Breaking down the Adwords match type changes
About a month ago, Adwords announced to us that it was changing the behaviour of exact and phrase match to match close variants, including misspellings, singular/plural forms, stemmings, accents and abbreviations.
The changes, due sometime in mid-May, have been sold as a positive change for users, creating a behaviour similar to that already employed for organic search. Google hopes advertisers too will like the changes, as it will help them avoid missing out on relevant traffic.
The reaction amongst advertisers has been mixed however, with some suggesting that the changes serve only to increase revenue by reducing advertiser control.
Google has offered an opt out in the interface for advertisers who don't wish to take advantage of the changes.
Our own analysis indicates that this may not have yet taken place (search query reports are usually a couple of days behind), meaning that if you haven't considered the impact of these changes yet, it could be your last chance.
Facebook's real ad problem: addressable market size
Facebook's Friday IPO may have been cause for celebration on the company's Menlo Park campus, but it was hardly the coming out party major players on Wall Street had hoped it would be.
Beset by technical glitches at the NASDAQ and perhaps more skepticism from the market than anticipated, Facebook's shares failed to 'pop' as many expected.
The company's underwriters were forced to step in to keep Facebook's shares from falling below the $38 offering price.
Google making more changes to AdWords: display network updates
This month Google has announced another change to Google Adwords - the addition of a Display Network tab which will consolidate all display reporting and targeting in one place.
I've come to the conclusion that this is to increase the use of Google's display network by making it easier to use, to keep up with competition and, of course, to make more money.
Display network advertising through Google has seen a lot of improvements over the last year and they have been pushing it almost as much as their search advertising.
However, it has always been harder to grasp and easier to make mistakes on than the search network. Hopefully this update will help users be able to manage campaigns more easily so people can get better results for their websites.
The big lie of AdWords average position
I'm going to tell you a story. A story about a metric in AdWords that people trusted.
People grew to love this metric, they told their bosses how it was doing, they made changes to their campaigns based on it, and they judged their performance on whether it went up or down.
But those people didn't see below the surface. Lurking under the superficially obvious meaning of the metric was a hidden dark truth: the metric wasn't just pointless, it was lying to them.
That metric is Average Position, and I'm sure quite a few of you are guilty (if unintentionally) of taking it at face value.
Using real-time PPC pricing to increase sales
Many online retailers have hundreds if not thousands of products for sale on their sites.
For these retailers there is great value in using real-time pricing in their PPC ads to drive conversion.
However, such a strategy can bring challenges for a team.
Kantar estimates big firms spent over $1bn on AdWords up to September
Kantar Media, a WPP subsidiary, has released esimates that suggest a handful of big companies collectively spent well over $1bn buying Google AdWords ads up to September of this year.
Leading the pack is IAC/InterActive Corp., which has spent just short of $175m this year according to the firm's estimates, while Amazon and AT&T both spent upwards of nine figures.
Twitter launches self-serve ads
Twitter's strategy around monetization can be summed up in three words: "take it slow."
Thanks to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, Twitter has been able to do something many digital media upstarts can't: explore new ad models at what often seems like a snail's pace, working primarily with a select number of brand advertisers and agencies.
How did Google AdWords algorithm changes impact campaigns?
Just over a month ago, Google announced the global roll-out of an update to the AdWords algorithm, which increased the value of landing page relevancy and worth when determining Quality Score.
Google predicted that the changes would alter keyword Quality Scores and ad positions for some campaigns. However, the company claimed that most brands would not see a significant change in overall performance.
How dirty is your PPC?
A well managed Google's AdWords campaign does a great job in delivering relevant traffic to your site.
However, if you leave AdWords alone to judge what is 'relevant' for your products or services you may uncover some surprising results.
We have compiled a list of frightening and sometimes comical examples from real campaigns.
Overcomplicating your AdWords account
In many ways, effective Adwords account management is a balancing act. Whether you’re trying to balance sales volumes with the cost per sale or trying to write a compelling advert whilst trying to stand out from your competitors, you’re often pulled in opposite directions.
I am often approached to appraise accounts for advertisers, and one of the most common problems that I see is also perhaps one of the most understandable, it’s the result of failing to find the balance between relevancy and optimisability.
