Adwords Articles by SEO Speedwagon

July 24, 2008

Google Adwords Certification Exam - More Than Just A User Manual

Last week a colleague and I took our re-certification exams for Google Adwords and we had an 'interesting' experience. Over the last two years there have been countless improvements and additions to Adwords so I was kind of excited to come out of the trenches and learn about some of the newer offerings from Google.

The first clues that this was going to more of a brain teaser than a truly education experience were located in the quizzes which focused on such things as the Irish VAT rules and the details of billing policies etc. Now I know that this is crucial information for lots of various reasons but my question was what does this have to do with managing a Google Adwords account? I know billing issues can be a huge part of the account, and lets face it Google wants the least amount of confusion regarding how it gets paid, but I have to question the relevance of those types of questions as it relates to being Adwords certified.

The second clue was the marketing and sales 'indoctrination' that appeared in the final Learning Center module. Big news has come out of Yahoo recently regarding their affiliate errrrr certification program and quite frankly I think Google took a page from Yahoo's book when it comes to the marketing and sales aspect. I want to learn about Adwords, not how to sell it.

The third clue came when I actually took the exam. In school there were always those people who were good test takers and those who froze up during tests. Well, I was always one of those who was a good test taker but the questions were not just in-depth, they were tricky. I was actually sweating bullets trying to make sure I interpreted the tense of the words correctly because it could completely change the answer. I can appreciate trying to make sure the people who pass are truly qualified, but I kinda wondered if this was modeled after an entrance exam to Stanford.

The 'over-the-top' question came when I was presented with a question that required some calculations based on the data presented. The only problem was there was NO DATA PRESENTED. I was so flabbergasted that I actually took a screenshot of it to show to Google (should I miss passing by that one question ;) ). I made sure to put that in my comments about the test as well as a few other 'suggestions'. I still haven't heard back regarding my feedback but I am happy to report that I did pass (as well as my colleague) so if you ever happen to have any questions about the Adwords Irish VAT rules please feel free to let me know.

Google Adwords Certification Exam - More Than Just A User Manual
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July 09, 2008

Google Adwords Automatic Matching - BETA

Recently Google Adwords released automatic matching beta. This is a very brave approach to take with advertisers considering Google automatically opts your account into the program. Account holders will receive the message that their account has been opted into the program. Depending on Google to choose related keywords for your ad to display on related search terms removes optimal short term management control of your campaigns. There are specific details on how to opt out of Google Adwords automatic matching.

Here are a few more details about the feature:

•Opting in and out: Automatic matching is applied at the campaign level. You can opt your campaign in and out of automatic matching on your Campaign Settings page.

•Google Network: Automatic matching does not affect your ad delivery on the content network. It does affect your ad delivery on Google and the search network.

•Quality Score: The traffic accrued by automatic matching won't affect your keywords' Quality Scores or minimum bids.

•Ad position: When ranking your ads on search queries acquired through automatic matching, the cost-per-click (CPC) bid will approximate the current average CPC of your ad group.

•Performance statistics: Aggregated performance statistics for automatic matching will appear in each ad group's Keywords tab, in a line item labeled Automatic Matching Total.

•Search Query Performance report: You can see the search queries that triggered your ads due to automatic matching by running a Search Query Performance report. The queries will be labeled Automatic in the Search Query Match Type column.

Google Adwords Automatic Matching - BETA
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June 20, 2008

Google Offers Monthly Campaign Budget Beta

Daily Budget -Standard

A daily budget is the amount you're willing to spend per day. When the limit is reached, your ads will typically stop showing for that day.

Monthly Budget – Beta

Monthly budget can be a good option for companies that see a large fluctuation in search volume and do not want to miss opportunities by being capped by a daily campaign budget limit. On the other side of the fence if you do not have the proper monthly PPC budget allocated for the month you can burn through your budget prematurely and end up going down mid month or be forced to add more monthly budget.

More Monthly Budget Info -

A monthly budget is the amount you're willing to spend per month. The main difference from the daily budget setting is that you can review your performance and campaign spending based on a monthly goal rather than a daily goal.
Monthly budgets are an expansion upon what already happens for your campaign spending with the daily budget option.

The same options are available for monthly budgets. This means that with standard delivery your ads will be shown evenly throughout each day during the month, and with accelerated delivery your ads will be shown as often as possible immediately, meaning that you could completely spend your entire monthly budget in a very short time (minutes, days, or hours, depending on your campaign settings).

Google Offers Monthly Campaign Budget Beta
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June 13, 2008

Yahoo to Become Adsense Clearinghouse?

Sean saw it coming yesterday, and little more than a Month ago I thought it a Yang Threat to balance the Microsoft yin of bluster.

Yet here we have it, and have you ever read anything that made Yahoo suddenly seem more insignificant?:

If the Google partnership passes what's likely to be a rigorous review by U.S. antitrust regulators and lawmakers, Yahoo! intends to use its rival's superior search technology to display ads on its own Web site as well as those of its partners' in the United States and Canada.

Let us all give a collective search way of goodbye to the once great king.

Yahoo to Become Adsense Clearinghouse?
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May 13, 2008

Googles Beta Dashboard View

Today logging into a new Adwords account that was created about a week ago I find a new dashboard that Google is beta testing.

I believe that this is a huge improvement seeing how now you can separate the Search Network cost and conversions from the Content Network cost and conversions at the campaign level. You can also sort your data view by the following –

• All (Search + Content): See separate campaign statistics for the search and content network, as well as an aggregate line combining the two. Click the link in the CTR or Conv. Rate column to hide clickthrough rate (CTR) and conversion rate information, which will also switch the page to the Summary view.

• Search: See statistics for the search network only.

• Content: See statistics for the content network only.

• Summary: See aggregate statistics only for each campaign. Click the link in the CTR or Conv. Rate column to show CTR and conversion rate information broken down by search and content network, which will also switch the page to the All (Search + Content) view.

I see this dashboard as a step in the right direction from usability and a data model prospective.

Googles Beta Dashboard View
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April 01, 2008

Google Serves Ads Based on Previous Queries

In 2005 (as reported by Search Engine Journal), Google applied for a patent called "Results based personalization of advertisements in a search engine." Part of the patent abstract reads as follows:

The search results are personalized based on a user profile of the user providing the query. The user profile describes interests of the user, and can be derived from a variety of sources, including prior search queries, prior search results, expressed interests, demographic, geographic, psychographic, and activity information.

Until now, I hadn't seen any instances of Adwords being served based on prior queries in the same session. (This doesn't mean it hasn't happened -- only that I haven't seen it.) But recently I've begun to notice it when signed in to my Google account. Each time I've noticed it (it's been hard to reproduce) it typically occurs after several searches for one particular topic, followed by a sudden shift to a query for another topic. For example, here is one recent search pattern:

[laptops]
[laptop repair]
[laptop parts]
[trucks]

Here is the resulting SERP for the [trucks] query. I've compressed the page so you can see both organic and paid results:

Here is the query set for the second example:

[gloves]
[work gloves]
[gardening gloves]
[jersey gloves]
[heavy duty gloves]
[wheelbarrows]

And here are the organic/paid results for [wheelbarrow]:

The second example is admittedly less convincing, because it's plausible that glove retailers could purchase bids for "wheelbarrow" terms. But I was unable to see any "glove" ads in subsequent searches for "wheelbarrow" terms.

This is interesting because query results like this allow the ad to really stick out contextually and give the advertiser the whole stage, so to speak, for a certain term. And even though the user has changed gears and is searching for something new, the "old" vein of queries is certainly still in his or her mind. I would love any feedback about how widespread these results are, CTR data for "residual" query ads, etc.

Google Serves Ads Based on Previous Queries
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March 17, 2008

Google Adwords Cross Campaign GEO Targeting

One of the major mistakes that Google Adwords advertisers can make with their campaign setup is in-effective GEO targeting. If a company is GEO targeting multiple regions such as Europe, Asia, Canada and North America all under one campaign the following capabilities are hindered by lack of campaign separation –

• Budget allocation by region
• Keyword productivity by region
• Cost per conversion by region
• Day Parting by region

So ultimately when there is one campaign set up that is targeting multiple areas, there is no way to segment what budget is applied to keywords by region. Also it is important to separate campaigns by regions because you can distinguish which regions convert better for a lower cost, and you can also segment out were the volume is and where the quality conversions are coming from.

Lastly, you can effectively set up day parting to make sure that your ads are showing at the appropriate time, by time zone, to target your prospective audience.

To give you an idea of what I’m referring to, here is a structural example of a campaign that is targeting all regions.
Incorrect Structure for GEO Targeting -

Campaign #1 – Dell Laptops – GEO Targeting (USA and Europe)
Adgroup #1 – Dell 17”
Adgroup #2 – Dell 20”
Adgroup #3 – Dell Sales”
Adgroup #4 – Accessories”

To take advantage of all of the benefits of GEO Targeting it is now broken down into multiple regions with single geographical targets.

Correct Structure broken down by region –

Campaign #1 – Dell Laptops – GEO Targeting (USA)
Adgroup #1 – Dell 17”
Adgroup #2 – Dell 20”
Adgroup #3 – Dell Sales

Campaign #2 – Dell Laptops – GEO Targeting (Europe)
Adgroup #1 – Dell 17”
Adgroup #2 – Dell 20”
Adgroup #3 – Dell Sales”

Google Adwords Cross Campaign GEO Targeting
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March 03, 2008

Adwords - Negative embedded match

Negative embedded match gives Google Adwords advertisers the ability to show for a broader range and every variation of a keyword, except for the keyword itself. This is a useful method when you have a broad term that applies to your business but is by nature very general and has a poor conversion rate by itself.

Positive aspects of negative embedded match -

• Eliminates ad serving confusion at the AdGroup level by eliminating various matching options and the overall struggle within the Google Adwords system of what keyword shall trigger a particular ad version.

• Shows long tail keywords that are more targeted without showing the negative embedded match term that may have a poor ROI from being too broad.

Example of negative embedded match-

If your company sells phone accessories you could insert the negative embedded match -[phone accessories]. This will allow your ads to be triggered by keywords such as “cell phone accessories”, “blackberry phone accessories” and other 3+ keyword variations that are highly relevant for [phone accessories]

Setting up negative embedded match -
• Insert -[phone accessories] into your ad group
• Insert “phone accessories” (Broad match also applies)

Adwords - Negative embedded match
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February 18, 2008

Google quality score and minimum bid factors

One of the major influences of how much Google Adwords advertisers are paying per click is the quality score. The quality score can also affect not only your cost per click but your ad placement. Overall quality score is a correlation between the user’s original search query and the relevancy to the text ad that is displayed to the user. Ultimately, even the theme of your pay per click landing page is also incorporated into your overall Google Adwords quality score. Google rewards high quality scores with better ad positions and lower Google Adwords campaign costs.

Factors that affect minimum bid and quality score are the following -

• Click through rate
• Overall history
• Most recent history
• Ad copy
• Landing page
• Account quality score

Keyword quality scores ultimately have one of three states, Great, OK, or Poor.

It is optimal to strive for a great keyword quality score to insure your Google advertising campaign is cost effective, and is serving the most relevant ads to the user. It is helpful to gauge this from the click to conversion stand point to both insure the highest amount of relevance and at the same time reduce pay per click costs.

As for the element of minimum bid and quality score, the CTR score is only influenced by google.com. It is important to note that CTR is not measured by the Google search partner network or the content network. Also CTR is judged by position; Google knows and understands that ads in the top two positions are going to have a higher CTR than an ad in position 5 and is judged on a CTR basis accordingly. If the ad in the 5th position has a lower CTR by nature of placement Google does not penalize, but adjusts its algorithm accordingly.

Google quality score and minimum bid factors
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February 04, 2008

Google IP Exclusion

Google Adwords IP exclusion is a major benefit in the Pay per Click Community. In addition to controlling your ad placement through methods such as location and language targeting, site exclusion, and network distribution preferences, you can refine your targeting with Internet Protocol (IP) address exclusion. This feature enables you to specify IP addresses where you don't want your ads to appear.

One major benefit of Google Adwords IP exclusion is now there is a way to combat click fraud from competitors bidding on your keywords. If you are able to get you competitors IP addresses you can add them to the IP exclusion tool so when competitors are checking out competing advertisers you can block your ad from displaying alongside theirs. So in essence if your competitors can’t see your ads they can’t click your ads.

The down side to using the IP exclusion tool is that some large Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use a range of IP addresses for all their users. If you exclude an IP address that is a proxy for many users, you could be blocking a large amount of legitimate and potentially profitable traffic.

Google IP Exclusion
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January 16, 2008

Less Sponsored Ads = More PPC Revenue? Que Pasa, Google?

One of my favorite clients of all time, with us now going on 8 years and powered mightily by the rare, dual client-side SEO strengths of search understanding and inter-departmental implementation influence, recently noticed the same thing Mark Jackson saw in Google's most recent round of Universal Search peekaboo:

Notice the incredibly disappearing PPC Ads? My immediate explication was that surely this must be to prove, in a small test sample, that someone's bad idea from above would be a disaster, indeed.

Mark, though, has made me think again:

Google may succeed in encouraging companies to bid more ferociously for the top two positions. If universal search leads to more searches because it's fun, this could be a win for Google (higher revenues) and users (better experience).

Sometimes it's hard for us to imagine that there is a finite set of clicks on any given day. The business model in a closed set like this, then, must discover what to do to increase the value of the average click within the set on a given day. Mark's point about less ads likelier driving up value per is on target, I believe, but thanks to him getting me to think again I think the test layout in question has less to do about increasing searches "because it's fun" and much ado about that map, an image mind you, kissing the PPC ads at the right corner of the screen and making your eye immediately jump there to focus.

Take a look yourself and see where your eye is drawn, and then check out what eye tracking heat maps are telling us about how pictures affect focus on a search page.

Less Sponsored Ads = More PPC Revenue? Que Pasa, Google?
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October 15, 2007

Broad Match and “Other Relevant Variations”

I came across an interesting question in Google Adwords Groups this morning. Someone had posted a question that pointed out a little advertised ‘feature’ of Broad Match that struck a nerve.

Now I’ve never big a huge fan of Broad Match, but then again I wouldn’t characterize myself as a ‘hater’ either. Unlike Content Match, I have been able to find some positive return from using Broad Match, however, like an ornery child it requires a lot of supervision.

The question was basically this, How come I am getting clicks/being charged for key phrases that include words that are not in my {broad} list? Intrigued I did a little research to find chapter & verse from Google’s guidelines and came across an interesting explanation:

"Broad Match - This is the default option. If your ad group contained the keyword tennis shoes, your ad would be eligible to appear when a user's search query contained tennis and shoes, in any order, and possibly along with other terms. Your ads could also show for singular/plural forms, synonyms, and other relevant variations. For example, you ad might show on tennis shoe or tennis sneakers. Run a Search Query Performance Report to see what keyword variations trigger your ad."

This explanation still leaves a lot to the imagination so I queried further by clicking the “other relevant variations” link and I received an eye-opening description of Broad Match:

"I. Description

With broad match, the Google AdWords system automatically runs your ads on relevant variations of your keywords, even if these terms aren't in your keyword lists. Keyword variations can include synonyms, singular/plural forms, relevant variants of your keywords, and phrases containing your keywords. "

Did I read that right? Are the phrases “automatically runs your ads” and “terms aren’t in your keyword lists” actually in the description of Broad Match, let alone a part of the same sentence? I usually find Google to be an exceptional product/service but this little nuance seems to take advantage of those who don’t know any better. To a new or even experienced user who doesn’t take the time to dig into the exact meaning of terms within Adwords this little nuance could end up costing them a lot of money in a hurry.

Now I’m sure this will add fuel to the fire of those who truly do hate Broad Match, but that is not the intent. Rather, the intent is to point out the fact that the default settings may not necessarily be the best for your particular campaign. More than ever, as new features are added to relative cornucopia of paid search options, it is vitally important to know how these features are being defined, defaulted, and designed to work.

One last thing, as I’ve been pondering and writing, I can’t help but hear that little voice inside my head say at at double the normal speed -

“All advertisers must agree to the AdWords Terms and Conditions online in order to participate in the program. To read or print your program agreement, please see the AdWords Terms and Conditions
Please note that the Terms and Conditions vary according to the country where your billing address is located. For the agreement most applicable to you, view your account's Terms and Conditions now by clicking the link below 'Google AdWords Terms and Conditions' on your Account Preferences page.
As part of our ongoing effort to improve the Google AdWords program for advertisers and users, we may occasionally update the AdWords Terms and Conditions. You can view the current Terms and Conditions at any time in to your account”

Broad Match and “Other Relevant Variations”
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August 21, 2007

Microsoft Talking Points Parroted: Day II

Article or Press Release?:

It's always seemed strange to look for information on a brand, and to see it appear both in the organic search results and at or near the top of the paid listings. Why spend money on a brand term that's going to deliver a top five organic result for the same query anyway?

If this sounds eerily similar to what many Wagon Riders thought yesterday was a lede of questionable intelligence, then your parotid attention may have kept you from swallowing full gulp. For those caught in the act of mastication, though, it's good to know that the above meme is being pushed by Atlas, owned by Microsoft, neither of which are owned or own or like Google, beneficiary of the great majority of the branded ad spend currently under PR assault.

Here at The Wagon we get the same strange feeling the Talking Point pushes in the quote above when we fix our eyes on a graph like the below:

With search behavior like that, why in the world would you want your brand to appear more than once, let alone a single time, in the same screen space above the fold? Good advice from the originator of democracy of screen space.

Microsoft Talking Points Parroted: Day II
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March 15, 2007

The Ineluctable Organic Moment Goes Primetime

It's one of the most mythical numbers in all of SEM, rarely published, seldom spoken; yet most industry insiders nod and agree, even if furtively, that the organic search share of total search clicks, meaning the percentage of overall searchers clicking on an organic, rather than paid, search result, is somewhere in the 70% - 85% region.

I was quite stunned, then, when by happenstance I came across this line in Macworld, of all places:

Site owners are eager to get their hands on the 75 percent of free Google traffic that is not affected by AdSense and AdWords, Google’s pay-per-click programs.

Still within that magical, mythical margin. Still unattributed. Damn nice to see as a given in a non-industry mag.

The Ineluctable Organic Moment Goes Primetime
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January 27, 2007

Taking an Ad-Targeting Lesson from Seinfeld

One of Jerry Seinfeld's older, better standup routines involved a laundry detergent ad - specifically, its ability to remove blood stains easily.

Jerry went on to suggest that if your clothing routinely requires the removal of blood stains, maybe picking the right detergent isn't your biggest concern.

A couple days ago, I was searching for a list of top Google subdomains, and on a simple search for [google], I saw this Adwords ad on the page:

Here's a full shot of the results page in a new window.

Now this is probably a glitch, and I've been able to reproduce it only a few times, so I really don't want to go into the technical aspects of why or how it happened.

Instead, I am intrigued by the possibility that it's intentional, and that the folks at Compare.com have come to the brilliant conclusion that maybe - just maybe - if you're a person typing the word "google" into a Google search box, you might have problems stemming beyond computers, including but not limited to management of personal finances. I think it's a pretty safe bet.

Taking an Ad-Targeting Lesson from Seinfeld
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October 03, 2006

This is Why Users Mistrust PPC Ads

I'm often a little wordy in my posts, so as an experiment, I'm going to try to get my point across almost entirely with screen shots (and Alt tags, of course). Here's the scene: I wanted to buy a Spirograph for my daughter. Let's see how that goes.

Step 1. The search:

Step 2. The click:

Step 3. The PPC landing page:

Step 4. The internal search:

Step 5. The internal search result:

Step 6. Checking Adwords policies:

Step 7. Whatever.

This is Why Users Mistrust PPC Ads
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January 13, 2006

New Google AdWords PPC Tool

Sometimes I think of Google like a toychest that continually has something new to play with. I actually have to dissuade myself from playing with them all because I probably wouldn’t get any work done.

One new toy was added recently that caught my eye as one who works with PPC on a regular basis. It is the new and improved Keyword Tool. This little gem provides much needed information so as to make a more, dare I say, relevant decision in selecting keywords.

I can think of a couple of improvements to the Keyword Tool, such as showing the top PPC results for that keyword. Sure I can do my own research, but it’s so much nicer when it is done for me. I’d also like there to be less vagueness as to where my ad will show up according to my CPC input. A range is nice but show me some specifics.

Even though it’s not perfect, what is really, it certainly is a step in the right direction. If you are an AdWords user this is a toy that you definitely want to have in your toybox.

New Google AdWords PPC Tool
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December 19, 2005

Pay Per Click - Naughty or Nice?

Return On Investment (ROI), three words that can strike fear into the heart of any Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign manager. Is my campaign producing enough ROI? How can I get more ROI? And, Is there ever enough ROI?

From the campaigns that I have been involved in both directly and indirectly, I've seen a few truisms that, when applied, can lead to better ROI. Interestingly enough skill and talent are last on list.

First, as location is to real estate, communication is to ROI. If goals, expectations, and measurements are not clearly communicated then the chances for successful ROI are greatly decreased.

Secondly, Pinocchio’s nose grew every time he told a lie, and every time you're not upfront with your client in communicating what is actually going on, their view of the ROI will go down. Let clients decide the level of detail that they want, and don't assume - we all know the acronym for that.....

Finally, in regards to the three questions mentioned in the opening here are the answers that get to the heart of the issue, regardless of technique.

• Is my campaign producing enough ROI? Ask your client, they'll tell you. Compare results against what the plan was. And only adjust with the client’s explicit approval.
• How can I get more ROI? Understand your client. Typically, the techniques to success are tried and true, but the better you understand your client, what their business is, who their customer is, and what they are expecting to receive, the better the ROI is going to be.
• Is there ever enough ROI? YES. You thought I was going to say no didn't you. I prefer to look at it in a logical equation. If there is never enough ROI, then the goal can never be met.....etc..... I believe in goals, they are good, healthy benchmarks that keep us focused and on task. To exceed the goal is a great thing, don't get me wrong, but to never set a bar for success is a sure way to create an environment for eventual disappointment and perceived failure.

Ultimately, IMHO I think that exceptional ROI is measured in good communication as much as it is in actual numbers. Try taking a few minutes and evaluating your current campaigns with the above criterion and see how you feel about your current ROI.

This humble blogger wants to say thank you to all of the readers out there and wish you all a wonderful Christmas!

Pay Per Click - Naughty or Nice?
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December 12, 2005

A PPC Manager’s Christmas Wish List

Tis the season for Santa to deliver his gifts to kids young and old across the globe and I for one am willing to admit that I’m just a big kid at heart. So Search Engine Santa, here’s one humble PPC Manager’s Christmas wish list.

1. A Google desktop API that will allow me to monitor my PPC campaigns in real time. {Hint: A lot like the one they’ve got for AdSense users}.
2. For Yahoo to get rid of the archaic random image input at login.
3. For Yahoo to allow us to combine all of our accounts into one central place instead of having to log in and out for each account.
4. More computing platforms for Google so they can meet the demand for Analytics requests.

As you can see my list is short because I don’t want to be greedy and get any virtual coal in my inbox this Christmas. But these are a few of the things that I run across on a daily basis that would sure make great Christmas presents from Search Engine Santa.

I am collecting “wish lists�? from others to give to Search Engine Santa and would be happy to deliver yours with mine. Feel free to contribute to the list by adding your comment to this post.

A PPC Manager’s Christmas Wish List
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December 05, 2005

The Google Discussion Panel You Shouldn't Miss

Charlene Li wisely suggests that we take a look at SiliconValley.com this week. Some of the best known minds in search are coming together - online - to discuss the "Googleverse."

If you haven't at least heard of most of these people (or what they're involved in), I'm not sure how you ended up here:

• Stephen Arnold
• John Battelle
• Michael Bazeley
• Nicholas Carr
• Cindy Cohn
• Doug Edwards
• Paul Ford
• Gautam Godhwani
• Charlene Li
• Om Malik
• Matt Mullenweg
• Gary Price
• Rich Skrenta
• David Vise

The discussion is read-only for people like you and me, but looking at the crowd above, it's hard to imagine that they'll leave any major topics unaddressed.

Following is the day-by-day agenda. You can access any day's posts from this page:

• Monday: Search and Ads
• Tuesday: Google and the Desktop
• Wednesday: Google as a Network
• Thursday: Ethics and Trust
• Friday: The Big Picture

If Google affects you (or perhaps, if you're interested in knowing how to affect Google), this is a discussion you probably shouldn't miss.

The Google Discussion Panel You Shouldn't Miss
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October 25, 2005

The Search for Lingua Franca: Engines, SEO, and Real People

Imagine walking into your local car dealership and hearing a conversation similar to this one. The salesman approaches a couple and begins to extol the virtues of the gleaming, midnight-blue sedan in front of them.

He covers all bases, making sure that no feature is left unexplained, no spec left unquoted:

• Horsepower
  
• Mileage
  
• Turning radius
  
• Cargo volume
  
• Passenger count
  
• and on and on...

When he finally takes a breath, the couple look at each other, then at the salesman.

"But what can I do with it?" the woman asks.

"Yeah," her husband adds, "do we sit in it? What does a car do?"

In this context, such a conversation is silly and impossible to fathom. But in SEO/SEM, growing evidence shows it happens all the time. Some recent examples:

• A forum at DigitalPoint describes the fallout of the current Google update, nicknamed Jagger. One specific post gives curious insight into the surfing habits - and search understanding - of a certain type of user:

  My customers are more elderly people and I found out they do not know how to bookmark a site for example so they are using Google like bookmarks in their browser. What is happening now is, these customers just keep browsing the search results until they find my site. I had 3 customers complaining as to why I have moved my site in Google, which they find very inconvenient.

  No search marketer, whether on the agency side or client side, who has explained his or her job to a befuddled friend or relative, should be surprised by that consumer behavior, yet I still was. To suggest that the 80/20 rule applies to search engines (i.e., that 80% of search engine users focus on [or even know about] only 20% of the engine's feature set) is likely a large understatement. It's probably closer to 98/2.
  

• ClickZ reports that few publishers or online agencies know about Google's ability to serve AdSense ads on RSS feeds, which comes as no surprise, the article points out, when you combine a topic the public knows little about (contextual advertising) with a topic they know nothing about (RSS).
  
• Yahoo's Jeremy Zawodney recently attended the Direct Marketing Association Convention and found out that many DM experts know little about search:
  

  In talking to some of the Search Engine Marketing folks that were in sessions on Saturday, I discovered that the vast majority of DMA folks are very, very, very new to Search Marketing. I'd go so far as to say many of them are incredibly clueless about the process, benefits, costs, etc.

So are engines getting ahead of themselves offering ads on RSS feeds when the vast majority of their users won't venture beyond the main search box?

Yes. Industry-wide, both engines and SEO companies need to engage in a massive program of search education. In our interaction with the public - whether we consider them potential searchers or potential clients - search engines and the tagalong search marketing agencies often commit the same big mistake: We're droning on about torque when we haven't adequately explained what a car is.

Once a critical mass of users understand and embrace the myriad ways that search results can appear, memories of a seven-fold increase in profits will seem like the "lean times."

add'l thanks to Threadwatch and SERoundtable

The Search for Lingua Franca: Engines, SEO, and Real People
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August 19, 2005

Stormy Weather

Google rolled out their new bid tool. Expect "strong fluctuations" and "system issues" for a week or so. The fluctuations arise from the hundreds of thousands of keywords that suddenly turned on, plus advertisers who are suddenly paying attention to their accts. Bids are fluctuating, as they increase their bids. We've also found bugs in the system. Ads in strong campaigns aren't showing; ad tools are reporting incorrect numbers or results, and so on. As I spot these (and can replicate the errors), I've been sending bug reports to Google's engineers.

Stormy Weather
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July 16, 2005

New bidding system at Google PPC

Big changes at Google Adwords: there will be a new bidding system. No more 5-cent minimum bid. The bid minimum will be unique to each advertiser, based on the Quality (overall effectiveness) of the Adgroup. This means an advertiser with a high CTR (for example, 5%) would have a 7 cent minimum, and an advertiser with a low CTR (say, 0.7%) would have $3.50 mimimum. This will reward the advertisers with well-managed accounts and force poorly-managed accts to either pay more or get out of the pool.

New bidding system at Google PPC
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June 30, 2005

Adwords Geographical Targeting

A client asks: "Can you target the ads by geography?"

Yes, there's three ways:

1) Create a list of cities (San Antonio, TX, Austin TX, Kerrville TX) The ads are displayed to browsers in those cities.

2) Specify an address (100 Alamo St.) and then a radius (e.g. 123 miles). The ads are displayed to browsers within that circle.

3) Specify the longitude and latitude points on a map to create an irregular form. The ads are displayed to browsers within that form. For example, San Antonio could be divided into a sectors of a circle, and the ads would appear only to the upper west sector. This allows targeting by neighborhood.

Usually, #2 is the best solution.

Adwords Geographical Targeting
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