WebProNews - AdWords

Google Begins "Next Chapter" in Search Advertising

Chris Crum — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:24:39 +0000

Update: Google says its new ad formats are "the next chapter in search advertising", and its "AdWords New Ad Formats Initiative" will focus on two themes:

Ad extensions offer you the ability to enhance your existing text ads with additional relevant information. Some examples of ad extensions include Ad Sitelinks which allow you to provide additional links pointing to specific information on your site and Product Extensions which allow you to show images and prices of relevant products from your Google Merchant Center account. By putting the most salient information directly wiithin the ad, ad extensions are designed to help users more quickly and easily find the products and services they seek on Google.
New ad models are formats that offer better solutions to more complicated queries. For example, Comparison Ads enable users to specify the exact product or service they're looking for and compare multiple offers in a single location. New ad models also offer advertisers new pricing models, like cost per action for Product Listing Ads. Our new ad models are designed to make it easier for users to find exactly what they want and for you to reach more users with better information.

Original Article: Google is now offering some new formats for search ads. They have already been testing them in the U.S., so there is a chance you have already seen some of them if you live here.

Some of them include videos. Some include maps. Some include multiple links for different landing pages. Some of the new ads include product images with corresponding links and prices. Some actually offer comparison shopping functionality.

Take a look at some examples:

"At Google, we're committed to giving you the information you want — regardless of the form in which it might appear," says Google VP, Product Management Susan Wojcicki. "Text is often useful, but sometimes videos and pictures are a more effective way to receive information. For example, if you want to learn a magic trick, a video showing you how to perform the trick is likely the best result. So over the past few years, we've blended videos, images, maps and more into the search results on Google.com."

Using that logic, Google figured its search ads should fit a similar mold. The company says that while it is experimenting with new formats, they will "remain loyal" to their core principal, which is, "getting the right ad to the right person at the right time."

Google says you will probably see even more formats appear with search results in the future. This will occur until they figure out which ones are most useful, relevant, and engaging. Expect a lot of new things.

Related Articles:

> Google and Heineken Study Paid Search for Branding

> Report: Paid Search Spend Up 10%

> Search Ads Convert Better with Display

Google Announces Details of New Product Listing Ads

Chris Crum — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:12:10 +0000

Google product listing ads have been spotted every now and then for a while now. The company has been testing them, but now the they have announced that US users will start seeing them more frequently on shopping related queries.

"Each day we see many users come to Google.com to research products and find where to buy them," says Google's Dan Friedman. "To better serve these users, we've been testing a new feature of AdWords called Product Listing Ads. Product Listing Ads works with an advertiser's Google Merchant Center account to serve highly targeted ads that include richer product information directly in the ad itself - including product image, price, and merchant name."

Friedman highlights the following features of Product Listing Ads:

- Pay only for results: Product Listing Ads are charged on a cost-per-action (CPA) basis, which means that you only pay when a user clicks on your ad and completes a purchase on your site. Because Product Listing Ads is charged on a CPA basis, it offers a risk-free way for you to reach a larger audience on Google.com.

- List your entire inventory: Product Listing Ads requires no keywords or additional ad text. Whenever a user enters a search query relevant to an item in your Google Merchant Center account, Google will automatically show the most relevant products along with the associated image, price and product name. Product Listing Ads makes it easy for you to promote your entire product inventory on Google.com.

These ads could go a long way for increasing interest in using Google's Merchant Center. When they show up for any given product-related search, they are going to be highly coveted spots for anyone selling those products online.

Currently, the ads are still considered a beta feature, and are only available to a limited number of retail advertisers. In time, however, they will be opened up to more merchants, and the number of Google users who will see the ads will be increased.

Related Articles:

> Google Gives AdWords Advertisers New Comparison Option

> AdWords Opportunities Expanded to More Advertisers

> Google Splits Up Google Base

Google Gives AdWords Users New Alert Options

Chris Crum — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:32:18 +0000

Google has introduced a couple of new alert options for AdWords advertisers. Users can of course use account alerts, and can also use custom alerts. Now Google has added new alerts for keyword and budget ideas, which are personalized tips to help users improve their campaigns' effectiveness. These are in the "opportunities" tab.

"New ideas are usually generated for campaigns and ad groups every few weeks, but you may miss ideas that can expand your coverage and boost your traffic if you don't check the Opportunities tab regularly," explains Google's Dan Friedman. "Now, when there are new ideas available for your review, you'll see them highlighted along with the rest of your campaign alerts."

Google has also added the ability to create custom alerts for changes in conversion volume, conversion rate, and cost per conversion for users using AdWords conversion tracking.

"By setting alerts for your conversion data, you can make sure that you're quickly notified about fluctuations in your key metrics," says Friedman.

Google says it is still working on bringing custom alerts to all linked accounts for My Client Center (MCC) users, but until then, you can just set custom alerts for individual accounts if you can log into them directly.

Related Articles:

> Google Gives AdWords Advertisers New Comparison Option

> Google Launches Latest Version of AdWords API

> More "Ads by Google" Across the Web

Google Gears Up For The Holidays

Doug Caverly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:27:42 +0000

It's getting to be that time of year during which people grow much nicer and more family-oriented. Or much more rude and antisocial. Whatever. Either way, Google's making a special effort to ensure that it isn't put out of mind over the next couple of months.

First up is the search giant's offer to help out around Thanksgiving. A post on the Official Google Docs Blog claimed, "A Google Site is a great way to let everyone know what to bring, provide directions, organize flight arrival times and even plan some post-Thanksgiving events, like football marathons or a little exercise to burn off those pumpkin pie calories."

This seems like OCD overkill, perhaps (plus there's the issue of whether older family members know how to deal with the Web), but is harmless enough.

Then there's the development that might do a measurable bit of good. Over on the Inside AdWords blog, new holiday ad templates were announced. They look nice, and could attract extra eyes and clicks, earning people some money just when they probably need it most.

Google's almost sure to make more announcements as Thanksgiving and Christmas draw closer, too, so stay tuned.

Related Articles:

> More People Plan To Shop Online During The Holidays

> New Google Labs: Related Links And Script Converter

> New Google Chrome Release Includes Bookmark Sync

Google Gives AdWords Advertisers New Comparison Option

Chris Crum — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:33:37 +0000

Google announced that it is testing a new AdWords feature called AdWords Comparison Ads. These are ads that let users compare multiple offers from the same advertiser that are relevant to the user.

Google says the feature is part of its continuing effort to make ads more relevant and useful to users and help advertisers reach the people who are most interested in their products and services.

"AdWords uses a host of targeting and relevancy signals to determine the best ads for each query. However, sometimes a user's query doesn't provide enough information for us to confidently predict what they want," explains Dan Friedman of Google's Inside AdWords Crew. "Take, for example, users who search for "mortgage." Do they want a new home loan or a refinance? Do they want a fixed rate or an adjustable rate loan? Comparison Ads improves the ad experience on Google.com by letting users specify exactly what they are looking for and helping them quickly compare relevant offers side by side."

If a user clicks a promotion, they are taken to a page with more detailed, sponsored results. There they can choose from the offers listed on the page or refine their search further. If a user finds an offer they like, they can call the advertiser or request a quote.

"If a user requests a quote, Google automatically anonymizes the user's phone number and sends you a unique code that you can use to contact the user," says Friedman. "You only pay if a user calls the phone number on your offer or fills out a form to request a quote."

Google cites speed, transparency, and privacy as the key points of focus with Comparison ads. They show targeted offers in less than a second, they only show real products (meaning no teaser rates, baits or switch offers), and they won't send advertisers any user information.

Related Articles:

> Google Launches Latest Version of AdWords API

> More "Ads by Google" Across the Web

> Google Gives Local Businesses New Way to Advertise

Google Offers Free AdWords Shortcuts Stickers

Doug Caverly — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:08:25 +0000

Running an advertising campaign is complicated enough without having to mentally assign new meanings to most of the buttons on your keyboard. Google's giving advertisers a hand, then, by offering them AdWords shortcuts stickers.

The stickers (see a mockup below) are meant to be applied to your keyboard. Assuming your fingers don't block your field of view, they should subsequently make it easier to figure out what key combos will let you go to the Ads group tab, for example, or select multiple rows within a table.

The stickers are free, and are available to AdWords advertisers in 22 countries for as long as supplies last. About all you need to do to get a set is supply Google with your name and address. (Although we should note that we have no idea how many stickers Google has on hand.)

This is reminiscent of a stunt Google pulled back in June; at that point, the search giant gave away laminated sheets of "Gmail ninja" tips.

It seems that Google's trying to make everything just a little bit easier on users, perhaps on the theory that they'll become heavier or more loyal users as a result.

Google Launches Latest Version of AdWords API

Chris Crum — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:18:48 +0000

Google has launched the newest version of the AdWords API v2009 beta. That would be version 200909. Google cites the following as the highlights of the new API:

- Asynchronous calls - Asynchronous calls allow you to work with large sets of data faster and more easily. Instead of having to wait for our system to fully complete your request before you can make another one, you’re now able to make another call as soon as the API service confirms that it has received your previous call. No more waiting for the server to complete large requests. V200909 will continue to support Synchronous methods as well.

- Keyword and placement ideas - With the new TargetingIdeaService, you'll be able to get keyword and placement ideas through the API, leveraging the functionality of the search-based keyword tool.

- Location Extensions preview - Limited location extensions functionality is now available as a preview of the full functionality in development.

These are just the highlights. Google has a complete list of all of the new features in its release notes.

The company says that over the next few months, it will continue to introduce new features and additional AdWords functionality. New features will include ReportService, AccountService and the ability to pre-check for errors.

"Given that v2009 introduces new concepts and features, we have extended the sunset period for deprecated services to 6 months," Google says. "If you haven't already begun migrating your systems to the v2009 API, we strongly encourage you to start right away."

v13 services CampaignService, AdGroupService, CriterionService, AdService, InfoService, KeywordToolService, and SiteSuggestionService will sunset on April 22, 2010. Other v13 service sunset dates will be announced in due time.

More "Ads by Google" Across the Web

Chris Crum — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:33:05 +0000

Google has started adding "Ads by Google" to more of its ads around the web. The reasoning for this is that a lot more advertisers are using Google's rich media ad formats these days, and the fact that they come from Google may not seem so obvious all the time.

"You'll soon notice a small 'i' (for 'information') icon overlay in the bottom right-hand corner of these ads, which will expand when the user hovers over it," explains Dan Friedman from Google's Inside AdWords crew. "This was specially designed for rich media ads. This new message will appear on your AdWords rich media ads, and will show up on standard AdSense ad units."

It will look something like this:

Just as in the past, when users click "Ads by Google," they will be taken to a page where they can learn about Google advertising. Google says tests have shown that this doesn't affect ad performance.

Google also recently started adding YouTube promoted videos into the AdWords/AdSense mix. In addition, they have introduced a new way for local businesses to advertise, and given advertisers more tracking options.

Google Gives Local Businesses New Way to Advertise

Chris Crum — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:28:04 +0000

Google has introduced a new type of ad for local businesses called Local Listing Ads. They are designed to display when users search for a business in its local area. Google says it's the easiest way to advertise your business to local customers on Google, because they require no maintenance.

The ads just consist of a business name, contact information (with a unique phone number from Google for tracking purposes), and a link. The units will appear on Google.com in local results at the top of the results page, and in Google Maps.

"Unlike Google AdWords, Local Listing Ads require no management of ad creative, keywords, bidding or budget management," the company says. "After you select a standard category that best describes your business, Google determines the cost that ensures the ad is seen by the highest number of people looking for businesses like yours in your location."

Google says local listing ads provide advertisers with:

- Ads shown on Google.com and Google Maps

- A flat monthly fee based on your location and business category

- First 30 days free

- No bid or keyword management

- Free call-tracking, announcing each forwarded customer call ('This caller brought to you by Google')

- Full report on the number of calls, clicks to your ad, requests for driving directions, and clicks to your info window on Google Maps

- The option to cancel your ad at any time

Following is how your ads would look on Google.com and on Google Maps:

According to Google, over 80% of people look to Google for local information, and this is a way to make you listing stand out. The ads are targeted only to people who are near your business.

As an added bonus, so you know when the ad has been effective, Google says you'll hear "this call brought to you by Google" with every call made from your ad.

Payment for Local Listing Ads is a flat monthly fee, which varies by location and business category. Advertisers pay the same each month no matter how many times people click or view your ad. Google says advertisers will be given the chance to confirm the monthly flat fee that is unlikely to change frequently or be notified of the change 30 days in advance via email and your LBC account message.

Local Listing Ads are only being tested right now. For the time being, they're available in San Francisco and San Diego. It's hard to say when they will become available for all.

Google Gives Advertisers More Tracking Options

Chris Crum — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:25:47 +0000

Google has announced a new feature for the Google Content Network called View-Through Conversion Reporting. The feature is designed to help advertisers better measure the value of their display ad campaigns.

"Display ads are influential in increasing brand awareness and driving purchase consideration, and with View-through conversion reporting, you can better measure the impact of your display ad campaign for those instances where your ad is seen, but not immediately clicked on," explains Amanda Kelly of Google's Inside AdWords crew. "More specifically, View-through conversion reporting measures the number of conversions that occurred within 30 days of your display ad appearing for which there was no ad click generated."

"By using View-through conversion reporting, you can more easily compare the performance of your Google Content Network campaign with the performance of your other display advertising campaigns," adds Kelly. "This feature can also help you determine the best ways and places to advertise, how best to optimize your display ad campaigns, and, ultimately, how to spend your advertising dollars more effectively."

Conversions are reported on the campaigns tab in AdWords. The reporting is the same as other conversion views for placement-targeted campaigns. View-through conversions are reported against each targeted placement. Enhanced online campaigns are also reported the same. View-through conversions are reported against each targeted criteria except for keywords. With regards to interest-based ads, view-through conversions are reported against each interest-based targeting criteria.

View-through conversions are recorded for the date of the impression they are associated with. Clicks on search ads don't interfere with view-through conversion tracking reports. Conversions are counted when there's a display impression on content. Google counts all conversions not associated with a click and attributes them to the last impression within the last 30 days. More info is available in the help center.

Google Gets Good News From EU Court Advisor

Mike Sachoff — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:01:38 +0000

An advisor to the European Court of Justice said Tuesday that Google does not violate luxury goods makers' trademarks by allowing advertisers to buy keywords related to brand names.

In his opinion, Advocate General Poiares Maduro suggests "Google has not committed a trade mark infringement by allowing advertisers to select, in AdWords, keywords corresponding to trademarks."

Poiares Maduro
Advocate General

Maduro said in his opinion the selection of keywords concerns only Google and the advertisers.

"When selecting keywords, there is thus no product or service sold to the general public. Such a use cannot therefore be considered as being a use made in relation to goods or services identical or similar to those covered by the trade marks. Similarly, advertisers themselves do not commit a trade mark infringement by selecting in Adwords keywords corresponding to trademarks," he said.

Google could be held liable if it hosts content related to trademark infringement, but trademark owners would have to "point to specific instances giving rise to Google's liability in the context of illegal damage to their trademarks."

Maduro's recommendation is not binding on the court, but legal advisor opinions are followed by the court in about 80 percent of cases.

Google Unleashes DoubleClick Ad Exchange

Chris Crum — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:03:00 +0000

Google has announced the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, which it refers to as a real-time marketplace for helping online publishers and ad networks/agencies buy and sell display ad space. Prices in the marketplace are set in a real-time auction.

Google says it has three principles for its approach to display advertising:

1. Simplify the system for buying and selling display ads: For example, our DoubleClick ad serving products help advertisers and publishers manage campaigns and ad formats across thousands of websites and from thousands of advertisers.

2. Deliver better performance that advertisers and agencies can measure: We're building a host of new features to help advertisers to run display ad campaigns across the Google Content Network (comprising hundreds of thousands of AdSense partner sites) and on YouTube. We're also developing better measurement and reporting technology so they can figure out what's working and what's not.

3. Open up the ecosystem: We want to democratize access to display advertising and make it accessible and open, like search advertising. We recently launched the Display Ad Builder to help businesses easily set up and run display ad campaigns. 80% of advertisers who use that product have never run a display ad campaign before.

AdWords advertisers can run ads with the same AdWords interface through the exchange. Ad Exchange sites are considered part of the Google Content Network. Ad Exchange placements will appear like any other Conent Network Placement in AdWords reports. Users can still use the Placement Performance Report to see where their ads have run, and which ones performed best. Google does note, however, that Ad Exchange sites can choose to remain anonymous, and in cases like that, the site will appear in your reports with an anonymized label like "123456.anonymous.google." You have the power to exclude these placements though.

Google says AdSense publishers will also benefit from more advertisers coming through the exchange. The company recently announced plans to give AdSense publishers a new way to generate revenue by allowing multiple Google-certified ad networks to compete for display ad space on their sites. This is related to the Ad Exchange announcement. The Google-certified ad network capability is powered by the DoubleClick Ad Exchange.

"Certified ad networks are Ad Exchange participants who have gone through an additional certification process in order to be able to bid for your ad space through AdSense," Google says. "We call this feature 'yield management', because it offers you the most revenue for each ad that shows on your site in real time, regardless of whether it's Google or another certified party who can offer you the highest bid."

Publishers using the Ad Exchange can use real-time data and bids to allocate ad space that pays the most at any particular second. They get access to more advertisers, Google manages billing and payments from networks, so publishers get one monthly payment.

Ad networks and agencies get access to more publishers, more ad space, real-time bidding, and a new API, which lets them integrate their own functionality and systems when using the Ad Exchange.

Google's move is largely seen as its way of cutting into Yahoo's share of the display advertising pie. This is one area where Yahoo has been quite successful, as Google has dominated the text ad market.

Report: Google China Prepared For Big Push

Doug Caverly — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:49:22 +0000

It may be that the exit of Kai-Fu Lee won't act so much as a stumbling block as a catalyst for Google China. A new report indicates that, following his departure, Google China will double its sales staff and offer cash incentives to 100,000 would-be advertisers.

Figures related to the employees remain unknown. Otherwise, Zhu Shenshen wrote in a Shanghai Daily article, "Under the 50 million yuan incentive program, Google will provide 500 yuan to every new registered customer of Adwards [sic], its popular online search advertising tool."

Those amounts convert to about $7.3 million and $73, respectively, in case you were wondering.

Google seems to be quite serious about getting Chinese advertisers to embrace its AdWords program, then. While the company's not giving away tons of cash in the grand scheme of things (Google's current market cap: $149.5 billion), the fact that it would offer so much money to so many advertisers is undeniably significant.

Looking ahead, it's easy to guess that Google feels the 100,000 advertisers might represent a sort of tipping point, too, after which others will glob on in an attempt to catch up.

We (along, no doubt, with many analysts and Baidu executives) will keep an eye on the initiative to see how things progress.

AdWords Opportunities Expanded to More Advertisers

Chris Crum — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:12:12 +0000

Earlier in the summer Google began beta testing the Opportunities Tab in AdWords. This is a feature in advertisers' accounts that tries to point them to additional cost-effective traffic for their search campaigns.

Google is now expanding the beta to more advertisers in the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom and Australia. Google says over the next few business days, they will expand the beta to all English-language accounts.

"You can think of the Opportunities tab as your homepage for account optimization. You can use the tab to get a quick overview of Google's customized keyword and budget ideas for your campaigns and ad groups," says Amanda Kelly of Google's Inside AdWords crew. "You can also compare the impact of different ideas before making changes. So, if you're looking to increase your keyword coverage for a specific product, or have your ads appear more often for your existing keywords, the Opportunities tab is a great place to start."

Ideas in the Opportunities tab change, so just because you see a list of ideas one day, does not necessarily mean that you'll see that same list all the time.

Google is not getting rid of any other AdWords tools, but they've changed the location of some. Those who are included in the beta test won't see the Tools tab, but instead will be able to access AdWords tools by clicking on the Opportunities tab, and scrolling down the menu. There is a "more tools" link that will show the full list.

"Ultimately we want the Opportunities section of your account to evolve into a single destination you can visit whenever you want to get new ideas for increasing your ad coverage on relevant search terms, capturing additional clicks in your most profitable campaigns, or simply improving your overall ROI," says Kelly.

Google says it hopes to provide a broader set of optimization tools in the future, and that the Opportunities tab is just a starting point for this. Users can expect more changes to come, and the plan is to take the beta testing to advertisers all over the world in the coming weeks.

AdWords More Competitive, AdSense Publishers Could Earn More

Chris Crum — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:28:23 +0000

Google announced plans to give AdSense publishers a new way to generate revenue by allowing multiple Google-certified ad networks to compete for display ad space on their sites. This means that AdWords advertisers may end up having to pay more competitively, while AdSense publishers could reap the benefits.

What do you think of this idea? Comment here. Google explains the concept in the following video:

"You may remember that we began to accept display ads served from qualified third-party vendors over a year ago, which helped increase the number of display ads competing on AdSense publisher sites," says Google Business Product Manager Sean Harvey. "With this new change, participating ad networks can also bid in our auction to appear on AdSense sites. This new capability will help you generate the most profit for every ad that appears on your site, whether the ads come from AdWords advertisers or Google-certified ad networks."

The networks themselves are ad agencies and companies that partner with advertisers and publishers to buy and sell ads on sites they don't own. AdSense publishers will now be able to allow advertisers from these networks to compete directly with AdWords advertisers for their ad space. The ad networks:

- Connect advertisers with publishers

- Provide access to additional inventory not currently available with AdWords

- Adhere to Google's standards for user privacy, ad quality and speed

Reporting and payments will still run through AdSense as always, and available ad formats will remain the same as they have been for AdWords. Publishers will still have control over which networks can show ads on their pages, and they can choose to opt out of receiving ads from specific networks, or all networks.

Right now, the feature is only available to publishers in North America and Europe, but Google plans to rolling out to more places in the future.

What do you think about Google increasing competition by allowing ad networks in AdWords? Share your thoughts.

Latest Google AdWords API Available to All

Chris Crum — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:18:33 +0000

This week Google released the latest version of the AdWords API (v2009) to all advertisers after releasing it to a limited group back in June. The new version offers users some new features, and Google says it comes with greater speed at a lower cost.

"Because it offers nearly all of the campaign management functionality you're used to from the AdWords API, along with a new rate sheet representing lower costs, now is a great time to start developing for v2009," says John Fitzpatrick of Google's AdWords API Team.

Documentation for the new version of the API can be found here. There is also a sandbox available where developers can experiment and test. The sandbox does not charge for API units. Users just need access to a Google Account username and password. Best practices for the sandbox can be found here.

Google has extended the length of time that they'll support both this version and the previous version, v13. The company has done so because the changes between the two versions are so significant. Google intends to retire v13 early next year, but will announce exact dates in the coming months.

"In anticipation of retiring v13, we strongly encourage you to begin development for v2009 as soon as possible," Fitzpatrick tells developers. "We're still working on making v2009 better, so this is also a great opportunity to provide us your early feedback."

Over the next several months, Google will be releasing more functionality for v2009, such as asynchronous calls, partial failure acceptance, keyword optimization tools, and reporting.

Google: Conversion Rates Hardly Vary by Ad Position

Chris Crum — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:58:12 +0000

Ever wondered if your AdWords conversion rates would be better if your ads were just positioned differently? According to Google, it doesn't matter a whole lot where they are positioned.

Google Chief Economist Hal Varian and his team claim to have done some research into the subject and has concluded that conversion rates just don't vary much by position.

"Since Google ranks ads by bid times ad quality, ads in higher positions tend to have higher quality and higher quality ads tend to have higher conversion rates," says Varian. "Thus you may see a correlation between auction position and conversion rates just due to this ad quality effect. However, the real question is how the conversion rate for the same ad would change if it were displayed in a different position."

Varian has an answer for that question too. "Another difficulty is that the average position number reported by Google is that it is an average over all auctions in which you participate," he adds. "If you increase your bid, it is quite possible to see your average position move lower on the page! The reason is that when you increase your bid, your ad will appear in new auctions, and it will tend to come in at the bottom of those new auctions. This effect can be large enough to push your overall average position down."

"We have used a statistical model to account for these effects and found that, on average, there is very little variation in conversion rates by position for the same ad," continues Varian. "For example, for pages where 11 ads are shown the conversion rate varies by less than 5% across positions. In other words, an ad that had a 1.0% conversion rate in the best position, would have about a 0.95% conversion rate in the worst position, on average. Ads above the search results have a conversion rate within ±2% of right-hand side positions."

There you have the gist of Google's research into the matter (via Dan Friedman of Google's Inside AdWords Crew). More info on the possibility of higher bids leading to lower ad positions can be found here.

I wonder if Google moving the ads on search results pages closer to the organic results has done or will do anything for conversion rates. We have not seen this discussed by Google.

New AdWords Interface Comes to Google TV Ads

Chris Crum — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:08:41 +0000

Google announced that its TV advertisers now have access to the new AdWords interface. Users will be able to access the old one for a while, but by the end of the month, they will have no choice but to use the new one.

TV advertisers that aren't already familiar with the new interface will want to get acquainted. They can start with the following video:

Google lists the following features as being helpful for making managing TV campaigns easier:

- The Traffic Estimator tool is now integrated into the core campaign summary view

- Historical bid guidance will be available when researching networks and programs to add to your campaign

- New filtering capabilities allow sorting campaigns by custom dayparts, days of the week, and current bid

- Custom dayparts are much easier to build via the new drag and drop network/daypart selector

"We're excited to finally unveil the new interface which hopefully addresses the feedback we've heard from our advertisers over the years," says a post from the Google TV Ads Team. "But we're not done yet -- the new AdWords interface is built on an infrastructure that lets us develop features more quickly than in the past, so you'll continue to see new features launched regularly in the coming months."

Google has a microsite set up where advertisers can get better acquainted with the new interface. There are also training videos.

Google Launches New Templates for Display Ads

Chris Crum — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:31:58 +0000

Google has introduced a set of new ad templates for its Display Ad Builder tool. The templates, which Google refers to as "elegant" reside in the "general" category.

"These templates have ready-made buttons and backgrounds that give each ad a cohesive look and feel," says Dan Friedman of Google's Inside AdWords Crew. "More specifically, the backgrounds use subtle gradients and the new buttons have unique shapes, icons and color treatments. The goal of these ads is to make it as easy as possible to create high-quality ads in a matter of seconds without having to use complex graphics software."

With some of the new templates, advertisers need only upload their product image and write some text, and the template pretty much takes care of itself. For the design-impaired, it's a good way to easily create a decent looking ad.

In addition, most of them seem to cater to "clickiness," meaning they make it easy for a call to action to inspire a click.

To use the templates, just click Display Ad Builder on the Create an Ad page in AdWords. Google Display Ads features over 90 different templates. Google offers a display ads tutorial here.

Google Talks Future of Search Advertising

Chris Crum — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:22:02 +0000

Google AdWords Business Product Management Director Nicholas Fox gave a keynote speech at Search Engine Strategies. He talked about where the search industry is going, and where it's been.

On the history of AdWords, he says Google quickly realized that banner ads didn't make sense with search, sow they tried the text ad, and it has worked pretty well. Google is now running over a billion text ad auctions a day.

Fox says there are about 100 billion pages on the web, 500 billion images on the web, and 20 hours of video uploaded every minute. After mentioning the bid simulator, which we covered recently, he said that search advertising is really still about three things:

1. Keywords
2. Text Ads
3. Cost per click

The next search revolution is beginning though according to Fox. He notes that innovation is coming from all kinds of places, and to users it means better quality and relevant ads. For advertisers, it means better results, he says.

According to Fox, it's going beyond keywords, and Google is looking at all kinds of ways to make search better. The company is looking at matching information about your product or service and automatically building ads based on crawling your website.

Following is a Q&A session with Fox from the keynote (text may not be verbatim):

Q: How do you referee between 2 advertisers going after the same chunk of meat?

A: We try to be as objective as possible. We determine a conversion rate combined with a bid to result certain ads first.

Q: Is the wave going to present pay per click opportunities?

A: I don't know. Sydney engineers developed this, they thought big... later we will see whether advertising makes sense. No plans now.

Q: Why is CPA more advanced on display ads rather than search

A: Search has much more known value on search vs. display. Advertisers demand cpa deals on display more than on search. I see this moving to search as well.

Q: What is the future of search and image recognition?

A: The is a similar image feature on Google image search now. This is an area Google will continue to invest in. There are incredible opportunities to bring this to advertisers as well.

Q: I there an advantage for ads with generic words?

A: It depends on whether it is the same advertiser or two different advertisers. If they are similar the highest quality will rank higher.

Q: What are the biggest mistakes and please comment on mobile search?

A: We would have liked to have more quickly experimented on ad creativity, sizes, etc....

The emergence of more sophisticated phones has been the biggest change to mobile search. It is clearer how search and advertising can move to mobile devices.

Q: Where are the largest volumes happening on mobile search?

A: There is a lot of volume in Japan and the US. We see a lot of local search and product search. We also see a lot of porn on mobile devices.

Q: What could replace keywords?

A: Here is my product catalog, descriptions of products. The keyword was great 5 years ago but the closer we can get to what the advertiser is selling the better.

Q: I have never seen Google analytics higher than AdWords?

A: I will have to look at this further ... they should be the same, but we are working on it.

Q: Are there plans to integrate AdWords and analytics?

A: I want to be careful not to pre-announce features. However, we are working on features with this in mind. Nothing has been announced yet.

Q: When will the CPA be as regulated in terms of price as the CPC? Why is cost per click locked in and CPA more varied in terms of price?

A: It comes down to inaccurate estimates of your conversion rate.

AdWords-Related Schoemaker Suit Settled

Doug Caverly — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:27:32 +0000

Not too long ago, quite a mess came into being as Jeremy Schoemaker sued Keyen Farrell for his (alleged) misuse of Google AdWords. Farrell countersued, claiming defamation. Now, Farrell's withdrawn his lawsuits and reached a settlement with Schoemaker, but things might actually escalate rather than go back to normal.

The truly odd thing about this situation was that Farrell worked as a Google AdWords account specialist. So if, as Schoemaker accused, Farrell was posting advertisements that infringed on the ShoeMoney trademark, his behavior is rather hard to excuse.

Moreover, it's difficult not to think about what sort of responsibility for the problem Google itself should or shouldn't bear. And that's where a juicy-if-true bit of gossip enters the equation. Barry Schwartz writes, "[T]here is a rumor that Farrells agreed to legally testify against Google, if Schoemaker decides to take Google to court."

Also, Schwartz heard that the settlement involves Farrell paying $150,000 to the ShoeMoney Media Group. So it seems reasonable to believe that any lawsuit Schoemarker brings against Google would name an equal or greater amount.

This will bear watching. We'll be sure to report any updates.

Sure, enough, UPDATE: Per the comment from J. Scott Paul below, it seems that the rumors were incorrect.

Google Lets You Simulate AdWords Performance

Chris Crum — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:13:09 +0000

Google launched an interesting new feature to the AdWords interface that lets you see what could have been if you had bid differently. The feature, called the Bid Simulator, shows you the potential impact of your bid on your advertising results.

"While it can't predict the future, the bid simulator allows you to explore what could have happened if you had set different keyword-level bids," says Dan Friedman of Google's Inside AdWords crew.

The Bid Simulator uses data from the past week to re-calculate the number of impressions for which your ad could've shown if you chose a different maximum CPC, how many clicks your ad could've gotten for those impression, and how much those clicks could've cost.

"The feature provides increased transparency into the AdWords auction and gives you the insight to make more informed bidding decisions to meet your advertising objectives," says Friedman.

Advertisers can take advantage of the information they obtain from the Bid Simulator and apply changes to their campaigns in the future, should they choose to do so. As Friedman notes, however, past performance does not guarantee future results.

To use the Bid Simulator, go to the "keywords" tab in your AdWords Account, click the bid simulator icon in the Max. CPC column next to the bid of any keyword.

New Local Ad Strategy for AdWords

Chris Crum — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:37:47 +0000

Today Google announced a new AdWords feature called location extensions. The feature allows advertisers to add dynamic addresses to their ads.

"If you're a business owner, you can set up extensions by linking an AdWords campaign to your Local Business Center (LBC) account," explains Emel Mutlu of Google's Inside AdWords Crew. "If you're not the primary business owner of the locations you're advertising, you can manually enter addresses directly into AdWords."

"For example, a clothing brand that distributes to a number of different stores might want to associate their ads with various store locations through extensions, even though their official business address doesn't correspond to those addresses," Mutlu adds.

Google matches business locations to users' search terms and shows the address with advertisers' text ads. When Google can't determine a location or if the address isn't relevant, users will just see the ad without the address.

Advertisers also have the option of not making the address dynamic. If they prefer, they can simply show a specific address for an individual ad.

Ads can show with their relevant extensions on Google and Google Maps. They will show as regular text ads without the extensions on partner sites.

Location extensions will become fully available in the coming weeks. Some advertisers already have access to the feature. Local business ads will no longer be a separate format. Advertisers who already have local business ads, however, will be happy to know that their ads will continue to run as long as they're not edited.

More information about the local extensions can be found here.

Using Google's Conversion Optimizer

Chris Crum — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:12:28 +0000

Google announced that Conversion Optimizer is now available for more campaigns. Now any campaign with at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days will be able to use it. Conversions can be tracked through AdWords Conversion Tracking or as linked Google Analytics Goals.

Google points to a recent analysis, which showed that campaigns that have adopted Conversion Optimizer, saw a 21% increase in conversions, while decreasing CPA (cost per acquisition) by 14%. Austin Rachlin of Google's Inside AdWords crew writes:

An example of this improvement can be seen in PRWeb, who describe the results they saw from Conversion Optimizer as "phenomenal". Meg Walker, the Director of Online Marketing for PRWeb, initially turned to Conversion Optimizer in order to improve PRWeb's campaign management and results. Within a week she was able to see the value of Conversion Optimizer for driving incremental conversions at lower costs. Overall, she's been able to reduce CPA and CPC by 12.5% and 5.4% respectively and increase overall conversion rates by 76.5%. Even more impressive, one campaign that seemed to be maxed out increased conversions by 201.5% and decreased cost per conversion by 66.5%.

Rachlin says the success PRWeb achieved with Conversion Optimizer has freed up funding and time that can now be spent on other aspects of its business.

To get started with Conversion Optimizer, users need to sign into AdWords (obviously), and install conversion tracking. To enable conversion optimizer, click edit settings, find the networks and bidding section, click change bidding strategy, and then select the radio button for conversion optimizer, and save.

After that, the system asks if you'd like to start with the recommended bid or create a custom bid. Then save changes and you're good to go.

Here's 10 steps for conversion optimization with Google Analytics. Have you used Conversion Optimizer? What have your own results been like?

Google Aims to Help Advertisers Improve Conversions

Chris Crum — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:07:42 +0000

There have been a couple of videos recently highlighted on Google company blogs that AdWords advertisers should pay attention to if their conversions are not where they want them to be. These videos deal with landing pages and ad copy.

The first video is actually a full webinar on landing pages, and is a bit lengthy. It is an important topic though, and if landing pages are a weakness for your business, it would probably be wise to view it. It runs about an hour and fifteen minutes, and talks about the "7 deadly sins of landing page design."

The second video asks a very important question: How will your customers know you really have what they want? As the video's narrator says, potential customers only see your ad when they type in a search query. They don't see your keywords, your ad groups, your campaigns, etc. You have to grab their attention.

The following video, which is much shorter than the previous one (this one comes in at a minute and a half), provides tips for using compelling ad copy that attracts clicks.

The click and the landing page are two of the most important elements of the conversion. Google wants you to improve your conversions, because it's better for their service that way. The more successful you are, the more successful they are. It stands to reason that they would offer you tips that they truly believe will help your AdWords performance.

Some of it is common sense, but in this industry, that is a trait that is often overlooked. In the heat of competition, sometimes the basics are overlooked.

Google Sued By Rosetta Stone Over Trademarks

Mike Sachoff — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:39:03 +0000

Update

WebProNews spoke to Eric Goldman, Associate Professor, Santa Clara University School of Law and Director of the High Tech Law Institute about the latest trademark case brought against Google.

Eric Goldman

Goldman said the lawsuit by Rosetta Stone was the ninth keyword trademark suit brought against Google that he was aware of. He said "suing Google has become the new American pastime."

He noted that Google did settle a similar lawsuit brought by American Airlines over keywords that was resolved out of court. Details of the terms of the settlement have not been made public and Goldman says it's an unusual deal Google made with American.

Goldman does not think Google will settle with Rosetta Stone out of court and that case along with the other eight cases against Google would likely be consolidated into one court.

Goldman believes that we are years away from a definitive resolution to such suits and that the laws are currently too confusing.

Orginal Article

Language-learning firm, Rosetta Stone, filed a lawsuit today in U.S. federal court against Google, claiming that the company is infringing on its trademarks.

In its lawsuit, Rosetta Stone alleges that Google allows third parties including individuals involved in software piracy to purchase the right to use Rosetta Stone trademarks or other terms confusingly similar in Google's Adwords advertising program.

Michael Wu

In June 2009, Google changed its policy stating that "advertisers will be allowed to use trademark terms in their ad text even if they do not own that trademark or have explicit approval from the trademark owner to use it."

"Google's search engine is helping third parties mislead consumers and misappropriate Rosetta Stone trademarks by using them as 'keyword' triggers for paid advertisements and by using them within the text or title of paid advertisements," said Michael Wu, general counsel, Rosetta Stone.

"Google and its advertisers benefit financially from and trade off the goodwill and reputation of Rosetta Stone without incurring the substantial expense that Rosetta Stone has incurred in building up its popularity, name recognition, and brand loyalty."

With its lawsuit, Rosetta Stone is seeking injunctive relief to stop Google from selling the Rosetta Stone trademarks or other terms confusingly similar for use in Google's Adwords advertising program.

Google Launches New, Cheaper AdWords API

Chris Crum — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:15:25 +0000

Google has launched a new version of the AdWords API. The company says this version offers more speed, scale, and flexibility to developers at a lower cost.

The AdWords API lets developers build apps that interact with the AdWords platform. With the API, users can:

- Automatically generate keywords, ad text, and destination URLs

- Integrate AdWords data with their inventory system to manage campaigns based on stock

- Develop additional tools and applications to help them manage accounts

With AdWordsAPI v2009 comes a revised set of terms and conditions. "This change includes a more comprehensive explanation of our policy regarding the commingling of data, and also redefines the required minimum AdWords functionality for third party developers," explains AdWords API Product Manager Doug Raymond. A list of the required and optional features can be found here.

The new version also comes with a new rate sheet. "We've lowered the cost of v2009 for the average developer by approximately 20% through reducing the unit cost of our most commonly called operations -- add criteria, add, and set adgroup," says Raymond.

The new version of the API is still in beta, and Google is asking developers to sign up for access. Documentation can be found here.

Raymond says that over the next few months, Google will introduce new features and additional AdWords functionality to the API. Look for things like partial failure acceptance, asynchronous calls, keyword tools, and MCC & reporting functionality.

10 Steps for AdWords Conversion Optimization

Chris Crum — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:10:38 +0000

Google has announced that AdWords advertisers can now import Google Analytics Goals and Transactions into their AdWords accounts to use as conversion actions. This allows users to track campaign return-on-investment (ROI), and optimize their accounts for conversions within the AdWords interface (the new one will soon be widespread).

Previously, users would have had to install AdWords Conversion Tracking separately to use the feature, now they can just follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Google Analytics account.

2. Click "Edit Account and Data Sharing Settings."

3. Make sure you've selected at least the "With other Google products only" options under "Share my Google Analytics data."

4. Click "Save Changes" to finish.

5. Go to your AdWords account

6. Navigate to the "Conversion Tracking" page from within your AdWords account.

7. Click "Link your Analytics goals and transactions" from the Conversion Tracking table.

8. Select the Goals or Transactions you want from the list.

9. Edit the action name so you can identify the goals in your AdWords reports.

10. Select "Link" from the bottom of the table to finish.

"One of the benefits of importing your Google Analytics Goals and Transactions into AdWords is that you can use them with the Conversion Optimizer, an AdWords CPA bidding tool that has been shown to help advertisers get more conversions from AdWords," says Emel Mutlu of Google's Inside AdWordsCrew. "Conversion Optimizer makes it a lot easier to manage your AdWords bidding and maximize results."

If you want more tips on using conversion optimizer itself, Google has ten of them up here. Also check out the FAQ page.

Are You Prepared for the New AdWords Interface?

Chris Crum — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:15:39 +0000

Google announced today that it has two updates regarding the release of the New Adwords Interface. For one, they've made the interface available to everyone who uses AdWords Standard Edition. Secondly, Google has begun the migration process already with a small number of accounts.

Google recently sent emails to users letting them know their accounts would be converted to the new interface in the coming weeks. The email said users had at least 30 days before their account would be updated, but Austin Rachlin of the Inside AdWords notes that most advertisers will actually have more than that, because 30 days is simply the minimum amount of time.

Previous Interface

New Interface

"We're taking a gradual and deliberate approach to ensure a smooth transition, and we won't upgrade your account until we're confident that the new interface meets your advertising needs," says Rachlin.

Nevertheless, Google reminds us that the time to prepare is now if you have not already done so. There are plenty of resources at your disposal, the most significant one being the New Interface microsite, which offers videos, a list of new features, a list of things that have changed, and a quiz so that you can test your knowledge regarding the new interface.

The moral of the story is, you may have some time left before you have to switch, but that it is not unlimited. You'd be doing yourself a huge favor by getting familiar with the new interface before the time comes.

Google Moves Closer To Paying $20M Settlement

Doug Caverly — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:41:59 +0000

People who may be affected by a class action lawsuit against Google have been receiving some interesting notices in their inboxes lately. It looks like certain AdWords advertisers are on track to split a $20 million settlement starting September 14th.

The lawsuit stemmed from accusations that Google would sometimes exceed advertisers' daily budgets. Google, while denying any wrongdoing, agreed to compensate them with $20 million in a mixture of cash and AdWords credits, and now it's down to the settlement hearing in September to determine exactly what will happen next.

As explained in a settlement notice obtained by Barry Schwartz, "The purpose of the Settlement Hearing will be, among other things: (1) to determine whether the proposed Settlement Agreement is fair, reasonable and adequate to the Class and should be approved by the Court . . . and (2) to consider the reasonableness of an application by Representative Plaintiffs' Counsel for payment of attorney's fees and reimbursement of costs and expenses incurred in connection with the Action and for incentive compensation award to the Representative Plaintiffs."

A preliminary arrangement would, as noted in April by Chris Crum, see lawyers getting $5,000,000, the two representative plaintiffs receiving $20,000 each, and everybody else dividing the $14,960,000 in leftovers.

Affected advertisers may want to either plan for a little free credit, then, or get their paperwork in order if they for some reason want to be excluded from the legal class.