Criteo launches Predictive Search to automate Google Shopping campaign optimizations
The new product uses machine learning to automate all aspects of Shopping Campaign optimization, including bidding, retargeting lists and product matching.
Topic: Performance-based advertising
Google rolls out Campaign Groups in AdWords
Reporting feature makes it easier to monitor performance across multiple campaigns.
Google testing Campaign Groups to forecast & track goal targets across multiple campaigns
Track conversion, spend or CPA performance for a set of campaigns.
Marketing. Tech. Management. See the MarTech Europe agenda.
Personalization. Predictive technologies. Experimenting at scale. Get the customer experience right and reap great rewards. Botch the implementation by ignoring the organizational/people issues, and you’ll miss the window of advantage marketing technologies provide. Don’t miss the window. Attend MarTech Europe, 1–2 November in London. The MarTech agenda features case studies from brands and agencies innovating […]
CPA Calculator (Cost Per Acquisition or Cost Per Action)
We have provided a useful CPA Calculator below to work out your CPA. In addition, you can derive the number of acquisitions (and money) you need to hit a specific CPA. Feel free to experiment with different scenarios in order to help you understand this pricing model better. What Does CPA Mean? CPA stands for […]
Selling Ads On A CPL basis
When should I be selling ads on a CPL basis? The simple answer is: when you have space on your site. CPL ads are generally like a cheap variation of a CPA ad in that there is often no upper limit to the number of leads you can generate, and you don’t know how many impressions […]
Buying Ads On A CPD Basis
When should I be buying ads on a CPD basis? The simple answer is: when you being associated with a site will help you out. CPD campaigns are generally good for branding and not performance, and they usually come at a comparatively high price so buying in this way only makes sense if you like a site […]
Value For Money Test
What Does VfM Mean? If you are unable to track conversions for your ad campaign, there is a simple way to combine both CPC and CTR into one easy to use metric. We call this the Value for Money metric (or VfM) which is just CTR divided by CPC. The point of this metric is to combine […]
When To Switch From CPC To CPM
Most advertisers start out using CPC campaigns because they make the most intuitive sense! With a CPC campaign, you are paying for tangible results (clicks). So why would you want to switch to paying for impressions? Well, under the right circumstances it can become much more cost-effective to do so. If you can get more […]
Google AdWords New Top Movers Report Aims To Automate “What’s Changed” Reporting
The new Top Movers report in Google AdWords shows you which campaigns and ad groups had the largest changes in clicks and cost between two timeframes. Located under the “Dimensions” tab (View: Top Movers), the report compares performance for two consecutive time periods of equal length, and finds the campaigns and ad groups that experienced […]
More Sitelink Performance Detail Coming To Bing Ads Reporting
To provide more insight into sitelink performance, Bing Ads reporting will soon include Click Type segmentation. The new Click Type check box will be pre-selected in the Ad Extension by Ad and Ad Extension by Keywords reports. Currently Ad Extension reports provide data on just the sitelink itself. By choosing Click Type, the reports will […]
Bing Ads Updates: New Sitelink And Ad Position Reporting
Bing Ads rolled out some new reporting features in their March release. Here’s a look at the two of the biggest changes. Ad Extensions Details Adding to its suite of ad extensions reports, Bing Ads included a new “Ad Extensions Details” report. This reporting view shows sitelink performance data by campaign (and ad group if […]
Which Ad Network?
Choosing which ad network you join can be quite overwhelming. Each one will offer you the moon, so how do you decide which one to trust? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t as simple as us just pointing at the best one and telling you to go with them. You see, there are more ad networks out […]
How Search-A-Likes Can Improve Both Search Retargeting & SEM Campaigns
Regardless of medium, the best marketers know cross-channel integration is key, and the exchange of information between channels should be a two way street. The world of online marketing is no exception, as more and more search marketers are looking to search retargeting as a way to leverage their knowledge of search engine marketing over […]
IAB & PwC: Search Still Tops Online Ad Revenues, And Share Grew In 2011
Through online advertising’s ups and downs, search — because of its orientation toward performance — has always been a stalwart category. Despite much talk about branding, social and immersive advertising lately, search still commanded the lion’s share of online advertising revenues (46.5%) in 2011 and its share grew from 2010 numbers (44.8%), when it experienced […]
What The Holidays Tell Search Marketers
I realize most of us are already well-focused on 2012, so a look back at the 2011 holiday season may seem a bit dated. However, the holiday season provides search marketers a snapshot of behavior that should prove relevant for the upcoming year, though perhaps on a smaller scale. To gain a more accurate view […]
3 Reasons To Form A Direct Marketing Center Of Excellence
If you’re at all like me, you’re marketing a variety of different web assets – products, properties, businesses – and you’re working alongside a number of other marketing channels in a larger group. In our case, it’s the Direct Marketing (DM) group – in your organization, it may be called ‘acquisition marketing’ or ‘performance marketing’. […]
What Toyota’s Crisis Can Teach Us About Managing PPC Campaigns
It is absolutely stunning that Toyota is embroiled in such a serious quality crisis. Toyota’s well-earned reputation for quality is legendary and is the envy of carmakers worldwide. Their quality control principles and methods are taught in leading business and engineering schools everywhere. In spite of all that, Toyota’s quality problems are now the subject […]
Supporting A Global Brand Campaign With Paid Search, Part 3
If you’ve been around me you’ve probably heard me say this, but it bears repeating: As soon as you, the marketer, pay for a search click, someone will want to know what you got for it. This means that you will need effective ways to both optimize and report out results on your campaign. This […]
Google In Data Deal With TiVo To Find More Willing Audiences For TV Ads
Google is doing some very interesting things in TV and video advertising these days. Not long ago it licensed Nielsen’s PRIZM audience segmentation data for enhanced audience targeting through TVAds. Google also recently introduced “skippable” pre-roll ads on YouTube. The idea is to find willing audiences and make advertisers (potentially) only pay when someone watches […]
Google AdWords Adds New Alerts & Place Pages Performance Reports
Google AdWords announced two updates including new alerts and place pages in performance reports, let me explain both in more detail. The new alerts are designed to help you stay on top of your campaigns. In addition to the billing alerts, they added alerts for new keyword and budget ideas in the Opportunities tab. Also, […]
Can Locally-Focused Display Ads Make The Phone Ring?
Display advertising and local search have been key points of emphasis for major online search engines and networks in earnings calls over the last several weeks. This raises an interesting question about the interplay between local search and display ads: Can local spend help drive display advertising over the near or medium term? While we […]
Pay-For-Call: Moving Clicks To Live Sales Leads
Many local businesses have long relied on incoming phone calls to drive their commerce. This is particularly true for needs-based businesses, such as plumbers or exterminators that require an initial conversation with a potential customer to determine whether a solution can be provided and an appointment should be made. This need is met over the […]
How To Pitch A Performance Search Engine Marketing Agency
You have probably heard multiple pitches from advertising agencies and SEM firms looking to take over the search engine marketing campaign for your company. When was the last time one of these firms offered to pay for all of the ads up-front and be paid only for the sales and leads generated? Not too often, […]
The Impact Of Call Tracking For Smart Marketers & Agencies
“Death of Detroit would wallop ad world” …”… nightmares of a blue Christmas” Shocking! Tell us something we don’t already know! Turning a few more pages I see, “As site traffic slows, online marketers tighten their holiday budgets.” And that’s when I calmly fold-up my recent copy of Advertising Age and call my dentist to […]
Online Ad Revenues Up Vs. 2007, Down Vs. Q2; Search A Relative Bright Spot
Overall online ad spending in the US was up almost 13 percent compared with Q2 2007, but down slightly (0.3 percent) from Q1 2008. Online ad revenues for the second quarter were $5.7 billion, compared with $5.8 billion in Q1. Revenues were $11.5 billion for the first six months of 2008 vs. approximately $10 billion […]
Switching Gears With Paid Search: 6 Steps To Redefining Success For A Branding Campaign
Sweat glistened down his chiseled, tan face. Clad in his trademark gold jersey and black sunglasses, the icon finally put the finish line where it belongs… behind him. Yet despite the obvious missing hardware—his bike—and his dismal 488th place finish, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France considered the race a success. He had […]
Online Ad Revenues Reach $10 Billion In First Half Of 2007, Search Remains Largest Single Category
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released online advertising figures for the second quarter and the first six months of 2007. For the first time, revenues exceeded $5 billion in a single quarter and first half revenues reached $10 billion, compared with $7.9 the previous year. Year-over-year growth was about 26 percent. Search, […]
thinkingVOICE And Clear Channel Take PPCall Outdoors
Pay per phone call (PPCall) probably qualifies as something of a disappointment to date. While there has been adoption by advertisers and some good results, revenues have not kept pace with early expectations (which, admittedly, I helped create). In mobile it’s a natural business model and that may be the arena in which PPCall ultimately […]
SuperPages Changes Algorithm To Factor Clicks Into Ad Rankings
SuperPages, like Yahoo! before it, has decided to factor in click-through rates in determining the order of sponsored ads. Bid price now becomes one of several considerations in arraying search results (geography and category obviously remain critical). VP Robyn Rose told me that the majority of the consumer traffic coming through the site uses the […]
Travelocity: “Profound Mistake To Think We’ve Figured Out How To Measure ROI On Search”
Jeffrey Glueck, CMO at Travelocity, offered some controversial, and to some, nearly heretical comments while speaking at the IAB’s Performance Marketing Forum this week in Chicago. According to coverage in Advertising Age, Travelocity has found that it’s a waste to buy non-branded search terms. Fully 96% of Travelocity’s bookings coming from paid search are from […]