PPC | Internet Marketing Blog

Should I be bidding on my brand terms?

This is one of the most common questions you’ll get asked as a PPC account manager.

Some clients are adamant that you shouldn’t ever do it, whereas others understand the value and the reasons behind the decision to do it.

In the following post I will explore several different reasons why you may or may not wish to bid on brand terms.

by Pete Whitmarsh 17 October 2012 12:05pm 7 comments

Is your agency over-complicating PPC?

Pay per click (PPC) marketing is a simple and effective method of advertising - you define the keywords that you would like your ad to display for (or not), you build an advert and you wait for a match against the search query, get a click and hopefully a conversion. It's all based on relevancy.

As a client are you happy with the quality of your PPC?

by Ian Gregory 28 September 2012 09:54am 10 comments

Creative testing for PPC marketers continued

From selecting creative elements for testing to reaching statistical significance, this four part blog series reviews basic and advanced tips for conducting a successful creative test.

Last time, we discussed how to prioritise and test keyword tokens and use dynamic keyword insertion to increase creative relevancy. Today, in part three of this four part series, we’ll walk through how to prioritise tests based on return and the importance of limiting test elements.

by Ed Stevenson 26 September 2012 11:29am 0 comments

PPC tips: Sneak preview of upcoming Google Adwords new ad formats

I recently took the team to a ‘Learn with Google’ event at Google’s HQ to find out about the latest developments coming up on Adwords that we’ll be able to test (in the UK) soon.

There are few new PPC ad formats to look forward to....

by Heledd Jones 19 September 2012 09:50am 10 comments

Does investment in paid search brand campaigns deliver incremental revenue?

For this month’s post I thought I’d share a practical example of how you can use testing to validate the impact of your paid search campaigns.

This is aimed at client-side digital marketing teams and agency staff who are learning the paid search ropes and might not fully understand the interaction between SEO and PPC.

The example I’m using is a test plan that seeks to answer the question “Does investment in brand keywords cannibalise or deliver incremental sales?”

This is based on the most common form of paid search, Google Adwords.

by James Gurd 17 September 2012 10:17am 23 comments

Using Google’s AdWords Scripts to set rules on your campaign

By adding a simple JavaScript program, you can link your own data to AdWords, to create rules for your campaigns, or customise reports.

For example, if you’re a retailer, you can link your inventory data to AdWords, to change bidding on a campaign, or stop/start keywords as items go out of stock. Or you can automatically change keywords or bidding on AdWords, based on data trends.

You can pretty much do anything you want, in fact. We've created a sample script to set up an alert on an AdWords campaign, which we're happy to share.

by Alistair Dent 12 September 2012 10:47am 3 comments

SEMPO Study - SEM roars along, but marketers want more

In its eighth year, the State of Search Study from SEMPO and Econsultancy has been a record of growth. After slowing in 2008-2010, SEM has returned to robust growth of nearly 19% in 2012.

But change is afoot, with more marketers prioritizing integration and attribution in SEM.

by Stefan Tornquist 11 September 2012 17:29pm 4 comments

Q&A: Husam Jandal on SEO in the Middle East

Econsultancy published its first Search Engine Optimisation Best Practice Guide for the Middle East in July, authored by digital marketing consultant Husam Jandal. I spoke to Husam about his thoughts regarding SEO in the region.

The guide focused on country-specific search engine marketing strategies, and stressed the importance of understanding your audience and producing locally relevant content for both the English and Arabic-speaking population.

Below, Husam discusses the SEO trends specific to the MENA area, and some of the differences in SEO best practice between the Middle East and other regions.

by Amy Rodgers 06 September 2012 09:54am 4 comments

PPC accounts for just 6% of total search clicks [infographic]

Paid search only accounts for 6% of total clicks from search engines versus natural search at 94% of clicks, according to research from GroupM UK carried out with Nielsen.

Also, women are slightly more prone to clicking on paid search results than males, and, as age increases, so does the likelihood of clicking on paid search results.

The research, based on 28m people in the UK, making a total of 1.4bn search queries during June 2011, is the first in the UK to reveal click through rate (CTR) by natural search position for both brand and non-brand search terms and how these CTRs change by vertical.

by David Towers 23 August 2012 10:46am 30 comments

What are the most important challenges facing paid search?

Earlier this year, Econsultancy launched the latest edition of the Paid Search Agencies Buyer’s Guide.

As is the case for most buyer’s guides, we invite experts from top agencies within the field to share their knowledge on what is happening within the industry.

So much material was contributed for the guide that we couldn’t include all of it. Instead, we are offering some of their insights here on the blog.

by Andrew Warren-Payne 21 August 2012 11:16am 2 comments