Category: Google Ads News and Information

  • Big changes coming to Google paid search results

    Fewer Ads to Show on Google Search Results Page – No Right Sidebar

    Google will remove the right sidebar ads from desktop search results, globally. There is an exception for product listing ads only.

    In some cases Google may add a fourth ad to the top results if it is a localized (inferred or explicit) commercial query.

    The change in Google search results is big, no two ways about it.

    Google shows for ads on top of serpsGoogle showing PLAs

    The impact on cost per click and click through rates will be seen quickly, as will impressions.

    If you are a position 3 or higher player in adwords, then expect an upward cost pressure. Those who are normally on the right side of the first page will have to make a decision, drop to virtually no impressions or start bidding up the landscape to try to make it to the top three positions. It is one thing to accept lower CTRs while on the right sidebar. Its another to get virtually nothing.

    For those who played the right sidebar, they are coming to a crossroads. To continue to be in Adwords with any real volume of clicks, they will have to pay more, perhaps much more. If they are not willing to do that, then one has to question if being in the game at all is worth it. The time it takes to manage a program well has a cost on top of the media spend. Is there enough volume at the bottom of page one, or pages two+ to justify the time? Something to seriously consider.

    For those who stay in the game, what is the best next step?
    Most companies have a limited budget. With the increase in CPC, this will get tapped out more quickly. Within any program there is an “averaging” that happens. Some clicks are more valuable, others less so, but to get the volume, the managers accept the range and average to the target. PPC manager will have to tighten up and shift to the higher end of that range. This could be more narrowly defining the keywords, dayparting, geography or ad copy. If you are not familiar with the top performing segments of your program, do the analysis asap. You have decisions to make.

    Revisit the landing pages.
    If you can’t decrease the cost of the click, you need to make the click more valuable. Too many programs become complacent with landing pages. It takes a lot to do it well, so there is an aversion at times to putting in the effort. Use this as an opportunity to refocus on conversion rate optimization. Make each click worth more to your program.

    Impact on SEO?
    There is also an argument to be made that this move puts an emphasis on organic search results. As users have fewer paid options to click on, will they take the organic into higher consideration? This is something to be watched very carefully. Know where your page one keywords are landing people on your site and monitor them carefully. Really optimize the description tags and titles for ctr. You have an opportunity here, take it.

    Google’s decision to change paid search results is going to have a broad impact and be a real pain for some programs. Look at it as an opportunity to focus and leverage more of what works, weed out the borderline stuff and increase the value of each click.

  • Paid search ads directed to Facebook?

    A recent Media Post article proffered the question, should paid search be used to send users to a facebook page.

    The author didn’t actually answer the question, but posited a number of “issues”. The only upside that was suggested is that doing so is a way to marry the search and social channels.

    Don’t Force Social Media On Users

    This is a distraction for the user and the brand. Paid search users have a specific intent, and expectations that they will be brought to a page relevant to that intent. Basic optimization requires a level of tracking and control that is not available on FB. Search traffic should be directed to a landing page directly connected to the brand site, created for the intent. This allows the experience to be optimized to the expectations.

    Social media engagement should be in the context of a user’s social media experience. While cross channel engagement may be desirable, it is only so when the connection between the channels is natural to the user, not forced by the brand.

    Social Media Advertising

    In the area of social media, when it comes to advertising, we view brand interactions at three levels:

    1) Resident – The brand is actively engaged in the social landscape with ongoing interactions with users, involvement in topics related to but beyond the brand or brand’s products & services (charities or the arts as examples) and is generally “expected” to be seen.

    2) Visitor – The brand has a page and responds regularly to user initiated interactions such a product queries, help requests, or review responses. The brand is not expected by users, but in mild doses, it is accepted.

    3) Intruders – Dormant pages, poor response times or no natural connection to the users. Ads seemingly appear from nowhere and don’t serve a purpose in the user’s experience.

    Not all paid search users are on facebook. Even if they are, being there at that moment (when conducting a google search) is not what they wanted; if they did, they would start on facebook. By pushing search users to facebook, brands are creating an unnatural path for them. Regardless of what your standing is on facebook, the interaction you create by doing this is forced, unexpected and creates a tension that should not be there.

    Social media is a connection while paid search is a transaction. The two should not be confused.

  • The Paid Search Sweet Spot

    The Paid Search Sweet Spot

    google growthIt was an average ad position of 2.5 in paid search.

    We couldn’t explain why, but some how if our average ad position was 2.5, then the average cpc, conversion rate and customer value all aligned to hit our targets. It was basic math. By why 2.5? We couldn’t say, but we dubbed it “The Sweet Spot” and for a while it held.

    If we bid higher to get further up the results, the conversions couldn’t justify the increase bids (in some cases the conversions decreased). If we drew back, the conversion dropped too much, the ROI just disappeared for us (or close to it). Yup, The Sweet Spot was 2.5.

    I could have given a webinar on The Sweet Spot. I had all the numbers showing how this one place in the ad rankings was key to financial freedom, independence and untold fortunes for the company. I would have been able to show explicitly how this was better than 2.9 or 2.1, backed up with numbers to support my case. I might have called the presentation, “The Sweet Spot, A Guaranteed Strategy To A Perfect Paid Search Program.” It’s simple, easily demonstrated and easily replicated.

    The only problem is it was also bullshit. Things changed and 2.5 became the outcast. Our managers worked through the problems and once again we saw the program re-optimized. The change could have been caused by any number of things in and out of our control. But, tagging ourselves to a position was not a long term strategy, but an opportunistic tactic.

    This is the issue with so many of the seminars I’ve watched over the years. The presenters take something akin to “The Sweet Spot” and convince a fair number of people that success is simple. Just repeat what I’ve done and you to will be the Paid Search phenom in your organization. If only life were so simple.

    It is not that these things are all bad, or bad at all. Many are legitimate tactics. But none are “the only” strategy. These seminars can have two detrimental effects for paid search programs:

    1. Search managers looking for the silver bullet will jump from one unrelated tactic to another, with no strategic connection between them. This lack of continuity or true planning causes the learnings to be lost in the process. Instead of building on what one learns, each change tends to be a complete tear down and rebuild.
    2. Unreasonable expectations. I saw one session where a person who “followed the process” experienced a 1400% increase in CTR. I can only imagine that the program was set up so horribly wrong to start, or the result was an isolation of one very bad part that was separated from the rest. An entire program that increased the CTR by 1400%? Not buying it. But, my skepticism comes from 20+ years in digital marketing. A person who is periodically involved or relatively new to search may jump at this.

    These webinars are not devoid of value. Often the tactics are solid and if presented as tactics to be tried and not the ultimate solution, they can have a positive impact. When watching these webinars, consider the context in which these case studies take place (if they provide that level of detail). Industry, shopper habits, competitive landscapes, search engine environment, etc. With a simple overview, you can quickly determine if a tactic is applicable to your program.

    If it is applicable, then see where it fits in your overall optimization plan; don’t just throw it into your program. How you implement the tactic should be informed by your history and results of passed optimizations.

  • Google Adwords Spring Cleaning

    Google Adwords Spring Cleaning

    Getting ready for spring, Google will help clear out some of the account junk you’ve accumulated over the year. Starting March 23, unused ads over 100 days old will go away. This is a good move, but if you are not aware, then you’ll be surprised by what you don’t see in the last week of March. But of course, now you are aware. So, no surprises.

    More here 

  • Google AdWords Drops Four Data Points

    googlelogo225I’ve often cautioned clients about “over consuming” data. I’m a data geek, but I know that data you can not use often clouds the data you can.

    The news that Google Adwords is reducing the number of columns (Google, the data Geek of the world) because advertisers are confused by too much adwords data shows that even the biggest fans of data recognized the limitations of unlimited data.