AdWords Agency Blog

Prepare your AdWords accounts for Black Friday

2009-11-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

It's the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and all you're probably thinking about right now is "I need to defrost the turkey, pick up another can of pumpkin filling, and vacuum before family arrives." That, and "are my clients' accounts ready for Black Friday, the busiest retail shopping day of the year?"

To ensure that you and your clients have a successful Black Friday, we wanted to use this Holiday Campaign Countdown post to share some quick last minute tips from our Optimization Specialists.

While Black Friday typically refers to in-store traffic, the retail industry has seen dramatic year over year increases in e-commerce sales and searches¹. Analysts have also pointed to significant spikes in online shopping on Cyber Monday. The Monday after Thanksgiving yields sales spikes for e-commerce retailers² and is fueled by promotions such as percent off sales, free gifts, and free shipping.

Our suggestions for any retail accounts (or others that might see this seasonal spike) before you leave the office for the Thanksgiving Holiday are:

Promotions - Be sure to highlight any promotions you have in your ad text whether they are Black Friday specific or not. If you have a discount on shipping or it is free, highlight this.
Budgets - Increase budgets across all campaigns to a comfortable level knowing that traffic spikes will be likely. Make sure ads keep showing when a user searches.
Bids – Modify bids on top performing and generic keywords knowing that competition on Black Friday/Cyber Monday will increase. Use the Bid Simulator to see what results you may get with different keyword maximum CPC bids, and consider using Conversion Optimizer to get as many profitable clicks as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[1] MarketingVox
[2] National Retail Federation with BIGresearch, Black Friday Weekend, 12/2/08. *Excludes Cyber Monday.

Posted by Ben Sheldon, Agency Optimization Strategist

Just in time for the holidays: Google Commerce Search

2009-11-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we announced a new tool designed to bring the power, speed, and relevancy of Google search to retail websites. With Black Friday (and Cyber Monday!) right around the corner we wanted to use this Holiday Campaign Countdown post to arm you with information for retail clients who may be shopping around for a new website search solution (pun intended).

As a hosted product, Google Commerce Search (GCS) installs quickly, scales effortlessly, and provides sub-second response times, even during seasonal traffic spikes. With advanced search features like spelling correction, automatic stemming, and custom synonyms, users will find what they're looking for without unnecessary clicks. Finally, Google Commerce Search is powered by the retailer's Google Merchant Center feed, streamlining implementation. Check out the full list of features in this overview video:

(click to watch video)

GCS provides visitors with an improved shopping experience, which can drive higher visitor-to-buyer conversion rates. While the conversion rates of most retailers is around 3%¹, the best-performing sites have been able to achieve much higher conversion rates – even reaching double digits. Google Commerce Search can help bridge the gap between user expectation and on-site technology, while freeing retailers to do what they do best, creating and selling products.

To learn more, be sure to sign up for an upcoming webinar on December 3rd. If you're unable to make it, you can learn more at google.com/commercesearch.

[1]Trends 2009: US Online Retail, Forrester Research, Inc., April 2009

Posted by Anna Bishop, Enterprise search team

New resource: Product guide for media buying and planning

2009-11-19T13:44:00.000-08:00

We know that media buyers and planners are challenged daily to stay up to date on the products, tools, pricing models and ad formats for the myriad of media companies with which they work. To make Google's tools and products more accessible, we developed Creative Canvas: A guide to Google media solutions. The guide features the Google media products and tools, such as YouTube ad solutions, APIs, and OpenSocial, that have brought to life some of the most innovative and creative campaigns on the Google platform.

We've organized it by the categories planning, placing, extending and measuring to make it easy to find the right resource to get the job done. In addition, if you know exactly what you're looking for, you can find it in the index.

You may download the guide here. Have questions or feedback? Email sandbox@google.com.

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team

Upcoming webinar - Google Account Security: Tips & Best Practices

2009-11-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

For most, the holiday season is about giving; for some, though, it's unfortunately about taking - through scams, identity theft and more. With the holidays approaching, many of you are beginning to update your ads and content for a busy marketing season. Are you also checking that your systems are updated with the latest security patches? Do you know who has access to your account(s)? Is your account information/passwords strong and secure?

As part of our holiday campaign countdown series, we're pleased to bring you a webinar on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 11amPST highlighting account security best practices and tips to keep your campaigns running smoothly during this busy time. In this training, we'll cover common security techniques, review ways to identify suspicious internet behavior and suggestions on the best ways to protect your computer and your personal information. Additionally, learn about an existing Google feature that allows you to better manage your account and thus improve your account security.

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 11amPST / 1pmCST / 2pmEST
Register here

Posted by Nina Hoang, Account Security Team

Google Content Network Blast delivers a big bang for your buck

2009-11-16T11:42:00.000-08:00

If you live in the New York area, you may have heard or seen the so-called "Google surge," or Google Content Network blast that NY Mayor Bloomberg used to impact voters' decisions in the final hours of the mayor's reelection race. An increasing number of advertisers across industries, including auto, retail, and entertainment, have also used Google Content Network blasts to drive awareness of a new vehicle launch, viewer tune-in for a show, or traffic to an online contest with great success.

The Google Content Network blast entails serving up an advertiser's ads on multiple Google Content Network sites over a specific period of time, blanketing a particular geographic region, audience segment, or high traffic sites, depending on the advertiser's goal. On average, blasts can deliver 100 million ad impressions in 24-48 hours. But you're probably wondering what is special about Google Content Network blasts versus your typical portal homepage buy?

Google Content Network blasts deliver your message on a larger universe of sites than a single portal homepage, thereby reaching more of your customers. In a recent Google and TNS Compete study for a large automaker¹, we found that Google Content Network blasts reach 58% of online auto buyers, which is 20% more than a top portal homepage², and 23% of buyers were reached exclusively on sites available only on the Google Content Network². In addition, 30% of auto buyers never went to one of the major portal homepages 6 to 9 months prior to purchasing their vehicle³. And the best part of all is Google Content Network blasts require no advance booking and deliver relevant ads at a much lower CPM than portal takeovers.

So, as we enter the peak holiday shopping season, consider how you're getting the word out on your merchandise and holiday offerings. Want to make a last minute big impression? Visit The Google Content Network site to learn more, and try out a Google Content Network blast for yourself.

1 Google, Inc. and TNS Compete study for large automaker, May 2009
2 Reach is based on a custom GCN site pack using a parameter of 2% buyer composition mix per site
3 Based on observed clickstream behavior of buyers

Posted by Keiko Tokuda, Google Content Network Marketing Team

Leave no website un-searched!

2009-11-13T13:35:00.000-08:00

Most of us can't imagine the web without search, yet when it comes to on-site search, the majority of websites are lagging behind. According to industry research, 85% of site searches don't return what the user sought¹, and 22% of site searches return no results at all². For clients who may have site search quality issues, leading to site abandonment, we have a cost-effective solution for you to share with them.

Google Site Search is a quick and easy way to add or improve website search capability. Hosted in Google's network of data centers, Google Site Search brings the speed, quality, and relevancy of Google search to sites with no on-premise hardware or software. Administrators can control the look and feel of the search engine, including optional Google branding and an XML API that allows for complete customization. New features like rich snippets, metadata refinements, top result and date biasing, and on-demand indexing make for a powerful search experience.

Starting at $100 per year, it's easy and affordable for clients to add Google Site Search to a blog or website of any size. To learn more and sign up, visit google.com/sitesearch today.

(1) "Enriching Search: Efficiency Without Additional Spending," Jupiter Research
(2) "Unpuzzling Search: Best Practices from Mondosoft Study," IDC

Posted by Anna Bishop, Enterprise Search Team

Google Ad Planner and DFA updates provide more data, more ways

2009-11-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

The latest enhancements to Google Ad Planner and DoubleClick's DART for Advertisers (DFA) bring new ways to help streamline your online display advertising workflow. With the newly launched DFA Analytics beta and beta integration of Google Ad Planner into the DFA platform, you'll now have a singular, seamless portal for planning, executing, and measuring campaigns -- with just one login. This unified set of tools, all accessible through the DFA platform, bring more efficiency to the campaign management process, saving valuable time and resources.

Beyond access enhancements, both DFA Analytics and Ad Planner also provide you with more data and more ways to analyze it. We've summarized the changes to each product for quick reference below, but be sure to check out the official DoubleClick and Ad Planner blog posts for full details.

The new DFA Analytics beta helps you:

Gain insights quickly. Interactive reports mean easier navigation through your accounts and data. You can model data in charts and graphs, as well as drill up and down through criteria such as advertiser, campaign, or targeting settings.
Get your reports faster. Reports update frequently - every few hours - and the new user interface enables you to access your data quickly.
Use new types of reports. Pull geographic delivery data. Additional reports show delivery data by bandwidth, browser, and operating system.

And Ad Planner's new capabilities now enable you to:

View subdomain data. See data including traffic estimates and demographics for the largest ten subdomains of any top-level domain. Once you identify subdomains to add, you can do so easily in Ad Planner.
See available ad placements while researching sites. You'll also be able to search for ad placements alongside domains on the "Search by audience" tab and see traffic and demographic estimates for each placement
Visualize audience data easily. Quickly compare reach and relevancy of sites you select with a new interactive graph.
Access more granular publisher data. With publishers now able to opt-in their Analytics data, you'll receive more accurate and specific information about their sites.
Use Ad Planner within DoubleClick DFA. Log in to your DoubleClick DFA account to access Ad Planner and have one tool for campaign planning, trafficking, and measurement. (Note: This feature is rolling out to all users over the next couple weeks)

If you haven't yet tried Ad Planner, give it a go at www.google.com/adplanner. And for more information on DART for Advertisers, visit DoubleClick.com and fill out an inquiry form.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Think2010 - we've been thinking about you

2009-11-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Earlier this fall we launched Think2010 - an aggregation of resources highlighting perspectives on the changing face of marketing and strategies to help you prepare for 2010 and beyond.

It's been a few weeks since the Agency Blog team brought you an update on this initiative, so wanted to highlight some of the Think2010 resources now available:

Blog series - each week the Inside AdWords Blog team will be devoting a post to data, trends and tactics you can use to craft your 2010 strategy. Most recently, it featured an interview with Rick Carpenter from the agency DDB who shared the importance of focusing on the customer. Check out the blog series here.

Fast.Forward. - we're continuing to expand the volume of thought leader videos and consumer trend data on the Fast.Forward. channel, a joint effort between Google and the Wharton School. Watch highlights from our Think{Industry} events series (under "Videos" > "Industry") and use The Barometer (accessible from the "Trends" tab) to understand consumer sentiment on a daily basis.

Webinars - in addition to videos, we wanted to bring you opportunities to hear directly from industry leaders, such as Bonita Stewart, Managing Director US Sales, and Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist, via in-person webinars. Upcoming events and links to past sessions can be found on the Inside AdWords Blog as well as the Think2010 site.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Place Pages now in Placement Performance reports

2009-11-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

You may remember that earlier this fall we announced the launch of Place Pages for Google Maps, which are web pages for every place in the world. Interested users can find relevant information, photos, directions, and reviews for their favorite places. Users will also see contextually targeted ads, and with the inclusion of Place Pages in Placement Performance reports, you'll now have insight into whether your clients' ads appeared on a Place Page and how they performed.

With this update, you can more closely monitor and optimize your clients' campaigns. While placement targeting is not available for Google Maps, you can increase the likelihood of appearing on Place Pages by increasing bids on high-performing keywords or by creating ad groups with highly specific keywords to target Place Pages relevant to your clients' products or businesses.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Display Week is Back!

2009-11-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

The leaves are changing and there's a chill in the air. Hot cocoa and comfort foods are just around the corner. Get ready to warm up with, you guessed it, Display Week!

On Monday November 9, 2009, we kick off our quarterly Display Week webinar series including 10 Tips for Display in 2010, YouTube Promoted Videos, and some very exciting Ad Planner demonstrations.

Webinar seats are limited so sign up today for the week of display. If you can't make the festivities, don't fret. All sessions will be recorded and posted to the training site after the week wraps up.

See you online!

Posted by Kate Stonich, Agency Team

Upcoming webinar: Reaching auto consumers

2009-11-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

If you work with clients in the automotive industry, join us for our upcoming webinar, Driving International Success: Reaching Auto Consumers Globally.

We've partnered with NetPop to share new research for 17 key markets around the world. We'll explore the trends shaping auto buyer behavior across the globe to help inform and guide your marketing decisions. Register below for one of the upcoming dates.

Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 9:00 am PST
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 7:30 pm PST

Posted by: Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Maximize coverage this season with Opportunities Tab

2009-10-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

For the sixth installment of the Holiday Campaign Countdown series, I am happy to share some tips on the Opportunities tab to ensure you're maximizing coverage for your clients this holiday season.

Opportunities tab serves as a central location for easy access to budget and keyword suggestions, as well as other AdWords tools you've used before.

(Click to view full size image)

The 'Budget Ideas' area will suggest you adjust your budget if your campaigns are missing out on valuable traffic due to budget constraints or increased click volume on keywords popular around the holidays. To help you decide, this section will demonstrate potential increased click and impression volume that would result from an increased investment.

The 'Keyword Ideas' area will provide automatically customized keyword suggestions based on your client's website, account information, and actual searches on Google.com. Like the budget suggestions, you will be able to see the traffic increase that would result from including additional keywords. Since some suggestions are based on actual searches performed on Google.com, you may find some cost-effective long tail keywords to add to your client's list. The tool will even suggest specific campaigns and ad groups in which to add these keywords. The best part is - you can add them right from the tab into the campaigns!

You'll also notice that other familiar AdWords tools are available on the Opportunities tab on the lower left hand side of the page.

You know your clients' businesses best - so please assess our suggestions with your clients' goals in mind.

Finally, visit this tab often - we'll be refreshing suggestions every few weeks and adding new features soon!

For additional information on the Opportunities tab, visit the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Erin McMahon, Agency Team

Retail blog: the gift that keeps on giving

2009-10-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

The snow showers which dusted the Northeast last week were a great (albeit chilly) reminder that the holidays will be here before we know it. To help keep your spirits warm, the fifth installment in our Holiday Campaign Countdown series brings you a gift that keeps on giving - daily holiday posts on the Google Retail blog, which will run through the end of 2009.

These posts will provide you with useful data to better understand consumer intentions and purchase trends so that you may refine your clients' marketing plans accordingly.

For a little taste of what's to come, check out the posts on holiday purchase trends to date and early bird vs. last minute shoppers data.

Interested in having these posts delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Retail blog here.

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Marketing

Google Website Optimizer API webinar

2009-10-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

You may have read about the recent launch of the Google Website Optimizer Experiment Management API, which allows you to run Website Optimizer experiments without touching a website's code.

If you're interested in learning more about the API, please join the Website Optimizer engineers for a webinar on October 28th at 10AM PDT. You'll learn how the API works and CrownPeak and Blast Advanced Media's Motivity CMS will demonstrate how they've integrated Website Optimizer into their platforms.

Register for the webinar here, and we hope you can attend.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Website Optimizer Team

Upcoming webinars to get you thinking

2009-10-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

In the coming weeks Google's marketing teams will be hosting webinars on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, how to reach physicians online, and planning for 2010.

In reading this and other posts, you're probably thinking, "There's a lot of 'Think' resources out there." You're right! We've got Think with Google webinars, focusing on cross-industry research and best practices; Think{Industry} webinars and events, highlighting research and trends to help inform vertical-specific marketing strategies; and Think2010, resources to help you get ahead during the recovery. Lots to think about!

Additional details and registration information can be found below.

DoubleClick Ad Exchange Overview
In September, we launched DoubleClick Ad Exchange, an open and transparent marketplace that aggregates buyers and sellers of online display advertising. Join us for a one hour webinar which covers what the Ad Exchange is, how it impacts pricing, inventory and the Google Content Network, and what solution to choose.

Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 11:30amPST / 1:30pmCST / 2:30pmEST
Event password: ad
Registration password: agency1
Register here

ThinkHealth with Google - Connecting with Physicians Online
Google recently conducted a study on how physicians use the Internet, and specifically search, as a part of their clinical practice. Join us for a webinar to review how physicians use the web for health, medical and prescription drug information, which they use to make health decisions. The insights will help you best utilize the Internet and search to adapt marketing programs to target physicians.

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2009 11amPST / 1pmCST / 2pmEST
Register here

Think2010: Four Winning Moves for 2010
In our ever-changing marketplace, marketers need to thoughtfully plan the moves that will differentiate their offerings, increase competitive advantage, and seize opportunities as the economy recovers. Join us as Bonita Stewart, Managing Director, US Sales, leads a discussion on four winning marketing strategies you can utilize to prepare your business for success in 2010 and beyond.

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10amPST / 12pmCST / 1pmEST
Register here

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

It's all about the conversions

2009-10-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of metrics that matter to your clients when evaluating performance, but one of the most important figures for your clients' success is conversions. Our Google teammates in the UK have started a blog called the Conversion Room that focuses on how to use Google tools to measure and increase the number of conversions your clients receive.

Occasionally, some of the information may be UK-focused, but you'll find the overwhelming majority of tips and tools to be applicable no matter where you're located, such as how to use the Search Based Keyword Tool to find high-converting keywords. We hope you find the Conversion Room blog useful. Bookmark it, follow it with Friend Connect, or subscribe via RSS, and get hands-on with your conversion knowledge.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

AdWords API v2009 updates - released, future and deprecated features

2009-10-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

We're happy to announce the newest version of AdWords API v2009 beta -- v200909. If you're a current API user, check out the updates below. If you're not yet using the API, please visit the Google AdWords API homepage for information on getting started.

New Features

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. v2000909 will also continue to support synchronous methods.
Keyword and placement ideas - With the new TargetingIdeaService, you'll be able to get keyword and placement ideas through the API, using 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.

For a complete list of the changes in v200909, please see our release notes.

Coming Soon
Over the next few months, we'll continue to introduce new features and additional AdWords functionality. Feature updates include ReportService and the ability to pre-check for errors.

Deprecated Services
With the release of equivalent functionality in v200909, the following v13 services are now deprecated: CampaignService, AdGroupService, CriterionService, AdService, InfoService, KeywordToolService, SiteSuggestionService.

As v2009 introduces some new concepts and features, we have extended the sunset period for deprecated services to 6 months. Accordingly, the deprecated v13 services will be turned off on April 22, 2010. If you haven't already begun migrating your systems to the v2009 API, we strongly encourage you to start right away. The deprecation of remaining v13 services (AccountService, TrafficEstimatorService, and ReportService) and accompanying sunset dates will be announced in the future.

As with every new version of the AdWords API, we strongly encourage you to review the resources in the Developer's Guide to learn more. Additionally, if you aren't using the AdWords API client libraries yet, this is a good time to check them out as they are designed to work with both v2009 and v13.

Posted by Shreyas Doshi, Product Manager and Adam Wooley, Product Marketing Manager

Google Analytics new features announced

2009-10-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Google Analytics just stepped out with a host of new features today, enhancing the product to further meet the needs of a range of businesses. There are eight new features, and we've selected two of our favorites as a sneak peek:

New engagement goals: You can now set goals for Time On Site and Pages Per Visit to help measure user engagement and branding success on your client's site. In addition, you can now define up to 20 goals per profile.
Analytics Intelligence: Everyone wants more data, but evaluating it all can be a battle. Analytics Intelligence aims to help ease the process, with automatic alerts to significant changes in the data patterns of your site metrics. You'll be able to identify sudden, uncharacteristic changes in traffic patterns so that you can diagnose the issue and react more quickly.

Read all about the new features in the Google Analytics Blog post, and check out the associated videos on the Google Analytics YouTube Channel.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Google Campaign Insights: Better measurement for display advertising

2009-10-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

As we've previously said, one of our aims is to improve display advertising on the web and, as a result, grow the display advertising pie for everyone. Three simple principles guide our approach: simplify the system for buying and selling display ads; deliver better performance that advertisers and agencies can measure; open up the ecosystem by making it accessible to more participants.

One question on the mind of every advertiser and agency is: how can I better measure the impact of my display ad campaign?

We hear you. A growing number of advertisers and agencies are running display ad campaigns across the Google Content Network, so we're investing substantially in creating better measurement tools for our clients. At the moment, an advertiser can measure how many clicks its display ads achieve, measure conversions that result from those clicks, compare results with industry benchmark data, and use View-through conversion reporting to measure visits to its website from users who saw its display ad in the past.

Today, we're pleased to announce the launch of a brand new tool to measure the impact of your display ads - Google Campaign Insights. As of today, Google Campaign Insights is available for larger display ad campaigns across the Google Content Network in the US and UK. Over time, we hope to roll it out more widely to assist even more advertisers and agencies in different parts of the world.

Google Campaign Insights is a unique measurement tool that can give reliable data about how a campaign has raised brand awareness, or active user interest, in a particular product or service. It looks beyond the traditional measures of clicks and conversions to calculate the incremental lift in both online search activity and website visits that result from a display ad campaign.

How does this all work? In short, we use the same expertise we use to improve our own services -- our ability to analyze large quantities of data. Google Campaign Insights compares two anonymized and aggregated data sets: a large group of users (many thousands, minimum) who saw a particular ad, with an equivalent, large group that did not see the ad. It then measures whether there is any significant difference in searches and visits to the advertiser's website between the two groups. Doing this, Google Campaign Insights can determine the incremental change that is directly attributable to the display ad campaign. With this insight, advertisers can establish how well their display ad campaign is working.

(Click for full size image)

Google Campaign Insights provides highly reliable results to marketers because of the statistical methodology our computer algorithms use to combine and analyze large volumes of data from several sources -- the advertiser's own campaign information, ad serving logs and sampled data from Google Toolbar installs that have opted in to enhanced features. All of the results reported to advertisers are anonymized and aggregated over thousands of users.

Advertisers or agencies who run wide-scale display ad campaigns on the Google Content Network and who want to take Google Campaign Insights for a spin should check with their Google representative.

We're excited about the contribution that Google Campaign Insights can make to our clients' campaigns on the Google Content Network and to display advertising generally.

Posted by Paul Todd, Product Management Director

[Note: This post has been reprinted from the Inside AdWords Blog]

Holiday Campaign Countdown - Get a boost from Google Product Search

2009-10-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

For the fourth installment in our Holiday Campaign Countdown series, we reached out to our friends on the Google Product Search team for some quick, cost-effective tips for expanding clients' online presence during the holiday season. Here's what Vivek Tata, Product Marketing Manager, has to share:

Over the past few months, Google Product Search has released some great new features for both shoppers and merchants. Heading into the holiday season, we want to make sure our merchants have all the information needed to maximize the impact of data feeds. Here's a checklist to make sure you're set for the holidays.
Submit all recommended and optional attributes, wherever they're relevant: Help shoppers make the best decisions by providing them with as much information as possible. For example, make sure you're submitting the UPC, Brand, and Product Type attributes.
Use the Google Local Business Center to provide local store locations: Google Product Search is now showing local store locations in our search results, so make sure your clients are sending us this data. Also, if they do have local stores, make sure to include the "online only" attribute in the Product Search feed for any items they don't stock in stores.
Send your clients' largest and highest-quality images: We're planning on experimenting with displays that use large images; products that have big, high-quality images will stand out. Please send us images that are at least 300x300 pixels, without resizing them.
Track your traffic: Use Google Analytics or your favorite web analytics program to track your traffic.
For additional information, visit our site for merchants. You may also follow us on the Google Merchant Blog.

Thanks Vivek, and happy planning!

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Marketing

Helping your clients "Go Mobile"

2009-10-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

With smartphone shipments set to outpace PCs shipments in 2009¹, a staggering number of people are accessing the Internet on mobile web browsers. With audiences increasingly going mobile, reaching consumers on their mobile phones is a growing and important media channel for many marketers. This unique platform offers many opportunities for your clients to engage with their audience because mobile devices are nearly always within their reach.

AdWords helps you go mobile with ease by extending your clients' search and display campaigns to mobile platforms. Whether you're new to mobile or have been using it since day one, we want to share with you a new resource that will help you incorporate mobile into your marketing campaigns: Go Mobile !

Designed to help you and your clients reach audiences, the Go Mobile ! site has tips that help you think about how to incorporate mobile into your clients' marketing campaigns - from ensuring that their site is mobile-friendly to how you can leverage location-based technologies to interact with your audience. We hope you'll find it useful in helping to connect your clients to their ever-growing base of mobile consumers.

[1] Source: Gartner and IDC

Posted by the Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Media and Entertainment spotlight: Tuning in and reading up

2009-10-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

The beat goes on with the fifth installment of our industry spotlight series. Since we're featuring the Media and Entertainment space in this post, you'll uncover the findings from research Nielsen and Google recently completed to measure the impact of TV and YouTube buys on TV tune-in and online behavior. We'll also give you some glamour to accompany those numbers, so read on to find out how Sports Illustrated used a YouTube campaign to successfully promote its 2009 swimsuit issue.

In a recent study, Google and Nielsen set out to answer the following questions:
1. Will a large-scale buy by a TV network on Google & YouTube increase TV tune-in? If so, by how much?
2. Will a large-scale buy by a TV network on Google & YouTube drive online behavior related to a TV show? If so, by how much?

The study: Consisted of two phases, with Nielsen first conducting research to measure the impact of large-scale campaign for a major network TV show season premiere. Nielsen then compared the exposed audience to a control group to determine ad effectiveness on both online and offline behaviors.

The campaign: A 2-week flight of a YouTube homepage masthead plus Google Content Network campaigns targeted to TV fans, entertainment buffs, and genre fans.

The results: The impact of the campaign on TV tune-in was strong, with the exposed audiences showing a tune-in increase of 134% lift for those that had seen the overall campaign, a 115% lift for those that had seen the YouTube homepage, and a 146% lift for those that had seen the Content Network campaign.

The impact on online behavior was even stronger, with greatly increased website and video visitation among the exposed audience. The results showed a 239% lift in visits to the network site, a 438% lift in visits for the show site, and a 456% lift in visits to the show video. Exposure to the campaign also increased the length of online viewership, measured in average minutes spent watching show videos: a 347% lift for those exposed to the overall campaign, a 968% lift for those exposed to the YouTube homepage, and a 172% lift for those exposed to the Content Network campaign.

In sum, the effect of exposure to the YouTube and Content Network campaigns drove a significant increase in TV tune-in and online behavior related to the TV show.

Exposure and engagement on YouTube can extend beyond the homepage, as Sports Illustrated discovered with their promotion of the 2009 swimsuit issue. Partnering with drink manufacturer SoBe, Sports Illustrated created a custom YouTube advertising program comprised of a number of elements, all centered on a co-branded YouTube Channel where users could watch over 40 videos highlighting the famous swimsuit models.

The Brand Channel videos generated over 8.5 million video views, 400,000 channel visits and 4,300 channel subscribers. The homepage roadblock received over 33 million impressions with a click-to-play rate of 3.4%, making the featured Sports Illustrated video the most viewed video on YouTube that day. For the full story of how the campaign became a swimming success and ideas on how to use YouTube for your next client campaign, download the case study.

Posted by Julia Burg, Industry Marketing Manager

Google Content Network Q&A

2009-10-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Josh Dreller, Vice President of Media Technology for Fuor Digital, sat down with one of our own Content Optimization Specialists, Jasper Seldin. Josh had some questions about the Google Content Network, and in this interview on the Search Engine Land blog, Jasper shares his thoughts on some hot topics, including:

Best practices for using negative keywords on the Content Network
How costs-per-click are calculated on the Content Network
How content targeting identifies themes in ads and web pages
Tips for setting up direct response campaigns on the Content Network

Read the full article to uncover all the details that Jasper shared with Josh, and for more information about the Content Network, check out our Content Network site.

Posted by the Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Holiday Campaign Countdown - Think with Google: Consumer Intentions for Holiday 2009

2009-10-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Helping your clients attract the right consumers this holiday season will be more important than ever, which is why for the third installment of the Holiday Campaign Countdown series, we'd like to invite you to the webinar "Think with Google: Consumer Intentions for Holiday 2009."

Join us as we share findings from new research on consumer plans for the 2009 holiday season and strategies agencies and marketers can take to better target and reach their customers.

During the webinar, we will discuss:

How consumer behavior has changed and how shopping habits look headed into the holiday season
What changing consumer behavior means for your search and online marketing strategies
Recommendations for how to effectively target your audience

Details:
Tuesday, October 20th 2009
11amPST / 1pmCST / 2pmEST
Register here

Posted by Eric Lopez, Retail Marketing

Webinar Recap: Using Data to Better Connect with Your Customers

2009-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Did you miss last week's Think2010 webinar "Using Data to Better Connect with your Customers," or are you interested in reviewing Avinash Kaushik's key takeaways? If so, read on for a recap of the presentation:

1. Mine Website Trends: Utilize Trends for Websites and other tools to index clients' performances, identify competitors' strengths, and find untapped opportunities.

2. Analyze the "Database of Intentions": Use Insights for Search to segment your clients' share of voice, obtain competitive gains, understand how to most effectively target their campaigns, and find out where they should focus their search efforts.

3. Monetize the Long Tail: Leverage the powerful Search-based Keyword Tool to identify your clients' long tail keywords based on their sites' content, and to find additional cost-effective targeted keywords.

4. Identify Relevant Audiences: Utilize Ad Planner to understand the demographic profile and search behavior of site visitors, and that of competitors, to effectively target clients' messages on the Google Content Network to the most relevant audiences.

Most importantly, Avinash's #1 Rule: Make sure that your clients' websites don't stink. What does he mean? Use data to identify fixes (e.g. pay attention to bounce rates) so that customers don't say, in Avinash's own words, "I came, I puked, I left." To learn more about how to improve your clients' web pages, check out this post by Avinash: Six Tips For Improving High Bounce / Low Conversion Web Pages.

Visit our Google Business Channel on YouTube to see the recorded version.

Interested in more information on the Think2010 series? Visit our site to learn more and sign up for the November 10th webinar "Four Winning Moves for 2010."

Posted by Jaime Mayer, Industry Marketing