Today I Discovered: Inside AdWords March 7, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Google, Adwords , add a commentNot that this is a startling or unexpected discovery but I was glas to find it and thought I should share it. There are so many great resources out there and so little time. As you can tell by my lack on any recent post I’ve been quite busy and neglecting my Filthy Jack duties. So this post is a quick one but a good one. Please recall that one purpose of Filthy Jack is to document the things we learn as we move on down the road - even if they are bloody obvious…
So yes, Google’s AdWords team has a blog called Inside AdWords. The Blog focuses on:
Updates on enhancements made to the AdWords system
Thoughts on things that advertisers have been asking about
Tips on getting the most from AdWords
Details on tools we think you’ll find useful
Links to articles you might find interesting
If you are looking at becoming even more entrenched in the world of AdWords you should definately be spending a part of each week on this site. I plan to from this point forward.
Are Two Sites Better Than One? February 26, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google, Search Engine Marketing, Adwords, Domain Names , add a commentA “Filthy Jack” reader writes:
i’m looking for some advice…in terms of a client that has a business that operates out of two separate cities…they will have a home page that allows the user to select their city of choice for services…but what i’m wondering is for seo purposes do you think it’s in their best interest to have two separate websites? i’m thinking that one massive website should do the trick as long as all pertinent seo features for both cities is incorporated into the development…but my seo knowledge isn’t advanced–and i don’t have the answer to this one and i’m looking for advice
Evil Green and I discussed it and here is what we think:
One of Google’s key factors in search relevance is how many other sites link to a site. Further, this relevance is increased by both the quality of the site that shows up in the search results and the quality of the sites linking to it. So the question here is whether or not having two sites for the one company would be advantageous in this manner. From this standpoint I do not feel it would be.
We could also look at the domain name and how that may help. Assume we have XYZ Deck and Fence and they have a Kansas City operation and a St. Louis operation. It may be beneficial to have two domains with two sites:
xyzdeckandfencekansas.com / xyzdeckandfencestlouis.com
This would help show up in searches for deck, fence and kansas
OR
deck, fence, st. louis
This same goal could be accomplished with two sections in the site:
xyzdeckandfence.com/kansas / xyzdeckandfence.com/stlouis
However, this information in the title and meta description tag plus within the actual page content may derive the same benefit.
I really do not see a clear advantage in you doing two sites in this case. You may though want to consider if there is a benefit to the client in appearing like they are only in one city. There may be an advantage in appearing more ‘local’ and not ‘too big’. Or it could be the other way around. Some things to consider:
1. Is there a major delineation in services offered between the two cities?
2. is there a difference in pricing between the two cities?
If it is indeed pretty much the same site then I’d go with one.
If they are in a competitive field then they may want to look at a Google adwords campaign so they can precisely market to those within their trading area.
That’s my best advice given what you have provided. I may have more to offer if you want to go deeper.
May I Suggest… Google Suggest? February 19, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Google, Adwords , add a commentLooking for a quick way to identify some keywords for phrase or exact matching? Try Google Suggest - You know the little menu that appears under the Google Search Box when you are using the Google Toolbar? As soon as you start typing within it Google starts to show related searches. You can use those for exact and phrase matches within your AdWords campaigns. They directly relate to what Google knows people are searching for. Cool!
Negative Broad Matches Exact Phrase February 6, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Search Engine Marketing, Contextual Advertising, Adwords , add a commentWhat the $&*@??
Just looking at the keywords for one of my AdWords campaigns and recalling that one purpose of Filthy Jack was to provide a forum for Evil Green and myself to sort out the things we were learning. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to write about the matching possibilities that Google will use to trigger the appearance of your ads (or at least my understanding thereof…).
Broad Matches
I like analogies… a lot. And I thought I’d come up with one here. Matches are kind of like aiming to hit a target. How you aim will produce different results. A broad match (broad aim) will place your shot all around the target but not necessarily give you a bullseye. For example a search for Filthy Jack using a broad match would show the ad where Filthy Jack, or Jack Filthy, or Filthy, or Jack is queried. Ads will also show for pluralizations and variations of Filthy Jack (Filthier Jacks, of which I suppose there very well could be). Broad match keywords are entered as just regular text in the Campaign Management area of AdWords: Filthy Jack
Phrase Match
More precise and aiming more for the bullseye in terms of user queries matching your keywords. Your ads only appear when the phrase queried for is matched. Note that the query can contain other terms but it must contain your phrase in the order you have indicated. This means that Filthy Jack would match for the query Filthy Jack as well as a query for Filthy Jack is a cool SEO site. Phrase match keywords are entered with quotation marks around them in the Campaign Management area of AdWords: “Filthy Jack”
Exact Match
The truth and nothing but the truth. Aiming for the dead center of the target each and every time! An exact match means that your ad may appear when the user has entered in a query that contains ONLY the keywords you have indicated and nothing more and nothing less. A query of Filthy Jack would show the ad in this instance but not a query for Filthy Jack site. Your ad may not appear as often with an exact match but the clicks you will receive are much more apt to be looking for your specific product or service. Exact match keywords are entered with square brackets around them in the Campaign Management area of AdWords: [Filthy Jack]
Negative Match
Look the other way, aim and shoot. This prevents your ads from appearing if a users search contains a negative keyword. Although Filthy Jack may sound like it belongs in the realm of adult entertainment we may wish to steer those kinds of queries away. To do so we may set words and terms like porn, xxx and sex as negative matches. Negative match keywords are entered with a minus sign before them in the Campaign Management area of AdWords: -porn
Sudden Burst of Sales February 1, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Uncategorized, Adwords , 3commentsI’m encountering a bit of a phenomenon on my OTC site. I have vast periods of inactivity where sales are not made. By vast I mean periods of several hours where nothing happens - certainly not days or anything like it. Then all of a sudden within a 30 to 40 minute period there are half a dozen orders. Then back to the slump. My Ad Words campaigns are not set to any specific day parts so it is nothing that I’m doing (at least not that I am aware of). Perhaps other competition is loosened up at those times and my campaigns have better yet fleeting success?? I would think this hypothesis was possible if the bursts occurred consistently enough, but that is not the case.
This is something I need to look at further. If it is something I can control then I could process many more orders…
Please feel free to comment on any thoughts you may have on this.
Google AdWords Support January 12, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Uncategorized, Google, Adwords , add a commentYesterday afternoon I received an automated email message from Google explaining that one of my ads was being blocked for containing a word that was in ALL CAPS. This (as I was aware but screwed up) was contrary to Google’s editorial guidelines for AdWords. So I promptly fixed it and emailed the site owner (the email from Google went to the site owner and myself) and cc’d Google AdWords Support.Much to my surprise I received a personal (at least it certainly seemed to be coming from flesh and blood) email from a Google AdWords support person thanking me for taking prompt action to adhere to the guidelines. I felt it was a positive gesture on Google’s behalf. I received the email approximately two hours after I had rectified the proplem and sent the cc.
Here is what I received:
Hello Xxxx, Thank you for your email and for promptly making the suggested changes to your campaign. We appreciate your effort in complying with our guidelines.If you have additional questions, please visit our Help Center at https://adwords.google.com/support to find answers to many frequently asked questions. Or, try our Learning Center at http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/ for self-paced lessons that cover the scope of AdWords. We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.
Sincerely,
Xxxx X.
The Google AdWords Team
Lately there seems to be somewhat of a paradigm shift in feeling that Google is becoming an evil empire. This brief encounter with Google AdWords Support has given me a positive feeling. The account that I was managing does spend in excess of $2000 a month on Google AdWords - so I would hope that would trigger some form of personal response though…
Impressions Galore January 12, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Adwords , add a commentA few days ago the Internet was abuzz with news about a video of Brazilian model/actor Daniela Cicarelli. A video of her having sex on the beach had her take action that blocked youtube in Brazil. This prompted me to use her name as keywords for a couple of my adwords campaigns (I blogged about this earlier but in lesser detail). So how did I do. Well, let me tell you first that I’ve never seen so many impressions in the adwords manager before. Literally tens of thousands, but rapidly dropping off after the news story broke. This translated to several clicks but none converted to a sale. Bids on the keywords for the campaigns I went with were for about half a dollar. I looked into another campaign I run for female contraceptives but bids were over $10.00 so I elected not to go with that.
What did I learn? I was quite sure that I would not see much action on the ads given its poor quality related to the search term. I was surprised to see how many times the ad did appear. Given the volume having some clicks to the site were bound to happen. It would have been nice to see some convert to a sale.
Lesser-Known Celebrity January 8, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Ranting and Raving, Adsense, Adwords , add a commentSo on a whim I added some keywords to one of my adwords campaigns today. Somewhat specifically I read an MSNBC article about a rather major celebrity from another country getting caught doing something bad. This should trigger quite a few Google searches on the celebrities name. So I added the name as keywords for one campaign.
The notion of doing this comes from me reading about someone (shoemomey??) bidding on Lance Bass as keywords when he came out of the closed and it generated a good deal of impressions and clicks.
Of course the quality score for this will be piss poor but I did add it to my ‘Beauty’ campaign for the site… I’ll let you know how it goes.
I should also mention that ALL of my campaigns were exclusive to Google but I have extended them to the Google network as well and that appears to be providing a few extra transactions a day, at least at first blush.
Becoming a Google Advertising Professional December 19, 2006
Posted by Stray Dog in : Google, Adwords , add a commentSince I need to become vastly more knowledgeable about Google AdWords in general I thought I may as well work towards achieving my Google Advertising Professional status. This accreditation is available for individuals who have signed up for the professional program, successfully achieved 75% or better on the accreditation exam and managed AdWords accounts that accumulate a minimum of $1000 spent over a 90 day period. I am fortunate as I am able to ‘manage’ the AdWords account for a client that spends more than enough for me to achieve this goal. Guess I do have some luck some of the time…
I spent some time today Googling to see if there was any slant one way or the other as to the effectiveness of this Google accreditation. I did not really read of anything too much either way - good or bad. Knowledge is never a bad thing and since I need to learn more on this anyway I have decided to make my own accreditation a goal for the first quarter of 2007.
Google has a great learning center that is available to anyone, not just those working towards accreditation. Lessons in the learning center are provided in both text based and multimedia (for those with shorter attention spans I guess - and I’m thankful for this…) versions.
In addition to other things I may add here I’ll start mentioning more about the learning center and what I find out.
Landing Page Improvement Noted December 14, 2006
Posted by Stray Dog in : Pay Per Click Advertising, Adwords , add a commentA bit early to tell given that I only have two days of comparable sales but my first experiment in landing pages seems to have worked. One particular product was accounting for roughly 30% of sales over a six week period. Since my change to point the ads to the products direct landing page instead of a category based page the product is now accounting for slightly better than 62%.
Note that this increase is not cannibalizing other sales as these are sales resulting from direct Ad Words clicks. Presumably if my other products landing pages do well as I change them then this percentage should go down and the product mix being sold increases. But since I really only made the one change and the numbers are showing improvement already it is quite exciting. I’ll continue to post on how this situation is going.
I also want to mention that we only have around 5 active Ad Word campaigns for this particular site and the vast majority of users come from these campaigns.