Author Archive - andy

Que the “bom bom” from Law & Order Special Victims Unit.

June 22^nd, 2010
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

As the PPC managers arrive at the scene of the crime, they find a bloodied and battered AdWords Report Center lying on the floor barely breathing. The culprit behind this vicious beating has left writing all over the room in which the victim lay, almost like a scene from The Shining:

“All work and no changes make Google a dull boy”

As the PPC managers leave the scene with the victim on a stretcher, they can only whisper to one another, “he’s a goner”. (more…)

Anyone who uses Google to search (pretty much the entire world right?) has probably noticed something different at the top of most Google search results lately.

Image Courtesy of McDonald's

If you are one of the few that hasn’t, well then it may be time to get your eyes checked because Google Sponsored Links has gone purple. Or is it pink?

In any case, the traditional pale yellow background of Google sponsored links is a thing of the past as of late July. So instead of being the 800 lb gorilla of search, I think it may be more appropriate to call Google the 800 lb blob of search in ode to the character in the image on the right.

Nonetheless, changing the background color of Google sponsored links for AdWords ads can have a significant impact on AdWords advertising, both for the positive and negative.
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When it comes to staying on top of the ever-changing world of Pay Per Click it is nearly impossible to keep up to date on the latest PPC news, findings, features, and other PPC paraphernalia. There are many vehicles great PPC information can be found in, but perhaps the greatest two resources are blog posts and Twitter updates from fellow PPC folk. These two types of resources not only provide advice and experience from real life PPC’ers (unlike newspaper articles from say the New York Times, which is still worthwhile in its own right) but they give a sense of humanity behind them thus making the information provided within each resource that much better.

Imagine for a second reading a blog post that has no personality and is simply dribble talking about the latest greatest AdWords extension. Sure you’re interested but is it really going to keep your attention long enough to get the writer’s thoughts, ideas, experience? Probably not. Compare this to a blog post from Alex Cohen or Brad Geddes and immediately you’ll see a difference and be more likely to take that information and apply it to your own PPC work. (more…)

Google Analytics is the preeminent web analytics tool used in today’s online world for several reasons including easy implementation, constant upgrades, and unlimited potential. Perhaps the greatest draw to Google Analytics is that it is completely free, which in the business world is almost unheard of these days. Given its unlimited potential and vast usage, what would your answer be to the following:

I’m going to provide an opportunity for any user to opt-out of tracking their navigation and behavior on your website, effectively making it seem as if they never visited your site or even existed?

This, in a nutshell, is what Google did a few weeks ago by releasing its Google Analytics Opt Out Browser Add-on which can be found here. Essentially, this opt out plug-in for the 3 major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome) prevents a website’s Google Analytics tracking code from collecting information if that user visits the site. I completely understand the call for online privacy and security measures, but let’s take a general look at how Google Analytics opt out can have a significant impact on not only the website/business in question but also online marketing agencies such as DragonSearch. (more…)

Let me be the first to say it’s been a while since my last blog post, but to my defense I was on vacation in Mexico and thankfully did not have any random PPC thoughts during that time.

Anway, on Tuesday Google announced a new AdWords feature that could eventually become a “game changer” in the realm of PPC: AdWords Campaign Experiments. This blog post on the Inside AdWords blog provides some very basic information on what exactly Adwords Campaign Experiments is, but the best way to get a feel for how powerful this feature could possibly be for improving your campaigns can be found here. It is important to note that this feature is currently limited to only those advertisers who submit a form with their Client ID, not MCC.

An Overview of AdWords Campaign Experiments

Have you ever wondered what effect changing your Max CPC for a single keyword would have on clicks, click through rate, average position, and conversions while avoiding possible seasonality issues or other “shocks” that may affect performance from week to week and month to month?

Well ladies and gentleman, Google has taken a giant step towards helping you answer this burning question. Essentially, AdWords Campaign Experiments allows you test changes in keyword level bids, new keywords, and new placements during the same time period as your current settings. For a more in-depth explanation here are three examples: (more…)

A few weeks ago, Google finally announced the release of its new rigorous certification program through various emails and this blog post. My response to this? It’s about time.

There are too many individuals and some agencies out there that simply pass the old basic AdWords certification test and think they can perform wonders on any PPC account. Well guess what, it takes more than just passing a basic test to have a firm grasp on the ins and outs of an AdWords account and more so strategizing towards improving performance based off of data from the account in question. Am I saying I’m all-knowing when it comes to PPC? Absolutely not and I don’t think I will ever be able to say that because of the ever changing facets and game that is PPC. (more…)

Just the other day Google made two announcements regarding Google Analytics:
1. The launch of its Google Analytics Apps Gallery
2. The soon to be released new AdWords reports in Google Analytics

Although on the surface these two announcements seem relatively small to say Google Remarketing or Search Funnels, both could have relatively long term impacts on the analysis of PPC and traffic in general.

Google Analytics Apps Gallery

The Apps Gallery, found here, is basically a list of Google Analytics apps created by developers that can be integrated into other various software packages and platforms.  For example, the Analyticator for WordPress provides the necessary code to enable Google Analytics on any WordPress blog while Excellent Analytics provides an Excel plug-in allowing the importation of analytics data into a spreadsheet. (more…)

Unlike my last random PPC related thought a few weeks ago about displaying multiple ads on a single Google search page, this week’s random moment is a little more deep and insightful.

How does Google determine which ad to display on overlapping keywords and am I being punished for the lack of common sense of other advertisers who use purely generalized or highly competitive keywords?

To clarify a little better, I want to use a real estate keyword themed example that should give an idea on what exactly I mean by the previous statement. (more…)

Unlike most of my other blog posts, this one will be very brief because I don’t have any other real information beyond what I am about to share with you. That said, I simply couldn’t wait to share the following opportunity.

Google is releasing a new ad extension that allows for videos to display within high performing ads. It is important to note right away that this extension is in limited beta right now so I doubt there are many advertisers using this new feature beyond movie companies and other relevant industries. Below is an example that I just found for the upcoming release of The Losers.

How will Video Extensions work?

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What is Promoted Tweets and How Do They Work?

Twitter officially launched its advertising platform yesterday titled Promoted Tweets along with a short little FAQ page in the Twitter Help Center here. With Promoted Tweets, advertisers can bid on keywords that are searched within Twitter so that tweets put forth by these advertisers will appear at the top of the search results. Essentially, advertisers are highlighting their Tweets.  For right now, Promoted Tweets is only available to select big-name advertisers including Starbucks, Best Buy, and Virgin America.

To many self-proclaimed “Social Media Gurus”, advertising on Twitter can be taken one of two ways:

1. PPC is now infringing on our realm
2. Finally I can be taken seriously when I say Twitter is having an impact on your business’s marketing (more…)