Important update to AdWords click-to-call campaigns in the US

Dear AdWords advertiser,

If you are currently running a mobile-specific campaign with call extensions, or have plans to create new phone extensions in a campaign, this is an important notice that in the coming weeks we will be adding detailed reporting capabilities to your mobile-specific campaigns. In order to offer you these additional features, we will convert all mobile-specific campaigns running call extensions to display a Google call forwarding number. This is often referred to as ‘Call Metrics’. You may opt out of this conversion if you prefer not to use the Google call forwarding number.

Currently, mobile advertisers can view the number of mobile clicks-to-call they receive, but they are unable to track or validate these clicks-to-call with further qualifying metrics like call start and end time, or whether a call was missed or received. This is a challenge for advertisers who are looking to accurately report and calculate the value of their call based conversions. By using the Google call forwarding number, advertisers will receive detailed call reporting information including call duration, the caller’s area code, and be able to download call-by-call reports.

If you are planning to test mobile click-to-call ads for the first time, or create new campaigns with Call Extensions, you’ll have the choice to use the Google call forwarding number, which will be the new campaign default, or opt out of using this number.

Featuring a local or vanity phone number
In line with current click-to-call campaigns that use a Google call forwarding number, the phone numbers displayed will be national numbers like 1-866 or 1-800. As with all mobile click-to-call ads, advertisers will continue to be charged when a mobile user either clicks on the headline or the phone number listed in the ad.

Phone numbers with local area codes, and vanity numbers won’t be displayed when the Google call forwarding number is used. If you’d like to continue using your own local or vanity phone number, you have the option to opt out of Call Metrics in the Call Extension settings. Please select “Show my business phone number only on mobile phones”. Note that this will remove the additional reporting capabilities of Call Metrics.

Next steps and action required
We will be introducing these new reporting features in the coming weeks. The AdWords Team will be reaching out again when this conversion is due to take place in your account. If you’d like to opt-out of using Call Metrics in your existing click-to-call campaigns, then upon notification, please select
“Show my phone number only on mobile phones” in each campaign with call extensions enabled.  If you’d like to take advantage of the new reporting metrics with Call Metrics and the Google call forwarding number, then no action will be necessary.

We are committed to providing our users with the best mobile web experience and encourage you to learn more about Call Extensions by visiting our Help Center.

Since inception, Google AdWords has introduced several updates to their algorithm to ensure they deliver the highest quality ads to the right audience. One of the most important  measures implemented was Quality Score, which ultimately determines how much you pay per click and how your ads are ranked in the search engine results. Read Google’s help section for detailed description of Quality Score as well as how it’s measured for Search vs Content network.

Account structure and keyword grouping are very important factors in building effective and profitable PPC (pay per click) campaigns with high Quality Scores. Gone are the days when advertisers could throw thousands of keywords into a single ad group. Now, in order to achieve high Quality Scores, advertisers must group their keywords into tightly themed and well-organized groups with highly targeted ads.  Create as many small, highly themed ad groups as necessary. Depending on the account, I aim for groups with no more than 50 to 100 keywords, but smaller groups of 20 or less are often more ideal for certain websites.

The idea or process of categorizing keywords into themed groups may seem daunting. But never fear, there are tools to help make your job easier. If you aren’t sure where to begin the process, try Google AdWords Editor’s free Keyword Grouper tool. Find instructions for how to use the simple feature in AdWords Editor help section. You can also research other free and/or paid tools by Googling “keyword grouping tools”.

NOTE: When moving keywords into smaller, more tightly themed ad groups, they don’t lose their history. However, sometimes the AdWords system does need a few days or longer to “reacclimate” recently moved keywords with the ads and landing page in their new ad group. Generally you’ll find a handful of keywords in any ad group generate the most clicks, leads and/or orders. I would strongly advise leaving your best performing keyword in its existing ad group, so as to not hinder volume. Instead, move all other lower volume keywords into new ad groups. My Google reps have advised this as well.

More relevant keyword groups can result in higher click through rates and lower minimum bids – so get in there and reorganize and optimize! And remember, optimization isn’t a one time thing – you must constantly monitor Quality Score and performance metrics for new areas in need of further optimization.

I recently started deleting several “repins” and going forward plan to pin the direct source or from sites that have implemented the “Pin It” button. I would like to share some additional sources you may find useful in navigating the new Pinterest universe:

Kelly Lieberman’s PinChat board, highlighting #Pinchat Twitter discussions, which happen Fridays at 10PM EST

Scott Pilutik Pinterest & Copyright board

Ann Smarty’s excellent post on how to track your website’s content on Pinterest

Creative marketing campaigns using Pinterest

And don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest here :)

Updated Terms of Service post from Pinterest:

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on an update to our Terms. When we first launched Pinterest, we used a standard set of Terms. We think that the updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy are easier to understand and better reflect the direction our company is headed in the future. We’d encourage you to read these changes in their entirety, but we thought there were a few changes worth noting.

Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.
We updated our Acceptable Use Policy and we will not allow pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse.
We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.
Finally, we added language that will pave the way for new features such as a Pinterest API and Private Pinboards.

We think these changes are important and we encourage you to review the new documents here. These terms will go into effect for all users on April 6, 2012.

Like everything at Pinterest, these updates are a work in progress that we will continue to improve upon. We’re working hard to make Pinterest the best place for you to find inspiration from people who share your interest. We’ve gotten a lot of help from our community as we’ve crafted these Terms.

Thanks!

Ben & the Pinterest Team

You can’t improve what you don’t measure!

Conversion data allows you to monitor and measure the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. If you don’t track actions to the most detailed level you will not know how to effectively measure the success of your pay per click marketing efforts. How much was spent on a keyword? How much revenue/leads did that keyword generate? The answers to these questions are an important part of knowing how to adjust your keyword’s maximum CPC (cost per click) going forward.

The search engines offer some basic (and free!) conversion tracking tools to help advertisers answer these important account questions. Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter conversion tracking is simple and easy to implement – just a small snippet of code placed on ALL thank you/confirmation pages – the page visitors arrive to AFTER completing the desired online action. If you use Google Analytics, you may also track performance by setting up goals and funnels under profile settings. Remember to track performance of non PPC campaigns (e.g. banner ads on other networks, website sponsorships, email marketing, monthly newsletters, etc.) by appending Google Analytics UTM tracking parameters to those URLs as well.

What’s a good conversion rate?

You can scour the internet for articles, case studies and forums looking for what others report as “average” conversion rates. Don’t! Conversion rates vary by industry and advertiser so it’s best practice to establish your OWN baseline and improve your conversion rate from there.

Understand your conversion rate. Improve your bottom line. It’s easy to implement, so start tracking today!

This report is especially helpful when reorganizing keywords into new ad groups. It’s important to carry over your best performing ads to your newly created ad groups, and this report helps to ensure you do just that.

Here’s how to run the report:

1) Navigate to the Ads tab of your desired Campaign or Ad Group
2) Click on the “Columns” button (above the graph and below the Keywords tab)
3) Select the columns you want populated in your report (e.g. clicks, cost, conversions, etc.) and click Save.
4) Click the download report icon, which is  a black downward pointing arrow located below the Keywords tab
5) You should now see the green Download and Schedule report box.
6) Click “+ Add Segment” link.
7) A drop down menu appears where you can select Keyword / Placement
8) Click “Create” and download the spreadsheet.

While the argument may seem logical, there are some very sound reasons for buying your brand’s keywords:

1) Own and protect your brand: Search engines allow competitors and/or affiliates to bid on virtually any trademarked term. Some advertisers consider it “unethical”, but the reality is that it’s common practice. So, why not own it yourself, rather than letting your competitors and affiliates own that ad real estate in order to either a) push their own product/service as an alternative or worse, b) use false or misleading ads to confuse your potential customers.

Controlling your brand image and marketing message are important and PPC ads are perfect for this because you can change and test messaging on the fly, and even use “”Official Site” in ads so as to make clear your ad will lead that user to the actual site they were searching.

2) Improve your quality scores: Bidding on your branded keywords may also help improve Quality Scores, as suggested by Dave Davis here – “…always bid (and bid high) on your company or brand name. You will get a massive boost in historical CTR because 70%+ of the time, your ad is what searchers are looking for. You will pay pennies per click and decrease the normalized Quality Score and historical account CTR of any competitors bidding on your brand or company name!”

3) Overall revenue may be higher: Countless studies show increased clicks and conversions when companies owned both top PPC and organic listings for their brand:

From Enquiro Research in partnership with Ipsos Mori:
“When a brand name is the top result in both natural and paid search results, 83% of consumers looking to buy would consider a purchase. Without paid search, however, the same brand name as the top result in organic search only obtains 73% purchase consideration”

From Omniture study:
“Our client was thrilled to learn that conversions across all search engines were higher by 22.98 percent when the brand name keyword ads were present. Better yet, revenue per visitor was higher by nearly 21.94 percent when the ads were present.”

From NYU Stern study:
“Click-through rates, conversion rates and total revenues are higher when both paid and organic listings are present simultaneously than when paid search ads are absent.”

Of course, as with everything else PPC, you have to decide what’s best for YOUR brand, as every industry, company, product and/or offer is different. The only way you know how buying branded PPC affects your bottom line is to test it  yourself. Pause your branded PPC campaign and/or ad group for set time frame, then closely monitor organic traffic and conversions to see if you experience considerable dip in traffic or loss in revenue.

NOTE: You as an advertiser can file a Google AdWords trademark complaint letter specifically advising Google that you do not want other advertisers using your trademark in their ad. However, this does NOT mean advertisers must stop buying your trademark. You would probably need your lawyer to send a cease and desist directly to the company because the search engines clearly state they do not police this on their advertiser’s behalf.

Read the Google AdWords trademark policy, and here’s the link to file trademark complaint letter.

Dear AdWords Advertiser,

If you currently have a phone number in your ad text or have plans to start adding your phone number in an ad, this is an important notice that in the coming weeks, we will be launching a new enhancement to AdWords ads that will impact charges on clicks to these numbers.

To help our mobile users connect more easily with advertisers, all non-clickable phone numbers displayed in AdWords ad text will be automatically converted into a Click-to-call number.  Currently when advertisers enter a phone number directly into their ad text instead of using Call Extensions, the phone number is not clickable and will not generate a call. This can be a frustrating experience for mobile users who attempt to initiate a call to this phone number.

The new Click-to-call enhancement ensures that all phone numbers shown in AdWords ads are clickable and allows users to easily place calls from their mobile device. If your ad text includes a phone number, you will begin to receive clicks and calls on this number once the enhancement is enabled in your account. As with phone calls placed via a Call Extension, you will be charged for clicks on your phone number that result in a call.

Please note that AdWords policy does not allow for phone numbers to be inserted into ad headlines. As with all Click-to-call ads, advertisers will be charged when a user either clicks on the headline or the phone number listed in the ad. Please see below for additional information regarding this change.

Which phone number shows?

If you are currently using both Call Extensions and a phone number in your ad creative, only the newly clickable phone number in your ad creative will show. This is designed to help reduce user confusion from seeing two potentially different numbers.  If you would like your Call Extension number to display, simply delete all phone numbers from your existing ad text by following these steps. You’ll also receive an additional line of ad text displaying your phone number if the Call Extension is used.

Measuring results

You’ll be able to review how many calls you receive on the clickable phone number listed in your ad text for each campaign, ad group, keyword and ad on the “Campaigns” tab in your AdWords account. Just select the “Click-type” option under the “Segment” drop down and view your report.  Please note that since these are not calls generated from a Call Extension, they will not be reported in the Extensions tab reports.

Recommendations for featuring a phone number

You can simply leave your phone number in your ad text and benefit from this change which will automatically make your phone numbers clickable and enable users to call you. However, to get the most value from click-to-call, we recommend that you remove your phone number from your ad creative and create a Call Extension with your phone number directly.  This has several benefits. With a manually created Call Extension your number will appear as an additional line of ad text which frees up space in your ad creative for other promotion. In addition, when you create a Call Extension, your phone number appears on a separate line in the ad, and you’re able to take advantage of other powerful enhancements such as Vanity Numbers, Call-only and Call Metrics reporting.

Dear AdWords Advertiser,

We are writing to let you know that there will be changes to “directions” clicks in ads with location extensions that will impact your AdWords campaigns on both desktops and mobile devices. We’ve observed that location extensions with “directions” are beneficial to users and lead to more interactions with the ad. In January, we launched a report in AdWords to help you measure these useful interactions.

Over the next few weeks, you’ll begin to see performance metrics for  “directions” alongside metrics for clicks and phone calls. We’ll also begin to charge for “directions” clicks in the same manner as a click on your ad’s headline. If your campaign has a high number of “directions” clicks, this indicates that your customers are interacting with your ads to get directions to your business.

What are “directions”?

“Directions” is a feature of location extensions that enables customers to map the quickest route from where they are located to a business they want to visit.

Where will I see the performance metrics for “directions” clicks?

You can see the number of directions clicks in the same place as your other click metrics (selectSegment, then Click type from your summary tables). You can review the performance of “direction” clicks to determine if they are helping you meet your marketing goals.

How will “directions” appear in ads on desktop and mobile devices?

For AdWords campaigns with location extensions enabled, a “directions” link will be eligible to appear in the ad and on sponsored map bubbles in Google Map on desktops.

On mobile search ads, a “Get directions in Google Maps?” pop-up will appear when the user clicks on the expandable map. Clicking on “OK” in the pop-up allows users to access directions and will be charged.

On Google Maps for Mobile on Android, a “Directions” icon button is available after a user clicks on the sponsored maps bubble.

On Google Maps for Mobile  for iPhone, “Directions to here” appears in the Sponsored Link detail page which is accessed after clicking on the sponsored maps bubble.

How will I be charged for “directions” clicks?

Over the next few weeks, “directions” clicks will be charged the same as a click on your ad’s headline. In general, “direction” clicks are a small proportion of the ad clicks, and we do not anticipate this change will have a significant impact on your account’s total cost.

Where can I see past performance of “directions” clicks?

For a report, select the Free clicks view within the Dimensions tab of your AdWords account. If you don’t see the Dimensions tab in your account, click the arrow button next to the existing tabs above your performance table, and select Free clicks in the dropdown menu.

Do I need to take any action?

You are not required to take any specific action. However, we encourage you to view the “direction” clicks report to understand how this change benefits from your location extension ads.

I do not want to pay for “directions” clicks. How can I opt out?

You can do this by removing location extensions associated with your campaign. However, location extensions provide valuable information to your customers about your local business, so we encourage you to carefully analyze your campaign performance before doing so.

We’re committed to the success of your local business and encourage you to learn more about location extensions and directions in ads by visiting our Help Center.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team

It’s about time! I’m one of those that has found ads with higher CTRs (click through rates) generally yield lower CVRs (conversion rates) and ads with lowest CTRs yield higher CVRs.  So, this new feature is a welcome addition and I’m looking forward to testing it out.

As per the blog, you must be opted into Conversion Optimizer. And remember to keep a close eye on this, especially if web development makes changes to the site. If the conversion code is comprised or implemented incorrectly, Conversion Optimizer can bring your campaign to a grinding halt!

We are writing to alert you to some pending changes to the trademark policy within the Microsoft Advertising adCenter Intellectual Property Guidelines. Starting March 3, 2011, adCenter will no longer review trademark keyword complaints. However, adCenter will continue to investigate brand owner complaints related to trademark use in ad text.

We want to make it easier for you to manage your search advertising campaigns. By aligning the adCenter trademark policy with the current industry standard, we hope to help simplify your marketing efforts across the various online advertising programs. Please take a moment to review our updated trademark policy in the Intellectual Property Guidelines so that you may prepare for this change. If you have questions or need further assistance, please contact our support teams.

Thank you for using adCenter.

Sincerely,

The Microsoft Advertising adCenter team