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Monday, May 14th, 2012
Paid search advertising can be a bit of a minefield – tactics which work on one PPC campaign aren’t always transferrable to another.
Managing profitable pay per click services involves a lot of foresight, analysis, and just a touch of guess-work. This experimentalism is absolutely imperative to ensure your paid ads are displaying to the right people at the right times, and getting the right results. Without experimenting, most PPC strategies will fail. Or, at least, fail to meet their potential.
Google’s always been acutely aware that the more tools it can give to search marketers, the more people are likely to spend on search marketing.
If you can analyse properly – to see where money is best spent and best avoided – you can afford to invest more in paid ads as you know you’re more likely to get the conversions you want.
As such, Google’s AdWords tool has, for some time, given search advertisers ways to project and forecast how a PPC ad may work at both the keyword and ad group level. Now Google’s improved its projection tools, allowing advertisers to forecast simulations at campaign level, too.
The change is designed to give advertisers a way to create reports on potential future campaigns even without the requisite level of data to do so at keyword or ad group level.
The tool allows advertisers to swap variables to check effects – such as lowering all bids by a certain percentage.
The system feeds back on how an advertiser can then use the data on a real campaign – with projections on potential necessary campaign budget and a downloadable summary. An AdWords Editor file is also available showing simulated bid amounts and applicable groups.
The changes have already gone live – check the Opportunities section of AdWords.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: ad group, advertising, adwords, campaign, display, Google, Keywords, Paid Ads, Pay Per Click (PPC), PPC, projection, search marketing, SEM, SEO, simulation, tools
Posted in Pay Per Click Marketing
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Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Google Adword Rotation
As you may be aware, from next week, Google are changing the way in which AdWords are rotated.
The Rotate AdWords feature has been popular with many PPC account managers due to its ability to allow for testing. The Rotate Ad feature allowed ads to be shown for an indefinite period of time, but the change means that ads will only be shown for 30 days and then the best performing ads will be shown unless edits are made to the ad group. For any PPC account manager handling many client accounts and campaigns, this presents a new set of problems – how to manage and monitor all accounts to ensure that the right ads are being shown when testing has suddenly become that much harder?
From Google’s perspective, displaying higher performing ads is of course the desired end result – more clicks, more revenue. But how will this work for advertisers if there is insufficient data, particularly with long tail, low traffic and niche terms where 30 days is quite simply insufficient to gather enough data to understand (especially in an A/B test) which ad will perform better?
There does not appear to have been an explanation from the Big G precisely how this will benefit advertisers. Yet. Right now, it seems a one sided deal that is not even optional. Had it been optional, it would no doubt have joined the many tools inside the Google account which the vast majority of PPC users are unaware of but which canny, dedicated, expert PPC players would have been able to access.
The is already a backlash to this announcement, and a petition has been started to try to persuade Google to return the required level of control to professional PPC agencies.
How do you feel this affects your business or PPC agency and account managers? Do you think this is a purely monetary decision by Google or is there more to it? We welcome your comments, as always.
Tags: adwords, Google, PPC, rotate
Posted in Blog, Google, Pay Per Click (PPC)
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Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Google has launched a new initiative to get more small businesses using 360 degree and high quality images on search pages, G+, Google Maps, and Google Places and local pages. The new Google Business Photos site includes a list of Trusted Photographers in and around a limited number of UK cities, but Google are actively seeking businesses requesting photographers to join the program and help businesses to use images in search and on Google properties more effectively.
The resulting photos after a shoot are stitched together using panoramic technology to create a 360 image which allows zoom, pan, tilt etc and hence permits website visitors to get a great experience of how it will be to visit your business. This is not only suitable for retail outlets, museums, gyms and salons, but also for restaurants, cafes, hotels, B and Bs – infact, nearly every business could benefit from this.
The photos are stitched together – you can do this yourself with apps such as Photosynth – and can then be used on your own website, as well as on Google properties such as Google Places etc. You can also upload your own 360 photos to Google Places etc if you wish, and embed these photos elsewhere with a small HTML snippet.
There would seem to be a likelihood that Google is looking to add an extra dimension to Streetview by allowing users of SV to virtually enter businesses with these photos, which would be an interesting development, and make a useful marketing addition to SV for businesses.
AdWords Express vouchers are being offered to the first who take up this offer, but the vouchers expire on 31st March 2012 so you need to act fast.
Tags: 360, adwords, business, express, Google, images, panorama, panoramic, photos, places, streetview, trusted photographers
Posted in Blog, Google, Small Business Resources
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Thursday, November 17th, 2011
Wordstream.com have created an infographic showing how Google Adwords auctions work. For many, the auction may be a mystery, but this graphic shows quite clearly how it works.
If you have not yet read our PPC book (available from Amazon), you may want to check out Tips 66 – 68 about keeping your Quality Score as high as possible, just for starters. Maintaining your Quality Score could save you a fortune in successful bids for a high ranking, and although there are multiple factors which affect your PPC campaigns, QS is one of those which should be a top priority.
The fact that PPC is now an extremely complex subject that requires time and dedication (Tip 9 in the PPC book) is one of the reasons why involving a specialist/ PPC internet marketing agency with experience should be considered (Tip 100).
However, never put all of your eggs in one basket. PPC can help you to quickly find the search terms and keywords for your on and off page optimisation, link building, social media activity, and more. Understanding how your potential customers and audience search, and which terms trigger a click, can be researched through PPC, and then the results of this research can be deployed in your other internet marketing activities.
Understanding the search queries that Google enters your keywords and phrases into for the auctions is of paramount importance, and for this you should spend as much time as possible studying your analytics. (Tips 78-80) Or your agency should.
This will help to build a picture of the audience with whom you are having maximum success, as well as which long tail terms are leading consumers to you. There may also be unexpected markets for your products which you can remain unaware of if you ignore your analytics and the in-depth information available to you. For instance, once you have set up goals for visitors to your site, you may see results of goal completion from referrals you had not sought nor been aware of.
So, a website, forum, blog, twitter or social media user may be regularly feeding customers to your site who complete an action, such as a purchase or download, from a target market that you had not considered. Harnessing these actions by actively engaging with that market and creating PPC ads specifically for those that complete can help to keep your QS high.
The following infographic will help you to understand Google Adwords auctions and benefit from the simple steps (outlined in the 101 Guide) or suggested/utilised by your agency to ensure Value For Money from your PPC budget.
![What is Google AdWords? [ infographic ]](http://www.wordstream.com/images/what-is-google-adwords.jpg)
© 2011
WordStream
Tags: adwords, Auction, Google, Pay Per Click (PPC), PPC, quality score, value for money
Posted in Blog, Google, Pay Per Click (PPC)
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Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
A tool greatly used in PPC marketing campaigns, Google’s Keyword Tool – featured in Google AdWords – has undergone a number of recent changes, according to an article published by Search Engine Watch.
Previously utilising a green bar, that would provide an indication of how competitive a keyword was, the Keyword Tool now uses a ranking of High, Medium and Low.
However, despite this change, it is still possible to access a report displaying the ‘exact number that the green bar used to represent,’ though it still remains to be seen whether or not this feature will be phased out over time.
Search Engine Watch states that the three new indicators represent:
Low - AdWords competitiveness is under .33
Medium – AdWords competitiveness is between .33 and .66
High – AdWords competitiveness is over .67
Following on from a number of other changes that have been made to AdWords in the past few weeks, it is thought that this change to the indicators will make AdWords easier to use.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: adwords, Google, Keywords Tool
Posted in Pay Per Click Marketing
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Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
Following on from a slew of announcements about Google+ additions, the latest is that the +1 and personal recommendations are to be added to ads on the Google Display network.
Google appear to be throwing pretty much everything behind Google+ and +1s and anyone serious about maximising the return in investment from internet marketing needs to grasp just what the proposed level of integration can mean for even a small company with a small budget. Whilst some features of Google’s repertoire have vanished eg Huddle, far more are being integrated into Google+ features and the +1 theory.
There may seem to be issues with G+, its adoption, the competition etc, but there is little doubt that Google are working to a strategy to harness the power of all the different applications and services into one. After all, we all now the power of the network is the square of the number of members, and Google has both consumers and number of apps to count as members, giving a 3D effect when it comes to ‘power’.
Google’s Adwords blog post shows the following screenshot of how the +1 will appear.
The fact that a +1 for a piece of content reaches across so many different places on Google’s network (G+, search results, search sites, websites, blogs, display ads etc etc) means that you can extend the reach of any single marketing campaign further than could have been dreamed of even a few short years ago.
Should you be adding a +1 button to all of your content? YES! There are many places where Google is doing the work for you, but in all those places where you have control eg your website or blog, you should ensure the +1 button is there for all to click. It also means that you can re-use content across different media, knowing that the clicks will all add together to show your authority, relevance and reach. And we all know that Google looks generously upon the creation of such content and the positive reactions to it!
Tags: +1, adwords, Google, Pay Per Click (PPC), PPC
Posted in Blog, Google, Pay Per Click (PPC)
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Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
It is well known that pay per click marketing campaigns can be expensive and time-consuming. The ultimate reward of a fantastic ROI (return on investment), however, makes it all worth it.
Writing for American Express Open Forum, Stacey Politi has created a list; featuring ten steps that can be taken to improve pay per click marketing campaigns and, more importantly, ROI.
Here are just a few of the tips provided by Politi:
- Coax people in with an offer they can’t refuse – The PPC market is inundated with competition, therefore you need to make your ad different. Politi states: “Are you running a promotion? Is shipping free? Offer value and then capitalize on it with a call-to-action.” By including terms like ‘learn more’, searchers are more likely to act on the advert.
- It needs testing – You can’t just expect to start up a PPC campaign and expect the best results, it just doesn’t work like that. Intricate testing and in-depth analysis are necessary. Testing a number of adverts at the same time is also important, however remember to run just one variable per time and ensure that the testing phase is long enough to gather good data – this will only help in the long run.
- Be aware of your Google quality score – Google Quality Score is the overall determiner of your AdWords account ranking, and this is vastly important as it helps to determine where on the search page your ad will feature. If you stick to the rules set by Google AdWords on a consistent basis, your score is more likely to be higher. A sudden drop in the score should set the alarm bells ringing and shouldn’t be ignored.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: adwords, Google Quality Score, marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC)
Posted in Pay Per Click Marketing
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Monday, June 27th, 2011
Google’s two-year beta project to harness behavioural targeting for adverts has now gone fully live.
The move will allow internet marketeers to target specific products at users who have searched for similar products, by analysing their browser history.
Google says the new system will evaluate what users have searched for, when, and how frequently they have searched.
Advertisers can then use this data to identify people most likely to buy their products or services, and directly target them with adverts through the Google Display Network – which Google says can reach 70% of internet users globally.
Because the system takes search chronology into account, it allows adverts to reach users at the right time, according to Google.
And it will allow better-targeted Google ads to be displayed outside the context of search – for instance, on popular product review pages. So, even if a potential customer hasn’t directly searched for a product – but is interested in reading about the product online – they will receive targeted ads for similar products.
The decision to push the beta live comes shortly after Facebook announced changes to its direct marketing tools, which can now trawl a users’ personal information, and “likes”, for extremely specific advertising.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
Tags: adwords, Google, Google Ads, Google Display Network, targeted internet advertising
Posted in Search Engine News
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Friday, May 20th, 2011
According to a leading Internet Marketing agency, new functions have been added to Search Funnels for AdWords.
It was only recently that Search Funnels were added and they have now been upgraded to provide newer, longer conversion history windows from the beginning of October.
They work by giving a set of reports which show user’s ad click and impression behaviour on Google properties before conversion, and according to Gordon Zhu from Inside Adwords they are useful in “eliminating the guesswork over the roles your keywords are playing in the path to conversion.”
It was also announced last week by Zhu announced the introduction of a new Top Paths report.
“Broad match keywords in your AdWords account may be matched to a variety of keywords your users are searching for,”said Zhu.
“You bid on certain keywords but what about the actual queries that these keywords were matched to?”
Users can now simply go into existing ‘Top Paths’ and select the Query Path via the drop down box which will enable them to show actual search queries that matched specific ads and clicks before conversion.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: adwords, search marketing, Search Marketing Agency
Posted in Website Conversion Improvement
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Friday, May 6th, 2011
Today comes the release of AdWords Editor Version 9.0, with a number of new features designed to help you make changes across accounts more efficiently and manage new ad features, such as Ad Sitelinks and high-end mobile targeting, at scale.
For companies utilising pay per click marketing the development comes with added features such as:
Scalably manage Ad Sitelinks
Version 9.0 provides full support for Ad Sitelinks, including downloading and uploading to your account, making edits, checking changes, and importing and exporting.
Improved Add/Update Multiple and Import CSV tools
When entering new data using the Add/Update Multiple tool, you can now enter your data with the columns in any order, assign the appropriate headers to each column, select the option to remember the order of your columns for your next import, and approve or cancel the changes in the account in one click.
Set high-end mobile targeting options
AdWords Editor now supports the ability to set campaigns to target high-end mobile devices (including Android, iPhone, iPad, and Palm) and carriers in Campaign Settings.
Better manage multiple accounts and MCCs
To help you better manage multiple accounts, AdWords Editor now offers sort and search for accounts, select and remove multiple accounts, and a new dropdown menu above the Account tree in AdWords Editor that displays recently accessed accounts, so you can quickly switch to any one of them.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies.
Tags: adwords, Pay Per Click (PPC)
Posted in Pay Per Click Marketing
