Archive for the ‘PPC’ Category

New AdWords trademark policy due – 14th September 2010

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Google have updated their AdWords trademark policy in a move that will affect many advertisers.

This update affects what advertisers can say in their AdWords creative.

For Resellers

Up to this point, resellers of trademarked brands needed the trademark owner’s permission in order to mention the trademarked brand in the ad creative. Authorised users were placed on a white list of permitted users.

From the 14th September, anyone selling or reviewing trademarked brand products on their website can start to mention the trademarked brand in their ad creative.

Here’s an example

Until now resellers of Epsom Ink Cartridges were not allowed to mention Epsom in their AdWords creative, unless authorised by Epsom and placed on the trademark white list. From the 14th September, as long as advertisers clearly display the Epsom brand on the landing page, and that a users is able to purchase the Epsom cartridge or read an impartial review of it, those advertisers will be allowed to mention ‘Epsom’ in their AdWords creative.

This change brings the UK into line with trademark policy in the US.

The change will have the biggest effect on resellers and review websites.

What should you do now?

Euston Digital will ensure that all those ads that have been previously disallowed for trademark reasons are resubmitted in order to go live on the 14th. Any other opportunities to include previously restricted trademarks will be evaluated in order to improve the CTR of creatives. Once live, we will test the performance of creatives in order to order work where trademarked terms perform well – and when they do not.

We will also identify where on your website the trademark owner’s brand could be highlighted, in order to make the approval process run smoothly.

For questions and clarification contact your account manager.

Tags: adwords, trademark policy
Posted in PPC | No Comments »

AdWords Location Extensions: Making it easy for Mobile users to find you

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

When in front of a PC, users often have time to sit back, relax and take time to research the right solution for them. But when a user searches from a mobile phone, they’re usually want to take action. They’re out and about, and want to find answers straight away, with the minimum of hassle or fuss.

This action is often finding your business, or getting your contact details. Mobile users often use maps to find a business and work out how to get there. Thanks to AdWords Location Extensions it’s now possible to put your phone number and location on an expandable map, which can appear either in apps or on Mobile websites on the Google Display Network (GDN).

What does it look like?

The ad looks like a banner text ad along with an icon representing a business. Users can click to expand, and a map shows up with a marker for your location, a click to call phone number and an option to get directions.

These ads are very powerful. As they’re based on where the user is, they will see the number and business address that’s nearest to them. This is a key way to boost visitors to your actual physical business location.

Another great feature is that you only get charged when someone clicks and visits your website, not when they expand your map or get directions. The click to call cost is the same as the CPC of a visit to the website.

How do I set it up?

1. To start with, on the settings tab make sure your campaign is opted into the Google Display Network.

2. Next, opt to display your campaign on iPhones and other smartphone devices with full Internet browsers.

3. Then, on the extensions tab from the overview page, set up location extensions and add your phone number and address.

4. Upload a business logo, or choose from the set of icons available.

The map and placemarker ad will now automatically be generated when users perform a local search from their mobile device.

That’s it

Do you carry out business and meet customers at a physical location? Do you have single or multiple retail outlets? Use location extensions to make it easy for local people to find your business. And then let us know about how you get on!

Tags: Google AdWords, location extensions
Posted in Mobile, PPC | No Comments »

How to use AdWords Search Funnels

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Ever since Google Analytics launched, a big criticism has always been its focus on the last click in the customer journey.

As any marketer knows, a business usually reaches potential customers a few times before they finally buy. So to reward the marketing channel with the final touch point takes value away from all those other channels.

Robust, detailed tracking solutions (we use DC-Storm) provide hard evidence of these multiple touch points. Using lifecycle reports you can drill into all the keywords someone used before they finally bought from you. And if you can see these touch points, you can attribute some marketing value to them all.

Finally, AdWords and Google Analytics have wised up to this, with their recently introduced AdWords Search Funnel Reports (ASFR).

And there’s something a little bit special about AdWords Search Funnel Reports. Whilst other tracking solutions can tell you which keywords generated clicks on the customer journey, the ASFR can tell you which keywords created clicks and impressions on the customer journey. So this report can tell you when a customer saw your ad even if they didn’t click on it.

Here’s some new metrics that the ASFR reveals:

Assist clicks: These are clicks that did not lead directly to sale, but occurred in the lead up to a sale.
Assist impressions: The same as assist clicks but for when your ad appeared but was not clicked on, and did not appear immediately prior to a sale.
Path length (clicks): The number of ads clicked before a sale.
Assisted conversions: The number times a keyword or campaign played a role in the journey to a sale.
Last click conversions: The traditional metric – when a campaign or keyword was the last one before a sale.

So what are the most useful reports to look at?

To start with, try the ‘Assist clicks and impressions report’:

With this, you can find out how many times a keyword or campaign assisted a sale, whether it generated a click or an impression.

If you’ve got keywords that are great for assists, then these are good keywords to target for expansion.

Then try looking at the ‘Top Paths report’:

With this report you can identify the particular combinations of keywords or campaigns that led to a conversion. You can quickly see the customer journey that often moves from generic keyword to brand keyword.

That’s it for now

The AdWords search funnel reports can highlight much greater depth to your data. If you want Euston Digital to use AdWords Search Funnels in your PPC Search marketing, get in touch.

Tags: adwords, adwords search funnels, customer journey
Posted in Conversion Optimisation, PPC, Search Engines | No Comments »

How to track visitors from mobile ads

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Google Analytics has just added a new feature that makes tracking clicks from mobile ads a whole lot easier.

If enabled, Google analytics can automatically tag all AdWords clicks with a unique URL the helps it identify that traffic source. However, in some cases it’s not possible to link an AdWords account with an Analytics account. And in other cases, you might want to track clicks from mobile ads on other networks.

So how do you go about identifying and segmenting mobile clicks?

The answer lies in a new tracking parameter called Mobile ValueTrack. This automatically ads a tag to the destination URL, allowing Google Analytics to identify it as a mobile click. To use the feature, just add the Mobile ValueTrack parameter: {ifmobile:NewTagName} into the “Destination URL” field  when you’re putting together your mobile text ad.

Redirecting traffic to a mobile optimised site

The first, huge benefit of the mobile ValueTrack parameter, is that it allows you to identify clicks from mobiles, and to redirect them to a mobile optimised version of your website.

Let’s say you wanted all clicks from mobile devices for your website www.travelingdog.net to be redirected to www.travelingdog,net/mobile. All you’d need to do is add the mobile ValueTrack parameter {ifmobile:mobile}.

Here’s what it would look like in AdWords:

Tracking using third party tags

If – like Euston Digital – you’re often using third party tracking tags, you can still use Mobile ValueTrack to track your mobile clicks. All you need to do is insert the tag into the destination URL.

In the example of travellingdog.net above, you just need to add the Mobile ValueTrack parameter into the landing page URL so it looks like this:

www.travelingdog.net?type={ifmobile:mobclick}

In this example, the tag “mobclick” gets inserted into the URL, which lets you identify those clicks from mobiles.

If you need help tacking clicks from mobile devices for your PPC or Mobile campaign, get in touch.

Tags: adwords, google analytics, Mobile, PPC
Posted in Mobile, PPC | 1 Comment »

Getting local with your AdWords campaigns

Monday, August 16th, 2010

In the last couple of years, Google have added a few ‘extensions’ to AdWords campaign settings that allow the savvy advertiser to make their ads stand out from the crowd.

Aside from making your ad appear larger on the page, they also let searchers grab more detail about your service, and navigate deeper into your site.

We’ve already talked about Sitelinks, an effective way to take more space on the SERPs and let users reach new pages. And just a few days ago we discussed phone extensions which can display your phone number to some searchers.

Now it’s time to talk about location extensions. Launched last year, these let you attached relevant business address to your ads. This is what it looks like in the SERPs:

And this is what it looks like when expanded:

Location extensions can be added to campaigns from the ‘extensions’ or ’settings’ tab of your AdWords account. You can either link your AdWords account to your local places account, and thus display your location listed there; or add an address manually.

Location extensions have also just been upgraded, to allow the display of multiple addresses. In this example, someone is searching for their local Toys R Us store:

Clearly it’s useful to allow customers to see the location that’s nearest to them, or the easiest to get to. And if they move the map, the relevant locations appear for the new area shown. For offline businesses this is clearly going to provide a boost to in-store footfall.

To make sure you have multiple addresses displayed for your location, you need to link your AdWords account to your Google Places account, and make sure all your locations have been listed there. If you’ve got loads of addresses don’t worry, these can be uploaded in bulk.

If you need Euston Digital to help adding location extensions to your PPC campaigns, please get in touch.

Tags: adwords, adwords extensions, location extensions, phone extensions, PPC, Sitelinks
Posted in PPC | No Comments »

Should you put a phone number on your PPC Ad?

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

It’s a question we often get asked when setting up a PPC campaign for a client. Should we include a phone number on the advert?

Of course you should!

At first, it seems like a good idea. By adding a phone number you’re making it easy for users to get in touch, and you’re potentially reducing cost – users may call your number straight from the Search Engine Results Page, rather than click on your advert.

No way!

But what often happens is that adding a phone number doesn’t seem to generate calls, whilst it actually drives down your CTR. A PPC ad is just 140 characters. To take up so much space with a number rather than a benefit is a waste of space. This waste leads to a poorer message, a lower CTR and a lower quality score, which means you have to bid up to maintain the same position on the page.

And users who are searching online are looking for websites, not looking to make calls. They’re too early in the buying cycle to pick up the phone.

Maybe sometimes…

However, rather than be hard and fast, there are Google Ads which are worth adding a number to.

Local Business

If you’re running a geographically targeted PPC campaign for a local company, it’s worth testing a number. Rather than put users off, they recognise the number code and mentally note that this is a local business. Whilst they may not call from the ad, it’s a clear signal that they’re dealing with somebody local.

Searches on local properties

Some searches are set up to be local. These include searches on Google Maps. If you’re running a campaign that include these types of results, it’s a good idea to use a phone number

Searches on mobile devices

Users who search from their mobile phone are usually looking to take action straight away. Phones aren’t used in the background research phase, they’re used when a user wants to do something right now, often because they’re out and about. For these campaigns it’s good to include a phone number so that users can immediate connect with your business.

Where to include your number

Local Results

The easiest way is to claim the Google Places page for your business, which used to be called the Google Local Business Center.

Once you’ve set your Google Places account, link it to your AdWords account from the Settings page of the relevant campaign.

If you’re having trouble setting up a Google Places account, you can manually enter that data under the Settings.

Now that they’re linked, your phone number will get displayed beside your ad, and it will often include a link to your location and Places page.

Mobile Ads

Including your phone number in mobile ads

From within the Setting page of your AdWords account, you can opt to have your campaign shown on most smart-phones, such as iPhones, HTCs and Blackberry Storms.

In order to add a phone number to these ads just click the ‘extensions’ tab and then choose ‘phone extensions’. Just add your number. When your ad is shown on a smart phone a call icon will be included on the ads. This applies to both search and content campaigns.

To reach non-smartphone users you need to set up a mobile ad. You can select ‘mobile ad’ from the ‘ads’ tab of your campaign. Simply include a phone number in the ad.

Test using Sitelinks

Sitelinks are not only and important way to grab more of the SERPs, they’re also somewhere you can test adding a phone number. There is a small danger that you will push your CTR south by including phone number here, since it’s another opportunity to sell. So be sure to monitor it closely.

That’s it

There’s no hard and fast rule to adding phone numbers to your AdWords creatives, so follow these guidelines to make an informed choice. As ever, be sure to test the effect of the changes you make. Any comments? Leave them below.

Posted in PPC | No Comments »

Advertiser Goals now appearing in the Opportunities Tab

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Here at Euston Digital we’re big fans of the Google AdWords Opportunities Tab – its once of the best new features of the new AdWords interface.

Aside from offering you recent and relevant keyword suggestions, Google recently added the opportunity to gauge campaign performance against competitors.

Set your own Goals

Now Google AdWords have added a new feature to the opportunities tab – advertiser goals. These allow you to tailor the suggestions that Google give you each campaign you’re working on.

When optimising a campaign, you’ve often got a specific objective in mind. It might be you’re trying to boost the traffic to a site. Maybe you’re trying to cut cost. Or you might be trying to improve efficiency by maintaining traffic and spend whilst improving conversions and reducing CPA.

Now in the opportunities tab you can preselect your campaign goal, and get suggestions based on that goal. The options are to:

*Reduce Cost – where might you cut expenditure from the campaign
*Boost traffic – which keywords and bids can lead to an increase in traffic
*Get a bit of both – a balance of increased traffic and reduced cost.

This is what the options look like:

Once you’ve selected the specific campaign goal, the suggestions AdWords will make customised to fit that goal. Unless you change it, all future suggestions will be for the same goal.

What do you think?

As ever, take Google’s ideas with a pinch of salt, and apply your normal rules to the optimisation suggestions it comes up with.

Take a look and let us know what you think.

Posted in PPC | No Comments »

What is worth more – an organic or paid click?

Monday, July 19th, 2010

As any marketer knows, search engines can bring your website traffic from two separate areas of the search engine results page (SERPs).

The red section is the paid-for listings (PPC). The green is for the organic listings (SEO). Euston Digital can help with both your PPC and SEO.

The question is: which side brings the most valuable traffic?

The short answer is: it depends. It varies from site to site, and the only way to really work it out is by analysing your conversion rate and ROI using your web analytics.

And the long answer? What about ‘on average’? Well according to an economic study published recently by Google, it’s the paid for – or sponsored listings – that bring the most valuable traffic. Google go as far to say that organic clicks are worth just 70% of their paid-for counterparts.

Why are paid-for listings worth more?

Google don’t say why they make that call, so here are a few ideas of our own.

1. People who click on the adverts have a specific intent. They know what they want, and are prepared to cost a business money in order to get it. They consider that a fair exchange, and are prepared to enter a transactional relationship.

2. There’s fewer paid-for listings that organic listings. For each search term there are probably just a few thousand competing advertisers, but 100s of thousands of websites competing for the organic listings. So a click on the paid for listing is takes a great share of the overall opportunity.

3. The only advertising that sticks around is the stuff that’s working. By and large, business won’t poor money into advertising that doesn’t work, and would sooner turn it off. By contrast, a website might continue to rank highly in the organic listings even though it no longer sells a product. Therefore the paid clicks are more likely to be accurate and result in good value for both users and website owner.

4.Adverts are human edited and controlled more closely. Not only are they written, and placed on a keyword by keyword basis, they also pass a ‘quality score’ judgement by the AdWords system. Therefore they are more likely to represent the best place for that user to arrive. By contrast, the organic listings are Google’s best guess at the user’s intention.

5. Adverts are deep linked to the most appropriate page on the website. By contrast, organic listings often send traffic to the home or category page, or make poor judgement due bad signals as to the best landing page.

Which side of the page brings you the most traffic? How does it vary in quality? Leave us a comment below.

Tags: organic traffic, PPC, SEO
Posted in PPC, SEO | No Comments »

Good Reviews can now boost your AdWords campaign

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

We’ve written previously about the importance of fostering positive review. Great user feedback should form the cornerstone of your social media strategy.

Reviews are set to become even more important, as is now Google starting to include ratings within your AdWords creative. Called ‘Seller Rating Extensions’, these are designed to make it easier for users to identify those merchants who are highly rated.

This is what they look like:

Appearing as a series of stars from Google Product Search, these rating are aggregated from a series of review sites across the web

In order to get star ratings on your ads, you need to be rated in Google Product Search with at least 4 or more stars, along with at least 30 reviews. Those searching can choose to look at the reviews before they visit your site. And you only get charged once they click to visit your website.

What to do?

If you’re not already appearing in Google Product Search, then now is the time to start to get listed. Let us know if you want help with that.

Once your product is live, make sure you work hard to get as many reviews as possible. Here’s some easy to follow advice on growing positive reviews. For in depth expert advice on that and other part of your social media marketing strategy, get in touch.

Tags: Google AdWords, reviews, Social Media
Posted in PPC, Social Media | No Comments »

Are your AdWords campaigns better than your competitors?

Friday, July 9th, 2010

It’s been about a year since the Google AdWords User Interface underwent a huge overhaul.

One of the interesting new elements is the ‘opportunities’ tab. Here Google makes new keyword suggestions based on search query data, allowing you to add or exclude them directly to your campaigns.

There’s a new Beta feature just added which improves this even further, by allowing you to compare your campaign performance to those of similar advertisers.

Analyze competition

This tool looks at campaign activity over the previous two weeks, and sorts it into categories that make up the advertiser products or services. It then analyses the continuity between search query, keyword, ad text and landing page text. Based on this analysis, the tool then produces a bar graph indicating performance compared to other advertisers in the same category.

If you hover over the ‘competitive range’, you can see the median and mean performance for other advertisers in the range, and the extreme top and bottom too.

The metrics which you can compare to other advertisers include Impressions, clicks, average position and CTR.

This screen grab shows how a campaign CTR is compared to competitors:

You can also export the data to a .csv file.

Campaign Management

This tool is a powerful aid to campaign management and reporting. It allows you to prove that your campaigns are performing well against others; and gives you insights into the area which you need to work on.

For example, if you find that your campaign is getting impressions than the competitors, then you might want to take action. This is not necessarily something to worry about – maybe you’re just running your campaign on exact match – but this means that you can at least see and upper ceiling of how many more times your ad could be appearing. Want some more impressions? Then it’s time to expand your keyword list and take a look at using phrase or expanded broad match [link].

If your campaigns are under performing against competitor CTR, then without a doubt this means that it’s time to check the continuity between your keywords and ads. Are you keywords broken down and tied to matching ads? Are you giving searches the product they’re looking for? Are you selling it in a compelling way? Take a look at how others are promoting their services and test some new ideas.

Want to know more? Take a look at this video all about the new feature.

If you want to know how Euston Digital can help with your Pay Per Click campaign, then get in touch.

Tags: Google AdWords, pay per click
Posted in PPC | No Comments »

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