Marketing on the Web I have written several posts on Quality Score, but I recently found two articles on the subject that make it worth revisiting. Quality Score is Google’s way of assessing how relevant your paid search keywords are to the searchers you’re targeting. This article by by Craig Danuloff discusses in monetary terms what the real costs of a low-quality-score are and this recent article, also by by Danuloff suggests 5 Steps to Improve Your Quality Score.
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Website Design Recommendations
I just read a great article by Ian Lurie at Coversation Marketing titled Things You Don't Know About Your Customers. Perhaps more aptly named Things to remember when designing a website, its a great read with clear points we all need to remember. In summary: Updated 3/2020: Reading onscreen is hard, for everyone. Use short paragraphs. Use wide line spacing and nice margins. Use dark text on a light background. Scrolling up-and-down is OK Use lists. They view in an...
MoreAdWords Search Query Performance Report
The Search Query Performance report in AdWords is a rich source of information that can help you hone in on the most productive phrases in your campaign. If you were bidding on a broad term like "Marketing" the report shows all the phrases that were triggered from that term, you might see "internet marketing", "web marketing" or "marketing on the internet." You can then evaluate the click thru rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC) and conversions on that term to determine if it's a good fit for yo...
MoreLinking Pay Per Click Campaigns to Google Analytics
It is beneficial to separate and track your Pay Per Click traffic from Organic in Google Analytics. If you don't make the effort, PPC and Organic traffic will be lumped together, making it difficult to know how your SEO efforts are progressing. Once you make the link between Google AdWords and Google Analytics accounts, the tracking will occur automatically. To set this up, simply access the Analytics tab in your AdWords account and then either select Create New or Link to Existing. Once you...
MoreGoogle Publishes Quality Score Explanation
Google just published updated information on 'Quality Score' and how is it calculated. Quality Score is a major factor in determining what advertisers pay for ad phrases. I believe this is the clearest information so far on this import, evolving algorithm. What is 'Quality Score' and how is it calculated? Past Articles: How Google AdWords Bidding Works - Quality Score Landing Pages to Improve Quality Score PPC Campaigns and Quality Score Chasing the Long Tail
MoreMicrosoft AdCenter Desktop Beta
I have been participating in Microsoft's AdCenter beta program. This type of desktop PPC management tool is essential to managing PPC programs. I have participated in, and managed several beta programs in my career and you expect things to be a clunky at first. if you have used the early releases, I am sure you would agree, there was room to improve. A Little History We were once satisfied to manage out PPC campaigns in an excel spreadsheet. Tabbing, cutting, pasting, searching and replaci...
MoreGoogle Stats Logo No longer Manditory
I have always felt that conversion tracking was an absolute necessity if you are running Adwords Campaigns. The Google AdWords team just announced that displaying the AdWords Site Stats logo is no longer mandatory. This is good news as I always felt the logo was unattractive and distracting for customers/prospects coming in through AdWords campaigns.
MoreLanding Pages to Improve Quality Score
I have been on a mission with several of my clients to establish good landing pages. Good landing pages can improve Quality Score and your rank for key phrases. A good Quality Score means Google considers your page to be relevant to the phrases used in your ad campaigns and directly impacts what you pay Google for your ads. This test demonstrates the real dollar impact (savings), when it’s done right. see: Landing Pages to Improve Quality Score Google suggests: Improve the quality of you...
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