Paid Search Advertising (PPC)

Sage Lewis

Digg CPC Ads

Digg is rolling out a beta program of a new ad platform. The ads will appear along with submitted content, except they will clearly be marked as sponsored advertising. The more an ad is voted up, the lower cost-per-click (CPC) the ad will enjoy. The more the ad is buried, the higher CPC....

Paul Jahn

Google AdWords Trying Out an Opportunities Tab

On Sunday, I went into AdWords to do a little keyword research. You've seen their keyword tool before. You just go into the campaign, click on the Tools button and you've got the keyword tool right up top. This didn't happen to me Sunday. In fact, I didn't see the Tools button at all. Sitting here confused, it took me quite a few seconds to recognize something I've never seen before, an Opportunities tab.

Sage Lewis

Give Bing Some Money Love

Search Engine Roundtable gave some interesting advice on upping your budget over at Bing/Adcenter....

Sage Lewis

Search Plus Display Is One Hot Combo

SearchEngineWatch.com reports on some comScore data that show the power of using search and display advertising together. Check out the video for some other interesting finds....

Sage Lewis

Google Updates U.S. Ad Text Trademark Policy

Starting June 15 we are all probably going to see a lot more Google Ads containing trademarks. Watch this video to learn how these changes will effect you....

Diana Adams

Helpful Help For AdWords Keyboard Junkies

In my last post I introduced some of the new features in the AdWords (beta) Interface. I said in that post that I'd come back and discuss more, this time focusing on the Help interface which as I said previously is surprisingly helpful....

Mike Moran

The battle over search between merchants and affiliates

A couple of years ago, I wrote about the "Search Engine Tug of War" between merchants and affiliates, and the basics haven't changed much since I wrote that article. But more and more companies running affiliate marketing programs are changing their policies on paid search. Recently, the granddaddy of all affiliate marketing programs, Amazon Associates, announced that they are curtailing some of their practices on paid search....

Diana Adams

AdWords (beta) Interface

What do you think? Upon my initial overview, I can say I like it. My apologies to those of you who got here when I accidentally posted before I was ready with this introduction. There are so many aspects to explore with beta layout that I think this is going to take several posts to cover all of them. I'm going to start out with with the Charts / Graphs element as it is so new and wonderful....

Scott Allen

Search Engine Strategies New York - Small Business Case Studies

Live blogging coverage of SES NY session: "Small Business Case Studies".

Scott Allen

Search Engine Strategies New York - Search on a Dime

Live blogging coverage of the SES NY session: "Search on a Dime".

Stoney deGeyter

Dominating Your SEO Competition Through Competitive Knowledge

Knowing who your competitors are and what kind of time and monetary investment they are making into their online marketing is nearly as essential as implementing your own marketing strategy. If you have a good idea of what you're up against can make better decisions about where and how to invest your own time and money. You will also have a decent indicator of how quickly you might be able to see results from your efforts.

Mike Moran

Does cleaning out cookies stop personalization?

Many marketers are asking me about personalized marketing, which you should expect to see more and more of in the next few years. We've already seen behavioral targeting in display ads and personalized search, and we'll see more personalized advertising emerge. But are we marketers just assuming that users will allow all this personalized marketing in? What if they clean their cookies regularly? Will that prevent those users from being exposed to personalized ads?...

Diana Adams

Can I Create a Great PPC Program For You?

We regularly get email something similar to this: I'm just one guy running my business. I want a great PPC program and I heard you can cater to someone like me. Can you help me? I typically respond to questions like this very carefully because there isn't a simple yes/no answer. I don't want to provide false hope because yes, I do create great PPC programs, but much of the success is going to depend heavily on the website. Let's look at a few things relevant to the campaigns first....

Diana Adams

How To Create a Negative Keyword List

Last week's Top 10 ways to save money with PPC was a bit tongue in cheek, but I hope you came away with the the very solid point I was making. Negative keywords are the best way to save money on unwanted clicks. When you're after the lowest cost per conversion (as most ecommerce websites would be, right?) you watch where your ad spend is going very carefully....

Diana Adams

Top Ten Ways To Save Money With Paid Ad Campaigns

Over the previous weeks I have made a deliberate point of talking about important it is to use Keyword negatives to save money in your paid ad campaigns. I thought I would put together a quick lists of these top ten ways for saving money.

Jennifer Laycock

Maximize Your Paid Search Budget with Better Ads

With the holiday shopping season already in full gear online, paid search prices are going to be going up. After all, more competition equals higher prices. That means you'll need to make sure every ad you create has the best shot at landing you a conversion. To do that, you really need to understand how to write great ads.

Scott Buresh

The Evolution of Online Advertising Technology - More Targeting, Less Privacy (Part Two)

Even with the cookie-type behavioral advertising technology, there was a way for users to prevent these ads from targeting them. They could set their machines not to accept any cookies at all by setting their browser security setting to high. This solved the privacy issue, although many websites would (intentionally or not) render improperly with this setting on.

Diana Adams

Where Do You Set AdWords Match Types?

If you read my last post where I asked "Can You Make Sense Of Match Types," you learned about the four different match types: Broad match, "Phrase match", [Exact match] and -Negative match. We discussed how knowing the match types is only one part of using them. It's equally important that you know where to go to set and how to tell Google that you want to use a match type other than broad match....

Jennifer Laycock

Leverage Information from Google to Lower the Cost of Your PPC Bids

One of the nice things about Google's somewhat complicated paid search advertising system is that as time passes, they give advertisers more and more information about their campaigns. While it takes time to learn how to read and interpret this information, doing so can go a long way toward helping you maximize your campaign performance while minimizing the amount of money you spend on it.

Mike Moran

Economy Down and Google Up

As we hear optimists tell us not to worry, it won't be as bad as the Great Depression, it seems clear that we're looking at very difficult economic times worldwide. And, as veteran marketers know, any economic downturn means lower advertising expenditures. And so, Google announced a huge gain (what?!) in revenue last week. What's going on here?...

Diana Adams

Can You Make Sense Of Match Types?

We've previously looked at Paid Search Advertising Roadmap, Paid Search Rules and Alphabet Soup and PPC. Now let's start looking at keyword matching. How well do you understand match types?...

Manoj Jasra

'How To' White Paper on Mobile Advertising

Bango today published a practical, 'how to' white paper on mobile advertising for agencies and digital marketers who want to move into mobile but need some help. The "Mobile advertising for newbies" white paper provides hints and tips on running mobile advertising campaigns and analyzes the approach and results of three real campaigns....

Diane Aull

Pay per Click Marketing - SBM Unleashed

Pay per click (PPC) is a wonderful compliment to organic search engine optimization. But even big organizations sometimes miss basic elements of running an efficient and effective PPC campaign. Christine Churchill covers the essentials you need to know to get started with PPC without breaking the bank....

Ross Dunn

10 Tips to Improve Ad Quality Score - Notes from SES San Jose

Last week I was fortunate to enjoy the tutelage and company of some talented web marketers at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. After attending the informative session "Ads in a Quality Score World" I decided to compile the 10 top tips I noted from the presenters on improving and managing quality score....

Scott Allen

Conversion Optimization Part of Internet Marketing? If Not, It Should Be!

I'll be willing to bet that when you hear internet marketing related terms like SEO, SEM, PPC, etc, you don't think of conversion optimization. And vice versa, when you hear talk of e-commerce conversion improvements, you may not think of internet marketing. If you do, then bravo!...you're ahead of the pack. If not, that's ok, but you may want to read on for some reasons why you should be integrating them.

Diana Adams

SEM Boot Camp - Alphabet Soup and PPC

If you're new to working with PPC, you may be like every other newbie in the world and be confused by the jargon often used. PPC, CPC, CTR, DKI ... It doesn't take long to figure it all out, but in the beginning it would have been nice to have someone lay out the soup for me, so I thought I'd lay it out for you. The obvious ones are: PPC = Pay Per Click; CPC = Cost Per Click; CTR = Click Through Rate; and lastly and maybe not so obvious, DKI = Dynamic Keyword Insertion.

Sage Lewis

C-Levelers Go Online, Google Up, Get Cashback for Searching

C-Level people are spending more time on line. Historically consumers of traditional media, C-Level people are now incorporating online media into their daily routine. Comscore data is out and it shows Google going up, up, up and Yahoo going down, down, down. No surprise there. Microsoft is now less than 10% share of the US market. New York Times reports online search ads are faring better than expensive display ads. Search ads are considered cheap and effective. Microsoft is now willing to pay you for searching with their Cashback from Live search. Google Sites now available to everyone....

Diana Adams

SEM Boot Camp - Paid Search Rules

In my last post I identified where paid ads display on the different search networks. This time I thought I'd create a brief outline of what the ads themselves actually look like, and explain some of the basic 'rules' associated with each search network....

Jennifer Laycock

Google Offers Stronger Conversion Tracking via AdWords

If you are a Google AdWords advertiser and rely on Google's conversion feature to help you figure out your campaign budgets, you'll be interested to learn more about some conversion tracking features they put into place last month. John over at PPC Hero has a nice write up on the features and how you can apply them.

Diana Adams

SEM Boot Camp - Paid Search Advertising Roadmap

Many people do know what PPC advertising is, and where paid advertising is displayed, but my experience at a recent conference reminded me that this isn't always the case. So I decided a great first entry for me at Search Engine Guide would be a Boot Camp style article explaining exactly what paid search advertising looks like .

Jennifer Laycock

Win a Free Pass to PPC Summit

If you've been looking for a way to improve your paid search campaigns, it might not be a bad idea to check out the upcoming PPC Summit events in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In fact, if you're willing to submit your favorite SEO tip by May 8th, you'll have a shot at winning a free pass to one of the shows.

David Wallace

SBM Unleashed: Paid Search Advertising

While pay per click advertising can be a quick and easy way to drive traffic to your web site, it can also be a quick and easy way to drain your bank account. Christine Churchill, President of KeyRelevance reveals how to get the most bang for your buck from each of the major paid search engines by choosing the right keywords, writing relevant ads and optimizing your landing pages. She will share the simple tweaks you can make to dramatically cut your average cost per click while increasing your sales so you have the best chance against companies with much...

Jennifer Laycock

Paid Search Advice That's 75 Years Old

Yes, you read that right. Seventy-five years ago a team of brilliant marketing professionals offered up the type of advice you can use to get more out of your paid search campaigns. They may not have known sites like Google and Yahoo would pop up decades later, but the concepts and techniques they used and taught are timeless. Alan Rimm-Kaufman takes a look at this advice and how you can apply it in his Paid Search column at Search Engine Land today.

Jennifer Laycock

Use Custom Tags to Track Your MSN and Yahoo PPC Campaigns

If you're using the free Google Analytics as your stats solution, you probably already know that AdWords integrates into Google Analytics pretty seamlessly. If you're running campaigns on Yahoo or MSN, it takes a little more effort. Lucky for you, the folks at The Adventures of PPC Hero have created handy primers on how to get things rolling.

Jennifer Laycock

Jennifer Slegg Makes the Case for Prices in Your PPC Ads

If you run an ecommerce site selling products that can also be found elsewhere, putting your price in your paid search ad could go a long way toward improving your conversion rates. That's the point Jennifer Slegg makes in a post on pay per click conversion rates and ROI at her blog today. Jennifer reminds readers that while many companies spend their time focusing on driving clicks, they would be better served looking at ROI and considering how the information in their ad impacts both click through rates and conversion rates.

Jennifer Laycock

Missed the Early Bird Price on Unleashed? No Worries!

No doubt some of you looked at your calendars last week and realized you'd missed the $850 early bird price for our upcoming Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference in Houston. Don't sweat it, we've got you covered. We've spent the last six months building the perfect conference for you. We know how busy you are. Do you think we'd let you miss out on this great show just because you forget to set an alert on your calendar?

Jennifer Laycock

Google AdWords Opens up Demographic Bidding

If you've been looking for more control over who sees the ads you run via Google AdWords, here's your chance. Google began beta testing demographic bidding back in January and opened the program up to all AdWords advertisers last Friday. Granted, when they say all AdWords advertisers, they mean all the ones utilizing the content network, but this new feature still gives small business owners far more control than they've ever had over who sees their AdWords ads.

David Wallace

Which Is Better - PPC or SEO? How One Company Increased Traffic 60% After Ditching PPC for SEO

The Dallas Business Journal recently ran a story on one of our clients, Wasp Barcode Technologies, describing how they went from spending enormous amounts of money on PPC to focusing more on traditional SEO and link building. The strategy paid off -- Wasp spent less and got better results. These are the kind of results every small to medium sized business would like to enjoy....

Manoj Jasra

25 Resources For Paid Search Strategies

Paid search is much more than bid management and click-throughs, it's about devising a strategy that compliments your overall online marketing program and providing ROI based on performance which has been quantified at the keyword level. Below are 25 paid search resources ranging from the basics, to best practices, to advanced strategies to measurement....

Sage Lewis

Video: Search Engine Guide Gets Props and SEO Stays Hot

Sage gives a thumbs up to Search Engine Guide for the site redesign! Search engine optimization continues to gain popularity according to Marketing Sherpa's latest survey; it's low cost and high return keep SEO as one of the best online tactics for budget plans. Danny Sullivan's site Search Engine Land confirms Yahoo's layoffs, and Google emails its customers so they know to link their AdWords account with their Analytics to ensure accurate results....

Scott Buresh

Behavior-Based Internet Advertising: Who Is Watching You?

Have you ever been surfing the web and come upon Internet advertising that provides a direct solution for something that you've been researching lately? Did you think that it might be related to your computer cookies, or did you chalk it up to serendipity?

Simon Heseltine

Google AdWords: Geotargeting Options

So you're running an AdWords campaign for your business, but you only want to target specific locations. How can you do that? Simon Heseltine offers up a walk through Google's geotargeting features to help you get a feel for the best way to narrow down your campaigns.

Jennifer Laycock

PPC Tip: Search Terms Tell You Loads About Intent

The folks over at PPC Hero are doing a new series this week on paid search advertising called "Learn to Think and Search Like Your Customers." Their goal is to break down the different areas of paid search campaigns and to help you learn how taking the time to really consider your customer can help you position your product to be THE answer to their search.

Jennifer Laycock

Considering Becoming an AdSense Partner?

If you've been wondering about adding AdSense to your blog or web site to boost your revenue, but haven't been quite sure how to get started, you might want to check out "Newbie Central." Designed to help site owners get a better understanding of how the AdSense publishing system works, Newbie Central was introduced yesterday on the Inside AdSense blog.

Patrick Schaber

AdWords Local PlusBox A Great Addition

The announcement of the new Local PlusBox by Google Adwords which places geographical information in the top paid search location changes the PPC strategy for those using more local targeting. The new expandable feature allows advertisers to bid to the top spot in an effort to have the opportunity to display such valuable information as a map, address, driving instructions, and phone number, in addition to the location name that appears beneath the last line of ad.

David Wallace

How Can Small Business Compete in a Highly Competitive Paid Search (PPC) Market?

There are times where it can be difficult for small business to compete in the paid search environment. As the cost of targeting keywords on venues such as Google AdWords continues to increase, many small businesses are finding it difficult to keep pace. They either have to accept the fact that they can afford only a very small slice of the pie or abandon paid search marketing altogether....

Patrick Schaber

Using Paid Search For Branding

Admittedly, I never looked at paid search as a tool to give your brand more exposure. I simply looked at it like many others - clicks and conversions. But, over the last few years, I've come to realize that PPC can be about branding.

Simon Heseltine

Search Marketing for Retail - SMX-London

Last week I attended and presented at SMX-London. It was a great chance to meet with British search Marketers that don't get to make it out to the US conferences, and to hear a different perspective on familiar topics from mostly British presenters. Friday saw the "Search Marketing for Retail" seminar, which was moderated by Rob Kerry of Ayima.com.

Jennifer Laycock

See How Landing Page Tweaks Can Double Your Conversions

If you've done any reading about paid search campaigns at all, you know good landing pages are essential to conversions. Of course you may be asking yourself what actually makes a "good" landing page. You're not alone. That's why the team at Marketing Experiments offers up two great case studies this week.

Scott Buresh

Google's Paid Search vs. Organic Results - A Rickety Wall of Separation

The good people at Google have long maintained that there is a Chinese Wall between paid search results and organic results - that is, the department responsible for advertising is completely separate from the department responsible for organic search engine placement. The company insists that Google Adwords is a completely separate entity than the Google search engine, and never the twain shall meet. This all sounds very good, in theory.

Patrick Schaber

Bonding With Your PPC Prospect?

It took me awhile to realize that paid search was not a game! Really. Paid search is big business and potentially a large amount of a small business marketing budget. But like many people, I jumped in headfirst and was enamored with tweaking ads, trying new keywords and spending my company's money. My early ways were more PPC Gunslinger than responsible Marketing Manager. Then, slowly over time, you realize that PPC is actually very similar to a sales process and you need to treat it as such.

Jennifer Laycock

Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign

While learning how to effectively manage a paid search advertising campaign can take quite a bit of time, there are plenty of quick and easy ways to increase your chances at success. This article aims to outline five common mistakes that end up keeping small businesses and in-house marketers from maximizing the potential of their pay per click campaigns.

Jennifer Laycock

Four Tips to Maximize Your Spend on the Google Content Network

If you've been thinking about giving the Google Content Network another try, you aren't alone. John Ellis is testing things as well and offers up some helpful tips on maximizing your ad spend on the content network.

Patrick Schaber

Important Steps In 2008 Paid Search Planning

It's only late October - what could we possible be doing thinking about paid search for next year? Well, paid search isn't all about tweaking ad copy and keyword research. Paid search is also a component of your marketing plan that needs to align itself with your overall marketing goals. Now is the time to start that process.

Jennifer Laycock

adCenter Upgrade Offers New Features

Microsoft's adCenter announced several new features over the weekend giving advertisers more control over their campaigns. Changes were made on the editorial side, to the campaign management interface and to reporting options. All of the changes are designed to give advertisers even more control over where and how they spend their ad dollars.

Jennifer Laycock

4 Ways to Beat Your Google AdWords Competition

While some small business owners lament the ever growing complexity of the Google AdWords Quality Score, others are thanking their lucky stars for a system that no longer requires them to simply outspend the competition. In the new AdWords game, a good marketer can often pass up a big spender. John at The Adventures of PPC Hero wraps up their five part series on pay per click management with a great article offering four ways to out rank and under spend your Google Adwords competitors.

Patrick Schaber

Beginner's Guide to Google Adwords Settings

Have you ever wondered what all those setting are in your Google AdWords campaign? Well, don't feel bad if you don't know. I've come across more than a few people who have campaigns up and running that haven't gone through and made sure they understood the nitty-gritty details of their paid search campaign. I can't think of a better way for small business marketers to throw away advertising dollars. Let's take a look at a few of those settings that play a large role in your campaigns success.

Jennifer Laycock

AdWords Expanded Broad Match Warning

Google AdWords advertisers who closely track their campaigns may have noticed traffic coming in for a wide variety of phrases that might seem like an odd fit for their campaigns. While bloggers have been speculating about problems with the AdWords Broad Match system since late summer, Mike Churchill at SEOClubHouse explains the system is working just as Google wants it to.

Jennifer Laycock

Spend Your Money on Intent, Not Traffic

Anyone who has played around in the paid search realm for any length of time quickly learns that paying for traffic is a great way to go broke. It's a far better idea to focus on paying for targeted traffic by getting in front of the folks who not only have an interest in what you have to offer, but have actually gone looking for it. That's the point John Marshall makes today in a post called "Never, Ever Pay for Traffic" at Market Motive.

Jennifer Laycock

Spend Your Money on Intent, Not Traffic

Anyone who has played around in the paid search realm for any length of time quickly learns that paying for traffic is a great way to go broke. It's a far better idea to focus on paying for targeted traffic by getting in front of the folks who not only have an interest in what you have to offer, but have actually gone looking for it. That's the point John Marshall makes today in a post called "Never, Ever Pay for Traffic" at Market Motive.

Jennifer Laycock

Nearly Twice as Many Consumers Trust Online Reviews over Search Ads

Marketing is a tricky game. Walking the line between selling your product and maintaining the trust and respect of your audience can be tough. That's part of why word of mouth and viral marketing are so attractive. When it comes to common forms of online marketing, it's interesting to note that for the money companies being poured into paid search advertising may be better spent elsewhere.

Ross Dunn

Keyword Research for PPC

Although researching keywords for SEO is similar to that for PPC there still are many core differences. In many cases using the generic targets with high searches can be very costly in the world of PPC. While they can offer a good return, often long tailed, very specific phrases can offer more qualified traffic at a lower price

Jennifer Laycock

5 Tips for Seasonal Search Marketing Success

The Yahoo Search Marketing team has a post up this week reminding site owners that online holiday shopping increases pretty much every year. In fact, more than 80% of shoppers bought at least one thing online last holiday season. With the holiday sales cycle already gearing up, it's a good idea to start fine tuning your site and campaigns to drive more business. While most of the five tips Yahoo has to offer are a recap of the fundamentals of good online marketing, they're still worth reading and putting into action.

Jennifer Laycock

Google Gadget Ads Launches in Beta

Andy Beal reports that Google Gadget Ads have launched in Beta to select advertisers through the Google Content network. The new ads will be available on a CPM or CPC basis and will run through Google's auction model. According to the information page for Google Gadget Ads, the new system aims to give advertisers new ways to engage the audience of their content networks. I've taken a look at some of them, and I see some interesting potential.

Jennifer Laycock

Want to Experiment with Google Mobile Ads?

Now's your chance. Google has announced plans to run search ads on Google Mobile Search pages. In fact, they also announced they'll be letting advertisers test drive the program for free over the next couple of months. Sounds like a good reason to get some solid analytics in place and take the new program for a test spin.

Jennifer Laycock

Want to Experiment with Google Mobile Ads?

Now's your chance. Google has announced plans to run search ads on Google Mobile Search pages. In fact, they also announced they'll be letting advertisers test drive the program for free over the next couple of months. Sounds like a good reason to get some solid analytics in place and take the new program for a test spin.

Jennifer Laycock

Pay Per Click Ads are the Elevator Pitch of the Web

Paid search ads provide one of the toughest challenges for online marketers. You've got a very small space to pitch your product, but since you're paying per click you also need to use that space to pre-qualify visitors. Basically, you've got a handful of seconds to get the buyer before they move on to other listings. So how do you make it work?

Stoney deGeyter

SEO through PPC Eyes

There is a lot more to SEO than often meets the eye, but sometimes the SEO eye isn't enough to make a good optimized page great. While the actual SEO work can be pretty straight forward, it's the additional effort in making the page user-friendly and has the ability to drive visitors to conversions....

Manoj Jasra

Advanced Search Advertising Curriculum now Available at SEMPO Institute

Marketing professionals who need to know how to leverage pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns for maximum effect and return on investment will benefit from the SEMPO Institute’s new, intensive distance learning class: Advanced Search Advertising, the third class in SEMPO’s (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) new series of online classes designed to help marketers better understand the intricacies and dynamics of search-based marketing....

Jennifer Laycock

Are You Using Google Coupons?

What's that, you say? Google offers a coupon option? Why yes they do. Google announced the service last summer but hasn't done much in the way of promoting it since then. So if you'd like a way to differentiate your business on Google Maps listings, here you go....

Richard Ball

Google AdWords: Local Advertising

Search engine advertising is beneficial for local advertisers as well as national advertisers. Google's advertising system, AdWords, offers the option to target ads to searchers in a specific geographic region. Due to the method Google uses to identify the location of these searchers, though, it's imperative for local advertisers to run national ads as well....

Karon Thackston

Copywriting With Google's Dynamic Keyword Insertion Tool

In case you're unfamiliar with dynamic keyword insertion (DKI), it's a feature of Google's AdWords program. It is often used for large campaigns in order to automatically insert the keyword into the headline of an ad. Truly, it's a lifesaver for many pay-per-click (PPC) ad managers who have to stay on top of thousands of ads every day....

Jim Hedger

Google's 0.02% Spin Solution

According to Google, actual click fraud only accounts for 0.02% of all click activity found when Google's team is asked to audit an advertiser's account. If correct, Google's 0.02% assertion places the perceived dollar value of actual click fraud in their system somewhere in the range of $2,100,000....

David Wallace

Google Updates AdSense Policy - The Impact On Publishers

Google has made some recent changes to its AdSense policy that has web publishers concerned. While some changes are minor - their referral program, using images next to ad units, AdSense for search, and copyright material - the item that has publishers concerned has to do with their Competitive Ads and Services Policy. Namely Google is trying to keep ads, whether competing contextual or not, from mimicking their own layout and style so as to not create confusion. This may have many web publishers making changes to their sites to keep from violating AdSense terms and conditions....

Stoney deGeyter

Managing Your Pay-Per-Click Portfolio

Investment into the stock market and PPC marketing has a lot of similarities. By drawing these comparisons this article sheds some light on the expectations of a well-managed PPC campaign and provides solutions to effectively managing your PPC "portfolio"....

Daniel Jupp

Tackling Click Fraud

"I know half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted. I just don't know which half". Daniel Jupp, the founder and managing director of PPC management consultancy Top Position, looks at how search portals monitor click fraud and how you can avoid becoming a statistic......

Stoney deGeyter

Google AdWords Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines

To add to Jennifer's post yesterday on Google's AdWords Quality Score, I found another bit of information provided by Google, Google AdWords Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines. Google lays out some information that is good nut just for PPCers but for SEOers as well....

Karri Flatla

How Much Will it Cost to Get More Traffic to My Website?

A good marketer will evaluate your online venture holistically and then allocate finite resources to those tactics that will have the most impact toward an agreed upon end. Just know that the "end" does not suddenly arrive one day like a freight train roaring through your home office....

Richard Ball

Click Fraud Minimization Strategies

Neither Google nor Yahoo do a good job educating users about the risks of contextual advertising. For advertisers new to search engine marketing, it would be wise to disable contextual advertising while learning effective search engine advertising techniques....

Scott Buresh

Organic SEO or Pay-Per-Click Advertising - Which Should You Choose?

When people hear about online marketing, they often think of two of the more popular methods that a company can use to enhance its visibility on the Web: organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising. In an ideal world, you would use both strategically to maximize your site's profile. However, budgetary constraints often make this impossible, and trying to do both on a limited budget or with minimal resources can result in neither campaign producing ideal results....

Lisa Stewart

Confessions of a Clicking Housewife - Google AdWords Fraud

Article in Washington Post about an Iowa woman's claim that she spends hours daily clicking Google AdWords Ads. The article describes how Jackie Parks, a disabled stay-at-home mom in Iowa spends hours each day clicking Google AdWords ads for- 1/2 a penny(!) a click each day. She makes 300.00 a year doing this....

Jim Hedger

Click Fraud Series : Defining the Context of a Problem

This is the first piece in an ongoing series on Click Fraud. Many in the search marketing and search advertising industries would prefer the issue be avoided altogether. Paid search advertising has grown to become a rapidly expanding multi-billion dollar industry, much of it based on the success of PPC....

Bruce Clay

The Promise of Behavioral Targeting

Behavioral targeting is relatively new but catching on fast. The Internet, with its ability to record behavior, is largely responsible for the increase in behavioral targeting. Marketers like targeted ads because they reach specific consumers, eliminating waste and increasing advertising efficiency....

Daniel Jupp

Google v Overture

Search engine marketing is literally a war of words. Clawing your way to the top of the pile often requires a skill level befitting the most advanced of military campaigns but in order to reap the benefits, you first have to ensure you re fighting the right battle....

Jennifer Laycock

Google Launches Ad Scheduling (Dayparting)

It wasn't but a few weeks ago that I wrote about Google's plans to add dayparting to their AdWords management system. The system is now up and running and for small business owners that are able to track their conversion rates down to the day or time of day, this new Ad Scheduling system offers up a world of opportunity....

Jim Hedger

The Revolution Will Be Televised, Details After These Ads by Google

The sudden appearance of Google's online video ad distribution service is going to have multiple repercussions for the $38 Billion US television advertising market. It is also going to present multiple opportunities for search marketers and their clients....

Garrett French

The Effects of Combining Paid and Organic Search

One thing that prospects have asked about recently is the effects of combining paid and organic search. Greg Jarboe gave a presentaion in 2003 in which he mentioned the "second opinion effect." He saw a 3 times conversion increase for a site with top rankings in paid and organic...

Todd Mintz

How to Setup a PPC Campaign for an "Established" Website

As I discovered recently, creating a PPC campaign for a mature website can differ greatly from a typical PPC campaign setup....

Jennifer Laycock

AdWords Offers Demographic Selections

AdWords' demographic option is designed to let advertisers select specific sites to advertise on based on the demographics of that site. Advertisers will be able to specify a preference in up to three categories....

Jennifer Laycock

PPC: If You Aren't Number One...You Still Get Customers...

Many want to be able to run advertising campaigns, but feel that they can't justify the cost because their conversion rates don't result in a profit. This often happens because so many advertisers are still living with the false idea that they simply have to bid their site to the number one listing....

Jennifer Laycock

BidHero Brings Bid Management to the Masses

I had a chance to chat with John Marshall earlier this week to take a guided tour of BidHero and to ask some questions about how the program will benefit the often over-looked small business market....

Jennifer Laycock

Ask Jeeves Launches New Paid Search Advertising Program to the Public

Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings will allow both large and small advertisers to purchase and manage their ads through a self-serve style system like those used by Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing....

Shawn Campbell

Yahoo SM vs. Google AdWords

How does Yahoo SM compare with Google's AdWords? Both programs have advantages and disadvantages....

Jennifer Laycock

The Instant Gratification Factor of Search

As consumers come to rely on the ability to have information at their fingertips, the importance of quality search will increase dramatically....

Jennifer Laycock

Searchfeed.com Adds European Content to PPC Feed

Searchfeed.com Adds European Content to PPC Feed...

Jennifer Laycock

Could Paid Search Influence Elections?

Although political campaigns are increasingly embracing the marketing power of the Internet, paid search remains an area that few campaign managers have explored....

Jennifer Laycock

Google Refuses to Run Ad from Christian Group

Google removed an ad from a Christian group that was running as part of the AdWords program earlier this week, citing Google's right to remove ads to content that it deems to "hate speech."...

Jennifer Laycock

Study Proves: Brand Lift Associated with Paid Search Ads

Kevin Lee has an interesting article over at ClickZ this week that explores the results of a recently released IAB study on the impact of paid search ads on brand awareness....

Jennifer Laycock

When AdSense Doesn't Make Sense

Christopher Knight over at EmailUniverse.com has a useful article this week that outlines some of the reasons why running AdSense may not make the most sense for your Web site....

Jennifer Laycock

GenieKnows.com Gets a Makeover

Canadian tech company IT Interactive Services announced an overhaul to their GenieKnows.com search engine this morning....

David Wallace

Traditional Search Engine Optimization VS. Pay Per Click

With the current rise of pay per click advertising services such as Overture, Google AdWords and many others, professional search engine optimization companies are having to deal more and more with the issue of why their clients should spend money on traditional SEO when they can simply "buy their way to the top."...

Andrew Goodman

Eight-Point Winter Overture Advertising Tune-Up

As the pay-per-click ad industry has grown, so has competition amongst advertisers. Fortunately, campaign management interfaces are improving, which will help the detail-oriented advertiser who wants to work smarter get ahead of the pack....

Sumantra Roy

Paid Inclusion Programs and Cloaking Meta Tags

Questions and answers about the paid inclusion programs offered by the major search engines and on the process of cloaking meta tags and whether you should employ this technique....