Thursday, 25 March 2010

Google provides more data on AdWords conversions

The Google AdWords blog has announced a new reporting feature for the conversion tracking function, allowing advertisers to gain a greater insight into the behaviour of searches prior to the point of conversion. Called AdWords Search Funnels, this new range of reports is gradually being rolled out to advertiser accounts and can be accessed from the Conversions section of the Reports menu.

Currently, the conversions that are tracked in AdWords - such as sales, contact enquiries, newsletter sign-ups etc - are attributed to the last advert and keyword someone clicks before making a conversion. As online advertisers are now trying to identify the 'attribution' of a conversion over a possible series of previous actions through a search engine or website, the existing conversion data is limited since it hides the fact that many customers perform multiple searches before finally converting.

The new AdWords Search Funnels should help advertisers to see the full picture by giving them a better insight into the ads their customers have interacted with during their shopping process. This is done through a new set of reports that describe the ad click and impression behaviour on Google that leads up to a conversion. In addition to the existing Top Conversions report, the Search Funnels reporting area consist of 7 reports including Assisted Conversions, First and Last Click Analysis, Time Lag, and Path Length.

The reports mirror the layout of Google Analytics, although AdWords advertisers don't have to use Analytics to view this data. By showing which ads customers clicked on before ultimately converting, Search Funnels give advertisers a more complete picture of the value of their keywords, ad groups and campaigns. The blog post provides a typical example of how this might work for a hypothetical company using AdWords.

This is a significant development by Google AdWords and extremely beneficial to advertisers to enable them to understand their conversion process more accurately. It also lays down a challenge to Yahoo!/Bing with their PPC service, to match this sort of tracking and reporting in their current systems and the new ones they are likely to be developing together.

NB: Search Funnel data is currently limited to search ads showing on Google.com, for ad impressions and clicks within 30 days of the conversion. However, this is likely to be expanded to all advertisers and versions of Google in the future once the reporting service comes out of beta.

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Friday, 5 March 2010

Google adds new function for brand advertisers

The Google AdWords blog has announced a new feature to help brand advertisers who use the AdWords content network. Although most AdWords campaigns are aimed at achieving a direct response from the advertising, brand advertisers tend to use display ad formats to raise awareness and purchase consideration for a product or service a person might buy at a later date (or often a combination of the two).

Google has now added a new feature which filters out "below the fold" inventory - that is, ads that might be served up onto a webpage, but are not actually seen by the user if they don't scroll down the page far enough to see the advert. This will enable brand advertisers to be more selective about where ads appear as the filter allows them to choose to show ads only in places that appear on the user's screen when the page loads, without requiring them to scroll down.

Google's blog says that with a host of different web browsers, monitor sizes, and screen resolutions, it's hard for advertisers to predict where an ad will land, since the same placement may appear differently on each user's screen. Therefore to simplify the process, Google has implemented a statistically driven solution to determine which ads are above and below the fold. This statistically driven model only considers ads "above the fold" if they are completely on-screen when the browser window loads.

This is an interesting development and one that should help brand advertisers monitor and control their advert performance and to get a better understanding of how well these work across different sites on the content network.

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Monday, 8 February 2010

Google roll out click-to-call phone numbers

The Google AdWords blog has announced the use of click-to-call numbers for advertisers targeting mobile users. This facility has now completed a stage of beta testing and is being rolled out to AdWords campaigns in Australia and worldwide. Google has been developing better options for AdWords advertisers to target Internet-capable mobile phone users, and the click-to-call option recognises the fact that many mobile searchers would prefer to call from the advert, rather than visit the website to find the number.

AdWords advertisers can now add a location-specific business phone number in the mobile ads, so that users can click the number to call the business immediately. Ads can be served based on user location, so that for companies with multiple locations or stores, a potential customer will see - and can click to call - the phone number of their nearest location. This new feature also makes it easier for advertisers to fully measure the results of their ads by allowing them to track how many calls they actually receive within the AdWords interface.

Google says that the beta trial demonstrated that those advertisers who participated saw improved click-through rates, plus they also received more visits to their websites in addition to incremental phone calls. The cost of a click to call will be the same as the cost of a click to visit a website.

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Monday, 11 January 2010

France considers taxing Google ads

A report by Reuters says that France is considering ways to tax Google for their advertising revenue, which is currently by-passing the tax system through the billings being made through Eire. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has apparently asked tax authorities to explore whether online advertising revenues of major search engines could be taxed in France as well as their home countries. He also said he wanted the French antitrust body to determine whether Google enjoys a dominant market position in online advertising.

These issues are nothing new and France has a long-held concern about the dominance of the US-owned Google search engine and several years ago had looked at developing a more Euro-centric search engine. The tax issue is also a concern in countries such as the UK and Australia, where the revenue from AdWords advertisers is billed through Eire and therefore avoids the local tax systems.

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Monday, 21 December 2009

Estimating the cost of poor Google AdWords management

New research prepared by Google AdWords specialists, Web Search Workshop, estimate that up to 20% of all AdWords advertising spend is wasted, due to poor campaign planning and management. This provides Google with extra income that gives little benefit to the advertiser and reflects some basic principles of effective AdWords campaigns that are not being followed by some companies.

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Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Google introduces new AdWords formats

In another announcement on the Google blog, the company has introduced some new AdWords formats for clients, at this stage limited to the US market. The article includes a number of examples of how additional content will be displayed for some advertisers within the AdWords format - this can encompass videos, additional links into a large website, location maps and product information (prices and images).

If these formats prove successful it will create new opportunities for advertisers as well as potentially a higher income for Google from certain adverts. It will also start to change the visual format and space taken up by the Sponsored Results on Google, as well as increase the clickthrough rates from these adverts.

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Thursday, 29 October 2009

Google's Promoted Videos available in Australia

In another new Google announcement, this time on the Google Australia blog, the launch of Promoted Videos provides a way for advertisers to place their video on related pages on YouTube and across the web. Like Google AdWords, this new service is an advertising program that anyone can use to help potential customers discover a relevant video.

Promoted Videos will help companies find a relevant audience wherever they are on the web, whether it's searching or watching videos on YouTube or browsing across Google's network of publisher sites. These video campaigns are targeted by keyword and priced on a cost-per-click basis. These campaigns can be purchased and managed directly in Google AdWords, where advertisers can place bids, select where the videos should appear (such as on relevant YouTube search results pages, video watch pages, and Google's publisher network), and set daily spending budgets.

Google's aim is to provide a single destination for the overall Google advertising management tools, as well as giving YouTube advertisers who are new to AdWords the access to additional campaign tools. There are also 'Call-to-Action overlays' in Promoted Videos, whereby advertisers will be able to add a clickable overlay to their videos, allowing them to drive viewers to a website off YouTube. This means that advertisers can track the performance of a video and whether viewers are converting into customers.

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Monday, 12 October 2009

Google trials new search ad pricing

An article by AdAge reports on a test that Google is running in the US for local search advertisers. In an attempt to attract more local advertisers to buy search ads, Google is experimenting with a new type of search advert and pricing system in the San Francisco and San Diego markets.

Google is offering local advertisers (or non-advertisers) a search ad for a flat fee. The fee is set by Google and based on the average that similar businesses are paying for a given keyword in that market. As the article states, the goal is to simplify search advertising for local businesses that may not want to bid on keywords or to set up and optimize a search campaign.

This is a more familiar model for local businesses, such as plumbers, electricians or restaurants, or any local business that has advertised in the Yellow Pages. However, Google is offering an additional option to link the advert to a Google voice number so that advertisers will know which calls are being referred from the search ad. This is something they have tested before and allows small businesses that don't have a website to test search advertising and track the performance of their ad.

These local advert tests come at a time when Google is nearing the end of an extensive review of its search advertising system which has taken place over the last 6 months (and known internally as AdWords 3.0, according to this article).

As part of this revamp, Google is trying to give more relevant results for local searches, which plays into its local strategy. A user who searches for a restaurant, for example, no longer has to specify where they are as this can be determined by their IP address or browser, and relevant local results are returned, along with a map. Although not a perfect model, it could enable Google to vastly expand its search offering to a much wider market.

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Thursday, 10 September 2009

Google launches new AdWords 'opportunities'

As part of their ongoing development of the new AdWords interface, Google has announced the roll-out of their 'Opportunities' function for advertisers. This is a new section in the AdWords account interface that is designed to give advertisers additional cost-effective traffic through search term suggestions based on the existing campaign structure.

The Opportunities tab can be used as a way to further optimise an AdWords account. It provides a quick overview of Google's customised keyword and budget suggestions for active campaigns and adgroups. Advertisers can also compare the potential impact of different ideas before they make any changes, so for example they can increase the keyword coverage for a specific product, or have adverts appear more often for existing keywords.

This is the type of strategy that professional AdWords advertisers should be using on a regular basis, but for others it brings to the fore some of Google's existing tools that can help a campaign, or if not used carefully, enhance Google's revenue!

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Wednesday, 5 August 2009

Google introduces bid simulator tool for AdWords

After having tested this new function on selected accounts, Google has announced the launch of their new bid simulator tool within the AdWords management interface. The tool can be used by advertisers to view the potential impact of a different bid level within the advertising results for each term. Although Google is quick to point out that it can't predict the future, the bid simulator does allow users to explore what could have happened if they had set different keyword-level bids.

Using data from the past 7 days, the bid simulator re-calculates the number of impressions for which an advert could have shown had the advertiser chosen a different maximum CPC, how many clicks the ad could have received for those impressions and how much those clicks could have cost. Although the figures are, of course, estimates based on expected behaviour and recent trends, the tool does provide some increased transparency into the AdWords auction and gives users some more data to help make more informed bidding decisions.

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Tuesday, 7 July 2009

Google's Quality Score facts

Ever since Googe introduced the Quality Score as a core factor in the AdWords PPC system, it has become an issue of some confusion and debate in terms of how it works and the impact that it can have on the bid management of a campaign. Google's AdWords Agency blog has been running a series of 'facts of the week' posts, which help to clarify or dispel some of the myths about how the Quality Score works and the impact that it can have.

Examples of recent facts covered have been: A higher bid will not improve your Quality Score; Quality Score does not suffer when your ads are paused or showing infrequently; Restructuring your account does not cause you to lose your historical Quality Score information. The explanation of these issues can be found in the blog and further facts will be published in coming weeks, all of which can be accessed through the link above, or by using the Quality Score label in the Google blog.

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Friday, 3 July 2009

Google improves new AdWords interface

As Google continues to roll out the new interface for the AdWords management system, they are also responding to feedback on issues with the system. Their AdWords blog provides the latest update on improvements being made, not least the slower load time of the new interface and the difficulty in viewing all the columns on smaller screen resolutions.

Regardless of these issues, the new tools provided by the interface are welcome and, once adjusted to the new layout and structure of the account management, this has been a positive move. Google continues to provide good help files and online support for users of the new interface, through their blog, web help pages, videos and webinars.

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Friday, 26 June 2009

Google rolls out new AdWords interface

Google is currently rolling out the new management interface for AdWords advertisers, with some accounts still going through a transition stage, where both the old and new versions can be used, and others now fully converted to the new layout and functionality. There are some clear advantages with the new interface in terms of managing an AdWords campaign, but there are also still teething problems, not least of which is the comparatively slow load times.

Google has been doing a lot to educate and train AdWords advertisers on the new system, with a series of webinars, videos and blog postings, including this latest one as part of their 'New Interface Thursday' series of articles. It will take some time for advertisers to get fully conversant with some of the changes but in the long term, this move will be seen as a good benefit for users to understand and improve their campaign performance.

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Monday, 25 May 2009

Is there any mystery over Google's missing millions?

The Sydney Morning Herald has published a story about the apparently low revenues reported from Google's Australia business, despite the high estimated revenues being received from search advertising.

The article says that Google Australia booked just under $90 million for the year ending December 31 2008, according to documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. However, Google is estimated to have received $800 million in revenue from AdWords advertisers across the country, based on IAB figures.

Not surprisingly, Google has refused to comment about the article and continues to keep the details of its revenue sources secret.However, as most AdWords advertisers in Australia know, the billings for their campaigns are channelled through the Google office in Eire, where the revenues are going to be lost amongst the wider European income streams and, as far as Google is concerned, protected from the prying eyes of journalists and, more importantly, competitors.

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Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Google opens up trademark bidding

An article on Search Engine Land indicates that Google is to relax its trademark restrictions for AdWords advertisers across more countries. A Google representative is stated as saying that "As of June 4th, Google will no longer investigate complaints relating to the use of trademarks as keywords by AdWords advertisers. This means that in the affected regions, a company advertising on Google will be able to select trademarked terms as keywords, and a user searching with a trademarked keyword may see a greater number of relevant ads in the sponsored links section, giving them greater choice."

Google was already allowing this use of trademark bidding in North America and had also relaxed the rules for the UK and Ireland last year. This new move will mean that advertisers will now be able to bid against trademarked terms as a keyword, if desired. Google says that their aim is "to provide our users with the most relevant information, from both search results and advertising. We are making this change because we want to give users greater choice and to help them make informed decisions."

There will clearly be implications with this change, both for advertisers wishing to bid against trademarked terms as well as those companies wishing to protect their trademarks within the Google search results.

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Monday, 4 May 2009

Google's whitepaper on Content Network performance

Google recently published a whitepaper on the performance of their Content Network - where AdWords advertisers can extend their advertising reach to third-party websites, based on the related page content matching the targeted keywords.

Google says that the Content Network is the "world's #1 ad network" since it reaches more than 80% of global Internet users. Six billion ad impressions are served each day across hundreds of thousands of these Content Network websites and so Google has analyzed conversions, cost, and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) on the Content Network compared to the main Search Network, across thousands of accounts and many geographic regions.

The results from the analysis indicated that adverts on Google's Content Network can be an effective way to gain additional conversions beyond the main search coverage, with the median advertiser seeing a content CPA within about 2% of their Search CPA. Also the survey found that the Content Network drives nearly 20% of total conversions for the median advertiser, plus conversion rates were higher for advertisers who used either of two AdWords campaign management controls: the Conversion Optimizer and site exclusion.

Certainly Google's Content Network has improved its performance significantly over the past 2-3 years since Google started to provide more performance data and management tools for this channel. In a recent post on the Google AdWords blog, more information has been provided by Google as to why the recent findings reported such a similar cost-per-acquisition on the content and search networks, which is primarily due to the use of the smart pricing system - a feature that automatically reduces the price advertisers pay for clicks if Google's data shows that a click from a Content Network page is less likely to result in a conversion.

These findings have to be viewed with some care as Google clearly has a clear motive to promote greater use of the Content Network and their automated bid pricing system. Their tips and recommendations direct advertisers down this route and while the Content Network should be tested with tracking mechanisms in place, the results will clearly vary for different advertisers and markets, plus some good initial campaign management is required to get the best results possible.

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Thursday, 30 April 2009

Tips for using Google AdWords and Analytics

Google's 'Inside AdWords' blog has just completed a series of short posts about how AdWords and Analytics can best be used together. More and more search engine advertising campaigns through Google AdWords are linking in the Google Analytics data as well to get a better insight into how keywords are performing once searchers visit a site. These 4 posts by Google cover tips and advice about using these 2 tools together and include links to additional resources.

The first article introduces the series of articles and provides links to a series of short videos on how to use Google Analytics. The second post looks at linking the AdWords and Analytics accounts and then how to track revenue generated by the PPC adverts.

The third blog article explains how to identify the keywords that lose money and how to calculate the ROI of a campaign. The final article covers ways to find the best keywords and ad positions that drive revenue.

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Monday, 16 March 2009

Google announces 'interest-based' advertising

Google has announced a new feature for AdWords advertisers that will be launched as part of the third-party content network (AdSense). In addition to matching ads with the topic of a web page through contextual advertising, advertisers will now be able to reach users based on their interests, independent of the content they are currently reading.

With this new interest-based advertising - which is being introduced in beta for selected advertisers initially - companies will be able to advertise to users based on their previous interactions with them, such as visits to their website. A number of interest categories will be offered, such as "sports enthusiasts," so that targeting can be improved to drive brand awareness or increase advert responses.

Google has been looking to add this type of feature for some time, following the user-profile options offered by Microsoft's adCenter PPC tool in the US. This latter system is supported by Microsoft's network of user details from Hotmail or Messenger, whereas Google has been lacking that level of targeting data. However, Google is now developing a base of information on user habits and offers searchers the additional relevancy that interest-based ads can provide. Users can visit the new Ads Preferences Manager to see what interest categories Google thinks they might fall into, or they can add and remove categories themselves. This Ads Preferences Manager can be found by clicking on most "Ads by Google" links on ads throughout the web.

The question will be how many web searchers will provide their details or be comfortable with the privacy issues that drive this new service. Clearly more relevant advertising should be of interest to most people, but the ways of serving that up may not be so acceptable. Google's official blog has also posted an article explaining the new system and outlining how they are making the option transparent to users, in the hope that they will encourage a wider uptake of this service for the benefit of advertisers and web users.

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Thursday, 22 January 2009

Google adds features to Local Business Ads

As Google's Local Business Adverts become a more popular feature within localised search results, the Google AdWords blog has announced the addition of new features to this option within Google Maps.

Firstly, a local business ad will now feature new interactive links within the panel for the business, that are designed to provide more information for users and to connect them to the business quicker. Previously, this panel would only provide a link to the business website but now users will be able to interact with the info window to get the information they’re looking for about the business, such as "Get Directions," "Street View" (where available), and "Save to My Maps."

Google AdWords will also be adding a new interaction report for local business ads in the near future. This report will help advertisers to assess the activity through the local business ads and the return on investment, with such information as how many users opened the info window and clicked on each of the new interactive links.

Google says that Maps users are often looking for different information than Search users so that these new interactive links and the reports should help customers connect with a business faster as well as help the advertiser understand how to better target Maps users versus Search users.

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Tuesday, 9 December 2008

Google AdWords for the iPhone

Google's AdWords blog has announced a new campaign management option for advertisers who want to display their text and image ads onto the new range of phones that offer full HTML Internet browsers, such as the iPhone and the new T-Mobile G1 (Google's new application service).

This new option will allow advertisers to create exclusive campaigns for these new generation phone and view separate performance reporting. Google says that these new iPhone / G1 ads have many of the same benefits as the standard mobile-format ads - such as delivering mobile-specific calls-to-action and reaching an audience when they're on the go - plus they say that with more users now performing searches on these devices, these searches are likely to go up during the holiday season. According to the blog, the iPhone drove more traffic last Christmas to Google.com worldwide than any other mobile platform.

The other main benefit to advertisers is that, unlike standard mobile ads, adverts don't need to be reformatted to show them on these Internet phones, since as they operate with full Internet browsers, it's possible to display the standard AdWords ads and landing pages on these devices without having to modify them.

This is likely to become a much larger part of a PPC campaign for many local targeted advertisers over the coming years and the new option from Google recognises the need for targeting and tracking this new sector.

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Thursday, 20 November 2008

Google's new Search-Based KeyWord Tool

The Google AdWords blog has announced another new tool for advertisers, although at this stage it's one that is only available in the US and UK markets. The Search-Based Keyword Tool links into PPC advertiser accounts and provides some better data on what potential customers may be searching for and which keywords should be targeted by the advertising campaign.

This new tool is currently in beta phase and initially looks to be very similar to the current keyword research tool offered by Google. However, the advantage of this tool is that instead of starting with the searcher's keywords, this one begins in the opposite direction by analysing the advertiser's landing pages and identifying keywords that potential customers are searching on to find their products or services.

The new tool therefore claims to display better search query data relevant to a website's content, thereby identifying highly relevant keywords that are not currently part of the existing AdWords campaigns and so potentially allowing advertisers to take advantage of missed opportunities. Early tests of this tool have not revealed notable differences to existing campaigns and the suggested keywords have been quite broad, but with further development by Google this could become an essential tool for all advertisers to help refine their PPC campaigns.

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Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Google AdWords reveal more stats

Google AdWords advertisers will have noticed a new range of statistical options that have just been introduced to display search coverage and performance metrics. As the Google AdWords blog has announced, the Campaign and AdGroup summary reports now display additional view options from a drop-down menu.

Previously, the summary stats for either Search or the Content Targeted network were shown, but now advertisers can view their campaign details for more options, including the slit between Google-only search and advertising coverage of Google's search partners. This enables users to get better data on the performance of their AdGroups on the different advertising channels offered through Google AdWords and therefore to adjust coverage or bids as necessary.

Google also reports that this additional data analysis will also be available within the Report Centre shortly.

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Thursday, 16 October 2008

Google's 'Quality Score' explained

The Official Google Blog has posted an overview of the Quality Score system used within the AdWords pay-per-click advertising system. It explains in simple terms how and why this system is used and what it means for advertisers, with the underlying issue of relevancy and value of a keyword or advert providing more benefit to the searcher and the advertiser.

As Google states in the post: "The quality score gives search engines a way of aligning the incentives of the buyers, the sellers, and the viewers of ads. The search engine wants to sell ad impressions, but advertisers want to pay for clicks. The solution is for advertisers to bid on a cost-per-click basis, while the search engine estimates the total value of the ad over time: bid per click times the expected number of clicks."

The post finishes by asking why quality scores are important - to which the answer is that "they lead to a better auction by allowing advertisers to buy clicks, publishers to sell impressions, and users to see relevant ads".

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Monday, 22 September 2008

Google AdWords amends privacy link

Google AdWords have announced that the conversion tracking code supplied to advertisers now has an option not to be displayed on a website. Unlike Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter, Google's PPC tracking code has always displayed a small line of text on the page that's displayed once an action has been submitted. This has always been there to 'comply with privacy requirements' but also helps to promote Google's involvement on an advertiser's website.

So advertisers who use this code now have the option to hide the 'Google Site Stats' line of text and link to Google's privacy page. Existing advertisers will need to revise their existing code to remove this line, if required. New advertisers, or users of the conversion tracking code, are warned by Google if they choose to hide the link, that they should inform their website users about the tracking methods being used on the site through the site's privacy policy.

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Tuesday, 9 September 2008

New geographic report included in AdWords

The Google AdWords blog has announced the introduction of a new report format available to their PPC advertisers. The Geographic Performance report provides users with data on the geographic distribution of impressions, clicks, and conversions down to the ad group level. This data reflects the IP address location of searchers who click on the ads and can help advertisers see where the best traffic is coming from and therefore enable better location targeting within any campaign.

Data is shown by day over the selected period and breaks down the number of impressions by country, region and city / suburb, depending on the information available from the campaign. With conversion data being included as well, this is another way for advertisers to review and refine their campaigns to those geographic areas that are performing most effectively.

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Friday, 5 September 2008

Google's '10 Steps to Online Promotion'

Google have launched a new online tool in Australia called '10 Steps to Promote Your Business Online'. The new Flash website has subtle branding so that it doesn't appear to be a mainstream Google product and is mainly intended to be used as a promotional tool and guide for small businesses to introduce and encourage them to use Google AdWords to market their website.

It's a simple to use and cleverly designed site that helps to lead new online marketers through the process of setting up a marketing plan and an online marketing (PPC) campaign for their own specific business, all linked closely to Google's products and services. Users are led through the 10 steps with simple stages to read and input their own requirements, with the option to save their plans at any point (and therefore a good data collection tool for Google).

It can take some time to work through but can be a good starting point for small businesses who have little knowledge or experience of this sector and want the 'hand-holding' to develop a campaign for themselves.

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Tuesday, 26 August 2008

Google AdWords makes changes to Quality Score

At the end of last week the Google AdWords blog announced some significant improvements to their Quality Score system. The changes are that, firstly, Quality Score will become more accurate because it will be calculated at the time of each search query. Secondly, keywords will no longer be marked 'inactive for search' and finally the notification of 'first page bid' will replace 'minimum bid' in an account.

The first change is particularly notable in that Google is now replacing the static Quality Score system for each keyword with one that will evaluate an advert's quality each time it matches a search query. This means that AdWords will use the most accurate, specific, and up-to-date performance information when determining whether an ad should be displayed, which Google says will mean that adverts will be more likely to show when they're relevant and less likely to show when they're not.

In Google's quest for relevancy, this change should also mean that searchers are likely to see better ads and advertisers should receive leads which are more highly qualified. This is clearly going to be a very 'fluid' system that adds further calculations to the position and cost of each advert and will require further focus from advertisers to improve their campaign metrics.

Google had previously identified under-performing terms within each campaign and marked them 'inactive for search' - this is now changing so that terms will be available for advertisers to use and bid against, although they are likely to still have a low quality score and not perform particularly well, even with higher bid levels.

The final change is also notable in that the 'minimum bid' notification for each search term is now changing to a 'first page bids' figure, which is an estimate of the bid level required to place an advert on the first page of Google's search results. These figures are based on the exact match version of each keyword, the ad's Quality Score and current advertiser competition on that keyword. This will be a more useful figure for advertisers and give some better insight into the competitive nature of each search term as well as guidance on the necessary bid levels to achieve first place position - which is also likely to help Google push up the average bid levels across the market.

These notified changes to the Quality Score system are gradually being introduced to advertisers but are likely to be widely available within the next few months ready for the pre-Christmas peak of advertising for many e-commerce companies.

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Monday, 4 August 2008

Tracking issues between Google AdWords and Analytics

A recent post on the Google Analytics blog helps to explain some of the issues surrounding the auto-tagging of a Google AdWords account so that the data is automatically recorded and displayed within Analytics, if both options are being used. Because the auto-tagging creates a dynamic parameter that's attached to the link URL from the AdWords advert, this can sometimes create issues for websites.

The blog clearly explains how the tagging parameter works and ways that this can be tested before implementing the link, depending on the URL structure of a website. It also reminds users of possible issues if redirects are used through third-party tracking systems, or sometimes servers may block or remove the gclid parameter that AdWords adds to the PPC advert links. In some cases, problems with auto-tagging mean that AdWords links need to be manually created and the blog post finishes with guidelines on doing this.

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