Car insurance Channel

Whether you're walking door-to-door with a small ghost in tow or handing out treats tonight, you're sure to hear the phrase "Trick-or-Treat" screamed more than once by excited youngsters. As that phrase lingers in your head for the next couple of days, here's a way that you can constructively apply it to your AdWords campaigns to improve the experience of your potential customers and your bottom line.

Every advertiser has an end goal in mind when they decide to advertise online. You may want people to sign-up for your fall pumpkin recipe newsletter, or perhaps you're trying to increase sales of holiday decorations. But, are you doing an effective job of telling your potential customers what you have to offer?

If you're trying to "trick" people by using keywords and ad text that don't speak to what you actually have to offer, you may find that users click on your ad, but don't do much else. Instead, try providing both your users and yourself with a "treat" by using relevant keywords and writing ad text that is specific to the product or service that you'd like to promote. For example, if you're trying to drive free holiday newsletter sign-ups through your AdWords ads, make sure you mention this in your ad text and then ensure that the sign-up form is both easy to find on your landing page and simple to use.

Not only does this provide a better experience for your potential customers, but it will also help you get more out of your advertising dollars by targeting users who are actively searching for exactly what you have to offer.

With that, enjoy an evening full of haunted houses and two-toothed pumpkins. Happy Halloween from the Inside AdWords crew!

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Here's a quick question (and answer) that we spotted on the AdWords Help user-to-user support forum. We thought it'd be worth posting here (lightly paraphrased for clarity) to more fully explain one important aspect of monitoring your account performance.

When will I see activity? My ads have been live for hours now.

To which, a short while later, a helpful community member replied:

Give it a bit more time. While your ads can go-live and be displayed within a short time of their creation, the stats are updated on a larger interval.

Yep, this is a good observation. When new or edited ads are submitted to the AdWords system, there will typically be a short delay before their appearance on Google.com, during which many servers must be updated. This delay can be of variable length depending on volume of activity on the AdWords site, but in most cases is considerably less than an hour.

Once your ads start appearing, it's important to know that their statistics are not reported in real-time. Instead, stats are typically delayed for up to three hours during which time they are aggregated from various servers, sorted and organized, filtered for invalid activity, and so forth. You'll see this delay mentioned in your account: if you look just below the chart in which your stats appear (at either the campaign or Ad Group level) you'll see some smallish type that looks about like this:

Reporting is not real-time. Clicks and impressions received in the last 3 hours may not be included here. There is a 24 hour delay in conversion tracking reporting...

While we're on the subject of statistics, here's another interesting fact worth knowing: clicks and impressions are not necessarily updated on the same schedule. So, for example, clicks can be updated in your account more quickly than impressions. In light of this, it's possible that the number of clicks shown in your stats could exceed the number of impressions until the statistics are completely updated - which typically occurs by the end of the day.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Not too long ago, we posted about a new series of AdWords Seminars being offered by search marketing professionals who are also Qualified Invididuals in the Google Advertising Professionals program. Due to the overwhelming response, we've worked with the seminar leaders to add four more sessions of AdWords Seminars in November 2006. If you are living in, or will be visiting the Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Jersey / New York City, or Dallas area, be sure to check them out.

You'll find more information about these seminars, including dates, course outlines, and registration instructions at http://www.google.com/awseminars. And of course, if you'd like to be informed when AdWords Seminars become available in your area, simply fill out this form.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

The Inside AdWords blog has been running for 17 months, 8 days and 4 hours (give or take) and now includes over 200 posts. That's a lot of information detailing how you can use AdWords more effectively. If you haven't been following the blog the whole time, or if you want to get back to something you missed, you can use our search function to find information on just about any topic we've covered.

Take a look at the upper right corner of the blog. Just below the Google logo you'll see the search box, labeled "Search Inside AdWords", where you can type your query. Here's one query you can try: ad not showing. This will bring up all of the posts on this topic.

Since our search box is powered by Google, you'll see your search results on a page that looks like any regular Google search. Similarly, you can use all the handy tricks that you already use with Google search to find exactly what you want. Below are two of the more helpful search operators for searching the Inside AdWords blog, as mentioned in the very useful Essentials of Google Search -- specifically Phrases and Negative Terms.

Phrases - Putting your search terms in quotation marks will search for posts that contain those terms in that order. For example, if you only wanted results about the Google network, then you should enclose your search term in quotes, "Google network". (Please note that while we've capitalized Google in this example, the search itself is not case-sensitive -- so a search on "google network" would give you the same result.)

Negative Terms - You can take out words that you're not looking for using the negative operator (the "-" sign). If you search for report center -analytics, for example, you'll only find posts on The Report Center that do not mention analytics in your search results.

For more tips on using Google search, check out this printable cheat sheet. And, if by any chance you do a search for a topic that's important to you and get no results at all, please let us know. You may have just discovered the next post we should be writing! Happy searching!

Posted by Trevor, Inside AdWords crew

Recently, we've released a few small features that we think you'll find helpful. Read on for a quick overview.

'Last thirty days' date range for reports
In addition to viewing data from the last month, you can now view performance data for the last thirty days. This date range is a new selection in the settings section of the create report page.

Graphs for weekly and hourly reports
Graphs are now available for weekly and hourly reports. To view the graphs, click 'View graphs only' or 'View data and graphs' from the View Report page.

Ad format filters for the site tool
The site tool now features ad format filters, an enhancement allowing you to choose sites that accept specific ad formats for site-targeted campaigns. You can now search for sites by ad types (text ads, image ads, or video ads) and various size formats.

Feel free to give these new features a quick spin this weekend, and let us know if you have any feedback.

Posted by Feng, Inside AdWords crew

Looking to increase the number of conversions you're getting on your site? If so, you'll likely be interested to hear what Ann-Lee, from the Website Optimizer team, has to say about a new tool:

As an advertiser you spend both time and money driving traffic to your website, but if your site doesn't engage your audience then it's likely that you aren't converting those visitors into customers. We know that this can be difficult to test and we want to help you out.

Over the coming weeks we'll be testing a new tool called the Website Optimizer that can help you find out which content will convert best on your site. Whether you define a conversion as a purchase or a newsletter sign-up, Website Optimizer allows you to experiment with different headlines, copy, and images on your site in order to find out which combination results in the most conversions. You can use this tool on your landing page or any page that represents a conversion.

At the end of each experiment, graphical reports show which version of your landing page users liked best, as measured by which variation had the highest conversion rate. So, if you're interested in increasing conversions, we think you'll find the Website Optimizer useful.

Using Website Optimizer to experiment with your landing page does not have any impact on your Quality Score, so long as you maintain the existing default landing page for the Ad Group. Once you make a change to your site based on the results, however, the Quality Score might change as with any other changes to your landing page. That said, if a change is good for your users, it is probably good for your Quality Score too.

For this beta, we'll only be able to invite a small number of advertisers to participate, selected from all that apply. Selection will be based on a number of factors, including amount of traffic the landing page receives and the ability to begin testing quickly. We'll contact those selected on a rolling basis over the coming weeks. In the near future, we look forward to releasing this tool to all advertisers.

Learn more about why landing page optimization is important here. Then, find out how Website Optimizer can help you improve your ROI and apply for our beta test.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

This just in, straight from our tech team:

We will be performing additional AdWords maintenance from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, October 17, 2006. While all AdWords advertisements will continue to run as normal, you may not be able to retrieve reports or upload image ads during this time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

This just in, straight from our tech team:

We will be performing AdWords maintenance from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. PDT on Monday, October 16, 2006. While all AdWords advertisements will continue to run as normal, you may not be able to retrieve reports or upload image ads during this time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Earlier this year, we told you about AdWords Editor – a free, downloadable campaign management application. With AdWords Editor you can quickly and easily navigate your account, copy and paste keywords and ad text, share proposed changes with others, work offline and upload changes later, and, most importantly, make large-scale changes using a wide variety of search and editing tools.

Until recently, AdWords Editor was available on an invitation-only basis, but is now available to everyone. Even more exciting, we just released Version 2.0 which includes new features such as:

Replace text
Have you ever made the same change to multiple ads within your account (e.g. changing the price of an item that you just placed on sale)? The replace text feature makes it easy to find and replace text from a headline, description line, or URL in one step.

Find duplicate keywords
Unnecessary duplicate keywords can complicate your account management and skew performance statistics. Search your account for multiple instances of the same keyword, then edit or delete the duplicates as needed.

Advanced Maximum CPC changes
As your keyword lists grow, you may find yourself spending a lot of time editing Max CPC bids. The Advanced Maximum CPC changes tool helps you adjust bids by a specified percent or dollar amount, raise bids to the minimum CPC for all your inactive keywords, and more.

Keyword Grouper
Want to know one of the most important tips for success with AdWords? Create tightly knit Ad Groups with keywords and ad text that are based on a common theme. To help you do just that, AdWords Editor offers the Keyword Grouper. The Keyword Grouper takes an existing list of keywords and divides them into smaller Ad Groups based on common themes. You can then create related ad text for the new Ad Groups or have the choice of using existing ad text from within your account.

These are just some of the cool new features for Version 2.0. For a full list of features, check out the AdWords Editor release notes. If you haven’t downloaded AdWords Editor, you can do so by visiting the AdWords Editor website. If you’re already using AdWords Editor, you’ll have the option to update to Version 2.0 the next time you open the application.

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

This just in, straight from our tech team:

On Saturday, October 14th, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Here's another question (slightly edited for clarity and length) from the AdWords Help community. We've seen this question often enough that we thought it'd be worthwhile to answer it right here in our blog:

Hi there, I have been trying google adwords now for about 2 weeks. One thing is perplexing me more than all the others. You place an ad, and a user types in your keyword - now if the company you are advertising comes up on the first page in the main listings (the ones on the left) does that mean that google won't show your ad? I have one company here where I cannot get any impressions, and I am thinking that this is the reason. Can anyone enlighten me on this please...?

We're happy to oblige. The short answer is: no, having the advertised company appear in the unpaid search results for a keyword will not prevent your ad from showing for that keyword.

Here are some additional details, which also answer a number of related questions we've heard over the years:

• Inclusion in the search results has no impact on whether or not one's ads will appear
  
• Being an advertiser has no impact on whether or not one's site appears in the search results
  
• Being an advertiser and then closing the account has no impact on one's site appearing in the search results
  
• Being an advertiser with a very large budget does not help (nor hurt) one's chances of appearing in the search results
  
• Being an advertiser with a tiny budget does not hurt (nor help) one's chances of appearing in the search results

To sum it up, Google's advertising programs are entirely independent of the unpaid search results - and one does not affect the other in any way.

Lastly, to help troubleshoot why you're ads are really not receiving impressions, check out this handy checklist from the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

If you manage AdWords accounts on behalf of clients, you might consider using a My Client Center (MCC) - a helpful tool that allows you to access all the AdWords accounts that you manage under one easy login. As you can see from the image below, an MCC provides an easy-to-read dashboard with relevant information such as customer IDs, high level budget overviews, and spend information for your linked accounts. To access a specific account, simply click on the client account name to be taken to the Campaign Summary page for that account.




As an added bonus, the MCC offers specialized alerts which help identify any issues that are currently affecting your linked client accounts. For example, you may want to be alerted if one of your client accounts is currently offline because the credit card for that account was declined. Other MCC alerts can notify you of interruptions in ad delivery and approaching campaign and account budget end dates.

MCCs are offered through the Google Advertising Professionals program, but you do not need to become a Qualified Google Advertising Individual or Company to create and use an MCC.

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

We thought it might be a useful to tackle some of the pitfalls that advertisers sometimes encounter, in order to steer other advertisers away from these situations in their own accounts.

The quote below is based on a real support email that we recently received, and describes a situation we see with some frequency. Since we started with an actual email (as opposed to a public post in our AdWords Help community forum, which we often quote here), we've edited the example to simplify and remove any identifiable information. However, the situation discussed here is quite real -- and well worth avoiding.

I recently started a new Ad Group, running on the keyword 'flower delivery'. When I started, I had a Maximum CPC of $1.00 which was fine - but then I decided to try to improve my position, and raised my Max CPC way up to $5.00 to make it happen. In the past, I've increased bid amounts on other keywords, with the average CPC falling far below the top bid amount. I would have never increased it to $5.00 if I knew that each click could actually cost me that amount. Since I last checked, there have been a lot of clicks at $5.00! I'd be happy to pay $1.00 to $1.50 per click, but not $5.00. What happened, and what can I do?

It's important for advertisers to know that AdWords is an automated system which is designed to take advertiser input, and act on it in a literal way, rather than interpret what an advertiser "really wanted". In other words, when an advertiser specifies what they want, the system does its best to give them just that.

Thus, when an advertiser specifies a Maximum CPC, the AdWords system will assume that the advertiser means it, and in fact wishes to pay up to (but not more than) the specified Maximum CPC -- in order to be as competitive as possible. And, while it is true that one's actual CPC may often be far less than the Maximum CPC set, in a very competitive (and ever-changing) landscape it remains possible that clicks can in fact cost the maximum amount specified.

Bottom line, to avoid this particular pitfall, it's always advisable to set your Max CPC no higher than you are actually comfortable paying for a single click. Likewise, the same principle applies to your Daily Budget setting. We would not advise setting your daily budget to an amount higher than you're actually comfortable paying per day, even if you believe doing so might "force" the ad to show more often over the course of the 24 hour day.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Many advertisers have asked for opportunities to learn about AdWords in a hands-on setting. We’ve heard your feedback and we’re pleased to introduce AdWords Seminars for Success – full-day, in-person training seminars designed to help you get the most out of your AdWords account. Seminars will be offered in two tracks: beginner/intermediate, or intermediate/advanced. You can choose to attend a full-day session or the afternoon session only. If you sign up for a seminar 14 days in advance, we'll even throw in a $50 advertising credit for AdWords. (View the terms and conditions of advertising credits.)

These seminars are not run by Google itself, but instead by carefully selected search marketing professionals who have years of experience managing AdWords for their clients. (Both of our seminar leaders are also Qualified Individuals in the Google Advertising Professionals program.) We thought it’d be better this way, so that attendees can have an unbiased view on AdWords from the seminar leaders. Further, these seminars are not sales pitches – no one will be selling you anything so that you can focus on learning how to make AdWords work for your business.

The first round of AdWords Seminars will be offered in select cities: Los Angeles, San Mateo, Chicago, New York City, Miami, and Boston. If you don’t see your city listed, or regret having missed past seminars in L.A. or San Mateo, have no fear. Simply fill out this form to let us know that you’d like to be informed when additional sessions are offered.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew