Partners Blog
What's new @ Google? Tips and tools for agencies
Save time with new AdWords spreadsheet editing
Friday, August 14, 2009
You may already use Google Docs and Spreadsheets for easy and efficient editing, such as collaborating on a company memo or managing your wedding guest list. Did you know that you can now also use Google Spreadsheets to efficiently make mass changes to keywords directly in your clients' AdWords accounts? You can easily copy and paste changes from an external spreadsheet into your account, change bids, create keyword lists, and edit destination URLs. The short video below will show you how to access the tool within your account. Happy editing!
Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team
Case study: "That's Not Cool" campaign
Monday, August 10, 2009
How do you get teenagers to take note of an important message? By engaging them with compelling creative "where they're already having conversations," explains Erin Noonan, account manager for worldwide interactive agency R/GA. For a recent public service campaign by the
Ad Council
, the
Family Violence Prevention Fund
, and
R/GA
, that meant creating an immersive 360 campaign, and using some key media to capture attention: a custom website, display ads, a YouTube Channel, and social networking sites.
The goal of the campaign was to encourage teens to "draw their digital line" when faced with online harassment and let others know "
That's Not Cool
." By integrating the various media elements, the message reached over 18 million users and generated over 135,000 video views, with traffic still increasing to date. To find out how the teams created their eye-catching campaign and got it in front of millions of teens,
download the full case study
.
Posted by Sara Bell and Janine Gianfredi, Agency Marketing
Back to School tips from the Teacher's Pet
Friday, August 7, 2009
The summer before 6th grade, my friends and I made a pact not the say the word "school" until we were back in the classroom. You could say that "school" was our "he who must not be named" (even though it would still be another few years before Harry Potter was released).
Secretly, though, I looked forward to the return to school - books to read, paint to splatter, and of course, new clothes and supplies to buy. I longed for rainy days so I'd have an excuse to head to the mall, and couldn't wait to get my hands on new binders, notebooks and the all-important first-day-of-school outfit.
If your clients cater to teacher's pets like me, or to parents shopping on behalf of reluctant children, then you know August is peak time to market to this audience:
Source: Google Insights for Search, US Web Search Volume for "back to school" for 2008
With that in mind, here are some last-minute tips to maximize clients' reach during this busy retail season.
Be online
It may sound simple, but if you have skeptical clients, maintaining an online presence can be a tough sell. If so, reassure them with data. For example, the graph below shows that "back to school sale" searches are rising faster this year, compared to 2008:
Source: Google Insights for Search, US Web Search Volume for "back to school sales" for 2008 and 2009
If your clients still aren't convinced, remind them that retail shoppers consume more media online than through any other channel (41% compared to TV, which is second at 27%).[1] In sum, to maximize conversions from last minute shoppers, encourage your clients to be where their consumers are - online!
Capture traffic across the purchase cycle
Being a few weeks away from the start of school, extend clients' reach with campaigns designed to capture users at all stages of the purchase cycle. Let's take searches for backpacks as an example. If we examine top searches and rising searches related to "backpacks," we see that the list includes both branded and non-branded queries:
Source: Google Insights for Search, Search terms related to backpacks, US 2009
Both branded and non-branded clicks are important throughout the entire purchase funnel. For example, non-branded queries are almost as likely as branded queries to be the first click in the conversion cycle, while the final click before the conversion is more likely to be from a branded term.[2]
Because consumers tend to refine their searches as they approach a purchase, consider expanding and optimizing clients' keyword lists to capture the full range of search activity. For help identifying relevant keywords, check out the
Search-based Keyword Tool
and the
Wonder wheel
.
Target last-minute shoppers
Finally, data suggests that most consumers still have not completed their shopping. According to NRF's 2009 Back-to-School and Back-to-College Surveys, up to 82% of consumers complete their shopping between August 1st and after school starts.[3] For example, "back to school coupons" searches peak the week of August 10th, but have a resurgence the week of August 24th:
Source: Google Insights for Search, US Web Search Volume for "back to school coupons" April-September 2008
Hone in on these last-minute shoppers with call-outs such as product availability, fast shipping, convenient store locations, and extended sales (if applicable). Consider promoting discount codes in ad text to entice users to buy online. If you're promoting in-store sales, ensure that your clients have
local business listings
, and consider creating
coupons
that customers can use for in-store purchases.
To identify last-minute back to school search trends specific to your clients, visit
Google Insights for Search
. And even though you may not be heading back to the classroom, enjoy the rest of your summer.
Sources:
[1] Google Touchpoints Consumer Study, January 2009
[2] 360i and SearchIgnite, Giving Clicks Credit Where They're Due: What You Need to Know When Allocating Your Search Budget, May 2006
[3] NRF’s “2009 Back-to-School and Back-to-College Surveys,” released July 14, 2009. 1. Percentage total of those who begin shopping 1 month to after school starts, based on all Adults 18+ response from Back-to-School Survey. 2. Based on all Adults 18+ response from Back-to-School Survey
Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Marketing
Summer Webinars (and you thought it was safe to go into the water)
Friday, August 7, 2009
It's August - time for vacation, relaxation, and a summer webinar frenzy. As exciting as
Shark Week
, but safer!
Here's a few new courses on deck for this month. Additional details, including course descriptions, can be found
here
.
Strategic Budgeting with Impression Share Reports
Wednesday, August 12th at 12pmPST / 2pmCST / 3pmEST
Register
here
Online Real Estate Marketing in the New Era of Search
Tuesday, August 25th at 10amPST / 12pmCST / 1pmEST
Register
here
Online Education Marketing in the New Era of Search
Wednesday, August 26th at 10amPST / 12pmCST / 1pmEST
Register
here
Financial Planners & Online Media Webinar
Thursday, August 27th at 11amPST / 1pmCST / 2pmEST
Register
here
Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog team
Segmenting AdWords traffic: Google Analytics in 60 seconds
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Need to find out how users searching on specific terms interact with your client's site? Need to know right away? In no time at all, find out how to use
Advanced Segmentation
in Google Analytics to analyze specific portions of your client's traffic. The latest Analytics in 60 Seconds video is your step-by-step guide to creating and saving segments.
Best of all, you can apply the segment you create to reports and historical data, meaning you can retroactively analyze site traffic. For more video tips that only take a minute, check out the
Google Analytics in 60 Seconds playlist
on the
Google Analytics YouTube Channel
.
Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog team
Help answer those "what if" questions with bid simulator
Monday, August 3, 2009
When thinking about the past, the feeling of "what if?" can be irksome. What if you'd taken that job in Tuscaloosa? What if you'd actually gone on that blind date? We're aiming to ease that feeling a bit, at least when it comes to setting your maximum CPC bids. We've just launched a new feature in the AdWords interface: the bid simulator, which estimates the clicks, cost, and impressions your ads could have received in the last seven days had you set different maximum CPC bids.
By using this information, you can gain a better understanding of how changing your maximum CPC bids could have impacted your performance, helping you reduce trial and error and bid more optimally. The feature can be found in the maximum CPC column on the Keywords tab of your account, where you'll see a bid simulator icon for keywords with available data. Check out the video below to see the bid simulator in action.
For more details on the feature and how it can help you help your clients, see our post on the
Inside AdWords blog
and check out the
Help Center information
.
Posted by Courtney Lischke, Product Marketing Manager
Quality Score fact of the week
Monday, August 3, 2009
This week, we bring you the final fact in our
Quality Score series
. We hope you've found the content helpful and informative. Last but not least, our fact this week is:
Quality is given extra consideration when determining which ads appear in the top positions. For ad placement in top positions above Google search results, we use the same
Ad Rank
formula as we do for all other search ads, based on your Quality Score and CPC bid. However, in order to ensure that the highest-quality ads show above search results, only ads that exceed a certain Quality Score and CPC bid threshold are eligible to appear in these positions. The CPC bid threshold for these positions is determined by the matched keyword's Quality Score; the higher Quality Score, the lower the CPC threshold.
Posted by Dan Friedman, Product Marketing Manager
Labels
Account Manager
88
Account Planner
100
Ad Planner
21
AdWords Editor
23
Analytics
38
Case study
44
Coffee break with clients
5
Creative/Production
39
Display
42
DoubleClick
40
Google Display Network
47
Google Media Solutions Series
4
Holiday
16
Industry Resources
114
Local Marketing
9
Media Buyer
71
Media Planner
108
Mobile
42
Optimization
63
Quality Score
13
Search Specialist
133
Tools
94
Training
141
YouTube
51
Archive
March
( 2 )
December
( 4 )
November
( 1 )
October
( 3 )
September
( 2 )
August
( 2 )
July
( 4 )
June
( 4 )
May
( 3 )
March
( 2 )
February
( 1 )
January
( 2 )
December
( 1 )
October
( 1 )
August
( 1 )
July
( 1 )
June
( 3 )
May
( 3 )
April
( 2 )
March
( 2 )
February
( 3 )
December
( 1 )
November
( 2 )
October
( 2 )
September
( 1 )
July
( 1 )
June
( 4 )
May
( 1 )
April
( 1 )
February
( 1 )
December
( 2 )
November
( 4 )
September
( 1 )
August
( 2 )
July
( 3 )
June
( 5 )
May
( 6 )
April
( 5 )
March
( 7 )
February
( 5 )
January
( 1 )
December
( 8 )
November
( 4 )
October
( 8 )
September
( 3 )
August
( 8 )
July
( 6 )
June
( 5 )
May
( 8 )
April
( 8 )
March
( 7 )
February
( 4 )
January
( 2 )
December
( 5 )
November
( 3 )
October
( 4 )
September
( 3 )
August
( 5 )
July
( 2 )
June
( 6 )
May
( 11 )
April
( 3 )
March
( 8 )
February
( 4 )
January
( 6 )
December
( 6 )
November
( 5 )
October
( 9 )
September
( 10 )
August
( 8 )
July
( 4 )
June
( 10 )
May
( 6 )
April
( 9 )
March
( 7 )
February
( 4 )
January
( 3 )
December
( 4 )
November
( 9 )
October
( 6 )
September
( 3 )
August
( 7 )
July
( 6 )
June
( 17 )
May
( 9 )
April
( 11 )
March
( 17 )
February
( 12 )
January
( 8 )
December
( 8 )
November
( 12 )
October
( 16 )
September
( 18 )
August
( 16 )
July
( 10 )
June
( 10 )
May
( 7 )
April
( 9 )
March
( 10 )
February
( 11 )
January
( 5 )
December
( 11 )
November
( 11 )
October
( 19 )
September
( 14 )
August
( 14 )
July
( 18 )
June
( 15 )
May
( 13 )
April
( 12 )
March
( 11 )
February
( 7 )
January
( 8 )
December
( 8 )
November
( 5 )
October
( 8 )
September
( 8 )
August
( 8 )
July
( 9 )
June
( 12 )
May
( 10 )
April
( 9 )
March
( 5 )
Feed
