Google Sleight of Hand?
One of the keys to a great magic trick is a quick sleight of hand while the on looking audience is distracted. Has everyone been watching Google’s right hand when we should have been watching the left?
On August 21st Google posted “Quality Score Improvements” on the Inside AdWords.
We all noticed that last week Google finally put Google Suggest on Google.com.
Then Google releases its own browser Google Chrome this week.
Ok follow me here, they change the way AdWords keywords perform, then quickly begin to change and herd guide people’s search habits. All this happens around the last week of the last summer month before school starts. Then the first week of September when traffic really starts to pick back up for most ecommerce sites they release Chrome which gets all the attention and talk.
Still with me here? Now paid search is like the front line so I see traffic trend changes very quickly. I have noticed some very dramatic changes over the last two weeks due to the change in quality scoring and Google Suggest. Terms that I had stopped bidding on due to low impressions are now outperforming the terms that use to be the sweet spots.
There was some attention given to the changes in Quality Scoring and Google Suggest here and there but not once Chrome was released. Google has everyone so wrapped up in the release that not many have really seen the changes in traffic and keyword trends.
Catch Your Clients Red Handed
Have you ever logged into a client’s paid search account and notice odd changes that you swear you didn’t do?
Check the Change History-If you don’t know how already, here are the steps:
Campaign management screen>Tools>My Change History>Filter change history
Run this report once a week to see if anyone other than yourself has made any changes to the account. You may be surprised how often your clients can’t resist temptation and make random changes on their own. The client not knowing any better could cause detrimental harm to the performance of the account.
Slap Their Hand-The hard part is calling the client out regarding these renegade changes, but if done correctly you can stop this from happening again. I have even gone as far as to add a section to my service agreements that basically states that if the client makes any changes to the account other than billing info, it’s a breach of contract and I will no longer be held responsible for the performance of the account.
Think about it like this, if you took your car in for an oil change, went home and drained all the oil out, drove down the highway and blew your engine you couldn’t blame the oil change place.
What is the Equivalent of #1 Ranking on Google for Paid Search?
Everyone knows that the differences in Organic and Paid are worlds apart, the time lines of achieving success, the actual goals themselves and the over strategic tactics.
But how does one determine true over all success of paid marketing in comparison to organic efforts?
It is an automatic given that the typically goals of a paid campaign will vary for each company, industry, and the products and services offered.
I have some clients that currently have stats so good I want to print it and hang it on my mom’s frig.
MSN adCenter bulk Management Upgrade
Just got this email from MSN:
This weekend, Microsoft adCenter will upgrade with new features that make it easier to bulk manage your budgets and bulk submit ad groups. During this upgrade, your ads and keywords will remain live and continue to run as normal.
New bulk management features
- bulk manage budgets. Now you can update multiple campaign budgets simultaneously.
- bulk submit ad groups in Draft status. When importing campaigns, submit your ad groups at once to go live.
This is good news, I like the thought of shortening the amount of time I spend in adCenter being frustrated. My account rep has been on vacation this week, which was even more frustrating. For the record he is awesome and I do not hold any adCenter short comings against him personally.
Currently working in adCenter is almost as pleasant as walking into a brick wall repeatedly. The conversion rates that I see from MSN are why I even bother coming back. I know that if I plan to work on an adCenter account that I must meditate and become one with my Chi. I also accept the fact that twenty minutes into working in adCenter I will begin to sound like Yo Sammity Sam.
So hoo-ray! Now if they could just figure out how to get more traffic. Maybe a free toaster oven for every unique visitor that does a search?
