Google | Internet Marketing Blog

What are the pros and cons of Enhanced Campaigns so far?

It has been a few months since Google introduced its Enhanced Campaigns, which gave marketers a new way of managing their paid search campaigns.

The focus of the change is to enable advertisers to target people at the right time, in the right place, with the right advert and call-to-action. Effectively, the structuring of Adwords campaigns is becoming device independent, removing the ability to have specific mobile, tablet or desktop targeted campaigns.

Up to now PPC managers have had the choice of whether or not they want to switch over to the new system, although the change will become compulsory in a few months.

To find out how the Enhanced Campaigns are impacting the process of managing paid search, I asked four PPC experts to give us some insight into what they’d noticed so far...

by David Moth 25 March 2013 11:54am 2 comments

Ultimate guide to Google+ Sign-In: more than authentication

With social media authentication a common sight across the web, Google takes it one step further with their latest Google+ Sign-In.

With many questioning the worth of Google+ as a social media channel, there needed to be a change in their marketing model to give brands and publishers a reason to invest time into the platform. So, bright and early on the morning of February 26th, Google introduced Google+ Sign-In to the web community.

Now it is possible for users to sign into a website via Google and bring along their information from the Google+ social graph for an “upgraded experience”; something Facebook and Twitter have been doing for a long time.

by Andrew Isidoro 22 March 2013 09:59am 4 comments

Retail sites dominate list of most visible sites in paid search

Retail websites account for more than half of the top 20 most visible advertisers in Google paid search, according to a new report from Searchmetrics.

Question answering site Ask.com actually takes top spot for paid search, with Amazon and Zappos taking second and third respectively.

The findings come from a study into the top 20 most visible sites in paid search on Google.com and a similar list for the top performers in organic search.

To find out more about paid search, check out our new Paid Search Marketing (PPC) Best Practice Guide.

It includes best practice around mobile paid search, integrating paid search with other channels (including offline), and takes into account Google's new Enhanced Campaigns function.

by David Moth 14 March 2013 11:35am 1 comment

Six examples of effective PPC and SEO campaigns

Search is arguably the most important digital marketing channel (cue angry comments), as it can be used to both drive brand awareness and capture conversions.

In January Google reported Q4 revenues of $14.4bn, a 36% year-on-year increase, which gives an idea of just how valuable search is for brands.

Therefore I thought it would be useful to round up six examples of brands that have achieved success with effective search campaigns.

Furthermore, to give an insight into the state of search marketing in the UK, we are currently running our 2013 UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Survey, sponsored by NetBooster.

by David Moth 05 March 2013 09:54am 1 comment

Five reasons Google Glass will be a catastrophic failure

Sergey Brin recently ignited conversation about Google’s Glass by claiming that using a mobile phone was ‘emasculating’.

He might be right, but do wearable computers really offer us a better option, or is Glass likely to be filed under ‘Massive Fail’ in the near future?

by Matt Owen 01 March 2013 11:36am 16 comments

40% of consumers are unaware that Google Adwords are adverts

Research carried out by Bunnyfoot suggests that many people are unaware of the difference between paid and organic search listings, with 40% of web users unaware they were adverts.

While conducting a research project for an insurance sector client, Bunnyfoot discovered that 81% of users clicked on Google Adwords listings as opposed to natural search results.

Further investigation of this surprising bias revealed that 41 out of the 100 individuals tested did not know that Adwords were paid-for adverts, believing them instead to be the most authoritative links.

by Graham Charlton 28 February 2013 11:19am 6 comments

Google lays out its argument for brands to get mobile

It’s fair to say that Google has a vested interest in encouraging brands to make better use of mobile, but it can’t be denied that it also makes a very compelling argument.

At Bite’s Empty13 event this morning Google’s MD of UK and Ireland Dan Cobley spoke about the need for a mobile strategy and how the technology is changing the way brands communicate with their customers.

Kicking off with a stat attack, Cobley pointed out that smartphone penetration is now at 62% in the UK and is predicted to reach 75% by the end of the year.

He also predicted that mobile search queries would exceed the number from desktop by the end of the year.

by David Moth 13 February 2013 13:34pm 0 comments

Google Product Listing Ads making the move to Europe

The arrival of Google Product Listing Ads (PLA) in the UK is a mixed blessing for the advertising world.

While retailers will no longer benefit from the free traffic they were receiving from Google product search, it gives advertisers more granular control over product listings, bids and traffic, allowing them to work out what’s going where and when, and distribute budget as necessary.

by Jonathan Beeston 13 February 2013 10:48am 1 comment

Smartphones achieve highest paid search CTR: report

Mobile devices achieve higher click-through rates than desktops when it comes to UK paid search ads, according to a report from Marin Software.

The data looks at how different devices performed during 2012, with smartphones achieving the highest CTR at 5.87%, compared to 3.93% on tablet and 2.29% on desktop.

And though the same is true of the Eurozone, the difference is less pronounced – smartphones achieved a CTR of 4.78%, compared to 4.48% on tablet and 3.1% on desktop.

The findings come from Marin's new report that looks at how smartphones and tablets are changing paid search.

by David Moth 12 February 2013 11:20am 5 comments

How do consumers research and purchase your products?

This tool could help identify new opportunities for your business and show the senior execs in your business how consumers in your market are typically interacting between the online and the offline world when making a decision on which product to buy and where to buy it from.

The data behind the research is compiled by TNS, the IAB and Google (in case you are questioned on the credibility of this data).

The consumer barometer tool is split into four key areas each of which could go some way to help guide you answer some burning business questions regarding the multichannel shopping habits of your customers and strong the ROPO effect is in your market.

by Ian Gregory 08 February 2013 11:17am 3 comments