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AdWords+ | The Effect of Google+ on SEM and Social Advertising

July 4, 2011 By Glenn Gabe

How AdWords+ Can Work With Google+

I’ve been heavily testing Google+ over the past week, and it’s hard not to be impressed with the new social platform. Google+ is extremely slick, includes outstanding functionality, and I especially like the way that Circles enable you to silo connections to control privacy. I understand that Google+ is new, so it’s not really a fair comparison, but I found myself going to Twitter and Facebook less over the past week. And I’m pretty sure I wasn’t alone. I’m excited to see how Google+ will expand, and the opportunities are easy to see (gaming, local, business profiles, ecommerce, etc.) This is just the beginning of Google taking a serious jump into Social and it’s exciting for digital marketers.

As I’ve been going through Google+, I keep thinking about the business impact for Google (and its competitors). Since Google generates most of its revenue from the AdWords platform (~97%), I thought it would be a good idea to write a post about how AdWords could be incorporated into Google+. Let’s face it, ads are coming (and they should be coming). Google needs to show growth in the face of Social Media booming. And when Facebook has 700+ million members, Google needs to show how it will fight off the giant social network in the coming months and years. If Google could utilize and expand its already incredible advertising platform (AdWords) for Social, then it could potentially give its already strong revenue and profit numbers a serious bump. And by the way, that’s what Wall Street wants to see.

Facebook Ads and Google Social Ads
As many of you know, Facebook has approximately 700 million members. It monetizes its platform several ways, but its ads system is an important component. To reinforce how much Facebook ads has grown, it was recently reported that Facebook will overtake Yahoo in display advertising this year. That’s impressive, but here’s the deal. Facebook hasn’t connected Social with Search yet. Sure, Google hasn’t either, but it could connect the two much easier than Facebook could (since it controls the largest search engine in the world). And connecting Social with Search is incredibly important to advertisers.

With Google+, if Google can attract users at scale, which I believe it can do, then it has an opportunity to marry AdWords with Social in a way that Facebook can’t. AdWords already has a huge base of advertisers, as it has ~70% market share in Search in the U.S. (and I’ve seen this percentage higher with my own clients – across industries). You can bet that advertisers would love to reach more users via Google+, or more importantly, reaching the same users but with the ability to close the loop between Search and Social.

Closing The Loop Between Search and Social
Currently, you can reach users searching on Google, Bing, and Yahoo via AdWords and adCenter . You can also reach users on social networks via other platforms like Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc. Both Search and Social advertising can be very powerful, but there was a missing component. That missing component was the ability to track someone from Search and then target them on Facebook (the largest social network that attracts millions of users on a daily basis). Those people also spend a lot of time on Facebook. So, as an advertiser, the person that searches, visits a site, leaves and visits Facebook goes off the grid (from marketing perspective). The amazing thing about Google+ is that it will enable Google to connect Search and Social, and provide advertisers a closed-loop system. You can target users in Search, and follow them to Google+. Yes, you will be able to reach them when they go back to their friends and family to find recommendations or to share information.

This is an amazing opportunity for marketers. You can’t do that with Facebook now. You don’t know where they were before Facebook, and you certainly don’t know what they searched for on Google. But Google can do this, and many of you who focus on SEM already know the mechanism available for accomplishing this. AdWords provides the ability to leverage behavioral targeting across its Display Network. Using remarketing or interest-based targeting with Google+ can open up endless possibilities for advertisers. And as a paid search marketer, I’m darn excited about the opportunities this presents. My clients will be excited too. :) Let’s take a closer look at the opportunity.

Google+ Can Uniquely Close The Loop Between Search and Social
How Google+ Can Close The Loop Between Search and Social

AdWords+, The Behavioral Targeting Opportunity
For those of you familiar with AdWords, you already know how powerful of a platform it is. From paid search ads on Google.com to remarketing on the Display Network to the recently released interest-based targeting, AdWords is a killer advertising platform. Now with Google+, AdWords can finally connect with a Social Network the way that Google has wanted to for some time. Sure, Google had you in Search, but they lost you when you went to Facebook to share information. Now they can close the loop and follow you across Social borders.

They can “follow you” due to their advancements in behavioral targeting, mentioned earlier. I already run remarketing campaigns for my clients where I can cookie users on a website and present targeted ads to them as they travel the web (knowing the site or pages they visited). That’s powerful, but again, I lose them when they hit Facebook. They go off the grid. With Google+, if I could use remarketing to follow you from Search to {enter website here}, and then to Google+, then that provides an incredible opportunity for advertisers. And it’s one that digital marketers have been looking for…

But wait, AdWords+ wouldn’t have to stop there. Since Google controls both Google+ and Search, advertisers would be able to follow you from Social back to Search. For example, when someone leaves Google+ and performs more searches, advertisers can remarket to them again. To quickly recap, AdWords+ could track you from initial Search to website to Social (with Google+) and then back to Search. Again, this is incredible for marketers.

Remarketing Campaigns Could Easily Expand to Google+
Google Remarketing and Google+

More Behavioral Targeting
In addition, the recent interest-based targeting enables me to target a browser and not just provide ads based on contextual targeting. That lets me follow your browser as you travel the web, and Google+, based on your activity on the web. I can then present targeted advertising to you without worrying about the keywords you enter or the content that’s on the page. I just know the type of person you are and then present ads to you. Again, that’s powerful, but can be even more powerful when integrated with Google+.

Google+ Expands Display Network Inventory
Then of course, there’s good old contextual targeting via the Display Network, which can also be incredibly powerful when set up and used properly. Google+ will probably be part of the Display Network, like YouTube is, Gmail, Google Maps, etc. That’s unless it gets its own platform, which is possible. More on that soon. Using contextual targeting, advertisers can target types of content and present ads that relate to that content. So, if you post an update about fireworks on July 4th, I can present July 4th sale ads. Or, based on location targeting, I can present a coupon to my July 4th restaurant specials. If you post about your latest 5K run, I can present ads for the latest running sneakers from Nike. If you are reading an article about baby formula, I can run ads for baby bottles. You get the picture.

This is why I love helping clients with the Display Network. Contextual targeting can be extremely powerful. And with Google+, the amount of inventory across the Display Network can exponentially expand. And, Google will know even more about you, since you’ll be sharing incredible information on Google+ on a regular basis. Think about the types of information you share on Facebook, including updates about friends, family, kids, work, play, location, sports, restaurants, hobbies, etc. Now think about what you share with Google when you search, including queries about health, commerce, clothes, food, local, questions (across categories), etc. Let’s face it, you share a boatload of information when you search. Now combine the two, and you have Google+ advertising, or what I’m calling AdWords+.

Innovative Social Ads
Google+ inherently provides a wealth of opportunity for creating innovate ways to advertise. And with the incredible engineers at Google, you can expect new formats to enter the scene. With Circles, Hangouts, Huddles, Photos, Video, the Mobile App, etc., there are many ways Google can innovate. And again, with behavioral targeting, this could be a huge win for Google and advertisers. I’m excited to see what’s coming, and more excited to implement those innovations for my clients. It’s an exciting time to be in digital marketing.

Advertising+ Meet Privacy+
Can you see why this has incredible potential for Google? Can you also see why this has incredible potential for advertisers? But, can you also see why this presents some privacy challenges for the average person? The answer is “yes” to all three questions listed above… Google needs to be very careful on this front. There are already privacy concerns with Google and there are already privacy concerns with Facebook. Google+ can trigger privacy concerns that dwarf any that has come before it. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

AdWords+ Can Mean Revenue+ for Google
Although it’s easy to get caught up in the impressive social platform Google has developed, we shouldn’t forget that Google is a business. It’s a business that needs to show growth, when Social is impacting Search, which is where Google makes 97% of its revenue, and where it has failed several times before. If Google+ gains traction, the revenue implications could be massive. If you’re a digital marketer, get ready for Paid Search Marketing with AdWords to turn into Paid Social Marketing with AdWords+.

Now let me go share this on Google+. :)

GG

Filed Under: adwords, google, google-plus, SEM, social-media

How to Use the Google +1 Button Callback Parameter to Unlock Exclusive Content

June 27, 2011 By Glenn Gabe

Google +1 Button Callback Parameter

Since the release of the Google +1 button for websites in early June, many webmasters have been trying to figure out the best ways to implement it across their sites. In its most basic form, the +1 button is relatively easy to add to a webpage. You can grab two line of code, add them to your webpage, and be on your way. That said, Google has provided several parameters you can use with the +1 button that control how the button looks, what is displays, which URL should receive the +1, and which function you want to call when someone clicks the +1 button. Wait, did you catch that last part? Google added a mechanism for webmasters to trigger a JavaScript function when someone clicks a +1 button. The mechanism I’m referring to is the “callback” parameter of the +1 button, and it opens up a world of opportunity for webmasters. Let’s explore the parameter in greater detail, including what it is, how to use it, and how to avoid problems down the line.

What is the Callback Parameter?
As I mentioned earlier, you can implement the basic +1 button on your site with just a few lines of code. You need to include a JavaScript tag and then the +1 button tag. It’s essentially two lines of code and you’ll have a +1 button on a webpage. But, if you review the Google Code page for the +1 button, you’ll notice several other parameters. You have count, size, and href, which control the display of the +1 button, as well as identifying the URL that should receive the +1. Then you have the callback parameter, which takes the name of a JavaScript function as the value of the parameter. The JavaScript function you trigger can do anything you want (ok, not anything), and I’ll cover more about this soon.

Here is what the google +1 button code would look like when using the callback parameter:

When you include the callback parameter in the +1 tag, you provide the name of a JavaScript function that will be triggered when someone clicks the +1 button. In this example, the function called “helloWorld” will be triggered. Note, helloWorld() needs to be part of the global namespace, meaning it needs to be included in the page or referenced in the html file via a script tag. The function will receive a JSON object, which includes both an “href” value and a “state” value. “href” will include the URL that received the +1 and “state” is either on or off (where on represents a +1 and off means someone removed a +1). That information is good to know and you can handle each situation separately. More about this soon.

Example: A Simple JavaScript Function
Below, I have included a very basic JavaScript function that’s called when someone clicks a +1 button. It simply throws an alert displaying the state of the button when clicked. Note, this function could either reside in the page itself or it could reside in an external JavaScript file that’s referenced in your html page (via a script tag).


function helloWorld(plusone) {
window.alert('+1 Triggered, State=' + plusone.state);
}

How the Callback Parameter Can Be Used
Based on adding the callback parameter to the +1 button, Google is enabling webmasters to creatively use the functionality to interact with users. For example, you could reward users that +1 a page on your site. There are some rules, though. Remember, +1’s impact rankings, so you don’t want to “buy” rankings. I attended a Google webinar last week that covered best ways to implement the +1 button and Google made it very clear that you should not pay for +1’s. That means you shouldn’t incentivize users with money, product, or services based on those users clicking a +1 button on your site. Here is the actual language from Google’s policy page:

“Publishers should not promote prizes, monies, or monetary equivalents in exchange for +1 Button clicks.”

The reason Google doesn’t want publishers incentivizing users with prizes or money is simple. +1’s impact rankings, rankings should not be manipulated in any way, and paying for +1’s is like paying for links. Don’t do it.

Unlocking Content is OK
Although you can’t provide products or services, Google explains that you can unlock exclusive content. Here is the language in Google’s policy regarding enabling content and functionality:

“Publishers can direct users to the +1 Button to enable content and functionality for users and their social connections.”

If someone +1’s your new blog post, you could unlock exclusive content for that user (and you can use this approach creatively, depending on your specific industry, business, etc.) For example, you could provide a study that goes deeper into a topic, you could provide additional tutorials on the subject matter, provide additional news about a topic, etc. Just make sure you wouldn’t ordinarily charge for that content. Yes, this seems like a slippery slope, since exclusive content might already have a price tag associated with it. As a webmaster (or marketer), you might need to build new content that could be part of your +1 program.

An Alternative Approach – Catching +1 Removals
Earlier in this post, I mentioned the “state” value that gets passed to your JavaScript function in the JSON object. That value will tell you whether someone +1’d a page or removed a +1. Knowing that someone just removed a +1 is important information, and you can act on it using the callback parameter of the +1 button. For example, maybe you can ask the person why they removed the +1, ask them to reconsider their +1 removal, or redirect them to a page that provides a more creative approach to catching +1 removals. Now, you don’t want to go overboard here. If someone just removed a +1, they obviously had a reason. You don’t want to add fuel to the fire and push the limits of getting that +1 back. That said, the right messaging could act as a legitimate confirmation that a user will be removing a +1, which could potentially save some of those votes. It would be interesting to test this out to see how many +1’s you can gain back by using the callback parameter.

Unlock Content, Get More +1’s?
As you can see, the callback parameter can be a helpful addition to the +1 button code. Depending on the “state”, you can either reward users with exclusive content, or you can address the removal of a +1. Remember, +1’s impact search rankings, so they can be extremely valuable to your organic search traffic. Just be careful about what you’re giving away to users that +1 content on your website. Make sure you aren’t giving away prizes, money, or services. The last thing you want is for a creative use of +1 to get you penalized. And if history has proven anything, you can bet that some webmasters are going to try and manipulate the system to gain more +1’s. As I said earlier, don’t go down this path. It’s not worth it. Play by the rules, be creative, and gain more +1’s the right way.

By the way, have you +1’d this post yet? :)

GG

Filed Under: google, SEM, SEO, social-media

How to Target Product Listing Ads Using Filters and Product Targets [AdWords Tutorial]

April 27, 2011 By Glenn Gabe

In November of 2010, Google rolled out Product Listing Ads (PLA) to all U.S. advertisers. Product Listings Ads were a great addition to the AdWords arsenal, as they provide a stand-alone ad unit for products using photo thumbnails. The thumbnail is presented along with the product title, price, and merchant name. You can see an example of what a product listing ad looks like below.

Click the image below to view a larger version:
An example of a product listing ad in Google AdWords.

Product listing ads are used in conjunction with a Google Merchant Center Product Feed, similar to product extensions (which is an ad extension already available in AdWords). For product listing ads, advertisers don’t bid on keywords like they would with standard text ads. Instead, Google determines if there is a match between a query and the products listed in your feed. If there’s a match, Google may provide your product listing ad in the SERPs. To clarify the difference between product listing ads and product extensions, PLA’s are stand-alone image-based ads where product extensions simply extend a standard text ad with product information. You can see what a product extension looks like below.

An example of a product extension in Google AdWords:
An example of a product extension in Google AdWords.

Basic Setup of a Product Listing Ads
If you want to use product listing ads, you’ll first need an active Google Merchant Center Product Feed that you can connect with your AdWords account. You can connect the two accounts via your Google Merchant Center settings. Once you connect your merchant feed with your AdWords account, you’ll need to add a product extension in the campaign you want to set up product listing ads in. Once you add a product extension in a specific campaign, you can set up ad groups that contain product listing ads (which can then tap into the products in your merchant account feed).

For each campaign that you want to utilize your Merchant Center Product Feed, you’ll need to add a product extension at the campaign level. This product extension will use your newly connected feed as the source of products for both product listing ads and product extensions (if necessary). Note, both product extensions and product listing ads will be available at this point, since both leverage a connected Merchant Product Feed. Remember, product extensions simply extend text ads with product visuals and information, while product listing ads are stand-alone ad units. Both use your merchant account feed for product information.

Filters and Targets for Honing Your Product Listing Ads
OK, let’s say you have your Merchant Center Product Feed connected to your AdWords account and you set up a product extension in order to connect your product feed with a specific campaign. Although it’s fine to use product listing ads within your current campaigns, there are good reasons for setting up a new campaign just for product listing ads. This will enable you to set a budget for specific groups of products, set CPC’s per ad group, use filters and product targets to hone your ads, and create specific promotions for each ad. If you do end up creating specific campaigns for your product listing ads, you will probably want to get familiar with both filters and product targets. Filters enable you to show a subset of your Merchant Center Product Feed, while product targets enable you limit products by category, brand, etc. Both enable you to do some interesting things in your campaign, targeting-wise. Let’s explore both filters and product targets below.

Filtering Your Merchant Center Product Feed
Filters enable you to limit the products available to your campaign (and all ad groups within that campaign). You can add a filter when adding a product extension to your campaign. The filter you add will be based on your own specific product feed, so it’s important that your feed is well-structured. For example, if you sold men’s shoes, your feed might contain subcategories like dress shoes, slippers, sneakers, etc. If you wanted a specific campaign to only have access to dress shoes, then you could add a filter to make sure only dress shoes were available. Once you added this filter, all ad groups would be affected. That means that your ad groups could only trigger ads for dress shoes (via both product extensions and product listing ads).

Let’s add a filter:
1. Add a product extension at the campaign level.
2. After you connect your Merchant Center Product Feed, click the “filter” button.
Filtering a product extension in Google AdWords.

3. Based on your feed, you can add up to 10 OR statements to filter your products. For our purposes, we’ll use the product_type attribute to limit our feed to just dress shoes. Note, check out the merchant feed specification for more information about the various parameters available. In a perfect world you would match the product_type to Google’s own taxonomy. If you set up a custom taxonomy for products on your site, then you should provide a full breadcrumb trail.
4. That’s it. Now this specific campaign only has access to dress shoes listed in your feed.

More Targeting Via Product Targets
The filter we just set up is great, but filters apply to your entire campaign. What if you wanted to limit each ad group in your campaign to specific groups of products? This is where product targets come in very handy. In our example above, we limited the merchant feed for our campaign to dress shoes, which was a subcategory of men’s shoes. In each ad group, we could then further limit the feed to specific groups of products. Again, this would be based on your own specific feed, so it’s important that your feed is organized properly.

Using this approach enables you to set custom CPC’s for specific product groups, while also using specific promotions as part of your product listing ads. You can create product targets via the Auto Targets tab at the ad group level. If you don’t see the Auto Targets tab, make sure you enable it by clicking the arrow button at the far right of your tabs. Then clicks the checkbox for “Auto Targets”.

Accessing the Auto Targets Tab in Google AdWords:
Accessing the Auto Targets Tab in Google Adwords.

For example, you could set up a series of ad groups that each targets a specific brand or subcategory within dress shoes. Each of those ad groups could use product targets that limit your product feed to specific groupings of products. So, filters can be used to limit products at the campaign level, where product targets can limit the resulting feed for ad groups.

Once you set up product targets, you could adjust CPC’s for each new ad group. This is smart, since various brands of shoes all have different levels of pricing. You might only want t bid $2.00 for one brand, while you might want to bid up to $6.00 for another. Using product targets enables you to do this.

Using Specific Promotions Per Ad Group
In addition, one you have this granular setup, you could set up specific promotions for each ad group. Promotions can be added to each product listing ad as a line of text (up to 45 characters). Promotions should be specific messages for prospective customers and are meant to highlight special promotions. For example, you could add “25% off all orders over $75”, “Buy 2 products, get 1 free”, etc. Promotions are not meant to include product copy or misc. benefits. Again, using promotions per ad group is smart since you might have different promotions and offers per brand or subcategory.

An example of a product listing ad promotion:
An example of a promotion in product listing ads.

Setting Up Product Targets
Let’s quickly set up a product target for an ad group that should only have access to a brand of shoes named Gabe. From what I hear, they are the best shoes around… Very high quality. :) We’ll set up an ad group within the campaign we have already been working in. That campaign has a filter already set that limits the merchant account feed to dress shoes. For our example, let’s say Gabe shoes is a brand within dress shoes.

1. Create an ad group for your product listing ad and don’t add any keywords. Remember, product listing ads don’t use keywords to trigger ads.
2. Click the Auto Targets tab and click the button labeled “Add product target”. Now you need to select the feed parameter you’ll use to limit your feed for this ad group. You can choose “Brand” from the dropdown and then enter “Gabe”. You can validate your selection and then click “Save”.
Adding a product target in Google Adwords.

3. Now you need to create the actual product listing ad. Go to the Ads tab and click the button labeled “New ad”. Then select “Product listing ad”. This is where you can enter a specific promotion for Gabe shoes. Maybe you’re running 10% off all Gabe shoes this month. You can enter that text here, which can show up in your product listing ad. This is why I like having granular control of PLA’s. The promotion can be more relevant and targeted.
Adding a new product listing ad in Google Adwords.

4. That’s it, now your ad group is set up to show just Gabe shoes as product listing ads. You can also set a custom CPC for Gabe shoes, which might be different than what you would bid for other brands. Last, you can present a special promotion just for Gabe shoes. Awesome.

Hone Your Targeting For Product Listing Ads
Like many other things in Paid Search, enhancing your targeting can pay huge dividends down the line. The proper setup can enable you to group products, create special promotions, and bid differently per product target. This will give you greater control over your product listing ads, which will enable you to optimize your efforts. I recommend reviewing your Merchant Center Product Feed to make sure it’s well-structured and optimized. Once it is, I would work on developing a campaign structure that makes sense, given your product line. Product listing ads can definitely give you an edge in Paid Search and I hope this post helps you enhance that “edge”. Good luck.

GG

Filed Under: adwords, google, SEM

Google +1, AdWords, and The Effect on Landing Page Strategy – Will Advertisers Be Penalized for Using Campaign Landing Pages

April 1, 2011 By Glenn Gabe

Google +1 and AdWords, Will Google +1 Impact Landing Page Strategy

As you’ve probably heard by now, Google released its +1 social recommendation engine on Wednesday. There are several reasons Google is doing this, including trying to make search results more relevant, enabling you to recommend pages (and ads) to your social connections, and combating the Facebook Like button. At this point, your social connections are your Google contacts, but this should realistically expand to other networks as well. As I just mentioned, the +1 button is a direct shot at the Facebook Like button, which is now plastered across the entire web. Both Google and Facebook want to gather as much information from you as possible, which can then help fuel their advertising programs (which is how they make most of their money). Many people outside of Search don’t know that Google makes almost all of its money from search advertising. It’s 96%+ of its revenue. Facebook also makes most of its money via advertising, although at this stage, it’s a much smaller piece of the pie (for now).

Organic and Paid +1’s
When you +1 a page in the Google search results, the button will activate and show to your social connections. It can also show to people who aren’t part of your social connections, but only as aggregated data. For example, you might see “95 other people +1’d this page”.

Here is a screenshot showing what a +1 looks like in the organic listings:
Google +1 showing up in the organic listings.

But, this isn’t just possible for organic listings. Paid Search ads in Google can also be +1’d. More on this below, but +1’s can show up in AdWords ads when someone clicks the +1 button next to the ad, or when that page has been +1’d in the organic results. There’s an important piece to what I just explained…

If someone +1’s a page in the organic listing, and that’s the page you are using as your SEM landing page, then +1’s can show up in the ad as well.

SEM and Landing Pages
If you work heavily in Paid Search, then you probably know how powerful landing pages can be. I’m not talking about the standard webpages on a website where some marketers drop visitors. I’m referring to strategically-crafted landing pages, based on visitor intent. Visitor intent is determined by the customer segments you are targeting. Your SEM landing pages might look much different than a typically webpage, even one holding similar content. For example, you might provide stronger calls to action, rearrange content, limit navigation, etc. Remember, your goal in SEM is to convert at the highest level, since you are paying for every visitor.

In addition, dedicated SEM landing pages enable you to use split testing or multivariate testing to increase conversion. You know the traffic source, the visitor segment, etc. and you can easily limit the variables impacting your test. This is part of the reason landing pages can be so powerful. But, since SEM landing pages can contain very similar content to your organic pages, many marketers block the search engines from crawling and indexing those pages. Note, they don’t block Adsbot-Google from crawling landing pages (due to the possible impact on Quality Score), but Googlebot is blocked from indexing and caching the landing pages.

The Problem for Paid Search Marketers
Jumping back to +1’s for a second, remember that +1’s can show up in your ads when someone +1’d the ad or the landing page in the organic results. If your SEM landing pages are not being crawled or indexed, then they won’t show up in the organic results. If they don’t show up in the organic results, they can’t be +1’d. If they can’t be +1’d, then those potential +1’s can’t show up in your ads. That’s right, you might be penalized by using an advanced SEM strategy… campaign landing pages.

What About the Canonical URL Tag?
Some marketers might be using the canonical URL tag in their SEM landing pages and point back to a page on their standard site that has similar content. Until this can be tested with +1, it’s hard to say how Google will apply +1’s in ads when the canonical URL tag is being used. In theory, Google should apply landing page +1’s to the canonical URL being specified in the tag. But will +1’s at the canonical URL apply back to the landing page you are using in SEM? It shouldn’t, which would still mean problems for +1’s in your ads.

But What About +1’ing Ads?
Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t think many people are going to start +1’ing traditional ads in AdWords. The logistics don’t even make sense. How will you know that you like the content if you are just reading the ad? You won’t. So then you’ll probably click through to a landing page (which might not indexed by Google) and you can’t +1 it (at least yet). Google will be adding +1 buttons for pages, but it’s not available yet. In addition, I’m not sure how many people are going to legitimately +1 a marketing landing page… For example, many marketing landing pages are not equivalent to a thoroughly-written how-to piece (even though it could be). More on that below.

Will Advertisers Run Ads for Organic Content?
My previous point brings up a good question. If +1’s are going to impact organic rankings (which Google said they very well could), then will advertisers try and gain more +1’s by running ads to that content. They might not be interested in the immediate conversion from that content, but the additional +1’s could possibly help the rankings of those pages. I can tell you with almost 100% certainty that this will happen if +1’s impact organic rankings. That’s unless Google adapts and flags +1’s via paid advertising versus +1’s via organic search (or other sources). Yes, this gets complex, like many other things in organic search. :)

Will Advertisers Be Punished for Using Landing Pages?
I’m confident some very smart people at Google are thinking about the paid search impact, and if advertisers will be penalized for using campaign landing pages. Most people in SEM understand that landing page testing is important. Google even has its own product to help you with multivariate and split testing (Google Website Optimizer). You would hope that Google will ensure that +1’s can help your ads, even if you are using SEM landing pages. If not, you might see some paid search marketers revert to just dropping SEM visitors on their homepage or major category pages. Then +1’s can help both organic results and paid search ads (I guess). It seems click-through rate (CTR) might be higher due to +1’s showing up in the ads, but conversion could be lower (since it’s not the most targeted content for the visitor).

In closing, this important step forward for Google Social could end up being a step backwards for AdWords advertisers. That just doesn’t seem right. Let’s hope it gets addressed soon.

GG

Filed Under: adwords, google, SEM, SEO

Google Grants and Grantspro, How Non-Profits Can Increase AdWords Traffic and Performance

March 15, 2011 By Glenn Gabe

How Non-Profits Can Manage a Google Grants Account

I’ve had the opportunity to work extensively on several Google Grants, both from a strategy and execution standpoint. Google Grants can be a great asset for non-profits, as they provide $10K per month in free advertising from Google. In addition, non-profits that meet a certain performance level can apply for Grantspro, which offers up to $40K per month. Although offering non-profits a certain dollar amount in free advertising is extremely generous of Google, there are some inherent limitations with Grant accounts that can make it hard to gain traction. I’ve been contacted by quite a few non-profits that have a hard time generating clicks, based on some of these challenges. I’ll cover the core limitations below, including some of the common situations I’ve come across. Let’s start with a quick introduction to the Google Grants program.

Introduction to Google Grants and Grantspro
As explained above, Google set up the Grants program to help non-profits by offering up to $10K per month in free AdWords advertising. In order to be eligible for a Grants account, you must have current 501(c)(3) status, and be headquartered in a country where Google Grants operates. In addition, there are several rules and restrictions your organization needs to comply with in order to stay within the guidelines of a Grant account. For example, there are restrictions related to commercial advertising, ads that focus on specific categories like financial products, and how your ads are written (mission-based ads). You can read more about the requirements and regulations on the Grants website. If you are new to Google Grants, I highly recommend reading the details of the program thoroughly before moving forward. If you feel as if your organization meets the program requirements, then you can complete an application.

If you apply for a Google Grant and are approved, then you’ll be able to run your ads on Google.com for the site specifically listed in the application. Note, the website and specific URL’s you include in your application are important, and you shouldn’t radically change this down the line (as you are managing the account). For example, you can’t suddenly change your ads to point to a completely new website (even if owned by your organization). If you have any drastic changes to your ads, destination URL’s, website, etc., then you should contact the Google Grants team to ensure you remain within the program guidelines.

Grantspro – Increasing From $10K to $40K
While you are managing a Grants account, if you reach your maximum monthly budget for any two months within the last 12 months, then you can be eligible for an upgrade to Grantspro. This can provide your organization a monthly budget of $40K. Actually, you only have to hit $9500 per month for two months, and not $10K exactly. This is due to fluctuations in ad spend during a month based on your maximum daily budget ($329/day). So, the good news is that if you do your job well, and drive a lot of traffic via your standard Grants Account, then you can possibly get up to $40K per month. Notice I said “a lot of traffic”, and not “a lot of high quality traffic”. There’s a difference between the two and I’ll cover more about that soon. Your goal will obviously to be to drive a lot of high quality traffic, which can mean different things to different organizations. I typically help non-profits develop a strong analytics strategy so the can analyze their campaigns based on performance. You can read my post about tracking performance via conversion goals and events in a previous post of mine.

The Two Most Common Situations Non-Profits Experience
When non-profits contact me about their Google Grants account, there are usually two scenarios I’m presented with. Note, the first is the more common scenario, but the second does happen too.

1. Very Little Traffic, Can’t Gain Traction
Based on the complexity of AdWords, combined with the inherent limitations of Grant accounts, many non-profits have a hard time gaining traction with regard to traffic and performance. I’ll cover the specific challenges that non-profits face below, but this scenario is the most common. It’s not unusual for a non-profit that’s new to AdWords to have very little traffic leading to their site each month. After completing paid search audits of those specific AdWords accounts, I can usually identify the core issues pretty quickly. At that point, I develop a remediation plan in order to get the account on track. Needless to say, it can be extremely frustrating for non-profits to know they have up to $10K per month in free advertising, but they are only seeing a handful of visitors per month. This doesn’t have to be the case…

2. A Lot of Traffic, But Extremely Low Performance
This scenario is definitely not the norm, but I have seen it several times. If an organization ended up targeting a wide range of broad keywords (some untargeted based on their own mission), they could experience a surge in traffic. But, I’ve consistently seen this scenario lead to low performance numbers. The reason is because the strategy focused on “clicks” and “hitting budget” versus driving high quality visitors. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a big difference between the two.

Again, when I’m completing an audit, it’s easy to see why this would be happening. For example, an organization might be running ads that would attract clicks, however, driving visitors to landing pages that cannot live up to the ad’s message. This leads to a high bounce rate, low conversion, and a waste of AdWords advertising dollars. In paid search (in general), it’s extremely important to match visitor intent with targeted content. It’s one of the reasons that landing pages strategy and optimization is a core service of mine for SEM.

Let’s take a look at some of the inherent limitations with a Google Grants account, how they can impact your AdWords campaigns, and how to deal with the limitations.

1. A Tough and Challenging $1.00 Max CPC
The most important limitation with Google Grants is the limit on your maximum cost per click (CPC). If you’re not familiar with AdWords, your max CPC is the highest you are willing to bid on a keyword. Some keywords are inexpensive in paid search (if you are lucky), and some are very expensive. For example, I have some clients that pay up to $25/click for competitive keywords in a hyper-competitive market. Needless to say, a $1.00 max CPC is tough to work with if you don’t understand the inner workings of AdWords. You will inherently have problems triggering your ads with such a low CPC (for some keywords).

This is typically the top reason why non-profits experience low activity in their Grant accounts. For example, while analyzing some Grant accounts, there are times I only see a handful of keywords in their ad groups, and each has a first page bid that’s clearly higher than $1.00. This doesn’t mean their ads will never show, but they will only show a limited amount of the time. This leads to low impression share, low click-through, and low visits from their AdWords campaigns. This is why a thorough account structure that targets the long tail is critically important (covered below).

2. Mapping Out A Robust Account Structure
When mapping out any paid search account, it’s critically important to map out a solid structure from the start. I explain more about this in my post about SEM Audits, but it’s almost impossible to recover from a poorly structured paid search account. For Google Grants, you want to be thorough, granular, and cover a wide range of keyword possibilities. You definitely don’t want just a handful of ad groups with a few hundred keywords in total. Instead, you should perform extensive keyword research and map out a robust account structure. This might include several core campaigns with many ad groups within each campaign. Doing this will ensure you cover a wide range of categories, subcategories, and keywords within those groupings.

Mapping out a thorough account structure takes time, but can pay huge dividends. Don’t rush into running a small set of keywords with your Grant Account. If you do, I can almost guarantee that you won’t see positive results, both traffic and performance-wise.

3. The Long Tail is Extremely Important
Based on what I explained above about mapping out a thorough account structure, the long tail of Search becomes extremely important for Google Grants. If you’re not familiar with the concept of the long tail, it encompasses keywords that are 3 or more words in length, and aren’t as popular as head terms (and don’t have as much query volume). I’ve included a graph below that represents the long tail in Search. Although each long tail keyword doesn’t have the query volume of a head term, many long tail keywords in aggregate can eclipse head terms traffic-wise.

The Long Tail of Search and Google Grants

For example, a head keyword might be “homeless shelters” where a long tail keyword might be “how to help homeless shelters in Manhattan New York”. The second query contains 5+ words, where the head term contains just two. If you think about this concept across all of the categories and subcategories that your organization targets, you could end up with many targeted keywords in your account (thousands or tens of thousands). Don’t underestimate the power of the long tail. And that’s especially true for organizations with a $1.00 max CPC limitation. :)

4. Quality Score and Its Impact on Ad Rank
I won’t go into great detail about Quality Score in this post, but it’s an extremely important concept for any paid search marketer to understand. Quality Score (QS) impacts both your Ad Rank and your Actual CPC (the amount you actually pay per click). The higher your Quality Score, the higher your paid search ad can rank, and the lower you will pay per click. Based on this, it’s always a good idea to analyze your QS and look for ways to increase it.

Although there are many factors that go into Quality Score, click through rate (CTR) is one of the most important. One way to increase your CTR is by continually looking for ways to improve your ads. If your ad is more relevant to the keywords triggering that ad, then you have a greater chance of someone clicking through. As you increase your click through rate, you can positively impact your Quality Score. As you positively impact your Quality Score, you can increase your ad’s rank, while also lowering your CPC. As a Google Grant owner, the more you can lower your CPC, the more you can fall within that tough, $1.00 max CPC limit.

5. The Impact of Not Being Able to Raise Your Bid Over $1.00
For Google Grants, what I explained above about Quality Score is a critically important concept, as you cannot impact your Ad Rank by simply increasing your max CPC. Ad Rank is the formula used to determine the position of your paid search ads. The formula for AdRank is Quality Score * Max CPC, which means that most advertisers can impact their Ad Rank by increasing their max CPC’s. The problem for Grant Account owners is that they can’t increase their bid beyond $1.00. This can be a serious limiting factor for Grant Account owners trying to trigger their ads more for competitive keywords.

Ad Rank = Quality Score * CPC Bid

For example, you can’t simply jump your bid to $5.00 per click in order to show up higher in the paid search rankings (like some advertisers can do). Therefore, Quality Score is your path to more impressions, which can lead to more click through and visits. As a Grant Account owner, you can impact one side of the equation, Quality Score, but you cannot impact max CPC (beyond $1.00). I find many of the non-profits contacting me about Google Grants don’t address Quality Score, and therefore, don’t give themselves a shot at high performance in AdWords.

6. Ads Will Only Show on Google.com
The last limitation I’m going to cover in this post relates to where your ads will show up. I find many people running Grant accounts falsely believe their ads will show up on Search Partner sites and on the Display Network. That’s not the case, and Google explains this in the Help Center for Google Grants. Instead, your ads will only show on Google.com. This can obviously still get your ads in front of a lot of people, but your ads will not show across Google’s Display Network which provides a huge opportunity for advertisers. In addition, Search Partners like AOL, Ask.com, etc. are not part of the Grants program.

If you want to run your ads across Search Partners or the Display Network, then you should set up a second, paid AdWords account. If you do this, just make sure your ads in the second account don’t compete with your ads in the Grant Account. Mapping out a strong account structure will enable you to effectively use both accounts without running into issues with overlapping campaigns.

Improve the Performance of Your Google Grants Account
I hope this post shed some light on Google Grants and Grantspro, how they can be used effectively by non-profits, as well as some of the inherent limitations involved with managing those accounts. Unfortunately, $10K in free advertising is what everyone hears, but the execution doesn’t always translate into that dollar amount. Planning, research, and ongoing management of the account can pay huge dividends for non-profits with regard to Google Grant performance. If you experience success, you can even bump up to $40K per month with Grantspro. But you’ll need to take a methodical approach to building the account, driving quality traffic, and documenting your results.

If you have any additional questions about managing a Google Grants account, don’t hesitate to contact me. The good news is that you can start refining your account today. Good luck.

GG

Filed Under: adwords, google, SEM

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