As we’ve learned through this column, the three basic building blocks of paid search marketing are keywords, ads, and landing pages. For the next few posts, we’ll be focusing on the ads part of the equation. Next week, we’ll discuss the right brain of search—the creative side—but, first, you need to know the left brain’s […]
Anyone who has read my posts in this column knows how much I like shiny, new objects. This doesn’t just apply to the search marketing space—I love kitchen gadgets, desktop apps, Firefox extensions, etc. Basically, if someone comes along and solves a problem with a tool, and I have the same problem, then I’m willing […]
Throughout this column, the phrase “Quality Score” has popped up on different occasions. Understanding Quality Score is fundamental for successful paid search campaigns, but can be a difficult concept for beginners to understand. So the time has come to cover this topic so you can use Quality Score to your advantage and not fall into […]
In paid search marketing, users searching on specific keywords will trigger ads by advertisers who have indicated those keywords are relevant to their business by participating in the auction on those terms. Beyond just bidding, though, there are many variables that come into play which you can use to tactically enhance the effectiveness of your […]
If you’ve been diligently following this column for the past three weeks of keyword posts, your list should be quite large by now. You’ve exhausted all of the research resources available and basically looked under every rock you could find (and then some) to find terms that might have even the slightest relevance to your […]
We are just so busy, busy, busy as search engine marketers on behalf of our advertisers! There are the mission critical tasks such as managing budgets, getting tracking implemented, hitting CPA goals, and uploading new keywords/ads to the account. Then there are the things we definitely need to get to every week such as pacing, […]
We’ve talked a lot about keywords in the last few weeks. We went over how to drill down and uncover your core list and then how to take those top terms and generate many variations of those terms using keyword modifiers. At this point, you should have a fairly well-developed keyword list, but there’s always […]
A couple of weeks ago in this course, we talked about The Blueprint Of The Modern Paid Search Account and what factors affect the way we build keyword lists. Basically, the long tail approach dictates that we not only use high-search volume, general terms, but also load up our accounts with many, many niche terms—the […]
After doing all of your research, you now have a pretty good crop of data to sift through. Remember, during the Research Phase, we collected every keyword we found during our various investigations. Check out this article for a comprehensive recap of Research Phase posts from this column regarding PPC research. Some of sources used […]
Last week, we went through a series of frequently asked questions that often come up before launching a PPC campaign. But there are some things you still need to know at this stage in the game that will dramatically increase your understanding of paid search and will certainly give you more direction and confidence to […]
Congratulations! You have completed the Research Phase of your advertiser’s PPC account. You should already have a ton of data on your advertiser’s keyword landscape, including details about your preferred keywords, competitor campaigns, ads and landing pages that are being used in paid search marketing efforts relevant to your category of interest. Now begins the […]
So, another SMX is in the books! After uncovering so many great nuggets from last year’s SMX Analytics here in Toronto, I was looking forward to this year’s content. The good news is that there were two tracks, PPC and SEO, so the chance to catch good content was very high. The keynote was delivered […]
Because this column, PPC Academy, is a one-year search advertising course, it made sense to spend the first few months on research. In the real world of tight deadlines and downsizing, it can be easy to want to do everything quickly, but deep research can yield tremendous dividends for your account so it’s important not […]
Here are some tools that aren't specifically related to paid search, but are nonetheless valuable additions to your your search marketing research toolset.
It’s important to keep a well-stocked search marketing toolbox. Third party technology vendors offer a wide variety of discovery and management tools and are absolutely vital in the research phase. A few weeks ago we took a look at some tools that allow you to upload and then track keywords on major search engines to […]
You’ve now learned a lot about the keyword landscape of your advertiser. You know their goals for paid search marketing, what their expectations are from you and how to best proceed. You also have some of the logistics down such as timing, budget, an initial keyword list and who their competitors are. Last week, I […]
Attending search conferences should be part of every SEM pro’s yearly routine. Whether it’s to network within the industry, learn new tips or tricks, find new business opportunities, or even just have a good time with like-minded folks, it’s important to get the most out of your conference attendance. The last thing you want to […]
Because we are still in the research phase of PPC development, it’s important to get a very clear understanding of the advertiser’s business online and how that will affect the way we build and manage the account. Last week, I introduced the concept of the keyword landscape, the set of keywords, ads and competitors that […]
Following the process laid out in this column, you will have already worked with the advertiser to set up clear goals for your PPC account. And using last week’s advertiser interview, you now know some of the key specifics such as the key dates and milestones of the program, an initial list of top terms, […]
Last week’s lesson drove home that the most important defining factor of a new PPC account is to understand the goals of the advertiser. Whether it’s sales, leads, downloads, page views, quality traffic to the website or a combination of objectives, a clear understanding of all important goals will help drive key decisions throughout the […]
Sometimes the start of a project is the hardest part. You don’t know what you don’t know. There will be questions to ask for which you may not know the answer. If you’re a beginning at search engine marketing, you may even be staring at a blank Excel sheet right now. The first question should […]
For SEM pros, a search management tool is one of the most important pieces of technologies they own, so it’s obviously critical to have the best tool for the job. I’ve referenced Bonnie Jo Davis’s list of the ten capabilities a PPC management tool must have before in this column, but let’s review again. Paid […]
This is the last introductory post for the PPC Academy course. We’ve covered some frequently asked questions about paid search, a brief history of the medium and some common terms to know for PPC advertising. Starting next week, we’ll dive into the immersion phase of paid search and then onto the finer details of campaign […]
Today, we’re going to go under the hood and take a quick look at a search engine platform where advertisers can upload keywords and ads to start buying paid search. For the sake of practicality, we’ll be specifically looking at just the Google interface, AdWords, as it is the most widely adopted paid search platform […]
Before we really start diving into the specifics of managing a paid search account, it is important to cover some standard industry jargon. You may want to bookmark this post as a resource for any terms you may need to go back and reference. Account Terms Query: The actual input by a user into a […]
If you're just getting started with paid search, it's helpful to know a bit of history of how pay-per-click advertising got started and why it has become such a major factor in the success of online marketers.
Recently, my agency has been putting a lot of time and resources into the ad exchange space. For those of you paid search folks with SEM blinders on, let me elaborate because the opportunity here for those with paid search experience is about to open up tremendously in the next few years. Ad exchanges are […]
There are many frequently asked questions lists floating around the web for paid search. Here are the five most common questions that will help you understand this powerful advertising medium better. What’s the difference between organic and paid results? On a search engine results page (SERP), the organic (also called natural) results are determined by […]
First published in 2010, PPC Academy is a complete guide to getting started in pay-per-click (PPC) based search advertising, covering a wide range of paid search tips, tools and tactics. a Due to the constantly evolving nature of paid search platforms, some of the example PPC tools and dashboards may have changed, but the basic […]
Organizing your paid search keywords into the right ad groups can be a difficult task for even the best search engine marketers. Many times, a keyword may seem to naturally fall into multiple ad groups. The engines tell us the best practice is to not have the same keyword in different groups, because then the […]
Historically, paid search has had a major leg over the other online channels in terms of positive ROI performance. But why is that so? Mainly because of two reasons: high relevancy of ads to the user and a major technological efficiency in the actual media buying. Remember, ROI is not just how much you make […]
Cyber Monday is one of the most important (if not the most important) day to paid search professionals in America, and I’ve got some great tips and tricks to share on how to make the most of it. But first, I thought I’d share some history of the term I found at Wikipedia: The term […]
Pacing may be the most important task for the search marketer. Ending an account overspent means you might have blown through money the client just doesn’t have and you could be on the hook for the difference. Ending a campaign under budget can be worse based on the missed opportunity. I remember years ago on […]
Already its own specialty of digital marketing and now almost 50% of all online advertising budgets, paid search has fully grown into its own channel. A quick bit of research can quickly uncover a multitude of blogs, books, tools, companies, etc. all focused on the topic and within this channel, there’s even more fragmentation and […]
I took a lot of notes at SMX Toronto earlier this year and posted them in this column as Golden Nuggets From SMX Search Analytics. Looking back at them now, the evidence undeniably reinforces my memory of how much I learned, and I’m glad to say that three days at SMX East this week was […]
I don’t know about you, but I’ve recently been hearing more and more buzz about the value of query mining to optimize your search campaigns. Take the following two reports, for example. Over 500 different, unique queries triggered a visit from an ad for “dog remedy” on broad match. Now, look at all of the […]
Recently, on the Inside AdSense blog, Google announced that it was opening up the Content Network to even more third party publishers and ad networks. I was surprised to see so little blowback from the online community as the title of the post, Getting the most revenue from every impression through AdSense, seems like it […]
A few years ago, I never would have been thinking about what Paid search wasn’t good for. Clicks were cheap, ROI was through the roof, and I was one of the biggest Paid Search evangelists out there. I attended an American Association of Advertising Agencies conference in 2007 where there was a session touting “And, […]
Ah, what a summer! The initial concept of this In the Trenches column was to provide the day-to-day search engine marketer with tips, tricks, and news to make them better at their jobs. I have been wanting to do this Microsoft Excel series for over a year, so I thank again my editors here at […]
In the previous posts of this Excel series for Search Engine Marketers (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4), I’ve shared various tips and tricks for the tool. However, today’s post is just going to cover pivot tables, as I feel they are such an important piece for online marketers to not just grasp, […]