Search Advisory

Earlier this month,

Google AdWords announced that it’ll be rolling out “enhanced campaigns” over the next six months.  Enhanced campaigns are designed to do two things:

•    Provide more targeted ads to searchers – the example Google’s giving is if you’re searching for “pizza” at noon on your work PC, an ad driving you to an online ordering form or menu is probably most relevant to you.  But if you’re searching for “pizza” at 7 pm on your smartphone and are a half mile from the restaurant, a click-to call phone number or restaurant locator may be more appropriate.

•    Make it easier for advertisers to serve up appropriate ads to searchers based on the device they’re using, their location, and the time of day, by automating and simplifying the above.

Sounds good, right?  And a lot about it is good.  We’re all increasingly using different devices throughout our day, and often for different purposes.  Advertisers can bid higher for more valuable searchers (based on device, location and time), or lower for those they value less.  Enhanced campaigns also come with better reporting that measure new conversion types, including phone calls, app downloads, and individual sitelinks.

But…where Google giveth, Google taketh away.  Read more…

Google is projecting that a majority of its users will access its services through mobile devices in 2013…a year that, might I remind you, begins in less than two months.  The company also reports that mobile searches have increased 200% so far this year, and Google-owned YouTube has seen a 300% increase in mobile traffic and views to date in 2012. More details are in this article.

In the meantime, with mobile growth at an explosive level, marketers should ensure they have a mobile website that’s user-friendly, and are leveraging mobile SEO and mobile paid search. It’s just not the same on a small screen!

By David Saul, Analytics & Reporting Manager

From mini-maps automatically mapping addresses in incoming Gmail messages, to Google News and YouTube listings being specially placed in Google search results, to the idea of making over 25 products accessible from a single unified login, Google loves to blend its many offerings together and integrate elements from various products into each other.

So it’s no surprise to see them continue that approach with the product that drives 96% of their revenue: early this month, Google announced that AdWords will now pull in data from Analytics. Specifically, once an AdWords and Analytics account are linked and all the proper settings are in place, bounce rate, pages per visit, and average visit duration will be viewable in the AdWords interface on the campaign, ad group, ad, and keyword level.

Better Data, Better Decisions

Bounce rate (the percentage of users that view only one page, thereby hitting the site and “bouncing” off), pages per visit, and average visit duration are popular metrics commonly used to measure a site’s “stickiness” – that is, how engaging the site is. Marketers want their sites to be sticky because when users view more pages and spend more time on your site, they are learning more about your company, taking in more of your messaging, and most importantly, they are more likely to convert.

Read more…

Web analytics has been the big thing in online marketing for several years now. A vast array of tools allows marketers to track virtually every aspect of user engagement with their site, track conversions by their source, measure the ROI of different marketing efforts, measure a brand’s social media traction, and much more. Most of these tools operate using page tags, or snippets of code placed into the HTML of a site. The tags, usually in JavaScript, are executed by the user’s browser and send data to remote servers for storage and analysis.

All this requires the correct implementation of the tags; the right tags on the right pages. This can be quite complex, time-consuming, and headache-inducing. For example, you might want Google Analytics code on every page on the site, a unique AdWords conversion tracking code on each thank you page, a different Google Analytics code and mouse-tracking software for a new microsite that just launched, etc.

For large sites, even with an automated content management system, some pages will likely get lost in the shuffle and there will be gaps in the tracking code. For smaller sites without a dedicated development team, the developer may not have the time or know-how to implement and maintain a nuanced tag setup.

Enter Google Tag Manager: Read more…

Join SEMPO Atlanta next week as we hear how the pros are reacting to Google’s recent penguin and panda updates.

>Price: SEMPO Members – FREE

Our disproportionate focus on Google continues, and will as long as Google continues to dominate the market and roll out changes faster than ice melts on an Atlanta sidewalk. This past month, Google’s updates most likely to affect marketers inclu

ded the following.

Organic Results / SEO: A web page’s title tag is what’s displayed as the page title in search engines’ results – it’s the blue link you click on to go to that page. For over a decade, prevailing wisdom was to keep title tags under 70 characters to ensure the entire length would display and not get truncated. Recently, Google changed this to focus on the title’s pixel width instead of character count, since some characters are much wider than others. Now, if the pixel width of a title tag is too long, Google’s algorithms may generate and substitute a more concise, descriptive alternative to help users to identify relevant pages. Having a readable title can encourage more searchers to click, so review and test your title tags. (One of our colleagues did some experiments on this.)

Paid Results / PPC: Google AdWords has rolled out a number of new features – the one we’re most excited about is the innovative Auction Insights reporting feature, which shows who’s competing with our clients for specific keywords. Data includes impression share, average position, overlap rate, position above rate, and top of page-rate. This offers far deeper insights than we’ve been able to glean previously, giving those of us who are using this feature an advantage in AdWords auctions.

The Google AdWords feature we’re least excited about is Google’s redefinition of phrase and exact match. While they’re still called “phrase” and “exact,” the mechanics of how they operate has changed: “close variants” such as misspellings, singular/plural versions, acronyms, stemmings, abbreviations and accents will now trigger exact match ads. While this is probably welcome to less sophisticated advertisers who don’t take the time to build granular campaigns, we’re not happy about potentially driving less relevant traffic that we didn’t specifically attempt to generate. We’re adding even more negative keywords to combat this.

Local: Google Local was changed to Google Maps, which was updated to Google Places, and now it’s being switched to Google+ Local. Listings are now more social in nature, including reviews from Google+ members. These listings can be indexed into Google’s main search results as well – previously all local listings only appeared in local results. Be sure to claim your Google Places listing and ensure it’s accurate and complete.

Shopping: Google giveth, and Google taketh away. The free Google Product Search, which allows ecommerce sites to promote their wares, is being converted later this year to Google Shopping, which merchants will have to pay to participate in. There are some incentives to transition by mid-August here.

As always, we’re keeping our eye on developments in the search engine marketing space and will continue to share best practices with our fellow marketers.

About Us

Prominent Placement, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service search engine marketing (SEM) firm, delivering ROI that traditional marketing channels can’t touch, with a level of service that raises the bar. Since 2001, Prominent Placement has managed the entire SEM process for clients across the U.S., driving leads and revenue while empowering businesses to focus on what they do best. Prominent Placement’s customized solutions are backed by hard numbers, giving decision makers the confidence they need to make smarter decisions.

For more information, visit our website or call 888.SEM.MKTR (888.736.6587). If you’d like to learn how Prominent Placement can drive more leads for your business, contact Christine Verska at x713 or christine@prominentplacement.com.

About Embark

Embark is a small business Internet marketing firm based in Atlanta and run by the same team

as Prominent Placement. We offer affordable search engine marketing solutions that will help your small business or startup generate brand awareness, attract new customers, and grow revenue. Our experienced team will manage your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns, so you can focus on growing your business.

For more information on how to boost online visibility, leads and sales on a limited budget, visit http://www.EmbarkSEM.com, or contact Christine Verska at christine@prominentplacement.com or 404.373.9727 x713.

“Like” us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
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Read our blog Search Advisory

Company Updates

Meet our new SEO Manager, Dana Udwin.

Meet our new Project Manager, Samantha Ahl.

Meet our new office dog, London (he comes to work with Samantha).

Industry News

What a difference a year makes! While building links to your site, you now have to consider over-optimization, the possibility of getting links

from the wrong sites, and now a competitor could even buy links to sully your profile! Learn how the top pros are dealing with this and how to roll with the changes by joining SEMPO Atlanta for our July 12 event on Post Panda/Penguin Link Building.

Previous Issues

May: More Google Changes: Penguin & the Knowledge Graph

Apr: B2B Versus B2C: 6 Ways Search Marketing is Different

Mar: Facebook Premium Ads: Have They Gone Too Far?

Ah, Google – never a dull moment with you, is there?

Our friends at Google have made two significant changes in the past month that may — or may not — affect marketers. Here’s more about what they are, when they hit, and how they may impact

you.

The Penguin Update

On April 24, Google rolled out an algorithmic update named “Penguin.” It targets websites using “black hat” search engine optimization tactics designed to sp@m the search engines. While this can mean a host of things, including keyword stuffing, most of our industry’s attention about Penguin has been on sites with unnatural link profiles. That can mean a majority of the site’s inbound links are low quality or irrelevant, or too many links have the same keywords in the link’s text (anchor text).

Were you hit? Check your analytics and see if you had a drop in website traffic driven by Google’s organic results around April 24. If you don’t see a drop – and especially if you know you haven’t engaged in black hat tactics – you don’t have anything to worry about. In fact, Penguin is supposed to only impact around 3% of English language sites. If you were hit, get rid of as many poor quality links or repetitive anchor text as you can.

Sidenote: Google’s “Panda” update, which rolled out in February 2011, had two “refreshes” on April 17 and 27, so some sites may have been affected by that as well. Panda targets sites with poor quality content.

The Knowledge Graph

Starting May 16, Google launched the Knowledge Graph. It’s their attempt to understand searchers’ intent by figuring out the relationship between different objects and presenting key information concisely. How does it work? Run a search for a famous person, place or thing, and you may see a “panel” on the right with pertinent information about that person, place or thing. Try “Moses,” “Hawaii,” or “Braves” to see it in action.

Is this new feature handy for searchers? Sure thing! Could it be a problem for marketers? Possibly. First, we have yet to see any pay-per-click ads on the search results pages where knowledge graph panels appear. There may not be a whole lot of advertisers for the keyword “Moses,” but surely sellers of Hawaiian vacations and Braves paraphernalia would want their ads to appear on the

right side of the organic results rather than the new panel.

Second, by serving up so much information directly on the results page, searchers may have fewer reasons to click through to one of the websites listed in the organic results. If that’s your website, and you make revenue from visitors, that’s going to hurt. It may necessitate targeting more “long tail” keywords that are less likely to display the knowledge graph panel, such as “Hawaiian vacations” or “Braves hats.”

We’ll continue to keep an eye on Google’s changes and advise our subscribers how to respond. Stay tuned!

About Us

Prominent Placement, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service search engine marketing (SEM) firm, delivering ROI that traditional marketing channels can’t touch, with a level of service that raises the bar. Since 2001, Prominent Placement has managed the entire SEM process for clients across the U.S., driving leads and revenue while empowering businesses to focus on what they do best. Prominent Placement’s customized solutions are backed by hard numbers, giving decision makers the confidence they need to make smarter decisions.

For more information, visit our website or call 888.SEM.MKTR (888.736.6587). If you’d like to learn how Prominent Placement can drive more leads for your business, contact Christine Verska at x713 or christine@prominentplacement.com.

About Embark

Embark is a small business Internet marketing firm based in Atlanta and run by the same team as Prominent Placement. We offer affordable search engine marketing solutions that will help your small business or startup generate brand awareness, attract new customers, and grow revenue. Our experienced team will manage your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns, so you can focus on growing your business.

For more information on how to boost online visibility, leads and sales on a limited budget, visit http://www.EmbarkSEM.com, or contact Christine Verska at christine@prominentplacement.com or 404.373.9727 x713.

“Like” us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on LinkedIn
Watch us on YouTube
See us on Flickr
Read our blog Search Advisory

Company Updates

See photos of three

new PPI team members (more info on them next month).

Or see photos of our now fully-furnished office.

Industry News

Save the date for SEMPO Atlanta’s next meeting, the evening of Thursday, July 12th. More details to come!

Previous Issues

Apr: B2B Versus B2C: 6 Ways Search Marketing is Different

Mar: Facebook Premium Ads: Have They Gone Too Far?

Feb: What Are You Missing With Paid Search?

Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto has been quite a punchline for years, as Google continues to find new and creative ways to separate advertisers from their money. It appears that Facebook has taken a page from Google’s playbook:

• Cr
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  eate Unique, Quality Relevant Content (the best search engine / the best social media site)

• Get People Totally Hooked (70%+ market share / 850 million users worldwide)
• Get Brands Totally Hooked on Free Exposure (SEO / Facebook’s brand pages)
• Severely Limit Free Exposure (more paid ads, Google Places & other content in the search engine results that push down regular organic listings / “Edgerank” & the new Timeline for Pages)
• Force Companies to cialis canadian pharmacy Pay for Exposure (PPC ads for both
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  Google & Facebook)

First, Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm started limiting how many of a company’s fans to see its posts in their newsfeeds. Now, with the rollout of Timeline for Pages, businesses can’t have fans land immediately on their branded content, game, poll or whatever. Fans will instead have to click on a tab to bypass the new timeline home page.

For more on this, read this post by “Friend of PPI” Nan Dawkins: Facebook’s New Brand Pages: Combined With Edgerank, a Final Solution That Forces “Pay to Play”.

Well played, Facebook. Well played.

In what was reportedly the biggest search marketing story last year, the launch of Google+ had much written about it: Will it overtake Facebook? Will Google use the data in their algorithm? What’s the deal with the Google+ button? The jury may still

be out on its true impact, but one thing is for sure, Google is working hard to make sure Google+ doesn’t end up being just another 2011 trivia question. Read more…

If it seems like we and other blogs are constantly posting about how Google is changing their search algorithm, there’s a good reason

for it: Google is constantly changing their search algorithm. where to buy cialis-you-fresher-more-recent-search.html” target=”_blank”>The change they announced last week is a significant one, affecting 35% of all searches.

Google has updated its ranking algorithm to give more weight to “freshness” for appropriate searches. The example they use to illustrate this is the search term “olympics.” Someone searching for “olympics” is most likely looking for information about the upcoming Olympic games in 2012, not a history of the games or an account of the 1900 occurrence of the Olympics in Paris. So, for searches on terms that periodically recur like that (“NFL scores” and “presidential election” are some more examples), Google will assume that the searcher wants relevant, recent information and will provide that without additional keywords.

Read more…