Google launches Adwords click fraud tool
Google has responded to calls for greater transparency on click fraud by introducing a new tool for Adwords users that displays "invalid clicks".
Google business product manager Shuman Ghosemajumder explains: "The metrics of 'invalid clicks' and 'invalid clicks rate' will show virtually all the invalid clicks affecting an account."
This should provide advertisers with an overview of how Google is dealing with clicks already identified as possibly fraudulent, aka 'invalid', though for many marketers this might not be enough.
Display ads lift Search conversion rates, says research
Research by the Atlas Institute shows that the conversion rate from Search advertising is 22% better when used in conjunction with Display advertising.
The study demonstrates that there is a quantifiable "synergy" between these two channels and will hopefully encourage advertisers to take a more integrated approach to their online marketing.
The research is welcome because there are still companies out there who are shifting their budgets from display advertising into Search without a full understanding of how this might affect their conversion success or long term prospects.
The 12 fundamentals of e-commerce
We are often asked about the fundamentals of e-commerce: how do you build an online retail store, what do customers need to see, what does Google look for, how can you increase conversion rates?
I have compiled a list of the 12 fundamentals that you can put in place to enhance an existing online store or plan a new one...
Click fraud on the rise, according to Click Forensics study
Click fraud remains a growing problem for search engines and online advertisers, according to a study by US-based consultancy Click Forensics.
The symbiosis of brand trust and optimised on-site search
We recently analysed the major factors that influence our visitors to subscribe. The results? The surest sign of a subscriber-to-be was one who used our site search box. So naturally we’re looking into improving it, but that's not actually relevant here. Far more important here is getting more people to use it in the first place.
People aren’t search-shy, we know this from Google’s original search-box-only interface. According to DoubleClick, less than 20% use on-site search (the actual figure varies by sector, of course). So looks like the majority of visitors are finding just what they want right away, right? Much more likely, they don’t trust the onsite search box. Aha.
PPC hyperinflation reported on Google Adwords
Wow, Google’s Quality Score is really starting to bite hard on some PPC budgets. I’ve just taken a call from Auctioning4U, a UK-based firm that helps people sell goods on eBay, and they are reporting that average click costs have risen by almost 2,000% in just one week.
Trevor Ginn, Head of Consulting at Auctioning4U, told me that one keyphrase has jumped in price from 12p to £2.75 in the last week.
In another example, the price went up from his default of 30p (which paid for an average Adwords position of 1.3) to £5.50. “Feel my pain,” he says, not without reason.
Naturally, Trevor is wounded and reeling, and puzzled as to what he’s done wrong. He’s not really done anything wrong. It is simply a case of Google shifting the goalposts.
Yup, this PPC hyperinflation is linked to Google’s newly-enhanced focus on ad quality. It could be a case of too much, too soon.
Rand's lovely new Page Strength Tool
Rand Fishkin’s SEOmoz.org is a great website for anybody interested in SEO as it contains search marketing news, research and analysis. It also hosts a number of tools that can help marketers, including a new ‘Page Strength’ tool.
Google owes you nothing
The Guardian’s Jack Schofield has written a thought-provoking piece on the power of Google, specifically referring to the case of a website called sprayonmud.co.uk which was delisted from the almighty search engine in December 2005.
Jack asks whether it is ‘fair’ for Google to act as judge and jury in these cases, even suggesting that it should finance an ‘independent ombudsman’ to address complaints. He warns: “If Google’s management don’t find a way to temper the company’s power, legislators will eventually do it for them.”
The whole article seems based around the weird notion that Google owes you something. The fact is that Google owes you nothing, and everything you get from it is a bonus (either by accident or design).
Is Google the Alanis Morrissette of the web?
Scott Karp
thinks so
. The venerable web powerhouse has been taking quite a kicking of late - not from free-speech campaigners angry at Google's policy toward search results in China, but from observers critquing the Mountain View, CA, outfit's "ready, fire, aim" approach to launching new products.
What started out life as a humble search engine has now grown to number in the region of 50 services, notable recent launches having included Google Talk, Google Calendar, Google Spreadsheet, Writely and Google Checkout.
But a good number of Google's non-search services are still in beta (and still feel so much like they're in beta) and the latest edition of Business Week lays into the company for dropping the ball on everything other than its bread and butter.
Troubled mobile operator 3 loses walled garden
3, the mobile operator with the dubious brand name, has teamed up with Yahoo to finally allow its users to access the web via mobile handsets.
The telecoms group today announced a global agreement with Yahoo to demolish its ill-advised 'walled garden'.
Despite being the first mobile operator to roll-out a 3G network in the UK, 3 users haven't been able to visit websites of their own choosing, instead being force-fed a diet of 3-approved websites and services.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
