Top Click Media Staff Blog » Adwords

The AdWords Liquor Rules

Matt Thomas — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:12:16 +0000

For ages the advertising of hard liquor using Adwords was flatly forbidden. Adwords had a no nonsense approach, no mention or implication of the good stuff was to be used on their platform, whatsoever. Recently however, the credit-crunch amongst other things has forced Google to reappraise its values and perhaps look a little less harshly on the multi-billion dollar alcahol industry.

The search engine leader started last year by allowing the advertising of certain beers and followed that up recently by relaxing the regulations on hard liquors like whisky and tequila. Adwords have however, stopped short of fully lifting the ban – they’ve just fudged it slightly. So, if you’re a purveyor of hard alcohol online what can and can’t you do?

Well basically it amounts to this. You cannot ‘directly promote the sale of hard alcahol,’ however, you are allowed to promote it as part of a recipe. You may also create adverts, ‘with the sole purpose of branding.’

Still confused? I don’t blame you. Okay, what I think they mean by branding is this, anything that doesn’t directly offer the sale of alcohol. Stuff that promotes the product as a concept or promotes its flavour/image is fine i.e., Describing something’s ‘cool crisp taste,’ or ‘earthy flavour,’ s perfectly okay, blatantly stating ‘Cheap Vodka available $6.99 a litre!’ isn’t.

Basically you need to get creative. Have a look at other adverts to get a better idea of what you can get away with.

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New Adwords Feature tested

Jack Fox — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:29:03 +0000

Adwords is beta testing a new budgeting option called ‘Timeframe’. If Timeframe is rolled out properly it will allow users to budget for their campaigns by the day or by the month, depending on their preference.

For advertisers who choose the daily budget option, the system will work like this. There will be a certain amount of your money that Adwords is allowed to spend on advertising per day. Obviously, because of the variable nature of online viewing figures, you won’t use that budget every day. If there is a day where you’re say, 10 percent below your quota Adwords will compensate you by upping your daily budget by 10 percent on a busier day. It can do this with up to 20 percent of your budget per day. It’s basically just a way of making your budget work more efficiently for you.

This idea is taken further with the monthly option. When you have your budget set to monthly the budget is adjusted dynamically every day, allowing more money to be spent on the busier days. Adwords still stays within the set budget for the month, it simply concentrates resources where they are most needed. For example, if you get a lot of clicks on the weekend and very few during the week then Adwords will make sure that most of the budget is concentrated on the weekend.

Of course it means that Adwords makes more money, but it’s not like you’ll be spending money you hadn’t budgeted for. To me it seems like a good idea, I hope it comes in properly soon.

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A note of caution about Adwords (Part 2)

Mark Isle — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:10:29 +0000

Earlier we told you about an issue with Adwords that allows malicious programmers to promote their sites through the widely trusted system. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that Adwords is riddled with this sort of thing, but it is happening, and happening enough for it to be worth bearing in mind when using the programme.

This sort of thing is allowed to happen because of the sheer weight of Adverts that are submitted to Adwords. Google’s resources are great but not infinite, they most likely have thousands and thousands of prospective adverts to approve or reject every day – it stands to reason that some dodgy ones are going to get through.

So what do you do? Well, firstly, don’t overreact. Adwords is still a great programme, and probably one of the best ways to get your message to all those lovely prospective clients out there in internet land.

The thing to remember is that Google is not God. What I’m driving at is they’re not infallible. You should be careful at all times online and no less so when using a programme that you know and trust. If adwords serves you up an advert that you think might be suspect, do not simply click on it because it’s from uncle Google. View it like you would normally and, if in doubt, DO NOT CLICK.

If you keep your wits about you there should be no reason to worry.

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A note of caution about Adwords (Part 1)

Mark Isle — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:07:35 +0000

Google Adwords has long since won the race for supremacy in the field of online advertising. The chances are that if you have something to advertise on the internet you’re using Adwords to do it. There are a couple of reasons why, firstly it’s a great programme; it’s set up well, it’s easy to use and has all the features you need. The second reason is that we’ve come to trust Google. Whether we acknowledge it or not, because of their size and track record, we probably view Google and their projects as reliable.

This is fair enough, Google are infuriating ly good, pretty much everything they’ve tried has worked well and they’re by far the major online innovator currently. In this respect, we’re all right to trust Adwords and Google, though we shouldn’t do so unquestioningly…

Case in point: Adwords. Recent reports have indicated that the number one online marketing tool can be exploited by malicious programmers. Apparently it is possible to subvert Adwords, making it into a vehicle for pushing malware and phishing sites by showing users adverts for spurious websites that turn out to be nothing more than vehicles to infect their computers.

Continued later…

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Click-Fraud Explained

Simon King — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:00:59 +0000

You know when you allow ads to be placed on your website using Adwords? When you’re seduced by the promise of making millions from clicks and conversions and you decide to sell space on your site to nameless companies? If you do, then you’ll know all about Google’s apocalyptic warning about click-fraud that you’re required to read before signing up.

For the uninitiated, click-fraud is essentially clicking on the ads on your site with no intention of buying anything in order to make yourself more money. This is, of course, against the rules, but who’d know? Well, clever old Google would, that’s who, and here’s how…

Firstly they filter out excessive clicking, since there really is no need for a legitimate customer to click something 25 times in a minute. They also invalidate the webmaster’s computer and any other computers connected wit that site. Any clicks from those IP addresses will be disregarded.

There’s also a few more complicated systems, though these are pretty complex and ever changing. Basically the point to remember is that anything you can think of to get a few extra pennies through click fraud will probably already have been thought of by Google. It is really not worth the effort.

Hope that helps… Oh, by the way, Merry Christmas from Top Click Media.

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Interflora takes Marks and Spencer’s to court

Mark Isle — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:00:12 +0000

It’s not nice when something like this happens, is it? Two icons of the British high street locked in a legal battle, but what could it possibly be about? Why are two such resoundingly ‘nice’ brands instructing their lawyers to rip each other to pieces?

Adwords, that’s why. It seems that Marks and Spencer’s decided it was their right to bid heavily on the search terms, ‘Inter-flora,’ ‘Intaflora’ and ‘Interflora.’ These are obviously not search terms that you’d particularly associate with M&S, their sponsorship of them however, has driven up the cost of them significantly, making life harder for Interflora, an M&S competitor. It’s fair to assume therefore, that their intentions were not honourable, and in fact border on corporate sabotage.

This has happened before a few times, recently a similar lawsuit was filed by Teletext Holidays, against Direct Line Holidays.

So what does Google make of all this? Well, whilst I doubt they would come out and say it, they actually seem to support it, at least tacitly. They actually began specifically allowing it this year in May, which came as a shock to many business owners as it appears to run contrary to the whole point of registering a trademark.

Marks and Spencer’s are unapologetic, pointing out that, “This is industrywide practice and is not unlawful.”

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Adwords Flaw

Alexei M — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:00:52 +0000

Most people involved with online marketing either regularly use, or are at least familiar with Adwords. The application, which allows webmasters to attract not only traffic to their website, but highly specific, targeted traffic, would appear to have won the online marketing race, becoming the presumptive medium to market anything online. However, Adwords is not perfect, in fact there’s a pretty major flaw that’s annoying more and more of us.

When you are targeting a keyword with minimal search volumes, for instance when you’ve specified that you want match an exact phrase to avoid your ad being shown on irrelevant sites, you can find that your ad is not shown at all.

Google can view these choosy keywords or phrases as ‘off the radar’. The upshot is that you could search for your exact phrase and see ads that are less relevant than yours but have more common keywords. This is a problem, as many campaigns rely on highly specific searches, and maximising CTR (click through rate) rather than simply views.

This is also completely against what Google is trying to achieve. They want to keep increasing relevance exponentially so that eventually ads are only shown to people that are actually likely to buy the product. So, basically this state of affairs is good for no one… Sort it out Google!

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A new advance for AdWords

Mark Isle — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:37:09 +0000

On a preliminary testing basis, AdWords has begun implementing ads with optional product images and additional descriptions. A main example is ‘diamonds,’ searches for that keyword have recently begun displaying results for a company called Blue Nile that can, if the searcher chooses, include product photos and descriptions.

Searchers are offered a graphic with a plus sign on it as part of their traditional search results. If they click on that graphic they are shown a list of three product photos and descriptions, they also get pricing information. These new improved listings show up in the “preferred results” section and the regular search results and offer much better value to webmasters competing for clicks.

I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that this will end up being a permanent feature of AdWords once they have finished testing with selected partners like Blue Nile. Not only does it offer better value for companies, it isn’t intrusive – you only see the extra information when you click on the graphic, it also maintains the traditional Adwords format and doesn’t impair use of the system.

If AdWords do end up implementing this as a permanent feature they are unlikely to struggle to find users. Advertisers have been trying to find ways to get more information across in their search listing for years now.

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New Toys at Google AdWords

Matt Thomas — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:14:57 +0000

Google has just launched a very exciting new tool for Google Adwords users. It’s called display Ad Builder and it allows you to customize and create your own adverts, be they image, animation or flash based. The tool allows even small businesses to get creative with their advertising, instead of simply displaying the traditional text ad.

It works by providing a range of stock ads for different industries like, travel, banking, restaurants, and so on. You are then able to add your personal information like company name, location etc. Once you’ve done that, you can change the fonts and colours to match your company’s usual design and often insert your very own logo into the mix.

The tool makes it easy for smaller companies to use these more impressive ad formats without spending all their capital on designers and programmers, which can be a waste of time and money if you’re a small to mid-range business.

It’s not for everyone admittedly, but you could do far worse than simply messing around and seeing what you come up with. Just remember to still keep your old text ads as not all pages can display them. To try out the new tool simply go to your content campaign and click the ‘create new ad’ tab, you’ll see it there clear as day, with ‘NEW!’ in big red letters next to it.

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Getting the best ROI from Adwords using Google Analytics (part 3)

James Oliver — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:29:35 +0000

This article follows on from last weeks post on ‘Getting the best ROI from Adwords using Google Analytics’.

Keyword Popularity
Impressions show you the number of times your advert has been displayed.
Clicks show you the amount of clicks the advert has received (and you paid for)
Click Through Rate(CTR) is the percentage of times a searcher clicked on your advert.
By looking at these, you can get a good idea of how often people search for a particular keyword, and when being supplied with your advert, how likely they are to click it.
If you want higher click through rate, you should consider bidding for a higher position or possibly rewriting your advert so this it is as relevant to the search as possible.

Keywords that make money
First click in the revenue column to bring the highest revenue keywords to the top.
These keywords may or may not be your highest ROI keywords.
If the ROI shows you are loosing or not making money, you might want to try lowering you bid price. (this will lower your cost per click and increase your ROI)

Analytics Feedback
Keeping an eye on AdWords reports will let you see how effectively your AdWords campaigns run.
Making these small changes to your account (keywords, bid price, and advert text) and tracking how these changes work for you, you will be able to optimise your AdWords campaigns for maximum ROI.

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No more Site Stats Badge!

Matt Thomas — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:21:09 +0000

We at Top Click Media love Google Conversion Tracking. It is an invaluable tool for anyone trying to make money out of websites. However, one thing has always annoyed us about it – Google’s insistence that you display the Site Stats Badge which lets your customers know that you are tracking conversions. So, imagine our delight when Goggle announced that it will no longer be requiring this little interference with site design.

In the grand scheme of things I guess it’s not the biggest deal, but in a world where a lot of people are still uneasy about spending money online a big notice that you are tracking anything can scare the horses, so to speak. Plus, if your privacy policy lets people know you’re tracking conversions, which it must (be fair guys), then there really is no need for the extra logo.

We recommend removing the blasted thing straight away. Here’s how:

1.Log on to Adwords

2.Select ‘Conversion Tracking’

3.Choose the action you want to modify and click on the ‘edit settings’ button

4.Click ‘none’ in the customise tracking indicator area

5.Click on the ‘Save Changes and Get Code’ button

6.Once you’ve re-generated the code, remove the original code and paste in the new stuff

Jobs a good’un.

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Google explains the AdWords Quality Score

Matt Thomas — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:35:41 +0000

As you are probably already aware, your quality score is one of the major factors to consider when attempting to plan an effective AdWords campaign. The trouble is that traditionally the criteria for deciding the quality score has been, to all intents and purposes, a mystery; just another Google policy that has been annoying people like us for quite some time.

Luckily, Google is now beginning to pull back the veil of secrecy that it has been hanging over the mechanics of the quality score, and we now know a little more. Now, when you do a keyword placement report within AdWords, that report will include quality score data as well as information on the first page bid.

This is a godsend, as it gets around the hassle of having to use a keyword analysis tool within AdWords for each and every keyword you use. However, don’t discard & forget the analysis tool just yet. If AdWords tells you that a keyword is weak, analysis tools are an invaluable resource in finding out exactly why?

Anyway, it may be long overdue, but Google have done the right thing here. It’s not fair to take people’s money without offering full transparency as to what you are actually selling.

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Transparency On Traffic From Search Partners

James Oliver — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:43:44 +0000

There is now some added functionality and transparency from Google to break out the search traffic between Google search and the Search Partners. In the dark old days you were only able to separte the figures between Search (Google Search & Search Partners) and Google Content Network.

With the new filters, we can now get clear data on the performance of the Search Partners:

New Breakout Of Search Partners Traffic

So, how do you go about doing this? 1st step is to log into AdWords, go into a campaign and click on the statistics drop down box. There will be a selection of filters you can select from as shown above, the one highlighted will just show you the statistics from the Search Partners.

By selecting the split: ‘Google search/search partners/content network’ you will actually get a 3 row breakdown of statistics.

I have found so far that the search partners do not provide great stats when compared to the search results but remember, if you turn off the search partners you will no longer appear in Google Maps sponsored results. Is the trade off worth it? I’ll let you decide but for the moment i will be leaving it turned on – specially with the usage Maps is getting from next gen mobile phones.

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Getting the best ROI from Adwords using Google Analytics (part 2)

James Oliver — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:01:56 +0000

This article follows on from last weeks post on ‘How to achieve a better ROI’.

Keywords that lose money.

To identifying the keywords that will lose you money, first click on the ROI Column header to bring the lowest ROI keywords to the top of the table.
Are there any 100% ROI keywords? These are the keywords that lost you all your money!Before making any changes to the keyword in your AdWords, you need to make sure have enough data on these. (A lot of the time the keywords that have -100% ROI have only received a few clicks)
If you have only spent a few pence on the keyword you might want to wait to see if pays off.
However, if you have received lots of clicks, and spent a significant amount of money you can increase your overall ROI by deleting it.
If you have a 0% ROI this means you earned in revenue the same amount you spent
If you have a 100% ROI this means you doubled your investment. (E.g. If you spent £10 and made £20)
You can get 500% to 100% ROI, this means that your revenue is much higher than your cost.

Make sure you have enough data

Checking your AdWords reports and making changes daily will not give you an accurate representation of how your account is running. You need to sit back and get more data to get a real perspective before making decisions.
Considering return customers: Think about customers that find you via your AdWords and return at a later date to make a purchase. (You’ll miss repeat conversions if you sent your date range too short.)
It is very important to make sure you set the date range no lower than your sales cycle!
I advise testing out different date ranges to see how this affects your ROI. Test your most recent days/weeks/months and look a whole year’s data. This will give you much more informative information about your AdWords and what you need to change.

Next week i will conclude on ‘Getting the best ROI from Adwords’

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