On December 4, 2011, Microsoft hit the tech community with an exciting announcement that Xbox Live will now support voice searches on the MSN/Yahoo search engine www.Bing.com.  Consumers who own an Xbox 360 have recently seen a software update for their gaming console.  Additionally, those who also enjoy the Microsoft Kinect accessory will now be able to take advantage of the Kinect voice recognition capabilities to perform spoken searches on Bing through their Xbox 360 console.  According to Microsoft, this new feature is the next step in the evolution of television and entertainment.  They are hoping to be the frontrunners of this new era of entertainment by bringing games, movies, television shows, music, sports and the internet together in one place.

So what does this mean for the 87.7% of global online advertisers who are NOT advertising on Bing?  It means that they might want to think about allocating some of their PPC budget to Bing.  Migrating Google AdWords accounts to the MSN/Yahoo! platform can be a tricky task because the platforms tend to not play nicely together.  There are many nuances that make straight Google to Bing migration difficult for people who don’t do it regularly.  So, if this is something you are interested in doing with your AdWords campaigns, please consult a professional before you attempt it yourself.

It will be interesting to see how this Bing voice search functionality will evolve.  I am excited to see whether Bing will allow advertisers to build voice search PPC campaigns or whether voice search data can be analyzed separate for traditional type and click data.  There are so many possibilities and so much potential for this new functionality.  I can’t wait to see what the future brings.  Only time will tell – so stay tuned!

Why is this so great you ask?  Well, I begin my keyword research with root words and descriptive words.  For example, let’s say I am building a new campaign for a company that sells colored hanging file folders.  They have 20 different colors of folders and they can be called hanging file(s), hanging folder(s) or hanging file folder(s).  To begin the keyword research for this project, I would use an excel formula to create every possible variation of each color with each root word (yellow hanging file, yellow hanging files, yellow hanging folder, yellow hanging folders, hanging file yellow, hanging files yellow, hanging folder yellow, hanging folders yellow, etc.).  With 20 colors and 4 root words, this would give me a list of 160 possible search terms to research using Google’s Keyword Tool.  With the old tool I would need to paste the first 100 words in, star the ones with advertiser competition and/or search traffic, then paste the remaining 60 words and do the same thing.  With the new tool I can paste the entire list in one easy step – which is great!

Once I have several hundred keywords starred in the Keyword Tool, there is a “More like these” option which allows me to search for terms that are similar to the ones I have already chosen to star.  In the previous version of Google’s Keyword Tool I would only get search results for the first 100 keywords that I had starred, which was an inconvenience.  I would have to download the list, break it down into groups of 100 keywords and perform multiple searches again and again to get potentially great keyword suggestions for my new account.  With the new version, as long as my starred keywords do not exceed 2500, the Keyword Tool will provide me similar search terms for all of my starred keywords.  Hooray!

Another update to the tool that is worth noting is the “Group by” feature.  By default the Keyword Tool is set to “Group by None” but if you click on the dropdown, you can choose “Similarity to search terms” and the most pertinent words (keywords that include search terms) will show up grouped together below the search terms, but above the related keyword suggestions.  This is great for weeding through the hundreds of irrelevant keywords that the Keyword Tool often provides.

All in all, the Google Keyword Tool is getting better each and every time there is an update.  I am excited to see how it will progress through the rest of this year and beyond.  Keep up the good work Google!

Google made this update to description line 1 placement after performing tests and coming to the conclusion that it not only improves the user experience by providing searchers with more, relevant information easily and rapidly, but also improves the performance of the ad for the advertiser.  After doing some A/B ad testing with and without the punctuation at the end of description line 1, JumpFly’s account managers have seen the clickthrough rates (CTR) of the new ads with punctuation at the end of description line 1 skyrocket over the old ones without punctuation.  So much so that the JumpFly pay-per-click management teams now make sure that description line 1 ends in punctuation as often as possible.

Another change that Google recently announced is that top position ads will now be showing the display URL domain in the headline.  This update to how ads are displayed will allow Google searchers to be able to see and identify what site they will be taken to after they click on the ad and will help them decide whether or not they want to go to that site.  For AdWords advertisers, this is another huge change that is going to be great for them, especially for branding.  With the display URL being more prominent in the headline and still being shown in the display URL, your company name and web address exposure is doubled.  Sounds good to us!

Now, the question is:  How will Google AdWords decide whether to show the display URL or description line 1 after the headline?  Well, according to Google, BOTH can be displayed as long as the resulting headline is sixty-eight characters or less.  Imagine having a sixty-eight character, attention grabbing headline.  The amount of information you can get to potential customers in bold, blue text is unheard of and something all advertisers should try to capitalize on.

These changes to how Google AdWords ads are displayed are hugely important for advertisers.  In order to capitalize on them, you might want to call a professional PPC Management company like JumpFly.  We know the ins and outs of Google AdWords and we love implementing new, innovative ideas for our clients.

The first thing I noticed when using the new Ad Preview Tool is the updated, sleek user interface (UI).  The new UI boasts new fields and a new look that makes it feel more simple to understand and user friendly.

Aside from the tool’s face-lift, the first big change I found was that when you are using the tool while signed into your AdWords account, the new Ad Preview will tell you whether or not your ad is showing and which ad group the keyword is being mapped to.  This is a fantastic update because it allows you to see if your keywords are being mapped to the most highly targeted and specific ad groups.  This will be especially helpful for adding negative keywords to ad groups to ensure that the proper ads are being shown for each keyword search.  If your ad is not showing for some reason, the new Ad Preview Tool will tell you why and help you understand whether you need to raise your bids, update your location targeting, increase your daily budget or optimize your account.

The next big Google Ad Preview Tool change worth noting is the new Device setting option.  This feature allows AdWords advertisers to view and diagnose their ads for high-end mobile devices and provides previews of ads based on the type of device and cell phone carrier.  This is a much needed update that seems to go hand in hand with the new keyword tool that helps create mobile targeted campaigns.  With more and more advertisers dedicating a portion of their budget to target Smartphone users, the ability to see what the ads look like on Android, iPhone/iPod/iPad and Palm OS devices is growing exponentially.

These updates to the Ad Preview are certainly appreciated and much needed.  Thanks Google!

But how will advertisers and professional PPC management companies like JumpFly know what keywords mobile searchers are looking for?  As usual, Google is two steps ahead with their new Keyword Tool.  In September, Google announced that it was officially launching the latest version of their Keyword Tool within AdWords.  Since then, there have been several notable improvements to the tool including the addition of new ways to filter and refine the keyword list, starring keywords and the ‘view as text’ button.

The latest improvement to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool is the ability to create keyword lists targeted to mobile users.  Underneath the box where you type in the keywords you wish to research, there is a ‘+’ button next to ‘Advanced options.’  Click on this ‘+’ and you will see a dropdown menu to show ideas for all mobile devices, mobile WAP devices and mobile devices with full internet browsers (like iPhone and Andriod phones).  This enhancement to the already great Keyword Tool will allow AdWords advertisers to create better, more highly targeted campaigns for mobile users.

As an avid smartphone user, I can honestly say that I browse the internet more from my phone that I do from any desktop or laptop computer.  I am excited to see what new, more highly targeted advertisements are shown to me in the next few months.  It should be interesting to see how this new feature can help mobile search evolve.  Stay tuned!

What does this mean for you, as a Google AdWords advertiser?  Here are some practical examples:

*  You have a post-holiday super sale that you want to make sure to advertise on starting on December 26^th, but you are out of town with limited access to email or technology.  No problem!  Simply write the ads, set the Automated Rule to turn them on at midnight on December 26^th then sit back and relax knowing that they will be taken care of for you.

*  You have done extensive research that shows that your peak shopping days are Monday, Friday and Saturday.  You have also found that your least productive sales day is Tuesday.  Using AdWords Automated Rules, you can create a rule to automatically increase your budget on your peak days and automatically decrease it on Tuesday.  This ensures that your visibility is improved on days when you know people are most likely to purchase.

*  You know that your keywords convert best when they are in position 3 or higher.  AdWords Automated Rules allows you to create a rule in your PPC campaign or ad group that will automatically increase the maximum CPC (cost-per-click) bids for all keywords with a position below 3.  You can choose to increase the bids either by a percentage or by a static amount.  Automated Rules will look at the data for the timing parameter that you determine in order to make the adjustments that you require.

Another important feature of AdWords Automated Rules is that you are encouraged to preview the results of the rules that you create.  This preview function allows you see a list of the changes before they are actually implemented so that you can make sure that you are making the most beneficial changes to your account.  Automated Rules are also easily managed within the Google AdWords interface using the Control Panel and Library section.  There, you are able to view, pause and keep track of the changes that are being made automatically to your account every day.

With Google AdWords and their plethora of available tools, anyone can advertise online.  However, a professional PPC Management Company like JumpFly is highly recommended.  Professional account managers know the tricks of the trade to keep your PPC accounts optimized and running smoothly.  Contact us today to see how we can help increase your ROI.

How can I show my Google AdWords ads with Seller Ratings Extensions?

Here is what we found out: Only certain ads are eligible to appear with the new Seller Ratings Extensions and none of the current account settings need to be changed in order to be eligible.  Once a Google AdWords advertiser meets the criteria listed below, the distribution of their ads with the Seller Ratings Extensions is automatic.  This means that the ads are automatically opted in to showing seller ratings with the ads on Google Product Search.

Here are the criteria:

* Advertiser’s campaign must be opted in to Google search.

* Advertiser’s campaign must be targeted to the United States ONLY.

* Advertiser’s business must have at least 30 unique reviews and a rating of four stars or higher on Google Product Search.

* Advertisers do NOT have to have a Google Merchant Center account to be eligible to have their ads shown with the Seller Ratings Extensions.

* Advertisers will only be charged if the headline of the ad is clicked on.  Clicks on the review link are free.

While this is a wonderful extension to Google’s ever growing list of product extensions designed to help merchants provide their potential customers with highly targeted and relevant information when searching, some merchants may not be too keen on the idea.  To opt out of this extension, the merchant will need to complete a form requesting that Google disable the Seller Rating Extensions in their ads.  Google does not recommend this as the Seller Rating Extensions “is likely to increase the amount of qualified traffic” to their website from their ads.

Personally, I think this is a marvelous addition to Google arsenal of Ad Extensions.  With the internet FULL of sites like Yelp, Ripoff Report, Consumer Reports, Trip Advisor, Epinions, etc. it’s blatantly obvious that reviews and ratings matter to the average consumer.  This is Google’s way of inching one step closer to the ideal, perfectly targeted and extremely relevant PPC ad. If you think that your business could benefit from a professional PPC Management Company, please feel free to contact Jumpfly.  PPC is all we do.

For example, let’s assume that you own Randall To Go, a local restaurant delivery service. Let’s also assume that through various forms of advertising, you attract hundreds of visitors per day to learn about your service. If you have setup Google Remarketing, you can now re-reach these visitors when they are searching websites that are part of Google’s Content Network, which is an incredibly large number of websites. In fact, according to Google, the Google Content Network reaches 80% of global Internet users. So after potential new clients visit Randall To Go, they can now be re-targeted with a new set of ads if desired when they are visiting any number of websites, including Gmail. So a potential visitor can visit Randall To Go, and then be targeted in their Gmail account for a remarketing ad. This remarketing ad can then offer coupons of incentives if desired. The potential for this technology seems rather staggering as it benefits both advertisers and website publishers as well.

You can also run a number of remarketing campaigns at the same time. This can be especially powerful. For example, back to the Randall To Go example, this business can use Google AdWords Remarketing to effectively place unique ads in front of visitors that were potential customers, and can place a totally different set of remarketing ads to appear to visitors who visit the “Become a Partner” page. Previous visitors looking to dine may see a remarketing ad with a coupon while visitors who had previously looked to partner can be exposed to ads explaining the benefits of partnering.

Google states that, “Remarketing is a great way for businesses to reach users who are likely to be highly receptive to their ads and special offers… It helps advertisers and websites get higher returns. It also means more relevant and useful ads for users, and more opportunities for your customers to receive special offers and discounts that may be of interest to them.” I tend to agree. Here at JumpFly, we recently implemented Google Remarketing for various clients, but it is still too early to determine the direct impact from these efforts. Time will tell how powerful this new feature really is, but if used properly, it sure seems to make a lot of sense for everyone involved: advertisers, publishers & users. Thanks Google for providing yet another great tool for your advertisers. Contact a qualified PPC Management Expert to learn more.

Sitelinks allows advertisers to place additional links underneath their existing text ads.  Instead of sending users to the default landing page, Google Ad Sitelinks will display up to 4 additional Destination URLs which allows potential customers to choose where on your site they would like to visit.  This gives users more control and allows them to get where they want much quicker than having to navigate from the home page to the specific section of your site they wish to visit.

In order to have access to this type of enhancement, your ads must meet a certain high quality threshold.  If your account qualifies, you will find this special feature under your Campaign Settings tab under the “Networks, devices, and extensions” header.  If enabled, you will have an option to click Edit next to the Ad Extensions section.  From there, you will be prompted to add up to 10 specific Destination URLs with custom link text.   Depending on the term searched by users, Google will decide which links are most appropriate to be shown and they will be displayed underneath your current ad copy.

Google Sitelinks are becoming increasingly popular with advertisers interested in both driving sales to their website and branding their company.  According to Google, companies need to have “extremely high” quality scores and top positioning to be considered for Google Sitelinks.  This is Google’s way of assuring that the true cream of the search query will rise to the top and attract the most attention to the Sitelinks feature.

In the days of fierce Internet competition, Google Sitelinks has become increasingly attractive to advertisers who need to protect themselves against retailers or competitor attempting to outbid them for the pay-per-click auction of their brand’s keywords.  The only drawback that I can see is that searchers will more often click on the sponsored link instead of the advertiser’s organic listing.  Good for Google, maybe not so good for the advertiser.

This is yet another reason to have a professional PPC Management Company in place to see whether using Google Sitelinks is profitable for your company.

This is an exciting development for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising because these click-to-call actions are extremely relevant leads and should be frequently converted into customers.  When searches are performed on high-end mobile devices with full HTML browsers (iPhones, Android, Palm WebOS), Google AdWords will communicate with the user’s mobile GPS to determine geographic location of the search.  With this information, Google is able to show the phone numbers and business addresses for the closest advertisers which will appear in a fifth line of ad text.  This is an extremely convenient development for people who use the mobile browsing capabilities on their phones.

This is not only exciting for potential customers, but for advertisers as well.  Advertisers will be charged the exact same way they are charged for clicks to their website and will not incur additional charges for receiving a call from a click.  Who doesn’t want more highly targeted, relevant traffic for the same price, right?

In order to make Google AdWords Mobile Ads appear with a location-specific click-to-call phone number, advertisers need to make sure their Google AdWords Campaigns are targeting all mobile devices with full HTML browsers.  Phone numbers and business addresses must also be added in the locations section of the Campaign settings.

To learn more about implementing click-to-call Google AdWords Mobile Ads, contact a qualified PPC Management Company.

A note about why you might not want to only use Google Analytics to report revenue: Google Analytics attributes a conversion to “last touch” while Google AdWords and Yahoo Sponsored Search attribute it to “first touch.” What that means is if someone came to your website on a Monday through a paid ad, and didn’t buy anything, then returned a week later (either through a bookmark and manually typing in your URL) and bought something, Google Analytics would count that conversion as a Direct referral (the last way they came to your site), while AdWords and Sponsored Search would attribute it to PPC (the first way they came to your site).

It’s not a big deal when the vast majority of your visitors order on their first visit, but becomes a big deal when a large percentage of them don’t. I have several clients where over 50% of their visitors don’t buy on that first visit, which makes PPC look like it doesn’t perform that well. Once you factor in those “first touch” conversions, PPC certainly is a much more important piece of the marketing puzzle.

So back to how you track revenue in Yahoo Sponsored Search… I have to give Yahoo credit – they beat Google on this by including revenue right in the normal screens you use to manage your Yahoo Sponsored Search campaigns. Google only reports revenue on their actual reports, which makes it more of a pain to manage; Not impossible, just not as easy to analyze and then make quick changes.

To track Yahoo Sponsored Search revenue, you’ll just need to add one more tiny bit of code to your conversion tracking. Replace where I have ORDER.SUBTOTAL with your dynamically generated Order Subtotal field into this line of your Yahoo Sponsored Search Analytics code (You can also do Order Total, but I recommend doing the Subtotal which excludes tax and shipping, for a more accurate picture of your revenue.):

window.ysm_customData.conversion = “transId=,currency=,amount=ORDER.SUBTOTAL“;

That’s it. Pretty simple and pretty powerful. Now you can actually see what kind of revenue your Yahoo Sponsored Search campaigns are actually generating, and then make better informed decisions about where your PPC advertising dollars should be spent.

A note on this: I attempted to do it for a client that uses a Volusion cart and processes credit cards offline (meaning they don’t actually process the credit card at the time of order, but do it manually at a later time), but this won’t work for them. I’m guessing that this will hold true for any shopping cart; if you don’t process credit cards in real-time, it won’t work. In fact, for this client, it also prevented the number of conversions from tracking.

One last note: Unfortunately, MSN AdCenter does not have the same functionality. Here’s hoping they get that solved before they take over supplying Yahoo’s paid ads.

If you need help getting Yahoo Sponsored Search Revenue Tracking implemented and/or analyzed, contact a reputable PPC management company for assistance.

It can actually be overwhelming when you first start to poke around your PPC advertising campaign or your Google Analytics account to figure out what the most valuable data really is, so let me point you in a couple key places.

The new interface has some really great ways to view, filter and analyze your Google AdWords campaign data quickly and efficiently.  These options used to only be available in the reports area, but now they can be seen for every campaign and ad group.

With the new Google AdWords interface, you now have a great new data reporting tool on the right hand side.  It is a graph that will show you the trend for the time period you have selected on several different data values.  You can change the date range to view as many days as you like – I prefer either 30 or 7 depending on the campaign.  The two data items I keep an eye on from this “30 thousand foot” view are Impressions and Cost.  Basically we are looking for any trends – up or down – of the number of impressions your ads are getting and the amount that is being spent on the entire account.  If either one has an unusual spike, there is going to be some digging to do to be sure everything is running as planned.

Also, while you are getting that overview perspective for your AdWords account, go ahead and sort campaigns and ad groups by Cost (descending). This way, your attention is focused on the highest spenders at a high level.  This will also alert you to situations where your highest spenders shouldn’t be your highest spenders and you can make changes accordingly. If you have PPC advertising questions, you might want to consider contacting a professional PPC management company with questions or to plan a consultation.

When Google initially introduced the new beta version of the AdWords User Interface (UI), I played around with it a few times in my few client accounts that had the option, but it looks like last week the new AdWords User Interface rolled out to a much wider audience and I decided I better get myself familiar with it. I’m not going to review every new part of the Adwords UI, but I will highlight a few new features that I’ve noticed in the past few days.

The Pros of the New Google AdWords Interface:

• The “Tree” Based Visuals: I can get to any campaign or AdGroup using the tree interface, instead of going back out to the campaign summary or AdGroup summary.
• Nice Graphical Representation: in each campaign and AdGroup you can view a graph based on criteria like CTR, Conversions, Impressions, CPC and more, for whatever time period you prefer. I love looking at graphs for trends – is CTR dropping or CPC rising, etc. I used to use this a lot on the account dashboard, but this is even better, and I can choose to hide the graph if I want.
• Query Report Built Into the Keyword Tab: Another new AdWords User Interface feature that I like is the “Show Query Report” button within the keyword tab. I can select a few broad and/or phrase match terms, then hit the Show Query Report button and it will give me a list of the search queries that were triggered by the keywords I selected.One caveat is that it appears you have to have quite a few impressions before it will show you data. A lot of the terms I tested kept giving me the error “Not enough data to show particular queries.” It still seems a bit “buggy”, because a number of times the report would generate partially, but without the search queries, and trying to refresh would cause a bright red error bar to come up. This one is also a Con because once you’ve generated the list, it’s a bit kludge to put the actual terms into the AdGroup, but I’m hoping that will approve.
• One last pro: you can still switch back to the original interface if the new UI gets a bit confusing.

And now on to my new Google AdWords User Interface Con List:

• Ads Showing in the UI May Not Be Active: this one is a big problem for me, because I almost lost a client last week because of it. When you are in the keyword tab of an AdGroup in the new AdWords User Interface, one ad will be showing on the top left, just like in the original UI. Unfortunately, that ad may not be an active ad (in fact, I have YET to see where the ad that shows is going to an Active ad, unless only active ads are in that AdGroup – it almost seems to default to a Paused ad which is terribly annoying). I had a client who went into the new interface and was clicking around. He clicked the ad that was showing and was stunned to see it was going to a dead page of his site. He went through a bunch of the AdGroups and saw the same thing, and then called us, completely irate, because this was a change that had happened in January, and that I had told him was taken care of. He demanded a refund of several thousand dollars and was very close to quitting before I got him calmed down enough to understand what was happening and explain to him that the changes were made, and the only ad that was actually active in those AdGroups were all going to a live page in his site.
• Quick Add Tool is Missing: one of my favorite tools in the original interface is on the keyword tab and it’s the Quick Add link. Click it and Google lets you manually enter your keywords, AND generates a very specific list of keywords that you are missing that are all based around the existing keywords in that AdGroup. I use it a lot to see what keywords I might be missing in an AdGroup AND what negatives I should include. The Keyword Tool just generates too much “noise” to be used effectively in this same manner. And now it’s missing in the new AdWords User Interface, and the Show Query Report is not an effective substitute.
• Show Query Report: it’s on my pro list too, but most of the time it either doesn’t give results because it doesn’t have enough data or it keeps having errors.
• The MCC Drop-Down List is Not Alphabetical: this is a con for PPC management agencies like ourselves who use an MCC to manage our clients – the Drop-Down Client list isn’t alphabetical, so it can be hard to find a client in the list.
• The Next/Previous Links on the AdGroup Level Are Gone: in the original interface, I could sort my AdGroups by some criteria, like Cost or Impressions, and go into the first one, then hit the next link to move to the next one. That link is gone, so I have to keep going back to the Campaign level to see what the next AdGroup is that I need to go into.

Now this certainly isn’t a comprehensive list of Pros and Cons but just the first ones that have come to me over the last four or five days of continually using the new AdWords User interface. I’m sure I’ll have plenty more in the days and weeks to come. There’s no set switch date that I could find when they are moving from Beta to the new UI permanently, but I recommend getting used to it now, when you still have the ability to switch back and forth between the beta and original Google AdWords User Interface.

More about Nikki

Google Image ads appear on select Google Content Network sites. By integrating the proven targeting of AdWords and the appeal of graphical images, image ads can help you reach an entirely new audience for your product or service. The key difference between the old banner ads and Google Image Ads is that the Image Ads can be matched to a website page’s content. This added level of targeting helps focus the Image Ads on the audience you want to reach, allowing you to better spend your advertising dollars on the customers you want to attract. Some Content Sites only show Image Ads, so the only way to reach some of this audience is by adding Image Ads into your marketing mix. You can even use Flash ads, giving your product or service a little bit of extra pizzaz.

JumpFly is happy to announce that we are now offering high quality image ad production for PPC management clients. There are eight different sizes of Image Ads you can run, so there is a nice variety of potential ads you can create. You can advertise with a large 728 x 90 Leaderboard Ad, or use a smaller 200 x 200 Small Square Ad. One can only wonder if graphical ads are the next evolution in the PPC marketplace. You may want to venture into those waters now while they are still shallow. You may reap the benefits much quicker than those who wait timidly on the shore.

More about Jack

1) A company YouTube “Channel”
2) Video ad/ads production
3) YouTube campaign development, implementation & management

The newness of this platform provides early adopters an exciting opportunity to capitalize on YouTube’s massive user population as well as the current lack of advertisers and resulting very low cost-per-clicks (CPCs).

Founded in February 2005, YouTube was purchased by Google in November 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock roughly 1-½ years later. Today, YouTube is the #2 search engine and the #3 most visited website in the world. YouTube serves close to 1 billion videos every day and its users upload 13 hours of video every minute. According to HitWise, YouTube’s market share in the U.S. video sector is 73.18%.

Right now, advertisers can get started with really low CPCs before the advertising at YouTube gets competitive. I created a simple campaign for JumpFly as a test and was able to attain impressive first page results for as little as $0.15 per click. As YouTube’s growth continues and video becomes more mainstream, YouTube will likely represent a valuable advertising avenue for many advertisers who properly go after this new marketplace. Learn more about YouTube Sponsored Videos or consider having a professional PPC Management firm assist you in developing your YouTube Sponsored Video campaign.

More about Brad
JumpFly YouTube Channel