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November 19, 2009

AdWords Creates Easier Access to Advanced Performance Data

When using AdWords, in order to access some advanced performance data, you had to create reports, which can be time consuming. AdWords is making access to certain data points easier by integrating them into the campaign management.

For example, instead of running a placement performance report to manage automatic placements, you can use the "Networks tab." Instead of running a search query report, you can select the "See search terms" option under the Keywords tab.

AdWords also recently introduced time-based segmentation. Use this to break down your data by day, week, month, or year to understand changes in your campaign's performance.

Segmenting by day of the week is also available, which can be advantageous for ad scheduling.

What do you think of these AdWords updates? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

November 13, 2009

Google Updates AdWords Editor

A new version of Google's AdWords Editor has been released. Version 7.6.1's new features include:

Ad scheduling and advanced location targeting
Add/Update Multiple Campaigns
Account tree editing
Promoted Video ads
Export spreadsheet with images (ZIP)

Updated features include:

Keyword expansion
Campaign and ad group pickers
Import CSV error export

There's also new bidding terminology:

Max. CPC Search - (previously Max. CPC)
Max. CPC Automatic Placements (previously Max. Content CPC)
Max. CPC Managed Placements (previously Placement Max. CPC)

There's no change to Max CPA and Max CPM terminology.

Check out the full release notes here.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 12, 2009

AdWords Launches Product Listings Ads and DFA Analytics, Updates Ad Planner

Google AdWords has unleashed a heap of updates, so let's dive right in and see what's going on.

Product Listing Ads

This is a new type of ad that will be included in shopping-related results on Google.com. The ads are Cost-per-Action (CPA). Advertisers will only pay when users click through and make a purchase. It works in conjunction with an advertiser's Google Merchant Center account.

Because of the Google Merchant Center connection, advertisers don't need to find keywords or create ad text. Google will cull all that information for you and serve up the ads when the relevant keyword is searched. (Of course, you'll still want to do keyword research and make sure you get the right keywords in when you're setting things up in the Google Merchant Center).

Ad Planner Updates

Google's media buying tool, Ad Planner, has received some updates:

Subdomain data - View data such as traffic and demographics for publisher subdomains
Ad placements - View specific sections of a website where advertising can be purchased.
Reach and relevance at a glance - New interactive graph shows which sites in your planned campaign will perform the best
More detailed publisher data - Since publishers and advertisers can share Google Analytics data with Ad Planner, more data points are available such as page views, unique visitors, total visits, average visits per visitor, and average time on site.

DART for Advertisers Updates

DART for Advertisers (DFA) is the DoubleClick platform and it has a new Analytics feature that's been launched into beta. Google is touting the features and benefits over at the AdWords Agency blog:

Quick insights. Interactive reports with charts and graphs.
Fast reports. Reports update frequently - every few hours - and the new user interface enables you to access your data quickly.
New Report Types. Geographic delivery data as well as additional reports that show delivery data by bandwidth, browser, and operating system.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 10, 2009

Google Includes Place Pages Ad Info on Placement Performance Reports

In September, Google launched Place Pages, which aggregate content to give a fuller listing for local content in Google Maps.

Ads appear on those Place Pages and now AdWords users can see if their ads are appearing on them. The data is included on Placement Performance reports.

You can't currently bid for an ad to be placed on a Place Page, but Google says bidding higher will increase your chances of appearing on them.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 9, 2009

Google AdWords Adds Two New Alerts

Google AdWords has launched new alerts to help you manage your paid search campaigns.

Under the Opportunities Tab, Google has added alerts for keyword and budget ideas.

If you're using conversion tracking, you can now set up a custom alert to notify you of changes in conversion volume, conversion rate, and cost per conversion.

So far, custom alerts are only available for individual accounts, but Google says they are working on rolling out custom alerts for accounts linked through My Client Center (MCC).

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 6, 2009

Google AdWords Updates Conversion Tracking Options

Google AdWords has updated the interface for Conversion Tracking. There are three tabs to manage data: Conversions, Webpages, and Code.

Conversions

Under this tab, you'll view details about the conversion actions you're tracking. The "Tracking Status" column shows whether those actions are being tracked properly. The "Value" column displays the accumulated value of the conversion actions. This is based on the value you assign to each action. Use the "New Conversion" button to set up the conversion actions to be tracked. These can also be imported from Google Analytics.

Webpages

Under this tab, you can view which web pages on your site are converting. You'll see the same columns you see under the Conversions tab (Tracking Status, Value, Conversions per click). This can help you identify poorly performing pages.

Code

Under this tab, grab the tracking code for each conversion. You can change the value of an action here too, which aids in ROI calculations.

What do you think of this Google AdWords update? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 3, 2009

Google AdWords Launches Ad Sitelinks

Google is introducing sitelinks to AdWords. If you're not familiar, sitelinks are links to pages deeper on a website. We've seen them in organic results for quite awhile.

Ad Sitelinks are only being launched to advertisers that meet a high-quality threshold. If your account qualifies, go to your Campaign Settings Tab, then to the "Ad extensions" section. Look for "Show additional links to my site."

Here's a sample ad provided by the Inside AdWords blog (click to enlarge):

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Google AdWords Unveils Holiday-Themed Templates for Display Ad Builder

The holiday season is upon us and Google AdWords wants to help you get your display ads ready. They've just released new holiday-themed templates for Display Ad Builder. Here are some examples:

Google launched Display Ad Builder a year ago and have been adding templates ever since.

Still not convinced that display ads are a viable marketing option? There's plenty of data to show that display advertising gives search a lift.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 30, 2009

Google Tests Mortgage Comparison Ads, Updates Real Estate Search in Maps

Google is vamping up its real estate search offerings with two new announcements. First up, AdWords is testing comparison ads in the mortgage/refinance vertical. The idea behind comparison ads is to help searchers filter what they're really searching for when they type in something like "mortgage." Check out this screen shot of a comparison ad, per the Inside AdWords blog (click for a larger view):

When you click the ad, you get taken to a chart that lists various rates and lenders.

The second real estate announcement is for Google Maps. There are new ways to help searchers find real estate using the mapping service.

The first one involves the "More" menu that's directly on the map (not the one in the sidebar results). When you click on that, you'll see a real estate option. The second one is the ability to search rentals.

What do you think of Google's pursuit of real estate? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 28, 2009

Google AdWords Offers Keyword Translation, But Should You Use It?

Google AdWords has added support for Google Translator Toolkit. This means you can now translate your keywords and have ads appear to global audiences in their language.

However, Search Engine Watch columnist Andy Atkins-Krüger warned about the pitfalls of keyword translation in an August post entitled Translating Keywords Should Never EVER Happen. Atkins-Kruger made the good point that while serving up ads to audiences in their language is important, simple translation is risky.

The reason is that this planet is so culturally diverse. Even countries that share the same language often have their regional nuances. Language in and of itself does not contain a culture.

The best way to serve up foreign language ads is through human translation by someone who understands the culture of the country that's being targeted. While Google's intentions appear to be good in offering this new feature, it should be used with great caution.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

October 26, 2009

Google AdWords Tests New My Client Center Dashboard

Google AdWords is testing a new interface for My Client Center. If you want to check it out, just click the link in the current My Client Center Dashboard.

According to the Inside AdWords blog, the changes will include the following:

In-line editing of account descriptions: In-line editing cuts the time it takes for you to make changes to your account names. Instead of waiting for a new page to load, just click an account description to edit it right on the Dashboard.
Remove/unlink accounts: Previously, you needed to drill down into a client account to unlink it from your MCC. Now, if you're no longer managing a client, you can remove it directly from your MCC Dashboard.

The AdWords team says the same workflows and core functionality will stay in place. They do expect to include more features to the new interface over time.

Have you checked out the new My Client Center interface in Google AdWords? Share your first impressions in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 23, 2009

7 Google Updates: Custom Search, AdWords API, Maps, Search Appliance and More

Google had another busy week pushing out updates. That's really no surprise considering Apple released product refreshes and Microsoft released Windows 7. Google hasn't let any major update from any competitor go by without their own news and this week was no different.

We've already covered Google getting a deal with Twitter (similar to Bing's deal with Twitter) as well as a new social search experiment set up in Google Labs.

Here are 7 updates that are slightly minor but you'll still want to know about:

Custom Search is now available for mobile search experiences on smartphone and higher-end devices. Google will even host your mobile-optimized custom search pages for you, or you can host it on your mobile site.

AdWords API has a new version that includes asynchronous calls, keyword and placement ideas, and a location extensions preview.

Google Maps for Mobile has introduced layers for Blackberry users.

Google Search Appliance, an enterprise search server, released an update that includes a Self-Learning Scorer.

Google Friend Connect has a new Wordpress plugin.

Webmaster Central has new instructions for verifying a Blogger blog in Webmaster Tools.

Google Reader added Popular Items and Personalized Ranking features.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 14, 2009

YouTube Promoted Videos Available to Buy in AdWords, Expand to 7 More Countries

Advertisers with video content now have the option of buying Promoted Videos on YouTube with their AdWords account. Need incentive to buy? YouTube says clicks on Promoted Videos have increased 500% since January.

Additionally, YouTube is expanding the reach of Promoted Videos. Originally available only in the United States, Promoted Videos have been expanded to seven more countries: Canada, the U.K., France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

Promoted Videos launched in November 2008, but were first named Sponsored Videos. The name change came in March 2009, and Call-to-Action overlays were added in July. A couple of weeks ago, Promoted Videos were added AdSense, part of the Google Content Network.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2009

Google Officially Launches DoubleClick Ad Exchange

A week ago, ClickZ's Zachary Rodgers broke the news that Google would soon launch its new online advertising exchange. That news is now official.

Google is boasting that its DoubleClick Ad Exchange will be a time-efficient way for publishers and advertisers to get their respective jobs done with regards to online display advertising. Publishers will make available unsold inventory and advertisers will bid in real-time. Google handles all the billing and payments.

Google says it has three primary objectives with the ad exchange:

1. Simplify the system for buying and selling display ads. 2. Deliver better performance that advertisers and agencies can measure. 3. Open up the ecosystem

That last one could be a source of contention since it looks like advertisers will be forced to use DoubleClick's ad buying platform.

Additionally, Google's not the first ad exchange out there. Their main competition will be Yahoo!'s Right Media Exchange. So, while Google is launching this thing by saying it will help both publishers and advertisers get a bigger piece of the pie, this mostly seems like it will give Google a bigger piece of the display ad pie.

Still, there's a reason why everything Google touches seems to turn to gold, and there's no reason to think the DoubleClick Ad Exchange will be anything different.

As a result, I wouldn't be surprised if there is some antitrust scrutiny down the line if they do indeed end up with a big chunk of the aforementioned proverbial pie. But for the meantime, publishers and advertisers have a new option in the ad exchange market.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 17, 2009

Confused About Bid Simulator? Let Google's Chief Economist Explain

Last month, Google launched Bid Simulator in AdWords. The idea behind the simulator is to calculate whether or not spending more or less would be more cost-effective.

Let's say you're paying $0.50 per click. The Bid Simulator can show how much more you would have to pay to get more clicks. It could be $1.00 per click to get 10 more clicks, but that might not be worth it to you if it lowers your overall revenues. This, however, generated some confusion as they thought that the Bid Simulator was actually a Bid Recommender, and that Google was trying to get people to bid higher for keywords.

Of course, we never saw comments complaining about Bid Simulator suggesting a lower CPC would produce a higher revenue.

Now, Google's Chief Economist Hal Varian has taken to the Google blogs and YouTube to spell out Bid Simulator for you in a new Tutorial. The overall idea is to know your value per click instead of just your cost per click. Check the tutorial out in all of its economic glory and then give your opinion of the vid below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 14, 2009

White Knight SEO Checks Google Cash Scam Artists

Back on September 2, 2009, I posted a story entitled, "Google Cash Scam Artists vs. White Knight SEO Campaign."

On September 3, Matt McGee of Search Engine Land posted "Google Cash Scams Targeted By 'White Knight' SEOs" and Chris Crum of WebProNews posted "'White Knights' Take on Fraudulent Results."

And on September 11, Kaila Krayewski of Inernet Search Engine Database posted "SEOs Try to Push Google Cash Scams Out of Rankings."

It appears that all the attention to this issue may have prompted Google to block advertising on the term, "Google cash," as well as another term, "Google money tree." On September 11, Jonah Stein of It's the ROI posted "White Knight Checks Google Cash."

Stein said, "For advertisers playing the Google cash game, this is at best check, not mate. We have not induced a moral decision by Google to protect naive users. This appears to be the narrowest possible compromise, a strategic retreat by Google to avoid the obvious embarrassment of having the organic results overtly exposing the scams advertised on the right. Google is still allowing advertisers to bid on variations like google cash detective and google cash system."

So, the chess game continues. Still, it's interesting to note that a handful of White Knight SEO blogs seems to have promoted Google to suspend bidding on a couple of exact match terms. Can the end game be near?

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 9, 2009

Google AdWords Expands Opportunities Tab Beta Test

Back in July, Google AdWords began testing an "Opportunities Tab," designed to help advertisers find more cost-effective traffic for their campaigns. Now, the test is being expanded.

The expansion includes additional U.S. advertisers and also begins to bring in advertisers from the U.K. and Australia. The Opportunities Tab gives a quick overview of Google's customized keyword and budget ideas for your campaign. That will likely make a bunch of you feel quite uneasy.

If you're included in the beta, be prepared for a change. For example, you won't see a tab for AdWords tool. The existing AdWords tools aren't gone, but they'll be in a different place. You'll have to click on the Opportunities Tab and then scroll down the sidebar. Lists of campaigns will also be on the sidebar on the left.

What do you think of the Opportunities Tab? Tell us by leaving a comment below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 1, 2009

Google Launches TV Advertising Contest

Want to win $25,000 worth of cable television advertising? Google's giving away just that in its "TV for All" contest.

All you have to do is create a 30 or 60 second spot. If you don't have the resources, you can use Spotmixer for free. (Google began offering Spotmixer as a TV ad creation resource last January.)

Then upload the ad to the YouTube channel for the TV for All contest. Then go beg all your friends, family, customers, strangers, pets, etc to vote for your video.

The deadline for submissions is October 5. Three winners will be chosen and announced on October 30.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 23, 2009

Nicholas Fox of Google AdWords Invites You To Shape Future of Search Advertising

Nicholas Fox, the Business Product Management Director of AdWords at Google, gave one of the three keynote speeches at SES San Jose 2009. Yes, yes, he provided a glimpse of where he saw search advertising headed in the near future. And that included finding what you were looking for without using keywords, richer media formats, and cost-per-acquisition.

All these were headline grabbers. And you can see the media response by reading:

Paul Krill article in the San Francisco Chronicle, "Google exec provides glimpse into future of search-based advertising."

David Needle's article in Internet News, "Google Looks Beyond Keywords."

Rebecca Lieb's article in ClickZ, "Keywords Out, Networks In."

But I think there was another big story hidden beneath the headlines. Fox also invited attendees to help Google shape the future of search advertising. And he provided a URL (http://www.google.com/seskeynote2009), which will redirect users to a Google forum where they can provide feedback on the future of search advertising as they see it.

If Google gets more friendly with search engine marketers, then Microsoft will have a much tougher time taking more market share. This is a significant development.

Following his keynote, I interviewed Fox about what he had said in his keynote about keywords, richer media formats, and cost per acquisition. More importantly, we talked about his invitation to attendees to help shape the future of search advertising.

Nicholas Fox, Google, on future of search advertising at SES San Jose 2009

As of this morning, there were more than a dozen messages in the SES Keynote Feedback Forum, including ones by Mona Elesseily and Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media and Joe Cibula of InverSearch. Check it out.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

August 20, 2009

Google Chief Economist Says Conversion Rate Doesn't Vary Much by Ad Position

Google's Chief Economist Dan Friedman Hal Varian and his team have conducted research on whether ad position affects conversion rate. Their conclusion is that it doesn't much. I have a feeling "much" is subjective among SEMs.

Their research showed that for search results pages with 11 sponsored ads, conversion rates "only" varied 5% from first place to last. So, if an ad gets a 1% conversion rate in the first place, the worst it would get is 0.95%.

Friedman Varian wanted to emphasize that ad position is affected by ad quality. Therefore, ads with higher ad position are likely better quality and more likely to have higher conversion rates. In other words, don't compare apples to oranges when testing ad position. You would need to test the same ad across various positions.

What do you think of Friedman's Varian's research on the correlation between conversion rate and ad position? Do you agree with his findings? Should a 5% variance really be considered low? Tell us your thoughts in the comments. (Comment position is first-come, first-served.)

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

August 14, 2009

Google AdWords Releases New Search Ads Quality Guide, Display Ad Builder Templates

Google AdWords has released a couple of important updates that you'll want to know about. First up, there's a new Search Ads Quality Guide. This is an introductory guide for understanding Quality Score and how you can improve it.

Secondly, the Display Ad Builder is getting new templates. They are a set of templates designed around an "Elegant" theme. You can find the new "Elegant" set under the "General" category.

Display Ad Builder currently has over 90 templates available in more than 40 countries, including rich media and video ads. Display Ad Builder was launched last October.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

August 13, 2009

Google Tests Ads with Images in Sponsored Links

Major hat tip to Al Scillitani who noticed that Google has added images to paid search ads. This seems to be a test as I couldn't personally duplicate it.

The ads with images don't have description text. There's simply a link, a price and the brand. Here's Scillitani's screenshot (click to enlarge):

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

August 5, 2009

Google's Conversion Optimizer Popular Among Advertisers

Google is reporting that Conversion Optimizer is a hit among advertisers. Using second quarter data, the AdWords tool is on track to manage $1 billion of paid search ad spend annually.

Conversion Optimizer allows advertisers to bid on a CPA (cost-per-acquisition) basis. Google gave the example of a US-based shoe company that might bid on broad matches of shoes. Conversion Optimizer can learn to weed out traffic such as international visitors, since the company doesn't ship overseas.

Currently, you can use Conversion Optimizer if you've had at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days.

An acquisition can be anything from a product to a lead. Tell Conversion Optimizer what your acquisition is worth and it goes to work to make that happen.

Have you tried Conversion Optimizer? How is it working out for you? Tell us your experience by leaving a comment below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

August 4, 2009

Google AdWords Launches Bid Simulator

If you've ever wondered what the performance of your paid search campaigns would be like with a different maximum CPC bid, then you're in luck. Google AdWords has launched bid simulator to help you do just that.

The bid simulator uses data from the previous 7 days to re-calculate the number of impressions you would have gotten if you'd had a higher bid.

SEW forum member kg84 tried out the bid simulator and had some concerns:

In theory, this is a cool tool. However, I have seen this tool recommend for many keywords, that rank very well and with optimal campaign budgets, that I should increase my bids by huge amounts (i.e. current bid $2.87 increase to $6.18 = 10 more impressions!! wow) Almost all keywords I check have suggested huge increases like that.

So, I reached out to Google and here's what a spokesperson had to say:

Shown bids are not recommendations but are simulations for various bids to give insight to the advertiser. The feature aims to show 'missed opportunity.' In this particular case, what the tool is telling the advertiser is that they only missed out on 10 impressions. Even bidding as high as $6 won't increase the number of impressions they got at their current bid.

It's an important point you'll want to keep in mind when you use the bid simulator. The simulated bids are to show what would happen if you did bid higher. In other words, they're not recommendations, just projection models. I suspect many search marketers will find the bid simulator will show that they really don't want to pay any more than they already are.

What do you think of the Bid Simulator? Let us know your impressions (pun fully intended) in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 23, 2009

Google Makes Conversion Optimizer More Widely Available

Google has opened up Conversion Optimizer to more advertisers. The AdWords tool is now available to those who've had at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days.

If you're not familiar with Conversion Optimizer, Search Engine Watch expert David Szetela did a nice write-up of the tool last January. Basically, it's a bid automation tool that uses conversion data to place ads in AdWords auctions.

Google says that their data is showing the average advertiser increasing conversions by 21% when they use Conversion Optimizer. Also, their CPA (cost-per-acquisition) costs dropped by 14%.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 13, 2009

Is TechCrunch Calling For Search Regulations or Running Test of Social Media, Link Building?

Okay, TechCrunch publishes an anonymous article calling for the regulation of SEO and SEM aimed squarely at the monopoly that is Google.

The hue and cry is being heard around the world, mainly through comments being posted on Twitter. But is the article really just a way for TechCrunch to do a test of Twitter traffic and its impact on link building, and ultimately on Google's search algorithm?

Our industry has weighed in on this article as if it were another installment of Dave Pasternak's annual controversial traffic generators. But what is it saying and what will this article achieve?

As many of the comments on the article have stated, an anonymous post about transparency is an oxymoron -- you can't tell the search engines to be open when writing without accrediting the author. This is not some revolutionary tract aimed at overthrowing the British, written anonymously for fear of being shot. Even Google does not retaliate against those that criticize them -- I have not been shot, and I give them grief all the time.

There are two paths to look at involving this article: the information it contains, and the motivation behind TechCrunch publishing it.

Let's look at the information first. Using anecdotes of countries and companies controlling access is really distracting -- at first I did not know if this was discussing Google's different country based search or the company as a whole. Google is a multinational conglomerate -- a huge corporation that operates in every country on the planet because of its internet existence.

Google is not the only search engine -- but they are the big dog when it comes to being a gatekeeper of where and how people find information online. We recommended them, we helped make them the most popular source of information on the web. And now we are bitching about it because they were smart enough to monetize it and we are now at the mercy of any change they decide to make.

Yes, we really can't go anywhere else -- they have the searchers we're trying to reach. But you can't complain when a company does its job too well. Asking for someone to come in and regulate it now is like wanting to take your ball back because you are not getting everyone to pass it to you during a game.

Funny how I do not see the industry shouting from the roof tops that Bing or Wolfram/Alpha is a great search engine that makes searching easier or more accurate. The only way the market share will shift is if people evangelize other search engines -- and that means a lot of people.

I have suffered through the changes just like everyone else, and could add several to the list in the article. But sadly, yet realistically, we have to adapt to these changes.

Countries can stop you from entering based on any rules they want. Companies have the right to refuse service, change their prices, the layout of their stores, what products they offer and promote etc. etc. etc. At least that is the case in democratic, free countries.

Getting the government to force Google to show everything will -- as the comments to the article express in the majority -- allow the people with deep pockets to just grab even more of the prime positions.

Do the big spenders at AdWords get preferential treatment? Yes -- and I know that from personal experience. When I was spending over a million dollars a month with AdWords, I got all kinds of help -- including advice on SEO.

Mr. Anonymous, you really lost me at this statement. "It's now conventional wisdom that search engine optimization, representing the organic result sets on any search query, is more voodoo than science."

Sounds exactly like Dave Pasternak. And when it was bandied about two years ago there were some great replies. Barry Schwartz's counter was good, as was Aaron Shear's reply about C execs thinking SEO was voodoo.

So beyond the basic complaint that many of us have about Google's position as gatekeeper of information, let's look at the second point.

What has motivated this article's publication at TechCrunch?

Apart from the huge amount of traffic it is now getting through Twitter and everywhere else, could it be a test of social media traffic? Or is it a clever way to grab links?

TechCrunch has lost a lot of its traffic from search engines, if you can believe Alexa numbers.

Since 2008, it appears TechCrunch has lost almost 50% of its search traffic numbers. Have the algorithm changes finally impacted them, and this is a case of sour grapes? (I am sure that will get some reaction).

Interestingly, TechCrunch does not seem to have been impacted if you look at pageviews. Quite the contrary: they have increased even while getting less search traffic.

So where is all this new traffic coming from? I wonder why this was not added to the post? How to grow numbers despite dropping search traffic would be a much more interesting piece. But that one may not get the huge spike in traffic this one is getting right now.

Michael Arrington is a sharp guy. Like Guy Kawasaki and Jason Calacanis, he recognizes the power of Twitter and has jumped on it as a new source of large amounts of traffic.

So what are we to infer from all this? I don't have a definitive answer, but I'm hoping TechCrunch is running a test of social media, and Twitter in particular. I hope that I will soon see the definitive article on the power of retweets and the global wave of viral social marketing.

I really am hoping this was not a ploy to garner a huge number of links. Either way, you are getting them Michael, and I will watch closely how those search numbers over at Alexa are influenced. Could there be a huge jump in the next few months and get you back where you were a year ago?

Now that would be a clever play. Increased traffic from Twitter -- no doubt getting huge followers today -- and a return to the larger numbers from search would be one hell of a trick. Almost worthy of a Voodoo priest!

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

July 8, 2009

YouTube Biz Blog Touts Social Media and Video Strategies Forum

How cool is this? On Monday, I posted "Social Media & Video Strategies To Be Held With SES San Jose:. It broke the news that ClickZ, YouTube and Google will be holding an event on August 11, 2009, in conjunction with SES San Jose 2009.

Then on Tuesday, the YouTube Biz Blog posted "Join Us at the SES Social Media & Video Strategies Forum." Kristin Kovner, the Industry Marketing Manager at YouTube, said, "We're excited to be a part of this first-time ever event. SES is one of the best places for businesses to learn about search; now that YouTube has millions of searches each day, it's only fitting that ClickZ and SES are expanding the agenda to include a full day dedicated to video and social media."

Just as importantly, the YouTube Biz Blog embedded the featured video on the SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. Views of the video, which was uploaded four months ago, shot up immediately. You can see the video for youself below.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo

This illustrates the link between search and social media that I mentioned on Monday and Mike Grehan writes about in his cover story in the latest issue of SES Magazine.

Additional evidence can be found in research conducted by TubeMogul entitled "How do people discover videos online?" Here's the gist of what they found:

-- 45% of all videos are found on a video site, i.e. going to YouTube and doing a search or clicking around featured and related videos. -- 44% of all videos are found embedded in blogs. -- 6% of all videos are found with search engines, like Google. -- 2% of all videos are found in social networks, like Facebook. -- 2% of all videos found in social bookmarking sites. -- Less than 1% of all videos are found with video search engines, like Google Video.

So, optimizating the title, description and tags of your YouTube video is half of the success formula. But the other half is engaging what Google calls "the buzzing blogger community."

I mentioned this a year ago at SES San Jose 2008 during a video interview with Liana Evans, who was then with KeyRelevance and is now with Serengeti Communications. Looking at it again a year later, I wouldn't change a word. (And I can't anyway.)

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe at SES San Jose 2008

So, stay tuned. Because this year's events -- as you can see in the SES San Jose 2009 agenda and the Social Media and Video Strategies agenda -- are likely to demonstrate the link between search and social big time.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

June 18, 2009

Google Analytics Goals Can Now Be Imported Into AdWords

If you're tired of going back and forth between AdWords and Analytics to track conversions and goals (or tired of setting up a separate tracking code to integrate), then you're in luck. Now, you can import your Google Analytics Goals into your AdWords account.

As a result, you can also integrate your Analytics Goals with Conversion Optimizer. If you're not aware, Conversion Optimizer is a conversion tracking tool. You need to have at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days to use it. The tool recently opened up from its closed beta in January to extend to all eligible AdWords advertisers.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 17, 2009

Nicholas Fox of Google AdWords to Keynote at SES San Jose

It seems like I've just returned from Search Engine Strategies Toronto and it's already time to look ahead to SES San Jose. Wow, time flies when you're having fun.

And it is worth noting that Nicholas Fox, the business product management director for Google's AdWords team, will be one of the keynote speakers at Search Engine Strategies San Jose. The event, which will be held August 10-14, 2009, is expected to attract approximately 6,000 marketing professionals this year. Since there were close to 1,200 attendees at SES Toronto 2009, which was about the same number that attended last year, it seems likely that Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2009 will also attract roughly the same size crowd as last year. And that was approximately 6,000 marketing professionals.

I've just returned from the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Boston, which attracted 5,000 attendees, approximately the same number as last year. So, while trade shows and events in other industries may have been hit hard by the global recession, it appears that conferences and expos on the Internet marketing side of the fence are holding their own.

And that's a good thing. Or, as I heard at the Specialized Information Publishers Association conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, "Flat is the new up."

SES San Jose 2009 is being organized and programmed by the SES Advisory Board and Search Engine Watch. The event, now in its 11th year, is the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast and will be packed with more than 70 sessions, multiple keynotes and Orion panels, over 150 exhibitors, networking events, parties and more.

I should disclose that SES became a client in late 2007, but I started writing for Search Engine Watch in early 2002 and speaking at SES conferences in mid 2003.

Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, said in a press release yesterday, "I can tell already that this year's SES San Jose is going to be a special one. The speakers, training programs, panels and sessions are all up there with the best we've ever had. Throw in over 150 exhibitors and some great networking events and parties, and we're looking at what very well may turn out to be the most exciting SES San Jose ever."

I interviewed McGowan during SES London 2009 back in February. He provided an overview of the SES Conference and Expo series for the upcoming year, which seems very clairvoyant now that we have about four months worth of 20/20 hindsight.

Matt McGowan, VP Publishing, Incisive Media, elaborates on SES shows in 2009

In yesterday's press release, McGowan also said he was thrilled to have Fox speaking at SES San Jose 2009. McGowan said, "It's not often that we get to hear from a management director at one of the most respected companies in the search industry. Anyone who's used Google AdWords in the past knows its value to the advertising field and this August, SES San Jose attendees are going to have the opportunity to hear the thoughts and ideas of someone who's been on the AdWords team since day one."

Fox is the business product management director for Google's AdWords. He also leads product management for AdWords bidding features. Before joining Google in 2003, he was a consultant for McKinsey & Company.

Go to the SES San Jose 2009 website for more information about the event. If you register through July 24, you can save up to $200 with the early bird rate.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 2, 2009

Google Releases AdWords Editor 7.5.1 for Windows and Mac

Google has released a new version of its AdWords Editor and there are some new features to look forward to.

CSV import has been added. Google says this was requested by many advetisers. Making changes on a spreadsheet or custom app can now be imported.

Next is the ability to download selected campaigns. You no longer have to endure long waits while your entire account downloads. Just select the campaigns you wish to download and go about your business.

The Keyword Opportunities feature has been updated. You can now sort by topical category. Also, when you export or copy keywords, the Keywords Opportunity column is now included.

Sort data by up to 3 columns.

A new Keyword Count column allows you to sort by number of keywords.

Resume account download prevents download progress from being lost is a download is interrupted for some reason.

A progress bar will let you know where you are at in the process of a given task in AdWords Editor.

You can select duplicates in order of appearance.

Usage tracking gives you the opportunity to share anonymous data in order to improve AdWords Editor.

New languages in this version include:

Thai
Arabic
Romanian
Hungarian
Indonesian
Greek
Vietnamese
Bulgarian
Croatian
Lithuanian
Estonian
Slovak
Filipino
Slovenian
Serbian
Catalan
Latvian
Ukranian
Hindi

What do you think of AdWords Editor 7.5.1?

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 20, 2009

AdWords Search Query Performance Reports Nix 'Other Unique Queries' for Details

The Search Query Performance Report in Google AdWords just got more detailed. Instead of lumping queries with low volume into a line item called "other unique queries," you'll actually be getting those queries listed instead.

You'll see all the queries that got a click, provided the user allows the referral URL to be shown. As a result of the change, you can better manage keyword variations instead of having a bunch hang out in the low volume abyss.

What do you think of the update? Let us know in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 15, 2009

Google AdWords to Allow Trademarks in Ad Text

Google is issuing a significant update to its policy on Trademarks in AdWords ad text. Trademarks will now be allowed in ad text, in the U.S. only, under the following circumstances:

Ads which use the term in a descriptive or generic way, and not in reference to the trademark owner or the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term.

Ads which use the trademark in a nominative manner to refer to the trademark or its owner, specifically:
- Resale of the trademarked goods or services: The advertiser's site must sell (or clearly facilitate the sale of) the goods or services corresponding to a trademark term. The landing page of the ad must clearly demonstrate that a user is able to purchase the goods or services corresponding to a trademark from the advertiser.
- Sale of components, replacement parts or compatible products corresponding to a trademark: The advertiser's site must sell (or clearly facilitate the sale of) the components, replacement parts or compatible products relating to the goods or services of the trademark. The advertiser's landing page must clearly demonstrate that a user is able to purchase the components, parts or compatible products corresponding to the trademark term from the advertiser.
- Informational sites: The primary purpose of the advertiser's site must be to provide non-competitive and informative details about the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term. Additionally, the advertiser may not sell or facilitate the sale of the goods or services of a competitor of the trademark owner.

Beginning today at 11am PDT, ads with Trademark that fit the above circumstances may be submitted. However, the ads will first appear on June 15th.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

May 12, 2009

John Battelle Discusses Future of Search

John Battelle - author of The Search, founder of Wired, Federated Media and The Industry Standard - discussed the future of search with HubSpot.

The HubSpot blog added a few videos of the interview which covered Google and Social Media, How Small Businesses Can Compete, as well as the Future of Search.

"Search is currently an interface for working with machines. As we learn new ways to interact with information, it will stop looking like a list of links and will start feeling more like a conversation," Battelle told HubSpot. Noting, "Search in social media platforms is a threat to Google."

John is always an engaging speaker on our space. This one is worth the time to look at.

Posted by Frank Watson at 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 4, 2009

New Beta AdWords Interface Available in More Languages

Google AdWords has been rolling out a beta test of their new interface in recent months. Now, more languages have been added to the beta. There are 10 in total. They are:

English
Spanish
French
German
Italian
Dutch
Hebrew
Simplified Chinese
Japanese
Brazilian Portuguese

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 28, 2009

Google Launches New Information Site for Advertisers

"Google for Advertisers" is a brand new site from the search engine giant, and as the title suggests, it's all about information for advertisers. Specifically, there are four primary things advertisers can do and learn on the site, per the Inside AdWords blog:

Read up on our various media platforms. Get descriptions of Google's ad platforms and all of the supporting tools.
Take a ride on 'The Marketing Cycle.' Learn how Google's solutions can be applied across the stages of an advertising campaign, including strategy, creative, media deployment, measurement and optimization.
Stick it to a marketing objective. Google created a fictional marketing example (Pet Stick) to demonstrate how their tools work to solve specific goals.
Build your personal 'toolkit.' When browsing the site, save Google tools that interest you by adding them to an online toolkit. It makes it easy to go back to them and share them with your colleagues.

What do you think about the new Google for Advertisers? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 18, 2009

Is Porn No Longer Profitable On Google?

Has Google banned porn advertising or has the adult industry just found that they cannot make money using Adwords anymore?

I was doing a search for googleporn.com - a domain they happen to own - and hello.com that was once a site that contained a lot of adult material also owned by Google - but is now offline.

When there used to be numerous advertisers, it seems as if the ones left are fringe sites that may not even be making money from the ads. Gone are the major companies that used to pull great ROI from Google ads.

Google has had problems with porn content in the past. Okrut and Picasa have both come under fire and had legal problems.

I will test again during the week to see if the advertisers are just weekend lurkers. But I know the terms and conditions have not totally disallowed such advertising - perhaps they have to be updated. Otherwise high minimum bids may be costing Google a lot of money - is it greed or just a way to get rid of that area of advertising?

Posted by Frank Watson at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

April 9, 2009

Google AdWords to Update Conversion Metrics in New Interface

Google AdWords has slowly been rolling out and expanding the beta version of their new interface. Now with the beta interface is coming a new way to view conversions.

Currently, the AdWords interface only shows 1-per-click conversions. In other words, if a customer clicks on your ad and makes a purchase one day, then returns another day without clicking on the ad, only one conversion is counted. In coming months, the new interface will offer two ways to look at such conversions:

"Conversions" columns are now labeled Conversions (1-per-click)
"Transactions" columns are now called Conversions (many-per-click)

The many per click can count that next sale that doesn't come through the ad. It can also count a non-sale conversion such as a newsletter signup.

The new interface isn't the only AdWords tool getting the new conversion metric definitions. Over time, AdWords Editor and the AdWords API will get the metrics as well.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 6:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 1, 2009

Google AdWords Brings Rich Media and Video Templates to Display Ad Builder

Last October, Google launched a display advertising builder in AdWords to help online advertisers create banner ads. Since then, the tool has received a few updates as well as the addition of various templates from time to time. For example, last week a coupon template was released.

This week, rich media and video templates are being added to the mix. Advertisers will be able to track interactions such as mouseover rates and use multiple destination URLs with these new templates.

Here's a video introducing the new templates:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 27, 2009

Google AdWords Expands Beta Interface

Google has expanded the availability of the new AdWords interface to additional U.S. advertisers plus more countries and languages (Spanish, Japanese, French, and Brazilian Portuguese). The beta originally opened to more limited availability last November.

Here's what to expect, per the Inside AdWords blog:

Performance graphs: Spot trends over time with custom graphs on every campaign management page.
Insight across ad groups: Focus on the high-impact areas of your account with new roll-up tabs on every page. You can see and edit keywords, placements or ads from all ad groups on a single tab.
In-line editing: Want to change a keyword or bid? Click on it and make changes in-line instead of loading a separate page.
Easier content network management: Improve content network performance through a new Networks tab. Look at statistics for the placements where your ads have appeared, and then take action by setting unique bids or excluding placements directly from the report.

If you'd like to sign up for the beta, click here.

Have you tried the new interface? Share your experience in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 25, 2009

Google AdWords Offers New Postpay Payment Method

Google AdWords has introduced "Make a Payment," a new option for postpay customers. The feature allows payments to be made for any amount and at varying times. This helps customers who pay with different methods of payment.

It also helps advertisers who have set billing threshold, but exceed that threshold multiple times day. In this scenario, they would be billed several times a day.

With "Make a Payment," advertisers can even pay in advance for expected future costs. To sign up for the new feature, click here to fill out an application form.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 19, 2009

Google AdWords Unveils New Templates for Coupon Display Ads

Google AdWords has released new templates that allow you to create coupons for display advertising. The ads can then run on the Google Content Network. Here's an example:

The new templates can be accessed via the Display Ad Builder in your AdWords account.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Launches Two New TV Ads Reporting Features

Google has released two television advertising reporting features. They are:

Google Analytics enhancements - Now, you can track TV ads by the hour and see how many viewed the ad as well as what percentage of the initial audience was retained throughout the entire ad.

Audience Data Reporting - Google is adding interests (i.e. photography) and household properties (i.e. marital status, presence of children). Previously, they were just reporting Viewers Per Viewing Household within a chosen age and gender. This video explains more:

What do you think of these updates? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 23, 2009

Google AdWords Changes URL Display Policy

Starting tomorrow, February 24, Google AdWords will begin implementing a new URL display policy. From then on, if you have multiple display URLs in the same ad group, they must all have the same top-level domain.

Google gave the following example as a group of URLs that would work in the same ad group:

www.example.com
www.widgets.example.com
www.example.com/widgets/redwidgets/
www.example.com/index.html

Here's an example of what will NOT work:

www.example.com
www.example.widgets.com

In order to comply, you'll either need to create new URLs or create separate ad groups.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

February 20, 2009

Google AdWords Produces 4 New How-To Videos for Display Ad Builder

Google AdWords has added four new videos to help you navigate their display ad builder. In addition to the previous two vids, the topics now cover:

How to access the feature in AdWords
How to search for the display ad templates that are right for you
How to create an ad
How to create an ad with no images required
How to copy ads across ad groups
Full product tutorial

You can check out the videos here.

Here's the video for "How to Create an Ad"

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 16, 2009

Google Testing SearchWiki For Adwords

Search Engine Roundtable and Webmaster World have started a discussion of Google's testing of a SearchWiki for Adwords. The addition would give users the ability to push certain paid ads down similar to what they are offering for organic search results.

The screen shot was grabbed by a Webmaster World user but later edited out though Barry Schwartz included it in his post at SERoundtable.com. The comments about this are interesting as they suggest they could be used to impact paid results.

Something tells me Google will allow individuals to drop the presentation of ads on a personal basis - like an iGoogle type of thing. Could they eventually watch trends and one day use them for Quality Scores? Yes, but that would be a very foolish move and one that would then open them up to manipulation.

The discussion of the situation on Sphinn is amusing to say the least. Well-known marketer Fantomaster starts the comments with "Yep - Negative SEO goes PPC. What another great Google idea!"

Then Marty Weintraub of AimClear replies "@fantomaster: Jup, just line em' up and knock em off like shooting rats with a bbGun."

Following those two amusing comments the gates opened and all sorts of rumors and thoughts of gaming Adwords. If Google were to use any of this as feedback it is obvious gaming would run rampant and not the 1% one Sphinner suggests. Adwords is too big of a game and too important to major online advertisers for it to be open to such manipulation.

Interestingly Google has yet to enter into the fray.

Posted by Frank Watson at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

February 4, 2009

Google UK Testing New AdWords Interface

UK based SEM company AccuraCast reported about Google's testing of a new interface in AdWords.

The interface shows a few new layouts for data display in Google AdWords. The new filters have also been launched in the US. Changes to the navigation have yet to be added to my accounts.

Some of these new tabs - like the Search Partner breakout will be handy.

Posted by Frank Watson at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

January 30, 2009

Google AdWords Launches New Traffic Model for Ad Planner

Last year, Google launched Ad Planner as a way to help media buyers plan their advertising campaigns. Now, they've updated their traffic models to improve planning.

Here are the updates:

Added Unique Visitors (cookies), a new cookie-based metric, to help you cross-check and compare metrics, similar to Google Analytics unique visitor metrics.
Changed Unique Visitors to Unique Visitors (users) so it's clearer that you're reviewing estimated numbers of real world visitors.
Placed the Unique Visitors (cookies) and Unique Visitors (users) metrics on a site's profile page so users will have a more comprehensive view of how a specific site can support their media planning.
Added country demographics for Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Switzerland, which brings the demographics total to ten countries
Created Pre-defined Audiences that represent commonly used audiences. Uers can experiment with various criteria without having to manually select them.

What do you think of the update? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 29, 2009

Google AdWords Opens Up Conversion Optimizer Eligibility

Google AdWords has opened up Conversion Optimizer to greater eligibility. Customers who use AdWords' free Conversion Tracking tool and have at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days are now eligible to use Conversion Optimizer.

Conversion Optimizer uses your conversion tracking data to optimize ad placement based on the likelihood of conversion. The tool should save you time by essentially automating the optimization process and time, making you more productive and efficient.

"You might already adjust your keyword bids with the goal of increasing your conversions or decreasing your costs, but the Conversion Optimizer is able to adjust bids using additional factors that are otherwise unavailable," wrote Amanda Kelly on the Inside AdWords blog. "This includes varying bids by broad match query, user location, and the particular search or content partner sites where the ad is appearing. These extra adjustments enable many advertisers to achieve double-digit percentage increases in conversions while paying the same price or less for each conversion."

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 28, 2009

Google AdWords Releases 7 New Help Videos

Google AdWords has released new help videos to assist customers in their search marketing campaigns. The videos (which can be found here) feature the following topics:

Entering billing information
Adjusting your budget
Using the Ad Preview tool
Applying a Promotional Credit to an existing account
Viewing Cost and Payment history
Using the Ads Diagnostic tool
Conversion Optimizer

Here's a sample:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 26, 2009

Google Wants Feedback on Ad Planner

Google is asking for feedback on Ad Planner. The media planning tool was launched last June as a limited release and then made available to everyone last November.

Need incentive to complete the survey? Google is giving away 50 $50 gift certificates to the Google Store. (Seriously? How about some AdWords credit instead?)

Have you tried Ad Planner? Give us your impressions in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 21, 2009

SEW Experts: Is One-Stop Media Buying a Failed Model?

Once merely an afterthought in the media buying process, auction-based media has changed everything for everybody. Or has it? In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Is One-Stop Media Buying a Failed Model?," Kevin Ryan asks if it's possible that some things just don't fit? The media buying model has yet to achieve the much-hyped shift that so many pundits predicted a short time ago.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 16, 2009

Google Offers Free TV Ad Creation with SpotMixer

Google TV Ads is now offering free tv ad creation with a self-serve video ad creation solution implemented inside AdWords. The solution was developed jointly between the two companies. The video creation tool has been available through a private beta since September. Now, it's open to everyone.

Well placed TV ads are a great way to drive traffic directly to your site or to drive people to search for key terms you're ranking or advertising for.

SpotMixer's platform automatically takes text from existing AdWords text ads and inserts them into tailored ads using dynamically changing templates (in order to offer up multiple ads).

Another plus, especially in this economy, is the ability of companies and agencies to resuse previously developed creative. Photographs, video, and audio can be repurposed in the SpotMixer tool to create ads that are coordinated with search marketing efforts.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

December 18, 2008

Google Releases AdWords Editor Version 7.0

Just two and half months after releasing Version 6.5, Google has launched the new version of AdWords Editor. Version 7.0 is now available for Windows and Mac. Be sure to back up your work before you upgrade. You can import your work into 7.0 once it's been deleted.

Here's what to expect with the new version:

First page bid estimates: AdWords Editor now uses first page bid estimates for your keywords. Minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bids are no longer used.
Keyword Quality Score: The Keywords tab now displays the Quality Score for your keywords.
Keyword Opportunities locale: Tailor your keyword suggestions to a particular language and location by changing your Keyword Opportunities locale.
Campaign targeting in the data view: You can view your targeting settings in the new 'Language' and 'Location' columns on the Campaigns tab. These columns are hidden by default, but you can select them with the column chooser.
Send feedback to Google: Help us improve AdWords Editor by enabling usage tracking in your AdWords Editor settings (Tools menu > Settings).
Other updates:
- The 'Volume' column on the Keyword expansion tab of the Keyword Opportunities tool now shows absolute numbers (traffic for the last month) instead of scaled values.
- The Keyword Opportunities tool isn't available for draft accounts.

Check out the release notes for more info.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 8, 2008

Google AdWords Launches iPhone and G1 Options (Plus Mobile Marketing Tips from SES!)

Want to bid on mobile searches via AdWords? Well, now you can. Today, Google launched AdWords options that will be visible on the iPhone and G1. We first learned Google was preparing iPhone ad options this past October.

Both devices have web browsers that display full HTML. And since around 95% of all mobile searches are conducted on the iPhone (according to today's Mobile Search panel at SES Chicago), today's announcement opens up a brand new opportunity for you.

Here are some other mobile marketing tips and facts you need to know:

Do keyword research specifically for mobile searches. Using search suggest on Google search iPhone app is one way to do it.
Mobile searches are longer than desktop/laptop searches. Some of this may be attributed to voice search.
Mobile searchers are motivated and they want to fill an immediate need/want (food, coffee, etc). Look for this to shift to include bigger purchases (TVs) as mobile becomes more familiar in the coming years.
Track behavior/ROI via mobile coupons and redemption codes
Tracking via 2D and RFID is popular in mobile-friendly Japan and is likely the future of mobile commerce in the U.S. (we have 2D barcodes on our badges at SES!)
Mobile apps - don't build them unless you have a unique idea (like Shazam, UrbanSpoon, etc.). Instead, get listed in the mobile search apps (i.e. Yellowbook's G1 app).
If you have a separate mobile site, watch out for duplicate content.
If you don't have a mobile site, don't build a separate site, say on .mobi. Instead, build one on a subdirectory or subfolder on your existing site. Make sure the user experience matches mobile browsing.
Kill Flash on your sites. It doesn't work on mobile devices and is not likely to. Even if it did, it would take too long to load.
Don't worry about WAP. WAP is dead or at least will be soon

Let us know when you've tried out Google's iPhone/G1 AdWords options. Report your findings (at least, what you can) in the comments!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

December 2, 2008

Google Makes New Ad Quality Videos

Perhaps in an effort to become more transparent, or maybe just hoping more people start advertising, Google has published two new videos on Quality Scores.

As their Inside AdWords blog describes the first is an introductory video, "an overview of Quality Score and answers to some common questions about Ads Quality." Great for people curious about how Quality Scores work and some idea of what elements impact them.

The second is a little more advanced.

Good job guys...

Posted by Frank Watson at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 21, 2008

Google AdWords Display Ad Builder Gets Four Updates

Last month, Google AdWords launched a display ad builder. And already the tool is getting updates. According to the Google AdWords blog, here's what you can look forward to:

Image picker: You can now choose from previously uploaded images when creating your ads.
Real-time editing: See what your text and other customization edits look like, automatically -- without having to click the 'update preview' button.
Quicker way of seeing available ad sizes: You can see which sizes your ad can run in for each ad template without having to complete the ad creation process. You can also preview how your customization choices affect each size.
Additional templates: Choose from even more templates for customizing your ads.

Have you used the Display Ad Builder? What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Beta Testing New AdWords Interface

Google AdWords is beta testing a new AdWords interface. The beta test includes a small group of U.S. advertisers. If your account is included in the test, you should see a notification upon signing up to the account.

You can also request to be included in the beta test by signing up here.

Note that this beta test is for the interface and doesn't change how AdWords campaigns work (i.e. bidding, Quality Score, etc.). They're looking to improve the way users navigate their campaigns and edit campaigns across multiple ad groups.

Have you been included in the beta test? Let us know your first impressions by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 19, 2008

Google AdWords Launches Search-Based Keyword Tool

Google AdWords has released a new keyword tool. This one lets users plug in their website and a few keywords. The tool, dubbed Search-based keyword tool, takes a look at the site and makes suggestions for keywords that may be relevant to your paid search campaign.

The idea is that you might be missing out on terms that are being searched for. I have to admit, when I've used keyword tools, I've often been wishing I knew what people were searching for instead of guessing.

But the SEO copywriter in me also knows that so many sites are already optimized for keyword terms based on traditional keyword research, which often starts with a guess.

Plus, the existing keyword tool takes keywords and phrases plugged in by the user already returns a bunch of suggestions.

The tool's strength lies in avoiding human error. In other words, the existing AdWords keyword tool relies on human entry. This tool looks at the site and can help marketers avoid overlooking terms they may have missed.

Still, remember the tool is in beta. And Google makes it clear that it's not responsible if you use their suggested keywords in a way that violates the law. Say, by creating an ad that includes a trademarked term. Related Reading: AdWords Keyword Tool Now Shows Numerical Data

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

November 11, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Quality Score -- That's Old-School for SEO

Google's rules for improving Quality Score of AdWords ads will sound familiar to anyone who's been doing SEO. In today's natural search column, "Google AdWords Quality Score -- That's Old-School for SEO," Mark Jackson explains that by optimizing your Web site for organic search, and building out a bunch of pages for each keyword that you're honestly interested in targeting, you'll likely end up improving your Quality Scores as well.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 6, 2008

SEW Experts: The Account Quality Score: Money Pit for the Uninformed

In Google AdWords, an ad's Quality Score calculation is based on how well the account's campaigns have performed over time, especially in terms of CTR. So what happens with new accounts? Since there's no CTR data on which to base QS, how does Google determine minimum bids? In today's Profitable PPC column, "The Account Quality Score: Money Pit for the Uninformed," David Szetela outlines what happens with new AdWords accounts, and what you can do about it.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 4, 2008

An Update on Last Week's AdWords Updates

Last week, we reported that AdWords was making updates to Quality Score and Ad Rank. The update included how ad position affected click-through rates and factored into Quality Score. But many of us were not sure exactly what changed since ad position influence has been taken into account for awhile now.

Google is now clarifying that update. Here's the word straight from the horse's mouth:

We also wanted to emphasize that AdWords has always accounted for the influence of ad position on CTR and removed it from the Quality Score. This specific improvement updates this system to make it fresher and more accurate.

Also, the updates are now live.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 31, 2008

Google to Change Calculations for Quality Score and Ad Rank

Changes are coming to the way AdWords calculates its Quality Score and Ad Rank. The changes will be implemented in the coming weeks.

First up, Quality Score will no longer take ad position into account. The idea is that simply dishing out the dough for a higher position has nothing to do with the quality of the ad.

CORRECTION: Here's what Google really said: "To calculate the most accurate Quality Scores, it's important that the influence of ad position on CTR be taken into account and removed from the Quality Score." Bloggers have been pointing out that Google has been doing this. When I get further clarification from Google, I'll let you know! Stay tuned.

Next, Ad Rank is going to focus on quality for ads that appear on top of the search results. Ads must meet a "quality threshold" in order to appear in that prime real estate. It will be possible for a lower positioned ad to jump above a higher position ad in the sidebar ads to hang out in the box above the organic results if it meets the threshold but the higher positioned ads don't.

Clearly, Google is making quality a key focus in AdWords. This may be an attempt to improve the program in the midst of a slowdown in growth for paid search. Or it could be an attempt to show that Google is more concerned about quality than price - and therefore advertisers need not be worried about a little thing like a search advertising deal with Yahoo.

What do you think about the focus on quality? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

October 13, 2008

AdWords Conversion Optimizer Releases New Eligibility Requirements

AdWords Conversion Optimizer has new eligibility standards that should make it easier for more people to use the tool. Now, if you've had 50 conversions in the past 30 days, you're able to use the tool.

The AdWords team says that new techology has boosted the performance of the tool, as well.

If you're not sure what Conversion Optimizer is, it's a tool that helps you analyze your Google AdWords campaigns to aid you in maximizing your paid search ads - helping you get more conversions at a lower cost.

Have you used Conversion Optimizer? What do you think of the tool? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 9, 2008

AdWords Editor Version 6.5 Released

The new AdWords Editor Version 6.5 has been released and it includes the following updates:

A new Keyword Opportunities tool
Horizontal scrolling in the data view
Auto-sizing columns
The column chooser stays open until you click away or hit the Escape key
A calendar added to date picker
Improved HTML export

Existing AdWords Editor users will be prompted to upgrade, while new users will automatically get the new version.

Have you tried version 6.5? Any new features stand out to you? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2008

Google Makes AdWords Site Stats Logo Optional

Google has made it optional for AdWords users to place the "Google Site Stats" logo on their conversion pages. Originally, the logo was designed to let customers opt out of conversion tracking. But advertisers told Google that the logo was often a redundancy of their site's own privacy policy.

If you want to remove the logo, it will require action on your part. Click here to learn the steps to take.

What do you think about the change? Are you planning to remove the logo? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Now Allowing Anti-Abortion Ads After Settling With UK Religious Group

Google settled with a UK-based anti-abortion group who had sued them for not allowing them access to advertising for abortion keywords, the Times Online reported. And will now allow anti-abortionist to advertise along with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion advertisers.

I checked the UK results and none have yet to start advertising as of yet.

Is this the way to make Google change their edicts? Obviously in the case of advertising where only one side gets to play stacks the deck and offers the opposition a chance to challenge. Let's see what other areas use this method to change some of Google's restrictions.

As an aside, I would love to know how much money Google has put aside to deal with their never-ending legal issues. Wonder when United Airlines will weigh in with their law suit following the stock price drop last week?

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 15, 2008

Google Launching Quality Score Changes in Days

Google AdWords blog announced it will be launching the changes it told us about last month in the next few days.

Still no mention on turning on old accounts when they stop the inactive status, but they have given more details on how the Quality Score is measured including all of the CTRs in your account. This may force people to be a lot tighter with the keywords they add to their accounts so they do not have to pay higher rates for their established terms.

The front page bid estimates that will be replacing minimum bids also have some interesting new details:

For queries without many advertisers competing for placement, the first page bid estimate should be relatively close to your existing minimum bid. However, queries with a high level of advertiser competition may have significantly higher first page bid estimates, because you'll likely need to bid above the old minimum bid to rank higher than your competition and show on the first page. Remember that you can bid less than your first page bid estimate and still show on subsequent pages -- as long as your keyword is relevant to our users.

Advertisers familiar with the competitive landscape for their keywords may indeed notice that the first page bid estimates provided are in line with the CPCs that they had been bidding to appear on the first page prior to the release of these Quality Score improvements, although this is not a given.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 5, 2008

Google AdWords Separates Content and Search Network Stats - FINALLY!

In the Search Engine Watch forums, user searchengineman (Does he wear a cape? I hope so!) noticed a change to his AdWords statistics. Now, he could check separate statistics for ads on the content network and ads via search.

So how did he feel about it?

In the words of a famous Etta James song, searchengineman wrote, "At last."

Check it for yourself. There's a new Statistics drop down menu, which lets you change your view to see content and search network stats in separate rows.

The AdWords team says, "By separating the statistics by network on your summary pages, you can not only see which campaigns or ad groups need your attention, but you can also identify which network you need to optimize for."

What do you think of the separation? Is this a welcome update? Let us know in the comments - or head over to the forums to join the conversation.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 4, 2008

Google AdWords Now Provides Geographic Performance Report

Google AdWords has added Geographic Performance reports to their Report Center. Now, you can get a better snapshot of how your AdWords campaigns are faring in various locations.

The Inside AdWords blog gave the following example of how you can use the new report: Say, for example, you sell and ship gourmet ice cream to anywhere in the U.S. After running the report, you find that your ads are doing great in Miami, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona, but you're also finding a surprising amount of customers from Juneau, Alaska. Next step: refine your campaigns. By specifically targeting those locations where your ads perform best you can maximize your campaign's performance.

What do you think of the new Geographic Performance reports? Have you run one? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 3, 2008

Google AdWords Releases New Editor Guide

The Google AdWords Agency blog has announced the release of a new guide for AdWords Editor, their account management tool. The guide is available as a 2 page PDF download.

In it you'll find tips for bulk editing, copying and pasting, error checking and exception requests, account performance evaluation, and collaboration. You'll also find several keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate Editor even faster.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 27, 2008

AdWords Report Center Will Remove Older Reports September 2

Google AdWords will remove older reports from its Report Center beginning September 2. Reports that are 6 months old or older, or before March 2, 2008, will be removed.

The data will not be removed, just the reports.

Until September 2, you can export these reports to Google Spreadsheets or .CSV files, Excel, HTML or another format.

Expect the purging of 6 month old or older reports to happen periodically going forward.

via Inside AdWords

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 22, 2008

Implications of Google's AdWord Changes

Google quietly announced the changes to AdWords on Thursday through their blog. Last day of Search Engine Strategies conference may have been a strategy in itself.

I had not heard of this during the conference - though it was a hectic one to say the least.

But from what I have read, Google is about to turn back on all inactive keywords - that is a lot of accounts that will suddenly see a spike in spend. So long as the bids are low enough it may not be too big of an impact - but if the rest of the words in the account have a high default bid it could be creating some major spends.

Add to that that we are now seeing bids required to occupy front page positions, it sounds like a push to the former Overture bidding system - is being attempted.

Google has become a lot more aggressive in its promoting of its products. The new Ad Placement tab was a major effort to reignite interest in the content network. Is this an attempt to ignite bidding on the main paid search listings?

We need to make sure we are not going through another let the customers paying for our tweaking of minimum bids. Now that many people leave terms that have gone inactive still in their groups, this turn on could net Google a nice spike in income.

Add that to the spike in CPCs when bidding for front page takes off and I think the shares I have in Google will be going up a little in the near future.

Posted by Frank Watson at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Google to Roll Out AdWords Quality Score Improvements

The team at Google AdWords has announced that they will be rolling out improvements to Quality Score in the coming weeks. There are three major improvements to expect:

Quality Score will now be more accurate because it will be calculated at the time of each search query
Keywords will no longer be marked 'inactive for search'
'First page bid' will replace 'minimum bid' in your account

Google gave an example of how the improvements all work together:

Nancy's Dairy advertises on the keyword 'milk.' Nancy's ads perform better on the keyword 'milk' in the U.S. than in Canada. Her ads also perform better on the query 'milk delivery' than on 'milk,' and better on certain search network sites than on others. Instead of one static Quality Score and minimum bid that determines whether the keyword 'milk' is eligible to trigger an ad for all search queries, we will now determine eligibility dynamically, based on factors such as location, the specific query, and other relevance factors. For that reason, Nancy's keyword 'milk' will be able to trigger an ad for search queries where it's likely to perform better, i.e., in the U.S., on 'milk delivery' and on certain search network sites.

The updates will be rolled out to a few users in the coming days before they're rolled out to everyone. Also, Google is hoping to update AdWords Editor and the AdWords API to support first page bidding, but for now, it still just supports minimum bidding.

What do you think of the announced improvements? Give us your reaction in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 21, 2008

AdWords Editor Update Launches Performance Statistics Download

Just over a month after releasing Adwords Editor 6.0, the team at Google AdWords has released a new update. The update launches a highly requested feature: the ability to download performance statistics. If you have AdWords Editor, you should be prompted automatically to download the new update, Version 6.0.1.

The update will not affect comments or unposted changes. Because of this, Google says:

You don't need to export an archive of your account. In the auto-update prompt, choose the 'Update without Backup' option.
After you upgrade, your account will already be in the new version. You won't need to download your account again.

What do you think of this update? Give your opinion in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 18, 2008

Auto-tagging Adwords and URL Redirects: Please Pass the Gclid

To pass the gclid or not to pass the gclid, that is the question. At least, if you're trying to tag your AdWords URLs in Google Analtyics it is. On the Google Analytics blog, they're talking about using auto-tagging in Adwords in order to facilitate easy viewing of info in Analytics. But problems may arise if you've got some URL redirecting going on.

Basically, auto-tagging inserts a little snippet of code into destination URLs. But if you have several redirects, the snippet could get stripped. That snippet is "gclid." What happens if the gclid gets snipped?

While Google Analytics still records the visit and the subsequent user activity, it doesn't have the information necessary to properly attribute the visit to your Google ad. As a result, some of this traffic will be included in the "direct" category while other visits may show up as "not set". Furthermore, your Adwords Campaigns report in Google Analytics may show cost metrics, but your visits columns may show zeros.

If this is happening to you, you have two options.

Ask your site administrator to configure their servers to pass the glid
Manually tag your Adwords

So how do you figure out if you're passing the gclid? Follow these steps:

Scenario 1 If your destination URL has no query parameters and looks something like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/:

1. Paste this URL in your browser's address bar, but before you press Enter, append "?gclid=test" to the end, like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?gclid=test.

2. Now press Enter.

3. If the gclid is present on the final landing page URL, you're golden.

Scenario 2 If your destination URL already has query parameters and looks something like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?param=a¶m2=b:

1. Paste this URL in your browser's address bar and before pressing Enter, append "&gclid=test" to the end, like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?param=a¶m2=b&gclid=test.

(This is why the "?" and the "&" distinction were important to note earlier. It's a matter of URL syntax. Luckily, auto-tagging knows the difference.)

2. Press Enter.

3. If the gclid is still there, you're in good shape, and need only to enable auto-tagging.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 16, 2008

Google to Hold Ad Planner Webinars

Google recently announced Ad Planner, its new media measurement tool. The tool is designed to help media buyers in their ad campaign spend planning. Though the tool is currently in private-beta, anyone is welcome to attend two upcoming webinars introducing the tool. Both webinars are free of charge. You must register to attend, so check out the links and info below:

July 16, 2008 (TODAY!)

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm EST Register Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239 Registration password: agency1 Event number: 573 433 113 Event password: planner1

July 18, 2008 (Friday)

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm EST Register Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239 Registration password: agency1 Event number: 577 712 627 Event password: planner2

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Google's Path to Domination

And you may ask yourself, 'how did we get here?' Today's search landscape is a result of Yahoo trying to integrate large acquisitions too fast, while Google focused on core disciplines, small complimentary acquisitions, and smart build-outs. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Google's Path to Domination," Kevin Ryan points out that today, Microsoft is trying to do the same thing Yahoo failed at five years ago. Think it'll work this time?

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

SEW Experts: Bernstein Research Predicts the Future of Paid Search

In a full-blown recession, what's the future of paid search? In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "Bernstein Research Predicts the Future of Paid Search," Kevin Heisler looks at a new study from Sanford C Bernstein's research arm that's a virtual crystal ball into Google and search engine marketing.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 9, 2008

AdWords Keyword Tool Now Shows Numerical Data

If you hear loud shouts of exuberance coming from your SEM department (or consultant), that's because keyword research just got a whole lot easier. I'm super-excited to report that Google announced that it has officially added numerical data to its AdWords Keyword Tool. Now instead of staring at green bars, hoping to decipher how much of a difference there is between keywords, you have a ballpark figure. Tests of numbers in Keyword Tool were being seen as early as March 2007.

Here's a screenshot.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

July 7, 2008

Does Google Analytics Share Data with Google Trends and Ad Planner?

Google is assuring users of its Analytics product that their data is protected. Apparently, the recent announcements of Google Trends for Websites and Google Ad Planner had some web site owners concerned about how much data sharing was going on among the various offerings.

Brett Crosby from the Google Analytics team went to the blog to allay fears:

Google Analytics doesn't share individual, site-level information with Google Trends for Websites or Google Ad Planner. These products gather data from multiple sources, then check the data against anonymous, aggregate, industry benchmarking data within Google Analytics. This helps Google Trends for Websites and Google Ad Planner calibrate category data and correct for under- or over-reporting in certain verticals. The benchmarking data comes from Google Analytics customers who've chosen to share their data in aggregate.

This isn't the first time fears over data collected by Google Analytics have popped up. But not everyone is worried.

When I spoke with Crosby last month, he told me that for every person who expresses fears over data collection in Analytics, there is another who wants to know why more isn't being done with the data. He told me that Analytics works hard to strike a balance for people of both viewpoints, allowing those who want to share in the hopes of developing deep integrations with other Google products the ability to do so.

Of course, there's only so far you can take integration. Google Analytics does not affect a site's rankings in Google's search results.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

July 1, 2008

Google Nixes AdSense Referrals, AdWords PPA; Rebrands DoubleClick Performics

Google has a slew of announcements about its advertising products, including AdSense, AdWords, and DoubleClick.

First up, AdSense is no longer accepting referrals. They're advising users to remove the code from their sites, but to save the data collected through the referrals. Meanwhile, AdWords is phasing out the AdWords Pay-Per-Action program. Both programs have the last week of August as the expiration date.

Users of AdSense Referrals and AdWords PPA are being pointed to the Google Affiliate Network, formerly known as DoubleClick Performics. Performics was previously both an affiliate network and a search marketing company. Google divested itself of the Performics search marketing business for the obvious conflict of interest. The affiliate portion of the business is what is being rebranded.

Advertisers will be able to set CPAs for campaigns or design custom payments to affiliates. Publishers must apply and be accepted to the program, similar to the application for Adsense.

Finally, while the three remain separate programs for now, an integration could be in the future. Trevor Claiborne, writing on the Inside AdWords blog, "The Inside Adwords blog The Google Affiliate Network is currently a separate product from AdWords and AdSense." (emphasis mine) That sounds like a hint of things to come, don't you think?

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 25, 2008

SEW Experts: Yahoo's Suicide Pact with Google

Who cares if Yahoo outsources its search advertising to Google? You should. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Yahoo's Suicide Pact with Google," Kevin Ryan asks, 'On what planet is having only one place to buy anything a good thing for competitive pricing?'

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 24, 2008

Google Officially Introduces Ad Planner

Earlier today, we brought you news of Google's new media measurement tool. The official announcement has been published on the Inside Adwords blog. The new tool will be called Ad Planner (yes, there is a space between the two words), and is in a private, invitation-only beta. You can request an invitation, if you're interested.

Ad Planner was developed for media planners in the hopes of creating a better connection between advertisers and publishers. Here's how it works: Media planners enter their target audience demographics as well as sites that their audience already visits. Ad Planner will use the data to determine what other sites the target audience is visiting. The list of sites will include those on and off the Google Content Network.

The data can then be used to create plans, which can be exported via CSV. You can also export data to DoubleClick's MediaVisor, another media planning platform. Google completed its acquisition of DoubleClick earlier this year.

Here's what the Ad Planner platform will look like:

What do you think of Ad Planner? Will you request an invitation? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Conversion Optimizer Now Supported by Adwords Editor and API

Google's Conversion Optimizer was released in January and was designed to streamline the AdWords bidding process. Now, Google has announced that the tool is supported by AdWords Editor and Adwords API.

In order to use Conversion Optimizer, you must have AdWords Conversion Tracking enabled and have accrued 200 conversions over the past 30 days. Conversion Optimizer uses several factors to determine an optimal CPC bid based on the maximum CPA set by the user. Factors include broad matching, content network or search partner site where an ad is displayed, and where the user is located.

Writing on the Inside AdWords blog, Trevor Claiborne explained, "The keyword "flowers" may have a 2% conversion rate while the keyword 'roses delivery' may have a 7% conversion rate. That doesn't mean that you don't want any clicks on 'flowers,' but you probably wouldn't want to spend as much on that keyword as you might be willing to spend for clicks on 'roses delivery' The Conversion Optimizer uses information like this to adjust your bids based on how valuable each click is for you."

What do you think about Conversion Optimizer being supported by AdWords Editor and API? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 19, 2008

Quality Score Now Affected by Landing Page Load Time

Google warned us this would happen and beginning today, landing page load times will affect Adwords Quality Score. The reason behind the change is something that Google often touts: it's what's best for the user. Google argues that faster load times are better for users, so pages that load faster will be rewarded accordingly.

In May, the Adwords team launched a load time metric to help you evaluate your pages.

And you might be surprised what you can do to improve your load times - and increase your conversions. Recently, the Website Optimizer team suggested testing best practices. They gave an example of a page that removed an image of a customer service rep. Best practices said leave the picture up, but the tests showed conversions increased by leaving the picture out. Of course, images generally increase load times.

Before you do any drastic changes to your pages so they'll load faster, testing your new page can help you know whether or not your changes will convert.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2008

Google's Greenberger Ties Obama, McCain Victories to Adwords Spend

More than any previous election, search advertising will influence the vote of the presidential election. Google, in its ever-present planning for the future, planned for this shift when it employed Peter Greenberger as part of its sales team. Greenberger's job is to convince candidates that advertising on Google search is essential to political success. Recently, ClickZ's Kate Kaye interviewed Greenberger for his insights into the 2008 election.

Reading Greenberger's statements, you get the idea that spending on search ads will make or break the election. He attributes the success of John McCain and Barack Obama to their paid search campaigns. Greenberger also points out that Hillary Clinton was inconsistent in her Adwords campaign, dismantling it for the last two quarters of 2007 and starting it up again only after the New Hampshire primary.

Of course, polls during those times showed Clinton with a substantial lead. It wasn't until after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries that a tight race was clear. Some political analysts have suggested that the ultimate difference between Clinton and Obama was that Clinton's campaign was focused on a top-down strategy while Obama's strategy was more grassroots, building from the ground up. Looking at campaign strategies in that light, it makes sense that Obama would engage a response-directed campaign. But Greenberger's job is to persuade the candidates that Adwords is the chicken and not the egg.

Greenberger also talked about how Obama used geotargeting during the Texas primary and how John McCain is ahead of the game in the use of video ads. Read the full interview with Google's political ad guy, Peter Greenberger, over at ClickZ

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

June 6, 2008

Google Launches Adwords Editor 6.0

Google has announced the launch of Adwords Editor Version 6.0. According to the Adwords Agency blog, here are the new features:

New bulk editing tools: Spell check, append text, and drag and drop ad groups within the tree view.
Account statistics features: Export performance statistics to CSV, update minimum CPC bids, and experience improved downloading of account performance data.
Compatibility with AdWords features: Version 6.0 now supports CPC placement targeting and certain functions with Conversion Optimizer campaigns.

Kerrie Lenhart, Product Specialist Team, writing on the Adwords Agency blog, reminded users to export an archive of current accounts before upgrading. Once installed, simply import the archive file.

What do you think the upgrades? Have you given Version 6.0 a spin yet? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

May 19, 2008

SEW Experts: Placement-Targeted Campaigns: Taming the Beast

Having trouble with Google AdWords placement-targeted campaigns? In today's Content Advertising column, "Placement-Targeted Campaigns: Taming the Beast," David Szetela shares the secrets of getting those stalled campaigns off the ground, churning out conversions like the best search campaigns.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 14, 2008

Advertisers Can't Sell Hard Liquor But Google Can

Google AdWords has a strict no advertising rule for hard liquor, as they call it. You will not find ads for terms like rum, gin or vodka. Well... vodka searches now add a twist. Google has started to promote their vodka sellers with the top entry.

Before you get to the search results, there is a Google Checkout listing promoting various vodka sellers. Now that does seem like they are contradicting their own rules.

One hopes this was an oversight, since there are none for rum or gin as yet. Maybe vodka is just such a good Checkout seller that it has reached some number where it automatically gets the Checkout promo?

Hopefully someone at Google will publicly address this one. Right now, I would guess every vodka seller is signing up for a Google Checkout account. Not a bad mistake to make, if it generates new shopping cart customers.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

SEW Experts: Google's Superiority Complex

In the end, is Google's search advertising system better than Yahoo's, or are they just monetizing better? In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Google's Superiority Complex," Kevin Ryan says it sounds like a little bit of both, but we shouldn't count Yahoo out.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Editor a Great Tool for Content -- and for Yahoo/Microsoft!

Time is money, and these two tips will free up many moneymaking hours for you. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Editor a Great Tool for Content -- and for Yahoo/Microsoft!," David Szetela explains how Google has created a tool that will increase ad revenue for itself, but for Yahoo and Microsoft as well.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 9, 2008

Google Adwords Launches Landing Page Load Time on Keyword Analysis Page

Recently, Google announced that landing page load time will become a factor in determining quality score for Adwords. Today, they have launched a landing page load time metric for Adwords users.

The metric can be found on the Keyword Analysis page.

The load time factor will begin affecting Quality Score in mid-June. Need help improving your landing page load time? Google helps you out with, "How does load time affect my landing page quality?"

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 2, 2008

Getting Cozy with Online Ad Formats

The SEO community has been a-buzz lately about standards. There's the epic conversation going on about SEO standards. And then there's the new mobile image ad guidelines that immediately outdated Google's new mobile ads.

Today, Google's Adwords blog got in on the action by talking about general online ad formats. Specifically, the Adwords team has published an online ad format guide. The one-page PDF guide is super simple to read and comprehend. There are recommendations for 6 different ad types:

Text ad
Local Business ad
Image/Flash ad
Click-to-play video ad
In-video ad
Gadget ad

The guide provides the following info on the 6 types:

Description of the ad type
When to use it
Where to use it
Ad sizes
Metrics

So go ahead and get your online ad on!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:42 AM | Permalink

April 22, 2008

Google Sued for Ad Fraud; Another Class Action Settlement?

Today Google was slapped with a an advertising fraud lawsuit that will be fascinating – and important – for AdWords advertisers to watch.

The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, was filed by the firm of Kabateck Brown Kellner, on behalf of David Almeida, a Massachusetts-based private investigator. The lawsuit claims that Google defrauds advertisers by obscuring the fact that new AdWords campaigns are set by default to display ads on both Google's search results pages (and like pages served by partners like AOL) and pages owned by site publishers who display AdWords ads via Google's Adsense programs.

Readers of my weekly SEW Content Advertising column are familiar with this phenomenon, and my suggested best practice of creating separate search and content campaigns.

At the risk of making life harder for my friends at Google, I need to point out that the suit seems to get one important fact wrong. Reports today in CNET, Yahoo! Finance, Wired and other outlets imply that advertisers are presented with the ability to “opt out” of displaying ads on the content network during campaign creation. Here's the way Yahoo puts it:

“During this process, users encounter two adjacent boxes. Into the first, customers enter the amount they wish to pay per "click" of an ad displayed on Google.com. The second box is marked "optional." Into this box, a user can enter the amount they would be willing to pay per "click" of an ad appearing on a third party web page. But leaving the box blank does not prevent ads from appearing on third-party sites.”

The truth is, advertisers don't see this option during campaign creation. The only way for them to opt out of displaying ads on the content network is for advertisers to explicitly edit the settings of their campaign after creating it, and un-check the box labeled “Content Network” – which is checked by default. Some would reason this makes Google even more exposed to fraud charges.

Another irony: some of the reporting claims the content network is inherently flawed in some way. Here's how Yahoo! puts it:

“Ads on third-party sites are widely-acknowledged to be far less effective (and therefore less valuable to the advertiser) than ads on Google.com.”

Readers of my column know that the content network is not “less effective;” savvy advertisers realize that great, profitable results can be obtained by advertising on content sites. The rules and best practices for creating effective content campaigns are, however, much different than for search campaigns. To Google's credit, they've been trying to make these differences more clear.

I'll dig into this subject more deeply in the next installment of my column. Meanwhile, my predictions, no matter which way the lawsuit is decided:

1. Google will finally make opting out of the content network much more straightforward, with clear instructions during campaign creation.

2. Google's advertiser education efforts, via their tutorials and help files, will much more explicitly teach the differences search and content ad campaign best practices.

Posted by David Szetela at 7:53 PM | Permalink

April 11, 2008

AdWords Launches New Conversion Tracking Tool

A new update to AdWords tracking has been reported by the guys over at AccuraCast. Seems they have improved the conversion tracking allowing users to separate different things to track to conversion.

This ability to track email, sales, and other conversion elements individually will be a great help for online marketers. Plus they can be seen in summary form of overall conversion total and the unique conversions to the elements a user sets up.

Good job Google, now if you could only ban my competitors....

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:32 PM | Permalink

April 9, 2008

Yahoo to Test Google Ads – Take That, Mr. Ballmer!

Yahoo announced today that it "will begin a limited test of Google Inc.'s AdSense for Search service, which will deliver relevant Google ads alongside Yahoo's own search results."

The test will affect about 3 percent of Yahoo search queries, and will only apply to search traffic from yahoo.com in the U.S. and will not include Yahoo's publisher network or other partners. The test is expected to last up to two weeks.

This can be seen as Yahoo thumbing its nose at Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who basically implied in his ultimatum letter last weekend that Yahoo had no other options than to take Microsoft's offer. But this test is not really an indication of anything concrete, as Yahoo specifically says, "the testing does not necessarily mean that Yahoo will join the AdSense for Search program or that any further commercial relationship with Google will result."

According to the Wall Street Journal, the test is "designed for the two sides to evaluate the revenue potential of a broader search ad outsourcing arrangement. They have been discussing such an arrangement as part of Yahoo's pursuit of alternatives to Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited acquisition offer, according to people familiar with the matter."

Stay tuned to the ongoing saga of Microhoo. In our next episode, Yahoo will announce that it's teaming up with Apple to put Yahoo ads on the iPhone. At least that's what "people familiar with the matter" have told me.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 4:41 PM | Permalink

April 7, 2008

SEW Experts: A Look at Demographic Bidding for AdWords

Google's new demographic bidding for content campaigns seems to promise much better control over where ads are served, and hence better ROI. In today's Content Advertising column, "A Look at Demographic Bidding for AdWords," David Szetela explains why he considers it a "must try" tool for content advertisers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

April 4, 2008

Google Updates Trademark Rules for UK/Ireland Adwords

Beginning on May 5, 2008, the AdWords trademark policy for the UK and Ireland will change. The new policy will be aligned with the current one established in the United States and Canada.

AdWords users in the UK and Ireland will be able to bid on keywords that contain trademarked words, but will not be able to include trademarked names in their ad text. Until now, accounts in those countries could not bid on trademarked terms.

The U.S. policy has sparked controversy in the courts, which can't seem to agree on the use of trademark in PPC bidding. The change comes in the wake of recent reports that clicks on Google paid search results have been declining.

March 31, 2008

Will We Pay More For Google's Fewer Clicks

The drop in AdWord clicks over the past two months has created a bump Google's ongoing success. But not to worry, CEO Eric Schmidt told Business Week, people will eventually pay more for the better quality clicks.

There has been a lot of press about this lately. I think "Google's Gamble" as Business Week called it may be expecting too much. If the cost of their clicks continues to increase through their minimum bid and Quality Score push people may start using Yahoo and Microsoft first.

While their popularity will continue to give them the high volume of traffic, if Yahoo and Microsoft offer lower CPA (cost per acquisition) then the strategy of starting with Google because of that could be changed to get the lower costing conversions first and then test the successful ones over at Google.

If this happens then the edge Google has could drop. It is one thing to be the popular search engine for users, but if they lose their position as the popular engine for advertisers then they are almost back to the days when they had no idea how to monetize their engine.

Obviously in some cases where there is a big enough margin in what is being marketed advertisers will buy the more expensive clicks. But in the case of companies selling small margin items such a move will make it difficult.

Apart from the Quality Score influence, this move suggests Google is using information they are getting from Google Analytics to determine if people will pay more. This is a dangerous step for a number of reasons - one, the privacy issues could be a problems and stop this and two, many people using GA may not be doing so effectively, measuring the wrong thing and thus giving Google information that they use but is not real.

We will all have to wait and see if their hopes are founded.

Posted by Frank Watson at 4:59 PM | Permalink

March 24, 2008

Google's Demo Targeting: No Panacea

Last week, Google announced its full demo targeting offering. They also provided a limited list of sites where you can buy ads today based on demographics, including notables like MySpace, YouTube, Fotolog and others. On the surface, it's worth a try by advertisers who want to reach or exclude, say, 18-24 year-olds.

It's not a targeting panacea. First, demographics are error prone, and only as reliable as what people submitted when they signed up for services. Second, we know that age is a common factor but not the only one. The targets are expressing many interests and behaviors, yet Google can't easily leverage them on social or multimedia sites.

Where does this leave contextual ads? Since Google targets contextual ads based on page content and semantics, this is a difficult problem to solve with sparse text. Demographics represent a refinement, given these challenges. Google will need to keep developing other approaches or workarounds for social or multimedia pages, to improve monetization.

Anyway, let's keep an open mind about demographic targeting. Targeted buys represent a balancing act, between cost/acquisition and overall acquisition volume. Advertisers will be able to refine their buys on these social sites now -- and then judge results for themselves.

Posted by at 3:46 AM | Permalink

March 17, 2008

SEW Experts: Tips for Google Site and Category Exclusion Tool

Google has launched an important new tool that prevents your Content Ads from showing on poorly-performing sites: the Category Exclusion tool. In today's Content Advertising column, "Tips for Google Site and Category Exclusion Tool," David Szetela shares some best practices for using the tool to exclude whole swaths of site types that are not likely to convert for your site. Share your thoughts on this new tool for AdWords in the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

March 14, 2008

PPC Triage Now! Emergency Action Steps for Dying AdWords

Lately prospective clients have been coming around with extremely colorful and eerily similar Google PPC disaster stories. Cost are skyrocketing, conversions are plummeting, and attaining decent paid rankings is difficult or impossible. This threatens the viability of PPC itself as a marketing strategy.

At least a dozen potential PPC client-portfolios have meandered across my desk this month with these exact symptoms, usually with a precipitous decline over the last 6-8 months. There’s a shortage of qualified PPC professionals out there in the streets, so it might take a little time to find a vendor who’s a great fit for your firm. The purpose of this post is to provide immediate tactics for in-house marketers running PPC, to stem the downward spiral immediately.

There are many excellent authors writing about PPC tactics and techniques. Next week, Search Engine Strategies NYC has quite a few sessions which are well worth the investment. Much has changed in the paid search world over the last year, rendering many (or most) set-it-and-forget-it PPC campaigns neutered. Here’s a 15 minute checklist of Emergency action items which will likely impact your bottom line immediately to help right the ship.

1 Check the landing page SEO. I know, that sounds counter-intuitive. SEO is only about organic search right? This is not so anymore. Whereas “bid” used to equal any given ad’s position on the paid SERPS, now the ever-imposing “Quality Score” (Q-Score) + “bid” equals position. Q-Score at it’s most basic level is Google’s algorithmic assessment of the relevancy-relationship between your keywords, ad copy and landing page. The Q-Score impacts the cost of placing your ads higher on the paid SERPS.

Go back to your SEO roots on the landing page. Check the landing page copy, which is more commonly associated with organic optimization. These days the landing page portion, of what are several Q-scores, is less stringent (Google decides yes/no on relevancy). Make PPC landing pages directly correlate to the AdGroup’s keywords and ad copy. An excellent approach is to optimize the landing pages for keywords in the referring AdGroup with the highest Click-through Ratio (CTR). Certainly include the ad copy and the most important keywords from the AdGroup on the landing page. It’s even a great choice to put the Ad headline in the landing page’s HTML Title Tag. If it’s emergency-time and PPC is tanking, take the approach that multiple AdGroups require multiple landing pages. Even if the algorithm does need read a particular SEO attribute, results could be affected as pertain to human behavior if not Q-Score. Finally, be advised that Google has recently announced that PPC landing page load times will soon affect the Q-Score.

2 Tighten up the relationships between AdGroups and the keywords within. One way to immediately move the needle is by segmenting the AdGroups to where every keyword is in the ad copy itself. For instance, say the AdGroup is “Coupons” and contain keyword permutations of “Printable Coupons,” “Downloadable Coupons,” and “Food Coupons.” Create separate AdGroups to house each set of permutations. To clarify now we’re talking about the “Printable Coupons,” “Downloadable Coupons,” and “Food Coupons” AdGroups. It then becomes easy to craft ad copy which literally contains every keyword in the group.

Combine the technique of hyper-focused AdGroups with landing page optimization and there lies the makings of a significantly improved Q-Score. This will lower costs, help attain higher ad placement on the paid SERPs, and increase CTR. It may just stem the decline in itself. Also users are more likely to convert, since the landing page is tightly focused to the incoming keyword query.

Another added benefit to this thinking is potential organic prominence for your PPC landing pages, provided there is a link-path from the homepage drilling into the PPC landing page. Landing pages can be placed at any level on the site. It’s not uncommon for PPC landing pages to be “makers” organically on the heels of this approach.

Google’s never ending quest to improve the relevancy of paid SERPs has led us all to work harder to improve Q-Score. In light of declining PPC effectiveness, take these steps to set things straight. As with all-things-SEM, there are basic best practices to undertake as first steps in every case. In Pay per Click, focusing landing page SEO and AdGroup segmentation should be the first emergency actions undertaken in set up or as effectiveness of an existing campaign plummets.

Posted by Marty Weintraub at 12:28 PM | Permalink

March 6, 2008

AdWords Annouces, Explains Load Time Usage In Quality Score

The Adwords blog just announced the details of the inclusion of page load times in calculating Quality Score. This is an important announcement for all AdWords advertisers as it is a direct impact on your pricing.

We have been discussing it in the forums and was told about the announcement by the Google AdWords Rep who posts on the forums giving Google help.

Their stance is "users have the best experience when they don't have to wait a long time for landing pages to load" and that many possible infractions take added load times. Always looking out for the users.....

The help guide states "we evaluate your load time relative to the average in your server's geographic region."

What that exactly means should be more detailed. What happens if a particular region just has slow times and you are impacted by that? Would finding a slower overall region help fast loading sites? Would moving to a slower region for that matter help a slow site?

Could this create situations that competitors could take advantage of... is there a slow speed hack yet to be created? Is this a Pandora's Box of troubles yet to come?

Posted by Frank Watson at 8:20 PM | Permalink

March 4, 2008

Load Time Impacts Google Quality Score

A member over at WebmasterWorld found that web page load time is now a factor in Google's Qulaity Score for AdWords.

This was started last month and may be the one thing people have been overlooking when examining what impacts their QS numbers.

The big question is does Google set a table or range or is this fastest to slowest for ranking impact?

Discussion of this has been started at the SEW Forums as well.

Posted by Frank Watson at 7:34 PM | Permalink

February 29, 2008

Google Content Network Ads Performing Better?

An informal poll by Enid Burns at ClickZ News finds that many agencies that advertise on Google's content network have seen improved results over the past six months.

Some credit the changes Google has made to improve the network, such as placement targeting, performance reports, and new ad units on Google's search, content, and mobile networks. Google also shrank the clickable area of AdSense ads to to limit accidental clicks.

Incidentally, that shrinkage is attributed by some as the cause for ComScore's report of flat click growth for Google, among other declining click volume theories.

This fits with the trend of decreasing AdSense income being reported by publishers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:00 PM | Permalink

February 25, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Contextual Advertising Mystery Solved

Readers have tried running placement-targeted campaigns, and found many AdSense publisher sites don't seem to be available to them. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Contextual Advertising Mystery Solved," David Szetela shares a way to work around issues with the tool Google offers to discover new sites to advertise on.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 20, 2008

Google Tightens Restrictions on AdWords Display URLs

Beginning April 1, Google will no longer make exceptions to its policy requiring advertisers to match the display URL in an AdWords ad to the landing page to which it leads. Google's existing policy already requires that an ad's display URL matches its destination URL in the AdWords interface and the landing page to which it leads, but exceptions had been made for things like redirects or vanity URLs.

Under the new rules, all advertisers, regardless of past exceptions, will need to show users the same top-level domain in the display URL and the landing page where a user is sent.

The only exceptions allowed will be for using tracking URLs as the destination URL, as long as the URL of the landing page matches that of the display URL. For example, a display URL of www.google.com/adwords could use a destination URL in AdWords of www.trackingurl.com/google123, if the landing page where the user arrives is www.google.com and not www.trackingurl.com.

Display URLs will be allowed to show different subdomains or directories, as long as the top-level domain shown in the ad (such as google.com in the above example) is matched.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 6:08 AM | Permalink

February 11, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Targeting: Expect More, Pay Less

Google AdWords placement-targeted campaigns on the content network can be a useful tool, if you can find the sites that support it. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Targeting: Expect More, Pay Less," David Szetela discusses AdSense publishers' options for showing or blocking placement-targeted ads.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 5, 2008

SEW Experts: 4 Ways Google AdWords Can Increase Small Business Profits

Sometimes AdWords accounts are set up with the best of intentions, only to languish or be turned off because they're not meeting expectations. In today's Little Biz column, "4 Ways Google AdWords Can Increase Small Business Profits," Carrie Hill outlines four key areas most new-to-PPC marketers overlook that cost them money.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 29, 2008

Google Bar Codes and Three Martini Lunches

Google is now the network that connects the social graph of the advertising industry. From global AAAAs to interactive agencies to SEM firms and SEO consultants, there are less than six degrees of separation. Last night was deja vu all over again, reminding me of AdWords early days when Google just wanted parity with Overture (Yahoo Search Marketing) in corporate search budgets.

Peter Grill, Mimeo.com vp of marketing AKA The Rogue Marketer emceed the panel and mentioned that Mimeo is now a client of Efficient Frontier.

Two of the leading authorities on search marketing joined me last night at Google: SES Chair Kevin Ryan and SEW Forums Editor Frank Watson, AKA aussiewebmaster. Frank's take on Google products and Google exec panelists differs from mine.

Ryan, Watson and I were in the distinct minority based on folks I chatted with and questions from the floor. (Exceptions: Sendtec and Dani of DaniWeb.com IT forum) More proof? Witness upcoming Ad Club of NY events: Magazine Day Forum and Radio Forum 2008.

Search marketing firms have a tremendous competitive advantage over traditional ad agencies. Managing campaigns based on ROI is second nature. Analytics and technology platforms, a necessity. They understand the dynamics of online auctions and advertising exchanges.

If Google is Goliath, ad agencies would be foolish to think of themselves as David.

Google's success in moving beyond the "self-serve" model will depend on the buy-in not only of global ad agencies like Publicis Groupe, but the AAAA clients who drive their decisions. For years in SEM, Google has had a vertical industry focus with corporate clients, providing consulting to executives who make agency decisions. Google's vertical sales team will win the day.

Last night at Googleplex East, Google execs outlined the future of Google TV, Google Audio, and Google Print Ads in an Ad Club of New York Meetup. In my Search Engine WarGames column, " Future of Search: All the Media That's Fit To Be Googled ," Google shares how you can produce ads on Google TV, when you can buy a spot on "WWE RAW," and why Google Print Ads 2D Barcodes won't fly.

Dan Frommer shares his take on Google 2D bar codes, while Michael Learmonth shares his on self-serve Google AdWords TV Google TV ads from a Silicon Alley Insider perspective.

The key takeaway for Madison Avenue: Google has warned you. Google has publicly stated -- and again, last night -- that your model is broken. Your clients say so, according to Google executives. Last night, Google director of agency relations Derek Kuhl said, you know it too.

The Google Publicis Digitas alliance will shape the future of advertising both online and offline.

Humans are winning the search engine WarGames, for now. Agencies will cling to clients through long-standing relationships that originated in the era of the three martini lunch.

Only technology can produce scale and efficiency in advertising. And it will.

Welcome, traditional advertisers, to the Google Ecosystem.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:26 PM | Permalink

January 24, 2008

Google AdWords Beta Testing Demographic Bidding

Seems Google is taking advantage of some of the DoubleClick features already. Demographic bidding is now being beta tested, according to the latest entry at Inside AdWords.

"Demographic bidding is a way to help your ads reach audiences of a certain age or gender. If you want your ads to be seen by women aged 18-24, or people over 55, demographic bidding can help," the AdWords Help Center states on the page you can sign up for the beat test.

This will prove to be an interesting addition - though the MSN offering has not proven outstanding as yet - given the amount of traffic Google has to sort in to age demographics.

Have a product that is particularly of interest to women between the ages of 21-35 - give it a shot. Why pitch to a male searcher when they would not be interested.

We will follow this addition with interest. A thread to discuss it has been set up here (thanks beu for bringing this late breaking news).

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:02 AM | Permalink

January 22, 2008

Two New Ways Google Teaches You to Market on Google

Google has come out with two new tools for advertisers and search marketers. The first is a Google Webmaster Tools Quick Start Guide. This 10-page guide walks webmasters through the features available in Google's Webmaster Tools. Hat tip to beu in the SEW Forums for spotting this one.

The second is a 156-page AdWords textbook, "Marketing and Advertising Using Google." As David Szetela notes, the book is part of Google's Online Marketing Challenge program launched last week to train/indoctrinate college students to market using Google's AdWords product.

UPDATE: I just came across a third new educational tool from Google (must be a common New Year's Resolution at the Googleplex). This one's an update to Conversion University, a resource center for learning about Google Analytics.

It seems like Google's on top of their game when it comes to educating new advertisers. What are Yahoo, Microsoft, and others doing to catch up? Share your thoughts in the SEW Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:41 AM | Permalink

January 16, 2008

Google American Idol: Competition For AdWords Local Search Talent

Search marketing firms and in-house teams often have a hard time finding qualified PPC employees. Now Google may change all that by challenging students all over the world to compete with others in an AdWords marketing competition, indoctrinating college students to the PPC culture and boosting SME participation in local search.

Professors and over 8000 students (724 US teams) from all over the world are already signed up to participate before the Feb 1 deadline for entries.

What's the Google grand prize? And how much Google "monopoly" money do students and local businesses get to play with?

The lucky winners will compete to visit Google's Mountain View, California headquarters and connect with the acclaimed AdWords team. Each student group will receive $200 in AdWords credits and will set out to market local businesses after crafting a strategy.

After submitting a report, a global panel of experts will judge the competition. “The Challenge is open to any higher education institution from anywhere in the world. To participate, register before Feb 1st 2008. Please note that to register, you must be an academic employed by a higher education institution and conducting lectures or seminars for students. Students cannot register”

Professors and over 8000 students (724 US teams) from all over the world are already signed up to participate. More details can be found at http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/index.html

Posted by Marty Weintraub at 10:51 AM | Permalink

January 14, 2008

SEW Experts: How To Use Google Site Exclusion Tool to Increase ROI

All Google AdWords content campaigns have dead wood. Google Content Network sites that display your ads but deliver few clicks or conversions rob you of profits. In today's Content Advertising column, "How To Use Google Site Exclusion Tool to Increase ROI," David Szetela shows you how to use Google's Site Exclusion to increase ROI.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 11, 2008

Google Conversion Optimizer Out of Beta

Google has expanded its Conversion Optimizer bid management feature to make it available to all advertisers whose campaigns have enabled AdWords Conversion Tracking and accrued at least 200 conversions in the past 30 days.

Advertisers specify a maximum CPA bid, and then the tool will use historical information about the campaign to automatically generate an optimal CPC bid for each auction. Advertisers still pay per click, but no longer have to manually adjust their bids to reach CPA goals. The product launched in beta in September.

There are some limitations to campaigns using Conversion Optimizer. According to the AdWords Help Center, the features that are not compatible with Conversion Optimizer include position preference, budget optimizer, placement targeting, advanced ad scheduling, preferred cost bidding, and separate content bids. Also, Conversion Optimizer campaigns may not be modified using the AdWords Editor or the AdWords API.

For campaigns meeting these criteria, the product can be a real time-saver, doing the heavy lifting to ensure ads are shown when they are most likely to convert. Conversion Optimizer takes into account factors like the conversion history of a given search query, location of the user, and conversion history of particular sites in the Content Network.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:44 AM | Permalink

Is the AdWords Competitor-bidding Party Over?

1-800-Contacts is trying to force a legal ruling that could put a chill on the widespread practice of PPC advertisers bidding on competitors' trademarks.

According to this article in MediaPost:

IN THE LATEST EXAMPLE OF a marketer suing about search ads, 1-800-Contacts this week filed a lawsuit in federal court against LensWorld for purchasing search links triggered by the term "1-800-contacts." The company, which has brought several other similar cases, says it's trying to guard against confusion. "The worry that they have is that these advertising methods will make consumers think there's an affiliation between these other companies and our client," said 1-800-Contacts' lawyer, Bryan G. Pratt.

Many advertisers experience great conversion results bidding on competitor terms, so the impact on the search advertising community as a whole could be huge.

Posted by David Szetela at 8:17 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Google AdWords 101: Landing Pages

Last time, we looked at the basic steps to set up a Google AdWords campaign. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Google AdWords 101: Landing Pages," Frank Watson shows you how to use A/B testing to improve it.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 7, 2008

SEW Experts: Increase ROI: Google Performance Placement Reports

As an advertiser, you're always looking for perfect insight into how well your Google content ad campaigns are performing. In today's Content Advertising column, "Increase ROI: Google Performance Placement Reports," David Szetela shows how Google's new Placement Performance report can help you fine-tune your content campaigns to make sure you're getting the most out of your ads.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 4, 2008

SEW Experts: Google AdWords 101

The Internet is overflowing with high-level discussion of how to plan a search advertising campaign. But sometimes, a new advertiser needs to know the actual steps of setting up an AdWords campaign and look into the methodology of setting up ads and A/B testing. In today's debut SEM Crossfire column, "Google AdWords 101," Frank Watson, aka AussieWebmaster, gives new advertisers a lesson on how to launch their first ever Google AdWords campaigns.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

December 20, 2007

Free Google Flip Video Camcorder --No purchase necessary

OK, strike "no purchase necessary." Free Flip video camcorder: "big purchase necessary?"

Google gave big-time advertisers and SEMs (whose clients spend big) a Flip Video Ultra Series camcorder with recording time up to 30 min. and 1GB internal memory.

Search marketer Shimon Sandler recorded an Oscar-worthy short film (YouTubed) of his Google Video Ultra gift being unwrapped. You'll watch the film again and again, if only to get into the Xmas spirit of green envy that children of all ages feel during the Holiday Season.

Google Flip flopped with all the SEMs who only received Google 2GB USB memory cards instead of the Google Flip (with MSRP of $149.99!). The 2GoogleByte USB card was described by our friends at SERoundtable as more or less a lump of coal -- way inferior to last year's Google gift gadget: a sweet digital picture frame.

It would seem only the FTC approves of Google acquisitions these days.

Here at Search Engine Watch, we'll be providing the P.O. Box for Google Customer Returns and the address of the secret Google Gift Exchange location.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:46 PM | Permalink

December 16, 2007

AdSense Ad Review: Good for Advertisers?

A few days ago Frank Watson blogged here about a new AdSense feature that lets site publishers exclude AdWords ads they feel may be inappropriate for their sites.

AdSense publishers will be able to view ads that advertisers have directed to their sites via Placement Targeting, and choose to block ads they don't feel are "relevant" to their site visitors.

This will certainly be used by AdSense publishers to (attempt to) maximize AdSense revenues - - publishers will block ads that they deem "low-revenue" in favor of ads that visitors will click on more frequently.

But is it good for advertisers? Well, yes and no...

Most AdWords advertisers who create Placement Targeted campaigns have done time-consuming research to identify sites that have proven (or are expected) to be relevant, in terms of producing valuable clicks and conversions. Knowing their ads can be blocked at the whim of an AdSense publisher might make advertisers more reluctant to spend the time necessary to target their advertising.

AdWords advertisers will be able to see the reason an ad was blocked - if the AdSense publisher chooses to provide it. Google says "This feedback gives advertisers more insight on how to increase coverage by adjusting ad quality, content, and relevance. We also use this information internally to help improve products."

Nice theory -- but will AdSense publishers really provide (optional) constructive feedback?

As I've pointed out in my SEW Experts column, Content advertising requires significant work and diligence -- arguably more than for Search advertising. Dealing with blocked ads -- understanding why an ad was blocked, and possibly even corresponding directly with a site owner to appeal the decision -- could just add unnecessarily to the advertiser's workload.

Hopefully this won't happen often - and the system will work to each side's satisfaction and benefit.

But let's keep an eye on it.

Posted by David Szetela at 11:31 AM | Permalink

December 12, 2007

AdWords Editor 5.0 Having Problems

Seems there are some minor install problems with the latest version of AdWords Editor.

There was one discussed on the forum here. And Google gave some information about what they had been seeing.

"The potential exists for v5 on Windows to crash on start-up. This will most likely be experienced by users who have Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. The work-around for this is to remove all copies of Google AdWords Editor from the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel (there will probably be two), then reinstall," Google suggested.

Posted by Frank Watson at 3:10 PM | Permalink

December 7, 2007

Google Improves AdWords Location Targeting

Google AdWords advertisers now have new options for location targeting of their ads. The geo-targeting feature now shows advertisers an interactive map showing the locations selected for each ad. Targeting options have been made more flexible, according to the AdWords blog: "For example, let's say you run an online store, and you ship to all of the United States except Hawaii and Alaska. With these new targeting options, you can target your campaign to the U.S. and exclude those two states. Or, you might run campaigns that are relevant to markets across the United States and a few cities in Europe -- now you can target all of those locations in one single campaign."

Advertisers can search or browse for countries, regions, and cities; select a preset bundle of locations; choose a point on the map and specify a radius around it where ads will appear; or target a custom shape on the map. In all methods, advertisers can also exclude areas within the selected locations.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:29 AM | Permalink

December 6, 2007

Google Improves AdWords Troubleshooting

Google has upgraded its Ads Diagnostic Tool, a tool that allows AdWords advertisers to determine why their ads may not be showing on a given SERP. Where it previously listed just one reason why an ad might not appear, it now lists multiple reasons, and multiple issues that should be fixed.

The tool is accessible within an AdWords account, either via a magnifying glass icon next to an individual keyword in an ad group or in the account's 'Tools' page.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:23 PM | Permalink

November 8, 2007

Google Refines Site Targeting, Adds Bid Options

Google has changed the way it allows advertisers to target ads by site in its content network, and added a cost-per-click (CPC) bidding option for those ads. While advertisers have been able to target a specific site through site targeting for the past two years, they will now be able to target specific subsections of a site through the newly renamed placement targeting feature. So advertisers can now serve ads only to the sports section of a news site, or only to ad units above the fold on a given page.

AdWords advertisers can also buy these placement targeted ads as cost-per-click (CPC) units, in addition to the CPM-based option. A CPC-based bid model has been one of the most-requested feature of ads on the content network, according to Google.

This is good news for advertisers, as it moves away from the one-size-fits-all approach, and lets advertisers have more control over their content network spending.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:40 AM | Permalink

October 23, 2007

Google Sheds Light on Ad Quality Score

Ever since Google implemented Quality Score as a criteria for AdWords ad placement, advertisers have been clamoring for more transparency into how Google calculates the score.

In the "good old days," an advertiser could boost an ad's ranking just by bidding more. Now, Google and other search engines incorporate a quality score, which takes into account elements like historical performance of a given keyword, relevance of keyword to ad text, landing page quality, and other factors.

While Google is not eliminating the black box that is the quality score algorithm, it is pulling back the curtain a bit with a new Keyword Analysis page in the AdWords console.

The page will offer advertisers clues about why a keyword is not triggering an ad, and rate the quality score as "Great," "OK," or "Poor." It will also dig deeper and show how the different components that factor into quality score are performing.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:18 PM | Permalink

October 1, 2007

Has Change In Google PPC Algorithm Created New Budget Busting Possibilities?

The current cost jumps in cost per clicks at Google may have created a way of pushing a bunch of your less savvy competitors out of the mix. If they have unlimited funds then you are out of luck, but I have noticed that not many people really do have or want to use a "zero sum game" approach.

So how do you do it?

First you want to spend some time looking at your traffic numbers. If you can determine your best hours of lead acquisition - I know all of them are decent etc. - generally there will be a couple of hours a day where you get high clicks and impressions and either don't get the click or it does not convert as well as other hours.

These would be the first things I would turn off. This pushes that traffic to your competitors and pushes them to the top, sending them many more impressions and many more clicks. The CPCs are going to be impacted by improved CTRs - but not like it used to be - so it is still going to cost them more especially when there are a few of them.

Dropping some of your bids during the other hours so that you are at number 3 as opposed to 1 will also give the competitors the higher and more costly spots.

This all works if they have daily and monthly budgets.

The increases will bring them a lot of garbage traffic as well as converting traffic but the increase in volume and cost will sooner or later impact their bids.

Budgets can be busted easily using this method and when that happens you are back on top at a much reduced rate.

If you have any comments on this let me know here.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:19 PM | Permalink

September 25, 2007

Google to Offer AdWords Conversion Optimizer

Google is making cost-per-acquisition (CPA) based bidding available to AdWords advertisers through a new Conversion Optimizer tool. Advertisers specify a maximum CPA bid, and then the tool will use historical information about the campaign to automatically generate an optimal CPC bid for each auction.

Advertisers still pay per click, but no longer have to manually adjust their bids to reach CPA goals.

Conversion Optimizer requires that a campaign currently uses AdWords Conversion Tracking and has at least 300 conversions in the last 30 days. Ads can appear on both the search and content network.

Google also offers CPA-based pricing on its pay-per-action (PPA) beta, where advertisers pay only when an action they define occurs, such as a purchase on their site or newsletter sign-up.

Tried Conversion Optimizer? Share your thoughts on it in the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:34 AM | Permalink

September 20, 2007

Getting Vertical Key to Google's Ad Success

Today, Google hosted an Industry Press Day at its New York offices, inviting mainstream and trade press to learn more about its efforts in five verticals: automotive, retail, financial services, entertainment & media, and healthcare. Several members of the SEW/ClickZ team were there, which made it possible for us to cover all five breakout sessions. See "Google's Vertical Ad Honchos Talk Campaigns and Results" at ClickZ News for a wrap-up of what those sessions contained.

Tim Armstrong, president of advertising and commerce in North America, opened the event with a short history of Google's industry-specific efforts, and the changing face of the online ad industry. He outlined three main factors that mark the new reality of Google's ad model: the ability to market all products all the time, incorporating customer insights into marketing plans, and letting the economy drive ad efforts, instead of the other way around.

With performance-based pricing and more automated and dynamic ad creation, Google's ad model has shifted from broad-based targeting to a model that harnesses consumer interest into small buckets. This fundamental change has allowed some advertisers to expand from advertising 8 to 10 products a year five years ago to more than 12,000 products today, Armstrong said.

The idea is to take an inventory of all of your company's assets and create an "asset map." When Google undertook this exercise internally, there was not a single person that could name all of Google's consumer-facing offerings, he said. That's how the company knew it was time to streamline its offering, and do a better job of articulating what was available to advertisers, he said.

Another key change in the industry is the idea of "letting customers into your meetings," or using customer insight to drive marketing decisions instead of making decisions in a closed boardroom. Customers, through their search and other online behavior, can teach a marketer what features of a product are important, how they like to talk about a product, and how to connect with them, Armstrong said.

The third main change in Google's advertising product strategy is the idea of letting the economy drive ad efforts, instead of the other way around. It's what Armstrong calls "knowing the GDP (gross domestic product)," which involves localization of ads, and the creation of industry-specific ad programs. Back in 2000, Google created industry-specific ad sales teams at a time when naysayers thought they were over-investing in infrastructure.

That investment has paid off in spades, Armstrong said, with Google taking its place at the table with CEOs and CMOs, ad agencies, and other decision-makers in these industries that see search advertising as an integral part of their business model.

A typical ad cycle ten years ago might have consisted of blasting a message for six weeks, measuring and repeating. Today, campaigns are running all day, every day, creating an ecosystem that mimics what's happening in the broader economy.

Advertisers are learning to be more open-ended with their ad budgets, letting customer behavior lead the way. For instance, instead of assuming that users might be interested in learning about a product during a certain six week period, an advertiser can let consumer actions – manifested through search behavior – show them when it's the right time to push a certain product.

This is a key aspect of Google's strategy, Armstrong told me afterwards. Since the goals of many advertisers are outside of the traditional direct response strength of text ads in search results, Google's efforts to bring in more big brands include steering them toward ad units they are more comfortable with, such as video ads on YouTube or display ads on its content network, while stressing the new measurements and new levels of understanding afforded by search. In this way, advertisers can apply what happens in search to these other areas, improving their results across the board.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:50 PM | Permalink

Google To Stop Preannouncing Quality Score Algorithm Changes

The insights into the changes being made to Google's Quality Score algorithm will no longer be pre-announced - if they are detailed at all - according to a recent post at Inside Adwords blog.

"Since our systems frequently visit landing pages and update Quality Scores on a regular basis, we will no longer post advance notice of upcoming updates. We will, however, continue to inform you of any significant changes to landing page quality guidelines or the factors which are considered in calculating landing page quality," the post reported.

The part of this that shows we will not be getting all the details is in "continue to inform you of any significant changes to landing page quality guidelines or the factors which are considered in calculating landing page quality".

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:37 PM | Permalink

September 19, 2007

Google Makes Brand Advertiser Push

Google has launched a new format for AdWords advertisers: Gadget Ads.

Gadget Ads are an interactive ad unit that will appear on sites in the AdSense content network. Gadget ads can include things like data feeds, images, or video and can be developed using Flash, HTML or a combination of the two. They support both cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-impression (CPM) pricing models, and offer a variety of contextual, site, geographic and demographic targeting options.

The units are a clear attempt to woo more brand advertisers to Google's platform. To help in that regard, Google has also hired Andy Berndt as managing director of a new "Creative Lab," according to a Wall Street Journal report. Berndt was most recently co-president of Ogilvy & Mather's New York office. The New York-based Lab will look for ways to work more closely with traditional agencies, according to the report.

While the move may seem like a push into the agency business, a spokesperson told ClickZ News that was not the case: "We are not in any way setting up our own agency. We want to be very clear about that."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:24 AM | Permalink

August 9, 2007

Implications of Google's New Bid Calculations

Maybe I am having an off week, but Google's announced changes to the PPC cost calculations seem a little like a magic show and the expected audience is novice search advertisers.

Their FAQ about the coming changes started my apprehension. I always was under the assumption that your Max CPC was factored in to the calculation. I remember being given a lesson about 4 years ago about Max CPC x CTR = eCPC which was then used to order the rankings and the prices were determined from there.

Okay then they added the Quality Score which included values for landing pages and criteria of the information in the ads themselves (keyword insertion seeming to be one of them).

Google states "The core components of the top ad placement formula will remain price and quality. However, we are improving the way we factor price into the formula. We're also adjusting the way your actual cost-per-click (CPC) is determined for ads in top spots. As always, only ads that meet our stringent quality requirements will be eligible to appear in top spots"

No longer will the CTR impact the eCPC.... The max bid is not stand alone like Overture but is impacted now by Quality Score as opposed to CTR. Does this mean they have no faith in the quality of the decisions made by their users - the CTR?

"[I]f you have a high quality ad, you now have more control to achieve a top position by increasing your maximum CPC," Google seems to be greedily stating.

So does the Quality Score now include CTR? Will keyword insertion now be a major factor? Who makes the human evaluation? The users and click backs are counted? Or is Google Analytics being used? Or some form of behavioral response?

Or is an effort to have more long tail terms being exact matched the reason?

"We anticipate that most of your ads will continue to perform as they have in the past. In some cases, you may see that ads previously shown alongside search results are now shown in top spots, and vice versa. As a result, you may see a change in the average number of clicks and average CPCs for impacted ads," they state.

Is this just in case it does not work properly?

One wonders whatever happened to if it is not broke don't fix it.

Please let me know what you think.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:33 PM | Permalink

Google Makes Changes to Ads Quality Calculation

AdWords advertisers whose ads are on the cusp of earning the top spot on Google's search results pages may soon find it easier to break through, in some circumstances. Google is planning on rolling out a change in the way it calculates the ad placement for a given keyword.

Currently, ads are scored based on their "Quality Score" and the actual cost-per-click (CPC) an advertiser pays as a result of auction pressure from other advertisers. This process, which was updated in February, calculates an ad's quality based on the historical performance of a given keyword, relevance of keyword to ad text, landing page quality, and other factors.

According to Nicholas Fox, group business product manager for ad quality at Google, the Quality Score will continue to be weighted more heavily in the calculation, but the change will come in the CPC Google uses in the formula. Instead of using the auction-driven CPC, Google will soon begin to use the advertiser's maximum bid CPC to determine which ad will be shown in the top spot.

The motivation behind this is to allow Google to consider more ads for the top spot, and at the same time be more restrictive in which ad will end up there. It will also give advertisers more control and predictability, he said.

The change will be most noticeable with ads on the cusp of the top spot, with the same or similar Quality Score as the top ad. It will especially impact ads on less competitive keywords that don't create enough auction pressure to drive the actual CPC up enough to allow the second-place ad to overtake the top spot. Advertisers will be charged the minimum CPC required to displace the top ad, up to their maximum bid, Fox said.

The change will not allow sites that Google determines to be of low quality to take the top spot, Fox said. "For some ads with a low Quality Score, there will be no level of bid that will allow them to get the top spot," he said.

Fox advises advertisers not to make changes until the changes roll out in the next few weeks, and they see what the effects are on their ads. He suggests advertisers make sure their bid reflects the maximum amount they are willing to pay, and that they keep an eye on the metrics in their AdWords interface. Once the effects are clear, advertisers can experiment with raising or lowering their bids, he said.

Think this will be a good or bad thing for advertisers? Frank Watson doesn't think so, as he writes that "Google's announced changes to the PPC cost calculations seem a little like a magic show and the expected audience is novice search advertisers."

Share your thoughts in the SEW Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:32 PM | Permalink

August 5, 2007

AdWords Editor 4.0 Released With New Features

Google announced Friday the release of AdWords Editor 4.0. This version has a number of new features and many upgrades to the existing features.

New features include the ability to edit mobile ads, specific campaign editing, setting negatives and more.

Posted by Frank Watson at 7:02 AM | Permalink

August 2, 2007

Google's New Behavioral Targeting For AdWords Reviewed

UPDATE: Seems Google does not want to be associated with the term behavioral targeting. Google's VP of product management and advertising and also the one with the famous garage, Susan Wojcicki said the company will not use behavioral targeting.

Zachary Rodgers over at ClickZ has written a good overview of the recent addition of behavioral targeting by Google AdWords.

This new feature is using previous searches to fine tune what ads are presented to the searcher.

Behavioral targeting has had mixed opinions. Avinash Kaushik, who blogs on analytics at Occam's Razor, sums up the method as: "Right thing to the Right person at the Right time.."

Rodgers interviewed Nick Fox, the Google group business product manager for ads quality, and learned that Google is looking at previous search behavior of a user and combining previous action with current ads. Mixing tennis searches with vacation searches to provide tennis vacations was used as an example (though not a confirmed BT search).

Using BT in the search industry is not exactly new. John Battelle had recognized its potential when he termed the phrase "database of intentions".

Another noted web analyst, Anil Batra, called for Google to add behavioral marketing earlier this year. Seems the idea has been popular.

The issue of privacy is the major force against gathering and using behavioral marketing, though to me it is more who pays for the information. The initial people advertising in a space help the engines capture user behavior without the benefits.

It is a Catch-22 - this is something that is here and not likely to be driven back. Thus, I wish Google would get a deeper knowledge of the real way to use behavioral targeting.

Nick Fox states: "We're not doing things like trying to profile the user to find out if the user is a man or a woman or a 45-year-old or a 25-year-old," he said. "In the context of search it doesn't seem that powerful, and we haven't seen any evidence that it will be that powerful."

When I read this I got chills. In our financial space 80% of our clients are male between the ages of 30 and 50. I would love to get a larger share of those impressions and leave the rest to those who think Nick is correct. Want to add your thoughts?

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:58 PM | Permalink

July 19, 2007

Google Expands Newspaper Ads

Google has opened up its Print Ads program to all AdWords customers, giving them the ability to purchase ads in approximately 225 U.S.-based newspapers.

Advertisers will access the program through their AdWords account, and have similar functionality, with the ability to target specific newspapers, sections of newspapers, and days of the week when the ads will appear.

Google hopes online advertisers will embrace offline advertising as a way to lend legitimacy to their online businesses while increasing ad response rates. "Newspaper is really an excellent way to validate a business that may have been built online," Spencer Spinnell, head of sales strategy for Google print advertising, told ClickZ.

The program is also targeting smaller advertisers who may not have had the time or know-how to set up a national newspaper ad campaign.

Google, which is often at odds with newspaper publishers who don't like Google News appropriating their content, has gone out of its way to make the program publisher-friendly, giving them control and setting the program up so that existing advertisers don't have an incentive to bypass the newspapers' ad sales teams to go through Google. For instance, the inventory is not targetable by specific page, and is mostly remnant inventory not sold by the sales teams.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:14 AM | Permalink

July 9, 2007

Google AdWords Offers Impression Share Numbers

In their Friday blog, Google announced they have launched a new feature in the AdWords interface, Impression Share - the percentage of impressions your ads see. Thus giving very accurate numbers for total searches for all keywords or their expanded matches.

The feature is well detailed by the Googlers.

Posted by Frank Watson at 4:55 PM | Permalink

July 2, 2007

Google Blogger Attacks Sicko, Backtracks

On Friday, Google Health account planner Lauren Turner tried to rally healthcare advertisers against Michael Moore's latest documentary, Sicko, by advising them that they should increase their presence in the search results in a blog post on the Google Health Advertising blog, "Does negative press make you Sicko?"

The post was an attempt to educate healthcare advertisers of the benefits of search in reputation management, but many accused Google of going too far with its apparent partisanship, and by Sunday, Turner was forced to recant.

The healthcare industry is no stranger to negative press. A drug may be a blockbuster one day and tolled as a public health concern the next. News reporters may focus on Pharma's annual sales and its executives' salaries while failing to share R&D costs. Or, as is often common, the media may use an isolated, heartbreaking, or sensationalist story to paint a picture of healthcare as a whole. With all the coverage, it's a shame no one focuses on the industry's numerous prescription programs, charity services, and philanthropy efforts.

Many of our clients face these issues; companies come to us hoping we can help them better manage their reputations through “Get the Facts” or issue management campaigns. Your brand or corporate site may already have these informational assets, but can users easily find them?

Turner reminded advertisers that place text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or on Google's content network could provide "a platform for educating the public and promoting your message."

On Sunday, Turner backtracked a bit, making it clear that the opinion of the film she expressed was her own, not Google's, but reiterating that search could be an effective way to manage a company's or an industry's reputation:

But the more important point, since I doubt that too many people care about my personal opinion, is that advertising is an effective medium for handling challenges that a company or industry might have. You could even argue that it's especially appropriate for a public policy issue like healthcare. Whether the healthcare industry wants to rebut charges in Mr. Moore's movie, or whether Mr. Moore wants to challenge the healthcare industry, advertising is a very democratic and effective way to participate in a public dialogue.

The film, according to the NY Times, attacks the American health care system and calls for its complete overhaul. Moore's goal is reform: the creation of "a single-payer system, with the government as insurer, that would guarantee access to health care for all Americans and put the private insurance industry out of business."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:18 AM | Permalink

June 21, 2007

Google Expands Pay-per-Action Ads

Google has expanded its pay-per-action advertising beta for AdWords, pitting Google more squarely against affiliate advertising programs.

Advertisers choose how much they want to pay for a user to complete a pre-defined action like a purchase, newsletter sign-up, or other conversion. Publishers must agree to that fee and action before placing a PPA ad on their sites.

Publishers in the Google content network may select between individual ads, a shopping cart of ads, or a specific keyword that is relevant to their site's content. The ads are not part of the auction for AdSense for content ad units. Ads are in the form of text, images, or in-line text ads, which publishers can incorporate into their content.

The program has been in limited beta since March, and has been testing different forms since June of last year.

To be eligible for the program, advertisers must have enabled AdWords conversion tracking and received more than 500 conversions from their CPC and CPM-based campaigns in the past 30 days. Beginning today, advertisers that qualify will see an alert in their AdWords account informing them that they can now create pay-per-action campaigns. Going forward, qualified advertisers will be automatically added to the beta on a rolling basis.

Kate Kaye at ClickZ asked around and found that depending on who you ask, this will either spell the end for affiliate networks, or a minor blip on Google's balance sheet.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:27 AM | Permalink

June 20, 2007

Are IT Buyers and Marketers Search-Aligned?

According to a recent survey of 3,000 IT buyers and marketers, some 83% of buyers actively use Google to find tech information. About 65% of marketers participate in paid search programs to find these buyers. Maybe the other marketers are missing out.

IT buyers are sophisticated searchers. At least 56% enter at least three or more keywords and 19% use Boolean searches. They are thorough and generally scan at least three or more pages of results – countering the attitude that you must be on the first page to be viewed or relevant. Marketing spends make sense, since 52% of these educated buyers read and 35% say they click on ads frequently/sometimes.

Although buyers are actively searching and responding to paid search, the marketers don't spend with the same intensity. When probed further, only 17% spend more than half their online budgets on search and 58% spend less than a quarter of their budgets. Among the marketers not currently buying ads, 27% have never tried it, and 19% tried and gave up. Another quarter of marketers claim it's just too expensive!

IT marketers are interested in creating awareness, and also do this by improving their organic search results. Some 66% engage in SEO strategies and 58% report their content is available through the engines. This is about the same engagement level as paid search activities.

If all your prospects are all going somewhere like search, then it's worth trying to reach some of them. However, limited resources and trade-offs are reasons for not participating. As we heard, the returns aren't working for some marketers anymore. Maybe more targeted buys work better, on specific industry social and trade sites. Even so, I'm wondering why search seems to be an "all or nothing" proposition for 35% of IT marketers.

Posted by at 4:10 AM | Permalink

June 13, 2007

SEW Experts: Priming Your Quality Score to Boost Campaign Results

In today's By the Numbers column, "Priming Your Quality Score to Boost Campaign Results," Eric Enge shows you how to use the new paid search Quality Scores to your advantage to provide great campaign results.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:53 AM | Permalink

June 12, 2007

Google Adds Content Network Transparency

Since its Content Network launched, advertisers have been asking Google for a way to get a better idea of where their ads appear, and get more control over the display of their ads on specific sites. While Google has been cleaning up the network in recent weeks, it is now also giving advertisers more transparency and control.

Beginning today in the U.S., and rolling out worldwide later this year, advertisers will now be able to see a Placement Performance report, which enables advertisers to see the exact sites on the Google content network where their ads appear.

Placement Performance reports also provide site-by-site performance metrics – including domain, URL, impression, click, conversion and cost data – as well as aggregated metrics for traffic generated from AdSense for domain sites.

With site-by-site comparison data, advertisers can more easily target sites to exclude from their campaign, or those they wish to heavy up on with site targeting. The report can also clue advertisers in on other categories or niches they may want to explore, according to Brian Axe, product management director at Google.

The new reports, which Google spoke about earlier this year, continue along the lines of the Content Network site exclusion and separate content pricing, and are the first of many coming enhancements, Axe said.

"Advertisers have had keywords; now they can more easily add sites to their optimization strategies," he said. "We view this as a platform for much more optimization than advertisers have been able to do before."

No word yet on when this option will be available for sites in the search network, but Axe did say that the current line-item listing for AdSense for Domains should be expanded to a site-by-site report soon.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

June 1, 2007

AdWords Bolding Synonyms

David Szetela spotted this today and contacted Google for confirmation. AdWords is now bolding the expanded match terms in the ads.

The example he used saw handbag being bolded when the search contained purse. This should be interesting. I will have to delve a little deeper into this. Can you turn it off, like expanded match etc. I am starting a thread on this here. Keep track of developments there.

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:47 PM | Permalink

May 25, 2007

Google Adds School Report Sellers To Banned AdWords Advertisers' List

The list of non-allowed advertising at Google's AdWords just got a little bigger.

Those "Buy A Term Paper" sites now join the comapny of gun dealers, alcohol and tobacco sellers as well as hackers, phisers and prostitutes; illustrious company.

The "banned" advertising list is growing... now if they could only drop all my competitors' ads I would be happy.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:10 PM | Permalink

April 17, 2007

AdWords Announces Preferred Bidding Feature

A new feature at Google AdWords has just been released globally, and will be known as 'preferred cost bidding' or 'preferred CPC bids'. This new feature allows advertisers to specify the average cost per click or CPM (cost per thousand impressions) they want to pay within their AdWords campaigns.

Google says the feature was added in response to "advertiser demand for greater control over how they manage their bids and costs", and expects that advertisers will be better able to maximize ROI.

The AdWords algorithm will work constantly to achieve the target price set by the advertiser. The average price model is designed as an alternative to the existing maximum bid system, which often forces advertisers to pay more up front, based on the competition, and aim for an average cost per conversion instead.

By agreeing to an average cost per click or impression, advertisers should be able to feel more confident in their CPA targets. However, this could potentially mean advertisers will have slightly less control over positioning, which may also affect conversion rates.

Only time and testing will tell for many advertisers.

Posted by Elisabeth Osmeloski at 12:00 PM | Permalink

April 5, 2007

Google Updates Display of Top AdWords Ads

AdWords ads appearing above search results on Google.com now have a new look, according to the Inside AdWords blog. The sponsored links that appear above organic search results will now have a yellow background, instead of the previous blue background.

To lessen unintentional clicks on ads, Google has also changed the way it processes clicks on those ads, from allowing a click anywhere in the box to count as a click to requiring the user to click on the link in the top line, as in other ads.

Google has been testing the changes for a few weeks now. The moves are expected to lower clickthrough rates, but should improve ROI, as users that do click through are more likely to have done so intentionally.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:38 PM | Permalink

March 28, 2007

Google Prepping BT Network?

Are Google's moves to expand its footprint into new areas a precursor to launching a behavioral targeting network? That's the prediction of blogger Anil Batra, a Web analytics consultant and former account manager at BT technology provider Revenue Science.

Batra points out that Google's networks of publishers and advertisers could provide a vast amount of visitor behavior data which could be used to target ads across its network. Yahoo and Microsoft have been targeting search ads with user behavior, with varying degrees of success, and AOL has been doing BT with input from searches as well.

While Google does not comment on rumors or speculation about its plans, it's worth noting that the idea is not new, and many people say it's inevitable for Google to make the move to behavioral targeting. Euro RSCG's Anna Papadopoulos summed up the state of BT in search for an October ClickZ column, "Search and Behavioral Targeting: The Coming Storm." Did-it's Kevin Lee predicted the spread of search retargeting in his ClickZ column last June.

Bill Gossman, president and CEO of Revenue Science, has understandably had his eye on Google for awhile, waiting to see when they would become his direct competitor. As Gossman wrote three years ago in a column titled "All That Googles Is Not Gold," search ads are not the highest point of online marketing.

Search ads ignore the majority of Web users that are not actively searching at any given moment, and cater to a direct response model, while big advertisers are looking for more branding opportunities, he wrote. "Search is great and it's helped drive online ad revenue, but it's only one part of the marketing mix. It is not the Holy Grail advertisers and publishers are waiting for," Gossman wrote.

I spoke with Gossman this week, and he said that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has a point when he calls Google a "one-trick pony."

"Google's a one-trick pony, even though it's a really talented pony," Gossman said. "But they're limited by their focus on search. They can only monetize users when they're searching, or when they're on a site in Google's network. There's probably 90 percent of the Internet they're not able to touch."

Google's search query data could provide strong signals that could be used in behavioral targeting of text or display ads, an area that Google has not yet been able to conquer. Google's search data is already being used to inform BT at Revenue Science partners like AOL and Fox, Gossman said. And Yahoo and Microsoft are both doing some kinds of BT already.

There are technological hurdles that Google would need to overcome, Gossman said, since Google's infrastructure is all about indexing words, while BT is all about indexing behaviors of people. The difference is in the type of data, the frequency it is seen, and how it is indexed, stored and retrieved, he said.

More difficult to overcome may be the public relations and public policy issues that would likely be raised if Google were to begin widespread use of users' personal data.

One angle that could make sense for Google would be to take a consumer-centric approach to behavioral targeting, according to Omar Tawakol, Chief Advertising Officer of mobile search and advertising firm Medio, and former CMO at Revenue Science.

With companies like Revenue Science and Tacoda taking the publisher-centric approach, and aQuantive and Revenue Science offering an advertiser-centric approach with search retargeting offerings, there is an opportunity for search companies to enter the market -- and be differentiated -- by focusing on the benefits to consumers, Tawakol said.

"There's a position in the market for someone to take a consumer-centric approach to BT. They could say, 'I'm doing this for you. You're going to see ads, they might as well be relevant. And if you don't want to, we won't.' I haven't seen anybody be that proactive," Tawakol said. "I can't say whether Google would do that, but if they did, it would complement their brand. Otherwise, they might have to deal with consumer backlash." One of the benefits of operating a search engine is that you can have a direct conversation with consumers and focus on what benefits them.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:17 AM | Permalink

March 26, 2007

Google Finds Less is More

In some cases, less is more. Google is finding that out in respect to the number of ads it shows on certain search results pages. Last week, Robert Scoble shared his cocktail party conversation with an anonymous Googler in a post titled "Did Google turn down the revenue knob?" While fewer ads mean less short-term revenue, the increased relevance leads users to click on ads more, according to the source.

That kind of thinking is not new to search engines. They constantly test the number and position of ads to find the best-performing combination. Sometimes, it turns out that fewer ads are more productive. Google's not alone in this process. Ask.com went through this process very publicly a couple of years ago, and had to explain away the short-term effects to stockholders for several quarters. Every search engine is testing these variables constantly.

Over the weekend, ZDNet's Donna Bogatin went through Google investor call transcripts to find an explanation given in January of the reduction of ads from Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder and president of technology: In the fourth quarter, we continue to enhance our ad matching by eliminating ads from some of our less commercial queries while showing more ads on commercially-oriented searches. As a result, the percentage of queries that receive ads have gone down by several points, but monetization has improved. These are the kinds of improvements that we make all the time and really improve both the quality and the monetization of our system.

That's also the official response I got from Google, via Nick Fox, senior business product manager for ads quality. "We believe that ads improve the user experience when they're high quality and relevant, so we don't necessarily think that fewer ads is always a good thing. However, we do believe that low quality ads hurt the user experience and work aggressively to ensure that our users don't see low quality ads," he said.

The end result is that, over time, some searches will return fewer ads per query as low-quality ads are weeded out. Usually, revenue is not affected, Fox said.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:31 PM | Permalink

March 9, 2007

Google Testing Search Numbers in Keyword Tool

Adam Parikh found Google providing search numbers for keywords in their Adwords Keyword Tool and posted the screen shot at his blog

Interesting... and a godsend to those of us that do intense PPC marketing with Google. Nice find Adam!

Anyone else find this? If so let us know.

Posted by Frank Watson at 7:58 PM | Permalink

February 26, 2007

NY Times: Google Content Will Report Publishers, Allow Separate Bidding

The New York Times reported today that Google will soon allow advertisers separate bidding for individual publishing partner sites.

Citing Kim Malone, director of online sales and operations for Google AdSense, NYT stated "in the next few months, Google's advertiser reports will begin listing the sites where each ad runs, Ms. Malone said. She added that advertisers on the Google networks would soon be able to bid on contextual ads on particular Web sites rather than simply buying keywords that appeared across Google's entire network."

This change in the information Google will provide their advertisers should have a huge impact on which sites many advertisers elect to bid on.

The NYT article was outlining the transparency of small engine Quigo.com that already offers this feature. Many of the smaller engines have offered this feature for some time, but Google had never opened up to allow insights into individual publishing partners; the content program was in or out - no options.

This new change will be interesting to watch. If some of their publishers are eventually dropped due to lack of advertiser interest where they end up could be future problems for other engines.

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:10 AM | Permalink

February 22, 2007

Google Quality Score Now Live

The quality score update to Google's ad ranking algorithm announced last week is now live, according to the Inside AdWords blog. That means that within the next four days, minimum CPC rates for all ads have now been re-calculated with the new weighting system applied for elements like historical performance of a given keyword, relevance of keyword to ad text, landing page quality, and other factors.

While all of these factors have been incorporated into the ranking system for more than a year, the new algorithm is expected to be more lenient on new ads, without historical data, while also being harsher on ads in other areas.

Advertisers were given an opportunity to preview the effects last week, when Google added a new column to the advertiser interface. Anyone who has not yet added that column should do so now, since the changes are live and affecting your campaigns.

For those seeing higher minimum bids, Google suggests, "if you notice that the minimum bid increases for a number of your keywords, you may want to consider optimizing your ad group to make it more relevant or deleting the keywords that have high minimum bids."

Soon after Google announced the upcoming changes last week, several advertisers began reporting significantly increased minimum bids on some campaigns. Google assured advertisers those problems were unrelated to the new ad ranking algorithm, and were unrelated technical glitches, which were resolved the next day.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:25 AM | Permalink

February 14, 2007

Google to Update Ad Quality Scoring

Google announced today that it will be updating its ad ranking algorithm for AdWords, and making that process a bit more transparent for advertisers.

Before the end of the month, Google plans to implement an improved quality-based bidding system, updating the current AdRank algorithm that first launched in August 2005, and has been updated consistently since then.

The last major updates came in December 2005, and again in July 2006, in the form of landing page quality scoring additions that left many advertisers upset with Google's lack of information regarding how that quality score was reached. Another ad quality update in November drew criticism for making changes in the midst of the busy holiday shopping season.

The changes this time around will not add new elements to the score, as much as change the weight that each component receives in the scoring, Nicholas Fox, senior business product manager for ad quality, told SEW.

"This is a change to the algorithm itself, updating what we call 'prediction confidence' to improve the accuracy in determining quality score in cases where we have less data," Fox said. In effect, Google is becoming more lenient with ads that it knows nothing about, but could become stricter with ads once it has gathered some data, he said.

The quality score will continue to take into account the historical performance of a given keyword, relevance of keyword to ad text, landing page quality, and other factors. The biggest change will show up for newer, or low-traffic ads, for which there is not a lot of data to come to a conclusion on the ad's quality, Fox said.

The net effect could be the re-activation of many keywords that were previously deactivated when their minimum bids had risen above the advertiser's desired cost-per-click (CPC) bid. As those minimum bids are recalculated under the new algorithm and fall below the advertiser's bid threshold, those ads will be reactivated, unless the advertiser deactivates them or lowers their bids below the new threshold. In other cases, certain ads will be treated more harshly under the new algorithm, and their minimum bids will increase.

To help advertisers prepare for the changes, Google is adding a new quality score column to the advertiser's AdWords account interface. Beginning Thursday, advertisers will be allowed to activate the new column on their accounts, and begin making plans for the new algorithm. A limited test group of advertisers began seeing this column around Christmas.

The tool will show advertisers an estimate of their ad's quality -- in general terms like "great," "ok" or "poor" -- as well as the estimated minimum bids associated with them. The scores and bid estimates will be updated at least daily, with more frequent updates in certain categories.

"Advertisers have asked us to provide more transparency into the process, and now we're able to provide that visibility," Fox said. "This is the first step of many in that direction that you'll see in the next few months."

Though Google was the first major search engine to incorporate a quality score in its ad ranking algorithm, it has since been followed by Microsoft's adCenter and Yahoo's Panama platforms, both of which include a quality metric with varying degrees of transparency.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 7:25 PM | Permalink

Google to Test CPC-based Site Targeting

Google announced plans to begin a test of CPC-based ads using the site targeting feature. Site targeting allows advertisers to choose individual sites in the content network where they want their ads to appear. Since it launched nearly two years ago, the program has used bids placed on a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) basis. That will begin to change in March, when a limited set of U.S. advertisers will have the option of paying on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis.

Google expects the CPC pricing to appeal to conversion-oriented, direct response advertisers who are focused on clicks, and track metrics such as sales, leads or sign-ups. That may get more advertisers interested in the tool, since many have tried site targeting on a CPM basis and found it lacking in ROI. Site targeting is popular with advertisers as a branding buy, when they want to get in front of the readers of a given site.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:18 AM | Permalink

February 9, 2007

Google Hoping Smiles Are Contagious

Google has just started a "send us your smile" campaign. They are moving one of their offices and want to wall paper the new office walls with pictures of Google advertisers.

A nice sentiment but after a while staring at those smiling faces on the walls has to get a little much... I want to visit that office after 6 months and would wager a few of the pics have been graffittied... true smiling can be contagious but in your face smiles can be annoying after a while.

Give us any thoughts here.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:22 PM | Permalink

February 2, 2007

Google Shares Tips on Addressing Click Quality Concerns

At the Inside AdWords blog, Google invites Click Quality team member Julian to put a kinder, gentler face on the team that many have complained is inaccessible by mortal advertisers. He shares a bit about what his job entails, and points out some of the more common concerns that usually turn out not to be click fraud, and steps to take to investigate suspicious clicks.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:32 PM | Permalink

January 18, 2007

Google Patent Hints at Ad Relevance Factors for Contextual Ads

A new patent application from Google gives hints about its plans to include relevancy factors in its contextual ad algorithms. According to Bill Slawski at SEO by the Sea, the filing describes a process of scoring ads by price, relevancy, and performance, using a technique that has popped up in several recent patent applications, "probabilistic hierarchical inferential learned cluster."

Google has been applying relevancy to ad algorithms since the fall, and causing problems for advertisers that are not factoring in Google's Quality Score when planning campaigns.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:25 AM | Permalink

January 11, 2007

Quality Score, AdWords Quirk In Delivery

We had a problem with our PPC campaign recently. Even though we had unoptimised the ad delivery we noticed one ad getting more traffic than the other. Now this did not seem like what should happen so we contacted Google thinking maybe we had found a bug in the delivery system.

In actuality we had found an impacting variable that is not generally known. Quality scoring impacts the delivery of your ads - one can get a better score and that will influence delivery even when asking for even flighting.

Obviously the QS impacts the real CTR - but behind the covers.

A rep at Google explained it this way:

Regarding the serving, this actually is a common question that we receive. The system tries to equally rotate ads but there are other factors that weigh into this rotation. In your case it does look fairly even for the most part, however the system may be looking at the one ad as one with a less quality score than the other, thus not serving it as often. Although you have it opted into rotate more evenly it isn't guaranteed that the system will functionally work to an exact science. I know this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but this is what we have been told by engineering!

Figured I would pass this along for comments. I have opened a forum thread here.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:59 PM | Permalink

December 25, 2006

Google Shows Quality Scores For Christmas

Barry Schwartz over at SERoundtable has capture the first sighting of the Google Quality score in an AdWords campaign.He has a screenshot of the new update that I have not been upgraded to yet in our many accounts.

It appears as if Google has replaced the edit listing column with a listing of the Quality Score for each keyword.

This is going to be a fun thing to work with in the new year. From what was shown you either have great or poor. Poor being for terms that need to be reactivated. Guess the impact of a particular ad is not part of the equation yet, though to get it to that level will take some clever work.

Right now it is not a default setting. As the help section tells you: The Quality Score column displays your keyword's Quality Score to help you monitor your keyword relevance. This is a customizable column that is disabled by default for new accounts. It can be enabled at any time.

First opinions and comments by those who have already been switched over can be posted here.

Posted by Frank Watson at 10:29 AM | Permalink

December 10, 2006

Search Arbitrage Gets Forbes Attention

Forbes did an article on search arbitrage Friday featuring interviews of Jeremy Shoemaker and Michael Gray. Shoemaker said he had made $2 million over the past two years arbitraging Google.

"He (Shoemaker) estimates that around 50 people are earning more than $1 million a year from Adwords arbitrage, some making several million a month. Web marketers following the scheme agree Schoemaker's estimates are in the ballpark," Forbes wrote.

The story reported Shoemaker said he uses cloaking to show searchers a page of ads while the Google spider sees other content.

According to Shoemaker the Forbes reporter misinterpreted him. His reply can be found here.

Posted by Frank Watson at 9:13 AM | Permalink

November 22, 2006

Google Says AdWords Not Basing Keyword Prices On Conversion Metrics

I reported this morning at SERoundtable that AdWordsAdvisor Denies Google Uses Conversion Tracking & Analytics To Determine Minimum Bids. Yes, Google has come out on the Internet to make it clear to everyone that Google is not using data from their conversion tracking scripts of Google Analytics to determine the minimum price of keywords. This was a recent rumor that began with the new AdWords algorithm coming into play.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:20 AM | Permalink

November 15, 2006

Google Expands Mobile Text Ads Beta

Google has expanded its mobile ads beta test beyond the U.S., U.K., Japan and Germany to eight more countries: France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, China, Ireland, India and Australia. Ads appear above and below Google search results on mobile devices.

Here are some bullets from Google PR about the program:

-- Mobile Ads are text-based ads that will appear above and below the search results and will be clearly marked '[Ad]'.

-- The auction bidding model will be based on Quality Based Bidding. Mobile Ads will not bid against Text Ad keywords that appear when a user searches Google.com from their desktop.

-- Mobile Ads enable advertisers to link users directly to their mobile website or provide users with a phone number that they can click to call.

-- In the US, Google offers advertisers the option to target specific carriers.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 1:04 PM | Permalink

November 13, 2006

Google's Schmidt Says Cell Phones Should Be Free

CNN Money reports that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt saying, "Your mobile phone should be free." He said Google has no plans to give phones away itself, but he foresees advertising making phones free or near free, in the way newspapers are.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:34 AM | Permalink

November 10, 2006

New AdWords Algorithm Kicks In; Google Advertisers Upset

Earlier this week, we reported that Google will be launching a new landing page quality score algorithm for AdWords ranking and pricing. It has now been released and Google AdWords advertisers are speaking up. It appears, like in the past, this update is forcing many advertisers to bid higher for their keywords, in order to realize top placement and clicks on their ads. There are a ton of good write ups already on this topic, so let me send you to the ones I found.

(1) Steve Bryant of eWeek was the first to post on this, he named his post Google: Screwing Advertisers Over Before Christmas? and goes through a story of one particular advertiser's thoughts on this.

(2) Then came graywolf's post on Threadwatch named Adwords Quality Update II = Price Gouging Round II where he shows some very revealing statistics to back this title. There are over 20 comments at his post, with feedback on his post.

(3) It is always great to hear from Andrew Goodman on these changes. Over at his Traffick blog, he wrote Lack of Editorial Transparency a Nagging Concern with AdWords in a Quality Score World where he explains;

Somehow, in spite of the advantages to Google (and potentially Yahoo) of hiding the details of algorithms, more transparency needs to be injected into the editorial side of what leads to an extremely low quality score.

(4) I wrote at the Search Engine Roundtable a post named Google AdWords Advertisers Up In Arms Again Over New Algorithm where I pull out reports from advertisers at WebmasterWorld forums on the new algorithm change. I pulled out six reports of price gouging and one report of a happy advertiser.

My thoughts? Never do such a big update to the landscape right before a big holiday season! Give people a way to prepare for this change. Yahoo is doing this right now with the Panama update. I trust that advertisers will learn to adapt to this new algorithm, eventually and I hope that Google helps them along. I just think this is all bad timing, right now.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:54 AM | Permalink

November 9, 2006

Google Released AdWords Diagnostic Preview & Beta Tests Account Snapshot

Big day for AdWords, they released a neat way to quickly see the status of a particular keyword running in a campaign. As I explained with Google Launches AdWords Diagnostic Tool With Magnifying Glass, there should now be a little magnifying glass within your Ad Groups by each keyword, when clicked, it should open a little DHTML box with the status and health of that keyword phrase.

Google is also testing an "Account Snapshot" feature, as reported at SEO Optimise, that shows a screen shot of a new page that shows a snapshot of your account on one page. The features of the page include; Alerts and status, Announcements, Help and Tips, and Campaign Performance. A large screen shot can be viewed here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:17 AM | Permalink

November 7, 2006

Use Of AdWords In US Senate Campaigns

The Rimm-Kaufman Group conducted a small study on how the US Senate candidates and campaigns used Google AdWords this weekend to "swing Senate races" in the last minute hustle and bustle. Here is a quick punch list of 'take aways' they sent me from the study:

* "Red" ads (pro-Republican or anti-Democrat) outnumbered "blue" Ads (pro-Democrat or anti-Republican) two-to-one.

* Blue ads were three times more likely to be negative than red ads.

* The most prevalent advertisers within this query set were Accoona (search engine ), Gather.com (social networking), CafePress (retailer), and GOPSenators.com (National Republican Senatorial Committee).

* No campaign ads referenced President Bush. Iraq and Al-Qaeda were only mentioned only twice (stopidioticforeignpolicy.com, against Jim Webb)

* Only two ads linked directly to videos (against George Allen: "macaca" and prescription drugs).

* Blue ads were more likely to include an exclamation point. Red ads were more likely to contain a question mark. * What struck Rimm-Kaufman Group most was how few political organizations are using Google.... And Yahoo, practically zip.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:11 AM | Permalink

AdWords Landing Page Quality Score Coming To AdSense Network

Last night the Inside AdWords blog announced two main things. The first is that Google will be "improving the algorithm for evaluating landing page quality and incorporating landing page content retrieved by the AdWords system." The second is that some (I believe many) AdSense publishers will see the impact of the landing page quality score.

We'll begin incorporating landing page quality into the Quality Score for your contextually-targeted ads, using the same evaluation process as we do for ads showing on Google.com and the search network. Advertisers who may be providing a poor experience on their site will notice that their traffic across the content network decreases as a result of this change.

I expect Jen to come back with a longer piece on the impact this has on AdSense publishers. I just wanted to get a quick post out there asap.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:39 AM | Permalink

November 2, 2006

In UK, Google To Surpass Channel 4's Ad Dollars

The Independent reports that Google UK is expected to earn "£900m from the UK ad market in 2006." When compared to Channel 4's "£800m at the TV group" this year, Google is expected to beat this TV player in ad dollars. Channel 4's Andy Duncan said, "Some broadcasters have been very slow to realise this. The industry as a whole is frankly rather backward-looking and is perhaps underestimating the scale of change that is going on and the pace of change."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:59 AM | Permalink

November 1, 2006

Google Click Fraud Settlement Payments Received

I reported this morning that Google Advertisers Receiving Settlement Payouts for the refunds they were rewarded based on the Google Click Fraud Settlement. The amounts of those payments are making many advertisers feel like they were ripped off. For example, one advertiser informed us that they paid Google over $480,000 over the past three years and only received a credit of $280. You can check to see if you received a credit by viewing your "Billing Summary" under each campaign in your Google AdWords account.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:45 AM | Permalink

October 30, 2006

Buying Keywords As Trademark Use?

The London Free Press is reporting on a case in a New York Federal District Court, Rescuecom v. Google, in which the Judge granted a motion to dismiss on Google's behalf. The case involved the use of trademarked terms as keywords, finding that keyword advertising isn't a use in commerce. But, don't go looking to this ruling for any insights when it comes to the use of trademarked keywords in adwords. There are at least three reasons not to...

First, as the London paper notes, this case was between the holder of the trademark and the search engine, and not the advertiser. It's possible that the advertiser using the trademark in advertisements might not see the same result as Google.

Second, this ruling added to a number of other cases making the landscape around the use of trademarks as keywords a murky area. Eric Goldman reported on the case, and quoted part of the Court's ruling in his post:

"Defendant's internal use of plaintiff's trademark trigger sponsored links is not a use of a trademark...because there is no allegation that defendant places plaintiff's trademarks on any goods, containers, displays, or advertisements, or that its internal use is visible to the public."

Does this apply just to the search engine? We can't be certain what meaning this might have for an advertiser.

Third, a New Jersey Federal District Court, after the Rescue.com decision, held against an advertiser in denying a motion for summary judgment. Eric Goldman also wrote about this case. A snippet from the Court's decision:

First, the alleged purchase of the keyword was a commercial transaction that occurred “in commerce,” trading on the value of Plaintiff's mark. Second, Defendants' alleged use was both “in commerce” and “in connection with any goods or services” in that Plaintiff's mark was allegedly used to trigger commercial advertising which included a link to Defendants' furniture retailing website.

It appears that the New York Federal Court doesn't consider the sales of adwords including a trademark as a use in commerce, and the New Jersey Federal Court does consider the purchase of adwords including a trademark as a use in commerce. The two positions seem contradictory.

Eric Goldman's latest post cites some other cases that cloud the issue even further.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 10:22 AM | Permalink

October 18, 2006

Google AdWords Releases Website Optimizer for Advertisers

Google AdWords has released a new tool for advertisers to enable them to easily test conversions on varying landing pages, headlines and ad copies. The tool then shows advertisers the testing results, including graphs, allowing them to chose the best converting ad options for their campaigns.

Interested advertisers can sign up for the beta here, although only a small number of advertisers will be accepted. You can also learn more on the Inside AdWords blog.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 1:37 PM | Permalink

Google To Own 25% Of 2006 Online Ad Revenue

An eMarketer.com report estimates that Google will account for twenty-five percent of all online ad revenue. Google's share continues to increase (65% increase YoY) while Yahoo's growth continues to decrease, eMarketer says. Google first surpassed Yahoo in ad revenue back in 2005, but barely. Google in 2006 is expected to earn over $4 billion in ad revenue but Yahoo has just $2.9 billion according to eMarketer.com.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:24 AM | Permalink

Google Testing Cost Per Action (CPA) Model Content Ads?

Threadwatch spotted a IT Pro article that claims some invites have gone out to publishers to test a new content ad system that works on a CPA (cost per action) model, as opposed to a CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per thousand) model. The article says, "The search engine has invited a number of web site owners to take part in the pilot programme that will see site owners getting extra payments if their visitors take some kind of beneficial action on the advertisers' sites - such as buying a product or requesting further information." Those invited have "greater flexibility" with the ads, as opposed to normal AdSense users. Also, CPA ads tend to "be less susceptible to click fraud."

Postscript by Jennifer Slegg: This has been in beta testing since June and it is still be actively tested by Google at this time.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:16 AM | Permalink

October 17, 2006

Google Mobile Ads Found In U.S.

Gary Price spotted Google testing mobile ads on Google Mobile search on his Treo. We know Google has been testing mobile ads in the U.S., U.K. and in Germany but this is the first case I have seen of anyone noticing these ads on their mobile devices, outside of a Google employee. Gary has posted screen captures at Flickr showing how Google places the ads in Google Mobile web search.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:08 AM | Permalink

October 11, 2006

Google's "False & Deceptive" Search Ads

Ben Edelman's False and Deceptive Pay-Per-Click Ads analysis looks at specific ads on Google.com that seem to violate Google's editorial guidelines and perhaps US laws over "free" services being offered.

Edelman reviews ads that use the words "free" or make other claims that are said to be false.

He looks at "charging for software that's actually free" here, then he looks at "the "completely free" ringtones that aren't" here, and then reviews some "ads impersonating famous and well-known sites" here.

Finally, Edelman reviews the law, ethics, and incentives Google is faced with specific to these ads. He views Google and the search companies as the ones that really profit from such ads and suggests that Google "expand the policy to prevent these scams."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:55 AM | Permalink

October 9, 2006

Coke Counters Bad PR With Search Ads

Coca-Cola Counters Critics With Search Ads from MediaPost covers how Coke is using search marketing to get the word out about a court victory where it was accused by a Colombian trade union of intimidating and assassinating union leaders.

A search for coke on Google, for example, brings up the Killer Coke site ranked third, which covers the allegations. Now Coke is fighting back against that -- sort of. A search for killer coke brings up this ad:

Coke Lawsuit Dismissed Suit against Coca-Cola bottlers in Colombia dismissed. Read more. www.coca-cola.com/presscenter

That leads to more information about the victory from Coke, right alongside the "anti" natural search result that appears, like this:

But c'mon. This is Coke being savvy? A regular search for coke on Google doesn't carry this ad. That means plenty of people are seeing the Killer Coke site ranking well but not getting a counter message from Coke itself.

Perhaps it is an oversight, though it might be intentional -- trying to target those specifically searching for "killer coke" with a positive message without trying to be too in the face of those doing regular searches who might not know about the allegations.

Curious, I checked out the trend of searches for killer coke versus coke on Google Trends. As you can see, practically no one is searching for "killer coke:"

Overall, if Coke thinks spreading the word is important, I'd have gone with an ad targeted to Coke as well. Then again, since the company already has three different ads running for its My Coke Rewards program, the main Coca Cola site and the official Coca Cola store, maybe it felt a fourth ad would finally trip Google's rules against multiple ads from the same company:

To provide the best possible experience for our users and advertisers, Google does not permit multiple ads from the same or affiliated company or person to appear on the same results page. We believe that pages with multiple ads from the same company provide less relevant results and a lower quality experience for our users. Over time, multiple ads from the same source also reduce advertiser performance and lower their return on investment.

Of course, Coke does seem to meet the exception to this rule:

The destination site for each ad offers different products or services (for example, a large manufacturer with two product sites, one solely for stereos and one solely for computers, both running on keyword 'electronics').
Each destination site has a different layout and design, and each URL and domain is different.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:07 AM | Permalink

October 6, 2006

New Search Patent Applications: October 6, 2006 - Google Takes Over the Patent Office

There were some interesting new patent applications this week from Yahoo, Microsoft, and IBM, but nothing on the scale of the outpouring of intellectual property published and assigned to Google - I uncovered 15 new patent applications from the Mountain View search giant. I'll address patent applications from those others in a later post. This post looks at Google's filings.

Some of the topics covered include:

Natural language questions and answers from a search engine,
Query rankings and mid-page refinements,
A detailed personalization system,
Advertising and email contacts amongst members of a social network,
Bringing together advertisers and advertising agents,
Addressing different audience segments with ads,
Improving the value of pay-per-impression advertising,
Data embedded in hardware devices to help target advertisments, and;
Sharing Settings and other data across browsers (and Office applications).

A Question Answering Search

I thought of Danny's post from yesterday, Hello Natural Language Search, My Old Over-Hyped Search Friend, when reading this patent application. Will people ask actual questions to a search engine if the anticipate that they will receive relevant answers? Here's an exploration of that question:

User interface for facts query engine with snippets from information sources that include query terms and answer terms Invented by Andrew William Hogue US Patent Application 20060224582 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 31, 2005

Abstract

A method and a system for providing snippets of source documents of an answer to a fact query are disclosed. Snippets of source documents may be provided in response to a user request for the source documents from which the fact answer to a fact query was extracted. The snippets include the terms of the fact query and terms of the answer. The snippets may be displayed along with Uniform Resource Locators (URL's) of the source documents.

Middle Page Query Refinements

Danny also mentioned in his rant the need for better query refinements, and how Google has been offering them for a couple of years. (His timing is pretty good.)

Just how does Google decide to present some of the suggested alternative queries that it shows in the middle of some results pages? What triggers their appearance, and determines which queries and results appear? How are alternative queries ranked?

I examined this patent filing in considerable detail at SEO by the Sea, in a post titled Google's Query Rank, and Query Revisions on Search Result Pages.

Query revision using known highly-ranked queries Invented by David R. Bailey, Alexis J. Battle, David Ariel Cohn, Barbara Engelhardt, P. Pandurang Nayak US Patent Application 20060224554 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: November 22, 2005

Abstract

An information retrieval system includes a query revision architecture providing one or more query revisers, each of which implements a query revision strategy. A query rank reviser suggests known highly-ranked queries as revisions to a first query by initially assigning a rank to all queries, and identifying a set of known highly-ranked queries (KHRQ). Queries with a strong probability of being revised to a KHRQ are identified as nearby queries (NQ). Alternative queries that are KHRQs are provided as candidate revisions for a given query. For alternative queries that are NQs, the corresponding known highly-ranked queries are provided as candidate revisions.

Google Personalization

After more than a few hours, I'm just partially into breaking down the processes described in the following six patent applications detailing some of the things that Google is looking at in a personalized search system. They share a single detailed (and long) description and abstract, and were all originally filed on March 31, 2005 and published on October 5, 2006. The claims section in each application different and explain how the different documents play a role in the overall personalization scheme.

Systems and methods for analyzing a user's web history Invented by Andrew Fikes, Jeffrey L. Korn, Oren E. Zamir, Lilly Christine Irani US Patent Application 20060224583

Systems and methods for modifying search results based on a user's history Invented by Oren E. Zamir, Jeffrey L. Korn, and Andrew Fikes US Patent Application 20060224587

Systems and methods for combining sets of favorites Invented Oren E. Zamir, Jeffrey L. Korn, and Andrew Fikes US Patent Application 20060224608

Systems and methods for providing subscription-based personalization Invented by Jeffrey L. Korn, Oren E. Zamir, and Andrew Fikes US Patent Application 20060224615

Systems and methods for managing multiple user accounts Invented by Jeffrey L. Korn, Oren E. Zamir, and Andrew Fikes US Patent Application 20060224624

Systems and methods for providing a graphical display of search activity Invented Andrew Fikes, Jeffrey L. Korn, Oren E. Zamir, and Lilly Christine Irani, Avni Upendra Shah US Patent Application 20060224938

Abstract

A user's prior searching and browsing activities are recorded for subsequent use. A user may examine the user's prior searching and browsing activities in a number of different ways, including indications of the user's prior activities related to advertisements. A set of search results may be modified in accordance with the user's historical activities. The user's activities may be examined to identify a set of preferred locations. The user's set of activities may be shared with one or more other users. The set of preferred locations presented to the user may be enhanced to include the preferred locations of one or more other users. A user's browsing activities may be monitored from one or more different client devices or client application. A user's browsing volume may be graphically displayed.

Social Networks

Both of these next two documents mention Orkut, as well as some other social networks.

Methods and systems for member-created advertisement in a member network Invented by Kevin David Fox US Patent Application 20060224446 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 29, 2005

Abstract

Methods and systems for members of a member network to create and target advertisement to other members of the member network. A member can target advertisement to other members in the member network by establishing a member profile that includes associations and/or nexuses with the targeted members. Fees can be charged to members who create and disseminate advertisement to other members in the member network.

Methods and systems for providing current email addresses and contact information for members within a social network Invented by Kevin David Fox and Duane Scott Hess US Patent Application 20060224675 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 30, 2005

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing current email addresses or contact information to members within a social network are described. In one described method, an email program application requests an email address for a member within a social network. Using profile information associated with the member, the email address is provided to the email program application which sent the request. The email address is then entered into the send-to parameter field of an email message. In another described method, contact information associated with a first member of a social can be provided to a second member of the social network. The contact information is provided if the relationship between the first and second members is an authorized relationship. The contact information associated with the first member can be used to update the contact information for the first member in an electronic address book associated with the second member.

Advertising

Some past patent applications made it appear that Google wanted to help make it easier for advertisers to create their own advertising campaigns and ad copy. This next document looks instead at making it easier for advertisers to find people willing to help them with those activities.

Networking advertisers and agents for ad authoring and/or ad campaign management Invented by Ross Koningstein and Sumit Agarwal US Patent Application 20060224444 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 30, 2005

Abstract

As online ads are becoming technically and artistically more sophisticated, advertisers will need a way to efficiently request assistance with ad creations that offer richer ad formats. An online ad business environment helps connect advertisers with ad service providers (also called agents or advisors) who can meet their needs for more complex and sophisticated ad creatives. The online ad business network may use a job listing board where advertisers can enter request for assistance and agent can view them. The business network may also include an agent directory where agents can post their profiles and services and advertisers can view them. Using the job listing board and agent directory, advertisers and agent can contact each other through contact operations available in the business network, and enter into business relationships. A payment from an advertiser to an agent may be made via the business network. The amount of compensation paid to the agent by the business network need not be equal to the amount of payment received by the advertiser.

How helpful would it be if it were easier to understand and manage the serving of ads based upon different audience segments and factors like different geographic areas, different times, different user devices, different audience demographics, etc.?

Automated offer management using audience segment information Invented by Ross Koningstein US Patent Application 20060224447 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 31, 2005

Abstract

An advertiser's management of an advertising campaign may be assisted by (a) accepting information defining a plurality of audience segments to which an advertisement may be served, (b) accepting a first offer, and (c) determining, using the first offer, a second offer associated with at least one of the plurality of audience segments. The act of determining a second offer associated with one of the plurality of audience segments may use an indication of value assigned to the one audience segment. The indication of value may be automatically determined, and/or provided by an advertiser. The indication of value may be expressed as functions, rules, and/or parameter values. The information defining a plurality of audience segments may be one or more of (a) location information, (b) user information, (c) temporal information, and (d) client device information.

Can something be done to improve the value of pay-per-impression advertising? That's the topic of this next patent application.

Adjusting an advertising cost, such as a per-ad impression cost, using a likelihood that the ad will be sensed or perceived by users Invented by Brian Axe, Gregory Joseph Badros, and Rama Ranganath US Patent Application 20060224445 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 30, 2005

Abstract

A price paid for an ad impression may be adjusted using an estimated probability that the ad will be viewed, or otherwise perceived or sensed, or using one or more factors which may be used to estimate such a probability. The price and/or probability may be adjusted using events occurring after the impression of the ad.

Data can be embedded in hardware, such as digital cameras and PDAs, and identified in software that can help an advertiser target the users of those devices. For example, I may take pictures with my camera, and then upload the images to the web with a program like Picasa, or send them to someone through Gmail. The data from the device may be included in metadata from the pictures, and might be used to send me advertisements related to my camera in some way. That's the area that this next patent application covers.

System and method for obtaining content based on data from an electronic device Invented by Michael Bryan Herf US Patent Application 20060224448 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 31, 2005

Abstract

In one embodiment, data from an electronic device is identified. The data may describe an electronic device (e.g. a hardware or software device) on which a document was created or modified, the subject matter of a document, the state of a document, or the like. Content relating to the electronic device is obtained based on the data. The content may be obtained in response to viewing, editing, printing, emailing or other accessing and/or processing of the document.

Sharing setting information and other data across browsers

Browsers collect a lot of information, such as bookmarks, security settings, web surfing history, autocomplete information, password data, location of toolbars information, and much more. It would be great to have an easy way to share this kind of information between browsers on different computers or on the same computer, to different versions of the same browser, or to different browsers (such as between Internet Explorer and Firefox. The techniques involved might even be applied to other types of applications, such as transferring settings between Microsoft Word to Powerpoint.

No mention of Google Office applications are made here, and the patent application was originally filed over a year ago, but the thought crosses my mind that it might be helpful to copy settings from Word to Writely, or from Excel to Google Spreadsheets.

Method and system for transferring web browser data between web browsers Invented by David Marmaros US Patent Application 20060224967 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 31, 2005

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method for transferring web browser data between web browsers includes collecting browser data pertaining to a first web browser, packaging the browser data into an intermediate format, and storing the packaged data for a subsequent import into a second web browser.

My usual reminder about patents: Some of the processes and technology described in patents are created in house, and some are developed with the assistance of contractors and partners. A percentage are never developed in a tangible manner, but may serve as a way to attempt to exclude others from using the technology, or even to possibly mislead competitors into exploring an area that they might not have an interest in (sometimes skepticism is good.)

There are times when a Google or Yahoo acquires a company to gain access to the intellectual property of that company, or the intellectual prowess and expertise of that company's employees. And sometimes patents are just purchased.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Google area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 3:40 PM | Permalink

MySpace: Not Just For The Under 30 Crowd

As a kind of twist on that old 60's mantra, social networking's slogan might have been: not for anyone over 30 -- or so we thought. As is being widely covered, comScore reported and MySpace apparently confirmed that the average age of its users is going up. More than 50% of its users in August were over 35. This represents a kind of mainstreaming of social networking in one way of looking at it. MySpace, as you remember, has a deal with Google in which the latter will pay a guaranteed $900 million over a three-year period to be the search and paid search provider on the site.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 11:42 AM | Permalink

September 22, 2006

Google & Saturn Team Up On Video Ads, Google Earth Promotion

Marketing on Google: It's Not Just Text Anymore from the New York Times covers how Google is partnering with a traditional ad company to do an integrated campaign for General Motors, one that begins today to promote the Saturn brand in Google Earth, video ads through Google AdSense For Content and other unnamed Google products (fair to say, those old school text ads will be part of it).

Meanwhile, Cameron Othuis points out how BMW is letting opportunities slip by in by overlooking paid ads. Similarly, last month, Steve Plunkett dropped me an email where he was amazed that Pontiac was running those TV ads we've mentioned before about Googling them in his area but without paying more attention to the organic results.

To prove his point, he created a page to rank well for pontiac dealers dallas-ft.worth at Google, which now ranks first. Of course, that's a lot of words, making it easier to rank. A search on pontiac dallas doesn't list him, though pontiac dealers dallas does. While perhaps Pontiac could do more on the organic side, they aren't complete invisible -- and that big fat paid link at the top saying "The Official Pontiac Site" is pretty noticeable.

Postscript: See Google / Saturn Video Ad for an example of the landing page for the ads

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:58 AM | Permalink

September 19, 2006

Why Is Wikipedia Advertising On Google?

Wikipedia Advertising Shows Up on Google from Micro Persuations covers how Wikipedia is apparently advertising content on Google. A search on crowdsourcing in Google brings up a Wikipedia ad in the sponsored listing area that says:

Crowdsourced Software 1. Harness this exciting wave. 2. Save money or make money! wikipedia.org/Crowdsourcing

Yes, the same landing page is shown on the organic listings as well. So why would the Wikipedia be spending money on those ads? Is it even Wikipedia who is purchasing those ads? Maybe it is a 3rd party that is interested in getting more content added to certain Wikipedia pages. Maybe there is some financial interest on that page for some company?

Postscript Barry: ClickZ has a quote from Wayne Saewyc, a Wikimedia spokesperson saying, "As far as I am aware, the Wikimedia Foundation is not purchasing Google ads, or any other advertisements for that matter."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:08 AM | Permalink

September 15, 2006

See Ads? Now You Don't! Google AdWords Rotating Out Top Sponsored Links

Google is now displaying or not displaying the top sponsored links (with the blue background) based on searcher behavior. What I mean is that if you, as an individual, tend not to click on ads, Google will drop off the top ads from the page and place them on the right side. I discovered this in the morning, and I have a quote from a WebmasterWorld member in my post named Google Testing Removing Top Blue Ads Based on User Behavior, which says that Google is in fact testing this. I personally tested it myself and noticed that if I refresh my search results over and over again (about ten times) the top ads disappear.

Postscript: Google has given a statement to ClickZ confirming this to be true.

Google confirmed Friday it is indeed tinkering its premium AdWords positioning based on user clicks – or the lack thereof. Explained Google Spokesperson Michael Mayzel, "In this instance, we are exploring changes to the way we promote ads to the top of the search page. This is designed to further ensure that users will find ads only when they're most useful and advertisers will receive the most qualified leads. With this improvement, users may see more prominent ads if they are currently showing interest in ads and less prominent ads otherwise."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:08 AM | Permalink

September 12, 2006

Search Bugs At Yahoo & Google

In the past twenty-four hours I have discovered and documented four different bugs or weird occurrences at both Yahoo and Google. I will cover the four bugs, include adult ads displaying in Google and Yahoo's contextual programs, Yahoo's contextual ads not displaying ads at all, Google's site operator not functioning properly and Google's AdWords statistics not showing the right data.

(1) The first I named Adult Ads Displayed Within Google's AdSense Program? but it actually affects Yahoo as well. Basically, some people found Google AdSense ads that displayed adult oriented content, something that should not happen on AdSense. But what was amusing, was that after I posted this article, people noticed that when the Yahoo Publisher Network ads showed up, they were showing adult ads as well.

(2) If you were not able to load the ads in example one, then it may be because the Yahoo Publisher Network Ads Still Have Accessibility Issues, even after I reported it last Friday. Basically, some ISPs are not able to resolve the DNS information that hosts those Yahoo ads. This was first documented on August 31st, then acknowledged by a Yahoo representative on September 7th and is still an issue today.

(3) The next issue is that Google's Site Operator Shows Sites Off Domain. It does, I have seen screen captures myself, showing someone searching using the site: command and Google returning results from sites off of that domain. I have pictures and more details at the Search Engine Roundtable.

(4) The final bug I found today was that AdWords Statistics Mixing the Search & Content Network. So you are an advertiser, you set a campaign to only run on Google's content network, but for some reason, your stats in AdWords shows impressions and clicks for that campaign in the search network. This bug is confirmed by Google but stated as a small tiny problem.

There you go, four bugs documented in the past twenty-four hours.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:00 AM | Permalink

September 11, 2006

Google GeoTargeted AdWords Preview Tool: See How Ads Look Outside Your Region

Friday, the Inside AdWords blog announced a new feature that allows advertisers to see how their ads appear. So if you want to test the appearance of your ad locally or based on a specific set of geographic criteria, you can.

Go to www.google.com/adpreview and type in your keyword phrase. If you want to add geo-specific criteria, you can. To define the country enter &gl=[Two Letter Country Code Here], to define the region enter &gr=[region code here], you can also define city, latitude and longitude, postal code and DMA. More details at the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:17 AM | Permalink

September 7, 2006

Google Adjusts Minimum CPC Rates

I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable this morning that Google has made some "minor" adjustments to their minimum CPC prices. In a WebmasterWorld thread, AdWordsAdvisor explained that Google has "rounded many of the minimum CPC amounts so that they'll no longer appear as rather odd amounts." AdWordsAdvisor continues to explain that this has an impact mostly 'lower quality ads,' ads with low CPC rates. Many AdWords customers have noticed that many of their keywords have dropped into the 'inactive keywords' bucket, resulting in lost traffic. I have more details at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:19 AM | Permalink

September 6, 2006

Google Launches Mobile Ads On Google Mobile

ClickZ reports that Google is now testing ads on Google Mobile. The ads are being tested in U.S., U.K. and in Germany and are priced similar to how normal AdWords ads are priced, based on auction. Google has a whole help section for Mobile Ads here. It explains what the ads look like; "Mobile ads contain two lines of text, with a limit of 12 or 18 characters per line, depending on the language in which you write your ad. Your destination URL appears on a third line if you choose to enter one. If you select the option that allows customers to directly connect to your business phone, a Call link will appear next to your destination URL." For more information check out the ClickZ article and the Google Mobile Ads help page.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 12:52 PM | Permalink

September 5, 2006

Google's Click To Call In UK

I reported yesterday that Google seems to have launched Click To Call in the UK. A search on jet2 should bring back an ad from Directline Holidays with a green phone, clicking on the phone will allow you to enter your phone number for a call back from that advertiser. Click to call was launched by Google in the US in February 2006. I have screen captures and more details at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:34 AM | Permalink

August 31, 2006

Google Uses AdWords Conversion Data To Fight AdSense Fraud?

ShoeMoney blogged that at the Arbitrage Issues session at SES San Jose, during Q&A time, Kim Malone of Google said that the AdSense team may use AdWords conversion data to determine which sites are trying to fraud advertisers and users (often named Made for AdSense sites - MFAs).

Jeremy said, "Kim explained that in many cases they are using Adwords conversion data to tell what MFA sites were actually converting for advertisers. She said using this data helps them easily identify arbitragers." To me, this doesn't sound a 100% right. The Google web search team said time and time again that they would not use this data for any organic ranking purposes. I know the AdSense team is separate from them and is even more closely related to the AdWords team, but to use that data for purposes of detecting MFAs? I am not so sure about this. Anyway, I trust Jeremy heard this but I suspect Kim Malone of Google didn't mean for this to come out. Either way, I would love to hear back from Google on this topic.

Postscript by Jennifer Slegg: Actually, this has been known for quite some time that AdSense uses AdWords conversion data to determine how well each publisher's clicks are converting for advertisers. I covered this nearly a year ago on JenSense in a detailed post about how smart pricing works, and what factors go into determining it.

Postscript by Barry: Ouch! I stand way corrected. Jen is the guru on this stuff. I should have looked at JenSense.com prior to putting myself out like this. Nice to have experts to correct you.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:46 AM | Permalink

August 30, 2006

Google's Accuracy Can Easily Cost Advertisers $285 Million

Brandt Dainow has a interesting article named How Accurate is Google AdWords? In that article, he shows how Google has earned $6 billion from advertising during 2005 and $4.6 billion in the first two quarters of 2006. He explains that if the conservative estimate that 95% of Google's revenue comes from AdWords, that puts Google's income from AdWords last year at $5.7 billion and $4.37 billion in the first two quarters of 2006. Now, if Google's statistical accuracy in detecting invalid clicks is 95%, which is pretty good, then they "mis-billed $285 million last year." Read the full article at iMedia Connection.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:27 AM | Permalink

August 24, 2006

Dutch Farmers Site Loses Court Case Against Google

Reuters reports that the Dutch farmer dating site has lost their court case in Amsterdam. The judge ruled that the keywords "farm" and "date" were too general. When Farm Date's owner issued the complaint, they did so because ads come up for sex and pornographic sites, which they claim is "very damaging for Farmdate's reputation."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 12:43 PM | Permalink

August 15, 2006

Farmer Dating Web Site Sues Google Over Porn Ads

INQ7 Network reports that the owners of Farm Data, "a respectable meeting website for farmers," is suing Google for the ads that show up for the query [farm date]. Basically, pornographic sites and sex sites come up for the term and Farm Date says that those ads are "very damaging for Farmdate's reputation." We should know the court ruling on August 24, I will keep you posted on it.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:34 AM | Permalink

August 10, 2006

Custom Map Icons Added For Google Local Business Ads

The Google Blog announced a new feature for Google Local business ads, named "custom map icons." Basically, for the pinpoints found in Google Local/Maps, you can customize that pinpoint with a favicon like image. You can see an example of this implemented and more details on how it works at the Google Blog.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 6:27 PM | Permalink

August 3, 2006

Reminder: AdWords Claim in Click Fraud Settlement Due Tomorrow

The approved click fraud settlement requires that you submit your claim at https://www.clicksettlement.com/ before the end of the day tomorrow, August 4th, 2006. So this is your chance, if, I repeat, IF, you want to be a part of this settlement. I have reported on the discussion forum coverage of this settlement, where AdWords advertisers have questions about the settlement, but you can also get more details at the FAQs page.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:10 AM | Permalink

July 28, 2006

Google Testing Radio Ad Sales In Detroit

Google rides the radio waves, from News.com looks at how Google AdSense for radio is now being tested in Detroit, before a planned rollout of the program to all Google advertisers.

Technically, Google's been running radio ads ever since it acquired dMarc Broadcasting in January. It's not like dMarc stopped doing what it was already doing when Google bought it. The real change is that Google is integrating the ability for any existing advertiser to make radio ad purchases on a bid basis.

For more on Google's radio plans, see Googleplex Irvine & "AdSense Audio" For Radio Ads and Speculation: Google To Begin Selling Radio Ads Through AdWords Soon.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:36 AM | Permalink

July 27, 2006

Google Click Fraud Settlement Approved

Just got word from Google that the settlement in the class action lawsuit over click fraud has been approved. I'm dashing out, so this is just a short post to give you a heads-up. So far, I haven't seen any news stories on it. Settlement is here (PDF file), the $30 million in attorney fees is approved, apparently around 500 companies choosing to opt-out. I'll postscript more tomorrow or do a fresh post when stories appear. Google statement:

We're pleased Judge Griffin has affirmed the settlement as appropriate and fair to advertisers. We look forward to continuing to manage invalid clicks effectively and provide our advertisers with an outstanding return on their investment. --Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel, Google

Postscript: Short AP story here, MarketWatch here, Official Google Blog post here.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:43 PM | Permalink

July 26, 2006

Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates

Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers.

Concern about click fraud has been rising over the years, though whether click fraud itself has risen remains a debatable point. In my The Abridged Version: Independent Report On Google's Click Fraud Detection Practices post yesterday, I highlighted one example of this -- of how Google is conducting more investigations into click fraud reports but not paying out more. The independent expert who compiled the report felt this was due to people having more concerns rather than more click fraud occurring.

Still, that same report highlighted what many search marketers already know. It's difficult to know what exactly is going on within the black box of Google's ads billing system. The reporting Google is doing will help shed a bit more light into that box.

Specifically, there are new reporting options to see "Invalid Clicks" and "Invalid Clicks Rate." Check these, and you'll see all the clicks that Google has filtered before you were billed, plus the percentage of those clicks versus the total clicks to your campaign. More help from Google is covered here.

It will be especially interesting to see what stats individual advertisers start to share publicly. Going back to that independent report I mentioned, it covered how Google catches far more invalid clicks through its filters compared to those found when investigations are done after billing. Some advertisers might find they have double-digit invalid click rates. That's not a reason to panic, in the sense that you aren't paying for those clicks. You should be reassured.

Then again, I suspect anyone seeing high levels of invalid clicks being caught might also want to take a harder look at what they are actually getting billed for beyond this, since the high rate might suggest they are in a click-fraud prone industry and perhaps stuff is still slipping past the Google filters. Of course, a low rate might warrant a further look since perhaps Google's not catching stuff it should.

Confused? Here's the overriding advice. Everyone should be auditing their click logs, watching for odd things, just as you would your credit card statement. Google and Yahoo both have long had systems in place to automatically catch fraud. The Google move significantly helps advertisers understand that this protection is already in place. But it doesn't relieve the advertiser of being prudent and doing their own review, as well.

Finally, isn't giving this data making it easier for those who want to conduct click fraud to test what can get through? What prevents someone from opening an account, then trying various things until they find a way to generate clicks that Google can't catch?

"If you want to invest a huge amount of time and resources, you could already run those type of experiments. It doesn't provide significantly more feedback to fraudsters," said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google's business product manager for trust and safety.

By the way, though the reports are said to be "real-time," they actually give you a total for an entire day. You can't see minute-by-minute catches.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 4:42 AM | Permalink

July 25, 2006

The Abridged Version: Independent Report On Google's Click Fraud Detection Practices

Last Friday, an independent report on how Google deals with click fraud was published as part of the ongoing Lane's Gifts v. Google class action lawsuit over click fraud. To my knowledge, it is the most comprehensive, detailed public look into how Google deals with click fraud that's ever come out. It finds that Google's efforts to combat the issue have been reasonable, though there are some eyebrow raising bits on how the author only finds the situation was in control by the end of 2005 and how it's impossible to fully know whether some clicks are invalid -- and thus, potentially -- impossible to prevent some types of fraud through purely automated means.

The report is long, a 47 page PDF file. Anyone interested in click fraud issues should give it a thorough read. But given how everyone's always busy, I thought I'd highlight below a number of sections that stood out in my review of the document.

The report is by Dr. Alexander Tuzhilin, Professor of Information Systems at New York University. To prepare it, he says in the Executive Summary at the beginning (page 1):

I have been asked to evaluate Google?s invalid click detection efforts and to conclude whether these efforts are reasonable or not. As a part of this evaluation, I have visited Google?s campus three times, examined various internal documents, interviewed several Google?s employees, have seen different demos of their invalid click inspection system, and examined internal reports and charts showing various aspects of performance of Google?s invalid click detection system. Based on all these studied materials and the information narrated to me by Google?s employees, I conclude that Google?s efforts to combat click fraud are reasonable. In the rest of this report, I elaborate on this point.

Immediately, the first thing that comes to mind is that he makes no mention of talking with individual advertisers, which could lead you to think that if he's only talking with Google, of course he's likely to come away with the idea that Google is doing everything just fine.

When you read the report, it's clear this isn't the case. Google does come under criticism. It's also important to realize Tuzhilin was not employed by Google to create this report. He's an independent expert appointed to my knowledge by the court. Exactly how he was selected is unclear, and I do think it would be a better report if advertiser data had been involved. But there's still plenty of good stuff here to digest.

Page 2 covers his background and materials reviewed from Google to prepare the report.

Page 3 and some of page 4 covers those he talked with at Google. Interesting details are that Google's click quality team consists of about 36 people, one-third engineers looking to design detection systems and the remaining two-thirds dedicated to doing manual investigations of suspected fraud.

Pages 4 through 6 cover the history of the internet, search engines and Google, most of which isn't that necessary for most experienced search marketers. Page 7 talks about three main ways of purchasing advertising:

CPM - cost per impression
CPC - cost per click
CPA - cost per action

Again, basic stuff. But it's worth touching on because of some of the current debate that Google and other search engines will be forced to go to CPA pricing to fully eliminate fraud.

On page 8, Tuzhilin lends some support of this, or at least the problems that others have raised with CPC:

Although currently popular, the CPC/PPC model has two fundamental problems:

Although correlated, good click-through rates (CTRs) are still not indicative of good conversion rates, since it is still not clear if a visitor would buy an advertised product once he or she clicked on the ad. In this respect, the CPA-based models provide better solutions for the advertisers (but not necessarily for the search engines), since they are more indicative that their ads are ?working.?
It does not offer any ?built-in? fundamental protection mechanisms against the click fraud since it is very hard to specify which clicks are valid vs. invalid in general, as will be explained in Section 8 (it can be done relatively easily in some special cases, but not in general). For this reason, major search engines launched extensive invalid click detection programs and still face problems combating click fraud.

In response to these two problems and for various other business reasons, Google is currently testing a CPA payment model, according to some reports in the media. Some analysts believe that the conversion-based CPA model is more robust for the advertisers and also less prone to click fraud. Therefore, they believe that the future of the online advertising payments lies with the CPA model. Although this is only a belief that is not supported by strong evidence yet, Google is getting ready for the next stage of the online advertising ?marathon.?

What Will Replace Pay-Per-Click Advertising? over at Publishing 2.0 from Scott Karp is a good roundup and debate on some of the issues of CPA perhaps as the solution to CPC issues.

I've posted lots of comments in Karp's post, but my personal view is this. Currently, Google is offering all three major payment systems: CPC, CPM and CPA. It is offering all three not just because of fraud issues but because advertisers have different goals with advertising, where different payment models may be required.

Building brand? You want impressions perhaps more than clickthrough, and suddenly CPM makes sense. Really savvy with conversion tracking? CPA might make more sense for you, as a way for you to feel less likely to be exposed to fraud and more likely to really be paying only for key traffic. Fairly rudimentary with conversion tracking? Doing low-cost CPC ads might make a lot of sense, for your situation. And beyond the three big ones, I'm sure we'll see other options emerge. The unifying goal around all of them, from Google's perspective, will be figuring out a way to help advertisers track that the ads are working according to some type of metrics that the advertisers want.

Skipping down past background on how AdWords works and the AdSense program (AdSense For Domains doesn't get mentioned, though it's a major program), page 13 starts in on what Google can tell about clicking activities.

Google is apparently making use of conversion data that advertisers provide to determine if fraudulent clicks are happening. My understanding was that conversion data was supposed to be ringfenced and not used by Google for anything, not even in the aggregate. But perhaps the policy has changed or perhaps I misunderstood this. I'll check on that (and also note that confusingly, the report says on page 34 that "None of the filters uses the conversion information that Google collects"). Certainly Google made no such restrictions when it launched Google Checkout. But even with conversion data, the report notes using this info isn't perfect.

Google collects various types of information about querying and clicking activities, including certain types of ?post-clicking? data about conversion actions on the advertiser?s website where the visitor is taken following the click. All this data accumulated by Google is extracted from various sources and contains comprehensive information about visitor?s activities on the Google Network.

As stated before, the conversion data ? the ?post-clicking? data about conversion actions on the advertiser?s website ? constitutes an important piece of this collected data. In particular, if the advertiser formally agrees to provide this information, Google collects data on whether or not the user visited certain designated pages on the advertised website that the advertiser marked as ?conversion? pages, such as the checkout page and certain form filling pages. This conversion data is limited to what the advertiser decided to provide to Google and is not as rich as the clickstream data collected by advertisers themselves on their websites. Also, many advertisers decide to opt out from providing this conversion data. In this case, Google does not have any conversion information and therefore does not know what happened after a visitor clicked on the ad. Nevertheless, this post-clicking conversion data is important for Google even in its limited form because it conveys some intentions of the visitors on the advertised website and provides good insights into whether or not the visitor is seriously considering purchasing the advertised product or service....

This ?raw? clicking data described above is subsequently cleaned, preprocessed and stored in various internal logs by Google for different types of subsequent analysis conducted on this data.

One inherent weakness of Google?s (or any other search engine) data collection effort that is important for detecting invalid clicks, is inability to get full access to all the clicking activities of the visitors of the advertised website. In other words, the conversion data that Google collects provides only a partial picture of all the post-clicking activities of the visitor on the advertised website. This data is important for detecting invalid clicks since better invalid click detection methods can be developed using this data. Unfortunately, Google (and other search engines) does not have full access to this data, unless the advertised website decides to provide its clickstream data to Google, which many websites are reluctant to do. However, this is not Google?s fault ? this is an inherent limitation of the types of data available to Google.

While it might not be perfect, the report also notes at the end of this section that no one has the perfect collection of information:

However, this lack of full conversion data available to Google is compensated by various types of querying and clicking data that Google can collect, whereas advertisers and third-party vendors cannot. Therefore, there exists a tradeoff between the types of data relevant for detecting invalid clicks that is available to Google, advertisers and the thirdparty vendors. None of these three groups have the most comprehensive set of data pertinent to detecting invalid clicks, and each of them needs to settle for the invalid click detection methods possible only with the data that they have.

On page 14, the report addresses the frustration advertisers feel over the relatively non-granular nature of Google's reporting versus Google's need to keep some things carefully protected:

The smallest unit of analysis is one day. For example, the number of invalid clicks on an ad detected by Google (or any other related statistic) can only be reported on a daily basis (although there are certain alternative methods of obtaining aggregation granularity that is smaller than a day). In other words, advertisers cannot know if a particular click on a particular ad was marked as valid or invalid by Google, and Google refuses to provide this information to advertisers.

This is a source of contention and dispute between Google and the advertisers, and one can understand both parties in this dispute. On one hand, the advertiser has the right to know why a particular click was marked as valid by Google (when the advertiser thinks that it is invalid) because the advertiser pays for this click. On the other hand, if Google discloses this information, it opens itself to click fraud on a massive scale because, by doing so, it provides certain hints about how its invalid click detection methods work. This means that unethical users will immediately take advantage of this information to conduct more sophisticated fraudulent activities undetectable by Google?s methods.

This conflicting dilemma between advertisers? right to know and Google?s inability to provide the appropriate information to advertisers because of the security concerns is part of the Fundamental Problem of the PPC advertising model to be discussed in the next section. More recently, Google tried to bridge this gap between Google and the advertisers.

Page 15 spends time looking at various definitions of click fraud, bringing us to page 16 which raises the bigger issue that it is impossible to know the intent of ALL clicks, which is crucial to understand what chunk of them might be fraudulent:

Unfortunately, in several cases it is hard or even impossible to determine the true intent of a click using any technological means. For example, a person might have clicked on an ad, looked at it, went somewhere else but then decided to have another look at the ad shortly thereafter to make sure that he/she got all the necessary information from the ad. Is this second click invalid? To make things even more complicated, the second click may not be strictly necessary since the person remembers the content of the ad reasonably well (hence there is no real need for the second click). However, the person may not really like or care about the advertiser and decides to make this second click anyway (to make sure that he/she did not miss anything in the ad and his/her information is indeed correct) without any concerns that the advertiser may end up paying for this second click (since the person really does not care about the advertiser and his/her own interests of not missing anything in the ad overweigh the concerns of hurting the advertiser). Therefore, in some cases the true intent of a click can be identified only after examining deep psychological processes, subtle nuances of human behavior and other considerations in the mind of the clicking person.

Soon after this, on page 17, comes the first real bombshell to me. As said above, you can't detect the intent of all clicks. Given this, there's no reasonable way to be certain that technological fixes for click fraud detection are working:

In summary, between the obviously clear cases of valid and invalid clicks, lies the whole spectrum of highly complicated cases when the clicking intent is far from clear and depends on a whole range of complicated factors, including the parameter values of the click. Therefore, this intent (and thus the validity of a click based on the above definitions) cannot be operationalized and detected by technological means with any reasonable measure of certainty.

What? Didn't the report find Google was acting reasonably? Yes, and I think this is is because as the report goes on, it's because Google's not relying solely on automated means to stop click fraud, which might allow some clicks to get through, if that were only the case.

Page 18 picks of the issue even more strongly, and I've bolded this section because it deserves special attention. Note that the italics were originally included:

The last statement has one important implication: given a particular click in a log file, it is impossible to say with certainty if this click is valid or not in all the cases. This means that

It is impossible to measure the true rates of invalid clicking activities, and all the reports published in the business press are only guesstimates at best.
The invalid click detection methods need to be developed without a proper operationalizable conceptual definition of invalid clicks.

The important word above is all the cases since in some cases it can be stated with certainty if a particular click is valid or not. For example, it is easy to detect a doubleclick using relatively simple technological means, assuming that the doubleclick is invalid.

Again, it seems to be a case that automation can catch some, perhaps lots of click fraud, but it can't catch all of it because the intent problem. Also crucial in the above is the stressing that rates we've been given from various sources are simply guesses, since the intent of clicks aren't know to some of these other sources.

Indeed, in the case of the recent Outsell report, you don't even have to worry about figuring out the intent of particular clicks. Click fraud stats from that report come from half the panel entirely guessing about what click fraud rates they might have -- guessing, because that half does not auditing of clicks at all.

Page 19 deals with ways of identifying invalid clicks, at least according to operational approaches -- IE, automated criteria. Do the clicks show some type of:

Anomaly from past clicking patterns for a site or ad?
Violate certain predefined rules?
Fall into certain classes of behavior that make them deemed invalid?

Page 20 explains that Google primarily depends on the first two approaches -- looking for anomalies and using rules -- but then gets into what it stresses as the "Fundamental Problem" of fraudulent clicks:

We conclude that there is a fundamental problem associated with the definition of invalid clicks for the Pay-per-Click model. This problem can be summarized as follows:

There is no conceptual definition of invalid clicks that can be operationalized in the sense defined above.
An operational definition cannot be fully disclosed to the general public because of the concerns that unethical users will take advantage of it, which may lead to a massive click fraud. However, if it is not disclosed, advertisers cannot verify or even dispute why they have been charged for certain clicks.

This problem lies at the heart of the click fraud debate and constitutes the main problem of the CPC model: it is inherently vulnerable to click fraud.

Page 21 poses solutions to the problem:

The ?trust us? approach of the search engines. The search engines can assure advertisers that they are doing everything possible to protect them against the click fraud. This is not easy because of the inherent conflict of interest between the two parties: the money from invalid clicks directly contribute to the bottom lines of the search engines. Nevertheless, it may be possible for the search engines to solve this trust problem by developing lasting relationships with the advertisers. However, the discussion of how this can be done lies outside of the scope of this report.
Third-party auditors. Independent third-party vendors, who have no financial conflicts of interest, can work with advertisers and audit their clickstream files to detect invalid clicks.

These two approaches would still constitute only a partial solution to the Fundamental Problem because there is no conceptual definition of invalid clicks that can be operationalized.

Page 21 continues on looking at how Google does click fraud detection, covering a range of general preventative measure and more active things done when clicks actually happen.

On page 23, a look at filtering systems begins, ending with this summary that's positive for Google, at the moment. It also stresses that filtering will always come under new challenges:

The current set of Google filters is fairly stable and only requires periodic ?tuning? and ?maintenance? rather than a radical re-engineering, even when major fraudulent attacks are launched against the Google Network. It also demonstrates that various recent efforts of the Click Quality team to improve performance of their filters produce only incremental improvements. Thus, the Click Quality team currently reached a stability point since additional efforts to enhance filters produce only marginal improvements.

Having said this, the Click Quality team also realizes that this is only a local stability point in the sense that major future modifications in clicking patterns of online users and new types of fraudulent attacks against Google can lead to radically new types of invalid clicks that the current set of filters can miss. Therefore, the Click Quality team is working on the next generation of more powerful filters that will monitor a broader set of signals and more complex monitoring conditions. These new filters will require a more powerful computing infrastructure than is currently available, and the Click Quality team also participates in developing this infrastructure. Their overall goal is to make click spam hard and unrewarding for the unethical users thus making it uneconomical for them and turning many of them away from Google and the Google Network.

At page 28, the expert notes that Google's filters are relatively simple in nature, yet they work:

The structure of most of Google?s filters, with a few exceptions, is surprisingly simple. I was initially puzzled and thought that Google did not do a reasonable job in developing better and more sophisticated filters. I was initially certain that these simple filters should miss many types of more complicated attacks. However, the evidence reported in the previous two sections indicates that these simple filters perform reasonably well.

Why? A variety of reasons, such unsophisticated attacks:

Although some of the coordinated attacks can be quite sophisticated, the majority of the invalid clicks usually come from relatively simple sources and less experienced perpetrators....Still, there are certain types of attacks that Google filters will miss; but these attacks should be quite sophisticated and would require significant ingenuity to launch. Therefore, there cannot be too many of these, unless perpetrators become much more imaginative....

The Long Tail / Search Tail even gets a mention, with the idea being that -- if I understand correctly -- most activity focuses around the same type of things that the filters work well to detect. IE, the filters do well at cutting off the head of click fraud -- and if tail activity gets through, it's relatively little in comparison:

Despite its current reasonable performance, this situation may change significantly in the future if new attacks will shift towards the Long Tail of the Zipf distribution by becoming more sophisticated and diverse.

At the bottom of page 29, the report starts examining whether Google is letting stuff slide to earn more money:

Since Google does not charge advertisers for invalid clicks, this means that it loses money by filtering out these clicks. Thus, there is a financial incentive for Google not to forgo some of these revenues and simply be ?easy? Long Tail Left Part Frequency Rank 30 on filtering out invalid clicks. Therefore, it is important to know if any business considerations entered into the filter specification process or is it entirely determined by Google?s engineers in an objective manner with a single purpose to protect the advertiser base. This is one of the important issues that I investigated as a part of my studies of how Google manages detection of invalid clicks....

The conclusion is that Google isn't trying to favor itself:

I have spent a significant amount of time trying to understand who sets these threshold parameters, how, and what are the procedures and processes for setting them. In particular, I tried to understand if it is an entirely engineering decision that tries to protect the advertisers from invalid clicks or any of the business groups at Google are involved in this decision process with the purpose of influencing it towards generating extra revenues for Google.

As a result of these investigations, I realized that it constitutes exclusively an engineering decision with no inputs from the finance department or the business units, except the following two cases:

The first one was a special case when one particular IP address was disabled because of inappropriate clicking activities, and a business unit requested the Click Quality team to conduct an additional investigation since it was an important customer associated with that IP address, and restore it if the investigation results were negative. When I was explained what had happened, I felt that Google?s actions were reasonable in this particular situation.
The change in the doubleclick policy that was considered in Winter 2005 and implemented in March 2005. It turned out that the change in the doubleclick policy (i.e., not to charge advertisers for the immediate second click in a doubleclick) had non-trivial financial implications for Google. Being a publicly traded company at that time, this change would have had a noticeable effect on Google?s total revenues with corresponding implications for the financial performance of the company. Therefore, this policy change had legitimate concerns for Google?s management, and these financial implications have been discussed in the company. Still, despite its noticeable negative effects on its financial performance, Google decided to abandon the old doubleclick policy and not to charge advertisers for the second click, which was an appropriate action to take.

In conclusion, with the exception of the doubleclick, I found Google?s processes for specifying filters and setting parameters in these filters driven exclusively by the consideration to protect the advertiser base, and, therefore, being reasonable.

Doubleclick constitutes a special case. For me, the second click in the doubleclick is invalid, as I argued in Section 8, and the advertisers should not be charged for it. It is not clear to me why it took Google so long to revise the policy of charging for doubleclicks. Nevertheless, this policy was revised in March 2005 despite the fact that the company lost ?noticeable? revenues by taking this action.

I find the conclusion that Google wasn't trying to benefit itself doesn't mesh well with the expert's own concern/confusion/uncertainty about why Google took so long to change its policy on doubleclicks. Moreover, that entire policy isn't well explained. Way back up on page 20, there's this very brief mention:

It turns out that Google had a history associated with the definition of a doubleclick: at some point doubleclick was considered to be a valid click and advertisers were charged for it, while subsequently Google reconsidered and treated doubleclick as invalid.

And that's it until the section later in the report, where Google's effectively accused of footdragging on changing its policy, where business discussions about the change were made, but Google then seems to be given the all clear because eventually it did the right thing.

The entire matter is something that feels like it should have been explored more, but page 31 sheds light as to why this might have been difficult. Google's apparently had a complete staff change in relation to click fraud detection since it began charging by the click:

In this subsection, I will describe the history of development of Google filters. First of all, I would like to point out that most of the descriptions in this subsection are not based on documents provided to me by Google but rather on the verbal descriptions by the members of the Click Quality team based on their recollections of the past events and on the ?folklore? evidence since none of the team members I interviewed were even around or involved in the click fraud effort when the AdWords program was introduced in February 2002.

The section continues with detection divided into these groupings -- and I've bolded a key part:

The Early Days (February 2002 ? Summer 2003). These were the early days of the PPC model and of the click fraud characterized by extensive learning about the problem and determining ways to deal with it.
The Formation Stage (Summer 2003 ? Fall 2005). This stage started with the introduction of the AdSense program in March 2003, formation of the Google Click Quality team in the Spring/Summer 2003, launch of new filters and the intent to take the invalid click detection efforts to the ?next level.? It ended with the development of the whole infrastructure for combating invalid clicks and the consolidation of Google?s invalid click detection efforts. This stage was characterized by significant progress in combating invalid clicking activities and developing mature systems and processes for accomplishing this task. Although the Click Quality team?s solutions were still not perfect, based on the information provided to me by Google, I reached the conclusion that the invalid clicking problem at Google was ?under control? by the end of 2005.
The Consolidation Stage (Fall 2005 ? present). By this time, Google had enough filters and perfected them to the level when they would detect most of the invalid clicking activities in the Left Part of the Zipf distribution (see Figure 1) and some of the attacks in the Long Tail. They would still miss more sophisticated attacks 32 in the Long Tail, and the Click Quality team continued working on the neverending process of improving their filters to detect and prevent new attacks. The Click Quality team has also been working on enhancing their infrastructure and improving their processes....

What? Click fraud wasn't under control until the end of 2005, yet Google is said to have acted reasonably by the report? How does this make sense? The best explanation seems to be that as the report goes on, the author feels click fraud was an evolving problem, and that Google was reasonably reacting to prevent it even though it wasn't "under control" until the end of last year. In contrast, had Google been doing nothing, then it might have been deemed not to have been taking reasonable steps to gain control.

Page 32 looks at the early days and notes that for a year and a half, no new filters were added other than the three original ones that CPC-based AdWords started with. Why? Maybe click fraud was less understood at that time since it was so new (though Search Engine Watch was citing articles on the problem like this one from Wired as far back as 2001). That's one suggestion, along with Google having fewer resources, lacking the right infrastructure or click fraud being on a smaller scale. But these are all guesses, since as the author notes (again, I've bolded a key part):

Not a single person on the Click Quality team was either around or involved in the click fraud detection back in 2002. The only person from this era who is still at Google is on an extended leave and was not available for comments during my visits to Google.

It is hard to judge reasonableness of Google?s invalid click detection efforts between 2002 and summer 2003 because there is simply not enough information available for this time period for me to form an informed judgment about this matter. One exception is the doubleclick policy that I have described before. As I have already stated, the second click in the doubleclick is invalid in my opinion, and Google should have identified it as such well before March 2005 (however, the detection and filtering out the third, fourth and other subsequent clicks was there since the introduction of the PPC model, and advertisers were not charged for these extra clicks).

Again, I get confused by the report declaring that Google operated reasonably when it also states that it can't judge if it indeed acted reasonably for part of the claim period.

The middle period finds progress with far more confidence, as covered on page 33:

The Formation Stage (Summer 2003 ? Fall 2005). This stage started with the introduction of the AdSense program in March 2003 and the formation of the Google Click Quality team in the Spring/Summer 2003 (the first person was hired in April 2003 with the mandate to form the Click Quality team; several people joined the team during the summer of 2003, and the initial ?core? team consisting of Operations and Engineering groups was consolidated by Fall 2003).

During this time period, two new filters were introduced in Summer 2003 and one more in January 2004. These three new filters remedied several problems that existed since the launch of the first three filters and significantly advanced Google?s invalid click detection efforts. Besides the development of new and better filters, there was a separate effort launched to develop the whole infrastructure for doing the offline analysis of invalid clicks and managing customer inquiries about invalid clicks and billing charges.

Despite all these efforts, the new filters and the offline analysis methods still failed to detect some of the more sophisticated attacks (presumably from the Long Tail of the Figure 1) launched against the Google Network in 2004 and the first half of 2005. In response to these activities and as a part of the overall invalid click detection effort, Google engineers introduced some additional filters around Winter and Spring 2005, including the filter identifying the second immediate click in a doubleclick as invalid.

As a result of all of these efforts by the Click Quality team, a significant progress has been made in combating invalid clicking activities and developing mature systems and processes to accomplish this task. Although the Click Quality team?s solutions were still not perfect, based on the information provided to me by Google, I reached the conclusion that the invalid clicking problem at Google was ?under control? by the end of 2005.

And overall filtering is given this conclusion at the top of page 35:

Google put much effort in developing infrastructure, methods and processes for detecting invalid clicks since the Click Quality team was established in 2003. These efforts were not perfect since Google missed certain amounts of invalid clicks over these years and it adhered to the doubleclicking policy for too long in my opinion. However, click fraud is a very difficult problem to solve, Google put a significant effort to solve it, and I find their efforts to filter out invalid clicks as being reasonable, especially after the doubleclick policy was reversed in March 2005.

Page 35 then begins looking at "offline" or non-automated ways to find click fraud that's gotten past filters. By page 37, it gets into systems applied to review what happens on some AdSense sites:

Auto-Termination System is an automated offline system for detecting the AdSense publishers who are engaged in inappropriate behavior violating the Terms and Conditions of the AdSense program. It examines online behavior of various publishers and either immediately terminates or warns the publishers who are engaged in the activities that the system finds to be inappropriate.

Interestingly, the system is still relatively new, only about a year old, as explained on page 38:

The first prototype of the auto-termination system was built in the early 2005 and the system was launched in the summer 2005. Recently, Google has developed major enhancements to the current version of the auto-termination system deploying an alternative set of technologies.

Page 38 also starts a look at the manual review that the click fraud team does, with this positive summary coming on page 40:

I have personally observed several such inspections and can attest to how successfully they have been conducted by Google?s investigators. This success can be attributed to (a) the quality of the inspection tools, (b) the extensive experience and high levels of professionalism of the Click Quality inspectors, and (c) the existence of certain investigation processes, guidelines and procedures assisting the investigators in the inspection process.

However, using humans also poses a bottleneck, as covered on page 41:

My only concern with these manual inspections is about scalability of the inspection process. Since the number of inquiries grows rapidly, so does the number of inspections required to investigate these inquiries. As stated before, Google tries to automate this process by letting software systems do a sizable number of inspections. Still, the number of manual inspections keeps growing significantly over time, based on the numbers that I have seen. This means that Google has a challenging task of expanding and properly training its team of inspectors to assure rapid high-quality inspections of inquiries in the future.

Page 41 also revisits the tug-of-war between advertisers wanting more transparency and Google trying to protect against click fraud by giving too much information away:

One of the complaints about Google?s investigation system that I keep hearing is that Google is quite secretive and does not provide meaningful explanations of the inspection results neither to the advertisers nor to the publishers. After examining how their inspection systems work, I can understand this secrecy. If Google provides such explanations, then the unethical users can gain additional insights into how Google invalid click detection methods work and would be able to ?game? their detection methods much better, thus creating a possibility of massive click fraud. To avoid these problems, Google prefers to be secretive rather than to risk compromising their detection systems and the advertiser base.

And this interesting tidbit on how when someone gets kicked out of AdSense, advertisers apparently get refunds:

Finally, I would like to point out that when Google terminates an AdSense publisher, all the clicks generated at that publisher?s site over a certain time period (valid and invalid) are credited to the advertisers whose ads were clicked on that site....

How well are things going? That begins to be addressed at the bottom of page 41, and here's a key statement from page 42:

The number of inquiries about invalid clicks for the Click Quality team increased drastically since late 2004. However, the number of refunds for invalid clicks provided by Google did not change significantly over the same time period. Therefore, the number of refunds per inquiry decreased drastically since late 2004. Since each inquiry about invalid clicks leads to an investigation, this means that significantly fewer investigations result in refunds. This statistic can be interpreted in several ways. First, it can be an indication that Google?s invalid click detection methods have significantly improved over this time period and that reactive investigations do not find any problems when searching for invalid clicks. Second, this statistic can mean that Google tightened its refund policies and is less generous with its refunds than it used to be. Third, this statistic can mean that more advertisers are looking more carefully into their logs and are more suspicious about invalid clicks since this problem received wide attention in the media and the public discourse in general. Therefore, they may request Google to investigate suspicious clicking activities even if nothing really happened. I examined investigative activities of the Google Click Quality team and can attest that it consists of a group of highly professional employees who do their investigations carefully and professionally. Therefore, I do not believe in the second reason stated above. The third reason is quite possible since advertisers are indeed concerned about invalid clicks and request Google to investigate suspicious clicking activities more frequently than before. However, the number of inquiries increased so significantly that I would expect that the number of refunds would also increase somewhat. Since this did not happen, I attribute this effect to the fact that Google?s invalid click detection methods work reasonably well by now.

I've bolded the most important parts to me. The expert is saying that more advertisers are raising inquiries, probably because of increased concerns (which we know is the case from various surveys over the past two years) but that Google isn't refunding more. Nor is that Google just protecting itself, the expert says. To him, it's a case that the concerns aren't matching the reality. Click fraud -- bad clicks getting past Google -- do not appear to be on the rise.

Nor is click fraud getting past filters a major problem compared to the amount Google is proactively catching, the expert says:

The total amount of reactive refunds that Google provides to advertisers as a result of their inquiries is miniscule in comparison to the potential revenues that Google foregoes due to the removal of invalid clicks (and not charging advertisers for them).

Another interesting part is how Google is comparing traffic across its network to that from within Google.com, which is said to be a "gold standard" of a pure site. The network is said to compare well:

Another indirect piece of evidence provided to me by Google is that Conversions-Per- Dollar (CPD) rates on various partner sites of Google Network are not significantly lower than on their ?flagship? Google.com site. CPD is the statistic determining the number of conversions that occurred divided by the dollar amount spent on advertising. This statistic shows how effective advertising campaigns are for the advertisers. Since Google spent much effort over the past 4.5 years to make sure that Google?s AdWords program works reasonably well, it now serves as the ?golden standard? against which other programs are compared at Google. Since CPD numbers for other parts of the Google Network approach that of at Google.com, this is an indication that other advertising programs work as well as AdWords works on Google.com. Since other parts of the Google Network are affected by invalid clicking activities significantly more than Google.com, this is an indication to the Click Quality team that their efforts to combat fraud on other parts of the Google Network are as effective as on Google.com.

At the bottom of page 43 is an overall conclusion about that Google's doing a reasonable job with detection, as best as this scientist can tell. It also takes some slams at general reports of click fraud being widespread in the press as not being proven true or false yet. I've bolded the key paragraph for all this below:

As a scientist, I am accustomed to seeing more direct, objective and conclusive evidence that certain methods and approaches ?work.? Having said this, I fully understand the difficulties of obtaining such measures for invalid clicks by Google, as previously discussed in this report. Moreover, one can challenge most of the reports pertaining to invalid clicking rates published in the business press by questioning their methodologies and assumptions used for calculating these rates. Most of these reports would not stand hard scientific scrutiny.

Still, as a scientist, it is hard for me to arrive at any definitive conclusions beyond any reasonable doubt based on Points (1) ? (6) above that Google?s invalid click detection methods ?work well? and remove ?most? of the invalid clicks ? the provided evidence is simply not hard enough for me, and I am used to dealing with much more conclusive evidence in my scientific work.

Having said this, the indirect evidence (1) ? (6) specified above, nevertheless, provides a sufficient degree of comfort for me to conclude that these filters work reasonably well. Finally, this statement should not be interpreted as if I find Google?s effort to detect invalid clicks (a) unreasonable, or (b) not working reasonably well. It only states that Google did not provide a compelling amount of conclusive evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of their approach that would satisfy me as a scientist.

Finally, the measures (1) ? (6) above are only statistical measures providing some evidence that Google?s filters work reasonably well. This does not mean, however, that any particular advertiser cannot be hurt badly by fraudulent attacks, given the evidence that Google filters ?work.? Since Google has a very large number of advertisers, one particular bad incident will be lost in the overall statistics. Good performance measures indicative that filters work well only mean that there will be ?relatively few? such bad cases. Therefore, any reports published in the business press about particular advertisers being hurt by particular fraudulent attacks do not mean that the phenomenon is widespread. One simply should not generalize such incidents to other cases and draw premature conclusions ? we simply do not have evidence for or against this.

Page 44 has a section that restates conclusions in terms of economic aspects -- IE, any economic motivation for Google to hide or ignore click fraud:

First of all, most of the revenue that Google foregoes due to discarding invalid clicks comes from the filters since they identify most of the invalid clicks. The second source of the forgone revenues comes from the terminated AdSense publishers (as stated before, all the clicks made on the terminated publisher?s website generated over a certain time period are credited back to the advertisers regardless of whether they are valid or invalid). However, this second type of revenue is relatively small in comparison to the foregone revenues due to filters. The third source of the foregone revenues comes from the AdWords credits. However, these AdWord credits are miniscule in comparison to the other sources of foregone revenues. In summary, the most significant source of foregone revenues, by far, are Google filters. Hence their performance is the most crucial factor for the whole invalid click detection program (note that this observation does not mean that Google focuses mainly on this part of the invalid click detection program since other parts are also important)....

It makes no business sense for Google to go after these extra revenues and that the best long-term business policy for Google is to protect advertisers against invalid clicks. Policy reversal on the doubleclick is a good example of this. By not charging advertisers for the doubleclick since March 2005, Google lost a ?noticeable? amount of revenues. However, the revenues lost as a result of this action are insignificant in comparison to the revenues that Google risks to lose if it loses trust of the advertisers. Therefore, reversing the doubleclick policy makes sense not only from the legal, ethical and public relations point of view, but it is also a sound economic decision.

Finally, the beginning of page 46 gives this overall conclusion:

Google has built the following four ?lines of defense? against invalid clicks: pre-filtering, online filtering, automated offline detection and manual offline detection, in that order. Google deploys different detection methods in each of these stages: the rule-based and anomaly-based approaches in the pre-filtering and the filtering stages, the combination of all the three approaches in the automated offline detection stage, and the anomaly-based approach in the offline manual inspection stage. This deployment of different methods in different stages gives Google an opportunity to detect invalid clicks using alternative techniques and thus increases their chances of detecting more invalid clicks in one of these stages, preferably proactively in the early stages.

Since its establishment in the Spring and Summer of 2003 the Click Quality team has been developing an infrastructure for detecting and removing invalid clicks and implementing various methods in the four detection stages described above. Currently, they reached a consolidation phase in their efforts, when their methods work reasonably well, the invalid click detection problem is ?under control,? and the Click Quality team is fine-tuning these methods. There is no hard data that can actually prove this statement. However, indirect evidence provided in this report supports this conclusion with a moderate degree of certainty. The Click Quality team also realizes that battling click fraud is an arms race, and it wants to stay ?ahead of the curve? and get ready for more advanced forms of click fraud by developing the next generation of online filters.

In summary, I have been asked to evaluate Google?s invalid click detection efforts and to conclude whether these efforts are reasonable or not. Based on my evaluation, I conclude that Google?s efforts to combat click fraud are reasonable.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:58 PM | Permalink

Detailed Look into the Google AdWords Landing Page Algo

The Google AdWords landing page algo changes this month have resulted in many advertisers sitting up and thinking about quality issues beyond their ad copy, and looking more closely at their landing pages. I caught up with Google to get specifics on how the algo works, including just how they decided what made a good landing page versus what didn't when they created their algo. I also have ten best practices for advertisers needing to improve landing page quality.

The full length SEW subscribers article is here. A shorter (but free!) version is here. Want to share your own best practices for improving landing pages? Visit our forum thread here.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 11:35 AM | Permalink

July 24, 2006

Judge Hears Objections To Google's Click Fraud Settlement

The Associated Press reports that now that the independent report is out, a judge will consider the fifty-plus objections to the Lane's Gifts v. Google settlement. The judge will hear out advertisers today and tomorrow before finalizing that settlement.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:15 AM | Permalink

July 21, 2006

Independent Report: Google Click Fraud Detection Practices Are "Reasonable"

The Google Blog just posted the independent study on their click fraud detection practices that shows Google makes reasonable efforts to detect click fraud. The report was part of an agreement of the Lane's Gifts v. Google settlement and was performed by Dr. Alexander Tuzhilin, Professor of Information Systems at NYU. Obviously Google is pretty happy about this report and I didn't have time to go through the full 47 page report, but if you have time, I bet you as Search Engine Marketer can learn a ton about the AdWords system. Possibly, Danny will dig into this deeper next week.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 2:34 PM | Permalink

July 20, 2006

Google Won't Reveal Details Of AdWords Exchange Rates

I spotted an interesting thread which I then followed up on today at the Search Engine Roundtable which shows that Google won't reveal the source of the exchange rate they use. So if you are an international AdWords customer and you pay in your local currency, and you want to know why the exchange rate is so poor, you are out of luck. The AdWords representative states: "the product managers are not willing to discuss the former at this time as part of protecting the whole." And Threadwatch notes Google also claims it can't give this information out for "competitive reasons."

The AdWords representative does offer a solution that may be viable for some advertisers but not many:

Open a second account in your local currency. Replicate an Ad Group from your existing account in the new account, and pause it in the USD account. Once a billing cycle or two hits, you should have a good idea whether the currency exchange will be in your favor and if your bank really is charging your an exorbitant rate.

Well, why isn't this good for everyone? Because this will delete any history you have with those campaigns. Any quality score you earned will be lost and you will have to start from scratch.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:32 AM | Permalink

July 19, 2006

Google Says Goodbye To Affiliates?

At Search Engine Roundtable, I wrote Google AdWords Ridding Themselves of Affiliates, which documents a case of a long time AdWords advertiser saying he was told by his Google representative that he and his kind are no longer wanted in the AdWords program. This all goes back to the new quality score for landing pages, which tend to weed out affiliate sites. Basically, the "quality" of affiliate sites are not high enough anymore to do well in the new quality score algorithm. Google may be weeding out these affiliates by inflating their minimum bid to prices that are not economically sound for them. From the post:

When I asked what I could do to make it meet their new guidelines she told me, "Honestly we have not had any good news for these types of sites." No help offered.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:40 AM | Permalink

July 17, 2006

AdWords Adds Category Site Selection Feature

The Inside AdWords blog announced that you can now tell them what category of sites you want your ads to be displayed on. For example, if you run a karate site that sells Samurai swords, then you can tell AdWords to display your ads on sites that talk about the sport of karate. Now, I did not look if karate is a category under "sports" but if it is, then you can choose it. More details on how to use this feature at the AdWords support page.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:00 AM | Permalink

July 14, 2006

Google Sends Aspirin After AdWords Changes Causes Headache Earlier this week, Al Scillitani posted at Marketing Pilgrim about how all the recent Google AdWords changes were giving him a headache. Today, he posted how in response, he'd been sent some acetaminophen in response from Google. I thought it was interesting enough to note in today's search headlines roundup but not that big of a deal overall. How wrong I was :) Over 3,000 Diggs later, the story's got legs. Adam Lasnik from Google's search quality team says he's the culprit. Adam's actually got nothing to do with AdWords, but the gesture was funny anyway.

Postscript: I deliberately went with aspirin (acetylsalicylate) in the headline, which is a different than acetaminophen, simply because it makes the headline sound catchier. But parents, remember, they aren't the same thing and can have serious issues if you give a child aspirin when they have a viral infection. For more about Reye's Syndrome, see this site.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:49 PM | Permalink

Google: No, We Don't Let Click Fraud Happen

We posted earlier about Google CEO Eric Schmidt quoted as saying click fraud was "self correcting" with an economic solution of "let it happen." Those quotes got the blogosphere buzzing. Google's now responded on its official blog in "Let click fraud happen"? Uh, no., to say that Schmidt was talking about hypothetical approaches to click fraud rather than what Google itself does. The post also links to the entire presentation, so people can watch and judge for themselves.

Postscript: I've had a chance to listen to the key part now (it begins at 31 minutes, 11 seconds into the video), and the context is important. Schmidt was specifically asked if there was an economic solution to click fraud, as opposed to a technological one.

The "great fun" comment he makes about click fraud for Google's engineers comes at 32:39 and is part of him saying immediately before this that Google "worries about [click fraud] a lot" and the fun is trying to say ahead of the challenge.

Then at 32:45, he says:

Let's imagine for purposes of argument that click fraud were not policed by Google, and it were rampant. Eventually, the price that the advertiser is willing to pay for the conversion will decline, because the advertiser will realize that these are bad clicks. In other words, the value of the ad declines. So over some amount of time, the system is in fact self correcting. In fact, that there is a perfect economic solution which is to let it happen. But because it is a bad thing, and because we don't like it and because it does, at least for the short term, create some problems before the advertiser sees it, we go ahead and try and detect it and eliminate it.

Postscript 2: Donna Bogatin in Challenge to Google's Eric and Shuman: Be real men, don't selectively hide the 'world's information' pushes back at Google suggesting things weren't in context in her original post.

Postscript 3 by Barry: Google has added a link back to Donna's original article this weekend. See the link at the top of Google's blog post in blue underlined, "quoting."

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Many Advertisers Are Frustrated With Google's New Quality Score & Pricing

On July 7th Jennifer Slegg reported that the new Google AdWords landing page quality score algorithm has been updated. Since then, the effects of the new algorithm have been rippling through AdWords campaigns and digging deep into the pockets of many of Google's advertisers.

Chris Boggs at the Search Engine Roundtable reported many of the discussions taking place at the various webmaster forums on the Internet. But one thread we felt was important to highlight was from WebmasterWorld.

The thread is named Open letter to Google Regarding Changes to The Ad Words Program. Written by Mark A. Libbert, Attorney At Law, explains how even-though he spends over $300,000 per year with Google, his Google representatives are treating him like an unwanted customer. The issue is with the minimum bids rising, after two solid years of high quality ads, with a 26% click through rate on some! He explains that the core of the issue is the bid prices rising but what makes things worse is that, "your [Google] employees have been uninformed and left in the dark about these major changes to your program, and perhaps more importantly your paying customers have been left in the dark as well."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:38 AM | Permalink

July 13, 2006

Speculation: Google To Begin Selling Radio Ads Through AdWords Soon

TechToolBlog said he received a survey from Google specifically asking questions about radio ads. Most of the questions in the survey are related to radio ads, see the screen captures here or the close ups Donna Bogatin has done here. He said that last time Google sent out a survey, it was about print ads, and then they ran print ads soon after. Keep in mind, DMarc Broadcasting, currently sells radio ads, but this seems like Google may begin pushing AdWords advertisers into the radio ad game.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:42 AM | Permalink

July 11, 2006

New Search Patent Applications: July 11, 2006 - Google Patent Filings by the Dozen

Twelve Google patent applications where published this past week, including seven that focus upon geographical information and local search.

(1) How good a match ads may be to the content on pages they are served upon through a program like Adsense. (2) A process for improving the targeting of ads. (3) Real time transportation data for travelers. (4) An exploration of ad layouts. (5) An automated advertising approval process. (6) Reasons for location-based businesses to use local area advertising, including an improved pay-per-call process.

(7) How the most authoritative local search results are identified. (8) The use of visual gap segmentation to separate information on different parts of pages, with implications beyond local search. (9) Ties business locations with regional areas. (10) A method for reducing ambiguity in geographic location. (11) Deciding whether regular or local results might be shown when at least one query term might be geographical in nature. (12) Assigning confidence scores between business identity and location information on a page.

Microsoft adds two more, on the validity of links, and on the validity of anchor text in links. They have very similar names, and cover topics that are related, but the processes involved are very different.

Google

This first patent filing discusses some of the factors that the search engine may look at to determine whether or not an ad served on a page a good match for that page and possibly the category that page may be within, including some user behavior information such as whether or not ads are selected, how long a viewer remains on a page, and if a conversion is made.

Associating features with entities, such as categories of web page documents, and/or weighting such features Inventors: Ross Koningstein, Stephen Lawrence, and Valentin Spitkovsky US Patent Application 20060149710 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

Features that may be used to represent relevance information (e.g., properties, characteristics, etc.) of an entity, such as a document or concept for example, may be associated with the document by accepting an identifier that identifies a document; obtaining search query information (and/or other serving parameter information) related to the document using the document identifier, determining features using the obtained query information (and/or other serving parameter information), and associating the features determined with the document. Weights of such features may be similarly determined. The weights may be determined using scores. The scores may be a function of one or more of whether the document was selected, a user dwell time on a selected document, whether or not a conversion occurred with respect to the document, etc. The document may be a Web page. The features may be n-grams. The relevance information of the document may be used to target the serving of advertisements with the document.

The process detailed in the next patent application aims at improving the relevancy of ads, and helping in suggesting targeted terms by allowing an advertiser to submit broad targeting information. While serving ads using that information, the search engine would log and collect search query terms, and possibly concepts and concept keywords, associated with the serving of the ad, and suggest candidate targeting keywords or phrases to the advertiser from those logs.

Suggesting and/or providing targeting information for advertisements Inventors: Ross Koningstein US Patent Application 20060149625 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

The relevancy of ads may be increased, and opportunities to serve an ad that might otherwise be missed may be exploited by (i) accepting broad targeting information, to be used for serving an ad, from an advertiser, (ii) serving the ad using the broad targeting information, (iii) logging search query terms (or some other information, such as concepts, concept keywords, etc.) associated with the serving of the ad, and (iv) generating one or more candidate targeting keywords or phrases for the ad using the logged search query terms. At least one of the candidate targeting keywords or phrases may be provided as targeting information for the ad. Alternatively, at least one of the candidate targeting keywords or phrases may be presented to the advertiser. Advertiser input with respect to the candidate targeting keyword(s) or phrase(s) presented may then be accepted. Zero or more of the candidate targeting keyword(s) or phrase(s) may be provided as targeting information for the ad, in accordance with the accepted advertiser input. Cost information (e.g., average cost per selection, average cost per conversion, total costs, etc.) may be presented in association with the candidate targeting information.

Traffic assistance similar to that provided by Google acquisition Zipdash is the focus of the next document, and Zipdash is named as a service that would use this process. Some integration of local search and advertising is hinted at in the filing.

Transportation routing Inventors: Henry Rowley, and Shumeet Baluja US Patent Application 20060149461 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 31, 2004

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of providing personalized route information involves gathering a plurality of past location indicators over time for a wireless client device, determining a future driving objective using the plurality of previously-gathered location indicators, obtaining real-time traffic data for an area proximate to the determined driving objective, and generating a suggested route for the driving objective using the near real-time traffic data.

How are the layouts of ads best optimized? What size fonts are used, and how many ads are displayed on pages? Google explores some of those concepts, and notes that the presentation ideas for ads in the following document also may be used to present news items on search results pages.

Ad rendering parameters, such as size, style, and/or layout, of online ads Inventors: Shumeet Baluja, Vibhu Mittal, and Mehran Sahami US Patent Application 20060149622 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

Ad rendering parameters for a set of two or more ads may be determined by (a) accepting, for a set of two or more ads, ad information which includes at least one ad feature having a value that depends on ad rendering parameters, and (b) determining ad rendering parameters for at least one ad from the set of two or more ads using the accepted ad information. The act of determining ad rendering parameters may use accepted ad rendering constraints. The ad rendering constraints may include space available for rendering the ads, a footprint available for rendering the ads, and/or a maximum number of ads permitted to be rendered. The act of determining ad rendering parameters may include maximizing a value associated with serving at least one ad from the set of two or more ads with ad rendering parameters subject to the ad rendering constraints. The ad rendering parameters may include sizes of the served ads, and/or a layout of the served ads.

Automating the approval process for paid ads could benefit Google and advertisers. What would such an approval process entail? The next document identifies a number of issues involved in approving an ad, and in followups on advertisements. It also describes a whitelist for exceptions to some of the policies that may keep ads from being approved.

Advertisement approval Inventors: Gregory Joseph Badros, Robert J. Stets, and Lucy Zhang US Patent Application 20060149623 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

An advertisement for use with an online ad serving system may be automatically checked for compliance with one or more policies of the online ad serving system. If the advertisement is approved, then it is allowed by be served by the ad serving system. Follow up checks of the advertisement may be scheduled. One follow up check may be to test a landing page of the advertisement for compliance with policies. If the advertisement is not approved, hints for making the ad comply with one or more violated policies may be provided to an advertiser associated with the ad, and/or an ad serving system customer service representative. Determining whether or not to approve the advertisement may include determining violations of one or more policies by the advertisement, and, for each of the violations, determining whether or not to exempt the violation.

Google Local Patent Applications

The following patent applications primarily look at local search, though some of the processes described within them may have broader reaching implications, such as the one on visual segmentation of information on pages.

Businesses associated with a specific location often don't use paid search as part of their advertising strategy. This first patent application thoughtfully goes into some of the reasons why, and explores ways to make it a more attractive medium, including expanded pay-per-call functionality, as well as providing information such as business hours and types of payment accepted.

Generating and/or serving local area advertisements, such as advertisements for devices with call functionality Inventors: Shumeet Baluja and Henry A. Rowley US Patent Application 20060149624 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

Sets of local, (e.g., online) ads may be generated by obtaining sets of information about (e.g., local) establishments, each set including a business address information and/or a telephone number, (b) determining, for each of the sets, a location using at least one of at least a portion of the business address information and at least a portion of the telephone number, and (c) generating, for each of the sets, an ad that includes targeting information that targets the serving of the ad to queries related to the determined location. A query, including information about a location of a client device, may be accepted and at least one of the generated ads that includes targeting information that targets the location of the client device may be determined.

How does a local search determine which document is the most relevant and authoritative one to return at the top of a local search list? A number of factors are considered in this next set of described processes.

Authoritative document identification Inventors: Daniel Egnor and Geeta Chaudhry US Patent Application 20060149800 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A system determines documents that are associated with a location, identifies a group of signals associated with each of the documents, and determines authoritativeness of the documents for the location based on the signals.

If you are familiar with Microsoft's research on VIPS: a VIsion based Page Segmentation Algorithm, some of the ideas in the next document may sound a little familiar. Imagine a page that includes restaurant reviews for a number of restaurants in a city neighborhood. Might the information from that page be segmented, so that reviews for each of the restaurants can be included in results for the right restaurants in a local search? This visual gap approach might be helpful in that endeavor.

The document also notes that this process might be helpful in determining what an image is about, and in indexing them. It also mentions that it could help the search engine understand what the different parts of a page are, and how much value they have (for instance, distinqusihing between content and navigation.)

Document segmentation based on visual gaps Inventors: Daniel Egnor US Patent Application 20060149775 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A document may be segmented based on a visual model of the document. The visual model is determined according to an amount of visual white space or gaps that are in the document. In one implementation, the visual model is used to identify a hierarchical structure of the document, which may then be used to segment the document.

While a search engine may be able to determine where a business related to a page is located, it may want to associate that location with a geographical region. Something like a Hierarchical Triangular Mesh may be used to help in making that association.

Indexing documents according to geographical relevance Inventors: Daniel Egnor US Patent Application 20060149774 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A local search engine efficiently indexes documents relevant to a geographical area by indexing, for each document, multiple location identifiers that collectively define an aggregate geographic region. When creating the index, the search engine may determine a set of geographical areas surrounding a geographical area relevant to a document and associate references to the set of geographical areas with the document index.

It's not always clear what the geographic location of a webpage is, based upon information presented on individual pages, though sometimes that type of information exists on the pages. The process displayed in this next filing tries to take information that may be spread out on a page, and tie it together to identify a location.

Classification of ambiguous geographic references Inventors: Daniel Egnor US Patent Application 20060149742 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A location classifier generates location information based on textual strings in input text. The location information defines potential geographical relevance of the input text. In determining the location information, the location classifier may receive at least one geo-relevance profile associated with at least one string in the input text, obtain a combined geo-relevance profile for the document from the at least one geo-relevance profile, and determine geographical relevance of the input text based on the combined geo-relevance profile.

Imagine if a search engine could serve either regular web search results or local results. Some search queries could be ambiguous, and may make it difficult to determine whether to serve local search information or general web search results. The inventors of the next document provide some ideas that may reduce some of that ambiguity a little.

Location extraction Inventors: Daniel Egnor and Lawrence Elias Greenfield US Patent Application 20060149734 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A system receives a search query that includes a set of search terms, determines whether at least one of the search terms corresponds to the name of a geographic area, and determines whether the geographic area corresponds to an unambiguous geographic area when at least one of the search terms corresponds to the name of the geographic area. The system performs a local search, based on one or more of the search terms, to identify documents associated with the geographic area when the geographic area corresponds to an unambiguous geographic area.

The title of this patent application, and the previous one are so similar, that I was concerned they might be duplicates when I uncovered them. The one above attempts to "extract" location information from a query. This next one attempts to "extract" location information from pages being indexed, with confidence scores indicating how likely it is that business information on a page is associated with an address on the same page.

Local item extraction Inventors: Michael Dennis Riley US Patent Application 20060149565 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A system identifies a document that includes an address and locates business information in the document. The system assigns a confidence score to the business information, where the confidence score relates to a probability that the business information is associated with the address. The system determines whether to associate the business information with the address based on the assigned confidence score.

Microsoft

The titles of two Microsoft patent applications are very similar, but the processes described aren't. The first one looks at anchor text in links, and the titles to pages those links point to, to see if the anchor text is accurate. The second one looks at links on pages, using the Document Object Model, and tries to determine if they are valid links while simulating the experience of a user of the page viewing it with a browser. This may help a search engine understand dynamic html menus, and view links that may otherwise be unavailable to a search engine crawler.

Methods and apparatus for the evaluation of aspects of a web page Inventors: Michael A. Starbird Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060150076 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for evaluating the extent to which link text, representing a hypertext link on a web page, corresponds to a web page referenced by the link. In one embodiment, the link text may be compared to the title of a web page referenced by the link, such as by parsing the link text and page title into individual tokens and comparing the tokens. The extent to which the link text and the page title correspond may be expressed as a percentage of tokens which match. A graphical user interface (GUI) may be provided which presents a visual indication when a minimum percentage of tokens do not match.

Methods and apparatus for evaluating aspects of a web page Inventors: Ryan Farber Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060150111 Published July 6, 2006 Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

An automated method is provided for evaluating the validity of links included in a web page. The web page may contain commands, such as dynamic HTML or other embedded commands, which are configured for execution upon the occurrence of an event, such as a provision of input by a user. According to one embodiment, the method includes causing the links to be generated by simulating the occurrence of the event. Upon the generation of the links, their validity may be determined, and a report may be produced which indicates whether the links are valid.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Technology & Relevancy area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 8:55 PM | Permalink

July 7, 2006

New Landing Page Quality Score Announced for Google AdWords Advertisers

The Google AdWords blog has announced new changes that will be seen next week that will result in some advertisers faced with higher minimum bids to keep their campaigns running on AdWords, as a result in changes being made to the landing page quality score algorithm. While a small number of advertisers will be affected, AdWords is targeting those landing pages that offer a poor user experience to those who click the ads.

It is suspected that those doing click arbitrage will likely be amongst the first to be affected, as many offer landing pages with nothing or little else other than Google or Yahoo ads. Click arbitrage involves buying inexpensive pay per click traffic, such as from Google AdWords. The advertiser then hopes that each visitor will hit the landing page and then click a higher-paying ad (often Google AdSense or Yahoo ContentMatch) to leave the page. As a result, many click arbitragers have either no content on the page other than the ads or just enough content to influence the AdSense ads.

Next week, the new algo for the landing page quality score will be released, and affected advertisers will see their minimum bid prices changed in the AdWords account. Google stresses only a small number of advertisers will be affected, and offers assistance for those advertisers who feel they have been wrongly impacted by the new changes. All advertisers can access the landing page quality guidelines here.

For a more detailed look at how these changes to the scoring will affect both publishers and those doing click arbitrage, see New landing page quality score could affect click aribtrage publishers at JenSense.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 11:25 PM | Permalink

June 29, 2006

Google AdWords Adds Statistics Tabs

I just discovered that Google has updated their AdWords campaigns interface to include "account statistics tabs." The new tabs are named "Summary," "Keywords," and "Ad Variations," they can be found if you click deeper into a campaign. AdWords posted a help page that describes each tab. I have also posted a screen capture at the Search Engine Roundtable.

From the help page:

+ Summary displays the performance totals for your Ad Group. + Keywords shows you how individual keywords are performing, and allows you to add new keywords or edit existing ones. This tab appears only in campaigns with keyword-targeted ads. + Sites shows you how your ad is performing on individual sites you have selected. You can add new sites or change your bid for existing ones. This tab appears only in campaigns with site-targeted ads. + Ad Variations displays all the ads you have created for this campaign. You can add, edit or delete ads here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 1:45 PM | Permalink

June 22, 2006

AdWords Tweaks & Bug Fixes Documented

I reported this morning at the Search Engine Roundtable on Small But Important New Google AdWords Features & Fixes. eWhisper at WebmasterWorld tracked the small, sometimes unnoticed, changes within Google AdWords and put together a list. Here is that list.

+ Local time zone added to MCC reports. + Bug fixed where the 'account' box didn't show on sub mcc reports. + Add your GAP business to Google Local (although, not sure why this wasn't attached to base so the pin was unnecessary) + HTTPs errors fixed on internal help pages (note, the only place I can tell the error now occurs is on the help home page). + Possible negative keywords under the AdWords keyword tool. + Ability to add keywords to an AdGroup when accessing the keyword tool from the tools menu. + 'add custom text' under the site spidering section of the keyword tool.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 3:46 PM | Permalink

June 16, 2006

Schmidt Talks On Staying In China, GBuy & More

Conde Nast Portfolio, a new business magazine out next year, landed a nice coup of having Eric Schmidt speak yesterday at its launch party (Schmidt's also apparently set to be one of the first profiles in the new magazine). The video of the interview is online here, covering mostly stuff you've already heard Schmidt say before in other interviews (the LA Times had one last week) over the past years. But here are some things worth highlighting to me.

What would be the one do over for him? He says if Google had done any one particular thing three months earlier, it would have been better.

China was an example of this. In hindsight, he wishes Google had gotten a Chinese government approved version going sooner. "I don't think we would have changed the decision, but I think earlier, the better." He didn't say exactly why. My assumption would be that Google would be stronger in China compared to Baidu, but also that he would say they would have been serving people in China better for a longer period.

Was Google cofounder really suggesting last week that Google was having second thoughts when he said:

"Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense," Brin said.

No -- it was either a nuanced comment, a misquoted one and there was also a whole part of what he said missing, Schmidt said. The missing part Sergey had said was, he explained, was that Google had decided to go ahead with what it considered the lesser of two evils, serving people even though it had to do censorship.

There's more of the how Google operates stuff, the 20 percent time (for engineers -- still not others, apparently), the 70-20-10 time allocation of work time, and the idea of not trying to tell people what to do, for fear of stifling creativity. Instead, Google suggests what are company priorities and hopes employees agree because they, too, want to work on what's important for the company.

He talks about Google doing ads on cell phones in Japan and says they'll come to Europe this summer and to the US within the next 12 months.

GBuy? That's the press name, not Google's name, and "It's not like PayPal at all." He says its designed to help advertisers have their customers buy things more quickly than through other mechanisms. We'll see. If PayPal means sending money between two people, it probably won't be. If PayPal means an alternative to buying with a credit card (or having a credit card account as a merchant), then I think GBuy will be very much like PayPal. And it operates this way already on Google Base. For more, see Google GBuy Launch Later This Month To Challenge PayPal?. And hang in there. Schmidt said it's coming soon.

Will Google do its own hardware? "It's much better to have a partner," and "It's much better to be in the software business," he said. The economics are better, he explained.

Biggest competition? Yahoo and Microsoft are both strong and good competitors, but Yahoo is the "primary competitor."

Is Google too powerful, especially given statements he made years ago relating to Microsoft that could be applied to Google today. There are a number of other choices consumers could go to, he said -- "and we know this."

In other words, Google knows that it could potentially lose customers at any time, so it will self-police itself. Same thing he told me back in 2002 in my Google: Can The Marcia Brady Of Search Stay Sweet? article:

"We have very poor lock in. Microsoft has very high lock in," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, when we spoke at Google's offices last month. "The switchover cost for you to move to one of our competitors is none. As long as the switchover costs are so low, we run scared. Everyday I wonder if there are very smart people at Berkeley coming up with a new algorithm," Schmidt adds -- but in a way that clearly suggests that he wants Google to run scared, in order to keep the company smart and honest.

Although to update things, Google has much better lock-in these days, given Google's many portal features. People are storing email, web analytics data, photos and spreadsheets to name only few things they may not wish to abandon, not to mention kicking the Google Habit can be hard and people aren't likely to do it unless Google gets really bad, as I've written.

As for having knocked Microsoft when he was at Sun for releasing weak products and using customers as guinea pigs, how does he respond to accusations that Google does the same? He says they have a two to three month product cycle now. To be fair, the endless betas Google used to do have gotten better.

During Q&A, Chris Anderson of Wired asks about the impact AdSense has on fueling spam across the web -- search spam, comment spam, trackback spam and so on. Schmidt responds to say Google looks had at preventing click fraud, not really answering the question.

ClickZ also has coverage of his talk in Google's Schmidt at Conde Nast Lunch Today and Reuters looks at the GBuy comments in Google tests Web buying system, says unlike PayPal.

Need more on Schmidt talking Google? See our Google , Google: Employees and Google: Revenues categories of Search Topics for archived articles going back for years, if you are a Search Engine Watch member.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:57 AM | Permalink

AdWords Ad Scheduling Officially Launches

Google AdWords officially launched their new ad scheduling, enabling advertisers the ability to schedule the appearance of their ads based on both time of day and day of the week. This new feature, which competes with dayparting that Microsoft AdCenter has had since their beta launch, was released worldwide to all advertisers across 40+ languages.

Another feature now allows publishers to specify their own time zone, or the time zone they would like their ads to appear in. The dayparting feature allows advertisers to specify the time period they would like their ads to appear. It is worth noting that the ads are served based on the advertiser specified time zones. So an advertiser on the west cost of the US could schedule ads to appear between 1-3pm PST, but someone on the east coast would see those ads between 4-6pm PST. An advertiser could also chose to schedule their ads to display only during their hours of operation when they would be available for customer support or on the phone.

Dayparting features not only work for keyword targeting but you can also use it for any site targeting campaigns on the AdSense network.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 1:13 AM | Permalink

June 8, 2006

Lawsuit Over Killed Anti-China Ad On Google

Google Sued for Allegedly Refusing Anti-China Ad at Wired News covers a lawsuit filed against Google after it refused to carry ads from activist Christopher Langdon protesting against the Chinese government.

You'll find the lawsuit here. I skimmed it very, very quickly. The key part is this:

Google's rejection of all three of my ads denied my rights of free speech and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

In other words, Langdon is claiming constructional protection to say what he wants on Google. It's not going to happen. Google has no requirement to print what he wants or carry his ads any more than a newspaper might. The public forum/public property argument he makes won't hold up, I'd say.

The courts will decide, of course. I suspect he'll lose, but it will certainly focus renewed attention on Google's ad policies that he dislikes.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:19 AM | Permalink

June 7, 2006

AdWords Editor Open For All To Download

ThreadWatch noted the other day that the Google AdWords Editor is now open for everyone to use. Google started beta testing the desktop based AdWords management software in late January. You can download the AdWords Editor at services.google.com/adwordseditor.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:08 AM | Permalink

June 6, 2006

Google Asks If AdWords Is Useful With Feedback Buttons

Philipp Lenssen reports that Google is testing feedback buttons near AdWords ads. The feedback buttons asks, "Was this link useful?" You can then click on either a Yes or No button to provide the feedback. I was unable to duplicate this on my browsers, but interesting nevertheless.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:09 AM | Permalink

May 29, 2006

Free New AdWords Alerts Service

A free alert service kicks off with two alerts related to Google AdWords and AdSense. You can get daily email alerts with the costs of the expensive AdWords both by bid and by cost per day (not necessarily the most expensive, since Google doesn't report that. Instead, you get terms checked and found to be fairly pricey). There's also an alert by keyword service that emails you when new advertisers appear for a keyword you supply. Assuming you don't mind a flurry of email when tracking popular categories, this can be handy.

Posted by Detlev Johnson at 1:11 PM | Permalink

May 26, 2006

Google AdsBot Now Coming To Assess Your Landing Pages, Will Impact Your AdRank

Google's rolling out a new system where ad landing pages will be automatically spidered by a new AdsBot. The content of landing pages will help determine the quality of an ad campaign. That quality score, along with the amount you are willing to pay, is then used to determine an ad's AdRank, the position where an ad will appear in the results. A high quality score means you can rank higher even if you pay less than others. And not participating in the new spidering system can hurt your AdRank.

What's the deal? Didn't Google already spider landing pages as part of the announcement back in December that landing page content would be assessed? To my understanding from Google, only if the AdSense spider had seen the page for ad content placement purposes or if regular Googlebot had already indexed the page for inclusion in the web search index. If the page wasn't already visible to these or perhaps some other Google spiders, or had been specifically blocked from spidering, then AdWords couldn't assess it.

Sometime in the coming weeks, a new AdsBot crawler will be grabbing all landing pages independently of AdSense, Googlebot or other Google spiders. Can you still block being spidered? Yes. But if you do so, Google AdWords will consider you a "non-participating advertiser" in the review process. As a result, you'll take a ding on your overall AdWords quality score.

From new information about the change:

While you can exclude your site from review, this will provide us with little information about your landing page's quality and relevance. Therefore, if you restrict AdWords from visiting your landing pages, you will experience a drop in Quality Scores for your related keywords. (This will cause higher minimum bid requirements for any landing page for which you've restricted access.)

That page also explains how to block AdsBot from getting your pages, how the visits won't cost you money even though AdsBot is following your ad links and how blocking or allowing AdsBot to your site will have no impact on what Googlebot thinks about it in terms of ranking it for free, organic results.

For Search Engine Watch members, the longer version of this article covers more on the change from my talk with Google during a visit there last week, such as how it is designed to improve relevancy and ease concerns that users (rather than advertisers) might be harmed by search arbitrage.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forum thread, AdWords To Begin Crawling Landing Pages & Analyzing For AdRank.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:21 AM | Permalink

May 24, 2006

New Google AdWords Dayparting & Ad Scheduling Coming

At Search Engine Watch Live in Seattle last week, Lexa Pope from the Google AdWords team discussed their new ad scheduling features that will be released in a few weeks. The new features will allow advertisers to schedule the ads to show on weekends or weekdays only, or on other set days the advertiser specifies. Dayparting is also included allowing advertisers to schedule their ads during specific hours, such as to run late at night or at lunchtime only. Also unusual is the fact that Google AdWords preannounced the new features launch.

I followed up with Michael Mayzel from Google following the conference to get the run down on the features, since they are not expected to go live until sometime next month. Here is the rundown from Mike:

We are releasing this ad scheduling functionality at the request of advertisers and agencies who have asked for greater campaign management control.
AdWords' new ad scheduling functionality will enable advertisers to drive greater returns from AdWords by providing them with more granular control over when their ads run and how much they bid.
Ad scheduling allows advertisers to run their ads and modify their bids based on time of day as well as intra-day and intra-week cycles in campaign performance.
Small business and local advertisers can now schedule their ads to run only during business hours.
More sophisticated advertisers can now better capture & exploit intra-day and intra-week cycles of buyer behavior.
We are planning to role it out to all advertisers next month.

This is definitely seen as a move to catch up with Microsoft adCenter, as this was one of the big selling features (along with demographics) that adCenter launched with. And it was likely announced in Seattle to catch the big buzz since the Search Engine Watch Live event was held in Microsoft's neighborhood. It is great to see these features will shortly be available in AdWords, and advertisers should hopefully see these features live in June.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 10:48 PM | Permalink

New AdWords Layout Being Tested?

I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable this morning that people are noticing a new layout for the AdWords ads on the Google search results page. The new layout shows two ads at the top and four ads at the bottom of the results. There are currently no signs of ads on the right hand side of the page. You can see an image of the ad at my blog by clicking on the image. I started a rumor that possibly Google is saving the right hand side for Ask.com zoom like features (i.e. refine search, etc.) but that is pure speculation and Google may not even use this user interface in the future.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:33 AM | Permalink

May 23, 2006

AdSense Video Ads Out of Rich Media Beta Test

AdWords advertisers will be able to display video ads across the AdSense content network. The video ads, in a click-to-play video format so not to be too obtrustive to the user experience, will be available as both site targeted ads as well as on a keyword basis. However, it does not seem to be an ad format that publishers will be able to opt-out of.

For more details, see both the AdWords Blog & JenSense.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forums thread AdSense Gets Click-To-Play Video Ads

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 3:57 AM | Permalink

May 18, 2006

Google AdWords Adds Budget Options For Ad Delivery

I reported at SER the other day that Google AdWords has added a new option under the campaign settings to allow you to select standard or accelerated delivery options. Standard ad delivery spreads your ad impressions throughout the day, in order to not use up your whole daily budget right away in the morning. The accelerated ad delivery option doesn't hold back, it just continues to display your ads, until your budget is all used up. There are more details on this new feature at the AdWords Help site.

Want to discuss? Join our forum thread named Changes in the Google Client Center Budget Options.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:28 AM | Permalink

May 15, 2006

Advertise Google Base Listings in AdWords

Google Base blog announced that you can now advertise your Google Base results "right from the Google Base edit item page." You create the ad creative and Google will use your content and geo information to automatically target the appropriate keywords and geographic users for the items you are selling on Google Base. You can see a screen capture of this in action by clicking here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:23 AM | Permalink

Google Releases Version Four of AdWords API

The Google AdWords Blog announced the release of version four of the Google AdWords API. Part of this update is that the new terms of use goes into affect, that we discussed earlier about using the API for commercial purposes. If you are an API user, you must update to v4 by July 12th.

Other updates to the API include; + Local time zone support + Enhanced access to more data for reporting + Added fields for traffic estimator by replacing avgPosition with lowerAvgPosition & upperAvgPosition, replacing ClicksPerDay with lowerClicksPerDay & upperClicksPerDay and replacing cpc with lowerCpc & upperCpc + Zero Impression Reporting + Unique Request ID to track API requests + Geo Codes Standardization

You must update the API to version four by July 12, 2006.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:02 AM | Permalink

Google Ad Tools, For Newbies

We tend to assume our SEW audience is made up of fairly sophisticated search marketers, but from time-to-time we get requests for pointers from people just starting out with SEM. For those of you who are new to search marketing, I've reviewed a book in today's SearchDay article, Learning Google's Advertising Tools, that offers a solid introduction to getting started with Google's AdSense and AdWords programs.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 6:26 AM | Permalink

May 11, 2006

Google Commission Woes In Sweden, Australia

Over the past few months, Google's been trying to reduce or eliminate commission on its ad products in countries where they are offered (North America, notably, has never had them). Now there are some news reports that the plans aren't well received Down Under and in Sweden.

Sveriges Annonsörer och Mediebyråer manar till Google-bojkott from Dagens Media covers briefly what Mikkel deMib Svendsen tells me is a recount of Sweden's major media organization calling for a boycott of AdWords through the end of the year, because of changes to commissions.

Despite the call for boycott, Sveriges Mediebyråers vd kritisk till Google-event seems to cover how some major ad agencies still have no problems buying and boozing it up at a recent Google event. I say "seems" since my Swedish is limited to "thank you" and some of the numbers up to ten. Systran helped, but the translations were still pretty poor.

The changes in Sweden are part of a move Google announced last year September in Europe. Some UK agencies have pushed back, but by and large, it seems the commission change hasn't seriously hurt the company, unless that fourth quarter drop was more related to upset advertising agencies than the long UK holiday period that got some of the blame. I also keep hearing whispered rumors that some ad agencies have deals excluding them from the cutbacks. Just rumors, nothing confirmed.

What's good for Europe is good for Australia. That seems to be the Google thinking. Google to rewrite rules for media buyers: no more commissions from the Sydney Morning Herald covers how Google will end 10 percent commission paid there as of August 1. Not everyone is upset, however, as the article covers.

And what's good for Europe and Australia isn't good for China. I covered earlier the irony of how Google is trying to disentangle itself from commissions in some countries where they were offered to gain a foothold, only to do the same to gain ground in China. Then again, despite commissions, we've also blogged how not all the SEM firms in China seem to feel happy: Chinese SEMs Accuse Google & Baidu Of Stealing Clients.

By the way, it's not just Google doing the commission pushback thing. Yahoo to Reduces U.K. Agency Search Ad Commissions from last month covers Yahoo also making similar moves.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:31 AM | Permalink

New Google AdWords Traffic & Cost Estimator

Google AdWords has finally launched a standalone tool where advertisers can get traffic and cost information for keywords without needing to login to their AdWords accounts to do so. Data included in the results are keywords/minimum bid, maximum CPC/predicted status, search volume, estimated average CPC, estimated ad positions, potential clicks per day and potential cost per day.

This is a nice answer to some of the various tools available that estimate cost per click and traffic on PPC keywords. I am sure this tool will also get some mileage by Google AdSense publishers wanting to check out the cost per click for the keywords they are attempting to target their webpages to.

Do keep in mind that account history and settings will not be taken into account while using this tool, however it is a great way to quickly check on keywords without needing to login.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 7:23 AM | Permalink

Advertiser Files Complaint To Block Google Click Fraud Settlement

One Google advertiser is making a very formal rejection of the proposed Google click fraud settlement -- he's filed a complaint to try and block the agreement, and this before notifications from Google have even gone out.

Let's go back, then forward. It was announced last March, given preliminary approval by the judge in April, and now Google is supposed to notify advertisers about the settlement by May 20. To date, I've not seen or heard anything about notices going out.

Last week, I wrote in Advertisers To Get Notices From Google In Click Fraud Settlement Later This Month more about how advertisers will need to opt-out of the settlement, if they don't like it -- and how at least one was against it.

Ex-Google Advertiser Sues Over Settlement from the Associated Press today covers how a different advertiser is also against it, to the point of having filed a formal complaint asking that the case be blocked.

For its part, Google issued a statement saying the complaint is may be motivated "more by the quest for attorney fees." Of course, the same could be said about the case being settled for what many feel is a cheap price, $90 million -- 1/3 of which will go to attorney fees.

Want to know more about the proposed deal? The agreement is here (PDF), and the order giving preliminary agreement is here.

Meanwhile, the law firm pushing for advertisers to stay out sent this release to me today:

DON'T FEAR GOOGLE, SAY CLICK FRAUD ATTORNEYS; ADVERTISERS HAVE ONLY DAYS TO OPT OUT OF CLICK FRAUD CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.--Advertisers have only days to opt out of a click fraud settlement agreement negotiated between Google and attorneys representing Google advertisers (Lane?s Gifts and Collectibles LLC, et al., v. Yahoo! Inc., et al.). Of the $90 million proposed settlement, $30 million will go to plaintiffs' attorneys. Only a fraction of the remaining $60 million will be distributed to Google advertisers, says Dylan Pollard, a Los Angeles-based plaintiffs' click fraud attorney, giving advertisers less than a penny for every $100 they can prove is lost through future click fraud abuses while advertising with Google.

"Advertisers must decide: take the pennies offered by Google and be happy with the status quo or opt out and pursue legal restitution through a lawsuit," says Pollard. "Either way, they don't have much time to decide."

Pollard and attorney Shawn Khorrami have created a website, http://www.clickfraud-legal-center.com/ that includes a sample opt out letter for advertisers.

"Advertisers could very well decide to absorb their losses and hope Google cleans up its act. Google is so powerful, advertisers may be afraid to challenge the company," explains Khorrami. "But if advertisers want to try to get their lost dollars back, the current settlement proposal isn't for them; previous losses are not addressed in the settlement. To try to obtain compensation from past click fraud abuse with Google, advertisers need to be pro-active. To start the process, they must opt out of the proposed settlement."

For further information on the Google settlement and advertiser options, advertisers can go to http://www.clickfraud-legal-center.com/ or call 866-546-7266

Keep in mind that you don't have to opt-out through this site. In fact, it's difficult to opt-out when Google doesn't appear to have even sent settlement notifications yet. I'm checking on the situation with that and will postscript.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:11 AM | Permalink

May 9, 2006

Google Resets Many Inactive AdWords Keywords to Active

I reported this morning about Google resetting many of the "inactive" keywords in a Google AdWords account to the "active" status. Keywords become inactive often if the "quality" of those ads are too low, most likely because the click-through rate on that keyword is too low. It seems as if Google has reset many of the "inactive" keywords in AdWords advertisers campaigns, so they can start fresh.

Postscript From Danny: This is likely related to what Google announced last month, that for some terms, it would be pushing ads out more often. See Google AdWords Broad Match To Act Differently For Commercial, Non-Commercial Terms for more.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:40 AM | Permalink

May 8, 2006

AdWords Advertisements Not Censored in Google China

Google China has censored their search results to remove certain sites and listings that are deemed by the Chinese government. However, an advertiser has discovered a loophole in the censoring system that results in these censored sites showing up in google.cn search results via the Google AdWords sponsored listings program.

The blog Internet Censorship Explorer (ICE) ran an experiment using the site Human Rights Watch which does not appear in Google China search results. However, it was discovered that the URL filtering does not seem to apply to AdWords listings, as an AdWords ad with hrw.org as the display and destination URL of the ad showed up for keyword and site searches.

Although ICE recommends this as a way to circumvent the censorship of Google.cn, I would suspect that this loophole will be quickly closed for censored URLs as well as for specific keyword searches.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 2:03 PM | Permalink

May 5, 2006

Advertisers To Get Notices From Google In Click Fraud Settlement Later This Month

Google Proposes $90M Settlement from the Associated Press is a general update on the status of the proposed click fraud settlement with Google. It was announced last March, given preliminary approval by the judge in April, and now Google is supposed to notify advertisers about the settlement by May 20. Then advertisers will have until late June to reject or protest the proposal. Final approval, if granted, will come in late July.

One company cited in the AP article has already decided to reject the offer, and attorney Brian Kabateck, whose firm Kabateck Brown Keller is involved in a separate potential class action suit involving Google, also objects to it.

Google Condemned For Click-Fraud Settlement from InformationWeek has a deeper drill-down on that. The separate case was filed in California, and a stay against it proceeding further is in place until the Arkansas-based case is resolved.

Kabateck also put out a press release (PDF) last month after the agreement was granted preliminary approval, alleging that click fraud victims would be getting only a half-cent for every $1 in fraud and that the $60 million in credits might be much less if the click fraud rate is determined to be lower, among other things.

Separately, I heard from another attorney in the case, from the firm of Chitwood Harley Harnes, who passed along this letter (PDF) that was sent on behalf of his plaintiff, Advanced Internet Technologies, by the firm of Mercy Carter Tidwell. It also asks that the judge not grant the approval, explaining in more detail the "pennies on the dollar" argument.

Postscript Barry: I was sent the official documents and agreements for the case. The agreement can be downloaded as a PDF document by clicking here and the order can be downloaded by clicking here.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:38 AM | Permalink

May 3, 2006

Nearly 10 Percent Of Amazon Visitors Clicked Off To Google

Yesterday, I wrote about how Amazon had ended its relationship with Google and why not being in Amazon -- rather than Amazon-owned A9 -- was potentially the bigger issue for Google. Now in Google, Amazon and MSN, Bill Tancer over at Hitwise provides some stats detailing how Amazon, rather than A9, drove more "downstream" traffic to Google.

Bill's stats show how nearly 10 percent of all departures from Amazon went to Google, compared to only 2 percent of all departures from A9 going to Google. Also keep in mind that Amazon's traffic -- though not shown -- is certainly much larger than A9's traffic. Not only is the percentage larger, but the sheer volume of people is bigger too.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our SEW Forums thread, Amazon Ditches Google For Microsoft.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:14 AM | Permalink

May 2, 2006

More On Amazon Dumping Google & Missing Paid Listings

Barry noted yesterday that Amazon's A9 was no longer carrying Google results. More important, this means that Amazon itself no longer carries Google's search results -- and in particular, Google's paid listings.

Google and Amazon partnered back in 2003 for Amazon to offer Google searches on the Amazon site. Google ads also were displayed there. I'm pretty sure at one point, the Google logo was on Amazon's home page, along with a search box. Unfortunately, the Internet Archive simply serves up pages from 2000 no matter what links I try from the years 2003 through 2005 to check on this.

Anyway, these days, there's a small A9 Web Search box in the upper right-hand corner of the Amazon site. Until last week, that box brought back A9 results that were powered by Google. Now they are powered by Microsoft's Windows Live Search.

Few people use A9 -- but many more use Amazon. How many did web searches at Amazon is unclear, but in either place, they are no longer seeing the paid listings that Google also used to provide.

In addition, I'm also pretty certain that an ordinary Amazon search (which lots and lots of people do) used to bring up Google paid listings as part of Amazon search results. Today, I don't see these at all. Over at Threadwatch, others report not seeing these either.

MSN syndicates Search to Amazon from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has more on the new Amazon-Microsoft agreement. The issue of who is providing paid listings isn't covered, but since the Amazon-Google agreement wasn't renewed, I'd assume these are to come from Microsoft.

Amazon Search Finds Microsoft from the Washington Post also has some details on the move, including the inspiring answer to whether Amazon felt Microsoft was providing better search results: "It will be up to users to try that out." So more a business move than a relevancy issue, fair to say :)

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our SEW Forums thread, Amazon Ditches Google For Microsoft.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:15 AM | Permalink

April 28, 2006

Change Your Time Zone Once & Only Once At AdWords

Last night Google announced at the AdWords blog that you will be able to change your time zone on the account level. This is helpful because once you change it, you will be able to see your reports on your local time. No more calculating, Google is on PST time, I am on EST, I got X clicks between midnight and 3am EST time, subtract four and presto. What is a bit crazy is that if you change your time zone to the wrong location, you are struck forever! Google writes; "It's important to note that your account time zone can be set only once, so please choose wisely!" So be very careful when you make this change.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:35 AM | Permalink

April 27, 2006

Google AdWords Broad Match To Act Differently For Commercial, Non-Commercial Terms

Depending on broad match or phrase match to get listed on Google? A new tweak to Google AdWords means that in some cases, that might no longer get your ad listed as in the past.

Ads quality and you from the Inside AdWords blog from Google covers the change. For queries that are less commercial in nature, broad matching is becoming more conservative, less likely to put some advertisers on Google's search results pages.

The upshot for users, Google says, is less likelihood of getting irrelevant ads. For advertisers, it means that for those ads where you absolutely, positively want to show up, exact match is the way to go.

What about commercially-oriented queries? In those cases, broad match will continue to work as before, helping more advertisers show up. In fact, now it might help more ads appear for terms they might not have shown up for in the past, if the query is deemed commercial in nature.

Google's blog post says that broad match will show "more" ads for commercial queries, but that's "more" relative to the more conservative broad matching being done for non-commercial queries.

It's also important to note that the overall number of ads space on Google is not changing (they'll remain at a maximum of 11). I'd blogged earlier that this sounded like it would be the case. Google says definitely not. I've updated my earlier article on the change to reflect that, making it now into just and update on the number of ads that all search engines show.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 4:21 PM | Permalink

Run Down Of Recent Google Bugs & Glitches

Over the past two days or so, I have reported over at my other blog, four new bugs and glitches over at Google. This is a high number of real bugs in Google in a short period of time. Here is a run down of them and if they have been fixed or not.

(1) Google Fixes Extended URL Broken Page Issue (fixed, not confirmed by Google) (2) Google AdWords Glitch: Bid Tool Conflicts With Position Preference Tool (not fixed and unconfirmed by Google) (3) Google AdWords Showing Same Two Ads On Search Results Pages at Google.com (not fixed and unconfirmed by Google) (4) Robots.txt Google Sitemaps Bug Fixed (fixed and confirmed by Google)

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:29 AM | Permalink

April 18, 2006

Search Ad Providers Gaze into their Crystal Balls

Is search advertising slowing down, or just getting started? What new distribution channels are likely to open up in the coming months? Will traditional ad agencies dominate the business? And just how big a problem is click fraud, anyway? Answers to these and many other questions from executives from Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN and IAC in today's SearchDay article, Divining the Future of Search Advertising.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 12:24 PM | Permalink

April 17, 2006

Conversion Value Revealed When Using Google AdWords Conversion Tracker

When using the Google AdWords Conversion Tracker, you just may be revealing more about your conversion values than you might realize. When using the advanced option conversion value, the value you attribute for each conversion is revealed right in the on-page javascript you add to the site in the form of "var google_conversion_value = 9.99;"

This could easily be used by competitors to see what the value of a lead, signup or particular page view is worth to the advertiser, although the competitor would need to complete a conversion first in order to see the data.

For more details, there is a WebmasterWorld thread (paid subscription required to view).

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 12:30 PM | Permalink

April 12, 2006

Google Adds Pricing Model To Google AdWords API: Opens Commercial Use

Word comes from the Google API blog that Google has changed the AdWords API Beta Program. They will be specifically modifying the quota allocation system & pricing model, which requires an updated terms and conditions to allow use of the API for commercial reasons. Starting July 1st, 2006 the free AdWords API will be fee based, charging a fee of "$0.25/1000 quota units consumed." This will allow AdWords API developers to "commercialize their applications," the new terms can be previewed here. It seems as if, the fees may be associated with only commercial tools. The blog post specifically reads; "certain developers, such as those who design proprietary applications to advertise their own businesses, may be exempt from a portion of these fees and terms."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:03 AM | Permalink

April 11, 2006

April 7, 2006

Eva Longoria In Google Earth & Other Google Earth Deals

I skipped the entire iPod from outer space thing last month because it was clearly a hoax. But Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria being viewable in Google Earth is not. Well, sort of.

Suburbia pointed out that men's magazine Maxim is touting a giant cover of their 100th issue that's was constructed in the desert outside of Las Vegas. No, it wasn't shot from space. It was constructed on the ground, photographed and made viewable in Google Earth through an overlay file. Jossip has a nice rundown, along with some facts from the Maxim press release.

Sure, anyone can make an overlay file for insertion into Google Earth. But not anyone can get Google Earth to promote it. Clearly there's a deal in play here. The Maxim page about the Eva photo has a promo box pointing people over to Google Earth to do downloads of the software. And did you do the download? If so, you'll get this thank you page telling you to check out the Maxim cover as a featured item in Google Earth.

If you don't want to download Google Earth, you can get a sense of the cover here. But with Google Earth, you can zoom in much more.

If you're a Search Engine Watch member, the longer version of this post looks at some other Google Earth deals, including thoughts on them going into cars and taking ads along the way.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:17 AM | Permalink

April 4, 2006

AdWords Adds Position Preference Feature; Opt-Out For Positions You Don't Like

News from our Search Engine Watch Forums that Google is rolling out a new "Position Preference" feature allowing advertisers more ability to control where exactly their ads will appear.

Not everyone may see the new feature yet. If you have it, you'll see the feature within the Edit Settings screen. It will then allow you to give a preference for where you'd like your ad to appear. For example, if you'd rather only have your ad show up in the top two positions, Google will try not to show your ad if it is naturally ranked to show up below those spots.

It's important to understand that the feature doesn't guarantee or spot or helps get you a better chance at one. Instead, think of it as "opt out" for positions you don't want. If you'd prefer only to show in certain positions, this lets you opt-out of showing up in other spots. You'll still only show up in your preferred spots if Google's ad ranking system decides you meet the right criteria for that.

Here's what's reported in our forums:

We have a new option within Adwords. See below. Ultimately, you can try and determine the position of specific keywords within an account. If you go into Edit Settings you can activate this for each or all the campaigns and then decide at KW level.

Position preference lets you tell Google where you would prefer your ad to show among all the AdWords ads on a given page.

Whenever you run a keyword-targeted ad, your ad is assigned a position (or rank) based on your cost-per-click (CPC) bid, your keyword's Quality Score, and other relevant factors. There may be dozens of positions available for a given keyword, spread over several pages of search results.

If you find that your ad gets the best results when it is ranked (for example) third or fourth among all AdWords ads, you can set a position preference for those spots. AdWords will then try to show your ad whenever it is ranked third or fourth, and avoid showing it when it is ranked higher or lower. If your ad is ranked higher than third for a given keyword, the system will automatically try to lower your bid to place your ad in your preferred position.

You can request that your ad be shown only when it is:

* Higher than a given position (such as above 7) * Lower than a given position (such as below 4) * Within a range of positions (such as from 2-8). * In a single exact position (such as position 2).

You can choose any positions between 1 and 10+ (that is, 10 or any larger number). Separate position preferences can be set for any or all of the keywords in your campaign.

Please note that position preference does not mean that your ad will always appear in the position you specify. The usual AdWords ranking and relevance rules apply. If your ad doesn't qualify for position #1, setting a position preference of 1 will not move it there. Position preference simply means AdWords will try to show your ad whenever it is ranked in your preferred position, and to avoid showing it when it is not.

Position preference also does not affect the overall placement of AdWords ad units on the left, right, top or bottom of a given page. It only affects your ranking relative to other ads across those units.

Position preferences are not guaranteed. Your ad may still appear in other positions, though we will make every effort to display your ad where you prefer. Once you set new position preferences, it may take a few days for the AdWords system to begin delivering your ad according to those preferences.

Finally, let us note that setting a position preference can sharply reduce the number of impressions and clicks you receive for that keyword. Targeting just one or two positions means your ad will not show at times when it otherwise might have. We encourage you to choose as broad a range of positions are you are comfortable with.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our SEW Forums thread, Position Preference - New Feature For Google AdWords.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 12:50 PM | Permalink

April 3, 2006

Selling Google's Ads

The World According to Google from Sales & Marketing Management magazine talks to various execs from the Moneyplex, Google's sales side, about pitching their wares.

Interestingly, the article takes angle that rather than there being a church-and-state divide between the Moneyplex's ad folks and the Googleplex's engineering teams, people are said to work side-by-side to help produce a product they hope will serve customers and advertisers alike.

Well, maybe. I get the impression that what the article really means is that technical people who develop ad products and ad sales people who sell those products work alongside each other. The editorial teams don't, to my knowledge.

Overall, not a lot you probably didn't already know about Google here, but it'll give anyone a few more quotes plus some nice pictures of executives.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:03 AM | Permalink

March 31, 2006

How To Add Your Local Business Ad In Google AdWords

I just posted about Google's New Local Business Ads, but this entry is going to take you step by step on how I added my icon and logo to my company's, RustyBrick, listing.

I logged into my Google AdWords Account, which was also linked to the Google account I used to update my local business listing. I was presented with a link to "Create New Local Business Ad", which looked like;

I clicked on that link and moved on to a page that asked to help identify my company. The page was a form prefilled with my company's information, so I clicked continue below the form. Here is a screen capture;

Google found one listed and asked me to confirm this listing before preceding, so I did, here is that screen;

The next screen asked me to create my ad, and it showed me a preview of the ad, as I create it, much like how normal ads work in AdWords. It looked like;

Part of this screen, they asked me to pick a map icon, here is the dhtml pop up of icon choices;

I then uploaded my logo and clicked save, which took me back to the ad preview page for both my listings (i.e. normal ad and geoad);

So I clicked on edit ad, under the geo ad, and was presented with the full view on the AdWords management screen;

Here is a view of my listing on Google Local Maps;

When I click on that windmill logo, it brings up my image ad portion;

No, I did not click on my ad, and I hope you guys don't either. That is the reason I did not link directly to the Google Local result. :)

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:29 AM | Permalink

Google's New Local Business Ads

Google has launched, as expected, Local Business Ads. The official overview page from Google can be found here. ClickZ has their write up here and News.com over here. I am sure you have questions, such as how do I get my logo in the local results? Well here are three useful answers for you...

First one; You can create a new local business ad at any time by following these steps: (1) Log in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com. (2) Click the keyword-targeted campaign that contains the Ad Group you want to edit. (3) Click the appropriate Ad Group. (4) Click the Create New Local Business Ad link. (5) Identify the Google Local business listing you want to advertise. If you don't have a listing, learn how to add your business to our local listings. (6) Enter your description lines and URL. (The business name, address, and phone number of your business will be automatically taken from Google Local.) (7) Choose a business icon. The icon you choose will appear for all local business ads in the campaign. (8) Optional: Upload a business image to appear in the info window that expands from your map marker. (9) Click Save Ad.

Second one; Each local business ad can include an image. The image you upload for your local business ad will display in the info window that expands from the map marker associated with your ad.

Please follow these guidelines and requirements for local business ad images: - Dimensions: 125x125 pixels maximum - File size: 20k maximum - File types: JPG, GIF, PNG - Format limitations: All images must be static (no animation, flash or other rich formats) - Other restrictions: The image may be a logo or photo that relates to your business. All images will be - reviewed by an AdWords Specialist. Regardless of your business type, images must be appropriate for all audiences.

Third one; The map marker for each local business ads contains a business icon. You can choose an icon from a list provided during local business ad creation. The icon is set at the campaign level, so all ads within one campaign will display the same icon.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:06 AM | Permalink

March 28, 2006

Google Lands Deal With Verizon SuperPages.com

ClickZ reports that Google has landed a dead with Verizon SuperPages.com to provide some backfill sponsored results for SuperPages.com. Google will be using its AdWords PPC engine to help Verizon better monetize their online Yellow Pages engines, SuperPages.com. The deal will allow Verizon to increase their inventory of ads. SuperPages will be managing the accounts and they will buy the Google advertising on their behalf.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:52 AM | Permalink

March 27, 2006

Some Of Google's Most Expensive Keywords

Via Xooglers, "Updated: Highest Paying AdSense Keywords" from CyberWyre has a nice of some of the some expensive keyword phrases you can buy at Google (probably at Yahoo also). Many of these keywords I believe once were almost a $100 per click. Here is the list at its current state. Keep in mind that these come from an auction pricing environment, so prices can change quickly. Also bear in mind that there might be more expensive terms. Google itself provides no tool to see the most expensive term it is selling. Instead, you have to check on terms you think are likely and compare them to other guesses.

$54.33 mesothelioma lawyers
$47.79 what is mesothelioma
$47.72 peritoneal mesothelioma
$47.25 consolidate loans
$47.16 refinancing mortgage
$45.55 tax attorney
$41.22 mesothelioma
$38.86 car accident lawyer
$38.68 ameriquest mortgage
$38.03 mortgage refinance

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:04 AM | Permalink

March 24, 2006

Google Tests New Image Ads In Google Local

Shimon Sandler found that Google Local is testing another form of PPC ads in Google Local. If you search on booksellers nyc at Google Local, and if you look at the map you will notice some results have little coffee icons. If you click on the coffee icon within the map, more info pops up. This pop up contains a header named "Sponsored Link" and with local information and a large Barnes and Noble logo.

PostScript: Shimon also says that this is named "GeoAds." Reportedly, it is available to all, if not most business segments. How do you sign up for your business? Well, I am not 100% sure. You can go to Google Base and do a bulk upload of your multiple business listings or add/edit your local business listing. I tried the local business listing, but was unsuccessful in adding a sponsored listing or logo to my result.

If you are a Mac user, like myself, you most likely won't see the coffee icon, in either Safari or even Firefox. But if you are a PC user, you should see the result on both IE and FireFox. Here are screen captures if you are like me.

Perspective Screen Capture: