Now hear this, at 10.30am today Google will announce that the UK will be moving in line with Google USA’s trademark policies. (more…)
Google Launches Price Comparison Ads
Today Google announced the introduction of AdWords Comparison Ads. In brief, these are a new format based around a price comparison engine. Google offer an example of a search for ‘mortgages’, resulting in an ad showing a comparison of rates from different advertisers plus an option to view different rates depending on whether the mortage is for a new purchase or refinancing.
The introduction of innovative new formats is always welcome, and Google is right to respond to the huge growth in price comparison services over the last couple of years. However the new format does raise an interesting issue.
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Google Improves Content Campaign Management!
Up until a year ago Google content campaigns were somewhat hit and miss. There was an air of suspicion around the high number of impressions and clicks generated and the lack of transparency into where this traffic came from and whether it was of good quality. Google therefore made numerous improvements to content reporting capabilities, with reports that detail site specific performance data and adding the ability to block irrelevant sites. We could finally see where spend and conversions were coming from, and where alterations needed to be made. (more…)
Search Ads Layout in Google SERPs: an Update
We recently discovered that Google appeared to be testing a new SERPs layout which brought the PPC ads closer to the organic search results. This was originally showing in Firefox only, but not any more! It appears that the test may now have reached a positive conclusion.
Google Testing New PPC Ad Layout in SERPs
With increasing numbers of people throwing out their bulky old CRT monitors and switching to large flat screen monitors with their increased resolutions, this is a very welcome change to the search engine results page (SERP) layout on Google.
It only seems to be a test at this stage as it only shows for me in Firefox 3 and not in Internet Explorer 8. A colleague of mine cannot see the change at all in either browser. Take a look at the two screenshots below (full size images at the bottom of this post).
PPC Quality Score & Google`s Search Network
We all know how important quality score (QS) and its most important contributor, clickthrough rate (CTR), are in determining ad positions on Google AdWords. We know that improving QS and CTR can help reduce cost per click and improve the performance of your PPC campaign. But how does this fit in with the different locations in which your ads could be appearing? Does performance on Google’s search network influence performance on Google search?
Want to cut spend? How about increasing it instead?
When companies are having to tighten their belts more than ever before, justifying moving a campaign from in-house management to an agency can be difficult.
Unsurprisingly, one of the first questions that we often encounter when people call us is ‘how much do you charge?’. However I’m often more intrigued by the question that tends to follow soon after (sometimes vocalised, or sometimes silently in the mind of the caller) - ‘can you cut our spend by enough to cover your fees?’.
2p or not 2p? That seems to be the question
We recently noticed a strange quirk within the Google AdWords system. In addition to a range of well targeted product or service type ad groups, our pay per click campaigns often contain a distinct ad group based around the client’s company name or brand.
With one client in particular over the last few months we had noticed a drop in the performance of their brand group. (more…)
Introducing, The PlusBox
A small observation from the sponsored links today. Google appears to be testing a new, expandable ad format. Seen here with an advert for bed sheets at Littlewoods (I was searching for plastic sheets, the acrylic variety). Users have the option of expanding the ad to view some of the products on offer without clicking through to the Littlewoods website. Presumably, the cost is only incurred when a user clicks through to the website.
Google Trademark Protection
Earlier this month the latest round of the Google vs LVMH (Louis Vuitton) kicked off in the European Courts (‘Google in Court Over Vuitton Row’, BBC News, 17th March 2009′).
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