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.
Microsoft’s search offering, Bing, has undergone another revamp. And with a huge focus on social, Bing may have found a way to begin to oust Google from search dominance.
After joining a ‘search alliance’ with Yahoo!, the “New Bing” will try to usurp Google by offering things it currently can’t.
Of course, Bing will still return normal organic search results and paid ads, just like it used to.
But now its social annotations, scraped from public information across a variety of social networks, are being lumped into a special sidebar, giving you the chance to interact with social friends.
The sidebar will pull information from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare and even Google+.
Google has already fallen out with Twitter, and, to a lesser extent, with Facebook. It can’t return Twitter profiles in its search results, because the microblogging site has blocked their spiders.
Not so with Bing.
Whereas Google has faced accusations of throttling social results – leading Facebook and Twitter to publicly demand “Don’t be Evil” (a cheeky nod to Google’s original ethos) whilst falling out with the search giant – Bing isn’t discriminating.
Google isn’t going to be able to pull info from Twitter or public posts from Facebook until relations are mended. In the meantime, Bing has a big open deal which could allow it to steal a march on Google.
The ramifications of this social focus, on both search engine optimisation and pay per click campaigns, could be huge. It would see an integrated Internet marketing approach, where search marketing and advertising is combined with social media.
Friend recommendations could become key selling tools, for instance. Group discounts for social groups with similar interests could be offered. It’s still early days, but the potential to create more joined-up marketing campaigns certainly exists.
Bing has been quick to point out that in a blindfolded taste test – much like those undertaken during the 1980s cola wars between Coke and Pepsi – search users preferred Bing’s search results to Google’s.
“We regularly test unbranded results, removing any trace of Google and Bing branding,” they said. “When we did this study in January of last year, 34% preferred Bing, whilst 38% preferred Google.
“The same unbranded study now shows that Bing search results have a much wider lead over Google’s. When shown unbranded search results, 43% prefer Bing, whilst only 28% prefer Google results.”
Of course, internal market research is hard to qualify. And Bing still needs to convince people to leave the relative comfort zone of Google and try something new.
If that works, though, then Google could face a real fight to maintain its position.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Google’s Penguin update has sent the SEO industry into something of an ironic flap.
Almost a fortnight after Penguin went live, webmasters are still moaning and complaining that Google got it wrong.
And in some cases, the detractors have a point.
Penguin was designed to destroy the dark arts of SEO. Black hat tactics – such as keyword stuffing, or paying for spammy inbound links – have been utilised by cheeky webmasters attempting to manipulate the rankings. And Google’s had enough.
Penguin aimed to torpedo sites which used keyword stuffing to trick spiders into thinking their content was relevant, whilst also blacklisting sites which had paid for dodgy incoming links in an attempt to falsify credibility.
But Penguin clearly hasn’t worked exactly as Google planned.
Search industry forums are reporting examples of apparently ‘white hat’, honest websites being downranked, with examples of horrific, spammy ‘black hat’ sites suddenly displaying on the front page of Google for completely unrelated search terms (see below).
The thing is, though, is that Penguin hasn’t altered much in reality. It’s certainly not a game changer.
Google has always had good practice guidelines. But it hasn’t always had a way to police whether sites are adhering to those guidelines.
Penguin, therefore, is essentially a Google search copper, plodding the everlasting beat that is the results pages, looking for traces of the notorious Internet crimelords Webspam and Spammy Links, and attempting to bring the perpetrators of online offences to justice.
Now, the problem. It’s bit like a search version of RoboCop – Penguin appears to have been appointed judge, jury and executioner by Google.
And that, it seems, is where the problem lies. Penguin is programmed – it has been coded to look for telltale signs of black hat SEO. It’s not a human, and it’s not capable of rational thought (unless Google’s keeping something from us).
As such, Penguin was always going to be prone to mistakes – especially after first launching. That in itself should account for the ‘funny behaviour’ reported by webmasters immediately after Penguin went live. Some went as far as to claim Penguin “broke Google” – others petitioned for the update to be reversed.
Google realises that placing arbitrary decision-making into the hands of a dumb robot isn’t going to reap foolproof results and is prepared to reinstate accidentally downranked websites.
Webmasters who feel unfairly punished by Google can flag up their complaint. Those meeting Google’s good practice guidelines should be reinstated as a result. Conversely, you can also report instances where spammy, rotten sites are returning high in the results when they really shouldn’t be.
This level of teething problems and fall-0ut clearly wasn’t part of Google’s intention with the Penguin update.
Google wanted Penguin to go some way towards levelling the playing field for search engine optimisation. Some feel it’s an attempt to push people towards paid ad-based Internet marketing.
It’s clear Google still has some work to do, either way.
And until then, those genuine sites which have lost rankings – and business as a result – are going to have to weather the storm.
Penguin wasn’t a game-changer – it was simply a means to enforce the ‘rules’ already laid out by Google.
Those who had got away with breaking, or just bending, the rules for some time have now been penalised. That may’ve meant some previously top-ranking sites suddenly plummeting.
Anyone adhering to Google’s best practice guidelines, on the whole, will have avoided a hammering from Penguin.
The cases where legitimate sites got downranked are few and far between, and Google has set up the right channels to rectify this. If Google refuses to reinstate a site, chances are, there’s some spam, links or some other ‘black hat’ problems somewhere.
That said, respondents on a handful of search forums have provided examples of spammy, rubbish websites which are now appearing on page one of Google.
One great example is to search “Paypal France”. The first page of results for this search returns no fewer than three websites selling viagra.
Not only are these sites totally unrelated to the search term “Paypal France” – they’re also stuffed with keywords.
In terms of content, it’s nasty. Really nasty.
In fact, these search returns are exactly what Google engineer Matt Cutts said Penguin would whitewash.
Yet, it hasn’t.
Even the page description, displayed directly under the website URL, shows how badly stuffed some of these pages are.
One reads: “During relative of pele’s observing sugar in brazil there was no rheumatoid film viagra paypal france.”
It’d be hard for anyone to argue that this search result:
i) makes any sense
ii) is of any use to anyone, ever
iii) is not blatant, keyword-stuffed spam
iv) should be on page one of Google for any search term other than “examples of ridiculous spammy content”
It’ll be interesting to see how these anomalies iron out in the coming weeks, and whether Google refreshes Penguin so it looks a lot more closely at the factors which might separate a genuine site from a fraud.
If they do, may I suggest this level of closer inspection should henceforth be known as ‘observing sugar in Brazil’?
The last big algorithm change from Google was called Panda. This one was Penguin.
Speculation is rife that Google is following a pattern with its search engine updates.
The obvious bits are: animals (cute ones at that), which begin with a ‘p’, and are black and white.
Guesses for next update name include Panther, and Pigeon (derived from vowel use: pAnda, pEnguin, pIgeon etc…).
On the black and white theme, some have posited that Google is separating ‘white hat’ tactics from ‘black hat’ tactics via the use of bestial metaphor.
I have my own theory behind the name, which takes us back to the ironic flapping of the SEO industry.
Take Google’s ‘average user’ – someone with little knowledge of anything. Google plays to the lowest common denominator.
If you don’t know anything about quantum theory, and you Google it, you’d want something reputable, trustworthy and reliable to return on the front page of the results. The same goes for any search term.
With webspam sites, you might get a top search result which says “Quantum Theory” on the page name, and includes the phrase in the description too. But on closer inspection, a bunch of other, unrelated words are in the description. This is known as keyword stuffing.
Click the link, and you won’t find a repository of sparkling information about relativity, worm holes, or physics. No. You’ll probably get a bunch of bad links, nonsense sentences, and the odd advert for a miracle diet instead.
In search terms, that result is useless.
Now imagine you’re looking for a bird. You’d expect a bird to fly, right?
Only, Penguins can’t fly.
So perhaps, Penguin was designed to root out sites which seem genuine, which look like they are fit for purpose, but, on closer inspection, are actually technically useless. Like a Penguin’s wings.
Or maybe I’ve overcomplicated it.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
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.
Pay per click marketing strategies have been given a boost by a new Google tool which claims to show whether a paid ad has been viewed or not.
PPC, or paid search, involves a strategic approach to keywords and display. Unlike organic online marketing, known as search engine optimisation or SEO, which can take months to build, PPC provides a far quicker click journey directly to a sale.
Users searching for a specific products can be given a choice of paid ads – so if they’re searching because they know they want to buy, marketers give customers a direct avenue to the purchase the products they want.
It’s therefore important to ensure potential customers get the right information about right products when they click your PPC ads. Getting the correct landing page could mean the difference between a sale or a bounce.
Whilst strategies understandably focus on these important facets of paid-for internet marketing: like click rate, bounce rate, and conversions, it’s not always been possible to report on the actual visibility of an advert.
Now, Google has said a new tool will give marketers even more information about their PPC marketing campaigns.
The Active View addition is designed to show marketers when an ad has been viewed – meaning advertisers could only pay for adverts that users see. Of course, traditional marketing has always had a more “fish in barrel” approach: pay for advertising (on TV, in newspapers, on radio), and hope that interested customers see or hear your ad.
Online marketing provides a greater opportunity to measure ad engagement. The effectiveness of a full-page ad in a national newspaper could be measured by a spike in inquiries or sales following publication, but this is hardly hard and fast analysis.
If Google is able to program Active View to give a real statistical analysis of ad views – rather than an educated guess – it could become an invaluable way to cut spend and increase conversions at the same time.
Google’s quantification will use the Interactive Advertising Bureau standard: a “seen ad” will be seen on-screen for more than a second.
Even without the ability to track ad views, paid search marketing remains an incredibly effective form of internet marketing: one which can create incredible returns with the right strategic approach.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies.
Search engine optimisation remains one of the most effective forms of internet marketing.
All good internet marketing strategies should pay attention to organic search initiatives to ensure a steady flow of search traffic to a target site.
Whilst paid search is becoming more prevalent amongst both search engines and social media networks, organic queries remain the biggest source of traffic, according to stats from Search Engine Journal.
They’ve broken down some of the more surprising SEO stats to show just how important a good optimisation strategy can be: even if it doesn’t yield results immediately, a patient, strategic approach will eventually pay dividends.
The stats show that 70% of links clicked on by search users are organic, with 70% to 80% of users saying they never click on paid ads. 75% said they never scroll past the first page of results.
Companies who post regular blogs have, on average, 434% more indexed pages than those who do not – but only 81% of businesses consider their blogs to be an important asset.
Search remains the number one source of traffic for a website – it’s a better drive than social media by 300% according to a study by Outbrain.
More than 100 billion global searches occur every month, with Google owning 65-70% of the market share.
Mobile devices are becoming a popular choice for search, too: there were 97.3 million mobile internet users in 2011. This year, that number is expected to top 113.9m. Of those users, 72.8m will be “mobile shoppers” in 2012.
The figures speak for themselves: SEO remains an absolutely vital component of online marketing.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
The ‘throttling’ of Facebook and Twitter results on Google – with evermore rare occurrences of either site popping up on the first page – has made social media marketing on either site somewhat isolated.
Of course, both Facebook and Twitter would love to be ranked more highly by Google: but it’s become a case of ‘tough luck’ for both sites since the search giant launched Google+.
Google are a savvy bunch: trying to launch a new social network whilst giving equal weight to your competitors – despite screams of antitrust breach – is not a good business practice.
As such – and you’ve probably noticed this – Google has made huge efforts to make Google+ profiles as visible as possible online. This includes great organic search rankings, as well as notable mentions in Google News searches where the author of an article has linked to their Google+ profile.
Combined with Google’s seemingly common preference to stick YouTube video results near the top of SERPs, it’s fast becoming obvious that pouring Internet marketing efforts into Google platforms has the potential to yield better results, especially if you’re able to cross-combine your campaign to maximise +1s, YouTube referrals, organic rankings, and content pointers for your freshly-written articles.
Facebook has launched an IPO which will trigger a wave of new money-making moves on the site: things which marketers previously enjoyed for free will dry up, meaning serious budgets will be needed to take advantage of the potential 800-million user reach of the site.
Google+, on the other hand, isn’t quite ‘there’ in the popularity stakes yet to monetise.
Get in fast before it does and there are some immediate benefits for your SEO. Here are two very simple benefits of setting up a Google+ account which will help support existing SEO campaigns.
Organic boosts:
Google+ pages rank really well – and with Facebook and Twitter failing to reach search agreements, Google+ profiles look set to remain the search result of choice on Google. Getting your personal profile sorted, and linked back to your company, allows you far greater visibility: producing regular industry-related content will set you apart from competitors and solidify you as an ‘expert’ in your field, without the need for huge swathes of keywords. Obviously, SEO remains very important, but Google+ provides a ready-made boost for your SEO campaign which shouldn’t be ignored.
Get recommended:
Whilst Facebook ‘likes’ flag up popular pages for Facebook users, Google’s +1 feature puts hearty recommendations all over Google’s portion of the web. Rather than relying on insular Facebook referrals by creating popular content, items on your Google+ account can be flagged up to every web user who utilises Google search. That’s nearly all of them, then.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies.
In any PPC marketing campaign it is important to ensure that your adverts are tested and optimised on a regular basis – according to Search Engine Watch, Bryan Eisenberg once stated that “successful companies run at least 30 tests a month.”
Not all companies will be able to run this many tests each month, but Noran El-Shinnawy has pinpointed six elements that you can focus on testing without a great investment of time.
Here are just a few of the elements she suggested:
Element 1 – Strong Headlines – Usually the first element of a PPC advert that a searcher sees, the headline needs to be strong enough to draw them in.
El-Shinnawy provides an example of a recent test; she writes: “In one recent test, the same exact body and URL of an ad remained the same, but the headline changed from “Does your CTR Suck?” to “Your CTR Sucks.” The result? A 52 per cent increase in click-through rate.”
The example shows that just by making a statement – rather than asking a question – click-through rates can be improved upon.
Element 2 – Include Keywords when Necessary – El-Shinnawy states that Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) can be great when creating PPC adverts, however it shouldn’t be abused.
She writes: “Mirroring keywords in your ads creates a tighter and more relevant search experience and increases your chances of winning more clicks.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Blekko, a recently founded search engine, has started testing search ads on its SERPs (search engine results page), according to an article published by Search Engine Watch.
Launched by Rick Skrenta in November 2010, Blekko has the backing of Russian search engine, Yandex, as well as a number of venture capitalists.
The site is currently working with a number of large brands via Google and Bing feeds, but according to SEW “doesn’t have direct relationships with any confirmed brands as of right now.”
The ongoing tests are currently small-scale, rendering the likelihood of PPC marketing campaigns being conducted on the site in the near future highly unlikely.
Skrenta stated that some of the ads are provided in searches linked to slashtags, adding: “We’re still ironing out the kinks.”
He also stated that Blekko would measure its success based on RPMs – revenue per mille (thousand), estimating that search traffic would be worth between $50 and $100 CPMs (cost per impression).
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Microsoft has unveiled a number of new improvements to its adCenter platform, according to an article published by Search Engine Watch.
Changes have been made to campaign budget overview, mobile ad targeting and the character limit in ad descriptions.
The character description length has been increased by one – from 70 characters to 71 – to match the limit featured on AdWords; the expansion of the word limit is expected to make running PPC marketing campaigns on multiple platforms much easier.
Microsoft have also added a budget overview gadget to adCenter’s dashboard. This provides a simple overview of the campaign’s budget without the need to install extra plug-ins or programs.
Mobile targeting has also been improved; adCenter now has the ability to tailor campaigns to target specific mobile devices.
Campaigns can also be designed to target different types of phone, such as Windows Phones or iPhones, and tablets utilising operating systems such as iOS or Android.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
