Google: AdWords
Google Product Extensions: Providing More Information and Relevancy
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Written By Yvonne Wong | January 25, 2010 | Share This
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In November, Google released a new AdWords product called Product Extensions that allows advertisers to enrich their Google AdWords ads with more specific and relevant information. With Product Extensions, an advertiser’s search ad will display with a plus box appended below, which can expand to show product images, titles, and prices that are relevant to the user’s search term. Below is an example of a Product Extensions ad run by Sephora on the keyword “sephora cosmetics”:
Product Extensions can be associated with specific keywords within your campaign, and you can specify which specific products are associated with each keyword/search query. Advertisers also have the option to allow Google to decide which product images show if “auto-targeting” is selected. Up to six images can display if your ad is in the top position; up to four can be displayed on the right side of the SERP.
Personalized Results and Paid Search Are Not A Match
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Written By Emil Panzarino | January 19, 2010 | Share This
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Recently, I was doing some routine campaign QA for one of our clients when I ran into something that stopped me dead in my tracks. I was searching on Google for one of our automotive clients’ model names when, much to my dismay, I was shown a listing from a completely different ad group within the client’s account. The listing that should have shown had language that was specific to that car model’s name, but the one that did show was tailored for the more broader automotive brand name. I soon realized that the ad that was shown was from an ad group that historically had the most traffic volume of the account.
Now, I have been in the paid search industry for some time, and have seen this type of thing before. I’m well aware that there are vague explanations from engines about what “broad match” really means, and that the keyword could well have been matched against another in the account. But here’s the kicker: this keyword was on “exact match”. I quickly hit “F5″ to ensure it wasn’t just a glitch, but sure enough the same ad showed. I searched 4, 5, 6 more times, and each time the wrong ad came up. Finally, on my 7th search (We like to be thorough here at Reprise Media) the correct ad showed. My heartbeat slowed from a frenzy as the issue seemed to be fixed. Deciding this whole situation was probably just an anomaly, I closed the browser.
Search News: Google Spreading Tentacles Wider into Ad Exchanges?
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Written By Shivan Durbal | September 17, 2009 | Share This
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Rumor has it that in the near future, possibly within the next two weeks, we may see Google’s invitation only DoubleClick ad exchange marketplace door swung wide open to all buyers and sellers. This is according to ClickZ, but as such it’s still only rumor. As Mia Wallace said in Pulp Fiction “When you little scamps get together, you’re worse than a sewing circle.”
Still, assuming it’s true; Google could bring the worlds of search and display marketing closer together than ever and finally impose tools and measurement on display that we’ve been using for years in the search marketing field.
For those search marketers out there that are unfamiliar with ad exchanges in the display advertising space, in effect they are a support structure for the sale of undervalued, unused or remnant banner advertising inventory.
Search News: Google’s Move Left Leads to Double-Digit Rise in Clicks
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Written By Alex Staunton | August 27, 2009 | Share This
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Take this and let’s move it over an inch. It doesn’t sound like much of a change, but for Google, it’s huge. Google recently moved their ads over to the left a skosh, snuggling them closer to the organic results like Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey after a long day of shopping. While the average user probably noticed nothing, we in the search marketing industry have obsessed over what this change might mean for campaigns.
Search News: Google Adds More Match Types to Play With – How Not To Get Burned
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Written By Vicky Fudali | June 25, 2009 | Share This
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As you optimize your campaigns and check your settings in AdWords, some new options may seem to have appeared on your screen. Don’t worry, you’re not seeing things. Google has recently made two match type enhancements available to help you manage your campaigns even more efficiently – Broad (session based) and Automatic Matching. Please note these enhancements do not replace the traditional big four match types when setting up campaigns – Broad, Phrase, Exact, and Negative. These new enhancements should be seen as being more for analysis and campaign improvement. Read on to see how these match type enhancements can assist advertisers in campaign management.
Search How-To: Marketers Need to Understand Google’s Share Of Voice (SOV) Reports
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Written By Stephen DeAngelis | June 9, 2009 | Share This
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Last year Google introduced Impression Share reports to their list of reporting options, giving AdWords users greater insight into the performance of their Search campaigns. Fully understood, these reports can be invaluable in calculating projections, measuring the impact of offline advertising on online campaigns, as well as in day to day optimizations.
Currently, Google offers four types of Impression Share reports: Impression Share, Lost IS (Budget), Lost IS (Rank), and Exact Match IS. Here’s a breakdown of each report:
Search News: Spotted! New Google Navigational Search Ads
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Written By Noah Mallin | May 20, 2009 | Share This
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Our own eagle-eyed SEO –oligist Dr. Naveel spotted the latest in Google’s efforts to place an ad anywhere search results are today. So far this is only a test but Google is approaching their clients about participation and looking carefully at the data in advance of a full roll-out to all users. Google is simply monetizing the navigation box itself, leveraging auto-complete as a display space for advertisers. By the way, that splotch that looks like cat vomit at the top of these screenshots is Google’s logo for today celebrating the find of a partially fossilized “missing link” skeleton.
Search News: Untangling Google’s New Trademark Rules
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Written By Noah Mallin | May 19, 2009 | Share This
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Google’s announcement this week that they are revising their trademark rules to allow more flexibility for advertiser’s to use other brand’s trademarks in search ad text caused quite a round of hand flapping and hair pulling. The gist of many of the takes on this, including the New York Times and BroadPoint’s Ben Shacter was that despite the possible legal ramifications Google is opening the door to say, Coke calling out Pepsi in search ad text. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
Our reading of the changes are a bit more subtle and nuanced though surely, the great Google will be making more moolah as a result.
Search News: The Unstoppable Nature of Google
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Written By Noah Mallin | March 12, 2009 | Share This
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When we aren’t writing about Twitter, we are writing about Google – that is when we aren’t writing about Google and Twitter. Twitter is the social media tool du jour, every marketer is talking about is so of course we are going to write about it. And Google? Well my friend, Google simply is search. They have a 72% share of the United States search market – and rising. Everyone else is a fringe player.
On top of that, just this week Google made a series of moves that on their own would have been a month’s worth of spin for another company. Yesterday we covered their rollout of behavioral targeting options for their content network, a major move with implications throughout display advertising and publishing.
Search News: Google Behavioral Targeting, but Not For Search
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Written By Noah Mallin | March 11, 2009 | Share This
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True Story: I’m at a party a few months ago – not the usual raucous affair that us search and social media types get into but a full on wine and cheese extravaganza. The kind of shindig Republicans go to and then accuse Democrats of loving when they get up in front of a “Joe the Plumber” type crowd. But I digress…
After far too much wine the discussion turned to crazy work environments and I naturally brought up the Fortress of Googletude and it’s predilection for hallway scooter parking and riding. A fellow party-go-er who I’ll call “Natasha” to protect her identity, nodded and said, ‘Yes it’s true, I’ve been there too!”
This led to a long, room-clearing talk about search and social media, the kind of talk that true geeks engage in while their spouses go off to chat about politics and religion. Somewhere between bottles Natasha said to me “Have you seen Google People Search?” “Google what now?” I replied.