Search AdWords have had +1 buttons since late May, and now the +1 functionality is coming to the Google Display Network (GDN). Additionally, +1 data will, for the first time, serve as a signal of relevance in the AdWords auction — for display only, for now. As with the +1s that accompany text ads, people […]
Now that you know how your AdWords perform on the top of the page, versus on the side, the next question is how much it’ll cost you for that (presumably) better performance. Google aims to answer that question with a new metric — top of page bid estimates — announced today, which shows how much […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Tightens Review Process For New AdSense Publishers Google has added a new review step to its process for adding new AdSense publishers, presumably to better eliminate abuses and improve the […]
What Every Paid Search Marketer Needs To Know About Google +1 Presentations from SMX Advanced, June 2011 Google’s new “+1” experiment allows searchers to publicly show what they like, agree with, or recommend on the web. And not just for algorithmic search results, but for ads as well. Google is using +1 results to make […]
Quality Score: The Unwritten Manual For Google AdWords & Bing adCenter Presentations from SMX Advanced, June 2011 Google (and now Microsoft) place enormous emphasis on Quality Score, a formula that determines both the display position and ultimate cost of ads. Much has been written about Quality Score, but this session goes beyond common lore, and […]
Anonymous complainants have thrown more fuel on the antitrust fire. Additional complaints have reportedly been filed against Google with European regulators. According to Reuters, the total number of complaints now comes to nine. Previously there were four formal complaints before the European Commission: Ciao (owned by Microsoft) Ejustice.fr (which has also filed a civil suit) […]
After years of minimal change to the format of AdWords ads (some ad extensions are the only radical change), all paid search ads now have the +1 button right after the headline on their right side. How will this new social aspect impact paid search marketing? And what can in-house search marketers do now to […]
Google is rolling out AdWords functionality to let advertisers segment reports based on where the ad appears on the page — whether it’s above the organic search results or off to the right side. The feature will allow advertisers to determine whether the benefits they’d seeing from bidding their ads into a Top position are […]
Poor landing page quality scores have been a bit of a mystery for marketers using Google AdWords. A 1/10 score could mean the landing page was poor, by Google’s standards, or it could mean that it, or the site as a whole, somehow violated the company’s policies. Today, the company has introduced changes to help […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Building Empathy For Googlebot With one persona, copywriters and designers will gain a better understanding of Googlebot and do a better job of creating a site that will appeal to him. […]
Microsoft has announced it will be rolling out a Quality Score feature within adCenter aimed at giving advertisers feedback on how their keywords are performing — very similarly to Google’s Quality Score. Interestingly, Microsoft says scores won’t directly — stressing the word directly — influence how ads are ranked, but it’s more of a reflection […]
Once campaigns reach a certain size, successful paid search marketing becomes less about generating traffic and more about identifying and driving the highest value visitors. At the same time, however, scale makes creative testing and ad group refinement difficult to implement across hundreds of thousands or even millions of keywords. In a high-volume world, actively […]
If you're looking for some joy from your AdWords accounts this holiday season and beyond, Google's new 'Automated Rules' tool might only makes things worse. 'Automated Rules' allows users to specify amounts by which to raise or lower bids whenever certain conditions are met, but gives very little guidance on how to do so in lower-risk ways that maximize your return.
All Google AdWords advertisers know the importance of having a good quality score on Google. A poor quality score can result in your cost per click prices to soar, virtually knocking you out of the auction space and competing during the holiday shopping season. That is why tracking and monitoring your ad’s quality score in […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Canada’s Yellow Pages Group Acquires Enquiro Canada’s Yellow Pages Group has acquired the well-known search marketing agency Enquiro and folded it into a new entity known as Mediative. As explained in […]
Well, the first half of this one-year search advertising course is in the books! This column was an idea that I hatched, and thankfully, SearchEngineLand.com’s executive editor, Chris Sherman had also been thinking about something similar, so the timing at the end of last year couldn’t have been better. So far, it’s been a wonderful […]
At the SMX Advanced 2010 conference in Seattle, we invited four leading paid search experts to share some of their recent experiments in paid search in a new session entitled The Mad Scientists of Paid Search. The panelists were encouraged to add a bit of academic rigor to their presentations by including their hypotheses, design […]
Paid search focused videos, slide presentations, and podcasts recorded at various Search Marketing Expo conferences. To see the full presentation, click on either the screenshot, or the session’s title. SMX Advanced – June 11-12, 2013 – Seattle, WA Slides & Speaker Audio: Big Data + Big Math = Exponential Search Performance Seems every industry is […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google’s AdSense For Mobile (Apps) Becomes Gateway To Other Mobile Ad Networks Google announced that its AdSense for Mobile Apps program would start allowing publishers and developers to work with third […]
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 […]
Google launched a new AdWords reporting feature named AdWords Search Funnels. AdWords Search Funnel shows you all the keywords that assisted in conversion made through Google AdWords, rather than just the last one before a buy or conversion action. This feature is being rolled out over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out […]
Account organization is the first and most important step in the optimization process – it’s the foundation for success.
Read the search marketing press today and you’ll find abundant information on the importance of bid management strategies, as well as tools to maximize campaign ROI. However, as anybody who’s managed a search campaign recently knows, bid levels are only part of the equation. Effective search marketers know that search engines are looking to maximize […]
We often get asked how we pull together our Search Marketing Expo conferences. We strive to make things look effortless, but in reality there’s a lot that goes into organizing an SMX event. To get the logistics right, we hold weekly meetings with our operations staff, relentlessly assuring that all details that make a great […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
There’s no question that the vast majority of brand loyalty is created post click—once consumers are brought to a landing page with relevant offers and other brand messaging. However, what happens in that 2-3 second window prior to the click? A lot more brand building than you think. First impressions count Search marketers spend countless […]
Up Close With Google AdWords Quality Score Google’s quality score remains a mystery to many marketers, plus Google keeps changing when and how it is used. This session takes a fresh look at the current state of quality score, how it is implemented and tips on using it to your advantage. [flv:https://searchengineland.com/video_assets/west09/Up-Close-With-Google-AdWords-Quality-Score.flv 364 200] Moderator: […]
Google seems to be testing a new AdWords feature that allows you to batch your keyword analysis into a larger overview report, as opposed to running the report for each and every keyword manually. The new tool is named “Diagnose Keyword” and seems to be on only some AdWords accounts. The feature is on the […]
In about six weeks, our SMX West search marketing conference returns to Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara, California from Feb. 10-12, 2009. The show features four tracks of sessions spread across three days and covers all aspects of search marketing. Below is a personal preview that I wanted to share with our readers about what […]
It was just about two months ago when Google released AdWords Editor 6.5 and now 7.0 is live. You can download the new AdWords Editor at google.com/adwordseditor/. The new features include:
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” This gem from heavyweight boxing legend Iron Mike Tyson also applies to AdWords account strategy, especially when starting a new account. Beginning in 2006, some advertisers in the affiliate marketing, Made-for-AdSense, and other spheres have referred to harsh quality score treatment — especially treatment […]
This morning I reported that the “fairer” AdWords quality score changes went live. In that post, I asked you to submit your questions, because I had scheduled a call with Google’s Nick Fox to answer some questions I had over this quality score change. The call is now over and I have some pretty transparent […]
The new, improved and billed as “fairer” quality score changes made to the AdWords algorithm are now live. In short, Google made two changes: (1) Improved how they normalize the formula for taking into account ad position when calculating an ad’s click-through rate. (2) Enabled more ads to reach the top ad spot, through a […]
The Google AdWords Blog announced that two new changes to the quality score is coming in the next few days. The first change is to make the quality score calculation score an ad’s CTR based on the ad’s position. The second change is to help enable certain ads to be promoted to the top position.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Brad Geddes reports that Google has updated their AdWords Quality Score to now include geographic information in the quality score algorithm. If you take a look at the Google page on the Quality Score, you will see a line that reads: Your account’s performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown.
The AdWords Blog announced that the new real-time quality score algorithm will be live within days. This means that Google will now calculate the quality score of your keywords at the time of the search query. Second, Google has removed the “minimum bid” metric and replaced it with “first page bid.” Finally, Google will no […]
Stuck in Google’s Doghouse from the New York Times profiles the story of Dan Savage’s Sourcetool.com and how it was hit by Google’s AdWords quality score algorithm. The article discusses the practice of arbitrageur in the search ad game. Savage used AdWords to drive traffic to Sourcetool.com and then monetized that traffic through AdSense. The […]
The Google AdWords blog announced three major changes happening to the AdWords marketplace. First, Google will now calculate the quality score of your keywords at the time of the search query. Second, Google has removed the “minimum bid” metric and replaced it with “first page bid.” Finally, Google will no longer mark search ads as […]
Google announced that the page load time metric is now a live factor that will influence your quality score and your minimum bids for your AdWords ads. We first heard that page load time was coming to the Google quality score in early March. Google then provided advertisers with metric in their AdWords consoles so […]