Look Ma, no keywords! Phrase-free AdWords campaigns are here
Contributor Andy Taylor discusses Google's new Local Search Ads Experiment in AdWords, which uses address and location categories in lieu of...
Andy Taylor
Andy Taylor is Associate Director of Research at Merkle, responsible for analyzing trends across the digital marketing spectrum for best practices and industry commentary. A primary contributor to the Merkle Blog, Dossier, and quarterly Digital Marketing Report, he speaks frequently at industry conferences and events.
Bing Ads brand CPC taking the elevator — up
Looking for options to hold down brand CPC on Bing Ads? Contributor Andy Taylor shares strategies for those programs observing significant...
Phrase, broad, or broad match modifier: After exact, what’s the next best match type?
Contributor Andy Taylor answers by sharing research that shows deploying multiple match types produces little difference between phrase and broad...
What’s going on with Google brand CPC?
Brands may be at Google’s mercy when it comes to the price of branded traffic, but Columnist Andy Taylor outlines steps they can take to reduce...
Holiday shoppers increasingly turned to Google Maps in the countdown to Christmas Day
Columnist Andy Taylor from Merkle shares data on how consumers engaged with Maps and Local Inventory Ads over the holiday shopping...
Is holiday paid search more competitive in 2017 than 2016?
Columnist Andy Taylor explores year-over-year Auction Insights data from AdWords, revealing insights into this year's holiday paid search...
Four key holiday paid search trends to keep an eye on
Columnist Andy Taylor shares data that can help predict trends in the e-commerce and retail space this holiday season. Advertisers, take...
Google locally focused ads poised to play important holiday season role for brick-and-mortar brands
If 2016 trends are any indication, search ads aimed at driving offline traffic are likely to have a big impact this year. Contributor Andy Taylor...
The limitations of Google AdWords demographic targeting
Proper demographic targeting can improve your search ads' performance. Unfortunately, as columnist Andy Taylor points out, Google doesn't always make...
How important is Google Shopping for retailers?
Columnist Andy Taylor shares his views on the recent European Commission antitrust ruling against Google and how this might impact retailers that...
Amazon Prime Day’s surprising effects on Google AdWords performance
Columnist Andy Taylor dives into Merkle advertiser performance data to explore the impact of Amazon's recent Prime Day...
Early performance results from Google’s update to close variants
What impact has Google's latest update to close variants had on paid search performance? Columnist Andy Taylor reviews the...
How to compare paid search and organic search without sounding foolish
Which search channel is better: paid or organic? Columnist Andy Taylor argues that there is no simple answer to this question, despite what some...
What your paid search KPI says about you
Every advertiser measures success based on key performance indicators (KPIs) that they deem relevant. Columnist Andy Taylor asks, What do your chosen...
Google Maps ad traffic steadily growing
Columnist Andy Taylor of Merkle shares data on the growth of ad traffic from Google Maps, including conversion rate and CPC data by...
Google’s location tracking is better now than ever before
Columnist Andy Taylor notes that Google has improved its ability to track search traffic at the ZIP code level, which is good news for advertisers...
When should advertisers consider pausing Google Local Inventory Ads?
Retailers that sell online and in-store need to balance where to send users in their paid search efforts. Columnist Andy Taylor explores when...
Three well-meaning paid search optimizations that might kill performance
That recent adjustment to your paid search campaign seemed like a good idea at the time, but now you're seeing a drop in performance. How could this...
Google’s shaky pitch for why advertisers should let Dynamic Search Ads handle queries
The AdWords Help documentation recommends that advertisers not add top-performing queries from Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) as keywords. Columnist Andy...
What Google’s recent RLSA updates mean for advertisers
Columnist Andy Taylor discusses the impact of two recent changes to Remarketing List for Search Ads announced at SMX East 2016 -- expanded RLSA...
