Inside AdWords: Series

Think2010: Series recap

lunes, diciembre 28, 2009

We kicked off the Think2010 blog series 14 weeks ago with the idea of helping you prepare for the coming year by devoting one post each week to big-picture, forward-looking themes supported by actionable tips. Over the course of the series we've covered topics such as relevance, speed, experimentation and innovation. We've discussed the multiple roles that search can play, how to use data to better connect with customers, and the importance of staying focused on the fundamentals. We've also deliberately infused the series with perspectives from thought leaders both inside and outside of Google in order to give you a range of insights on the changing face of marketing. You can find a more in-depth version of this same conversation taking place on our Fast.Forward. YouTube channel.
As our series comes to a close this week and we prepare to usher in 2010, we'd like to thank you for reading and leave you with some parting thoughts. Here's what a diverse group of industry leaders have to say about the new marketing landscape and the vast opportunity that they believe lies ahead for 2010:

(click here to view video)
From the Think2010 team -- best wishes for a prosperous and successful 2010.
Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew

Welcome to our Think2010 Series

lunes, septiembre 28, 2009

In a mere few days, the 4th quarter will be upon us. Seems like just yesterday we were running our Do More with Less series to arm you with tools and tactics to show the 2009 recession who's boss.

As we start wrapping up 2009 and start thinking about what 2010 might hold, we're feeling optimistic. We're hoping we can transition from being your partner through the recession to being your partner through a recovery. That's why we're launching the Think2010: Getting Ahead of the Recovery series. For the next few months, we'll be devoting a weekly post to looking forward. The series will highlight wisdom from Googlers and outsiders alike, and offer opportunities for deeper learning. Over the course of the series you'll see posts on innovation, experimentation, speed, and deeper customer connections -- themes we believe will be critical to 2010 success.

In 2010 you'll likely have products to promote, news to share, and promotions to tout, so you'll need a targeting strategy that is as effective as those messages you have to get out the door. Precision and relevance will be as important as ever as you aim to (re)connect with customers and direct them your way. That's why we're focusing our first webinar of our Think 2010 series precisely on this topic.

Next Tuesday, Oct 6th, we'll be hosting a Think2010 webinar on “Using Data to Better Connect with Your Customers." If you haven't registered, take a look! Our very own Avinash Kaushik will set you out on the right foot for really (truly) making data actionable for decision-making next year -- and right now. He'll discuss core data sources to have in your 2010 targeting toolkit and show you how to capitalize on these tools for refining your targeting approach and honing in on your most relevant and valuable audiences. The webinar will also highlight how free tools like Google Trends for Websites, Insights for Search, and Ad Planner can help you be more efficient and help you confidently make decisions to maximize your return-on-investment.

As you scope your strategy and tailor your tactics for next year, we hope the Think2010: Getting Ahead of the Recovery series will be a good resource to help you charge ahead feeling informed and inspired.

Posted by Austin Rachlin, Inside AdWords crew

New Interface Thursdays: Your top questions from the webinar series

jueves, agosto 20, 2009

How do I delete keywords?Change statusMy ad is pending review. What does that mean?Where do I find spreadsheet editing?KeywordsSpreadsheet editMore actionsWhat is the difference between 1 per click and many per click conversions?hereHow do I view Destination URLs for keywordscustomizing your columnsKeywords Filters and viewsCustomize columns

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Where are settings for ad scheduling, frequency capping, ad rotations, etc?Campaign SettingsAdvancedPosted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

(Ad)Word of the Day: Ad Scheduling

lunes, julio 13, 2009

ad scheduling

Ad scheduling lets you control the days and times your ad campaigns appear. You may also choose an advanced mode, which allows you to raise or lower your bids for a campaign at certain times of the day.

article on ad schedulingPosted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

New Interface Thursday: You said it, we're fixing it!

jueves, julio 02, 2009

We released the new AdWords interface early to get your feedback on it as soon as possible. And you haven't disappointed us! We receive thousands of comments every month covering likes, dislikes, and ideas for ways to further improve the AdWords interface. We read your comments carefully to prioritize the areas to work on next.
And we've made a lot of progress on the top issues our advertisers reported, so today we wanted to share these improvements with you.
Less horizontal scrollingWhen working with certain browsers and monitor resolutions (especially 1024x768), you told us you needed to scroll back and forth in order view data tables and controls. We've now condensed the layout of AdWords pages and width of columns in order to eliminate the need to scroll horizontally. If you're still encountering this issue, please let us know.
If you'd like to further condense the view of your account, remember that you can customize your columns. Try hiding columns that aren't important to you and move other columns around to quickly compare important metrics side-by-side.
Support for Safari 4 and Firefox 3.5Those of you working with the newest versions of Safari and Firefox will be happy to know that the new AdWords interface now works with these browsers. We'll continue to work to support the latest versions all major browsers in the future.
Faster load timesOne of our most important goals with the new interface was to improve the efficiency of day-to-day campaign management tasks. We've heard from some advertisers that while integrated reports and roll-up tabs help them quickly access and act on important data, the data didn't always load as quickly as they'd hoped.
We've worked to improve the speed of the interface with the latest releases, and hope you can now see a noticeable improvement. However, our work isn't done, and we'll continue to focus on shortening load times with upcoming launches. For the fastest experience, we recommend using the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox 3+, Safari 4, or Internet Explorer 8.
Searching for keywordsWe heard many of you are looking for quick ways to search for keywords, ad text, or campaign names within your account. In previous posts, we talked about how you can use filtering to focus on the data that matters to you.
While text filters allow you to search and act directly on the data you see, they also take a few clicks to set up for the first time. To help you work more quickly, we've added a new shortcut that lets you quickly search by text under the 'Filter and views' menu on any tab.

Try it on your Keywords tab to quickly find all keywords containing a specific term.
Educational materialsYou told us you'd like more help with transitioning to the new interface. In addition to New Interface Thursdays and our new interface website, we recently started a series of free educational webinars, featuring the product team. Sign up now for the next webinar on July 10.
If you haven't been using the new AdWords interface to manage your campaigns due to a specific annoyance, now's a great time to to log in and see how the interface has improved. And please, keep your feedback coming. Just click on the Send Feedback link at the top right corner of your account to share your thoughts.Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

New Interface Thursdays: Meet the Networks tab

jueves, mayo 07, 2009

In this edition of New Interface Thursdays we'll be talking about the Networks tab. The Networks tab replaces the Placements tab from the previous interface, and gives you more insight into where your ads are running. In the Networks tab, you can see your ads' performance across different networks like Google search, Search partners, and the Content Network.

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When looking at how your Content Network ads perform, you'll see that the new interface divides Content Network statistics into two groups: automatic placements and managed placements.

Automatic placements are pages in the Content Network where your ads have been contextually targeted. Contextual targeting matches the themes in your keyword list to relevant page content on the sites in our network. For instance, if you have 'ski equipment' as a keyword in your ad group, Google might contextually target your ads to a page talking about the best online ski equipment deals.

Managed placements are sites or specific URLs that you've singled out. With managed placements you can set a specific bid for a site. If a site is performing very well for you and you want to increase your exposure, you might bid higher for that placement. On the other hand, if a site isn't very relevant to your offer, you might lower your bid or exclude the site.

When you add a site to your managed placements, we still use your keywords to find contextually matching pages. You can think of it like a Venn diagram:

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Automatic Placements

Jumping back into the account, we can take a closer look at automatic placements. By clicking show details you'll see a table showing the sites on which your ads are running. If you've used the Placement Performance report in the previous interface this should look familiar to you. With the new interface you have this report right in your account.

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You can see that each site's performance is broken out. The green "Added" badges appear next to the sites which you've already added to your managed placements.

From this table, you have a few actions you can take. You can add a site to your managed placements with a separate bid for that site. If you want to see a breakdown of your performance on individual URLs where your ads were shown, you can select a site and click Show URL report. Also if a site doesn't meet your advertising goals, you can exclude it from your ad group or campaign.

Managed Placements

Your managed placements are shown in a similar table:

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Since you set specific bids for managed placements, this table has a Max CPC column. Like the rest of the new interface, you can make changes directly in the table. For example, if you want to change your bid for a placement, just click on the bid and enter a new one. As with your automatic placements, you can view a URL report to take a deeper look at where your ads are showing.

At the bottom of the Networks tab you'll find Exclusions. This area lists any placements that you've excluded to prevent your ads from running on them. You can exclude a placement at the ad group level or at the campaign level.

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That's it for our tour of the Networks tab. You can always find more information in the Help Center and at the New Interface site.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Analytics and AdWords tips - Part 4 of 4

miércoles, abril 29, 2009

Last week we looked at finding your ROI for AdWords and also identifying keywords that aren't performing well. This week, in the last part of our series, the Google Analytics team will take a look at keywords that bring in revenue and also how to use Analytics to improve your ROI overall.
Which keywords drive revenue?
Just like you did with your poor performing keywords, go to the AdWords Campaigns report and click down to the Keyword level. Once you are in the AdWords Keywords report, click in the Revenue column header (you may have to click twice) so that the highest revenue keywords are listed first.
The high revenue keywords may or may not be your highest ROI keywords. If your ROI shows that you are losing or making little money on a high revenue keyword, you might want to adjust your strategy.
Using Analytics to improve overall website ROI

Use Analytics to create an optimization plan to improve the conversion rate on your site

Track your email marketing campaigns with Analytics

Expand your keyword lists using Analytics with Insights for Search and the Search Based Keyword Tool

Follow the 9 steps to becoming an Analytics Emperor

Hire a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant to handle all your tracking for you

Google Analytics blogYoutube Channel
Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Analytics and AdWords tips - Part 3 of 4

miércoles, abril 22, 2009

Once again we've asked the Google Analytics team to share some of their tips on how to use Analytics and AdWords together. Last week we talked about how to link your two accounts and view your results. To recap, the three steps you need to take are:

1) Link your AdWords and Analytics accounts (how-to video)

2) Configure goals (Help Center article)

3) Assign a value to your goals

This week we'll show you how to use Analytics reports to find your true return on investment (ROI) and identify poor performing keywords.
Which keywords lose money?
As we mentioned last time, the report for tracking keyword ROI is the AdWords Campaigns report in the Traffic Sources section. To identify the keywords that are losing you money, click the ROI column header twice so that the lowest ROI keywords are at the top of the list. Do you have any -100% ROI keywords? These are keywords on which you lost all of the money you spent (you paid for clicks on those keywords but no one completed actions on your site). But before you take any action in your AdWords account, consider how much you spent and whether you have enough data yet to make a decision.
Very often, -100% ROI keywords are those that have only received a few clicks. You might want to wait until you receive more than one or two clicks on a keyword before you make any changes. And if you've only spent a few cents on a keyword, it's probably worth waiting to see if the keyword pays off.
If you want to learn more, you can check out this video on finding poor performing keywords.
Short date ranges may obscure your true ROI.
It’s generally not a good idea to make keyword changes on the basis of a few days worth of data. You’ll make better decisions if you also take into account your sales cycle and everything else you know about the specifics of your business online.
Consider your return customers – those that find you via an AdWords ad and then return later to buy again. You’ll miss these repeat conversions if you set too short of a date range. Also, it may take a few days for many of your visitors to become customers. By making decisions based on a date range that is shorter than your sales cycle, you might actually lower your ROI by discounting keywords that are actually profitable.
Try out different date ranges and see how your ROI is affected. Try the most recent days, week, month, and then look at this year’s data. You’ll have more – as well as more interesting – information upon which to base your decisions.
Next week we'll look at the Keywords Positions report and see how your ad position can affect performance.
Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Analytics and AdWords tips - Part 2 of 4

miércoles, abril 15, 2009

Last weekGoogle AnalyticsLinking your accountsvideo

Google Analytics Blog: Tracking Code Tutorial

Help Center Article

this articleFinding your ROI

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Tracking your revenuearticlethis onePosted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Starting up New Interface Thursdays

jueves, abril 09, 2009

You may have heard that we're testing a new interface for AdWords. Many of you are starting to use the new interface, and we want to take time to tell you more about it. So we're starting a series, New Interface Thursdays.
Each week we'll cover some aspect of the new interface, whether it's an in-depth look at some of the new features, tips and tricks, product updates, or announcements.
For this week, we'd like to point you to the new AdWords interface website and highlight what you'll find there. The site has two sections. First, there's a section for videos abut the new interface, including a handful of videos about new features and how these features can help you more effectively manage your account. There's also a video from the AdWords product managers and engineers telling the story behind the new interface:

The other section is the beta resources page. If you're currently using the new interface, you'll find lots of helpful materials like the How to Guide. The interface is still a work in progress so we also have a Known Issues page. The Known Issues pages can suggest possible workarounds and also lets you tell us if you're having a problem.
If you want to try the new interface, but don't have access yet, you can sign up from the new interface website. During the beta, you can switch between old and new interfaces, so you'll still have access to the full range of AdWords tools and reports, if needed.
Finally, if you use Twitter, you can follow @newadwordsui to keep up with the latest news and updates as well as tips and tricks on using the new interface.
Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Analytics and AdWords tips - Part 1 of 4

lunes, abril 06, 2009

survey last monthGoogle Analyticsafter

Which types of shoes do visitors view most often? For example, do people prefer sandals or sneakers?

In which order do visitors view pages? For example, do people view more expensive shoes, but then buy cheaper ones?

Which pages are the last ones people see before leaving the site? For example, do people get confused on the sign-up page and leave?

Do people actually complete a goal on your site? For example, how many visitors buy or sign-up?

Google Analytics in 60 Seconds: Find the Best KeywordsGoogle Analytics in 60 Seconds: Location TargetingGoogle Analytics in 60 Seconds: Find Poor Performing Campaigns and KeywordsGoogle Analytics in 60 Seconds: Placement TargetingGoogle Analytics in 60 Seconds: Identifying High SpendersGoogle Analytics in 60 Seconds: Conversion FunnelsGoogle Analytics in 60 Seconds: Tracking Ecommerce with Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics sitePosted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Do more with less -- Part 3 of 3

miércoles, febrero 04, 2009

last week's postdoing more with lessSearch-based Keyword Toolproviding you with a list of extremely relevant, actively searched keywordsHelping your bottom lineFocusing your campaignspowerful filters

Looking for bargain terms? In the 'more filters' section, sort by 'low-competition' or pick a bid you're willing to pay and sort by 'suggested bid'.

Only looking for keywords in a particular product area? The tool automatically groups keywords by categories, so simply select the category you want on the left-hand side of the results.

Can't find the category you're looking for, or want to find terms for a specific page on your website? Click on 'more filters' and enter a term into the 'url contains' field.

additional information on each keywordand the page on your site the term is most related to, which you might chose to select as the landing page (destination url) for that keyword.Getting started

Go to http://www.google.com/sktool

Sign-in to your AdWords account

Enter the url of your website

Click 'Find Keywords'

support sitewww.google.com/domorewithlessPosted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Do more with less -- Part 2 of 3

miércoles, enero 28, 2009

we talkedConversion OptimizerConversion Trackingsaving you money and timeadditional factorsdouble-digit percentage increases in conversionsConversion Optimizer pagewww.google.com/domorewithlessPosted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

(Ad)Word of the Day: Landing Page

miércoles, octubre 01, 2008

Today on (Ad)Word of the Day, we'll be covering landing page from the AdWords Glossary:

An active webpage where customers will 'land' when they click your ad. The web address for this page is often called a 'destination URL' or 'clickthrough URL.'

Your landing pages are most effective when they are consistent with your ads. For example, if your ad is for a specific product at a certain price, both the product and the pricing should be featured prominently on your landing page.
If you're not sure what landing page design works best with your customers, you can use Google Website Optimizer to try different pages to find the most effective one.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew

(Ad)Word of the Day: Keyword Insertion

miércoles, julio 30, 2008

(Ad)Word of the Daykeyword insertionAdWords Glossary

Keyword insertion is an advanced feature used to dynamically update your ad text with your chosen keywords. You insert a special modification tag into your ad text to enable this feature for your ads.

Keyword insertion is a powerful feature that can save you time and also help make your ad text more relevant. This feature will automatically customize your ad to a user's query, which means your ad is more likely to attract a user's attention. And, since ad text that matches a user's search terms is shown in bold, your ads will stand out even more.
Even with these benefits, keyword insertion shouldn't be used all the time. We recommend reading this article and going through this tutorial before you start using keyword insertion.
Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew

(Ad)Word of the Day: Conversion

jueves, julio 24, 2008

We all know the importance of measuring the impact of your ad campaigns. That's why, today, we're discussing the term conversion from the AdWords Glossary, which is defined as follows:

When a user completes an action on your site, such as buying something or requesting more information.

In AdWords, a conversion occurs when a user clicks on your ad, then proceeds to complete an action on your web site that you deem valuable, like a purchase, registration, or sign-up. You can track actions like this on your web site by using one (or both) of the tools we offer:

Conversion tracking: A tool for measuring conversion metrics for your campaigns.
Google Analytics: A more robust tool that tracks not just conversions, but also gives insight into how your web site visitors found your site, how they navigated through it and how you can improve their user experience -- all things that ultimately help you improve the ROI of your web site.

Both conversion tracking and Google Analytics are free tools and are great ways of ensuring advertising accountability and making smarter online advertising decisions.

Learn more about setting up conversion tracking for your AdWords ads, and signing up for Google Analytics.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

(Ad)Word of the Day: Ad Variations

jueves, junio 26, 2008

AdWords GlossaryInside AdWords entitledad variationsAd variations are multiple versions of an ad for a single product or service, all based on the same set of keywords. Variations are a good way to test many versions of the same message to see which works best with potential customers.create multiple adsinside-adwords@google.comPosted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew

Google Analytics 101 (Part 3)

jueves, abril 03, 2008

installing your tracking code

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Visits, Pageviews, Pages/Visit, Bounce Rate, Average Time on Site, and % New Visits.

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Help Center article

Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors who left your site after only seeing one page. For most sites, a high Bounce Rate is bad since people are arriving, taking a quick look around, and leaving immediately. Either the site isn't useful or they're turned off by something. By monitoring your Bounce Rate over time, you can optimize your landing pages and then check to see if your changes worked - a lower rate means people like what you've done with the place. Bounce Rate is best used to compare different sets of your own data. Websites and industries vary too greatly for us to give you here a set number on what a healthy Bounce Rate is. For example, blogs usually have high Bounce Rates no matter what since normal visitor behavior is to read the newest post and then leave.

Average Time on Site indicates the average length of time a visitor spends on your site's tracked pages. A high number may mean that visitors are very engaged with your site, which is great if, say, your goal is to provide entertaining content. However, you may not necessarily want it high. If you have an e-commerce site and people spend a long time on it, perhaps your buying process is too long or confusing. Once you find out which way is best for you, you can take steps to change your Average Time on Site number in the desired direction.

% New Visits tells you the percentage of visitors that have never visited your site before. If you look at a date range where you've run a far-reaching ad campaign, you'd be excited to see an increased number of new visitors who have been exposed to your campaigns and are curious to see your website. Or perhaps your goal is to create loyalty among your customer base, in which case you'd want a significant portion of your visitors to be returning. Because % New Visits is a statistic that usually needs more context and absolute numbers to be useful, go ahead and click on the link to see a detailed report for it. You can do the same for any of the statistics we've discussed. In fact, you can pretty much click on any stat in the Google Analytics interface to drill down for more details.

Posted by Christian, Inside AdWords crew

Google Analytics 101 (Part 2)

jueves, febrero 07, 2008

Part 1

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profile Help Centeradd more profilesmanage user accessfiltersPosted by Christian, Inside AdWords crew

Google Content Network Tips: Optimizing for a content network audience

jueves, enero 24, 2008

three part series

Create separate search and content campaigns.
This will allow you to:

Optimize your ad groups and ad text specifically for content pages.
Target different audiences. If you sell flowers, you may want to create a content ad group to show your ads to couples by targeting pages relevant to them.
Use general keywords to strengthen the theme of your ad group, without affecting your search performance.

Think about the type of user browsing a web page and write ads to catch that user's attention.

It's important for your ad text to relate to the webpage on which it appears. If your target user is going to be on pages related to flowers, mention flowers or closely related products in the ad text.
Test multiple creatives and ad formats (text, image, video) in all available sizes to gain better insight into what sort of ads will perform the best for you.

Include call-to-action phrases.

Phrases like 'Register now," "Get a free quote," and "Call now" can can help set expectations for the person who is about to visit your site.
Your call-to-action should be what you consider to be a conversion.

Highlight special offers or features available on your site.

We've found that advertisers often get higher ROI on the content network when they include product prices in their ads. Prices and special offers can help you stand out from competitors and showcase your best deals.

Link your ad to customized landing pages that match the information in your ad text.

If your ad highlights a special deal on cell phones, make sure that the ad directs users to the specific cell phone page of your site. And ensure that your landing pages are clear and easy to navigate.

previous optimization post

Track the performance of your contextually targeted ads using Placement Performance reports.

The Placement Performance report (PPR) provides information on where your contextually targeted ads are showing up and how they are performing. You can use placement targeting (CPC or CPM) to further target the placements where your ads are performing particularly well and use site exclusion to exclude them from sites where they are not performing well. You can find more tips on how to use PPR effectively to boost campaign performance here.

Let Google track and manage your campaign's performance for you.

Using the Conversion Optimizer, you can specify a cost-per-acquisition (CPA), and Google will automatically adjust your CPC bids to meet your CPA goal. Learn how Bingo Card Creator used Conversion Optimizer on his content network campaigns to save time and increase his profits.

send us feedbackPosted by Feng, Inside AdWords crew

Inside AdWords

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Think2010: Series recap

Welcome to our Think2010 Series

New Interface Thursdays: Your top questions from the webinar series

(Ad)Word of the Day: Ad Scheduling

New Interface Thursday: You said it, we're fixing it!

New Interface Thursdays: Meet the Networks tab

Analytics and AdWords tips - Part 4 of 4

Analytics and AdWords tips - Part 3 of 4

Analytics and AdWords tips - Part 2 of 4

Starting up New Interface Thursdays

Analytics and AdWords tips - Part 1 of 4

Do more with less -- Part 3 of 3

Do more with less -- Part 2 of 3

(Ad)Word of the Day: Landing Page

(Ad)Word of the Day: Keyword Insertion

(Ad)Word of the Day: Conversion

(Ad)Word of the Day: Ad Variations

Google Analytics 101 (Part 3)

Google Analytics 101 (Part 2)

Google Content Network Tips: Optimizing for a content network audience

Google Best Practices

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