Pamela Parker is Research Director at Third Door Media's Content Studio, where she produces MarTech Intelligence Reports and other in-depth content for digital marketers in conjunction with Search Engine Land and MarTech. Prior to taking on this role at TDM, she served as Content Manager, Senior Editor and Executive Features Editor. Parker is a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since its beginning. She's a former managing editor of ClickZ and has also worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing. Parker earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.
As expected, the Federal Trade Commission has begun its formal investigation of Google’s business practices. In a blog post today, Google fellow Amit Singhal wrote that the company yesterday received formal notification from the agency that it would be conducting an inquiry. Though Singhal writes that “it’s still unclear exactly what the FTC’s concerns are,” […]
Google is finally rolling out the ability to target ads to users by interest — based on their previous browsing activity, or behavior — to all of its advertisers. The company first announced a beta test of this capability more than two years ago, back in 2009, and it has slowly been introducing it to […]
If you’re accustomed to geo-targeting your AdWords campaign by drawing multi-point shapes around your targeted area, you’re out of luck after July 8, when Google is rolling out some changes to its geographical targeting capabilities. After that point, you’ll still be able to edit and delete existing shapes through 2011, but you won’t be able […]
Researchers at Citibank talked to four large agencies doing a lot of SEM — Covario, Efficient Frontier, Marin Software and Position 2 — and what emerged was a picture of second quarter spending that looks weaker than once expected. And the full year, by most accounts, will be down from what most previously thought, if […]
Google’s planned purchase of publisher-side ad optimization firm Admeld is expected to be reviewed by the Department of Justice to ensure it doesn’t illegally inhibit competition in the display advertising industry. That according to reports from The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and others, which cite sources familiar with the matter. The company announced its plans […]
Intrepid searchers have been spotting click counts displaying under certain AdWords ads on Google.com, and the search giant has confirmed it’s doing a small experiment. Both Vinny O’Hare and Steven Weldler spotted the user interface test, in which a click count was displayed underneath the URL portion of the ad. In one implementation, the text […]
Google is testing search and display versions of a cost-per-lead ad format that would allow users to request an advertiser contact them. The company confirmed a display test after a political controversy arose surrounding the AdWords feature, and declined to comment on a search test. Other than acknowledging that the display ad test was happening, […]
The Obama campaign ad that started it all — a display ad on Real Clear Politics that requested a user’s e-mail address — wasn’t even a Google ad. But someone from the Republican National Senatorial Committee (RNSC) thought it was, so she called her Google sales rep and asked about getting something similar for the […]
Google has changed the way it’s displaying “Keyword Ideas” in its AdWords Keyword Tool, breaking them into a separate tab so advertisers can more easily view both keywords and ideas. The keyword ideas are suggestions that are somehow related to the keywords or URL input at the top of the tool, and, like keywords, they […]
Mobile innovation is fueling Google’s search offerings for the desktop, as the company today announced two new search interfaces — Voice and Image — inspired by mobile Voice Search and Google Goggles, respectively. With Voice Search for the desktop, which is a feature of the Chrome browser, users click a microphone icon in the search […]
Google today confirmed the acquisition of display ad management firm Admeld, which we and others reported last week. Though Google didn’t disclose how much it paid for the buy, various news outlets said the deal was worth $400 million. Admeld provides technology and services that help large publishers optimize the inventory they’re offering, plugging into […]
Google has tweaked its policies for placing AdSense ads to curb abuse, going so far as to forbid the placement of its code in iFrames. Though the company acknowledges there are some valid uses of iFrames, it will require publishers using them to be explicitly granted an exception by Google. The policy change is likely […]
In an apparent move to bolster its own ad sales efforts and provide services to large publishers, Google has reportedly made a $400 million purchase of Admeld, a company that builds technology to help ad sellers maximize the value of their inventory. Admeld has relationships with the Weather Channel, IDG TechNetwork, and large newspaper companies […]
Search will bring in $14.4 billion this year in the U.S., representing 46.1% of total online spend, and it will continue to command the lion’s share of spend through 2015, according to a new forecast by eMarketer. The big picture for U.S. online ad spending is looking bright, as well. EMarketer expects the sector to […]
If you’ve enabled the Ad Sitelinks extension on your AdWords campaigns, you may soon see your actual text ad copy hyperlinked, rather than seeing an additional line of text. Google today announced the new format, which it says it will use when ad copy matches exactly the Sitelinks text set up by the advertiser. The […]
Google has made some changes to its My Client Center (MCC) for agencies that allow up to five different MCCs to be linked to a single AdWords account. The new feature, called multiple links, is meant to allow a variety of entities — agencies, SEMs, API developers and others — working for a single client […]
It sure sounded like Google’s SVP of advertising Susan Wojcicki was promising phone support for all AdSense publishers “in the next quarter,” at yesterday’s annual shareholder meeting, but a Google spokesman now tells me it’s only “testing additional phone support” for AdSense publishers. Wojcicki’s statement regarding a timeline is said to have referred to the […]
Those brightly-colored Google Checkout badges will disappear from e-tailers’ AdWords ads, according to a post in Checkout Help first spotted by eCommerceCircle. They’ll continue to be displayed in product search. Checkout icons in AdWords were originally introduced in 2006 and a new badge design was rolled out in 2007. As for the elimination of the […]
Thirteen percent of the U.S. online population now uses Twitter at least occasionally, according to new research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, marking a significant increase from the 8% previously measured in November 2010. Growth was especially strong among non-Hispanic Whites and those between 30 and 49 years old. Among online African-Americans, […]
In a bid to increase its presence across the Web, Twitter today announced the “follow button,” a snippet of code that can be placed on any Web site that allows readers logged into Twitter to click and follow instantly. Previously, a Twitter user would have to click-through to the Web site’s Twitter.com page and click […]
Over the last few months, Microsoft has been tweaking the daily budget capabilities in its API in an effort to make its system simpler and easier to use. As of earlier this month, any new or edited campaigns included the Daily Budget with Monthly Maximum option, which calculates a monthly maximum based on advertisers’ daily […]
Google seems to be testing an AdWords display for jobs ads that includes an automatically-generated extra line of description that includes the number of jobs available and reiterates the brand of the advertiser. To make room for this third line, the two description lines are combined. Presumably the number of jobs comes from Google Base […]
Move over Yahoo, there’s a new display advertising champion in town, as of the first quarter of 2011. You may have heard of the company, as they’ve also been dominating the search advertising category. According to a new report from research firm IDC, Google’s net U.S. display advertising revenue share grew to 14.7% in the […]
Bing’s traffic acquisition deal with Conduit, the toolbar company that claims to work with 260,000 publishers and 200 million users, appears to be paying off, according to analysis from Rimm Kaufman Group (RKG). Senior research analyst Mark Ballard looked at traffic from Conduit to Rimm Kaufman Group clients from before the toolbar company switched to […]
It may be difficult for Google to prove it was doing everything it could to avoid taking ads from rogue pharmacies, considering the sheer volume of warnings it received from industry watchdogs over the years. That’s according to a Wall Street Journal report published over the weekend. The piece details warning after warning that illegal […]
An Argentine court has ordered Google to stop “suggesting” searches that lead to sites deemed anti-Semitic and remove the sites from the search engine’s index. The company has reportedly said it won’t take action until getting the official order from the Buenos Aires court. The injunction, which represents censorship of search results, stems from a […]
Google has rolled up its tools for consumers seeking side-by-side comparisons of financial products, launching “Google Advisor,” a one-stop-shop for consumers looking for mortgages, credit cards, checking and savings accounts, and certificates of deposit. For marketers, it’s an opportunity to gather leads, and Advisor seems to be aimed at stepping up the volume of those […]
In an effort to clarify to users where their click-through will take them, Google says it will display the landing page domain as part of the headlines on some top placement ads. We reported on tests of this display earlier this month after they were spotted by Nilaye Thakrar of Workopolis. The change should result […]
In conjunction with National Small Business Week, Google is trying to burnish its image by touting the economic impact that its programs, including AdWords and AdSense, have had on the U.S. economy. According to the company, Google provided $64 billion in economic activity for American businesses and non-profits in 2010, 18% greater than the 2009 […]
Earlier this week, Google filed a mysterious report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying it was setting aside $500 million related to a “potential resolution” of an advertising-related probe being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice. Now, the mystery may be solved. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the investigation relates to […]
Google has announced an update to the algorithm that powers traffic estimates in AdWords’ Traffic Estimator, Keyword Tool and on the Keywords tab. The intention is that advertisers will have access to better numbers on estimated clicks, cost and ad position. Traffic estimates help advertisers get a sense of whether potential keywords are appropriate for […]
In a regulatory filing this afternoon, Google disclosed that it was taking a $500 million charge in the first quarter, apparently to potentially settle charges related to a Department of Justice investigation of the company. Google didn’t elaborate, saying only that the probe was “into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers.” The Wall […]
Former Senator and likely Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum hasn’t yet figured out what to do about his “Google Problem” — a negative listing orchestrated by gay syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage, which results in the association of Santorum’s name with anal sex. And the search issue is getting attention from that much-watched political “fake […]
Google’s YouTube today announced plans to add around 3,000 movies for on-demand rental on its service, effectively declaring its intention to compete with Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. While YouTube has largely been known for quirky independent fare, the new content will include well-known flicks from major studios, including classics like Caddyshack and new releases like […]
Google’s four-year streak as the world’s most powerful brand has come to an end — not through any fault of its own, by instead due to the tremendous growth of Apple’s brand value. That’s according to Millward Brown Optimor’s top 100 BrandZ annual rankings. The research company found Google’s brand value to have slipped just […]
Google is rolling out version 9 of its AdWords Editor software, a free desktop client for managing AdWords campaigns. The new release is said to enable users to manage campaigns over multiple accounts more efficiently. It also adds handling of new ad features, such as Ad Sitelinks and the targeting of mobile devices. AdWords Editor […]
At a time when competitor Google is focusing intensely on mobile and local, Microsoft’s Bing is sharing plans for ad products that would go toward evening the score between the two biggest search players in the U.S. The company will introduce radius targeting for search ads, allowing advertisers to choose a specific five to 100 […]
Haven’t used AdWords in a while? Here’s $100. Spend it all in one place — your AdWords account. That’s the gist of a new Google effort to reactivate AdWords users who’ve let their accounts grow dormant. The company reached out to these users yesterday with a plea, “We’re sorry to see that you’ve stopped advertising […]
Google seems to be testing a new variation on AdWords display, showing the landing page domain name at the end of the headline, after a short vertical line. The apparent experiment appeared in the top three ads in the center of the page on Google.com, but isn’t showing up for most users. The variation was […]
If you’re going to advertise on AdWords, you’d better be safeguarding users’ personal and financial information on the landing site. So say new policy guidelines released today by Google. The new global requirements for all AdWords advertisers govern sites that request payment, financial or personal information from visitors. They will take effect May 17. If […]