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We'd like to invite advertisers to visit the new Tech B2B Knowledge Center, which features tips for success with AdWords, advertiser case studies, links to recent articles and research, and news of other Google products that may help your business. This site will be updated on a regular basis to keep you abreast of new trends and tools.If you're looking for even more of the latest industry information and pointers, we hope that you'll check out the latest Technology Business to Business Newsletter. In this issue, we examine the importance of search in the buying cycle, best practices for optimizing landing pages, and the growing significance of blogs and other social media for business technology marketers. We also take an in-depth look at DataMirror, a provider of real-time data integration solutions that used the Google Content Network to increase sales, extend its reach, and boost brand recognition.We hope you find this information helpful for your business, and feel free to send us any questions or comments you might have.
Last weekend’s regularly scheduled AdWords system maintenance was postponed at the last minute. Therefore, we've rescheduled this month’s system maintenance period to occur from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT on Saturday, May 19, 2007. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. And, as always, we apologize for any inconvenience caused by our scheduled maintenance.
We wanted to make it easy for any advertiser to try out video -- even someone who doesn't know anything about video advertising or video ad creation. So, we've developed the Google Ad Creation Marketplace, accessible right from your AdWords account. The Ad Creation Marketplace is a resource for advertisers who are interested in running video ads but don't have experience creating video ads and want customized help from a professional.In the Marketplace, you can find video production professionals to create high-quality video ads at a budget you set. These professionals are not Google employees but industry specialists who provide a full suite of services including concept, script-writing, voice-over, editing, and production.We're currently looking for advertisers in the U.S. who are interested in using the Marketplace to get help on creating video ads. If you are interested in participating in this beta, you can sign up here.
As you might know, the Analytics tab in your AdWords account gives you access to a powerful web analytics reporting tool. Since we released Analytics, we have spoken with numerous users to learn how they analyze their website's success and their marketing ROI. We focused our development efforts on this user feedback to make Google Analytics more collaborative, more useful, and easier to use, while continuing to provide the same comprehensive data. In short, our goal for this new version was to redesign Analytics reports for a better user experience.Here is a screenshot of part of the new dashboard report, with the new over-time graph showing number of visits and scorecards of key statistics. (Click the screenshot for the full-size image.) The new version of Google Analytics has a more intuitive look and feel, with greater clarity in the navigation between reports. In addition to the new interface, we've added many new features including a customizable reports dashboard, scheduled emailing of reports, improved geographic map view, and over-time graphs for at-a-glance analysis.For more information, please see the Google Analytics homepage, or take a multimedia tour of the new features.
On Saturday, May 12th, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience.
The ad text you use in your AdWords campaigns is an opportunity to tell customers about the products or services you offer and can also serve to differentiate your offerings from your competitors'. While we can offer a few general best practice tips, please keep in mind that you should test and experiment with different ad text strategies until you find what works for you.Be descriptive. Since your ad text is your chance to communicate your offerings to the potential customer, start by clearly identifying what you are selling. You can use ad text to describe specific benefits, features, or special offers and set correct expectations for the potential customer who might be clicking on your ad. Ad text composition is where much of the initial research you conducted while assessing your industry comes into play. Try to emphasize unique qualities, such as 'Handmade' or 'Award-winning,' or promotions such as '15% Off,' 'Free Shipping,' or '30-day Returns' that make your product or service stand out from other businesses that offer similar products or services.Use proper grammar, punctuation and capitalization. Be sure that your ad text makes grammatical sense and uses punctuation where appropriate. You can use capitalization to your advantage by capitalizing the first letter of every word in your display URL to bring more attention to your company name and brand. For example, 'www.ShellysSeaShells.com' rather than 'www.shellysseashells.com.' Lastly, AdWords ads can contain up to one exclamation point, so use it to help make your point!Let your account structure and keywords guide you. Ideally, the ad text that your potential customers see should reflect the keyword they searched for as closely as possible. If someone searches for 'flights to kalamazoo,' then an ad text headline that reads 'Book Kalamazoo Flights' may be more relevant to them than one that reads 'Babson Travel Agency.' An additional benefit of including keywords from your ad group in your actual ad text is that those keywords will appear in bold type when the potential customers view your ad and will help bring their eyes to your ad. Once your ad text reflects what the potential customer is searching for, you can also try setting up destination URLs to landing pages that that are specific and appropriate to the keywords in each ad group. For example, someone searching for t-shirts should be taken to a landing page displaying only t-shirts, instead of a main store page where there are also jackets, sweaters, and pants.Filter out irrelevant or unqualified searches. If your product or service has a geographical element, it may help to include that information in your ad text. Someone who does not live in Texas, for instance, is less likely to click on an ad that is promoting 'Houston Adult Education Classes.' If your product is high-end, you can discourage bargain hunters by describing it as 'Premium Quality' or 'Luxury.'Define a clear call to action. A clear call to action is especially important if your goal is to maximize your return on investment. Offering the user some guidance on what to do once they reach your site -- such as 'Buy Flowers for Mom!' -- may improve your campaign's performance. The call to action should reflect the action that you consider a conversion, whether it's a sign-up, a request for more information, or an actual sale.Test at least two versions of your ad text. For a given ad group, you can test out several versions of ad text to evaluate which one performs the best for your business. Try to emphasize different points, qualities, features, or promotions with each version. You can find out whether potential customers respond better to questions such as, "Need to Refinance?" or to statements like "Refinance Your Mortgage." You may find that a straightforward approach such as 'Treat Skin Disorders' works better for you than a vaguer, catchier phrase like 'Free Your Skin Now.' In any case, it will be difficult to predict what will perform best for you before you actually try it. Do keep in mind, however, that including too many different versions of ad text will make it more difficult to manage and accurately assess ad text performance.
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