We've moved! Check out the new Google Ads blog.

(Cross-posted from the Google Commerce blog)

Truly great search is all about turning intentions into actions, lightning fast. In the early days of Google, users would type in a query, we’d return ten blue links, and they’d move on happy. Today people want more. When searching for great local restaurants, people want places to eat right there on the results page, not another click or two away. It’s the same with hotels, flight options, directions and shopping. 
(Cross-posted from the Google Commerce blog)

Truly great search is all about turning intentions into actions, lightning fast. In the early days of Google, users would type in a query, we’d return ten blue links, and they’d move on happy. Today people want more. When searching for great local restaurants, people want places to eat right there on the results page, not another click or two away. It’s the same with hotels, flight options, directions and shopping. 

Organizing these types of data can be very different from indexing the Web, because the information is often not publicly available. It requires deep partnerships with different industries—from financial services and travel to merchants who sell physical goods. 

Today we’re announcing a new initiative to improve our shopping experience over time--so that shoppers (your customers) can easily research purchases, compare different products, their features and prices, and then connect directly with merchants to make their purchase. 

Google Shopping 

First, we are starting to transition Google Product Search in the U.S. to a purely commercial model built on Product Listing Ads. This new product discovery experience will be called Google Shopping and the transition will be complete this fall. We believe that having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date. Higher quality data—whether it’s accurate prices, the latest offers or product availability—should mean better shopping results for users, which in turn should create higher quality traffic for merchants. 

We’re giving merchants a few months to transition to this new model, and we’re also offering some incentives:
  • All merchants who create Product Listing Ads by August 15, 2012 will automatically receive a monthly credit for 10% of their total Product Listing Ad spend through the end of 2012; and
  • Existing Google Product Search merchants can receive $100 AdWords credit toward Product Listing Ads if they fill out a form before August 15, 2012.
To learn more and get started merchants can visit: www.google.com/ads/shopping 

Ranking in Google Shopping, when the full transition is complete this fall, will be based on a combination of relevance and bid price--just like Product Listing Ads today. This will give merchants greater control over where their products appear on Google Shopping. Over time they will also have the opportunity to market special offers such as “30% off all refracting telescopes.” 

In addition, merchants who want to stand out from the crowd can choose to participate in our new Google Trusted Stores program. Google Trusted Stores is a badge for e-commerce sites which gives users background on merchants—whatever their size—including ratings for on-time shipping and customer service. Google stands behind merchants that have earned the Google Trusted Stores badge with a $1,000 lifetime purchase protection guarantee per shopper. 

Google.com 

Second, starting today we’ve also begun to experiment with some new commercial formats on Google.com that will make it easier for users to find and compare different products. These include larger product images that give shoppers a better sense of what is available and also the ability to refine a search by brand or product type. For example, here’s what stargazers could see on Google.com when searching for [telescopes].

Search results for [telescopes] in the new Google Shopping experience
These new formats are clearly labeled “sponsored,” and take space currently occupied by AdWords. If people are looking for a specific product, such as [Celestron CPC 800], they might also see a new design that summarizes information about that particular item neatly in one place. They can then easily decide whether it is what they want, and buy it from their merchant of choice.

Results for specific product queries like [Celestron CPC 800] may include reviews and product attributes
We’re excited about building delightful shopping experiences for consumers in close partnership with merchants. Google Shopping will empower businesses of all sizes to compete effectively--and it will help shoppers turn their intentions into actions lightning fast. Today’s changes are a first step toward providing technology, tools and traffic to help power the retail ecosystem. 

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product Management, Google Shopping

Earlier this month, we announced new features in AdWords that provide a simple solution for developers and businesses with a mobile app to acquire users and track downloads. Tomorrow (May 31st) at 10am PST, 1pm EST, we’re hosting a live Hangout On Air with Product Manager Anurag Agrawal in a conversation with businesses who have been early to test this out - Brian Wright, Sr. Marketing Manager at ...
Earlier this month, we announced new features in AdWords that provide a simple solution for developers and businesses with a mobile app to acquire users and track downloads. Tomorrow (May 31st) at 10am PST, 1pm EST, we’re hosting a live Hangout On Air with Product Manager Anurag Agrawal in a conversation with businesses who have been early to test this out - Brian Wright, Sr. Marketing Manager at Lookout Mobile Security, and Troy Morris, Mobile Marketing Manager at WhitePages.   We’ll also be demonstrating how to use the new Mobile App Extension, and set up Android Download Tracking inside AdWords.

How to tune into this Hangout On Air:
  1. Visit the Google Ads +Page at 10am PST/1pm EST.
  2. Look for the stream post, and click to tune in.  Don’t forget to be signed into Google+!


Look for the Hangout on Air post like the image above on the Google Ads +Page and click to tune-in!

Leave us comments and questions! We’ll be sure to answer these during or in a follow up to the Hangout On Air.

Join us every Wednesday at 11am PST on the Google+ Your Business page to learn about the tools that Google offers your business. This week, we’re excited to bring you a Hangout On Air about AdWords for video.
Join us every Wednesday at 11am PST on the Google+ Your Business page to learn about the tools that Google offers your business. This week, we’re excited to bring you a Hangout On Air about AdWords for video.

Who doesn’t love watching videos? They can teach, elicit emotion, and influence our daily lives. Naturally then, video is also an effective way to build awareness of your business. On average, video advertising on YouTube can lead to a 20% increase in website traffic. Watch Wednesday’s Hangout on Air to hear more about AdWords for video from two specialists who will address who should use video advertising, how to up set video campaigns, what performance metrics are available, and a few more helpful tricks.




Cadbury has become the European brand with the largest number of followers on Google+, currently at ...
Cadbury has become the European brand with the largest number of followers on Google+, currently at 1.2 million. Their Google+ success is having a strong impact on their overall marketing strategy, especially by improving the performance of their Search campaigns. The question is how exactly did they do this?

Their first step was to create a Google+ page. As featured in a previous blog post, Cadbury used hangouts to interact in real time with Olympic athletes and chocolate experts, and to participate in creating the chocolate replica Google+ page. By promoting their hangouts, Cadbury grew their Google+ follower base by 150,000 people.

They also used circles to segment their followers according to their chocolate preferences and unveiled a brand-new product launch, the Dairy Milk Bubbly Bar, which has achieved a strong impact, already sales are over £8M.

However, where they are seeing tremendous results is in their search campaigns. Since they started using social extensions, which links Cadbury’s Google+ page to its AdWords campaigns, they have achieved a 17% uplift in CTR across all their AdWords campaigns. Now when you search for “Cadbury” and see the relevant ad, recommendations from your friends are displayed directly with it, making the ad much more relevant to you. By clicking on the social extension, you directly land on Cadbury’s Google+ page and can start following all the great content they are posting.

And since Cadbury installed the Google+ badge on its homepage, it’s now easier than ever for fans to follow the brand; Cadbury gains 10,000 new followers on average per day and have had an increase of 7.5% of traffic from Google URLs. To continue benefiting from their Google+ success, Cadbury are looking to include a Google+ social stream that will pull in their most recent updates into a re-launch of their homepage, which will be happening soon. Stay tuned to learn how Cadbury continue to innovate to make their Google+ experience a success!

Learn more about Cadbury’s success with Google+ by reading the full case study here.


A key component of developing a search ads strategy is understanding what other advertisers are doing, and using this intelligence to optimize campaigns for top performance. To empower advertisers to make better informed optimization decisions, we’re launching the ...

A key component of developing a search ads strategy is understanding what other advertisers are doing, and using this intelligence to optimize campaigns for top performance. To empower advertisers to make better informed optimization decisions, we’re launching the Auction insights report.

We currently provide Impression share columns within campaign and ad group reports that show the percentage of impressions received, compared to the estimated number of impressions for which they were eligible. While this report gives valuable insight into missed opportunities in aggregate, it also raises additional questions -- who competes in the same auctions, and can performance data be made available at a more detailed level?

With the Auction insights report, you can compare your performance with other advertisers who compete in the same set of auctions as you do. You can see how often your ads rank higher than other advertisers’ ads on the search results page, and how often your ads appear compared to theirs based on your estimated possible impressions. This information can help you make strategic decisions about bids, budgets, and keyword choices by showing you where you are succeeding and where you may be missing opportunities for improved performance.

The Auction insights report provides data at the keyword-level, and provides five different statistics: impression share, average position, overlap rate, position above rate, and top of page percent:


Note: Mock data only.

Reports can be generated for one keyword at a time, and data is only available for keywords that meet a minimum threshold of activity for the time period specified. If you see this icon () to the left of a keyword in your statistics table on the Keyword tab, you’ll know that the Auction insights report is available for that keyword.



Note: This report provides information on other advertisers that participated in the same auctions as you. This does not indicate that the other advertisers have the same keywords, match types, or other targeting settings as you. The other advertisers’ metrics shown are based only on instances when your ads were also estimated to be eligible to appear. These reports will not reveal the actual keywords, quality, or settings from your campaign, and it will not give you insight into the same information for others.

While this information is already available by performing queries on Google search -- and many already attempt to estimate this data by scanning the ads that appear -- this report will make it easier to access and understand this information. It is available at no additional cost to advertisers whose keywords have a minimum threshold of activity.

This report will be rolling out over the next few days. For more information on the Auction insights report, visit the AdWords Help Center.

Update - Auction insights report icon unavailable

We are removing the Auction insights report icon () from the statistics table on the Keywords tab. The report is still available for keywords which meet the minimum threshold of traffic.

To determine the keywords for which to run the report, we recommend sorting keywords by impressions. If the report is not available for the selected keyword and time frame, no data will be shown on the report page.

We’ll update this blog post as soon as the icon, or an alternative solution, is once again available.

Posted by Bhanu Narasimhan, Group Product Manager, AdWords

(Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Publisher Blog)

From our vantage point, we see unprecedented opportunity as the digital media world continues to grow and diversify. What does this mean for the future of buying and selling ads online?

Tune in and watch Google's Neal Mohan, VP of Display Advertising, sit down with industry leaders to explore the digital ecosystem's swift evolution, and how advertisers and publishers can work better together to chart a path to capitalize on every opportunity, while simultaneously addressing the challenges we face. 

The live stream will start on June 5th, 2012, at 9:00am PST, and you’ll be able to watch from your computer, tablet, or mobile device. 

Please register for this virtual event by visiting the DoubleClick Insights Live Stream page


DoubleClick Insights
Tuesday, June 5th 2012
9:00am - 1:00pm PST
Set event reminder today

Following us on Twitter? Use the #dclkinsights as you're watching the event.

Posted by Stephen Kliff and Scott Brown, DoubleClick Marketing

DoubleClick Search V3 is one year old! Over the last year we've focused on:
  • Campaign Management
  • Deeper Insights
  • Bid Optimization
  • Better Results
To learn more about a year of DoubleClick innovation, visit the DoubleClick Search blog.

Posted by Allison Sommer, Inside AdWords crew

When we first created custom alerts, we wanted to provide advertisers with a way to be notified when certain behaviors or changes occurred in their AdWords account. Over time, we observed that most advertisers wanted to take action when such triggers occurred within their accounts. Many of these actions can now be done by creating ...
When we first created custom alerts, we wanted to provide advertisers with a way to be notified when certain behaviors or changes occurred in their AdWords account. Over time, we observed that most advertisers wanted to take action when such triggers occurred within their accounts. Many of these actions can now be done by creating automated rules - a tool within AdWords that enables you to schedule automatic changes to specific parts of your account based on the criteria that you specify.

Based on automated rules adoption, we have decided to sunset custom alerts. Starting June 15, we will disable creation of new alerts and by the end of June, we will stop triggering existing alerts. This means that on June 30, you will not see custom alerts in your AdWords account. If you selected email as your notification method, this means you will no longer receive alert emails.

We are actively working to bring you an email-only option in automated rules so you can be notified when a rule requirements are met without taking any action. In the meantime, check out some of the common ways you can use automated rules to save you time in managing your account.

Prashant Baheti, AdWords Product Manager




  • May 23 at 10am PDT: Getting Started with Google Analytics
  • May 24 at 9am PDT: Building Blocks of Digital Attribution
  • May 31 at 10am PDT: Introduction to TrueView for YouTube
  • June 5 at 10am PDT: GoMo: Mobilize your Site with Quick and Easy New Tools
  • June 6 at 10am PDT: Our Mobile Planet: Understanding U.S. Smartphone Consumers
  • June 7 at 10am PDT: Introducing Mobile Apps Inventory in AdWords
  • June 12 at 10am PDT: Get Local with ZIP Code Targeting to Increase Sales/Leads
  • June 14 at 10am PDT: Search Optimization: Tips, Tricks, and Tools
  • June 19 at 10am PDT: Bringing the Power and Control of Search to Display
  • July 10 at 10am PDT: Account Management Tools for Large Advertisers and Agencies
Earlier this year, we introduced the Learn with Google webinar program, and we were delighted to see thousands of you show up to learn about a variety of Google advertising products and solutions. Today, we’re happy to announce the continuation of our series with 10 new webinars over the next few months. During each webinar we’ll share tips and how-to’s to help make the web work for your business.

Check out our upcoming live webinars below:

  • May 23 at 10am PDT: Getting Started with Google Analytics
  • May 24 at 9am PDT: Building Blocks of Digital Attribution
  • May 31 at 10am PDT: Introduction to TrueView for YouTube
  • June 5 at 10am PDT: GoMo: Mobilize your Site with Quick and Easy New Tools
  • June 6 at 10am PDT: Our Mobile Planet: Understanding U.S. Smartphone Consumers
  • June 7 at 10am PDT: Introducing Mobile Apps Inventory in AdWords
  • June 12 at 10am PDT: Get Local with ZIP Code Targeting to Increase Sales/Leads
  • June 14 at 10am PDT: Search Optimization: Tips, Tricks, and Tools
  • June 19 at 10am PDT: Bringing the Power and Control of Search to Display
  • July 10 at 10am PDT: Account Management Tools for Large Advertisers and Agencies

Visit our webinar page to register for any of the sessions and to access past webinars on-demand. We’ll be adding new webinars as they’re scheduled, so check back regularly for updates. You can also stay up-to-date on the schedule by downloading our Learn with Google Webinar calendar to automatically see upcoming webinars in your Google Calendar.

Whether your goal is to engage the right customers in the moments that matter, make better decisions, or go bigger, faster, we hope that you’ll use these best practices and how-to’s to maximize the impact of digital and grow your business. We’re looking forward to having you at an upcoming Learn with Google webinar!

Posted by Erin Green, Marketing Coordinator


As more consumers reach for their smartphones, tablets and laptops for news and entertainment, there’s a new segment of viewers that watch less than two hours of TV per day - the “light TV viewer.” Around 31% of adults 18 to 49 are light TV viewers. And this segment is growing - households that opted for broadband internet instead of cable TV grew 22.8 percent over the past year, according to the latest ...

As more consumers reach for their smartphones, tablets and laptops for news and entertainment, there’s a new segment of viewers that watch less than two hours of TV per day - the “light TV viewer.” Around 31% of adults 18 to 49 are light TV viewers. And this segment is growing - households that opted for broadband internet instead of cable TV grew 22.8 percent over the past year, according to the latest Cross Platform Report from Nielsen.

To understand how this trend will impact advertisers in 2012, we partnered with Nielsen to conduct six cross-media studies looking at viewership patterns and campaign effectiveness across TV, YouTube and the Google Display Network (GDN). The conclusion? The light TV viewer is more efficiently reached with cross media campaigns on YouTube and the GDN than with TV alone.



The Light TV viewer
Consumers in this group tend to be younger (49 years old and below), diverse, college-educated, high-income, social-networking, and influential consumers. Our research found that light TV viewers overall averaged only 39 minutes of TV a day. Since this audience watches significantly less TV than the general population, they can be difficult to reach with TV advertising alone.

Additional reach, lower cost
On average, YouTube and GDN campaigns added 4 percentage points of incremental reach to light TV viewers - and it cost 92 percent less to achieve these results online than it would have on TV. The research also showed that TV failed to reach 63 percent of light TV viewers.

By shifting budget from TV networks that primarily reach the “heavy TV viewer” audience to YouTube and the GDN, you could more efficiently reach light TV viewers. In our study, a projection done for Reebok found that advertiser could decrease impressions to heavy TV viewers by 40 percent and increase impressions delivered to light TV viewers by 76 percent, showing more ads to a valuable, hard-to-reach audience.

Increased frequency and recall
Finally, our research showed that online campaigns added much-needed frequency to help increase brand recall for the light TV viewer. Combining YouTube and GDN drove a 27 percent increase in impressions, since even light TV viewers exposed to both TV and online ads saw more online ads than TV.

Overall, the results suggest that adding YouTube and the GDN to your TV network campaigns improves effectiveness in several powerful ways, helping to:
  • Reach a valuable, complementary, younger audience
  • Add much-needed frequency to light TV viewers
  • Deliver media more evenly across light and heavy TV viewers, reducing waste
  • Do all of this both efficiently and affordably



To learn more about how to reach the lightest TV viewer, visit Think Insights to view more findings from the full study.

Posted by Sheethal Shobowale, Advertising Research Manager


*MediaMark
**Nielsen

Once again, Internet Week New York is in full force, and we hope that you'll come and join Google+ for some of the festivities as the city’s digital thinkers, from developers to ad agency execs, collaborate on a week of panels and parties:
Once again, Internet Week New York is in full force, and we hope that you'll come and join Google+ for some of the festivities as the city’s digital thinkers, from developers to ad agency execs, collaborate on a week of panels and parties:

  • IAB Innovation Days: On Wednesday, May 16 at 1:45pm, Kate Stanford, Group Product Marketing Manager for Social Ads, will be giving a presentation at IAB Innovation Days at Skylight Soho about connecting with customers through a joint strategy across mobile and social platforms.
  • The Webby Awards: On Monday, May 21 at 5:30 PM, celebrate with the whole digital industry and Google+ at the 16th Annual Webby Awards, where we’ll be hosting an exclusive backstage Hangout On Air from the Webbys Google+ page during the show. Whether you're there in person, watching the live stream, or watching our Hangout, expect plenty of surprises and laughs. Connect with the Webby Awards on Google+ for more updates, and if you're there, say hello to the Google+ and Google Creative Lab teams at the afterparty!

We’re excited to share our thoughts about the future of digital advertising and marketing and proud to be part of New York’s technology scene. We hope to see you out and about!


Posted by Caroline McCarthy, Product Marketing Manager, Google+

As of June 12, 2012, AdWords Editor versions 9.0 and prior will be sunset. After this date, changes made via these versions will not be implemented in your AdWords account. Please download the latest version (9.7.1.) at your earliest convenience, but no later than June 12, 2012.

You can upgrade to version 9.7.1 through the auto-update prompt or download the latest version from the AdWords Editor website. After you install the new version, you’ll need to download your account again. To preserve your comments and unposted changes, select the ‘Backup then Upgrade’ option in the automatic upgrade prompt, then import the backup file after downloading the account.

For a complete list of version-specific changes, please see our release notes. To see which version you're using, go to the Help menu > About AdWords Editor.


Posted by Allison Sommer, Inside AdWords Crew

This week, the English AdWords Community team is pleased to welcome three new members to the AdWords Top Contributor program: Moshe Avichai, Pankaj Sabharwal, and Scott Dunroe. The Top Contributor program recognizes advanced AdWords experts who have dedicated their time and passion for AdWords to helping other users in the Community. Read their stories below about how they first got involved in the AdWords Community.
This week, the English AdWords Community team is pleased to welcome three new members to the AdWords Top Contributor program: Moshe Avichai, Pankaj Sabharwal, and Scott Dunroe. The Top Contributor program recognizes advanced AdWords experts who have dedicated their time and passion for AdWords to helping other users in the Community. Read their stories below about how they first got involved in the AdWords Community.


Moshe Avichai (aka “MosheTLV”)

With a start of my engineering consulting business and use of AdWords, I wanted to gain a better understanding of the advertising system. AdWords forum was my starting point to get answers to my questions. 




I realized how much my AdWords knowledge improved since I discovered the forum. Ever since then, it has become my hobby to help other users in the AdWords Community. I love interacting with the Community because it has users ranging from beginners to Adwords Experts.


 
Scott Dunroe (aka “ScottyD”)

The ability to interact with some of the most knowledgeable individuals in the AdWords industry is a real privilege. But the best feeling of all is helping novice members with their AdWords related questions and then seeing them gradually become active members themselves.

Our three new Top Contributors will be active in the Community along with the other Top Contributors and our thousands of users to help you with all your AdWords questions. Join the conversation!

Posted by the AdWords Community Team

Did you know that 40% of mobile web users reported that they’ve turned to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience1? With about half of all Americans now owning a smartphone2, it’s time for businesses to meet user expectations by delivering a mobile experience as good as the desktop experience. In short, it’s time to step up to the plate and build a site optimized for the mobile web.  
Did you know that 40% of mobile web users reported that they’ve turned to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience1? With about half of all Americans now owning a smartphone2, it’s time for businesses to meet user expectations by delivering a mobile experience as good as the desktop experience. In short, it’s time to step up to the plate and build a site optimized for the mobile web.  
 

Google can help. We recently teamed up with DudaMobile to release a free mobile site builder.  In three easy steps you’re able to get started with mobile: (1) enter your site’s URL, (2) customize your site and (3) redirect mobile users automatically to the new mobile-friendly version.  It’s free and takes just a few minutes to complete!

Join us on Thursday, May 10th at 1pm EST/10am PST and watch as Google showcases how two businesses, Top Mast Resort in Massachusetts and Sava’s Restaurant in Michigan, go mobile and build mobile-friendly sites--live on air.

You’ll see how Top Mast is preparing to take advantage of mobile travel purchase intent - which is five times higher than online travel purchase intent, according to InsightExpress.  You’ll also see Sava’s move ahead of 95% of restaurants that do not have mobile-friendly sites, according to a study by Restaurant Science.

Finally, you’ll hear from the CMO of Dudamobile, Dennis Mink; he’ll talk about best practices when using the mobile site builder and walk through important questions to ask yourself when building a mobile-friendly site.

Details on how to tune in

  1. Sign into Google+ on Thursday, May 10th at 1pm EST/10am PST
  2. Go to the Think with Google Google+ page
  3. Look for the stream post and click to enter the live stream

Be sure to set a reminder in your calendar! If you have questions before or during the Hangout, post them with the hashtag #GoMoSite as a comment on the Google+ page.

Posted by Suzanne Mumford, Google Mobile Ads Marketing


Sources: (1) Gomez 2011 (2) Nielsen February 2012

Ever wish you could reach out to other advertisers with just a click, even when you're not behind your computer? We’ve got some good news for you - AdWords Community ...
Ever wish you could reach out to other advertisers with just a click, even when you're not behind your computer? We’ve got some good news for you - AdWords Community is now optimized for all web-enabled mobile devices!

Like PPCBossman and many other Community users, you can get AdWords Community mobile on your smartphone and stay connected anywhere and at any time:
  • Ask your AdWords questions as soon as they come to mind.
  • Post answers/articles and help other members.
  • Instantly browse any thread you want to re-visit.
Sign up is as easy as opening www.en.adwords-community.com in your mobile browser (ensure you type in the www) with no additional applications. It auto-captures your mobile email (you can choose to use a different email) - simply choose your username and get started!



The simple interface with finger-friendly buttons lets you easily use all all the Community features just like on your desktop. One member theitiuk says this increases his accessibility to reach out to the Community at any time from anywhere. PPCBossman, who is a regular user, finds the functionality almost identical to the desktop version.

Try it out, bookmark it on your phone and let us know what you think by posting your comments and suggestions on the AdWords Community.

Posted by Rashmi Singh, Ad Policy Specialist

Join us every Wednesday at 11am PST on the Google+ Your Business page to learn about the tools that Google offers your business. This week, we’re excited to bring you a Hangout On Air about advertising on the Google Display Network.

The Display Network is a powerful tool that can help you reach potential customers that may not be actively looking for you on search engines. In fact, 95% of users’ time is spent outside of search. During the Hangout, we’ll show you how to harness the Display Network to select appropriate targeting options and identify important performance metrics for your business. Join us to learn more about topics like image ads, branding your business, and re-engaging users who have previously visited your site. In addition, we’re excited to invite two Top Contributors, Kim and Theresa, from the AdWords Community to share their personal experience advertising on the Display Network.

Just sign into Google+ and add the Google+ Your Business page to your circles. Post questions ahead of time - simply look for the post that we put up every Monday morning soliciting your questions. Then, on Wednesday, navigate to your Stream where you’ll be able to view our Hangout live with just one click!

We’re excited to see you, answer your questions, and teach you a little about AdWords!
 


Posted by Allison Sommer, Inside AdWords crew