You've probably heard of the AdWords display ad builder, our free tool that enables you to create image ads quickly and easily. As the holidays approach, it's important for retail and other consumer-oriented businesses to highlight their key products and be able to create fresh ads based on inventory and demand levels. Display ad builder can help you do just that, without the need for professional designers or a long turn-around time.Read More

You've probably heard of the AdWords display ad builder, our free tool that enables you to create image ads quickly and easily. As the holidays approach, it's important for retail and other consumer-oriented businesses to highlight their key products and be able to create fresh ads based on inventory and demand levels. Display ad builder can help you do just that, without the need for professional designers or a long turn-around time.

Here are some ideas for how to use the display ad builder tool and image ads to help drive sales for your clients:

• Create image ads around a high-demand product, and use text to highlight any deals or promotions you're offering for the holidays. For example, if there's a lot of demand for a particular toy (perhaps the Tickle Me Elmo of 2008), use an image of that toy to drive user recall and entice them to buy the item from your store.
• Create multiple ads so that as the holidays approach, you can react quickly to inventory levels and demand.
• Use images to promote items that aren't selling as well. It can be easy for shoppers to think only of what's hot this holiday season. Images can remind them of additional needs, like household goods or appliances that are good gift ideas but may not get a lot of hype.
• Use holiday pictures and backgrounds to create themed ads. As the holiday season approaches, use image ads to convey greetings and highlight any special offers.

If you'd like to learn more about the display ad builder, or how to use image ads, you can visit our display ad builder site, or watch our tutorial.

Posted by Vivek Tata, Business Marketing Manager

We recently launched a host of new features for Ad Planner, our free media planning tool. To help you stay up to date on how you can use Ad Planner to inform your advertising decisions, we'll be showcasing the latest additions in our Intro to Ad Planner webinar. Join the Agency Learning & Development team on Monday, December 1st at 2pm EST/11am PST to find out more about ...Read More

We recently launched a host of new features for Ad Planner, our free media planning tool. To help you stay up to date on how you can use Ad Planner to inform your advertising decisions, we'll be showcasing the latest additions in our Intro to Ad Planner webinar. Join the Agency Learning & Development team on Monday, December 1st at 2pm EST/11am PST to find out more about:

• Defining your audience by keywords and geography
• New site ranking methods
• Ways to analyze your media plan
• International demographic data

While we recommend this webinar for Media Buyers and Media Planners, all are welcome to attend. You can register for the webinar here, using the registration password agency1. Once you register, you'll receive an email with full details on how to join the webinar. Don't forget to make a note of the event password, adplanner1, since you'll need it to attend the webinar. See you online!

Posted by Kate Stonich, Agency Learning & Development Team

In our conversations with advertisers, we hear a number of questions about Quality Score, a key metric in the accounts you manage. Quality Score measures how relevant your keywords are to users' search queries and influences CPCs and first page bids in your account. We'll be bringing you a short series of facts about Quality Score to help answer the questions we frequently receive, beginning with this one ...Read More

In our conversations with advertisers, we hear a number of questions about Quality Score, a key metric in the accounts you manage. Quality Score measures how relevant your keywords are to users' search queries and influences CPCs and first page bids in your account. We'll be bringing you a short series of facts about Quality Score to help answer the questions we frequently receive, beginning with this one:

Showing up in a higher position will not benefit your Quality Score. Although higher-ranked ads may typically earn better clickthrough rates, Quality Score is normalized to compensate for performance differences resulting from ad position.

Stay tuned for more facts, and we're always open to hearing your suggestions via email at agencyblog-feedback@google.com

Posted by Dan Friedman, Product Marketing Manager

Since we launched Google Ad Planner a few months ago, you've suggested more ways we could help improve your media planning process. First, we're excited to announce that Ad Planner is now accessible to anyone with a Google account. Second, we've released a number of new features that we built based on your direct input.Read More

Since we launched Google Ad Planner a few months ago, you've suggested more ways we could help improve your media planning process. First, we're excited to announce that Ad Planner is now accessible to anyone with a Google account. Second, we've released a number of new features that we built based on your direct input.

Define your audience by keywords and geography

In response to your requests for more audience definition options, we've enhanced Google Ad Planner to support search queries and geo-targeting. For example, now you can find video game enthusiasts based on their likeliness to search for keywords such as "video games" or "video game cheats." You can also drill-down to a specific state or metros (region or cities in geographies outside the US).

Managing your site results

With three new site ranking methods, you can decide how you want your site results ranked and displayed. You can choose between sites most likely to attract your target audience, larger known sites to increase your campaign scale, or a balance between the two. By applying other site filters, you can narrow your search to only sites that accept ads, sites in specific categories like "Video Games," or sites that end with a particular domain suffix like ".edu."

Click on image for full-size version

Analyze your media plan

With Google Ad Planner's new interactive bubble chart, you can compare sites in your media plan by demographics, frequency, traffic, and unique visitors. In the example below, the red bubble shows a site heavily skewed towards females under 35, which is inconsistent with other sites in the media plan. By discovering such outliers, you can easily refine your media plan targeting.

Click on image for full-size version

International demographic data

We've expanded demographic audience data to include France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. We look forward to continuing to expand the number of countries Ad Planner covers.

Sign in now to see the improvements, maybe check out a training video or two, and let us know what you think.

[Cross-posted from Inside AdWords blog.]

In an effort to further understand and improve the landscape of online marketing, Google has partnered with WPP Group to create a research program for faculty from universities worldwide. The participants will be challenged to develop a research project addressing a major question surrounding online marketing, such as the interaction between online and offline media or an investigation into audience types and engagement.Read More

In an effort to further understand and improve the landscape of online marketing, Google has partnered with WPP Group to create a research program for faculty from universities worldwide. The participants will be challenged to develop a research project addressing a major question surrounding online marketing, such as the interaction between online and offline media or an investigation into audience types and engagement.

Creative theories and data-driven analysis are encouraged, and Google and WPP will provide marketing data to qualified participants in the program. Best of all, award recipients will receive between $50,000 to $70,000 to complete their proposed research.

If you or someone you know is interested in the program, we invite you to visit the Marketing Research Awards page and frequently asked questions on the Google Research site.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team