Search Strategy

26 May 2011

The Future of Search

In the last decade we’ve seen a seismic shift in how search is used both by consumers and businesses. Led by Google, we’ve seen product after product roll out.

But rather than summarise the last decade of innovations, in this article I gaze into the crystal ball to see what search could be like in the next decade.

A challenger to Google?

Quite probably. I doubt that anyone will be able to catch Google’s monopoly-like market share, but there are a few contenders that will surely give them a shake.

The most obvious choice is the Bing/Yahoo combination (or Binghoo!). With pooled resources and a greater focus on delivering features comparable to AdWords, marketers and consumers alike may see the benefit of switching.

But realistically the development cycles at both Microsoft and Yahoo are too slow to keep up. Google’s massive innovation budgets and focus on NPD (new product development) keeps them ahead of the game.

The real challenger is actually Facebook. The way they have infiltrated the web with ‘Like’ functionality paves the way for a search engine to be based not on links (like Google’s PageRank), but on likes, creating a social-powered search engine.

Of course, this is conditional upon Facebook maintaining its own popularity for the next decade (which I have some doubts about – but that’s an article for another day).

The big caveat to Google maintaining its supremacy is the top three; Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt. Whilever those three remain Google is unlikely to lose top spot. The danger for Google is a shift in approach that alienates users (like charging for search or other services that have traditionally always been free) and that won’t happen while those guys are still there.

TV

Television is the next big medium for search. Google have already started to dabble in it with Google TV and broadcast rights on YouTube. Yahoo and Microsoft have been teaming up with networks for years (think Yahoo!7 and Ninemsn in Australia).

However, the big stumbling block for Google TV at the moment is the opposition of the major networks and media buyers.

AdWords already lets you buy TV ads on major commercial networks in the US, and Google TV aims to allow free-to-air shows to stream via the net. The big problem the networks will have in trying to oppose Google TV long term is that the push for Google TV is likely to come from the advertisers themselves (and their million-dollar budgets).

By allowing anyone to buy TV ads through AdWords (eliminating traditional media buyers) and streaming shows to a wider audience, advertisers have the potential to reach more people for less money.

Furthermore, with real-time Analytics being fed back into the system about individuals viewing patterns, there’s nothing stopping advertisers micro-targeting certain demographics. From a viewer’s perspective, it means that you could be seeing different ads each ad break than the guy in the house next door!

There’s obviously many issues to overcome, and failing an agreement with the major networks, don’t be surprised if Google do an Oprah Winfrey and establish their own TV network. Remember, they’ve already got broadcast rights through YouTube.

The Search Algorithm

Most search algorithms have gone through many changes in the last decade, but there has always been one constant; the number and quality of links. I don’t foresee this changing within the next decade either.

Over time, we may start to see social connections play a bigger role, but these are still a form of link.

New Search Products?

Undoubtedly. What products, you ask? Well, that’s a tougher question.

As society becomes more and more mobile, expect a greater focus on location and geographic based search products. Also expect a greater focus on augmented reality products, particularly in the areas of retail, real estate and maps.

As a general rule, expect to see a Google powered search bar everywhere, from your TV to your fridge, the world is going to become very searchable place.

Update: Two days after posting this, Google announced the launch of Google Wallet, a mobile payments platform (partnering with MasterCard and Citibank) that they’re calling a merge between “mobile” and “local.” Looks like a good start to the decade.

Popularity: 25%

Posted in Google, The Big Issues | Leave a comment

19 May 2011

NBN: A Game Changer

An investment in Australia’s future or a needless waste of money? Regardless of your political stance on the impending roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN), it’s coming – and it will be a game changer.

Imagine this….

It’s the morning peak hour rush. Driving down what’s normally a 100km/h highway, you’re ploughing along at a measly 20. Tediously churning through first and second gears, your frustration levels teeter on the brink of capitulation. A glance over your right shoulder only compounds your irritation as countless cars fly past you in the transit lane…

Annoyed? You betcha!

Why? Because you know that you are capable of travelling faster.

A comparable situation will arise coinciding with the introduction of the NBN. Tasks that internet users currently consider ‘normal’ will be completed with ease, while a wealth of content-rich sites and pages will become more and more prevalent. The early adopters of the NBN will have a renewed plethora of available information, while users still ‘stuck in the traffic’ of current broadband technology become increasingly frustrated.

Given the exceeding willingness of modern consumers to quickly adopt new technology, the transition to faster internet is likely to be as swift as the NBN itself.

But what does this mean for your existing methods of internet marketing, or for businesses that are yet to engage in marketing through the online portal?

Below is a list of tips to ensure you stay ahead of your competitors in the diverse and ever-evolving world of internet marketing.

1. Ensure That You Can Be Found

Visibility is paramount. With more and more content set to be created and posted online, businesses risk getting lost in the clutter. The advertising industry is tipped to be worth $14.16bn by 2014 [1], and with the bulk of this expenditure expected to be online, advertisers must be conscious of competing within a highly competitive and saturated market.

With conventional domain names rapidly being exhausted, and with a growing proliferation of pages on the internet, it is vitally important that your visibility within search-engine results is high.

2. Integrate a Digital Marketing Strategy Into Your Marketing Mix

Australia already boasts one of the highest internet penetration rates in the world. The addition of the NBN is likely to increase penetration and usage, adding weight to the importance of digital marketing as part of your marketing mix. Below are some interesting statistics about internet marketing within Australia.

80.1% of Australians used the internet last year, placing the nation among the top ten in the world for internet usage [2]

Last year, online advertising expenditure grew by 21% – double the previous growth in 2009 (PwC) [3]

Online advertising is expected to increase by 15.4% each year [4]

By 2014, internet advertising is forecast to overtake television and newspapers to become Australia’s biggest advertising medium [1]

3. Ensure That Consumers WANT To See Your Ads

When developing online advertisements, placement is crucial. Well targeted ads relevant to the content a consumer sees on a particular page are generally more successful than ads without such a positioning strategy.

Countless studies have shown that consumers despise intrusive ads (like pop-ups) and are unlikely to retain brand messages communicated within them. Conversely, Search Engine Marketing produces ads relevant to the search terms of consumers and are more likely to generate a profitable ROI.

SEM remains one of the most effective promotional tools available online and with the number of daily searches increasing exponentially, the opportunities available to businesses are too good to pass up.

4. Adaptation Is Essential To Survival

In the ever-changing and constantly evolving world of digital marketing, it is essential that advertisers pre-empt market trends and are not resistant to change. Here are some considerations for businesses currently participating in internet marketing.

Continually monitor performance of your online campaigns

Frequently update, change and optimise campaigns

Don’t be complacent when achieving good results – Internet trends change quickly!

Never be afraid to try something new! Consider the first-mover advantages of successful online models like Wotif, YouTube and eBay

5. Build Business-Brand Relationships

The online realm presents a wealth of opportunities for businesses to engage with their target markets. Implementing a Social Media Marketing campaign is an increasingly popular avenue to do this.

By December 2010, 9.5 million Australians [5] (around 40% of the population) were actively using social media site, Facebook, with the average session lasting 25 minutes. Embracing the vast potential of mediums such as these provides an opportunity for companies to engage with their target markets to build solid business-brand relationships.

Remember, brand equity is something that no competitor can take from you!

In Conclusion…

The introduction of the NBN and the failure to adopt new technology may have significant repercussions for your business’s profitability. If you are not already actively participating in digital marketing, you risk getting left behind in the ‘traffic jam’ of businesses without an online presence.

Lara Sinclar; The Australian. August 2, 2010. Internet Advertising to Dominate as NBN Tipped To Stimulate Media Growth
Australia: NBN – Far Reaching Implications for Existing Carriers and CSPs. April 5, 2011. www.mondaq.com
PwC Chief Media Analyst David Wiadrowski. As quoted in The Australian. August 2, 2010.
Australia – Digital Economy – Advertising, Statistics, Revenues and Forecast. ND. www.budde.com.au/research
SocialBakers Facebook-Statistics. www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics

Popularity: 33%

Posted in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, The Big Issues | Tagged digital marketing, Marketing, national broadband network, nbn | Leave a comment

11 May 2011

Communication: One Way or the Other?

The image above recently caused a stir in the advertising world and reignited the debate between traditional marketers and interactive communication specialists over the effectiveness of one-way vs two-way marketing communications.

The company responsible, business social media platform ‘Yammer’, had this to say about their snarky billboard:

“Simply put, we wanted to make a statement about the new paradigm of how people and organizations communicate, and figured what better way to do that than to use the oldest mode of paid media.” - Marketing Designer Aria Shen

The billboard, while daring, experienced a lashing from print advertisers for being ‘ironically taunting’ with the strongest critics labeling the ad as ‘futile and obsolete’ itself.

According to Yammer, the objective of their advertisement was to

“demonstrate to passersby (and potential hires) that old methods of communication are becoming obsolete, and Yammer is ushering in a new standard.” – Yammer

Yet critics argue that, as the billboard itself has generated a huge amount of interest and publicity for Yammer, the medium by default cannot be considered obsolete.

As to which is a better way to communicate a message to your customers, I believe you need both one and two way communication in order to form an effective online presence.

Here are 3 simple ways to connect with your consumer via one way and two way communications online:

1. Increase Your Traffic and Brand Awareness with CPC Advertising.

• CPC Advertising is a great way to insure your company is generating traffic to its website. When focusing on brand awareness, your primary focus should be on Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing’s search and display network campaigns.

• If your focus is to direct traffic to your two-way communication medium, create Facebook CPC ads. These ads will convert users into ‘fans’ of your Facebook business page and therefore have them subscribed to relevant content pumped out through your Facebook site. Interaction is communication!

2. Utilise Social Media – Come On! It’s Free!

• Social Media can be a great way to communicate with your customers, and listen to their attitudes and opinions about your brand.

• Join Twitter and join the conversation. Publish relevant content frequently and engage with your customers by asking questions. Encourage them to do the same. As your number of followers increase, your brand influence does as well.

• Get a Facebook page! What you can do with Facebook for your business these days is incredible. So start now! Publish your RSS blog feed, upload videos and photos and tag your employees. Let your customers know that your business is human. Connect with them on a personal level, and they will remember you!

3. Listen to your Followers

• Generating traffic to your site and social media channels is one thing, but listening to your users can give you some valuable insights into improving your product or services. Engage with a listening tool such as BuzzNumbers and analyse consumer sentiment of topics related to your products or services. You may find ways of improving them, and your customer service!

Popularity: 66%

Posted in Debate | Tagged one way communication, social media marketing, social media strategy, two way communication | Leave a comment

6 May 2011

Introducing Google Shopping

Google officially launched Google Shopping in Australia this past Tuesday (May 3^rd) and we are really excited at some of the opportunities it presents for our current and future clients at Reload Media.

Google Shopping is basically a product comparison search engine with one major difference to all the other competitors in this space – it’s completely free!

True to form, Google plan to earn their revenue through the extremely targeted AdWords ads that appear above the product results:

So what do you need to know about Google Shopping?

How does it work?

Google Shopping is available due to the Google Merchant Center (finally!) being made available in Australia.

The Google Merchant Center is a place where users can submit detailed data feeds of their product listings, availability, sizes etc. to Google so that these products can be indexed in Google product search and across the web. These product listings can be static or dynamic depending on the nature of your inventory.

Submitting a data feed by yourself can be tricky but is definitely doable. However, if you are having trouble, feel free to contact a consultant at Reload Media who can arrange this for you!

How do I access Google Shopping/product search?

To access Google shopping you can either visit Google.com.au/Shopping or just click the ‘Shopping’ tab on your left hand tool bar in Google:

Where will my products appear?

Not only will your products appear in the ‘Google Product Search’ results (as visible in our first example), but you now have the opportunity to extend your AdWords ads with product images, descriptions, prices and direct links to the product page:

Once again, this is a service that Reload Media now offers to our current and future clients!

Why would I want my products to be available in the Google shopping tab?

Although it is still in its infancy in Australia, Google Shopping is an opportunity that should not be overlooked.

The reason?

Google’s newly released product search engine targets comparison shoppers and purchase ready consumers alike when they are in the most tantalising stage of the consumer buying cycle – the ‘taking action’ stage!

Furthermore, the ability to extend your product range to relevant Google AdWords ads will allow you to create more magnetic, specific and higher converting ads!

Need to know anything else about Google Shopping? Leave your questions and comments below!

Popularity: 28%

Posted in Google, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation | Tagged google merchant center, google product search, google shopping, merchant center data feeds | Leave a comment

1 April 2011

Conversion Optimisation

So, what is conversion optimisation?

Put simply, conversion optimisation is a critical element that should be incorporated into any high level SEO strategy. It is the process of converting the traffic you have spent your hard earned cash on into positive user actions. Sometimes, this process is also referred to as Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO).

Currently, the industry average conversion rate for any website is 2.9%, or 2.9 people converting (inquiring, purchasing, signing up, downloading etc) for every 100 website visitors. However, is this really enough? In the competitive online world, if you have managed to get a potential client to your website, I bet you sure as hell want to convert them! If you haven’t got the necessary conversion elements within your site, a visitor may head back to Google and commit the ultimate crime – convert at one of your competitors websites!

Little things like enquiry forms, clear site navigation, intuitive check out systems, ‘desired action’ sign posting and comprehensive remarketing campaigns can all work to increase your overall website conversion rates considerably.

If the right conversion elements aren’t in place, a website visitor won’t look around to find where they can act, they will simply leave your website.

As Steve Krug so elegantly stated, you should never make your user think!

So to move forward with your website’s conversion optimisation, ask yourself:

Are you aware of how many people are visiting your website each day or month?
Do you know your current conversion rate?
Do you have Google Analytics setup on your website?
Are you happy with the amount of conversions you receive from your website?
Is each website page encouraging a viewer to contact you?

If you frantically screamed ‘NO’ for any of these questions, you might just need to implement few simple changes that could help you plug that hole in your bucket!

So here’s some tips..

Use Google Analytics!

Head to Google Analytics and sign up. Google Analytics provides you with an analytical dashboard where you can view endless stats on your website’s performance, including the golden conversion rate and site visitors. Best of all, it’s free!

Ensure that each page on your website has a purpose.

Is your website designed to inform? Or, is it to persuade or sell? Whatever it is, you need to sell your business’s services and get your point across in a convincing way. Encourage viewers to take action through enquiring or purchasing by including call to actions around your products and services like ‘Enquire Now for a Free Consultation’ etc.

Insert an Enquire Now link or an Enquiry Form on all of your pages.

This will make it easier for website visitors to enquire. The trick with increasing your conversion rate is to not provide a barrier to enquire. Make it as easy as possible for a visitor to enquire, otherwise, they will simply leave!

Show credibility.

Make sure your website accurately represents your business in terms of trust. If you are a reputable company with lots of experience and successful clients, make sure you show this through relevant web design and copy.

Make sure you’re targeting the right audience.

Double check your SEO work. Are you targeting relevant keywords? Sometimes, purely getting more web traffic isn’t the best strategy. Make sure that you are targeting and ranking for relevant keywords that are aligned with your business and what you are trying to achieve. For example, if you sell boats, don’t optimise for the keyword ‘Boats’. Optimise for keywords around your area like ‘Boats Brisbane’ or ‘Boat Supplier Brisbane’. You have much more chance of ranking for more targeted keywords, and you will be attracting a more relevant audience.

Analyse your Google Analytics!

Constantly monitor your analytical data. This will allow you to identify trends based around website traffic. You might realise that certain pages convert more than others and some pages might have higher bounce rates. Use this data to constantly tweak your website and ensure it is up to date and working best for you.

That’s my two cents for this week. Let me know of any conversion difficulties your website is experiencing and I can provide you with some customised advice!

Popularity: 22%

Posted in Web Strategy | Tagged Conversion Optimisation, Online web conversion, SEO strategy, Website conversion, Website strategy | Leave a comment

31 March 2011

Google Plus 1

Our crafty friends at Google have found a way to compete with Facebook’s much loved ‘Like’ button – Introducing Google +1.

Google is making a huge push into social with +1, a similar feature to Facebook’s ‘Like’ button.

Starting next Wednesday, users can opt in to taking part of the +1 experiment. Essentially, the aim of +1 is to add a ‘public stamp of approval’ to search results. According to Google, using the +1 feature will result in your name becoming associated with a link, an ad, a search result or anything where you think “this is pretty cool” across the web.

Google does however face a steep uphill battle against Facebook’s ‘Like’ button. Over 2 million sites and counting have the Facebook ‘Like’ button installed.

Ad experts seem to be split on whether Google’s +1 will take off, however if it does, it’s likely to further an existing move toward marketing transparency.

Voicing the most pessimistic view on +1 was David Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer. He notes that search is more a utility than a social activity, making recommendations an odd fit. “It’s not a medium where people spend time,” Hallerman says. “It’s a tool that people use.”

But as DeepFocus CEO Ian Schafer suggests, +1 could make search more social, changing behaviors in the process. “When someone is searching for a piece of information about a product, a review, or insightful commentary, it is typically a very insular activity,” says Schafer. “But being able to place a ‘seal of approval’ next to a search result may have the effect of making a typically insular activity more collaborative – hopefully improving the ‘algorithm’ through the quality of your connections.”

If +1 gains popularity, there’s a strong possibility that businesses will begin trying to collect +1s the way they currently try to accumulate Facebook ‘Likes’. “It encourages that kind of behavior — the gamification of marketing,” says Josh Rose, executive vice president and digital creative director of ad agency Deutsch LA. “This will definitely play into those hands.”

If +1′s aren’t gamed too much, Rose and others see the new recommendation aspect of search as a positive force, holding brands and their advertising more accountable. Leonard points out that if the +1′s contribute to a marketer’s Quality Score, they will pay less for advertising than others with lower scores, giving consumers a new way to, in effect, vote on a brand. A large number of +1s could raise expectations about a product, Leonard says.

Overall, there is exciting times ahead with the movement into social search. Would you be more likely to click on results that your friends have recommended? Let us know your thoughts below.

You can view ‘Everything You Need To Know on Google’s +1 here.

Popularity: 26%

Posted in Google, Social Media | Tagged Google, Google +1, social search | Leave a comment

1 March 2011

India Office (and Cricket World Cup) Visit – Feb 2011

Llew with some of the Reload India crew at the Cricket World Cup in Ahmedabad.

Reload Media set up our Indian office last year in Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat.

This was my first trip to the sub-continent and I packed my bags full of anti “Delhi Belly” bug catchers and headed off on the excellent service of Singapore Airlines.

After a quick stop over in Singapore to meet with some of our clients and new partners over a plate of local cuisine, I arrived in Ahmedabad late one Tuesday night.

The place is simply quite amazing. It’s busy, fun, a cultural infusion of different people from all walks of life and simply alive at any time – day or night. It’s also cheap to get around and you can have your own private car for a week and pay next to nothing. My driver could have represented India in the World Rally Cup after showing me his driving skills on the opposite side of the road each morning – just to wake me up.

We built our office with our own staff and facilities from scratch early in 2010. This was mainly done by our Asian Operations Manager Brijesh Shah, and was based in his home state. Brij also celebrated his wedding during the trip and I had a great time at the Shah’s residence and wedding wearing my ornate Sherwani and curly toed shoes whilst dancing in the streets to some loud drums and big band tunes.

Our office in Ahmedabad has a great crew working there. We have two core SEO teams with the same HR cultural values that Reload is proud of and they even share the little things that we do in Australia, NZ and the UK, such as pizza nights and going to the cricket. The staff India really feel they are a key part of the Reload vision and brand, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Like the games of cricket we go to at the Gabba in Brisbane with staff and clients, I took the Reload India staff to a Cricket World Cup game (Australia vs Zimbabwe). Although not a fast game, it was great to stand up and sing Advance Australia Fair with the smattering of other Aussies in the crowd. We chewed down vegetarian hot dogs and Pepsi (only drink available) and watched Shaun Tait rip the stumps out of the ground.

We are expanding the office in India and by the end of 2011 we will be 20 staff. This expansion also includes the current negotiation of a new, larger office located in a burgeoning area in Ahmedabad. The operation has a great future and already we have staff from Australia booked to go and work out of the Reload India office this year. Furthermore, there is also the promise of long term Reload India staff coming to Australia for training in the future too!

Watch this space!

Popularity: 26%

Posted in Featured | Leave a comment

17 February 2011

The Perils of ‘Black Hat’ SEO

This week has seen one of the biggest ‘Google Slaps’ in recent history with department store JCPenney severely penalised for engaging in ‘black hat’ SEO practices.

For those who haven’t heard, the New York Times (which is starting to get a reputation for these types of exposés), ran a story outlining how JCPenney had been allegedly engaging in dodgy SEO practices (you can read the full article here) in an attempt to artificially influence Google’s ranking algorithm.

Whilst not illegal, these dodgy SEO practices do go against Google’s policies, and as a result, Google responded by manually penalising JCPenney’s site, causing them to drop from high on the first page for most of their key search terms to somewhere on page six and below.

What JCPenney, or more accurately their SEO firm (who was subsequently dumped by the company), were doing was engaging in extensive paid link schemes on completely unrelated sites. Basically, what they were doing was paying thousands of dodgy or unrelated websites (like a nuclear engineering site and a Bulgarian property site) to link to them, thus artificially increasing their popularity in the eyes of Google.

Now most, if not all SEO firms engage in some form of link-building for their clients. However, this is perfectly fine providing you only get links on related sites or those with high authority themselves. In other words, a genuine reason for one site to link to another. Extensive (and/or paid) link building from what is often referred to in SEO circles as “bad neighbourhoods” is likely to result in Google issuing some harsh penalties for hanging out with the wrong crowd.

The issue for all businesses who are undertaking SEO services is to make sure their SEO firm is not engaging in dodgy or black hat techniques.

What will be interesting to see over the coming months is how long Google impose this ‘manual penalty’ before allowing their algorithm to re-rank JCPenney back where they belong (probably somewhere low on page one or onto page two).

Google have always claimed that their algorithm is very intelligent when it comes to detecting when a site is engaging in dodgy practices, and most ‘penalties’ are handed down algorithmically without the need for manual intervention. So what happened with JCPenney? Why were they able to get away with it for so long before someone noticed?

Cynics have suggested it’s due to the massive AdWords budget JCPenney spend with Google each year, but I don’t believe so. Google have always kept the paid and organic side of their business very separate and there’s also plenty of brands with far bigger budgets than JCPenney that would probably get the preferential treatment (if they were doing it, which I don’t believe they are).

In my opinion, the reason why they were able to get away with it without drawing attention from Google’s algorithm is due to the weighting in Google’s search algorithm regarding the strength of the brand. It’s been rumoured for a while that one of the factors Google uses in assessing a site is how much of a “brand” it is.

This may sound like a hard thing to gauge, but when you have the resources of Google, it’s actually not. For instance, by checking the ‘About Us’ and ‘Contact Us’ pages of a website (and verifying against Google Maps listings, Yellow Pages, other directories, etc), Google’s able to get a picture of how many offices a company has, where they’re located and generally how big a business is.

They’re also able to use social signals like Facebook fans, Twitter followers, LinkedIn connections, Youtube views to assess the size of a company.

Even other factors, like a company’s Wikipedia page or how many searches occur each month for a ‘brand name’ help Google to assess how big a brand is.

JCPenney would have ticked all these boxes, meaning Google would have had leeway in its algorithm for some dodgy links (either because of others pretending to be affiliated with the brand for their own personal gain or even sabotage by competitors).

The second point is probably the most valid because Google have always said it won’t penalise you for something your competitors could do to you. (Eg: Theoretically, it could have been one of JCPenney’s competitors that planted all those links to deliberately sabotage them).

Now normally, companies engaging in dodgy linking themselves leave a trail. This might be in the form of a link wheel where one of the dodgy linking domains is actually registered to the original company, requests left up on forums for paid links or even ‘honeypot traps’ set by Google where they pose as webmasters of dodgy sites trying to see who approaches them. In any case, if someone involved in dodgy linking has forgot to ‘dot an I’ or ‘cross a T’ somewhere along the way, you can bet Google will find it.

What this suggests is that either the firm engaged in the dodgy linking was covering their tracks perfectly or the few blemishes they did have were being offset by the ‘value of the brand.’ Either way, Google’s algorithm didn’t have enough evidence to punish them.

However, when the story broke and JCPenney fired their SEO firm, it gave Google enough evidence to suggest they had been doing it deliberately and imposed a manual penalty on them.

What this case highlights more than anything is that the world of link-building, whilst necessary to get solid rankings, has a very black underbelly and all businesses need to be careful about which SEO firm they choose to deal with, as picking the ‘wrong’ one can have disastrous consequences online.

Popularity: 26%

Posted in Search Engine Optimisation, The Big Issues | 4 Comments

4 February 2011

AdWords Ad Headlines: My How You’ve Grown

It’s Official.

Google have updated their AdWords blog to announce that they have changed the headline format of their AdWords ads.

Now, if your first description line of your ad is a complete sentence and your ad is showing amongst the top 3 ads, your first description line will appear in your headline!

This is yet another in a spate of recent ad format tweaks by Google who, in our opinion, have a long term goal of blurring the lines between organic and paid search results. These changes however, now mean that many AdWords accounts will require rapid and strategic optimisation in order to take advantage of the new format.

So, without further adieu, below we have provided you with the low down on how to get your head around this new ad improvement from our good friends at Google.

How do you know if your ads will be affected?

The best way to estimate which of your ads will change over to this new appearance is to analyse your ad positions and the first two lines of text for any of your top position ads.

Ads where the first line of descriptive text ends with a punctuation point and are in top 3 positions will need to be optimised.

It will also become good practice to ensure that your headline and first two lines of ad text have an element of fluency between them. For example, if your ad headline is repeated in your first line of descriptive text, optimisation will be necessary.

Unfortunately, if you are unhappy with the change there is no option to prevent this happening to your ads as the change is applicable to all Google domains globally. However, if you dislike the appearance or are unhappy with the performance of your new elongated headlines, you can change your description fields to communicate one whole sentence across two lines in order to revert your ads to the original format.

But why would you want to?

We believe Google is trying to improve the look of paid advertisements by having them look increasingly similar to organic links. This will, most likely, result in higher click through rates for ads shown with the longer headline and, in turn, generate more ad revenue for Google! A win-win situation. It also gives the consumer a greater amount of information as they enter your site, leading to higher qualified traffic to each website or landing page being advertised.

All of these rapid fire ad format changes do beg the question though…

If Google are happy to keep tinkering with their tried and true ad format (which have been partly responsible for most of their annual revenues to date)

Then what in the world will be next!?

Popularity: 22%

Posted in Featured, Google, Search Engine Marketing | Leave a comment

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NBN: A Game Changer

1. Ensure That You Can Be Found

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3. Ensure That Consumers WANT To See Your Ads

4. Adaptation Is Essential To Survival

5. Build Business-Brand Relationships

Introducing Google Shopping

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Why would I want my products to be available in the Google shopping tab?

Conversion Optimisation

India Office (and Cricket World Cup) Visit – Feb 2011

Llew with some of the Reload India crew at the Cricket World Cup in Ahmedabad.

The Perils of ‘Black Hat’ SEO

AdWords Ad Headlines: My How You’ve Grown

Search Strategy by Reload Media

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1. Ensure That You Can Be Found

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3. Ensure That Consumers WANT To See Your Ads

4. Adaptation Is Essential To Survival

5. Build Business-Brand Relationships

1. Increase Your Traffic and Brand Awareness with CPC Advertising.

2. Utilise Social Media – Come On! It’s Free!

3. Listen to your Followers

How does it work?

How do I access Google Shopping/product search?

Where will my products appear?

Why would I want my products to be available in the Google shopping tab?

Llew with some of the Reload India crew at the Cricket World Cup in Ahmedabad.

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