Partners Blog
What's new @ Google? Tips and tools for agencies
AdWords API v2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The AdWords API team has been working on the launch of the latest version, v2009, which we're happy to announce is now in production. This version offers more speed, scale, and flexibility to developers, at a lower cost. Since this version is a production beta, developers can
sign up for access
and will be whitelisted on a rolling basis. For full details on what you'll find in v2009 and how to get started, visit the
AdWords API blog
.
Posted by Adam Wooley, Product Marketing Manager
Seminars for Success: Next stop, Edmonton
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Calling all Canadian agencies (and those close to the border)! We're pleased to share that we'll be offering
Google Analytics Seminars for Success
in Edmonton, Canada on July 17-18, 2009.
The seminars will be led by Benjamin Mangold, an Authorized Analytics Consultant from Mangold Sengers in Australia. Day one will provide an introduction to Google Analytics, and day two will cover how to install and configure the advanced features and capabilities of Google Analytics.
For more information, and to register for one or both sessions, click
here
or visit the
Google Analytics blog
.
Posted by Eva Woo, Product Marketing Manager
Quality Score fact of the week
Monday, June 29, 2009
A few months ago, we ran a
series of posts
on a hot topic among our agency clients:
Quality Score
. Due to the popularity of the series, we'll be bringing you more facts about this important metric on a weekly basis. We hope you find these useful, and here's our first installment:
A higher bid will not improve your Quality Score.
Your Quality Score is determined by a number of factors, clickthrough rate (CTR) foremost amongst them, and is normalized to compensate for the higher CTR that ads in higher positions accrue. By simply increasing your bid for a keyword, you will likely increase the position of your ad on the page, but you won't be impacting the Quality Score for that keyword.
Posted by Dan Friedman, Product Marketing Manager
Update: New date for Landing Page webinar
Friday, June 26, 2009
The webinar "The Seven Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design," originally scheduled for June 24, 2009, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, July 1, 2009.
During this webinar, we'll help you ensure that your client's site makes a great impression by avoiding the major pitfalls of landing page design. Learn the "seven deadly sins" of landing page design through real-life testing scenarios. After the presentation, Tim Ash, CEO of renowned landing page optimization firm
SiteTuners.com
, will be available for Q&A as well.
Date: Wednesday, July 1st
Time: 10:00am PDT, 1:00pm EDT
Have your client's customer ID number handy when you
register here
, and for more examples of landing page improvements, see our
Website Workout
page.
Posted by Andrew Gomez, Marketing
Case study: Building success with display ads
Thursday, June 25, 2009
ROI Revolution recently decreased their client's cost per conversion by 58% while increasing clickthrough rate by 392% through the use of display ads created free through
AdWords Display Ad Builder
. I spoke with Matt Seising, an Account Manager at the North Carolina-based search marketing and website optimization firm, to uncover how he was able to achieve these results.
Ryan Hayward:
Why did you decide to start using the Display Ad Builder?
Matt Seising:
We first thought of it for our client who has been successfully targeting Google Finance. We knew that taking up the entire ad space would likely boost click-through rate and in fact, we saw a 392% improvement in CTR with the new display ad. Because of this boost, clicks were 46% cheaper for the display ad, and our cost per conversion decreased by 58% as compared to text ads. Additionally, the ability to use a free tool was incredibly efficient and helped us to get a display ad up in a day for free. If the client had been paying traditional rates to start running banners, they probably wouldn't have had any interest.
RH:
How does the Display Ad Builder fit with your overall client strategy?
MS:
The Google Content Network has been a focus for our agency for the last year because there's a ton of available traffic, and the Placement Performance Report has helped us to make it very profitable for our clients. In addition to driving more volume at lower costs in many cases, display ads also help clients to see the unique value of content as compared to search.
RH:
How have you optimized performance with the tool?
MS:
After seeing the initial performance, we decided to split the display ads into new ad groups; the click-through rates were so much higher and costs per conversion were so much lower we were probably going to want to bid those up to get as much profitable traffic as possible.
To start building your ads right away, click the Display Ad Builder option when creating a new ad in your account. You can also learn more about the tool on the
Display Ad Builder site
. Happy building!
Posted by Ryan Hayward, Product Marketing Manager
Analytics tips from the "streets" of Google
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
You work hard to track, analyze and optimize ad campaigns to keep your clients ahead of the curve. To help you efficiently and effectively collect and analyze these metrics, we headed out to the street (ok, it was a quick trip through the office) to hear what the Agency Team's Analytics experts had to say. Here are some recommended reports and best practices straight from the experts' mouths:
I love creating keyword clusters in
Advanced Segmentation
. I choose "Keyword" as the segment and then type in a keyword fragment that captures the essence of a cluster. For example, if I wanted branded keywords for a Google property, I would do "Keyword" "contains" "goog" (just in case there are misspellings), and for non-branded it would be "Keyword" "does not contain" "goog". Here's a
video
to learn more. Pretty powerful stuff. - Jesse N.
My advice is to set up
Site Search
. It's
simple to do
, gives you a finger on the pulse of your audience, and can guide optimization and testing strategies. Learn what users are looking for and identify good keywords for your accounts. See what users have or have not found, and use the information for ad text optimizations, A/B inventory tests, or internal site search improvements. - Eddie H.
I often
create
an Advanced Segment that only shows Google AdWords data. You can then look into any report and see what's working well and what can be improved with campaigns, specific landing pages, or geographic targeting. - Cassie P.
Check the
Referring Sites report
for your own domain name. If it looks like you're your own top referrer, you're doing something wrong. Check for
badly tagged/untagged pages
. Make sure redirects aren't causing your PPC traffic to get miscategorized. Ensure you're set up for subdomain tracking if applicable. - Brian K.
My vote would be for
Custom Reporting
. You
create
your own report and see data the way you want to. You can also save custom reports, add them to your dashboard or schedule them to be emailed to you. - Kelley C.
For additional resources and answers to your frequently asked questions, visit the
Google Analytics Help Center
or check out the Google Analytics learning resources on
YouTube
. For more posts on how to get the most from Google Analytics, check out the
Google Analytics Blog
.
Posted by Agency Ad Solutions blog team
New report: Brand Value of Rich Media and Video Ads
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Are your clients looking to push forward with their branding goals? Can you help guide their decisions about effective branding formats?
If branding is creating a buzz with your clients, download the new report from DoubleClick and Dynamic Logic. The jointly authored "Brand Value of Rich Media and Video Ads" report provides detailed information on the impact of ad formats on branding results. Learn the branding strengths of image, rich media with video, rich media without video, and simple Flash ad formats, all within the report. Readers will also find tips and tricks on how to match ad format choice to branding goals.
Download the PDF report here
for free, no registration required. For more details about the report, visit the
DoubleClick blog
.
Posted by Sally Cole, Business Marketing
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