Posts Tagged ‘AdWords’

Google AdWords Reports & The Death of AdWords Report Center

August 31st, 2010 by Andy Groller

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

June 22nd, 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…)

Google Sponsored Links Go…Purple? Pros & Cons of the Change from Yellow

August 11th, 2010 by Andy Groller

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.

Google Sponsored Links Go Purple

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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Can You Display Multiple Ads on a Google Search Page?

April 8th, 2010 by Andy Groller

This is the question that randomly popped into my head this morning while getting ready to head into the office. Maybe it was the dull razor I was forced to use for shaving or maybe I’m just weird and think about PPC related topics every second of the day, but in any case it is quite a thought provoking topic.

Please keep in mind before reading any further that I do not encourage the following ideas and behaviors, nor do I think they are even legal.

My initial thinking on how to get two ads for the same business on a Google search page is as follows. (more…)

New Bing Preview Tool, Some Free PPC Webcasts, and The Internet Marketing Cookbook

September 18th, 2009 by admin

PPC Buzz of the Week – Friday 9/18/09

Bing’s New Ad Preview Tool

bingMSN has launched a new ad preview tool for Bing.com.  This tool allows you to see if your ads are showing without affecting the real search results, which is great news for advertisers as many were having trouble previewing their ads in results.  So what exactly does this tool show you?  (more…)

New Adwords Interface, Search On Steroids, and Text Ads Accompanied By Videos

September 11th, 2009 by admin

PPC Buzz of the Week – Friday 9/11/09

Google Adwords New Interface

Ok folks, so Google Adwords has now introduced some interesting new interface features which include custom alerts, filter options and spreadsheet editing.  SEM posted a great article on these new features and discussed their functions.  Adwords users can now set up alerts for cost, average CPC, CTR, Average Position and Number of Clicks and Impressions.  In addition to the ability to set up alerts, PPC marketers can now filter keyword reports based on factors such as impressions, cost and CTR.  (more…)

Agency Land, New Display Builder Templates, and Landing Page Optimization Tips.

September 4th, 2009 by Andy Groller

PPC Buzz of the Week – Friday 9/4/09

Google AdWords Training and Other Information for the Pros

AgencyLand

There are plenty of blog posts and webinars out there to educate the search advertising agency industry… to a certain extent. This week DragonSearch gained access to AgencyLand, an online resource center created by Google to educate the industry on not just AdWords but Google advertising across the board. I personally had never heard of AgencyLand prior to the email I received from our Google representative and it’s doubtful I’m alone in this unawareness. According to a somewhat old article (we’re talking Internet time here) from Rupal Parkeh at Advertising Age, AgencyLand is only in beta for select agencies.  Although DragonSearch just received its AgencyLand credentials, the content I’ve viewed so far is informative for all aspects of the industry even though it mainly revolves around Google products. (more…)

Microhoo, Google Caffeine, Bid Simulator, & More!

August 21st, 2009 by Andy Groller

PPC Buzz of the Week – Friday 8/21/09

Welcome PPC specialists, advertisers, enthusiasts, and blog readers. Each week, DragonSearch will be posting the PPC Buzz, a collection of hot topics around the PPC world that can aid in optimization, change the PPC game, or simply be interesting. So without further ado, let’s get to the PPC Buzz of the week!

Microhoo… Strategies to prepare you for the newly agreed Microsoft and Yahoo deal.

Microhoo

As we reported in our blog post Yahoo and Microsoft Agreement – It’s Impact on PPC, Microhoo as it’s being called will change the face of the paid search arena in the near future. With Bing’s search engine market share increasing and the integration of Yahoo paid search into Microsoft adCenter occurring in a little over a year, InhouseSEM.com has prepared 5 PPC Strategies to Prepare for Microhoo, which you can read here. There is no doubt these strategies can get you started in easing the inevitable transition of your Yahoo Sponsored Search campaigns into adCenter. I especially favor the idea of starting to pull Yahoo reports ASAP so you can gauge how the transition will affect your adCenter performance. I’m sure plenty more questions will arise once more information is known about exactly what will be occurring in this transition, but until then you should begin following these 5 basic strategies.

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YouTube PPC – Now Your Videos Can Have Direct Links to Your Site!

July 24th, 2009 by Andy Groller

Nearly every pay per click advertiser knows YouTube is owned by Google and thus within the “search partners” category of the typical AdWords account. In addition, YouTube offers a pay-per-click program specifically designed to promote your videos which is ironically called Promoted Videos. YouTube PPC is very similar to how a Google AdWords ad group is set up, with the advertiser centering the promotion around a central idea or theme, creating an ad, selecting paid keywords to trigger that ad, and so forth.

What’s great with YouTube pay per click is that the data, such as impressions, clicks, and click through rate, is displayed in the AdWords interface.

So when you’re optimizing your AdWords campaigns and keywords, your YouTube PPC data is right at your fingertips. The only problem I have found with this so far is that although the YouTube pay per click data is displayed, edits cannot be made without going into your YouTube account.

As said, YouTube PPC works the same way as AdWords/Sponsored Links. When a user visits YouTube and searches for something, for example “energy vitamins”, a section on the right side of the page displays Promoted Videos that are utilizing this phrase as a paid keyword. An example is displayed below:
Promoted Videos

If the user clicks on one of these Promoted Videos, they are then taken to the specific video’s page.

This is where YouTube has really made this program worthwhile.

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PPC Effect on Ecommerce: Immediate or Down the Road?

June 5th, 2009 by Andy Groller

In the PPC business you learn something new every day. Whether that new knowledge just rolled off the production floor or has been out there some time with you just finding out about it now, every tool and piece of data can ultimately help a client.

Something that has likely been around for awhile is the “Days to Purchase” report in the Ecommerce section of Google Analytics.  I first heard about this report the other day while listening to a webinar discussion lead by Analytics guru Avinash Kaushik and have become fascinated by its potential ever since. (more…)

Yahoo Sponsored Search Getting a Facelift

April 12th, 2009 by Andy Groller

As a PPC Specialist I am always astounded at the relatively large drop-off that exists between Google AdWords and Yahoo! Sponsored Search. Google has that “new car” feel with so many options and tools to make the driving experience that much better while Yahoo! has that “1970s car feel”. It works but it doesn’t have the same power or amount of options that the new car has….until now.

When I first looked at the email from Yahoo! advertising regarding an improvement in campaign and Sponsored Search options, one thought came to mind: “It’s About Time!”

Although the email is lacking punch in terms of specific information pertaining to the improvements, it does offer insight into what exactly Yahoo! is doing and also provides an opportunity for current Sponsored Search accounts to attend a free webinar outlining these new tools and how to maximize their potential.

In a few weeks, Yahoo! advertising will be joining Google in providing Ad Scheduling functionality. In essence, this option (commonly known as “day parting”) allows the account holder to determine when he or she wants ads to run and at what percentage of their keyword level bids. For example, I can now limit an ad for “blue widgets” to only run on Monday and Friday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and again at 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm because I have found these to be the days/times that offer the greatest potential of producing conversions (or any other metric you or your client deem as a top priority).

In addition, if I don’t want to suspend ads for the rest of the week (where it is not as profitable) I can simply reduce the cost percentage at which ads run. For example, the keyword “large blue widgets” has a keyword bid of $1.00. If Tuesday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm is one of the less profitable time periods of the week, I can reduce the bid cost by 50% so that the keyword only runs at a bid of $0.50.** The ad still runs during this time period because there is always a chance a conversion could occur, but it decreases potential costs. Also, you don’t have to continually go back and forth changing keyword bids to reduce costs like you would (I hope no one actually does) if this functionality was not available. This option has been offered in Google for awhile now, so I guess it was only a matter of time until Yahoo! Sponsored Search realized the potential opportunities in improving performance and increasing efficiency this functionality provides users.

In addition to this major improvement, Yahoo! will also be rolling out the red carpet for other enhancements that include demographic bidding, upgraded geo-targeting, and other bidding improvements.

Although I am unsure of what all these improvements encompass at this time, I will be able to provide more information and analysis after attending the webinar on March 19th.

Check back here after March 19th and see if these Yahoo! advertising improvements make me take back my “It’s About Time!” statement and replace it with either “What Were They Thinking?!” or a pat on Yahoo!’s back for getting this one right.

** Please note that you cannot (as far I am aware) do this for individual keywords, but rather only at the campaign level. This example is used just as a demonstration of how it works.



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