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How To Mine Your Local Market Site Search Keyword Goldmine

Apr 9, 2013 at 9:30am ET by Bill Hunt

The lowly keyword phrase seems to be getting more attention these days. Last month, I spoke at SMX West about big data and co-optimization, then finished up at the International Search Summit with global keyword research and management. Based on the recently released 2013 Search Marketer Survey from BrightEdge, it appears as though global search marketing activities might finally be top of mind for search marketers: One of the areas getting a significant boost in interest is the discovery of keywords relevant to global audiences. The BrightEdge survey of Enterprise Search Marketers ind [...]

Google Shuts Down Payday Loan Advertiser’s Campaigns Over The Weekend

Apr 8, 2013 at 10:46am ET by Ginny Marvin

According to TheDrum.com, Google pulled all paid search ads run by Moneysupermarket.com as part of a crackdown on payday loan vendors that disregard AdWords' policies. The Drum reports: Google pulled all Moneysupermarket’s domain level ads including all campaigns across car and home insurance on Saturday (6 April) evening. The ads were down for over 24 hours before the issues were rectified by Moneysupermarket, according to sources. The U.S. government has been stepping up pressure on Google to enforce its policies for payday loan advertisers to be in compliance with state and local re [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Google: Legal | Search Marketing | Top News

Where To Begin With SEM Benchmarking

Apr 8, 2013 at 9:00am ET by David Rodnitzky

I love benchmarking. I measure the progress of my diet (not going well), the MPG of my car, how my stock portfolio is doing against the market, whether my favorite football team is better than it was last year, and so forth. And, since everyone reading this is a search engine marketer, you are probably just like me – a benchmarking fiend. Indeed, when it comes to SEM, benchmarking seemingly plays a big role. It’s hard to go through any SEM conversation without the mention of “deltas” and “year-over-year” data being discussed. I’ve noticed, however, that many SEMs only take [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search | Search Marketing: General

The Dangers Of Brainstorming Your International Content Marketing Strategy

Apr 2, 2013 at 11:55am ET by Andy Atkins-Krüger

Brainstormings are wonderful things, and we creative types really love them! But, the writing is on the wall for brainstormings in international content marketing! We know that content is the new marketing driver which many are talking about. Google has driven us to it with a variety of animals (Pandas and Penguins) and has threatened to unleash even more terrible creatures on our poor quality content this year if we don't behave. Move over Pandas and Penguins, the Tigers are about to be unleashed. So, if you're a global company, it's fair to say that your international content strategie [...]

AdWords Launches New Keyword Bulk Upload Feature

Apr 1, 2013 at 5:41pm ET by Ginny Marvin

Today, Google launched a new keyword bulk editing feature in AdWords designed to make it easier to add, edit and remove keywords at scale. The feature builds on the bulk editing tools released last November. Keyword bulk upload is accessible from the keyword report download window, shown below. When clicking the "Editable" box, an editable version of the keyword performance report will download. You can then modify the report and prepare it for upload. The editable spreadsheet has an "Action" column. On the rows where you make changes, you input Add, Remove, or Set in the Action colu [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Search Marketing | SEM Tools: PPC | Top News

Mobile Growth Highlights Importance Of Comprehensive Local Strategy

Apr 1, 2013 at 11:44am ET by Natalie Wuchenich

This week, the Local Search Association is releasing our “Local Mobile Search Study,” which overviews the evolving mobile environment in the U.S. and the growing role of smartphones, tablets and other connected devices in the local search experience. The 2013 study, which features 2012 data compiled from several comScore digital and mobile metrics databases, demonstrates a significant shift in how consumers are accessing the Internet and emphasizes the importance of local businesses embracing mobile platforms as yet another venue to reach consumers. Rise Of Connected Devices Provides [...]

Bing Ads Redesigns Hub For Ad Manager Resources

Apr 1, 2013 at 10:10am ET by Ginny Marvin

Bing Ads has launched a redesign of its search advertising site. The site is designed to provide a single access point for content and resources about Bing Ads and search advertising on the Yahoo! Bing Network. It consolidates materials from the Bing Ads Community site, the Bing Ads search advertising support center and the help files found within the Bing Ads platform itself. The Bing Ads blog, forum and training materials as well as vertical insights (which covers the finance, health & fitness, home & garden and travel industries) and tool downloads like Bing Ads Editor are [...]

CPC Decline Ends: Rising 7% In Q1 Due To Mobile & PLAs [Covario]

Mar 28, 2013 at 2:07pm ET by Ginny Marvin

We may have seen the end of CPC stagnation. Covario's Global Paid Search Spend Analysis for Q1, released today, suggests that the cost-per-click trends of the last six quarters have reversed with CPC prices rising 7% from the previous quarter and 23% year-over-year. Overall paid search spend grew 9% quarter-over-quarter and 33% year-over-year. The following chart shows global paid search activity for Q1 ‘13: Google CPCs Rise 39% Year-Over-Year The study suggests that rising CPCs on Google a [...]

Google Says No To Phone Numbers In PPC Ads, Forcing The Use Of Call Extensions

Mar 22, 2013 at 11:48am ET by Ginny Marvin

You may have missed Google’s quiet and brief announcement that starting in April, AdWords ads with phone numbers in the text will be disapproved. Advertisers who want to display phone numbers will have to use the call extensions feature instead. Google states in the announcement, “We are making this change to foster a safer, more consistent user experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.” As others have stated, what this change really does is allow Google to charge for mobile ad engagements as part of its transition to enhanced campaigns. With call extensions, advertise [...]

New PPC Report: Bing Ads Vs. Google AdWords In 6 US Verticals

Mar 20, 2013 at 8:15am ET by Ginny Marvin

AdGooroo has released a new study titled Yahoo! Bing PPC Performance Metrics that analyzes advertiser participation and performance metrics on the Yahoo! Bing network through Bing Ads compared to Google AdWords. The study looked at U.S. advertisers in six verticals during Q312. Backing up one of the loudest complaints among advertisers about the Yahoo! Bing network, the study found that AdWords out-delivered Bing Ads by serving 7.3 million more ad impressions in the Shopping and Classified category. A surprise, however, was to see Bing Ads come out ahead in the Financial Services categor [...]

AdWords “Ineffective” Says eBay, Google “Meta-Pause Analysis” Contradicts Those Findings

Mar 14, 2013 at 1:06pm ET by Greg Sterling

A story generating buzz and controversy earlier this week amounts to a stinging indictment of the paid search industry as a whole. It was based on new research from eBay that argues SEM is all but worthless and has little or no impact on traffic and sales -- except in marginal cases. However, Google studies argue SEM delivers clear and tangible benefits to advertisers and publishers. In a paper published last week eBay describes its study (.pdf) and related results. The company says it sought to determine the impact of pausing paid-search ads on its organic traffic and sales. eBay: SEM "In [...]

Bing Ads Makes Campaign & Ad Group Targeting Improvements

Mar 13, 2013 at 11:27am ET by Ginny Marvin

In its Februrary release, Bing Ads made changes to how ad group and campaign targets relate to each other. Prior to the release on February 18th, ad group targets overrode campaign targets. Now, both target settings will be considered together to improve ad relevancy and delivery. Here is the company's summary of the change: If you are using ad group level targets, Bing recommends looking for any intended or unintended differences in chosen targets at your campaign and ad group levels. Also in the February release, keyword research tool upgrades and Bing Ads Intelligence rolle [...]

Enhanced Campaigns: Offer Extensions & Location Targeting Explained

Mar 6, 2013 at 5:47pm ET by Ginny Marvin

Google released more details on its Mobile Ads Blog today about offer extensions and location targeting tools available in the new enhanced campaigns. Location Targeting With Better Reporting One of the main features of enhanced campaigns is that advertisers can target multiple locations within one campaign and adjust bids based on a multiple of the default location bid. The reporting tools now make it easier to see what location targets triggered your ads and where your users were when they saw your ads. This is handy. Say you've set your campaign Location Options to the def [...]

Why Pay Per Click Is Such A Beautiful Tool For SEO

Mar 5, 2013 at 12:26pm ET by Andy Atkins-Krüger

SEO and PPC fans often find themselves in different parts of the building, on different floors and sometimes on a different planet. This shouldn't really be the case, but is. If you start to think of PPC as a device of SEO, it takes on a very different light and your own attitude shifts slightly. Now, I know you're already ahead of me and thinking of keywords and the dreaded "not provided" category of keywords as the point of this post -- but in fact, that isn't my main point. Rather, the insights which pay per click campaigns deliver to marketers are crucial to making the right decision [...]

When Responsive Web Design Is Bad For SEO

Mar 4, 2013 at 10:46am ET by Bryson Meunier

In my January column I resolved not to discuss the responsive Web design issue anymore, as the One URL versus multiple URL issue is moot now that Google has announced a way to consolidate link equity for equivalent mobile URLs. Unfortunately, the rest of the SEO community isn’t following suit, as responsive Web design still seems to have the undeserved reputation for being the best option for SEO. In reality, mobile URLs could be the best option for SEO, depending on your circumstances. The Madness Of Crowds For example, though I praised her in my last column for sharing her mobile SEO [...]

AdWords Enhanced Campaigns: New Bidding Tools Announced

Feb 21, 2013 at 9:59am ET by Ginny Marvin

Google AdWords has begun providing more specifics about the new bidding tools and mobile bid settings for enhanced campaigns. The AdWords interface for enhanced campaigns includes a new bid adjustment calculator designed to show you what the final bid adjustment will be when using multiple bid settings. Bid adjustments for mobile, day, time of day and location are made within the Campaign Settings tab. The calculator shows you what the implications will be when applying multiple bid adjustments. [...]

Google Shopping Tops Amazon Product Ads: 32.7% More Cost Effective

Feb 20, 2013 at 2:11pm ET by Ginny Marvin

A new report from CPC Strategy looks at how Google Shopping fared against its rival, Amazon Product Ads, after making the switch to a commercial model in Q3 last year. The analysis finds its performance changed significantly compared to Amazon Product Ads, and provides further evidence that the move bolstered Google Shopping. Surge In Traffic & Lower CPCs In the second half of last year, Google Shopping sent 120% more traffic to merchants than Amazon Product Ads. In fact, Google Shopping more than doubled the amount of traffic it sent to merchants compared to 2011. At $0.31, Google Sh [...]

Bing Ads Sticks With Improved Reporting Interface

Feb 15, 2013 at 3:49pm ET by Ginny Marvin

Bing Ads announced that the new reporting user interface released in October is now the default. Users will no longer see the option to switch to the old reporting version. The updated reporting UI includes: A new, Wunderbar-style navigation for faster access to reports Report creation in half the clicks A simpler, more convenient way to download and view reports Automatic application of your reporting parameters (time and date ranges, for example) to the Campaign or Ad Group you're working on For users who haven't yet made the transition to the new interface, Bing released [...]

Marin Software Files For IPO

Feb 15, 2013 at 10:02am ET by Greg Sterling

Marin Software, one of the leading search and social marketing platform providers, has filed to go public. The amount the company expects to raise right now is uncertain because, "The number of shares to be sold and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined." Marin has been around for a little less than six years and says its software platform helps manage more than $4 billion in digital ad spending. It lists a range of clients, including "many of the world’s largest interactive agencies and advertisers . . . [such as] University of Phoenix, Macy’s, Razorfis [...]

Bing Ads Updates Pro Accreditation Training; Exam Is Now Free

Feb 12, 2013 at 1:46pm ET by Ginny Marvin

Bing has announced updates to its Bing Ads Accredited Professional Program for search marketers looking to get certified as “Pro Bingers”. Among the changes, Bing transitioned the training segments from video based to text based content. Users can now view the training on the Bing Ads website or print out the training materials, a frequent customer request according to a Bing spokesperson. The number of training sections increased from 25 to 29 to provide more in-depth content. Users can share the trainings via Facebook, Twitter, and email with the new social media bar. The co [...]

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