Currently, ads are scored based on their "Quality Score" and the actual cost-per-click (CPC) an advertiser pays as a result of auction pressure from other advertisers. This process, which was updated in February, calculates an ad's quality based on the historical performance of a given keyword, relevance of keyword to ad text, landing page quality, and other factors.

According to Nicholas Fox, group business product manager for ad quality at Google, the Quality Score will continue to be weighted more heavily in the calculation, but the change will come in the CPC Google uses in the formula. Instead of using the auction-driven CPC, Google will soon begin to use the advertiser's maximum bid CPC to determine which ad will be shown in the top spot.

The motivation behind this is to allow Google to consider more ads for the top spot, and at the same time be more restrictive in which ad will end up there. It will also give advertisers more control and predictability, he said.

The change will be most noticeable with ads on the cusp of the top spot, with the same or similar Quality Score as the top ad. It will especially impact ads on less competitive keywords that don't create enough auction pressure to drive the actual CPC up enough to allow the second-place ad to overtake the top spot. Advertisers will be charged the minimum CPC required to displace the top ad, up to their maximum bid, Fox said.

The change will not allow sites that Google determines to be of low quality to take the top spot, Fox said. "For some ads with a low Quality Score, there will be no level of bid that will allow them to get the top spot," he said.

Fox advises advertisers not to make changes until the changes roll out in the next few weeks, and they see what the effects are on their ads. He suggests advertisers make sure their bid reflects the maximum amount they are willing to pay, and that they keep an eye on the metrics in their AdWords interface. Once the effects are clear, advertisers can experiment with raising or lowering their bids, he said.

Think this will be a good or bad thing for advertisers? Frank Watson doesn't think so, as he writes that "Google's announced changes to the PPC cost calculations seem a little like a magic show and the expected audience is novice search advertisers."

Share your thoughts in the SEW Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:32 PM | Permalink

August 5, 2007

AdWords Editor 4.0 Released With New Features

Google announced Friday the release of AdWords Editor 4.0. This version has a number of new features and many upgrades to the existing features.

New features include the ability to edit mobile ads, specific campaign editing, setting negatives and more.

Posted by Frank Watson at 7:02 AM | Permalink

August 2, 2007

Google's New Behavioral Targeting For AdWords Reviewed

UPDATE: Seems Google does not want to be associated with the term behavioral targeting. Google’s VP of product management and advertising and also the one with the famous garage, Susan Wojcicki said the company will not use behavioral targeting.

Zachary Rodgers over at ClickZ has written a good overview of the recent addition of behavioral targeting by Google AdWords.

This new feature is using previous searches to fine tune what ads are presented to the searcher.

Behavioral targeting has had mixed opinions. Avinash Kaushik, who blogs on analytics at Occam's Razor, sums up the method as: "Right thing to the Right person at the Right time.."

Rodgers interviewed Nick Fox, the Google group business product manager for ads quality, and learned that Google is looking at previous search behavior of a user and combining previous action with current ads. Mixing tennis searches with vacation searches to provide tennis vacations was used as an example (though not a confirmed BT search).

Using BT in the search industry is not exactly new. John Battelle had recognized its potential when he termed the phrase "database of intentions".

Another noted web analyst, Anil Batra, called for Google to add behavioral marketing earlier this year. Seems the idea has been popular.

The issue of privacy is the major force against gathering and using behavioral marketing, though to me it is more who pays for the information. The initial people advertising in a space help the engines capture user behavior without the benefits.

It is a Catch-22 - this is something that is here and not likely to be driven back. Thus, I wish Google would get a deeper knowledge of the real way to use behavioral targeting.

Nick Fox states: "We're not doing things like trying to profile the user to find out if the user is a man or a woman or a 45-year-old or a 25-year-old," he said. "In the context of search it doesn't seem that powerful, and we haven't seen any evidence that it will be that powerful."

When I read this I got chills. In our financial space 80% of our clients are male between the ages of 30 and 50. I would love to get a larger share of those impressions and leave the rest to those who think Nick is correct. Want to add your thoughts?

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:58 PM | Permalink

July 19, 2007

Google Expands Newspaper Ads

Google has opened up its Print Ads program to all AdWords customers, giving them the ability to purchase ads in approximately 225 U.S.-based newspapers.

Advertisers will access the program through their AdWords account, and have similar functionality, with the ability to target specific newspapers, sections of newspapers, and days of the week when the ads will appear.

Google hopes online advertisers will embrace offline advertising as a way to lend legitimacy to their online businesses while increasing ad response rates. "Newspaper is really an excellent way to validate a business that may have been built online," Spencer Spinnell, head of sales strategy for Google print advertising, told ClickZ.

The program is also targeting smaller advertisers who may not have had the time or know-how to set up a national newspaper ad campaign.

Google, which is often at odds with newspaper publishers who don't like Google News appropriating their content, has gone out of its way to make the program publisher-friendly, giving them control and setting the program up so that existing advertisers don't have an incentive to bypass the newspapers' ad sales teams to go through Google. For instance, the inventory is not targetable by specific page, and is mostly remnant inventory not sold by the sales teams.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:14 AM | Permalink

July 9, 2007

Google AdWords Offers Impression Share Numbers

In their Friday blog, Google announced they have launched a new feature in the AdWords interface, Impression Share - the percentage of impressions your ads see. Thus giving very accurate numbers for total searches for all keywords or their expanded matches.

The feature is well detailed by the Googlers.

Posted by Frank Watson at 4:55 PM | Permalink

July 2, 2007

Google Blogger Attacks Sicko, Backtracks

On Friday, Google Health account planner Lauren Turner tried to rally healthcare advertisers against Michael Moore's latest documentary, Sicko, by advising them that they should increase their presence in the search results in a blog post on the Google Health Advertising blog, "Does negative press make you Sicko?"

The post was an attempt to educate healthcare advertisers of the benefits of search in reputation management, but many accused Google of going too far with its apparent partisanship, and by Sunday, Turner was forced to recant.

The healthcare industry is no stranger to negative press. A drug may be a blockbuster one day and tolled as a public health concern the next. News reporters may focus on Pharma’s annual sales and its executives’ salaries while failing to share R&D costs. Or, as is often common, the media may use an isolated, heartbreaking, or sensationalist story to paint a picture of healthcare as a whole. With all the coverage, it’s a shame no one focuses on the industry’s numerous prescription programs, charity services, and philanthropy efforts.

Many of our clients face these issues; companies come to us hoping we can help them better manage their reputations through “Get the Facts” or issue management campaigns. Your brand or corporate site may already have these informational assets, but can users easily find them?

Turner reminded advertisers that place text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or on Google's content network could provide "a platform for educating the public and promoting your message."

On Sunday, Turner backtracked a bit, making it clear that the opinion of the film she expressed was her own, not Google's, but reiterating that search could be an effective way to manage a company's or an industry's reputation:

But the more important point, since I doubt that too many people care about my personal opinion, is that ad