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Network With Randall
How Yahoo! SM can beat AdWords
That’s right, I believe that if Yahoo did a two simple things, and two not-so-simple things they could totally take Google down, and put everyone below them out of the business of search. I wrote the post on the Movéo Integrated Blog, (My name for the blog, BTW) and will see how the responses go over there. Please leave a good comment, so I can get the Boss to approve it.It went through a few edits, if I get enough(25) substantive comments I’ll put the original up here. It is quite the rant.
I’m Going as Yahoo! This year for Halloween
What to be for Halloween each year is a big decision. I mean, it says a lot about your personal brand…and stuff. But really, this year I have decided to go as Yahoo! and here are the key qualities I will be trying to show off:
1. I will answer the door when the children knock, but if they aren’t regulars, it will take me longer to get their candy. I prefer my Gold Status trick-or-treaters.
2. I will be great for socialization, I’ll have the coolest front yard, but don’t ask me anything.
3. I will offer games, but once you show a modicum of skill I’ll make you pay to be challenged.
4. When someone offers me $20 for my pumpkin I will not sell it, but will instead hold off for a better deal from the big pumpkin dealer, who I rent land to, that they seem to never pay for.
The more I read about Yahoo, AOL, MSN, ASK, and Google competing it gets simple…
Google needs shades…
MSN needs to stick to software solutions…
ASK needs to get the grey out of their ad text…
AOL needs to go to the retirement home…
and for Yahoo! everyday is Halloween.
Google continues to Break it Down
Recent changes in the way that data can be displayed in Google AdWords allows the advertiser to really break down data on ad distribution in any level of the account. Previously, this type of breakdown really was only available at the adgroup and keyword level. By making it possible easily break down data at the campaign level Google has made it easier for advertisers to know how each campaign is doing across the different ad distributions offered by Google AdWords.
AdWords display options
Bringing the Search/Content breakdown up to the campaign level is one thing… …but the real new feature here is the ability to separate the Google Search Network from the Search Partners, such as ASK.com and AOL.com. This added transparency may just be Google’s way of trying to ease concerns over the deal with Yahoo! SM.
What this shows is that in the same week that the competitors tried to start catching up to Google, Google took another leap forward in delivering a better service than the competition. With the rate of innovation seemingly not slowing down at Google, and the competitors struggling to duplicate what Google did years ago it is not surprising that Google AdWords continues to dominate the pay-per-click marketplace. The more transparent they become, the more advertisers will follow. Its all about features and benefits, and Google is continuing to pull ahead of the competition in both.
How much Data is Best for Split-Testing Ad Copy
When trying to decide what ad copy is most effective in moving a viewer to a click, to a conversion each step of the equation offers it’s unique input into what drives a viewer of an ad to convert.
Step 1: Impression to Click
The almighty click through rate, CTR, has been regarded by pay per click marketers across the industry as the primary focus of PPC performance. Since this metric supposedly weighs heavy in the computation of the AdWords quality score it seems many marketers have no problem driving up high click through traffic even if it does not convert.
Impression to click is really the least important factor in determining the success of the bottom line of the purpose of the campaign, to convert visitors to clients. CTR is most useful when determining the strength of headlines, but becomes less useful when testing description text and display url’s.
Step 2: Click to Conversion
Conversion rate is a metric many pay per click marketers just felt they didn’t need to pay attention to. When I first began researching and managing PPC accounts I was contracting for an agency in Boulder, CO and was told not to worry about conversions, that was the job of the Web team. The idea was that it was my job to get the people there and their job to make them convert. What happened is a lot of traffic that was generated was not even qualified, much less actually going to convert. Disconnected data led to bad results.
By taking an integrated approach to Interactive design, Creative content, and Search marketing an environment is created in which departments consult with each other about the data collected and collaborate on implementing the best solution.
First, the importance of setting a baseline for when there is enough data to do the analysis is necessary. I draw the line at a thousand search network impressions. It is important to draw this line in the sand and stick to it. By knowing I have adequate quality data to analyze I can be confident that the conclusions I draw will provide the optimizations needed to continue to improve performance.
What Percentage of Marketing should be Search Marketing?
Currently the portion of the advertising budget being spent on search marketing has been increasing much faster than other advertising forms, and for many businesses it is difficult to gauge what percentage of their media spend should be allocated to search. From 2006 to 2007 ad spend on Search advertising increaded by almost 19% according to Neilsen’s. In December of last year ComScore reported the top five search engines had increased their share by 15%, totaling almost 100% of search queries. So the traffic is becoming limited to a few lanes, and reaching it has become even easier for advertisers.
But what percentage of media budget is usually spent on search? Sources vary greatly, but it breaks down that in the US search budget for an average company is about 11% of their marketing budget. Dies this mean that 11% needs to be your budget, no. What it is is a starting point, from which to begin the discussion of what id the best way to spend your marketing budget as a small business.
With over 99% of search moving through five search engines it is then good to start by looking to gain exposure across all five of these engines. Too many small business owners go with Google because they are the largest, and figure if they have budget left over they will expand to the others. Start with all five, the upfront costs may be a little higher, but the wider range of data and the lower price points of the #2-#5 engines makes it well worth the investment.
According to ComScore the US search share for July 2008 breaks down like this:
#1 Google @ 61.9% (up .4%)
#2 Yahoo @ 20.5% (down .4%)
#3 MSN @ 8.9% (down .3%)
#4 AOL @ 4.5% (up .2%)
#5 Ask @ 4.2% (up .1%)
By breaking down the total search budget by these same ratios a business can make the most informed choice as to where they will get the best ROI, and a positive first impression of search marketing.
Virtual Location in Paid Search Marketing
Of the many factors of virtual location placement in paid search advertising platforms continues to be one of the most popular ways for tightly niched and small businesses to gain the attention of prospects. The numbers are obvious every time ComScore releases them, Google is squarely sitting on top of search. So for many businesses, Google is the obvious choice for getting your feet wet in paid search marketing.
However, many small businesses or regional players stop there, intimidated by the additional setup time required to even duplicate the same basic structure and keywords over multiple platforms. Some solve this problem by relying on a program in which they are able to manage campaigns across multiple platforms in one interface. I have found that these programs generally are not as robust as the actual ad platforms interface, resulting in less control over ads served. It is better to take the time to set up each campaign correctly and appropriately in each platform than to loose features provided by a platform in order to make bidding modifications easier, or automatic.
When it comes to location, one is just never enough. With Google nearing 60% of the search traffic, where is the other 40% going? Still more than 20% are going to Yahoo, with just over 9% using MSN, and near 5% for AOL and Ask respectively. That is 39% of the 40% accounted for. With this type of concentration, search marketers can use initial Google performance data to optimize campaigns as they are set up across the hand-full of players in the search placement sandbox. The users of each engine are also have distinct differences. By seeing how the differences in users effects campaigns across different search engines we are able to optimize budgets and placements to be sure clients’ virtual location align with their locational strategy and branding.
Locations in Cyberspace – Geographic Targeting for Paid Search
One of the first, and most important question every company asks themselves when they are marketing is “where am I targeting?” Once this question is answered, targeting of paid search can be set to coincide with required geographic areas.
But it’s never that easy, is it. Different Paid placement platforms have different geographic serving systems, and each needs to be carefully considered long before campaigns are setup.
While organizing account structure the number of different types of geographic can influence how campaigns are organized and setup. For example, what are the legal requirements of the business for the purposes of advertising? An Insurance Agent or Financial Planner must be licensed in a State to advertise in that state. One must be sure that geographic targeting is setup correctly so that any legal guidelines are obeyed. Another way that geographic targeting can effect organization of a campaign is by the level of competition. For example, if a company has many locations, both near high population density high competition urban areas and low population density low competition rural areas, these areas could be targeted separately by identical campaigns to maximize reach, placement, and budget.
Many factors can influence the decision of how to geographically target campaigns in each ad platform. It is important to know what the geographic factors are, and how they can be optimized before setting up campaigns.
Being Negative is Good for Search
One of the most common mistakes I have seen over the past two years when taking over an Adwords or Yahoo! Search marketing account is the lack of negative keywords. Negative keywords do the same thing in PPC marketing that they do in the search box.
One major source of negative keywords is other industries that share the use of very broad terms. Usually both industries use some sort of qualifying term; the other industries term makes a great negative keyword.
Negative keywords can be used at different levels in the campaign structure as well. In both Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search marketing negative keywords can be added at both the campaign level and the ad group level.
Using negative keywords helps eliminate junk impressions that would most likely not click on your ad, and definitely not convert into a customer. By eliminating junk impressions we are able to increase the click-through-rate, helping to increase the Quality Score assigned to the keyword or ad copy, ultimately driving up the conversion rate and ROI. Developing a good negative keyword list takes semantic judgement to discern what phrases will make sure those who may click but not convert never even get a chance to see your ad.
7 Methods for Evaluating Web Sites on Content Networks
Amongst the many reports that ad serving platforms such as Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing the content network is often seen as less reliable a producer than the search network. This is mostly because control measures in the content network are not as instant as those in the search network. A negative keyword becomes active when entered into the campaign or ad group, you don’t know what sites to exclude until your ads have been served there.
Whenever I start a content campaign one of the most important activities is to start excluding sites from having ads served. Using Google’s site placement report I can see what sites have served the ad. Then comes the evaluation of each site. When I look at sites that are serving clients’ content ads I consider the following:
- Is the topic relevant to the client?
- Is the site relevant to the target market?
- What is the Google Page Rank of the site?
- What is the Alexa rating of the site?
- Is the site nothing more than a bunch of links, and no content?
- Do I find more than one site that looks exactly the same except for the domain?
- Where on the site do the ads appear?
There are a lot of junk site that have been put up by pyramid scheme companies that can suck the ROI out of a campaign if not kept in check. Having a plan of action on evaluating content network sites helps bring more control to content network campaigns.
Overture Died a LONG time ago, and so did the Yahoo! Ambasador program.
Every time I see a website that has the Yahoo! SM Ambasador logo it upsets me that someone would fall for it and not check it out. Yahoo discontinued the Ambasador program in March…which I found out in May when I called to ask them about it. I am amazed that so many “Yahoo Ambasadors” are unaware that the program has been discontinued.
Even more common, is seeing SEO, SEM, & PPC practicioners talking about Overture as if it is still around. If you are selling SEO and you don’t know that Overture stopped collecting data over a year ago and stopped being accessible months ago you are not very good at what you say you do.
In taking over the Marketing Curve site and Blog from Jen I was amazed that my AdWords ceritified professional logo was not linked to the profile. It was the first thing I fixed.
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