Google Adwords recently released a new report called “Search Query Report”. This report will show you which search terms prompted your ad to show (an impression). The report gives you the complete statistics for that keyword (clicks, conversions ect.). Google provided this report so that advertisers could find new keywords to bid on. Being the PPC pro that I am (wink), the report did not find any new keywords that would be beneficial to my campaigns; it actually had the opposite effect.
The “Search Query Report” is better to find negative keywords, than new keywords to bid on.
Actually, to Googles credit, this is the best negative keywords tool that I have ever seen. Since the report is directly connected to your Adwords campaign, it will tell you exactly which keywords are wasting impressions and clicks (= $$$$$$$).
I’m sure the report works well for others that are looking to add more relevant keywords. In a time where Google is trying to make Adwords more relevant (read, raising ppc prices), it is nice to have a tool that can save you money and push your CTR up.
Let me know if this tactic worked for anyone else.
Google’s new algorithm change to Adwords is simply a way to make more money. That’s it. Don’t think it will really improve the quality. There is no way that adding a part to the algorithm that favors those that spent the most money is going to improve quality.
Who will this hurt most? Small businesses that can compete against big businesses because of quality.
“This is a very smart move in terms of Google’s potential revenue and the impact this change will have on business bidding behavior:
Supply is limited to 1-3 positions above the organic results.
Business owners who see their competitors take the top positions will want to out-bid that person by raising their maximum bid, thereby gaining control of the top position.
The ripple effect of one competitor raising their bid is tremendous, especially with the bid management software and bid management companies available today – somebody is keeping an eye on things. When one competitor is bumped into a different position, the bid is automatically or manually changed to compensate for the lost/preferred position.
When the top bidder raises their maximum cpc, and several others follow suit, the costs incrementally rise because everybody wants to have the higher max cpc even though they rarely pay their maximum rate! Raising your max cpc will inherently increase your costs.
These costs are ultimately going into Google’s pocket, and I have to tip my hat their way because this was a genius, strategic move on their part while trying hard to make it a win/win situation.”
We work with more small businesses than big businesses so I’m looking forward to the challenge but I hope the spending does not get out of control.
You spend months, maybe even years trying to get onto the front page of Google or Yahoo so people can find you. Now both search engines are to a point where new content is indexed relatively quickly, especially if you have already gained a positive reputation with their algorithms. So what is the downfall of being well indexed in the search engines?
I spent the morning going through Google’s new Report which show you where your content ads are displayed (Adsense). I just read a blog article over at the PPC Book that described exactly how I felt. A large number of the poor performing sites are not disclosed but are show as “Domain Ads”. Some of the most clicked URL’s that don’t convert fall under “Domain Ads” (surprise, surprise). Since Google does not show you the domain, you can not block the domain in the campaign setting.
So the entire reason to produce a Placement Performance Report is transparency, but they hide URL’s ….makes sense.
There is a good discussion over on yCombinator about a guy that went to the Ebay Sellers Conference this past weekend and wore a Google shirt, which he claims led to him being thrown out. If you missed the story, Google wanted to throw an event for Google Checkout to compete with Paypal (owned by Ebay) at Ebay’s conference. So Ebay stopped all of their Adwords campaigns and Google backed down.
So this guy was at the conference to pitch his product to Ebay sellers when his Google apparel caught the attention of Ebay marketing executives, who apparently intimated him to the point that he left (escorted by security).
Regardless if the story is true or false (better if true) this was a great way to create linkbait in this tough linkbait time.
Google Analytics is a great tool (considering it is free) and has improved with the new user interface. The one area that it still lacks is the Site Overlay Tool. Site Overlay shows you how many clicks each link on a particular page is clicked how many lead to the goals you have setup. Frankly, I have not got Site Overlay to work correctly since Google implemented the new UI. It currently does not provide a number for every link on the page. When you are testing landing pages, it’s basically useless.
So, in search of an answer I came across CrazyEgg. All of my dreams have been answered. The UI on this tool is great and it has multiple ways to show the click data. The overlay is cleaner than GA, the list is just that, a list and the heat map that shows exactly where someone clicked on the page. Crazy egg is free up to 5000 visits per month and becomes a premium service from there.
CrazyEgg is highly recommended for landing page optimization testing. The free version should provide enough visits to test your pages and make improvements.
Google Analytics is a great tool (considering it is free) and has improved with the new user interface. The one area that it still lacks is the Site Overlay Tool. Site Overlay shows you how many clicks each link on a particular page is clicked how many lead to the goals you have setup. Frankly, I have not got Site Overlay to work correctly since Google implemented the new UI. 
