Like it or not, broad match is a vital component of Google AdWords management. The only way to avoid broad match is to play it 100% safe – perhaps by only using exact matched keywords. But 100% safe doesn’t work in advertising, marketing or Google AdWords. There are, unfortunately, no 100% guarantees, but you can reduce the risks significantly by understanding … Read More
25 ways to get Google AdWords wrong. Mistake #2: insufficient ads
A significant part of AdWords management involves educated trial and error. No matter how well you know your product, your markets and Google’s system, there is no way to accurately predict which ads will work and which will fall flat on their faces. AdWords visitors are probably quite different from your regular visitors – different needs and behavioural patterns, so new strategies may … Read More
25 ways to get Google AdWords wrong. Mistake #1: bad names
AdWords is complicated enough already. Don’t add to the chaos by using strange abbreviations. A new campaign named first-cont-01 might make sense next week, but in a year’s time, the person handling your account may be baffled. There’s a better way. Clear names make navigation and analysis quicker and easier. Campaign: discounts US and Canada Ad group: 20 percent Use the … Read More
Official: No average position on Google’s display network. “You do not even need to look at that column.”???
Average position is a reasonably useful indicator within your AdWords account. So how is average position calculated for ads on Google’s Display (content) Network? Ads aren’t always displayed vertically, so what do the numbers actually mean? We contacted Google’s support for clarification, and their answer was a little surprising: “Thank you for your patience in awaiting this email. I understand … Read More
The reality of AdWords SiteLinks
In case you haven’t noticed, Google have recently opened up a somewhat old feature to all AdWords account holders: Ad SiteLinks. In short, it can potentially make your ad stand out from those of your competition. To use it is rather easy. Go to your campaign settings, and under the ad extensions section you will find an item offering to … Read More
How and why most of the world needs Facebook sexual health in their advertising
Research by Dan Zarrella suggests that certain words have a greater impact in social media than others. The Most Facebook-Shareable Words vs. The Least Shareable Words on Facebook. Not exactly a great surprise, but the research also found that “techie and social-media dork favorite topics like Twitter, Google, and the iPhone aren’t very popular with the mainstream Facebook audience“. So … Read More
AdWords ads DO affect your organic rankings. Probably.
There are those who believe that paying for Google AdWords ads will result in their previously invisible website shooting up the ‘regular’ rankings. Sadly that simply isn’t the case. AdWords ads are completely separate from the organic listings. However there is a very real possibility that ads may impact the CTR of organic listings, or, for that matter, vice-versa. An … Read More
Google AdWords Certification Program
Google are in the process of changing their AdWords certification program – and quite rightly so. The old exam was initially quite difficult, but over the years became little more than a memory test. And this affects the very status of the Qualified AdWords Professional. Our company has been approached on a number of occasions by Qualified Professionals looking for … Read More
The 1000 most-visited sites on the web
Google have released a list of the top 1,000 websites as measured by Ad Planner. The list categorises each website, and also includes unique visitors, reach, page views and whether or not they have advertising. Interestingly Google are also allowing advertisers to specify that they only want their content network ads to show up on the sites in this list. … Read More
Negative keywords don’t always work
In order to exclude specific searches from seeing AdWords ads, negative keywords are required. For example a company selling a Windows email application bidding on the phrase “email software”, might consider using the following negative keywords: -mac -apple -os x -free -freeware A person searching for “email software for mac” or “free email software” wouldn’t see the ads. However, the … Read More