With a constant stream of new capabilities in AdWords, and with the multitude of settings to manage, it can be daunting to stay on top of it all, especially when managing more than one account, or when your job entails more than just doing AdWords. Luckily, there are some simple ways to spot trouble early on and prevent an account disaster. I’ll share some of my favorites here. One sure sign that your account may be headed for trouble is that it’s undermanaged and not optimized on a regular basis. AdWords Alpha makes it much easier than the legacy interface to see how actively an account is managed. Unlike the change history in the old version of AdWords, AdWords Alpha highlights the overall number of changes right at the top, broken out by type. The new AdWords Change History view includes a table summarizing how many changes of each type were made in an account. When evaluating changes, be sure to look beyond the totals, and look at the number of changes by type. Bid … [Read more...] about Four ways to spot AdWords account trouble early
Bing Ads
Bing Ads launches automated bid strategy to ‘Maximize Clicks’
Bing Ads has announced the rollout of an automated bid strategy aimed at maximizing the number of clicks advertisers can receive within their budgets. In August 2016, Bing Ads added the Enhanced CPC bid strategy, which automatically adjusts bids up or down based on the determined likelihood that a click will convert. At the campaign level, the option to Maximize Clicks can be selected under the “Bid Strategy type” drop-down shown below or in campaign Settings. In Settings, advertisers can set a max bid ceiling that will apply to all bids in the campaign. Advertisers can also selectively maintain manual bid controls for certain ad groups and/or keywords in a campaign set to Maximize Clicks. At the ad group or keyword level, choose “Use My Bid” from the Bid Strategy drop-down menu: When Maximize Clicks is applied, the bid column will note “auto” before the bid amount. Bing Ads recommends letting the Maximize Clicks strategy run for at least 30 … [Read more...] about Bing Ads launches automated bid strategy to ‘Maximize Clicks’
Bing Ads announces new Editor features for ad extensions
Bing Ads announced on Thursday some new features in Editor related to ad extension management. These new features are now available for the Windows version of Bing Ads Editor, and they will soon be available for the Mac version. Advertisers can control when their ad extensions are shown in Editor, including by date, day of the week and time of day. There’s also support for times to be based on either the advertiser’s time zone or the searcher’s time zone. These scheduling options allow advertisers to run ad extensions only during appropriate times and help enhance relevance. For example, a restaurant may want to have callout extensions enabled for the morning to highlight breakfast items, and then schedule them to turn off when breakfast stops serving and turn on callouts for dinner promotion. The new scheduling options displayed when extensions are highlighted in Editor: Clicking Edit in the Ad Schedule section of the editing pane brings up a scheduling … [Read more...] about Bing Ads announces new Editor features for ad extensions
How advertisers can score big on the next device launch
On the cusp of the latest iPhone release, columnist Purna Virji from Bing offers insights to help advertisers cash in on new device launches. We’ve all seen the news headlines. They queue, they camp, they chant. And sometimes, they even stampede. Just to get their hands on a new device. And while these are the more extreme cases, it’s clear that consumers love technology, ready to cast off last year’s phone for one with a better battery, more pixels, and a blush-gold case. But of course, the decision journey begins long before launch day, creating a significant opportunity for retail advertisers – as long as you get in on the action at the right time. What makes this new device season even more interesting is the rise in opportunity for brands outside of Apple. iPhone users are becoming less loyal to Apple over time, according to research by UBS analysts Steven Milunovich and Benjamin Wilson. This chart is particularly surprising because it shows that … [Read more...] about How advertisers can score big on the next device launch
SearchCap: Google local business edits, AMP powered featured snippets & Bing Ads bid adjustments
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. Google My Business now lets businesses edit their listings directly in search resultsSep 6, 2017 by Barry Schwartz After months and months of testing, Google is rolling out inline editing in search for local businesses. Google officially adds AMP based featured snippets to mobile search resultsSep 5, 2017 by Barry Schwartz Now AMP pages can rank in Google’s position zero but Google says AMP is still not a ranking factor. Top European court’s ruling might embolden US tech companies to challenge regulatorsSep 6, 2017 by Greg Sterling The European Court of Justice rebuked a lower court for failing to properly consider Intel’s arguments in a nearly decade-old case. Google Analytics adds feature to unify users to Google AMP Cache pages & non-AMP pagesSep 6, 2017 by Ginny Marvin The AMP Client ID API requires a simple code change to unify users who visit … [Read more...] about SearchCap: Google local business edits, AMP powered featured snippets & Bing Ads bid adjustments
Optimize your GDN accounts with more hidden gems
In last month’s column, I talked about taking advantage of the summer months to optimize your SEM account. Using the summer slowdown (if it exists for you!) to examine your settings, review your ads and take a closer look at location options won’t transform your PPC account, but these small actions can add up to significant improvements. Sadly, summer is almost over (sniff, sniff), but you can still make the most of any lull in business to conduct the same kind of optimization process with your Google Display Network (GDN) accounts. So when you find yourself with a moment to catch your breath, here are five GDN hidden gems worth looking into: When you originally set up your display remarketing, did you set it up in AdWords or Google Analytics? If you set things up exclusively in AdWords, this might be a good time to switch to Google Analytics or (at a minimum) add in Google Analytics audiences. Two reasons justify the change: (a) If your remarketing code gets stripped, … [Read more...] about Optimize your GDN accounts with more hidden gems
SearchCap: Google lite app, Bing dynamic search ads & Pinterest zoom
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. Pinterest now lets people zoom in on pins, has redesigned visual search iconAug 17, 2017 by Tim Peterson Users no longer have to be signed in to Pinterest to use its visual search Chrome extension. Site optimization or traffic optimization: Which delivers better results?Aug 17, 2017 by Jacob Baadsgaard Knowing where to invest in online marketing is crucial for search marketers with limited budgets and resources. Columnist Jacob Baadsgaard explores whether you’re better off investing in higher-quality traffic or conversion optimization. Dynamic Search Ads pilot in Bing Ads now open to all US advertisersAug 17, 2017 by Ginny Marvin Ads are automatically matched to queries based on advertisers’ website content. Google is testing a new lightweight search app for slow internet networksAug 17, 2017 by Barry Schwartz Check out the experimental version of a Google … [Read more...] about SearchCap: Google lite app, Bing dynamic search ads & Pinterest zoom
Dynamic Search Ads pilot in Bing Ads now open to all US advertisers
Bing Ads’ testing of Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) is expanding to and now available to US advertisers. From Thursday’s announcement: DSA is designed to help advertisers increase their impression volume, increase search term coverage and drive incremental clicks and conversions, while reducing the burdens of campaign set up and day-to-day management. Advertisers using DSA in Google AdWords will find the DSA structure in Bing Ads familiar. Ads are served by landing page content rather than keywords the advertiser enters. Bing Ads crawls the advertiser’s website to identify a landing page that’s related to the search query and dynamically generates ad titles that fit the query. The ads are then served with the generic ad copy the advertiser has entered. To get started, select “Dynamic Search Ads” when setting up a new campaign in Bing Ads. Advertisers can target all pages on their site or limit the crawl to specific pages. DSA can be set up in the … [Read more...] about Dynamic Search Ads pilot in Bing Ads now open to all US advertisers
Developing YOUR audience targeting strategy
We all know that remarketing is a powerful tool for connecting (and reconnecting) with online audiences — especially those customers that come close to converting, then change their minds. But there is much more to remarketing than abandoned shopping cart visitors, which is why I’ve been saying for the last several years that every campaign could and should be an RLSA campaign. So, what is the most important audience of online searchers? Yours. 2017 has been a year of growth for what is possible with remarketing, as both Google and Bing have released innovative features to help you create a custom audience that speaks to your exact business needs. Creative features such as exclusions, custom audiences, in-market audiences and similar audiences enable retailers to find their perfect target market online. In light of all of these updates and changes, in my next few articles on Search Engine Land, I want to dig into remarketing to help you think about defining, mapping and … [Read more...] about Developing YOUR audience targeting strategy
Analyst: Google’s default search deal worth $3 billion to frenemy Apple
As Apple and Google became direct competitors following the rise of Android, industry observers wondered if (and anticipated that) someday, Apple would cease to offer Google as the iPhone’s default search engine. And while Cupertino has diversified away from Google, via Spolight Search, Siri and Bing, Google is still the dominant search tool on the iPhone. Now, a Wall Street analyst, Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein, speculates that Apple may collect as much as $3 billion in “services” revenue this fiscal year from Google. Extrapolating from an initial 2014 court disclosure that Apple received $1 billion from Google as traffic acquisition costs (TAC) for default search placement, the Bernstein analyst estimated a growth curve from there. The belief is that the structure of the relationship between Google and Apple is a revenue share based on paid clicks generated by iOS devices — perhaps on top of a fee. Sacconaghi was quoted by CNBC saying, “Given … [Read more...] about Analyst: Google’s default search deal worth $3 billion to frenemy Apple