Enterprise SEM is written by search marketers running massive search advertising campaigns. Running large budget campaigns with millions of keywords can be an entirely different animal than running less complex ad campaigns. Additional details, such as more complex ROI metrics, optimizing efficiently, managing creatives and automation become the focus of such campaigns. Experts share real-life experience and perspective to running search campaigns of such scale.

Why You Should “Bing It On” In Your Online Marketing

Jun 13, 2013 at 9:38am ET by Kerin Foster

Bing commercials have been running rampant on TV lately -- they have amped up their service and definitely have something to prove. Among other things, they're becoming increasingly integrated into Windows 8, possibly increasing public interest in Bing. For many people (online marketers in particular), there is a tendency to forget that Bing even exists -- after all, Google is the head honcho. But market shares are increasing for Bing, having recently risen to above 17%. Bing also has some great things to offer marketers. They currently have a lovely SEO Analyzer, for example, and have [...]

Optimizing Google Enhanced Campaigns: Success Starts At Migration

Jun 6, 2013 at 9:15am ET by Matt Ackley

In February of this year, Google made headlines with its launch of enhanced campaigns. Since the initial outpouring of both interest and concern, advertisers have been seeking to understand how enhanced campaigns will not only reshape their campaign structures and strategies, but also how this will impact their ability to acquire revenue. With the July 22, 2013 migration deadline fast approaching, the attention has shifted from "why" to "how." How do search marketers efficiently migrate to enhanced campaigns and optimize them to ensure post-migration success? During this critical time pe [...]

Will Enhanced Campaigns Drive Mobile CPCs Down?

May 30, 2013 at 9:07am ET by Mark Ballard

There are two pieces of conventional wisdom surrounding Google's Enhanced Campaigns that seem to get tossed around a lot without much thought or examination. The first is that this new campaign model will make it easier for small advertisers to get into the mobile advertising game. The second related piece is that Enhanced Campaigns will likely lead to higher mobile CPCs and that this is one of Google's primary motivations for changing its model. I have personally been guilty of echoing both of these sentiments to varying degrees -- but as we get closer to the mandatory transition in Jul [...]

Welcome To The Mobile Era Of Search

May 23, 2013 at 9:01am ET by Josh Dreller

It’s rare when you can pinpoint the moment of a major game changer for an industry to a single day. Usually, these shifts happen over time; and then one day, you look back and realize how momentous a particular event really was. For paid search, there have been many catalysts that have accelerated the industry, most of which were not even specifically search related. For example, the widespread availability of consumer-priced, high-speed Internet access took years to mature and was the result of multiple global telecoms working in parallel. This development led to more daily time spe [...]

How to Automate AdWords Ad Creation & Landing Page Checks

May 16, 2013 at 9:05am ET by Frederick Vallaeys

Automating AdWords as much as possible is every advertiser’s dream, especially when dealing with the massive accounts we see in enterprise-level SEM. This article provides a few examples of how we at Top Tier Marketing have automated some of the more laborious tasks of running AdWords. Hopefully, these examples will give you some ideas for your own accounts. There’s even a full script that should work by simply copying it into your own account toward the end of this post. Automate AdWords Ad Creation From Your Catalog [caption id="attachment_158965" align="alignright" width="212"] F [...]

Advanced Paid Search Bidding Solutions: 5 Must-Have Capabilities

May 9, 2013 at 9:36am ET by Jason Young

In the competitive paid search landscape, advertisers rely on sound bidding strategies to drive clicks and conversions, and ultimately acquire more revenue. However, business and bidding requirements that vary significantly across industries, publishers, devices, and geographies create a highly complex auction environment. To address this complexity and satisfy bidding requirements, search marketers lean on a wide variety of proprietary, publisher and third-party bidding solutions for calculating optimal bids. Unfortunately, of the solutions that are characterized by the six core attribute [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM

Relax, The Search Industry Is Doing Just Fine

May 2, 2013 at 9:24am ET by Mark Ballard

For enterprise SEM practitioners looking to set budgets or otherwise anticipate their needs in the space for the months and years ahead, it's been a particularly difficult time to get a read on how the industry is really trending. Conflicting data and opinions abound; new threats to the hegemony of search, real or just perceived, continue to spring up; and, there are times when all of us may wonder just how much the numbers are actually changing and whether we should be concerned. Case in point: comScore recently showed U.S. core searches increasing 11% year-over-year to hit an all-time [...]

A Good Start For Paid Search In 2013

Apr 25, 2013 at 9:40am ET by Josh Dreller

It's April, which means that spring is here and the first quarter of 2013 is in the books! The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and the ads are clicking. Aren't the landing pages pretty at this time of year? At Kenshoo, we sit on some massive data sets that we share each quarter in our Global Search Advertising Trends reports. You can download the full Q1 2013 report here; but, let's dive in and look at some of the highlights. Note: In the report, you can read about our methodology to see how we arrived at these numbers, so I won't go into that here. Just know that our [...]

4 Ways To Take Your AdWords Scripts To The Next Level

Apr 19, 2013 at 3:50pm ET by Frederick Vallaeys

Last week, I presented at HeroConf in Austin and shared some advanced tips for automating AdWords account management with an audience of PPC account managers. They seemed to like what I had to say; so, I’ll share a few of the more advanced scripting tips with you here. When you manage PPC accounts, you likely experience at least one of these two frustrations: You know exactly what you should be doing, but there aren’t enough hours in the day to get it done You’ve bought a tool that automates AdWords account management, but you find yourself locked into a cookie-cutter solution t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM | Google: AdWords | How To: PPC | How To: SEM

6 Requirements For A Sound Paid Search Bidding Strategy

Apr 11, 2013 at 10:15am ET by Jason Young

[caption id="attachment_154994" align="alignright" width="225"] Courtesy of Marin Software[/caption] Whether it’s to drive traffic, increase conversions, or maximize revenue, bid optimization is the cornerstone of any effective paid search program. Across industries, publishers, devices, and geographies, bidding strategies vary tremendously as search marketers leverage a wide variety of proprietary, publisher, and third-party bidding tools and solutions. However, the success of these tools and solutions is tied to their ability to not only address the needs of the advertisers, but also [...]

3 Location Requests For Enhanced Campaigns

Apr 4, 2013 at 11:48am ET by George Michie

The shift to Enhanced Campaigns is important to every advertiser, but critically important to Enterprise programs, particularly those with meaningful brick and mortar footprints. The reality of Enhanced Campaigns today doesn't create much urgency to switch over. We don't get any more controls, and in fact, we lose some. However, the near-term future of EC is very exciting, particularly with respect to improved location targeting. Chain business operations from retailers, to package delivery firms, to insurance companies with local agents will see the true benefits of the new structure; h [...]

Do You Really Need An Agency To Help Manage Large Campaigns?

Mar 28, 2013 at 3:20pm ET by David Rodnitzky

[caption id="attachment_83846" align="alignright" width="240"] Image via Shutterstock[/caption] The in-house versus agency debate is largely over because for 90% of businesses, it is no longer possible to run a significant (large budget/large volume) online marketing program without agency help. Since I'm an online marketing agency CEO, it'd be fair of you to accuse me of bias and self-interest in making this statement, but please put away the rotten tomatoes until you have at least heard my argument. For what it's worth, it's an informed one; I spent eight years as an in-house SEM and [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM

Workarounds To Make Enhanced Campaigns More Flexible

Mar 21, 2013 at 12:46pm ET by Frederick Vallaeys

Last week at SMX West, I was on the "SEM Best Practices Debate" panel. Several of the topics we debated were related to Enhanced Campaigns, clearly something on the minds of search marketers these days. This month, I’ll recap a few take-aways from the event and share some ideas for workarounds and automation that may make your transition to Enhanced Campaigns a bit easier. Does It Make Sense To Target Tablets & Desktops In The Same Campaign? This debate topic was a tongue-in-cheek jab at Enhanced Campaigns which make the answer largely irrelevant since splitting out desktops and tablet [...]

Do Tablet Trends Support Google’s Shift To Combine Desktop & Tablet Targeting?

Mar 14, 2013 at 12:37pm ET by Matt Lawson

In the last three years, on the heels of Apple’s debut iPad in 2010, the rapid proliferation of tablet devices has changed the way consumers and advertisers interact across the paid search landscape. Consumers now rely on their tablets more than ever before to gain instant access to local business information, product details and reviews, coupons, and competitors. The way tablets are used by consumers has resulted in a seismic shift in thinking from Google. [caption id="attachment_150904" align="alignright" width="320"] Image from Google Enhanced Campaigns microsite[/caption] In an ef [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM

Enhanced Campaigns: The Future Is Now

Mar 7, 2013 at 10:57am ET by George Michie

Enhanced Campaigns are the most important architectural change to Google AdWords since it moved from the right rail to take the place of "premium placements" in 2004. Much of the early commentary has focused on the version 1.0 implementation. It is important for Enterprise SEM program managers to start thinking hard and deep about the implications of Enhanced Campaigns in the long term, as well as understanding what it is likely to become. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TdDYHtnSTI[/youtube] Better Architecture To Handle More Complexity Is Not Simplification Google has mistake [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM

The Real Reason Why Google Is Dropping The Tablet vs. Desktop Distinction? It’s The User Context, Stupid!

Feb 28, 2013 at 1:32pm ET by Larry Kim

There’s been some grumbling among PPC marketers over the last few weeks about a few specific changes in Enhanced Campaigns – in particular, the loss of tablet vs. desktop segmentation, which was previously a best practice for mobile advertising strategy. One of my well-respected colleagues put it bluntly: Now, if you’ll forgive my attention-grabbing headline (based on 'It's the Economy, Stupid'), I’m definitely not actually calling anyone stupid – and, you can certainly see by the volume of re-tweets and favorites, it’s clearly a widely-shared view. However, I recently had th [...]

How Account Quality Score Can Guide AdWords Optimization

Feb 21, 2013 at 12:41pm ET by Frederick Vallaeys

Last month, I covered four ways to use AdWords Scripts to improve AdWords account management. I didn't share any actual code for fear of geeking out too much, but people seemed interested enough in how to use Scripts to track historical Quality Score (QS), so this month, I'll share step-by-step instructions and give you the code needed to track your own account-level Quality Score. But first, let me explain what account-level Quality Score is all about… Why You Should Track Account-Level Quality Score The Quality Score of your AdWords account is a useful gauge to monitor how good Google [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM | Google: AdWords

6 Advanced Strategies For Optimizing PLA Campaigns

Feb 14, 2013 at 12:10pm ET by Matt Lawson

In January, Marin Software released a study on Google’s 2012 transition from Google Product Search to the commercial, “pay-to-play” model built on Product Listing Ads. When this enhanced shopping experience was first announced in May of 2012, online retailers reacted with both praise and criticism. However, since the transition, PLA campaigns have performed with a great deal of success. In fact, by the end of December 2012, the share of spend on PLA campaigns had increased 600% compared to January. More importantly, during the fourth quarter of 2012, as holiday shoppers searched and p [...]

Why Enhanced Campaigns Aren’t Really An Upgrade Or Improvement

Feb 7, 2013 at 10:43am ET by Neil Sorenson

I am absolutely fascinated by the automotive industry and am admittedly a car guy. The newest cars continually impress me because every new model seems like a significant upgrade over the previous model. And, they really are. New cars are lighter, stronger, more spacious, safer, more fuel efficient, and quicker than ever. A 2013 Mazda hatchback that costs a mere $30,000 is quicker than the (then) $180,000 Supercars from Italy I grew up idolizing. Astonishing, really. The term “upgrade” often seems like an understatement. So, what happens if the new models are not better? Thankfully, [...]

Will Facebook’s Graph Search Be Big For Bing Advertisers?

Jan 31, 2013 at 2:56pm ET by Mark Ballard

Following Facebook's announcement of Graph Search a few weeks back, there's been no shortage of analysis and speculation on what the move will mean for Facebook, its users, marketers and possible Facebook competitors, including the traditional search engines. At least in one arena, we can try to put some specific numbers together to shed some light on the potential here. A Brief History Of Bing & Facebook First, some background: Since 2008, Microsoft has been providing Web search results for Facebook along with search ads to monetize them. That seems to be news to a lot of people, [...]

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