Google AdWords Management & Pay Per Click Marketing Blog

Yahoo on Microsoft Deal Benefits for Advertisers, Consumers, Publishers

2010-03-10T08:45:00.000-08:00

Yahoo's view point on the big Microsoft/Yahoo search and advertising deal is that the company will benefit both Microsoft and Yahoo's advertisers, as well as consumers and publishers.

Advertisers will benefit because it will increase search volume, which means both Bing and Yahoo being taken into consideration. Consumers will benefit from this because by combining advertisers from both properties, there will be more people to deliver sponsored results from, which Yahoo says will mean increased relevance. This will help Yahoo, Bing, and their publisher partners with increased liquidity, participation, and relevance; a major plus for them.

According to David Pann, VP Yahoo! Search Advertising, the migration across all international markets will in the next year or so, but they won't rush it at the expense of quality. "Our focus is really about developing a plan that is smooth, seamless, and with quality. So we anticipate doing the U.S. migration sometime before the holiday season in 2010," said Pann.

Google Apps Marketplace Opens with Over 50 Apps

2010-03-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

Google launched the Google Apps Marketplace where developers can create apps that will integrate with Google Applications and sell them to users. According to Google, they can reach over 2 million businesses and 25 million users.

The Google Apps Marketplace launched with more than 50 applications from companies like Intuit and Atlassian. Expect more apps to follow from companies like NetSuite and SuccessFactors.

"Once installed to a company's domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications," explains Google Apps Marketplace Product Manager Chris Vander Mey. "With administrator approval, they may interact with calendar, email, document and/or contact data to increase productivity. Administrators can manage the applications from the familiar Google Apps control panel, and employees can open them from within Google Apps. With OpenID integration, Google Apps users can access the other applications without signing in separately to each. The Google Apps Marketplace eliminates the worry about software updates, keeping track of different passwords and manual syncing and sharing of data, thereby increasing business productivity and lessening frustrations for users and IT administrators alike. That's the power of the cloud."

Google Maps Now Has Biking Directions

2010-03-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

Google has partnered with Rails-to-Trails (RTC), a nonprofit focused on creating a network of trails from former rail lines, to add a new feature to Google Maps- biking directions.

Google Maps has biking route details for more than 150 U.S. cities covering more than 12,000 miles of trails and bike lanes. Google said it wants to keep adding new trail information and wants feedback from riders via the "Report a Problem" tool.

The new feature allows Google Maps users to type their destination in to get directions for the best route for bicycling. Google said its algorithm is weighed to prefer routing on trails as opposed to open roads with traffic.

"We're thrilled to be working with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to make RTC's extensive bike trail data available through Google Maps and Google Earth," says Shannon Guymon, Product Manager for Google Maps.

"Bikers all over the country now will be able to explore new trails or find specific directions in their local community with just a few clicks of their mouse."

Citysearch Has New Way for Local Businesses to Advertise

2010-03-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

Citysearch announced a set of APIs, called CityGrid, which will make all of Citysearch’s local listings content and advertising available to other Web sites and mobile applications. The company announced an online advertising solution, CityGrid Complete, as an extension of that.

CityGrid Complete was built around an investment from Citysearch in OrangeSoda. CitySearch said that with this investment, local advertisers would get:
- Access to a pay-for-performance advertising platform and campaign management tools
- Scalable search engine optimization solution on the Web, including targeted keyword optimization, and reporting (ranking, conversation tracking and trending)
- Local listings optimization, including business profile optimization and phone call tracking and reporting
- Wider distribution across CityGrid

"Whether it's driving new customers to our advertisers from major search sites or mobile applications, CityGrid Complete is about delivering local businesses the highest quality leads for the best value," said Citysearch CEO Jay Herratti. "By combining the distribution power of CityGrid with OrangeSoda's platform, every small business in America now has access to a one-stop local advertising solution with SEO strategies and tactics that historically required a large dedicated team of experts."

"Every search engine has introduced local directory listings prominently in their organic search results and this has given small businesses another way to get featured in the search engine results real estate," said Jay Bean, CEO of OrangeSoda. "For over 15 years, Citysearch has helped small businesses gain exposure on other websites, and now they want to help small businesses gain better exposure through organic search results. By bundling our expertise and tool set with CityGrid, we are offering small businesses a revolutionary local online advertising package that no other company offers."

Google Launches Public Data Explorer Labs Experiment

2010-03-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

Google launched a new Google Labs experiment called Public Data Explorer. This will take large datasets and give them a new visual interface with animated charts and maps.

"As the charts and maps animate over time, the changes in the world become easier to understand," Google explains in the description. "You don't have to be a data expert to navigate between different views, make your own comparisons, and share your findings."

"Students, journalists, policy makers and everyone else can play with the tool to create visualizations of public data, link to them, or embed them in their own webpages," says Google. "Embedded charts and links can update automatically so you’re always sharing the latest available data."

There are six examples available on the product page to mess around with and get the feel for how Public Data Explorer will work.

Yahoo Gets Stock Boost From "Outperform" Rating

2010-03-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

Yahoo's stock rose by a significant amount as an analyst rated it "market outperform," up from "market perform."

The man responsible for this change is Sameet Sinha of JMP Securities, and he attributed the move to Yahoo’s relationship with Microsoft. Sinha hinted that other experts would think better of the company since more financial models incorporate the deal.

Sinha set a price target of $21. Since Yahoo’s stock hasn’t been high since July 2008, this is a significant level. Yahoo’s current stock has been on the move. It rose 2.86 percent during the trading day, where it went up from $16.06 to $16.52

Google’s shareholders lost a small amount while its stock decreased 0.31 percent and Microsoft’s shareholders made an even smaller amount when its stock rose 0.15 percent.

Does Personalization Search Improve Relevance

2010-03-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

Search results being personalized can improve user experience when delivering your search engine results. It seems not everyone is so happy about search results getting more personalized.

Google announced the launch of this new feature that will allow users to star their search results for the ones they like. This can lead to these results showing up at the top of the SERP in future searches.

This is still new, so there’s always room for the feature to improve and get better. The start of this feature also means the end of Google’s SearchWiki. Though, I wouldn’t expect this [personalized search] to go away anytime soon.

Chrome First Software Product to win Best of Tom's Hardware Award

2010-03-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari all went against one another in a test on speed and performance. Other factors include: Startup times, memory usage, page load times, JavaScript tests and more were tested.

So who won the competition? Chrome. It did the best in several of the categories and placed second in a number of others where it defeated its rivals by a large margin.

Chrome winning left to Adam Overa to write, "Any way you want to analyze the data, Google's Chrome comes out on top. That's why we're not only calling Chrome the winner of our Web Browser Grand Prix, but we're also awarding it the Best of Tom's Hardware Award - the first time we've given such an honor to a software product. If you haven't yet downloaded Google Chrome, you just don't know what you're missing."

Opera, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer ranked second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the browser speed test.

Site Speed Tips for When Google Uses That as a Ranking Factor

2010-03-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

Last year, Google’s Matt Cutts broke the news that Google that the company wants to consider taking site speed into consideration to help improve the ranking factors for search results.

Maile Ohye, Senior Developer Programs Engineer for Google as SMX, talked about Web site performance speed and how it relates to search rankings and the user experience.

When it comes to speed in terms of a ranking factor, Ohye made the point that these changes won’t just all of a sudden make the faster Web sites rank better and the slower Web sites rank a lot worse. It will, however, enhance the user experience.

Pay Per Click Advertising

2010-03-05T06:16:00.000-08:00

Pay per click (PPC) is another form of Internet Advertising that’s used on Web sites where advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With the search engines, advertisers will bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Most content sites will charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.

Web sites that use PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword search matches an advertiser’s keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content. These advertisements, also called sponsored links or sponsored ads, will appear next to or above organic results on the search engine results pages or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site.

While there are a lot of PPC providers, Google AdWords, YAHOO! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter are three of the largest network operators; all three operate under a bid-based model.

Even though Google and others implemented automated systems to guard against abusive clicks, PPC advertising is still open to abuse through click fraud by competitors or corrupt web developers.

Microsoft Launches First App for Google's Android

2010-03-05T06:13:00.000-08:00

During his keynote at SMX in Santa Clara, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made it clear that the company wants more people to use its products not what device they’re using. Though his focus was solely on Microsoft’s Bing search engine, the company kept with his philosophy since it released its first Android application.

Microsoft announced the release of its Microsoft Tag Reader application for Android, which is now available in Google's Android Market. The application is free and the company’s description states:

Google Android Microsoft Tag allows you to discover information and entertainment by scanning mobile barcodes with your phone. Just download the Tag Reader, scan a Tag anywhere you see one- in a magazine, brochure, on product packages, signs or storefronts- and access information, videos, promotions, exclusive offers, and much more.

"It's important to give more people access to Tag because there’s huge demand for reliable mobile barcoding – businesses and consumers are eager to find creative ways to use their phone and hyperlink the real world," says Benjamin Gauthey with Microsoft Tag.

Effective Keyword Advertising

2010-03-05T06:04:00.001-08:00

Many Google SEO consultants will say that the main reason you can’t use certain keywords is due to competition for the same terms. Type in the word “cars” and 400,000,000 results will pop up.

Someone trying to see some car-related product or service won’t be able to compete with all the major manufacturers, dealerships, used car sellers, car buying services, car parts suppliers, and other products and services related to card that are marketing online. It can’t happen.

The best way to effective keyword advertising is finding search terms that will make you stand out from other related industries and your competitors. Too many marketers make the mistake of fighting a bidding war over the most generic keywords that are too common with a lot of different industries. This results to paying too much and getting diluted results. With broad terms, you won’t always get the most qualified buyers to the bidder’s Web site.

Choosing the right keywords is extremely important to a successful Internet marketing campaign. Keyword tools can help make suggestions for keywords that are used more often. According to Internet advertising firm, DoubleClick, Inc, “one out of every two online purchases is preceded by research on a search engine” and “nearly three out of four travel buyers consulted search engines before making a purchase.” This will mean more than half of all online purchasing decisions that were made after conducting a search for a desired product or service.

Web site owners now using Search Engine Marketing and not using search engine friendly web designs are like a “brick-and-mortar” storeowner who slams the door in the face of every customer who approaches. Any marketer will say that this isn’t the best or smartest way of operating a business.

Google Personalizes Search Results More with Star Feature

2010-03-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

Google just announced another way it can personalize search results. Google is now letting users “star” search results they like, similar to the star feature used in other Google products, such as, Gmail, Reader and Google News.

When you star the results you like, you can get them at the top of your results the next time a search is similar to them.

"With stars, you can simply click the star marker on any search result or map and the next time you perform a search, that item will appear in a special list right at the top of your results when relevant," the company explains. "That means if you star the official websites for your favorite football teams, you might see those results right at the top of your next search for [nfl]."

"The great thing about stars is that you don't have to keep track of them," the company continues. "You don't even have to remember whether or not you starred something. Simply perform a search and you'll rediscover your starred items right when you need them. Stars sync with your Google Bookmarks and the Google Toolbar, so you can always see your list of starred items in one place and easily organize them. Even beyond the results page, while browsing the web you can quickly click the star icon in Toolbar to create a bookmark, and those pages will start showing up in the new stars feature."

This feature will replace Google’s existing SearchWiki feature, that didn’t really catch on at all. According to Google, people just didn’t care about rearranging the order of search results.

Kansas Capital Adopts "Google" Name

2010-03-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

The capital city of Kansas wants Google to build a high-speed broadband network. Rather than stick to the normal email campaigns and Facebook groups, its efforts to get the attention of Google has extended to the major renaming Topeka “Google”.

According to Tim Hrenchir, Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten consulted with all seven city council members and got their approval. He then “signed a proclamation . . . calling for Topeka to be known for the month of March as 'Google, Kansas - the capital city of fiber optics.'"

How many other cities can say they did this? This could earn Topeka major brownie points from Google.

Google should be collecting responses to its broadband network until March 26 and then the company should name its target communities later this year.

Google To Offer Street View Opt-Out In Germany

2010-03-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

Google’s been going back-and-forth over Street View in Germany where one Google representative recently hinted that the company wants to move forward given that German authorities doesn’t create laws against the program. Now, Google's given in a bit, allowing people to keep their properties out of Street View from the start.

Google didn’t want a confrontation due to fear of defeat or PR reasons. According to Google’s chief technology advocate, Joe Fagle, spoke during a German press conference saying, "Google is not an invader of countries."

Michael Jones said that his company wouldn’t engage in battle with privacy advocates, they’d rather learn from them.

Fagle reported that Google is "giving people the chance to send in their addresses so that they can have their houses excluded from the service at launch, and have their dwellings deleted from the raw data."

Google Improves Click-To-Call Ads With Phone Extensions

2010-03-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

Recently, Google introduced click-to-call phone numbers in local ads on Smartphones. Now, the popular program underwent an expansion as Google made it easier for larger companies to take advantage of.

A post on Inside AdWords blog, it was explained, "[W]e're bringing the same click-to-call benefits to national advertisers through phone extensions. Phone extensions allow you to add a phone number that will be displayed whenever your ad is triggered, regardless of the user's location."

"This enables customers to connect with your business by phone directly from the ad and can be especially useful if you have a call center to handle customer inquiries."

Advertisers can profit from this development, considering cell phones calls will more than likely than click to lead to purchases. Google will be set to make a lot of money since this will encourage corporations with big advertising budgets to give click-to-call ads a shot.

European Windows Users Get Browser Choice

2010-03-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Windows users in Europe with Internet Explorer as the default browsers will now have a variety of choices. You will see a browser “choice screen,” that was made to give users an effective and unbiased choice between the default and competing web browsers.

The European Commission is welcoming Microsoft’s rollout of web browser choice. The Commission said this move would create competition and allow consumers to benefit from technical developments and innovation with both the web browser market and other related markets like a web-based application.

"Web browsers are the gateway to the Internet. Giving consumers the possibility to switch or try a browser other than that included in Windows will bring more competition and innovation in this important area to the benefit of European internet users," said Joaquin Almunia, Competition Commissioner.

"More competition between web browsers should also boost the use of open web standards which is critical for the further development of an open Internet."

Now users can choose between 11 additional browsers, such as, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera, which will be prominently displayed alongside Internet Explorer.

The European Commission said the "Choice Screen" browser would be displayed on over 100 million PCs between now and mid-May.

Google Reiterates Support For Uncensored Results In China

2010-03-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

Back in January, Google made its "new approach to China" and the company sounded if the company might leave the country within the month. Well, this never happened. But according to testimony given today before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, Google hasn't forgotten its ultimatum.

Nicole Wong, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, spoke about China, the Internet and censorship by saying, "The attack on our corporate infrastructure and the surveillance it uncovered - as well as attempts over the past year to limit free speech on the Web even further - led us to conclude that we are no longer willing to censor our results in China and we are currently reviewing our options."

Wong then argued, "This decision is in keeping with out pledge when we launched Google.cn that we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. As we stated then, if we determine that we are unable to achieve our objectives, we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China."

Wong didn't provide any sort of timetable about when Google will reach a decision.

Chrome Gains More Market Share

2010-03-02T10:36:00.001-08:00

Major browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera didn't do well in February by losing market share. Net Applications have found that Chrome managed to attract more than a few new users and increased its market share by 0.39 percent on a month-over-month basis. Chrome beating all of its competitors is pretty impressive

This could be the beginning of a new trend since Microsoft is set to introduce its browser ballot box in Europe. It’s a safe bet to make that more people could give Chrome a try instead of the more popular choice of Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer.

Net Applications hinted that this left Chrome with a market share of 5.1 percent. Internet Explorer had more than 61.58 percent of the market after it suffered a loss of 0.54 percent. Firefox lost 0. 20 percent, Safari lost 0.08 percent and Opera lost 0.03 percent.

It’ll be interesting to see if Chrome can maintain a strong momentum in March.

Google's CFO: ‘It's Been A Great Time For Us’

2010-03-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

Patrick Pichette joined Google as its CFO on August 12, 2008, since then, he's seen the good and bad times with the company. Pichette has a lot of experience and said the company’s doing well again.

Pichette spoke during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, and according to John Letzing, stated, "[T]he mood at Google kind of continues to be electric.”

The CFO continued, "It's true there is a recession out there, but for the broad data world, everything that's the data space, there's really no recession. It's been a great time for us in the last 12 months, 18 months."

Pichette also shrugged off the idea that Google's being anticompetitive where he argued that large companies are often scrutinized where he also acknowledged that display ads, applications and mobile have become more important to the organization.

Most Businesses Still Only "Experiment" with Social Media

2010-03-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

Social media has quickly become popular among business and it’s only going to get bigger. New research, however, from E-Consultancy, in association with the Online Marketing Summit, shows that many businesses are mostly still in the experimental stage when it comes to their efforts.

The reports state that 61 percent of businesses have experimented with social media, but haven’t done much. However, many other stats are showing that businesses are beginning to get the hang of social media and understand that it’s important.

More than two-thirds of company respondents have said the amount of money that’s spent on social media went up since last year, while 30 percent believe it’s stayed the same, while 81 percent f companies are expecting the social media budget to increase over the next where, while 18 percent are expecting it to stay the same.

While companies are still experimenting with social media, the results strong enough to keep using it and expand on the potential use of social media helping a business grow even more.

Google Lets Users Find Results Based on Location

2010-03-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

Google added a new tool where you can now do a search by location to its list of search options. The option is called "nearby".

"Location has become an important part of the way we search. If you're a foodie looking for restaurant details, food blogs or the closest farmer's market, location can be vital to helping you find the right information," says Google Product Manager Jackie Bavaro.

"One of the really helpful things about this tool is that it works geographically — not just with keywords — so you don't have to worry about adding 'Minneapolis' to your query and missing webpages that only say 'St. Paul" or "Twin Cities,'" Bavaro adds.

Google’s been using users’ locations to deliver search results for a while now, but this is the first time the search engine giant is allowing users to dictate when they want to be used to retrieve results for specific queries. With local searches, Google’s good at bringing nearby results anyways, but now users can add more control, giving them another way to refine their results to match their preferences.

Users can view results by their default location or set a custom location.

Stats Put Android Ahead Of iPhone In Eight States

2010-03-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

There's some news on Google in the Android vs. iPhone war. Even though the iPhone has delivered more than one billion applications, games, ringtones videos and wallpapers to mobile users is behind the Android in terms of user concentration in eight states. The eight states are: Arizona, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

The data states that Android gained a lot of ground within a certain sample group, causing it to slip ahead of the iPhone.

According to Myxer, "A total of one million unique users from both the Android and iPhone operating systems were used to make this comparison."

Global Internet Use Not Yet Universal

2010-03-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

Using the Internet in many countries, which includes developed ones, is far from universal according to the World Internet Project (WIP).

The report stated only half of the 10 reporting countries had more than a majority of Internet users.

Both developed and less-developed countries have low percentages of Internet users, this includes Mexico (32 percent), Portugal (37%), Cyprus and Colombia (45%), Czech Republic (51%), and Chile (55%).

Only three countries and regions reported more than 60 percent of respondents as Internet users: Macao (61%), the United States (78%) and Sweden (80%).

"These findings reinforce that the Internet is not yet part of life for hundreds of millions of people around the globe -- even in technologically advanced countries," said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future, which created and manages the World Internet Project.

"And we are seeing large numbers of non-users even in countries with high levels of education and employment, long histories of Internet use, and high percentages of broadband installation."

Census Bureau Launches Map Powered By Google

2010-02-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today the launch of a new online mapping tool that will detail how well communities responded to the 2000 Census in an effort to raise awareness for the upcoming 2010 Census, according to Web Pro News.

New visitors to the Google-based map can see the 2000 Census mail participation rates or states, countries and cities; as well as smaller areas titled, “census tracts.” Once the 2010 Census forms are in the mail mid-March, the online map will get an update that includes a tracking tool with daily updates of the 2010 Census mail participation rates. Users can then compare their 2010 Census progress using their 2000 Census rates.

"The future of your community starts with a look at its past," said Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves.

"The 2000 Census map allows communities to see which areas need extra attention and reminders to improve mail participation. We will be challenging communities nationwide to take 10 minutes to fill out and mail back their 2010 Census forms next month."

According to the Census Bureau, for every one percent increase in mail response, taxpayers will save an estimated $85 million in federal funds. These funds will be used to send census workers to collect census response in person from households that don’t mail back the form.

As noted by the U.S. Constitution, the once-a-decade census must count every single person living in the U.S. The data will help figure out how more than $400 billion in federal funds are distributed to state, local and tribal governments every year. This is money that will go towards roads, hospitals, schools and social services.