Knowledge is the Foundation To Success  

Have you noticed that your top position AdWords ads are looking a bit different lately?  That’s because earlier this year Google made some changes to the way certain AdWords ads are displayed.  When ads appear in positions 1 – 3 (above the organic results on Google), ad copy with a first description line that ends with punctuation will see that first line automatically moved to the headline of the ad, separated by a dash.  This means that your headline, the portion of the text copy that gets the most attention from potential customers, is now able to provide even more information to Google users when your ad is being shown in the top three positions.  How great is that? 

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.

Google has been the dominant search engine in the US for many years, but is the mighty giant in danger of losing its leadership status?  Though it may sound far-fetched today, technology develops rapidly and Google has been losing market share over the past 6 months.

A recent Mashable article by Christina Warren points out that, “Google might still be the leading search engine in the U.S. by a large margin, but over the last six months, searches powered by Microsoft Bing are increasing at an impressive rate.”

The latest data from Experian Hitwise indicates that Google supplied 64% of searches in the U.S. in March, 2011 while Bing-powered search, which includes both Yahoo and Bing.com, accounted for 30% of U.S. searches.  Just 6 months ago, Experian Hitwise reported that Google controlled 72% of the U.S. search market while Bing powered search accounted for 23%. In the past six months, Bing’s market share in the U.S. increased fairly significantly to 30%.  Additionally, Hitwise reported that Bing and Yahoo achieved the highest success rates during the month, meaning that for both search engines, more than 80% of searches executed resulted in a visit to a website while Google’s rate was about 66%.  I am not suggesting that Bing powered searches will overtake Google anytime soon, or ever, but it does appear to be evolving as a potentially serious threat to Google’s search empire.

Perhaps Google has taken its eye off the ball by getting distracted with so many other initiatives?  For example, just last week Google invested $168 million into BrightSource Solar Project.  This sounds like a great cause, which I applaud, but does co-founder and new-CEO again Larry Page have the experience, time & knowledge to guide a company that has branched out into so many things?  There has to be consequences.  Perhaps Google search is getting somewhat neglected, which would not be a wise move since just about all of Google’s revenue is generated by their search ads.

In Google’s defense, they have been launching many new search related initiatives and they have greatly improved Google search and the Google AdWords advertising platform.  The AdWords platform has evolved quite a bit over the past year and now provides a suite of valuable new tools for advertisers.  Additionally, Bing recently launched an $80 million ad campaign that seems to be working.

Google faces threats from multiple fronts as social media continues to emerge as a popular and potentially valuable platform for advertising.  According to Nielsen Web Traffic, Facebook has about 135 million U.S. users compared to 152 million that use Google.  However Facebook’s users stay on Facebook 3 times longer than users stay on Google.  What happens when Facebook develops their own search that integrates all of their valuable social info?  Hmmm???  Google is certainly aware of the threat and has even tried to combat it with social media efforts of its own, but so far with little success.  Google’s recent launch of the +1 feature is an example of a social media initiative.  As Google gets increasingly larger, can they remain nimble enough to successfully evolve with the rapidly changing search environment?  Only time will tell.

Google took another step into social media with the launch of +1, a new feature that allows users to share & view opinions of webpages. Google previously tested the social media waters with Orkut, Buzz and other initiatives, but with little success. However, this concept is very similar to Facebook’s Like button which has been wildly successful. There are many topics that can be explored based on this new feature, but I am going to focus on some potential pay-per-click (PPC) advertising implications.

Per Google’s blog on +1, “to recommend something, all you have to do is click +1 on a webpage or ad you find useful. These +1’s will then start appearing in Google’s search results… Say, for example, you’re planning a winter trip to Tahoe, Calif. When you do a search, you may now see a +1 from your slalom-skiing aunt next to the result for a lodge in the area. Or if you’re looking for a new pasta recipe, we’ll show you +1’s from your culinary genius college roommate. And even if none of your friends are baristas or caffeine addicts, we may still show you how many people across the web have +1’d your local coffee shop.”

From an advertiser’s perspective, it certainly appears that it would be a benefit to have people recommend their website and have the +1 displayed next to their ads.  A light +1 actually appears next to all ads and results, but the ones that have been +1′d appear in a dark blue, drawing more attention. It will be interesting to see how this social media experiment evolves. This foray into social media has my attention because of its potential impact on PPC. Below are some Google AdWords related questions, and the answers we received directly from Google.

Will the +1 button affect my clickthrough rate (CTR) or conversion rates?

Each campaign performs differently, so we can’t predict how your clickthrough rate will change for individual campaigns. However, we believe that including the +1 button on ads will increase the overall CTR of campaigns as personalized annotations increase user engagement.

Will the +1 button impact how you determine quality score?

No, this does not change how we determine your ad’s relevance of quality. As always, we look at your ad’s performance relative to that of other ads for the same query, position, and UI treatment.

Should I change my ads or landing pages?

No, there is no need to change the copy or landing pages of your campaigns. We’re adding +1 buttons to ads and search results on Google.com in English. Simple, compelling ads directing to a relevant landing page will continue to perform best.

Where can I see how many +1s my ads are receiving?

Currently reporting is not available. However, soon you will be able to see how many +1s your search campaigns are getting on the Dimensions tab in AdWords.

Why can I not see +1 buttons on my ads?

Only signed-in Google users will see +1 buttons on ads and organic search results on Google.com in English. Also, +1 buttons are not available on Internet Explorer 7 and earlier versions of Internet Explorer.

While Google has been increasingly incorporating social media elements into search over the years, +1 integration appears to be a giant step closer towards achieving meaningful social media/ search integration. Google continues to evolve and social media is proving to have an important role in its development. The +1 feature is rolling out slowly, but keep your eyes posted as you will likely see it soon. If you can’t wait to start seeing +1’s,  you can opt-in to the launch by visiting their experimental search site.