Gillissa News » keywords

Yahoo Search Marketing And Microsoft Ad Centre Transition

mhiscock — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:55:08 +0000

Recently, Microsoft and Yahoo announced their intention to create an ad/sales partnership, involving the transition of advertising customers from Yahoo’s search marketing desktop to Microsoft’s ad centre.

As regular users of both search marketing tools, the team at Gillissa believe this will be effective, fundamentally because it will be easier to manage two desktop tools rather than three!

Though the date of the transition is a long way off and unclear, there are a few factors to be wary of if you are an advertiser on Yahoo or both advertising channels.

Due to the nature of which the accounts are built on Microsoft and Yahoo, significant changes to the methods used for Yahoo were inevitable.

The two major factors to be wary of involve keywords and adverts.

Currently, for Yahoo, advertisers have a 40 character threshold for advert headlines, whereas Microsoft sets a maximum of 25 characters. This could see Yahoo advert headlines cut off at the 25 character threshold, which could make the ads ineligible to display.

Even more importantly, Yahoo does not incorporate similar keywords as individual terms, unlike Microsoft and Google, who both classify singular and plural versions of words, as well as misspelt variants, as individual terms to enhance your advert reach. This therefore means that your Yahoo keyword list needs to be revised and expanded in time for the transition.

All in all, this should see the combined Microsoft/Yahoo search marketing tool use similar advertising principles as Google, making it easier to manage across these advertising channels.

What Changes From CPA to CPC?

mhiscock — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:37:26 +0000

As is always the case at Gillissa, we have been working on making improvements to all the accounts that we manage, based fundamentally on the needs of the client.

Recently, one client altered their needs, so that clicks were of paramount importance, replacing the previous necessity of a set cost per acquisition (CPA).

In accordance with this, we changed some of the campaigns in the account from CPA bids to CPC (Cost-Per-Click) bids.

A CPC bid refers to the amount that you are willing to pay for a click on your advert when the advert appears on Google or partner sites. A maximum CPA bid is the amount that you would be willing to pay for a conversion.

Consequently, we noticed a significant change in the performance of the involved keywords over a set time period.

The general trend in changing from CPA to CPC was a surge in impressions, clicks, click-through-rate and to an extent, conversions.

However, coupled with these changes was a surge in overall cost and cost/conversion.

Therefore, the bidding preference you implement can have an enormous effect on your campaign and how well it performs, emphasising the importance of structuring your account thoroughly to ensure you maximise your success.

Shop Safely This Christmas!

mhiscock — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:52:06 +0000

According to IMRG, at least 90 percent of internet users will be doing some level of Christmas shopping online, with 70 percent even planning to do more than half of their Christmas shopping using the World Wide Web.

Various predictions like IMRG have stated that for internet retail during this time, Christmas 2009 would mark the greatest growth in internet sales, highlighted further by the widely-anticipated ‘Manic Monday’ on the 7th of December.

Taking all this information into account, more people will be shopping online in this period than ever before.

Therefore, there is a greater importance for consumers to be wary of the dangers of internet shopping, and not fall for the numerous traps out there.

In fact, only yesterday, the team at Gillissa encountered a problem, which we duly notified Google of.

Immediately, our attention was drawn to the fact that for a search query, two adverts within the sponsored links section had identical headlines and descriptive text.

An unusual sight in itself, we decided to explore the two adverts further.

By clicking on the adverts, we found that the link offered a redirect from the display URL to websites with completely different domain names.

Instantly, we knew this website was dubious as Google does not permit the use of redirects.

Furthermore, all of the multiple sites created for the adverts were almost identical in presentation and layout, with duplicate content.

Pricing in US dollars yet advertising in the United Kingdom, the websites all contained atrocious forms of spelling for the simplest of everyday words.

Exploration to the shopping cart presented more evidence that this particular website/s was not legitimate.

We discovered that the websites did not have viable SSL certificates, and had obtained a variation of an SSL certificate that can be easily obtained within a matter of minutes.

With all this evidence, it is safe to assume that is website was attempting to commit fraud, rather than advertise products competitively.

Hopefully the factors we found can save you from being a victim of fraud!

To find out more ways of avoiding illegitimate websites, please use the following link:

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/features/2253684/safe-shopping-online-christmas-4896657

Manic Monday?

mhiscock — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:19:25 +0000

Monday’s have a tendency to be the busiest day of the week for online retailers.

As outlined in the previous Gillissa blog post ‘Predicted Sales Pattern This Christmas’, Monday the 7th of December was widely expected to be the busiest day in terms of online Christmas shopping.

The 7th of December happened to be the first Monday of the month, after which the majority of consumers have received their monthly wages.

Therefore, they are considered more eager to shop at this time, hence providing the rationale behind this particular date.

In addition, it is widely regarded that as a whole, online Christmas shopping this year would be the most popular yet.

Predicted sales figures were quite staggering - including the expected spend rate of £4000 per second.

David Smith, director at IMRG, stated “It is the biggest day in terms of sales; – the first Monday in December is the big day as most people have been paid”.

Furthermore, IMRG predictions show that consumers spent £350 million on Monday, almost 10% up on last years figures.

As the 7th of December has obviously past, the team at Gillissa paid close attention to figures for our clients on this date.

We found that, overall; there was a positive surge in conversions yet not in the great manner as was expected.

Keep checking our blog to find out information on overall sales figures for the 7th of December!

To read the full article, please use the following link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/dec/06/british-internet-record-christmas-shopping

The Ever Changing World Of Google

mhiscock — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:57:57 +0000

The team here at Gillissa are aware of Google’s nature to frequently modify and change numerous aspects of its operation.

With Google being a integral part of our daily work, it is essential that we are aware of, and understand, any alterations that are made to Google, whether it be on the search pages or within Google Adwords itself.

Today, we discovered two changes implemented by Google regarding its search results pages.

Firstly, we noticed that the home page had changed, missing the links usually surrounding the toolbar in which the search query is typed.

However, these links reappear when a user moves their mouse, completing the fade in process of the home page.

The second change is perhaps more effective, rather than the visual effect that the home page change provided.

After typing in a search query, and selecting the ‘show options’ link, within the ‘standard results’ section, the option ‘translated search’ can be found.

By selecting translated search, Google will display organic search results translated from various different languages that are relevant to your original search query.

The translated search option is perhaps beneficial in a scenario where a user required reviews for hotels or restaurants in countries they intended to visit.

As of yet, the translated search option is not available for sponsored link results, but with the Google’s nature of development, such a feature can never be ruled out.

The Ad Auction

mhiscock — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:13:55 +0000

As I sure you are aware, different browsers can have a very different bearing on search results.

Page-to-page viewing on the sponsored links section triggers a fresh auction.

Effectively, the results are recomputed, meaning that an ad can go from Page 1 to Page 2 and so forth.

Therefore the results can be VERY different.

In fact, the ad auction world can be so vast and competitive that increasing your bid price could potentially put you in a lower position!

The reason behind this is that bid prices vary, so if bid prices of other keywords move around, the situation becomes more fluid and more advert movement occurs as a result.

There are numerous factors that can have an effect of the performance of an ad within an ad auction.

These include the position preferences, the preferred cost bidding and conversion optimiser.

Advertisers who are new to the interface of Google Adwords have a tendency to rely on Google, that is, implementing Preferred Cost Bidding so that bid prices fluctuate, and as a result, so do ad positions.

Even within the field of operating with a fixed Cost Per Click, the variables of accelerated delivery and budget can have a substantial effect on the ad auction.

To find out more, please use the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l0a2PVhPQ

The Ads Diagnostic Tool

mhiscock — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:08:01 +0000

With the Ads Diagnostic Tool, its fundamental purpose is almost self-explanatory; to diagnose any problems that may have occurred within your campaign regarding keywords.

Therefore, the ads diagnostic tool tells you whether your adverts are showing or not showing, and also explains why in great detail.

Though limited to a campaign at a time rather than a whole account, this tool can be rather specific, by enabling you to choose specific keywords that you want to run the test for.

In order to operate, open the Adwords account, then use the ‘tools’ link within the ‘opportunities tab’, or click the icon next to the status of the keyword. (To help navigation, this icon, when clicked, usually expresses the quality score and whether the ad is running correctly).

In summary, the ads diagnostic tool, as well as being simple to implement and readily available, is critical to maintaining an account, cleaning it up and ensuring that any mistakes previously made are rectified.

Google Adwords Account: Inside A Campaign

mhiscock — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:27:01 +0000

Once you have a Google Adwords Account up and running, it is essential to understand all of the components within the account, all designed to ensure that your adverts are as effective as possible.

The various tabs included in the account are all relevant, and can quickly lead to resolutions with any problems you may encounter.

As explained within the previous blog post, ‘Google Adwords at a glance’, if you view a Google Accounts structure like a pyramid, then the ‘campaign’ would appear directly after the Account itself.

Therefore, as one of the primary aspects of a Google Adwords account, I have decided to explore into the campaign structure.

Once a specific campaign has been selected, you will notice that 5 tab boxes are available to select; Ad Groups, Settings, Ads, Keywords and Networks.

Explained individually:

The Ad Group tab will show you your entire ad groups within a campaign. Clicking on an ad group tick box, you can change or edit your status.

The Ad tab will show the ads you have chosen to select. Clicking on an ad tick box, you can change status only.

The Keywords tab will show the keywords that you have chosen to select. Clicking on a keyword tick box, you can change or edit status.

The Networks tab will show how your networks are performing.

The Settings tab shows your campaigns, language, bid type, ad scheduling, budget, end date and location. Clicking on a campaign tick box, you can edit or change status.

All reasonably self-explanatory, yet critical that you are fimiliar with these tabs to ensure you make a success of your campaign.

Quality Score

mhiscock — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:08:30 +0000

The basis of an advertisement is to generate as much interest in it as possible, and to generate such interest, it has to be found and then read.

People tend to use the Google search engine because they want to find exactly what they are looking for, quickly, wasting as little time as possible in the process.

Google attempts to do this by providing users with the most relevant search results based upon their search query.

For Google Adwords, the most important factor in relevance and ad ranking is the adverts’ quality, otherwise known as the Quality Score.

The Quality Score of an advert is based upon numerous factors that include; the relevance of the text ad, the keywords CTR on Google, and the landing page. Therefore both the CTR and the Quality Score are the biggest determining factors concerning the performance of an advert.

In addition, the Quality Score of an advert is central to the Adwords CPC pricing model, as the following formula shows:Ad rank = CPC bid x Quality Score. From this, it is clear to see the importance of a good Quality Score to your advertising plans.

Generally, a higher Quality Score can mean a lower CPC bid to maintain an obtained ad ranking.

Bidding Control

mhiscock — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:17:40 +0000

Each advertiser on Google Adwords sets their spending limits, dependent on their advertising goals.

The daily budget (previously explored in my ‘Budget Wisely!’ blog post) runs from midnight until midnight per day, and can be set as high, or as low, as the advertiser chooses.

Once the daily budget has been decided, and implemented, the model of charge, either the Cost per Click (CPC) or the Cost per 1000 Impressions (CPM), must be selected.

The Cost per Click can be described as the amount an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on your ad when the ad appears on Google, or other partner sites. This method is available on the search and content networks.

The Cost per 1000 Impressions refers to the amount an advertiser is willing to spend each 1000 times your advert makes an impression from a search query. This means that you pay when your ad is shown, and not when your ad is clicked on, like the CPC model. It must be noted that CPM bidding is available for campaigns that only target the content network.

It is important that the advertiser chooses the right bid option that will lead to the greater amount of conversions.