Apr 11 2008
This week will be remembered as a significant week in the web analytics world. There has been a lot of talk and comments about what Yahoo will do with its new acquisition, IndexTools.
Yahoo will most probably be using the tool to try to compete with Google’s free web analytics solution, Google Analytics. From what I have been reading these last few days, Yahoo have finally gone and made a right decision as IndexTools has a lot of potential (and it will be even more enticing if Yahoo offer the tool for free).
This deal will definitely affect the web analytics world, but will it have any effect on Search? Will advertisers turn to Yahoo instead of Google for online advertising just for IndexTools? Will IndexTools help Yahoo make their Search Marketing advertising more “user friendly”?
We have an interesting few months ahead to see what actions Yahoo will be taking…we shall be keeping you informed.
Apr 01 2008
As of today, Google Adwords advertisers must ensure that the Display URL matches the Destination URL in their Text Ads.
Google no longer allow certain exceptions regarding their Display URL policy. This includes, but is not limited to redirects and vanity URLs and will be strictly enforced regardless of past approvals.
Here is an example set by Google:
If your destination URL is www.google.com, your display URL must also be www.google.com. The following would not be acceptable display URLs for an ad for www.google.com:
- www.google.co.uk - because this URL leads to a different site
- www.gogle.com - even though this URL simply redirects to www.google.com it is still not acceptable
- www.gooogle.com - because this URL leads to a page showing content identical to www.google.com
The use of tracking URLs and sub-domains (additional text) is still acceptable, although in the latter case provided the top-level domain matches the URL of your landing page.
Google are basically trying to reinforce their motto; relevancy is essential. Advertisers must ensure they are sending their users to the destination which is specified in the Text Ad.
Mar 07 2008
Google Adwords will soon be incorporating an additional factor to its Quality Score, Landing page load time.
Load time is the amount of time it takes for a user to see the landing page after clicking an ad.
Each keyword will receive a load time grade depending on the destination URL associated with that keyword:
- If you assigned a keyword-level destination URL to a particular keyword, then the keyword’s load time grade will be based on that URL.
- If you didn’t assign a keyword-level destination URL, then the keyword’s load time grade will reflect the slowest load time among the ads in the ad group.
You will be able to see your keyword’s load time grade on the Keyword Analysis page.
According to AdWords, its system re-evaluates landing pages on a regular basis. If you make significant improvements to your landing page’s load time, you should see an improved Quality Score and lower minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bids. Your Quality Score may update incrementally over a number of weeks after you improve your load time.
Here are some tips for improving your load time:
- Use fewer redirects.
- Reduce the page size by using fewer, smaller, and more highly-compressed images.
- Do not use interstitial pages.
- Minimize the use of iframes on your landing page.
Feb 18 2008
Google have started testing inserting banners in the search engine results page, in Google Adwords “territory”.
A few months back I wrote a post commenting on the emergence of universal search and how search engines (Google, it is the leader by far after all!) had started to change in the way it presents its results in its SERP (Search engine Results Page). Google started by including Images and Videos in what we call SEO “territory” and now they are doing something similar with regards to the PPC results.
It will be interesting to see how this will affect relevancy factors Google so strongly abide by, Quality Score of keywords and if those advertisers that do not use Images or Videos will be left behind in terms of click through rates and conversion rates.
As I said, we are still in testing phase so we shall see how this topic evolves over the coming months.
Feb 06 2008
The Google Content Network can be hard to manage. There are a lot of websites out there that use Google Adsense but deliver highly irrelevant clicks, those are clicks that you are paying for but seeing no ROI coming back from them.
By using the Placement Performance report you are able to establish exactly where your ads are appearing on the content network. This information is vital as you are able to see data such as CTR, average CPM you are paying and also the number of conversions each website is acquiring for you.
This information allows you to figure out which websites are generating you a lot of “unqualified” traffic, clicks which are not converting. Those websites that are also generating many impressions but few clicks or conversions will also be affecting your ad group’s Quality score which may be adversely affecting your ad rank and/or your average CPM.
It is important to remember that the Google Quality Score for content advertising campaigns differs from search campaign Quality Score.
Here are the steps you must go through to use the Site Exclusion tool:
- Launch the Site Exclusion Tool from the Tools tab in AdWords.
- Choose one of your content campaigns.
- After choosing a content campaign, enter domains in the box and click on “Exclude Sites.” Click on “Save All Exclusions” to finalize the action.
Jan 29 2008
On many occasions I have had the debate as to whether SEO or PPC are more important thus require more attention. The reality is that they both complement each other and it is vital they are both granted the necessary attention. Here are a few reasons as to why I think PPC and SEO work hand in hand:
- Use PPC to establish “conversion” keywords
By doing PPC advertising you are able to test different keywords and thus see which converts better for you. This then gives you raw data as to which keywords you want to optimize on your website for SEO. The other option is using a Keyword Tool, like Wordtracker for example, but these tools do not beat getting results first hand from your PPC campaigns.
- Meta descriptions ARE indeed very important
Meta descriptions are the little snippets shown from your site in the search results. These snippets are essential to getting users to click through to your site in organic listings. How do you know what text is best optimized to be in your Meta Descriptions?
With PPC, you can optimize your call to action and description to maximize your CTR on organic listings. It may even be possible to get a higher click through rate in the second or third organic position if you have the perfect Meta Description. With PPC you can split test many different descriptions and see which performs best in PPC text Ads. Then all you have to do is add the best performing PPC creative to your Meta Description tags.
Google (as well as other search engines) wants to provide relevant results in the organic search results. Knowing and improving your quality score for certain keywords can reveal how relevant Google thinks your site is for any given keyword. Although this quality score is fairly subjective, it offers a good indication. In Google, keywords used in the query are bolded in the title, Meta Description and URL of the search results. With PPC you can find what keywords work and what keywords don’t and optimize your organic listings according to that data.
- Which Landing Pages convert?
When you reach that number one organic position your all done right? Wrong. Getting the visitor to your site is just one phase in the online marketing mix. Once that visitor reaches your page, you need to convert that visitor. With PPC you can split test different landing pages and use to make the ultimate landing page. So when you reach that coveted number one position, you are ready to convert that visitor. While landing pages can of course be optimized using organic traffic, why wait?
The more real estate your brand occupies on any given Search Engine Page Result (SERP) the more trust and recognition you will receive. If you have a well optimized PPC campaign and landing page you should be able to convert the visitor who clicks on your paid listing anyway. Every visitor to your site has a value. If you pay less for the visitor than the visitor is worth, this is a profit.
In conclusion, to maximize your ROI it is essential that SEO and PPC should go hand in hand to complement each other on exposing your company or brand to not only as many people as possible, but as many of the right kind of people.
Jan 24 2008
How do you know what is more important, On Page SEO or Off Page SEO?
They are both necessary for every website that wants to realize its full potential.
However, if you have a website that’s been live for a number of years and has a very deep information architecture (several pages of well-structured, quality content), then the right on page optimization may be enough to help you to realize your goals.
On the other hand, if your website is relatively new to the Internet world, then you’re most likely going to need to concern yourself more with off page factors to help you position your website as an “authority” site.
Old Site, Never Optimized
If you have a website that’s been online for a number of years — with lots of quality content and built-in authority with the search engines — but it’s never been properly optimized, you have a great opportunity to enhance your positioning.
These are easy projects. Easy is a relative term, of course. There may be any number of other issues, such as site structure, content, and the competitive nature of the keywords of focus that can keep a good SEO very busy.
New Site Challenge
If you’ve recently launched a new website, there’s a good chance you’ve launched a website that may lack for content and, of course, lack for links to your website.
What to do?
First, focus on developing your website to be informational — present content that’s good for your visitors. This is why, in recent years, blogs have become so pervasive within most industry websites. Blogs are a great way of creating quick, meaningful content for your visitors. Really good blogs will gain popularity and get people subscribing to RSS feeds, which assist in getting traffic to your website.
Other ways of creating meaningful content might be a glossary of terms, forums (highly moderated, so not so good if you don’t have the staff to manage this), and FAQ pages.
The greater amount of quality content on your website, the more likely it is that others will find something they’ll want to link to. That’s the key.
After getting your website included in the major directories, turn your attention to other ways of generating external links.
Jan 22 2008
Before understanding the differences between On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO, here is a definition of Search Engine Optimization:
“Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of guiding the development or redevelopment of a website so that it will naturally attract visitors by winning top ranking on the major search engines for selected keyword phrases.”
On-Page optimization (on-page SEO) is what can be done on the pages of a website to maximise its performance in the search engines for target keywords related to the on-page content. In other words it deals with the way you present the text on the page and the Meta data associated with that page. Here are a few factors which affect On-Page SEO:
- Keyword Research
- Meta Tags
- Meta Description
- The Title Element
- Headings
- Bold & Italics
Off-Page optimization (off-page SEO) is what can be done off the pages of a website to maximise its performance in the search engines for target keywords related to the on-page content and keywords in off-page direct-links. In other words it controls how the internet portrays your website. Here are a few factors which affect Off-Page SEO:
- One way links from their link publishing partner
- Gradual link building technology
- Your business partners and their link publishing resources
- General internet resources: Powerful free directories, one way link brokering etc.
- Online PR campaigns
- News articles
In the next post we will be looking at On-Page SEO vs. Off-Page SEO
Jan 17 2008
Conversion optimizer, launched last September in Beta, is a Google Adwords feature which allows you to manage your Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) bids. Last week Google announced that this feature is no out of Beta.
This feature is available to any campaign which has Adwords conversion tracking enabled and has received 200 conversions in the last 20 days.
The theory behind Conversion Optimizer is that for each Ad Group you specify a maximum CPA bid (the most you are willing to pay for a conversion) and by using historical data about your campaign, Conversion optimizer automatically finds optimal CPC bids for each auction.
Conversion Optimizer can also improve performance of ads on the content network. It allows you to save plenty of time by automatically finding those placed ads that convert on the content network for you without you having to do this manually.
Google states:
“The Conversion Optimizer uses algorithms to predict which clicks are likely to be most valuable, bidding higher on these clicks and lower on less valuable ones, in real-time. The prediction is based on your specific ad’s conversion history and considers the website in the Google Network where your ad appears, the user’s location, the user’s search query, and other factors.”
There are some limitations with regards to using Conversion optimizer, AdWords Help Centre states:
“The features that are not compatible with Conversion Optimizer include position preference, budget optimizer, placement targeting, advanced ad scheduling, preferred cost bidding, and separate content bids. Also, Conversion Optimizer campaigns may not be modified using the AdWords Editor or the AdWords API.”
As well as this, another problem I see is that those campaigns that get few conversions do not meet the necessary criteria to be able to use Conversion Optimizer which is a shame.
However, with this new feature we can see how Google are slowly trying to turn Adwords into a bid-management tool as it improves conversion rates significantly whilst also allows advertisers to save time. This demonstrates the importance of bid management tools.
Jan 15 2008
I came across this video (by Stompernet) which contains a series of optimization tips for websites and most interesting about the video was this pie chart they reveled.
It shows the results of a study indicating the most important parts of a Google PPC campaign to focus testing on.
This pie chart tell as that the most important thing to test on your Adwords Text Ads are the Headline, secondly you should be focusing on the Description (the two lines below the heading) and finally on the ad the last thing you should be focusing is the Display URL.
However, the biggest impact on ROI comes from testing the actual Landing Page. It may surprise many of you but it doesn’t surprise me very much. I have been banging on about how important testing is and although you SHOULD be testing all aspects of your Text ads, the landing pages should never be neglected.
