Paid Search (PPC) Insights
What to Know Before Implementing Competitor Campaigns
One of the issues that brands face in the search industry is the proper implementation of competitor campaigns. Competitor campaigns are an industry-accepted concept that IMPAQT has applied and tested many times with continual monitoring for optimal success. It is important to understand the purpose competitor campaigns serve as well as the benefits and drawbacks of utilizing this strategy.
7 Ways to Think Creatively About Branded Search
There are more ways to optimize branded search campaigns than ever before – even without big budgets. In most cases, your main competitors will be quick to dive into these opportunities, or leave an opening for you to get out in front of them. Either way, staying on top of the latest betas and offerings is vital…. and it can be tough. In an effort to help you get a jump start on creative branded search strategies, we have compiled a few of our top agency philosophies that can give your brand campaign a competitive edge.
A Look at Google’s New Enhanced Campaigns
Last week Google announced an update to their AdWords platform called “Enhanced Campaigns”. The cause of the change is based on research showing that consumers are using multiple devices from various locations at different times of day and are looking for a consistent experience. Up to this point, advertisers had to create separate campaigns for each context (location, time of day, and device) whereas now enhanced campaigns will allow advertisers to control bids, messaging, and ad types across multiple devices without having to create a separate campaign for each.
The Affiliate Conundrum: How to Successfully Manage Affiliates in Paid Search
One of the issues that brands regularly face in the search space is effective affiliate management. Affiliates are often considered a necessary evil where a brand has to tolerate co-existence with affiliates as a means to expand brand awareness and earn incremental revenue. Like any other business decision, the choice of whether to include affiliates in a brand’s marketing plan has to be made in light of a cost-benefit analysis. It is important to understand the purpose that affiliates serve and define how they will support the brand in obtaining incremental business for the company.
Remarketing: The Future of Digital Marketing
Creating campaigns based on competitor keyword terms is a strategy that is frequently discussed within the paid search industry. Depending on the product, service, or industry, the implementation of competitor campaigns can have positive and negative impacts. It is a technique that can generate valuable leads for businesses, though it can create increased competition and costs in some cases. Testing and closely monitoring the implementation of competitor campaigns is the best way to determine their overall success and benefit.
Competitor Campaigns
Creating campaigns based on competitor keyword terms is a strategy that is frequently discussed within the paid search industry. Depending on the product, service, or industry, the implementation of competitor campaigns can have positive and negative impacts. It is a technique that can generate valuable leads for businesses, though it can create increased competition and costs in some cases. Testing and closely monitoring the implementation of competitor campaigns is the best way to determine their overall success and benefit.
Product Listing Ads (PLAs) Part 2: Short Term Opportunities and Considerations
In Product Listing Ads (PLAs) Part 1, we discussed the long term PLA changes we may see from Google in order to gain a better understanding of the opportunities that exist for brands. The opportunities described in Part 1 are complex and therefore we would expect to see product features like those in 3-5 years. With that said - what do PLAs mean for marketers in the interim? Let’s identify the short term opportunities and considerations that marketers must understand when deciding if and how to set up a Product Listing Ads Campaign.
Product Listing Ads (PLAs) Part 1: A Look into the Future of Shopping as Google Builds a New Niche
This past Spring, Google announced that it would be discontinuing the free service product listings that many SEO marketers relied on, making it mandatory to pay for Product Listing Ads (PLAs) come this fall. As the announcement was made, an outcry of opinions appeared all over the internet for having to pay for yet another service from the almighty “Do No Evil” Search Engine.
Are You Taking Advantage of New Ad Formats to Improve Campaign Performance?
As Search Marketers, we are always looking for new and innovative strategies to improve campaign performance. We review bidding and budgeting strategies routinely to ensure keyword performance is fully optimized. We review a website for landing page conversion optimization opportunities. We write, re-write and test ad copy to increase CTR. But, how often do we test ad copy formats and analyze their affect on campaign performance?
Supporting Consumers at the Shelf through the Mobile Experience
While many retail and CPG marketers have jumped on board the mobile marketing train, they have yet to create strategic plans specifically for combating the hyper-competitive landscape that now exists in-store. In this article, we will discuss the steps marketers can take in order to build these important mobile strategies.
What Role Can Search Play in B2B Lead Generation
Lead generation is a vital part of most B2B marketing strategies, and relies on a combination of gathering lead data and nurturing those leads. Search marketing can be a successful part of B2B lead generation programs because it can both prompt leads to directly provide information by filling out a form, as well as indirectly provide information via their online activity. Versatile enough to support both ends of the B2B funnel, there are a multitude of Search related strategies to consider when reaching and gathering information from your target audience.
The Influence of Bottom Rail Paid Search (PPC) ads
Google is constantly manipulating the way in which they display paid ads on the search engine results page (SERP). One of these major changes, rolled out in early November, 2011, involves showing PPC ads at the bottom of the results page. Whereas we had grown accustomed to seeing paid ads placed above and to the right of the organic listings, some searches now result in ads that are being shown at the bottom of the page. While this was not new for PPC as a whole (Yahoo and Bing often show paid ads at the bottom of the SERP and have done so for quite awhile); it was a new innovation for Google, and calls out changes Google is making to better the searcher experience. Let's analyze Google's methodology around making these changes and identify how marketers can analyze the changes a SERPs structure change can make to their campaigns.
How Search Engine Marketing Can Assist in Your Online Reputation Management (ORM)
Search engines provide a great venue for consumers to stay on top of hot and trending topics, because of their ability to quickly index news articles, blog posts and more. When searching for a recent developing story, searchers find value in seeing results that were posted '7 minutes ago.' However, when negative information about a business comes to light, the speed of search engine indexing can quickly tarnish a brand's reputation.
Planning Search Engine Marketing Campaigns for Large Events
Every year, marketers spend millions of dollars to air their commercials during the Super Bowl. While we all realize the opportunity to reach target audiences during this event via TV ads, a vast amount of opportunities lie within online strategies that span across a multitude of other relevant events.
Google Hotel Price Ads (HPA)
Hotel Price Ads, or HPA, are the sponsored price listings that appear on Google+ Local, Google Maps, and Google Hotel Finder. HPA was Google's way of entering the travel market after they acquired ITA Software, a company that provides various travel data to many different sites.
When Google first introduced HPA in 2010, many hotel marketers questioned how they should react to these changes. Even now, many hotel marketers are still questioning if they should take part in this new bidding system. One of our leading hotel clients, Best Western, decided to get their feet wet in the system early on. Let's look at some of their key learnings, dive further into how HPA works, and identify considerations for hotel marketers when deciding if they should enter this new bidding system.
Google Product Ads
Google has announced that it will discontinue the free product submissions in its Google Shopping engine (previously called Google Product Search) and make all listings a result of its Product Listing Ads (PLA). From now until Fall, there will be a mix of PLAs and free product listing results within the SERPs. During this time, positioning will relying on the existing auction logic, not whether or not it is a PLA or a product from a free product feed.
Google Click-to-Call Advertising
The need to provide consumers with relevant information in a timely manor, via the mobile device, has become vital for organizations today. Click-to-Call (CTC) advertising provides a great deal of opportunity for businesses to do just that.
Search as an Invasive Marketing Solution
Marketers allocate a large portion of their budget toward invasive marketing in many channels, including TV, Social Media, Email, Display and Direct Mail. Brands utilize these ads to push consumers toward recognizing a need for their products or services….and it works. Search marketing doesn’t have to be any different. Understanding who your consumer is and what they might be searching for, before they identify a need for your products or services, can help you create the same type of „invasive? marketing strategies for your Search campaigns.
Back to SEM Basics: Are You Creating Unique Experiences Based on Searcher Intent
Today, I challenge you to go back to the basics of Search. Make sure that you are best optimizing your traditional Search campaigns, and that each campaign is creating the best experience for the searcher. I challenge you to see what value can be gained from simply answering the question “based on the intent of the searcher, what relationship should I build via my landing pages?”
Right Sizing CPCs in a Competitive Market
How do you know whether or not you’re overpaying for your clicks? To best answer this question, it’s important to first understand the drivers of CPC that are directly within your control. In this article, we will review ad group structure, keyword positioning, quality score and click through rate influences that can help you decrease CPCs.
Search Strategies for the International Market
What works well when traveling abroad, can translate into some helpful strategies for a successful PPC campaign. Ideas such as planning ahead to get the best deals, securing the right funds and documentation, learning about the culture and language before you ever step on a plane, and most of all, being flexible and adapting while you are on your trip, all have relevance in an international PPC campaign. Let’s look at these areas more closely.
The Super Bowl and Search: Emerging Trends from 2012’s Big Game
Advertisers were online in a big way for this year’s Super Bowl – especially via Search, where they advertised before, during, and after the Super Bowl. There is a lot we can take away from the 2012 Super Bowl Search trends, as well as consumer responses to strategy shifts online. Let’s look at the evolution we have seen with advertisers and consumers this year to get some insight into what’s to come for the Search landscape in 2012.
The Intersection of Search and Social Media
Traditionally, marketers have viewed Search and Social Media separately. But several changes in both channels over the last two years have significantly blurred the lines between them, causing marketers to consider their interaction. Instead of thinking about Search and Social Media in silos, marketers now need to think of the two holistically and identify how these channels influence one another, as well as decide what strategies and tactics to employ for optimal interaction.
Understanding Change: Rate vs. Mix
What do you do if your clickthrough rate (CTR) suddenly drops 25%? The art of quickly identifying the direct cause of a change in your Search campaign can be timely and difficult. This Insight will walk through how to quickly knock out the most common root causes with simple math and a combination of Mix and Rate.
Local Intent: Not Just for the Mobile User
Last year, the hot topic on almost every Search marketer’s mind was mobile. The amount of smartphone users increased rapidly in 2011, along with the amount of consumers that used their smartphone to assist with shopping – 79%, according to Google. From this surge in the smartphone shopping experience, came another hot topic: Local Search.
Google+ from a Paid Search Perspective
Recently Google announced that they will be including information from Google+ in their search engine result pages. To understand the implications that Google+ has on Paid Search, we conducted some research and examined a number of campaigns.
Expanding Paid Search Strategies beyond the Ordinary to Increase Brand Development
Over the past few years, we have seen a significant evolution and expansion within Paid Search. As online media converges and Social Media Marketing increasingly overlaps with Search Marketing, we find that Paid Search no longer applies to just platforms like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Paid Search is now included in other, non traditional platforms that have Search capabilities - such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
The Best in Google Tracking: Google Analytics or Google AdWords Conversion Tracking?
Google Analytics and Google AdWords Conversion Tracking are designed to assist companies in the analysis of their Search campaign performance to make smarter decisions. But, which is the best option for tracking performance via Google? Well, the answer is much more complicated than simply choosing one vs. the other. There are key factors that you must consider when deciding which tool set is the right one to use or focus on.
Bing and Yahoo! Search Alliance….One Year Later
A year after the Bing and Yahoo! Search Alliance, many marketers are still not investing in this opportunity. In this Insight, we will discuss key reasons to consider taking the dive, if you have not already. We will also outline best practices for optimizing your Bing/Yahoo Search programs, as well as provide a look into the future of this alliance and its influence on the Search industry moving forward.
A Brave New World: The Future of Search Marketing
Search Marketing is changing, and marketers need to understand the dynamics at work, in order to not only keep up with competitors, but also keep up with their evolving customers. In this White Paper, we explores the evolution of Search Marketing that is taking place today, as well as walk through the steps that marketers need to take in order to align their strategies with these changes.
Sitelink Tactics that Every Marketer Should Implement
Sitelinks are an ad copy extension introduced by Google in 2010 and modified multiple times since their inception. There are several versions of sitelinks either currently in production or in a Beta test. Learn how sitelinks can help your campaigns as we walk through the different types of sitelinks, tactics, and best practices that you can implement.
Predicting 2011 Holiday Consumer Behavior Using Back-to-School Trends
Marketers should look at the back-to-school season as an indicator of what the holiday season may bring in reference to Search, spend timing, preferred purchasing channel, and most influential channels and tactics. Here is what we found during the 2011 back-to school season that could indicate key strategies you should implement for the 2011 holiday season.
Google Automated Rules: Why You Should Adopt
A lot of time can be spent on managing bids and the state of campaigns, ad groups, ad copy and keywords. Having a parameter tool for your keywords is a big help. Whether you are working with a multi-billion-dollar corporation with a huge budget, or a tiny Mom and Pop store with a small budget, tools like Google Automated Rules can save a lot of time and money. This Insight outlines some key reasons and best practices for utilizing automated tools.
Why Mobile Should Be a Vital part of Your Search Strategy
The mobile market is constantly changing, with new features and technologies arriving almost daily. Although most marketers understand the importance of mobile marketing, taking that first step can be a challenge. Here are some key concerns and learnings that Carissa has found through working with clients to implement their first mobile campaigns.
Google Modified Broad match (MBR): A Match Made in Heaven
MBR gives advertisers the option to require specific words be included in any queries that match. It essentially excludes synonyms and some misspellings, but allows variation in the order of the words. To figure out just how much opportunity lies within MBR, IMPAQT tested it against traditional broad and phrase matches on several client accounts.
It’s Not You, It’s Them: Campaign Performance and User Differences Across Search Engines
There are differences between the three major Search engines in terms of who uses them, how they are used, and how they perform in a given vertical. Knowing these differences can help pinpoint differences in Paid Search campaign performance across the engines to make the appropriate adjustments. It can also help allocate your resources most efficiently across the engines and target the most profitable searchers.
Testing the Effects of Cannibalization on Paid Search
When marketers look for new ways to cut costs and increase their ROI, they also re-thinking the true value of SEO and PPC. Many marketers have come to us in hopes of identifying what the true value is of utilizing both. What is important in understanding this value, or lack of, is how they work together. Our team performed a test to analyze both the positives and negatives of using both PPC and SEO.