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	<title>Web Search &amp; Marketing Newsletter</title>
	
	<link>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter</link>
	<description>The latest search engine optimisation and marketing news from the web search workshop</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:52:24 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
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		<atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/web-search-workshop-newsletter" /><feedburner:info uri="web-search-workshop-newsletter" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><xhtml:meta xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" name="robots" content="noindex" /><feedburner:browserFriendly>News, ideas and tips about search engine optimisation and other online marketing formats for UK business website owners.</feedburner:browserFriendly><item>
		<title>Google Improves the Ranking Results for Local Search</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/SxfRKSEo9bI/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/05/google-improves-the-ranking-results-for-local-search/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:52:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Local search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimisation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=390</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Google has recently introduced a significant algorithm boost to the quality of local search results within the main search listings. Codenamed &#8220;Venice&#8221;, this new update will help smaller, localised businesses to compete in the rankings against larger, national companies and will benefit them as the search results continue to become increasingly localised. Local search results [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Google has recently introduced a significant algorithm boost to the quality of local search results within the main search listings. Codenamed &#8220;Venice&#8221;, this new update will help smaller, localised businesses to compete in the rankings against larger, national companies and will benefit them as the search results continue to become increasingly localised.</p>
<p>Local search results are becoming increasingly important, particularly with mobile searchers, and so ranking positions on both Google Places and Google&#8217;s main organic results are something that any business with a localised target market needs to consider. Having a localised online marketing strategy, whether it&#8217;s for just one business location or multiple locations, is a key factor for search engine marketing, and Google’s recent changes make this more important than ever.</p>
<p>Google’s recent &#8220;Venice&#8221; update uses the signals within the main search results to help trigger relevant local results for the searcher, which is also based on the user’s location so that results should be more relevant to that location, whether or not a location term has been used in the search query. The location targeting is based on the searcher’s IP address location, which is also displayed in the left hand margin on the search results (and can be changed by the searcher if not correct).</p>
<p>This update therefore provides more opportunities for local companies to appear in the search results when relevant to local searchers, and therefore the SEO elements for a website and a Google Places listing become increasingly important. This could benefit local businesses that have previously been disadvantaged by larger firms in terms of their SEO targeting, through some improved optimisation of their sites for localised search terms.</p>
<p>These changes can involve a number of factors, from using the local terms in HTML tags and page content, to including local focused content on the website, and making updates to a website’s pages/architecture and the type of code that is used to micro-format the address. Links to the website that use the local search term in the text link also remain an important factor to support these type of rankings, as does the optimisation of a Google Places listing (which we covered in March 2011).</p>
<p>Therefore, careful localised optimisation is the key for local business marketing through search, as this Google Venice update shows that this is becoming increasing important at levelling the playing field between national and local firms. Businesses need to start developing a plan to deal with it to make sure they stay properly optimised and so take advantage of the opportunities that the updated algorithm change has to offer.</p>
<p>If you would like more information about how we can help to optimise your website to take advantage of this opportunity, contact us now for more details.</p>
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		<title>How Google’s Recent Ranking Changes Benefit High Quality Websites</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/kdkkqaVpxlQ/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/05/how-googles-recent-ranking-changes-benefit-high-quality-websites/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:51:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimisation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=388</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At the end of April, Google’s Webmaster Blog announced further changes to their ranking criteria that are designed to target &#8220;over optimised&#8221; websites and to benefit those that offer unique content and comply with Google’s guidelines. As part of their ongoing efforts to improve the relevancy and quality of results for users, Google’s latest changes [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At the end of April, Google’s Webmaster Blog announced further changes to their ranking criteria that are designed to target &#8220;over optimised&#8221; websites and to benefit those that offer unique content and comply with Google’s guidelines. As part of their ongoing efforts to improve the relevancy and quality of results for users, Google’s latest changes could shake up the rankings for some sectors of the market.</p>
<p>Google says that they don’t outlaw search engine optimisation as a practice &#8211; in fact they say that effective SEO can make a site easy to index, more accessible and easier to find. &#8220;White hat&#8221; search engine optimisers &#8211; the term often used to define &#8216;ethical&#8217;; techniques that comply with Google’s guidelines &#8211; are seen to improve the usability of a site, help create great content, or make sites faster, which is good for both users and search engines.</p>
<p>However, Google has always targeted &#8220;black hat webspam&#8221; and is continuing to do so with this latest update to their ranking criteria. Sites that use these techniques are targeting higher search rankings, possibly as a short term gain, and use techniques that don’t benefit users, since the intent is to look for shortcuts or loopholes that would rank pages higher than they deserve to be to be ranked. The type of webspam techniques that Google targets includes keyword stuffing or link schemes that attempt to propel sites higher in rankings.</p>
<p>Google’s success relies on continually providing good results for searchers. It’s therefore also their policy to try to reward the &#8220;good guys&#8221; making great sites for users, not just algorithms, to see their effort rewarded. The recent &#8220;Panda&#8221; updates over recent month have been focused on returning higher-quality sites in the search results and removing low quality or duplicated content. They have also introduced a page layout algorithm that reduces rankings for sites that don’t make much content available &#8220;above the fold&#8221; (on the screen before the user needs to scroll down the page).</p>
<p>Google has now just introduced a new algorithm change that targets webspam more intensely. The change will decrease rankings for sites that Google believes are violating their existing <a href="http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&amp;answer=35769#3" target="new">quality guidelines</a>. As usual, Google doesn’t divulge the specific signals so there will be much testing and comment by SEO practitioners over the coming weeks as to what factors are being targeted. Google’s advice is still to focus on building <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html" target="new">high quality websites</a> that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics.</p>
<p>At the Web Marketing Workshop, we’ve always focused on developing good SEO techniques for websites that won’t fall foul of Google’s penalties. If your site has been affected by these recent changes or you’d like to know more about the likely impact for your business, please contact us now for more information.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Quality Score Transparency Improved in Google AdWords</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/C0aWRHd_cCo/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/05/quality-score-transparency-improved-in-google-adwords/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:51:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pay-Per-Click Advertising]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=386</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As we’ve discussed in previous issues of our newsletter, Quality Score is a core component of a Google AdWords campaign and indicates the relevancy of each keyword, which in turn determines the ranking position of your adverts, based on your bid level. Google has just announced a change within the AdWords management interface to show [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As we’ve discussed in previous issues of our newsletter, Quality Score is a core component of a Google AdWords campaign and indicates the relevancy of each keyword, which in turn determines the ranking position of your adverts, based on your bid level. Google has just announced a change within the AdWords management interface to show more information about Quality Scores.</p>
<p>Quality Score is measured for each keyword and is an important metric to consider as it&#8217;s a measure of how relevant a campaign’s keywords are, based on clickthrough rate performance, advert content and landing page content. A high Quality Score means that Google&#8217;s systems think the ad, keyword, and landing page are all relevant and useful to someone looking at the advert, whereas a low quality score means the opposite. A high Quality Score also means that the advertiser needs to bid -and pay &#8211; less to achieve the same or better ranking position.</p>
<p>You can read more about the <a href="http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&amp;answer=2454010&amp;from=10215&amp;rd=1" target="new">Quality Score system</a> here. Although this is a key measure of the performance of an AdWords campaign, Quality Scores are hidden from the default view within the AdWords interface and you need to select the column to be displayed to show the scores for each keyword. There has been the option to hover over the keyword status &#8220;bubble&#8221; to view more information and this is what Google has just improved.</p>
<p>By using the status hover for a keyword in the Keywords view, you can see the 1-10 score level for the Quality Score for that term, plus the new ratings which have just been added in a new format. These ratings have a relative scale so advertisers can see whether their expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience is average, above average, or below average compared to other advertisers.</p>
<p>Although we recommend viewing all Quality Scores for your keywords by adding the extra column in the keywords view, this status hover option can provide more insight for individual terms that aren’t performing so well. The actual labelling against the 3 main criteria is mainly a renaming of the previous status levels, but allows advertisers to consider what aspects need to be improved &#8211; whether better focus for the keyword, improvements to the advert content, or the landing page.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to know more about how Quality Score can be viewed and managed to benefit your AdWords campaign, contact us now for more details.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Google launches an enhanced Display Network platform within AdWords</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/JszLyBh7M40/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/04/google-launches-an-enhanced-display-network-platform-within-adwords/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:12:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pay-Per-Click Advertising]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=381</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Google has recently begun to rollout the long-awaited overhaul of its Display Network. This is a significant development for all AdWords users, from individuals to professional marketing agencies, as the changes involve an entirely new platform that has been built from the ground up, specifically to run targeted campaigns across the third-party display network. The [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Google has recently begun to rollout the long-awaited overhaul of its Display Network. This is a significant development for all AdWords users, from individuals to professional marketing agencies, as the changes involve an entirely new platform that has been built from the ground up, specifically to run targeted campaigns across the third-party display network.</p>
<p>The Google Display Network (GDN) allows advertisers to display their ads on websites that are relevant to their product. Originally though, Google AdWords was built for search advertising and the display capabilities were built into it after that. Due to this, many marketing professionals felt that their ability to use the display network&#8217;s capabilities to target adverts on other sites effectively was restricted.</p>
<p>So Google has recently addressed this concern by giving a much-needed overhaul to this Display Network&#8217;s interface within AdWords and by improving its targeting. This is being done through the introduction of an overhauled contextual engine that&#8217;s used to match display adverts to website content, which in effect will combine the reach of display with the precision of search.</p>
<p>A new Display Network tab within AdWords is being rolled out to accommodate this. This new interface includes &#8216;Next-Gen Keyword Contextual Targeting&#8217; that enables similar features to those only previously available when running advertising campaigns through the search network. That is, the ability to assess and adapt performance at the keyword level, which will make it much easier to successfully manage and precisely target this type of campaign.</p>
<p>This enhancement in the control over the level of keyword targeting will be complemented by allowing marketers to reach more specifically defined target audiences. Please see the following article in this newsletter that defines these in more detail.</p>
<p>The control of the management over these campaigns will be improved with additional tools, such as the Display Campaign Optimiser and it will be possible to copy over search campaigns to use for GDN. Unlike search campaigns however, the keywords will only be broad matched, which may prove to be still slightly too wide a net to cast. It will certainly be an improvement over the previous level of targeting though, that involved having to use themed ad groups and will result in more in-depth performance analysis.</p>
<p>It is the opinion of some online marketing experts that there will be &#8220;more clarity into reporting and better data&#8221;. But further enhancements to the product are already eagerly anticipated, including reports that combine keyword performance and site placements, as well as search query reports, so advertisers can see the queries against which they were contextually matched.</p>
<p>These new management features, combined with the introduction of a visualisation tool (that shows how particular targeting decisions could affect the reach of the campaign), sound very promising. They should be a notable leap in the evolving accuracy and performance levels of the Google Display Network, although even more in-depth reporting features will be required in the future.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to know more about how this new GDN platform can enhance the effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns, contact us for more information.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Google’s Display Network targeting options</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/-CFg2W71SuE/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/04/googles-display-network-targeting-options/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:11:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pay-Per-Click Advertising]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=379</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The targeting options that are now available in the enhanced GDN platform have been vastly improved through Google&#8217;s recent overhaul of the interface within AdWords. They improve the way in which the two key marketing objectives are met: branding (through awareness/engagement) and performance improvements (through direct response/conversions). The way in which the audience for the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The targeting options that are now available in the enhanced GDN platform have been vastly improved through Google&#8217;s recent overhaul of the interface within AdWords. They improve the way in which the two key marketing objectives are met: branding (through awareness/engagement) and performance improvements (through direct response/conversions).</p>
<p>The way in which the audience for the former objective of branding is reached is through the broad placement/topic categories, as well as the more specific keyword contextual targeting. Interest category (based on interests and behaviour online) and demographic targeting then can further define this audience to a more granular level.</p>
<p>For example, a company that wants its audience to learn more about their particular basketball trainers can use the interest category targeting to show their ad to a wide range of people classified as &#8220;basketball enthusiasts&#8221;. Also, through using keyword contextual targeting to show the ad on web pages with basketball content, using keywords such as &#8220;basketball trainers&#8221; and &#8220;basketball shoes&#8221;.</p>
<p>The more specific audience for the latter objective of conversion performance through direct response can be found and reached directly through keyword contextual targeting, i.e. by targeting web pages with content that contain keywords that describe the product to be sold, such as &#8220;basketball trainers&#8221;. So this audience is immediately more specifically defined than &#8220;enthusiasts&#8221;, through not using the broader placement/topic categories.</p>
<p>Once this particular audience is found on sites that contain &#8220;basketball trainers&#8221; keywords, other interest categories or their demographics can further define this audience (and similar users) allowing it to be segmented further. If they decide not to purchase or register (i.e. &#8220;convert&#8221;) on these relevant sites, this particular audience can be tracked and targeted through remarketing. Further relevant ads would then be shown to them, to provide incentives to return to the website and convert.</p>
<p>These methods of targeting, particularly the new capability of more granular Display Network targeting through &#8220;Next-Gen Keyword Contextual Targeting&#8221; are a significant improvement. According to Google, this will provide publishers with better performing ads and greater engagement with their target audience, while users will see more relevant ads.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like more information about how these improvements in GDN targeting can enhance the online marketing of your business, contact us now.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>The top 10 reasons to use Google AdWords</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/QzLm36W40Rg/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/03/the-top-10-reasons-to-use-google-adwords/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pay-Per-Click Advertising]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=374</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At Web Marketing Workshop we love Google AdWords – as a marketing tool for our clients, and for our own business; as a flexible campaign management tool; and as a highly measurable, data-rich advertising service that is constantly evolving. You may be one of the many website companies to be using Google AdWords as part [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At Web Marketing Workshop we love Google AdWords – as a marketing tool for our clients, and for our own business; as a flexible campaign management tool; and as a highly measurable, data-rich advertising service that is constantly evolving.</p>
<p>You may be one of the many website companies to be using Google AdWords as part of your marketing strategy, or perhaps you&#8217;ve used it in the past. Or you may be an online business that has yet to try Google AdWords to target your customers using search. Either way, here are our top 10 reasons why we think AdWords is such a powerful, cost-effective marketing tool:</p>
<p><strong>1) Search marketing is targeted</strong><br />
The most effective form of marketing, apart from word of mouth, is search engine marketing. Whether you use search engine optimisation (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, when you place your business in front of searchers when they are looking for your product or service, you are reaching &#8216;warm&#8217; prospects. This is known as &#8216;pull marketing&#8217; &#8211; where you are meeting your potential customers&#8217; needs at the time they are looking to buy &#8211; as opposed to &#8216;push marketing&#8217; such as press ads, radio or TV advertising, which has a larger element of wasted spend. Google AdWords is the primary form of PPC advertising and displays search listings within the prominent &#8216;Ads&#8217; section of the search results.</p>
<p><strong>2) Get immediate search rankings</strong><br />
If you want to rank well in the search results, and quickly, then Google AdWords is the answer. Achieving rankings using SEO can take time, particularly in competitive markets, whereas you can create a new AdWords campaign and be ranking in the search results within an hour.</p>
<p><strong>3) Target an unlimited number of search terms</strong><br />
When using SEO on your website, you can be limited by the number of pages available to target the range of search terms relevant to your market. However, with Google AdWords you can select and bid on as many search terms as you want, regardless of your website&#8217;s size.</p>
<p><strong>4) Use the flexibility of campaigns</strong><br />
The range of settings and tools available within AdWords can make your campaign extremely flexible, enabling the ability to test a range of techniques and strategies within a short period of time. From targeting a small geographic area, to focusing on a few key search terms, or getting your ads just to appear on mobile phones, AdWords is under your control. You can also use your search advertising as a tactical tool to be turned on or off to support sales, offline brand advertising or seasonal trends.</p>
<p><strong>5) Use the detailed targeting options</strong><br />
Together with search term targeting and advert scheduling tools, Google AdWords can also be used to focus ads around geographic areas and so you can revise ads by location or compare results by city or state. Short market coverage tests can be performed to test offers, creative copy and landing pages, giving you a powerful tool to measure and refine your marketing campaigns – the use of Google Analytics and Website Optimizer can also be included here.</p>
<p><strong>6) Control your spend and reduce the risks</strong><br />
Google AdWords has a low entry cost and therefore you can usually test this marketing technique with a low initial budget. Compared to other forms of marketing, an AdWords PPC campaign can be tightly focused and you can control your daily or monthly spend within a set budget.</p>
<p><strong>7) Direct visitors to the best pages on your website</strong><br />
With AdWords you can decide which pages become the landing pages on your site, whereas with SEO, Google may rank a page that isn&#8217;t as appropriate for the search term being used. You can direct users who click on your ads to the most relevant pages to make it easier for them to buy or take another action. You can create standalone pages just for AdWords traffic and test offers and page layouts to see which work best.</p>
<p><strong> <img src='http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif' alt='8)' class='wp-smiley' /> Use the data to measure the effectiveness of your spend</strong><br />
A Google AdWords account contains lots of data options, with segments, charts, reports and user analysis (particularly if you also link in a Google Analytics account). This means that you get immediate and highly measurable feedback on what works and what doesn&#8217;t, so that you can continually refine your targeting to make the most of your advertising spend, within a short period of time.</p>
<p><strong>9) Use the data to improve your website&#8217;s SEO</strong><br />
Most importantly, Google AdWords should be used alongside your website&#8217;s SEO development, by helping to identify the best search terms for your market that are being used on Google and which generate the most relevant traffic. You can test new terms in AdWords and refine your SEO to continually develop and improve your &#8216;natural&#8217; search engine rankings, which will attract more clicks and for no cost.</p>
<p><strong>10) Use AdWords for wider advertising campaigns</strong><br />
The expansion and improvements to the AdWords Display Network means that you can expand the reach of your online marketing campaigns beyond search. You can target visitors to other websites by related content, interests or topic-related websites, and with &#8216;remarketing&#8217; you can target web users who have previously visited your website. By using image ads, this expanded coverage can provide a powerful and low cost way to generate brand awareness within your target market.</p>
<p>As AdWords continually develops and adds new tools for advertisers, the opportunities for targeted, cost-effective marketing increase. If you&#8217;re currently using AdWords we hope that you&#8217;re seeing these benefits for your business. If you&#8217;ve not yet tried AdWords, now&#8217;s a great time to run a test campaign, and we can help with a FREE £70 advertising credit for new accounts.</p>
<p>For more information or for help with a new or existing AdWords campaign, please contact us.</p>
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		<title>The Mobile Marketing Issue</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/_oAgrltNjUQ/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/02/the-mobile-marketing-issue/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mobile Search Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pay-Per-Click Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Website Analytics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=369</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to recent forecasts, the first time that the number of global users who access the Internet via a mobile rather than a PC will be in 2014. The comparable numbers are currently 900 million from the former device and 1.4 billion from the latter. Assuming that if the annual growth rate in mobile phone [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>According to recent forecasts, the first time that the number of global users who access the Internet via a mobile rather than a PC will be in 2014. The comparable numbers are currently 900 million from the former device and 1.4 billion from the latter. Assuming that if the annual growth rate in mobile phone subscriptions is about 2% between 2010 and 2015, then there will be approximately 6.35 billion of those within the next 3 years. Of those, a third will use that device to access the web.</p>
<p>The 2011 edition of eMarketer states that of those, 33% are looking for local content relevant to their current GPS position. Now, the young generation that has never known life without the Internet are increasingly using their mobiles like the older generations used Yellow Pages to find local information. So if you&#8217;re targeting young people in a localised market, it&#8217;s essential to have a mobile compatible site.</p>
<p>You can read some more data measuring the global smartphone impact <a href="http://www.ourmobileplanet.com/" target="new">here</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 id="two">Is Your Site Mobile-Friendly?</h2>
<p>There are a number of websites and online tools that can be used to check how your website performs on a mobile &#8211; if you don&#8217;t have a smartphone to do this in the first place! A very useful initiative by Google is the <a href="http://www.howtogomo.com/" target="new">GoMo</a> site that aims to change the way the web works on mobile devices. This project is primarily for mobile phones but could be aimed at all forms of mobile devices, like iPads and other tablets.</p>
<p>GoMo helps you build a site for all of these mobile platforms and it provides case studies and statistics to support why you should go mobile. By offering a comprehensive resource for websites who may not have gone mobile yet, webmasters can learn why they should go mobile, the best practices for mobile and how to get the process started. Webmasters can even test their sites from GoMo to see how mobile they really are to visitors.</p>
<p>There are more useful <a href="http://sixrevisions.com/tools/10-excellent-tools-for-testing-your-site-on-mobile-devices/" target="new">mobile website emulators</a> that allow you to check if your website is mobile-friendly.</p>
<p>The accuracy of some of these tools have been questioned however, as some sites that receive low scores still look fine on mobiles. The problem is the wide variety of makes and models of smartphones, on a variety of different platforms. So although testing tools may be a useful resource, it&#8217;s worth also getting feedback from users of mobile devices about what they are actually seeing.</p>
<p>A recent study found that 61% of mobile users are not likely to return to a site that does not provide a good mobile experience. In response, Google initiated a shift in their policy that will reward mobile sites with good optimisation and they have offered a few priorities to get your site optimised for mobile usage:</p>
<ul>
<li>Keep the layout and design simple</li>
<li>Prioritise your content</li>
<li>Use markedly mobile features</li>
<li>Make your site easy to convert</li>
</ul>
<p>This may sound easy, but as mobile usage increases and web developers offer mobile design options, the implementation and testing of good mobile websites will become a more common process.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 id="three">Using Mobile Marketing Features in Google AdWords</h2>
<p>Due to the unprecedented growth in the use of mobile devices to access the Internet, Google recently announced some new mobile targeting functionality for AdWords. This enhanced feature allows advertisers to target to specific versions of mobile operating systems, to ensure the ads are going to the right users.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s now also possible to target according to the whether a faster Wi-Fi connection is being used as well as by mobile carriers. Google says targeting by Wi-Fi will let advertisers expand their reach, and will be particularly useful if the campaign or landing page features high-bandwidth content like video.</p>
<p>The mobile specific ads have had the ability to include &#8216;click to call&#8217; phone numbers below them for a couple of years now as an Ad Extension for adverts appearing on mobiles. In addition, the segmentation reports in AdWords now show mobile interaction down to keyword level, which is a great feature to develop these type of campaigns. If you&#8217;re using an iPhone, Android, or other smartphone, you just click the number to call the business and if it&#8217;s a local store or restaurant with multiple locations, the integration with Google Places listing will allow you to call the nearest one.</p>
<p>In addition to this, Google also included more specific click-to-call advert extensions, which enables the ability to use bid-per-call (currently only in the US and UK) and view data on mobile calls.</p>
<p>The importance of these enhancements will rise rapidly in the near future, so it&#8217;s essential to create a separate, mobile-targeted AdWords campaign now to gain a significant competitive advantage. Not only will this give your business a better reach, but also a lower cost-per-click and higher click-through-rate in this early period, while the adoption of the technology isn&#8217;t too widespread.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 id="four">Tracking Mobile Use in Google Analytics</h2>
<p>In November 2011, Google announced the launch of enhanced Analytics reports that include mobile ad performance metrics. All AdWords metrics available in Google Analytics can now be segmented by the new mobile and tablet dimensions in the form of: &#8220;All&#8221;, &#8220;High-end Mobile&#8221; and &#8220;Tablet&#8221; ads.</p>
<p>This again highlights the growing importance of these devices and the increasing significance placed upon them by Google, as the shift towards mobile makes an adoption of an updated marketing strategy necessary. It&#8217;s highly recommended that you view your Analytics data over the past year to see this increase in mobile activity. You can segment your data just by mobile usage which makes it easier to identify any potential issues your site may be having when viewed from these devices, as well as the increasing potential number of visits and conversions from them.</p>
<p>So this new access to the mobile device data will help businesses get a better understanding of how mobile advertising will interact with them in the future and how the specific targeting of them can be very effective.</p>
<p>As we predicted in last month&#8217;s newsletter, mobile marketing is likely to become a significant issue for many business websites this year &#8211; so is your strategy in place? If you&#8217;d like to know more about how mobile marketing could impact your website, and how to get the most from Google AdWords and Analytics for mobiles, please contact us now for more information.</p>
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		<title>How did our predictions fare for 2011?</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/Gi1r338MB7s/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/01/how-did-our-predictions-fare-for-2011/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:27:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The UK Search Market]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=362</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We made 5 predictions for 2011 last January, so here we review these and assess what actually happened during the year: 1) Rising CPCs encourage more creativity: there was certainly a further growth in the average Cost-per-Click (CPC) within PPC advertising campaigns &#8211; and in particular on Google AdWords &#8211; as the space for buying [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We made <a href="http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2011/01/">5 predictions for 2011</a> last January, so here we review these and assess what actually happened during the year:</p>
<p><strong>1) Rising CPCs encourage more creativity:</strong> there was certainly a further growth in the average Cost-per-Click (CPC) within PPC advertising campaigns &#8211; and in particular on Google AdWords &#8211; as the space for buying a high ranking position continues to become more competitive. Although markets vary, we estimate that bid prices have risen by around 15% on average, which means that, for most advertisers, the cost of a site visitor continues to rise and therefore conversion rates are becoming more important. The need for creativity applies both to the advertising campaigns and to the website where visitors land, and although there have been some advances in this area, many companies aren&#8217;t doing enough yet to test landing pages, content changes, offers and checkout paths to improve conversions. At the advertising source, there is more data now available in Google AdWords to help users target their spend to the best areas and also a focus on Quality Score can help keep the cost per click down. However, the popularity of the PPC market is making it still more competitive and the ones who test and improve will survive.</p>
<p><strong>2) Mobile marketing becomes more prominent:</strong> although the importance of mobile marketing has been slow to arrive, 2011 was definitely the turning point, with a notable growth in the use of smartphones and significant increases in mobile site visits recorded in website analytics. Google has certainly been encouraging mobile-specific activity through new services and data in AdWords, plus as user behaviour continues to changes, mobiles are becoming a more significant share of the search sector. The overall visitor share from mobiles for most websites is still below 10%, but the trend is now moving upwards at a faster rate and so companies have to think about their mobile marketing activity, including how their website appears on smartphones.</p>
<p><strong>3) Location marketing will be a big new opportunity:</strong> as the use of mobile phones increases, so have the opportunities for local business marketing, which is a primary use of phone searches. Smartphone apps that use location targeting are growing, and social media is also developing these options, although sites like Foursquare haven&#8217;t quite taken off and Facebook&#8217;s location services have faced some privacy issues. Google Places has also gone through some structural changes in the past year and can remain a frustrating system, but local search remains a big opportunity for companies who rely on a localised market.</p>
<p><strong>4) The line between social media and search becomes blurred:</strong> this has not been a clear cut trend over the past year, although social media remains the big new opportunity for companies to develop their marketing techniques, as well as being a frustratingly time-consuming process as well! The most notable event was the launch of Google+, their long-awaited social networking tool which is being closely integrated with Google accounts. This service will struggle to gain market share off Facebook (see below) but remains the most obvious way that social and search will work together to influence results &#8211; as can already be seen by users logged into Google when searching &#8211; as well as provide more signals back to Google on how search results may perform.</p>
<p><strong>5) Video marketing and advertising gains market share:</strong> YouTube remains a significant traffic magnet, being one of the most visited sites on the web, and advertising opportunities here have increased so that the service&#8217;s owners, Google, are starting to make a profit from the site at last. However, the use of video hasn&#8217;t yet seen a significant increase in usage by online businesses that would be expected, mainly due to the perceived barriers to entry and the application of ideas for video use in specific sectors. It looks like this will remain more of an opportunity for those who are comfortable with the medium and can test the potential for their market.</p>
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		<title>What are our predictions for 2012?</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/Fw_F0N_BqSo/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2012/01/what-are-our-predictions-for-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:20:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The UK Search Market]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=364</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We have made some more predictions for the main trends we expect to see in 2012, in terms of web search and online marketing. The online market continues to develop at a fast rate and new websites or services can change the landscape in a short space of time, but these are our expectations for [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We have made some more predictions for the main trends we expect to see in 2012, in terms of web search and online marketing. The online market continues to develop at a fast rate and new websites or services can change the landscape in a short space of time, but these are our expectations for the next 12 months:</p>
<p><strong>1) Google+ will be central to 2012:</strong> with the full launch of Google&#8217;s new social networking tool at the end of 2011, Google+ is likely to be a significant factor in 2012, but in what way is too early to tell yet. Initial reports of the growth in users was impressive, but take-up was linked to existing Google accounts and we&#8217;ve yet to see how Google+ is being used on a regular basis. The recent launch of business pages is important as a marketing tool, but the main issue for Google is to gain users, and usage, away from Facebook. There&#8217;s too much riding on this product for Google to allow it to fail, in the way that Wave and Buzz did, so there are likely to be new developments in 2012 to integrate the Google+ product across all Google services and to promote and incentivise users away from Facebook. At this stage there doesn&#8217;t appear to be enough of a &#8216;pull&#8217; factor for social network users to make the move, but from a marketing point of view, the integration of Google+ (and the associated +1&#8242;s) may become a big enough factor in terms of search results for companies to push the service harder with customers.</p>
<p><strong>2) Online shopping sees big growth this year:</strong> recent months have seen a further boom in online shopping, to the concern of traditional retailers. Increasing confidence of web users to buy online and find better bargains will continue to boost this sector and give UK retailers more opportunities &#8211; and incentives &#8211; to develop or improve their online presence. As the market grows it will also become more competitive around price, so the right business and marketing strategy will be vital. Google&#8217;s improving Shopping / Product Search service will help to boost this sector and provide new ways for retailers to get their products in front of potential customers.</p>
<p><strong>3) Google AdWords targets mobile marketing:</strong> as noted above, mobile marketing is becoming a notable sector for search activity now and this is likely to continue in 2012. As a result, we expect Google AdWords to provide new ways for advertisers to make the most of this market, from data analysis, advert extensions and possibly new ad formats specifically for smartphones. In addition, the use of call tracking is expected to be enhanced over the coming year, to give advertisers more opportunities to get the most from their mobile marketing activity.</p>
<p><strong>4) The new Google Analytics becomes a core marketing tool:</strong> the impressive Google Analytics service has become ubiquitous for business websites over the past year and this will now take another step forward with the full introduction of the new interface in 2012. Although Analytics is becoming more complex to use, the range of services and data being provided is getting even better and provides online businesses with one of their most important marketing tools. The issue for many companies is how to use the data effectively, to identify potential opportunities and to test changes to their marketing or website content. This may require training or consultancy help to get the most from the data, but however it&#8217;s done, Analytics can&#8217;t be ignored!</p>
<p><strong>5) Social media marketing becomes more sophisticated:</strong> for many companies, using social media as a marketing tool remains a mystery or a frustrating use of resources. For many, now that the initial hype is starting to subside, the role of social media marketing will be to develop a suitable strategy that&#8217;s manageable and also effective. This means building a quality community of followers, not based on volume but relevancy. It will mean creating content that&#8217;s focused on these followers but is also part of an integrated marketing strategy with all other channels. And it will mean considering how social media and search can work together effectively to generate visibility, traffic, interaction and, ultimately, business!</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll keep track of these predictions during 2012 and review them again in 12 months time. But for now, what&#8217;s your view and do your predictions for the coming year differ? We&#8217;d love to hear from you!</p>
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		<title>New opportunities with Google AdWords</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web-search-workshop-newsletter/~3/oCEbDuq-_F0/</link>
		<comments>http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/2011/12/new-opportunities-with-google-adwords/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:21:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>wswblog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pay-Per-Click Advertising]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/newsletter/?p=356</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At the start of November, our Australian office was approached by Google to take part in a new pilot program for AdWords agencies. As one of only 5 agencies selected in Australia, this gives us and our clients in Australia and the UK a great opportunity to make the most of the increasing range of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At the start of November, our Australian office was approached by Google to take part in a new pilot program for AdWords agencies. As one of only 5 agencies selected in Australia, this gives us and our clients in Australia and the UK a great opportunity to make the most of the increasing range of tools and techniques that have been added to AdWords.</p>
<p><strong>Web Marketing Workshop</strong> is already a Google AdWords Certified Partner, which reflects our qualifications and experience in running a wide range of Google AdWords campaigns since the service first began in 2002. We have now been selected for this new pilot program due to our ability to develop and grow our clients&#8217; accounts. With this new program, Google is testing new ways to support agencies, such as ours, to enable advertisers to make even better use of this powerful form of online advertising.</p>
<p>Over the past few years, and particularly in 2011, Google has been adding new tools and reporting functions to AdWords – some of which have been covered in previous issues of this newsletter. What&#8217;s more, the ongoing development and usage of Google Analytics helps to add an extra layer of data and analysis to AdWords campaigns, which leads to improved targeting and performance.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 id="two">Getting the best from AdWords</h2>
<p>Google&#8217;s own marketing and the relatively &#8216;user-friendly&#8217; AdWords interface can make it appear to be a simple self-serve system for new advertisers, yet there are some increasingly complex requirements and techniques now available to help users get the best from this form of search marketing. Many new advertisers can therefore get caught out – including by some of Google&#8217;s default settings – so that they can quickly spend their advertising budget with little return, and therefore get disillusioned by AdWords not working for them.</p>
<p>Of course it&#8217;s in Google&#8217;s best interests to make AdWords a success, both for advertisers as well as searchers, because this in turn will help make Google more successful as well! That&#8217;s why Google is now looking for ways to better support agencies and to make AdWords campaigns a cost-effective method of marketing online for as many advertisers as possible, over a long term period.</p>
<p>As part of this pilot scheme (which Google is also running in the US and UK), we are receiving additional training, advice and insights across the full range of AdWords opportunities, which will help our clients develop their campaigns and provide a competitive advantages when using this increasingly popular service.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 id="three">Enhancing AdWords results</h2>
<p>As part of this new program, some of the techniques that we will be addressing in depth include:</p>
<p><strong>Quality Scores</strong> – this is one of the key factors to help improve the cost-effective of any AdWords campaign, based on relevancy and content factors. Although there is some element of a &#8216;secret formula&#8217; behind these figures at the keyword level, we will use Google&#8217;s insights to refine these for our client accounts and so achieve a lower average CPC whilst improving ranking position and conversion performance.</p>
<p><strong>Landing Pages</strong> – the point where searchers land on a website from the AdWords advert has always been important but has recently become a more significant factor within the Quality Score. We will use Google&#8217;s input to identify ways of further improving the performance of these pages within AdWords.</p>
<p><strong>Remarketing</strong> – this is a powerful way of displaying adverts to searchers who have previously visited a website. Conversion rates from remarketing can be impressive and we are continually testing this opportunity for our clients.</p>
<p><strong>Ad Extensions</strong> – these offer additional ways of attracting visitors from AdWords, such as through location details, direct phone calls or sitelinks. We are also testing the use of Product Extensions through Google Shopping for ecommerce sites and will be implementing social media extension linked to the new Google+ service.</p>
<p><strong>Mobile Marketing</strong> – mobile is becoming increasingly important for website traffic and AdWords offers a range of services to target this sector. We will be building on our experience of these campaigns and advising clients on the best opportunities for mobile marketing in 2012.</p>
<p><strong>Display Network</strong> – Google is continually refining and expanding their network of sites that carry AdWords adverts, either in text, display or video format. We will be looking at new opportunities for advertisers using the range of options available, including audience and topic targeting.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re looking forward to working closely with Google over the next few months to help our advertisers improve their campaign performance and advertising spend through AdWords. We are also providing a review service for other AdWords advertisers who may feel that they&#8217;re not getting the most from their account, so that we can provide advice and recommendations to help improve their campaigns.</p>
<p>To find out more about this new initiative and how it can help your Google AdWords campaigns, please contact us now.</p>
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