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Adwords call extentions: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Example of an Adwords call extension on a computer Adwords call extension allows advertisers to include a phone number within their ad copies as shown here. But the use of Adwords call extensions can have an undesired effect on Adwords accounts in countries without Google call forwarding. Google call forwarding is a feature of Adwords that allows Google to track calls driven by call extensions. It works by assigning and displaying a unique Google call forwarding phone number in place of the call extension number entered by the advertiser. Calls to the Google call forwarding numbers are then recorded by Google and then redirected to the advertiser's call extension number. This allows Google to track such call as driven by an Adwords call extension. At present, Google call forwarding is only available in the US, UK, France and Germany.
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Google allows customisation of Adwords cookie window finally!
25 September 2013
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Google allows Adwords cookie window customisation Finally! Google allows the customisation of the Adwords cookie window to more than 30 days as mentioned here in the Adwords blog. I am surprised it has taken them this long to do this as not only is it in the best interest of Google because a longer cookie window means more conversions attributed to Adwords which in turn means more money spent on Adwords, but also because there are many products with sale cycles much longer than 30 days - think mortgages, car sales, life insurance etc. Perhaps Google was worried that advertisers
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How to restructure your adwords account without impacting quality score
22 August 2011
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Restructuring your Adwords account can significantly improve your account's performance and can make it easier for you to manage your account moving forward. Indeed, at some stage you might need to restructure your account or you might inherit an account that requires restructuring. Restructuring an Adwords PPC account can often result in a decrease in quality score which in turn impacts the performance of your account by driving up costs and reducing traffic to your site. In most cases the drop in quality score tends to recover after a few weeks but this can take several weeks and might be unacceptable to your stakeholders especially if the account is already under performing. Outlined below is a simple approach to restructuring your Adwords account to minimise the negative impact on your quality score but in order to understand why this approach works let's have a look at how quality score is calculated first.
Continue reading...Google doesn’t care about User experience
21 July 2011
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Google claims to care about "user experience" especially when it comes to quality score and their advertising policies, so I find it curious that Google forces businesses to bid higher to appear in the top position for queries that are clearly brand related (see case below for Chartis Travel Insurance). Such practice by Google will clearly result in a bad user experience for users who are clearly looking for a specific brand related product but finding a different advertiser in the top ad position don't you think? Off course forcing business to bid more means more money to Google.
Continue reading...Implications of Google Instant Previews
17 November 2010
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Google announced last week that it had added a new feature known as "Instant Previews" to its search results page which would allow users to preview search results without having to click-through to visit the page. Before delving into the possible implications of Instant Previews it is important to understand exactly what this new feature is all about. About Google Instant Previews Google Instant Previews provides a graphical overview of search results and in some cases includes call out texts that highlight relevant sections of the page making it easier for searchers to determine the context of a match from just the preview.
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29 September 2013
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