Partners Blog
What's new @ Google? Tips and tools for agencies
Prepare your AdWords accounts for Black Friday
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
It's the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and all you're probably thinking about right now is "I need to defrost the turkey, pick up another can of pumpkin filling, and vacuum before family arrives." That, and "are my clients' accounts ready for Black Friday, the busiest retail shopping day of the year?"
To ensure that you and your clients have a successful Black Friday, we wanted to use this Holiday Campaign Countdown post to share some quick last minute tips from our Optimization Specialists.
While Black Friday typically refers to in-store traffic, the retail industry has seen dramatic year over year increases in e-commerce sales and searches
1
. Analysts have also pointed to significant spikes in online shopping on Cyber Monday. The Monday after Thanksgiving yields sales spikes for e-commerce retailers
2
and is fueled by promotions such as percent off sales, free gifts, and free shipping.
Our suggestions for any retail accounts (or others that might see this seasonal spike) before you leave the office for the Thanksgiving Holiday are:
Promotions
- Be sure to highlight any promotions you have in your ad text whether they are Black Friday specific or not. If you have a discount on shipping or it is free, highlight this.
Budgets
- Increase budgets across all campaigns to a comfortable level knowing that traffic spikes will be likely. Make sure ads keep showing when a user searches.
Bids
– Modify bids on top performing and generic keywords knowing that competition on Black Friday/Cyber Monday will increase. Use the
Bid Simulator
to see what results you may get with different keyword maximum CPC bids, and consider using
Conversion Optimizer
to get as many profitable clicks as possible.
Happy Thanksgiving!
[1] MarketingVox
[2] National Retail Federation with BIGresearch, Black Friday Weekend, 12/2/08. *Excludes Cyber Monday.
Posted by Ben Sheldon, Agency Optimization Strategist
Just in time for the holidays: Google Commerce Search
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A few weeks ago, we
announced
a new tool designed to bring the power, speed, and relevancy of Google search to retail websites. With Black Friday (and
Cyber Monday
!) right around the corner we wanted to use this Holiday Campaign Countdown post to arm you with information for retail clients who may be shopping around for a new website search solution (pun intended).
As a hosted product,
Google Commerce Search
(GCS) installs quickly, scales effortlessly, and provides sub-second response times, even during seasonal traffic spikes. With advanced search features like spelling correction, automatic stemming, and custom synonyms, users will find what they're looking for without unnecessary clicks. Finally, Google Commerce Search is powered by the retailer's
Google Merchant Center
feed, streamlining implementation. Check out the full list of features in this overview video:
(
click to watch video
)
GCS provides visitors with an improved shopping experience, which can drive higher visitor-to-buyer conversion rates. While the conversion rates of most retailers is around 3%
1
, the best-performing sites have been able to achieve much higher conversion rates – even reaching double digits. Google Commerce Search can help bridge the gap between user expectation and on-site technology, while freeing retailers to do what they do best, creating and selling products.
To learn more, be sure to sign up for an upcoming
webinar
on December 3rd. If you're unable to make it, you can learn more at
google.com/commercesearch
.
[1]
Trends 2009: US Online Retail
, Forrester Research, Inc., April 2009
Posted by Anna Bishop, Enterprise search team
New resource: Product guide for media buying and planning
Thursday, November 19, 2009
We know that media buyers and planners are challenged daily to stay up to date on the products, tools, pricing models and ad formats for the myriad of media companies with which they work. To make Google's tools and products more accessible, we developed
Creative Canvas: A guide to Google media solutions
. The guide features the Google media products and tools, such as YouTube ad solutions, APIs, and OpenSocial, that have brought to life some of the most innovative and creative campaigns on the Google platform.
We've organized it by the categories planning, placing, extending and measuring to make it easy to find the right resource to get the job done. In addition, if you know exactly what you're looking for, you can find it in the index.
You may download the guide
here
. Have questions or feedback? Email sandbox@google.com.
Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team
Upcoming webinar - Google Account Security: Tips & Best Practices
Monday, November 16, 2009
For most, the holiday season is about giving; for some, though, it's unfortunately about taking - through scams, identity theft and more. With the holidays approaching, many of you are beginning to update your ads and content for a busy marketing season. Are you also checking that your systems are updated with the latest security patches? Do you know who has access to your account(s)? Is your account information/passwords strong and secure?
As part of our holiday campaign countdown series, we're pleased to bring you a webinar on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 11amPST highlighting account security best practices and tips to keep your campaigns running smoothly during this busy time. In this training, we'll cover common security techniques, review ways to identify suspicious internet behavior and suggestions on the best ways to protect your computer and your personal information. Additionally, learn about an existing Google feature that allows you to better manage your account and thus improve your account security.
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 11amPST / 1pmCST / 2pmEST
Register
here
Posted by Nina Hoang, Account Security Team
Google Content Network Blast delivers a big bang for your buck
Monday, November 16, 2009
If you live in the New York area, you may have heard or seen the so-called "Google surge," or Google Content Network blast that
NY Mayor Bloomberg
used to impact voters' decisions in the final hours of the mayor's reelection race. An increasing number of advertisers across industries, including auto, retail, and entertainment, have also used Google Content Network blasts to drive awareness of a new vehicle launch, viewer tune-in for a show, or traffic to an online contest with great success.
The Google Content Network blast entails serving up an advertiser's ads on multiple Google Content Network sites over a specific period of time, blanketing a particular geographic region, audience segment, or high traffic sites, depending on the advertiser's goal. On average, blasts can deliver 100 million ad impressions in 24-48 hours. But you're probably wondering what is special about Google Content Network blasts versus your typical portal homepage buy?
Google Content Network blasts deliver your message on a larger universe of sites than a single portal homepage, thereby reaching more of your customers. In a recent Google and TNS Compete study for a large automaker
1
, we found that Google Content Network blasts reach 58% of online auto buyers, which is 20% more than a top portal homepage
2
, and 23% of buyers were reached exclusively on sites available only on the Google Content Network
2
. In addition, 30% of auto buyers never went to one of the major portal homepages 6 to 9 months prior to purchasing their vehicle
3
. And the best part of all is Google Content Network blasts require no advance booking and deliver relevant ads at a much lower CPM than portal takeovers.
So, as we enter the peak holiday shopping season, consider how you're getting the word out on your merchandise and holiday offerings. Want to make a last minute big impression? Visit
The Google Content Network site
to learn more, and try out a Google Content Network blast for yourself.
1 Google, Inc. and TNS Compete study for large automaker, May 2009
2 Reach is based on a custom GCN site pack using a parameter of 2% buyer composition mix per site
3 Based on observed clickstream behavior of buyers
Posted by Keiko Tokuda, Google Content Network Marketing Team
Leave no website un-searched!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Most of us can't imagine the web without search, yet when it comes to on-site search, the majority of websites are lagging behind. According to industry research, 85% of site searches don't return what the user sought
1
, and 22% of site searches return no results at all
2
. For clients who may have site search quality issues, leading to site abandonment, we have a cost-effective solution for you to share with them.
Google Site Search
is a quick and easy way to add or improve website search capability. Hosted in Google's network of data centers, Google Site Search brings the speed, quality, and relevancy of Google search to sites with no on-premise hardware or software. Administrators can control the look and feel of the search engine, including optional Google branding and an XML API that allows for complete customization. New features like
rich snippets
,
metadata refinements
,
top result and date biasing
, and
on-demand indexing
make for a powerful search experience.
Starting at $100 per year, it's easy and affordable for clients to add Google Site Search to a blog or website of any size. To learn more and sign up, visit
google.com/sitesearch
today.
(1) "Enriching Search: Efficiency Without Additional Spending," Jupiter Research
(2) "Unpuzzling Search: Best Practices from Mondosoft Study," IDC
Posted by Anna Bishop, Enterprise Search Team
Google Ad Planner and DFA updates provide more data, more ways
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The latest enhancements to Google Ad Planner and DoubleClick's DART for Advertisers (DFA) bring new ways to help streamline your online display advertising workflow. With the newly launched DFA Analytics beta and beta integration of Google Ad Planner into the DFA platform, you'll now have a singular, seamless portal for planning, executing, and measuring campaigns -- with just one login. This unified set of tools, all accessible through the DFA platform, bring more efficiency to the campaign management process, saving valuable time and resources.
Beyond access enhancements, both DFA Analytics and Ad Planner also provide you with more data and more ways to analyze it. We've summarized the changes to each product for quick reference below, but be sure to check out the official
DoubleClick
and
Ad Planner
blog posts for full details.
The new DFA Analytics beta helps you:
Gain insights quickly.
Interactive reports mean easier navigation through your accounts and data. You can model data in charts and graphs, as well as drill up and down through criteria such as advertiser, campaign, or targeting settings.
Get your reports faster.
Reports update frequently - every few hours - and the new user interface enables you to access your data quickly.
Use new types of reports.
Pull geographic delivery data. Additional reports show delivery data by bandwidth, browser, and operating system.
And Ad Planner's new capabilities now enable you to:
View subdomain data.
See data including traffic estimates and demographics for the largest ten subdomains of any top-level domain. Once you identify subdomains to add, you can do so easily in Ad Planner.
See available ad placements while researching sites.
You'll also be able to search for ad placements alongside domains on the "Search by audience" tab and see traffic and demographic estimates for each placement
Visualize audience data easily.
Quickly compare reach and relevancy of sites you select with a new interactive graph.
Access more granular publisher data.
With publishers now able to opt-in their Analytics data, you'll receive more accurate and specific information about their sites.
Use Ad Planner within DoubleClick DFA.
Log in to your DoubleClick DFA account to access Ad Planner and have one tool for campaign planning, trafficking, and measurement. (Note: This feature is rolling out to all users over the next couple weeks)
If you haven't yet tried Ad Planner, give it a go at
www.google.com/adplanner
. And for more information on DART for Advertisers, visit DoubleClick.com and fill out an
inquiry form
.
Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team
Think2010 - we've been thinking about you
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Earlier this fall we
launched
Think2010 - an aggregation of resources highlighting perspectives on the changing face of marketing and strategies to help you prepare for 2010 and beyond.
It's been a few weeks since the Agency Blog team brought you an update on this initiative, so wanted to highlight some of the Think2010 resources now available:
Blog series
- each week the Inside AdWords Blog team will be devoting a post to data, trends and tactics you can use to craft your 2010 strategy. Most recently, it featured an interview with Rick Carpenter from the agency DDB who shared the importance of focusing on the customer. Check out the blog series
here
.
Fast.Forward.
- we're continuing to expand the volume of thought leader videos and consumer trend data on the
Fast.Forward. channel
, a joint effort between Google and the Wharton School. Watch highlights from our Think{Industry} events series (under "Videos" > "Industry") and use The Barometer (accessible from the "Trends" tab) to understand consumer sentiment on a daily basis.
Webinars
- in addition to videos, we wanted to bring you opportunities to hear directly from industry leaders, such as Bonita Stewart, Managing Director US Sales, and Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist, via in-person webinars. Upcoming events and links to past sessions can be found on the Inside AdWords Blog as well as the Think2010
site
.
Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team
Place Pages now in Placement Performance reports
Monday, November 9, 2009
You may remember that earlier this fall we announced the launch of
Place Pages
for Google Maps, which are web pages for every place in the world. Interested users can find relevant information, photos, directions, and reviews for their favorite places. Users will also see contextually targeted ads, and with the inclusion of Place Pages in
Placement Performance reports
, you'll now have insight into whether your clients' ads appeared on a Place Page and how they performed.
With this update, you can more closely monitor and optimize your clients' campaigns. While placement targeting is not available for Google Maps, you can increase the likelihood of appearing on Place Pages by increasing bids on high-performing keywords or by creating ad groups with highly specific keywords to target Place Pages relevant to your clients' products or businesses.
Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team
Display Week is Back!
Friday, November 6, 2009
The leaves are changing and there's a chill in the air. Hot cocoa and comfort foods are just around the corner. Get ready to warm up with, you guessed it, Display Week!
On Monday November 9, 2009, we kick off our quarterly Display Week webinar series including
10 Tips for Display in 2010
,
YouTube Promoted Videos
, and some very exciting
Ad Planner demonstrations
.
Webinar seats are limited so
sign up today
for the week of display. If you can't make the festivities, don't fret. All sessions will be recorded and posted to the
training site
after the week wraps up.
See you online!
Posted by Kate Stonich, Agency Team
Upcoming webinar: Reaching auto consumers
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
If you work with clients in the automotive industry, join us for our upcoming webinar, Driving International Success: Reaching Auto Consumers Globally.
We've partnered with
NetPop
to share new research for 17 key markets around the world. We'll explore the trends shaping auto buyer behavior across the globe to help inform and guide your marketing decisions. Register below for one of the upcoming dates.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
at 9:00 am PST
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
at 7:30 pm PST
Posted by: Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team
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