Google | Internet Marketing Blog

French government censors Greenpeace's mashup

The French government has instructed Greenpeace to remove a webpage featuring a customised Google Map with details of the locations of Monsanto’s genetically-modified cornfields.

The ban, issued via a French court, flies in the face of EU law, which states that this sort of information should be made available to the public by governments.

by Chris Lake 31 July 2006 13:22pm 0 comments

Eureka! Google optimises its PPC Adwords quality algorithm

Will Google’s decision to introduce an algorithmic element into its Adwords ‘Quality Score’ spell the end for sponsored keyword arbitrage and add further pressure to affiliates to clean-up their act?

by Arjo Ghosh 31 July 2006 07:16am 0 comments

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.

by Chris Lake 26 July 2006 13:22pm 2 comments

Craig's digital video roundup

Here's LOVEFiLM's Craig Sullivan's weekly digest of the key news affecting the digital media sector.

by Chris Lake 26 July 2006 11:43am 0 comments

What digital giants can learn from Greek mythology

Microsoft’s choice of Argo as the development name for its eagerly awaited digital media player has got us thinking about how other mighty digital brands might (or might not) want to draw on Greek mythology for inspiration.

by Linus Gregoriadis 25 July 2006 14:07pm 0 comments

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.

by Richard Maven 18 July 2006 11:57am 1 comment

Will inventory shortage threaten online ad boom?

The online advertising market seems to be on an inexorable path of steep growth.

No less an advertising authority than Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of the advertising behemoth WPP, was yesterday reported as saying that he expects online advertising to double in a few years.

"About 15% of our business is internet, and this will be 30% in 10 years," he told the New York Sun.

by Linus Gregoriadis 14 July 2006 13:02pm 0 comments

Will the geeks really rule the world?

Paul Graham, one of the founders of web incubator Y Combinator, says we’re not in a bubble, and he’s right. There’s way too much talk about this mythical bubble. It ain’t a bubble, folks.

However, I think Paul is wide of the mark on a number of his assertions made when interviewed by Ian Delaney, who is currently writing a book on Web 2.0. Paul says he has spotted “a social trend that will last”, namely: “the startup world will increasingly be ruled by technical people rather than business people”.

God forbid!

I’m amazed that a savvy investor would think that way. Paul is a hacker himself of course, and a successful entrepreneur to boot, so I could be wildly out on this one. It just seems… wrong… on… so… many… levels…

by Chris Lake 13 July 2006 20:50pm 2 comments

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.

by Chris Lake 13 July 2006 13:34pm 2 comments

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.

by Chris Lake 12 July 2006 17:56pm 3 comments