In the paid search world, ad rank and average cost per click (CPC) are determined by three factors: your own bid (max CPC), your competitors’ bids, and a numeric representation of ad relevance known as quality score. This quality score acts as a modifier, making it possible for an ad with higher “quality” to outrank a competitor’s ad at a lower bid. While the relationship between bids is straightforward to understand, quality score is much more opaque, being affected by many factors such as click-through rate (CTR), keyword and ad copy relevance, quality of landing page, etc. Man [...]

Related Topics: Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Google | Google: Search | Search Marketing

Google's "predictive search" service Google Now has finally arrived for iOS users, after being Android-only since it launched last June. Ironically, the ground-breaking service is now available to more iPhone and iPad users than Android ones, because on Android, only the minority with Android 4.1 or higher can access Google Now. We have full coverage of the roll-out on our sister-site Search Engine Land: iPhone & iPad Users To Get Google Now, As It Comes To iOS: News about the launch & how Google Now is part of the Google Search App The Amazing “Google Now” — When Google [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: Siri | Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Search

Google's switch to an all-paid shopping search experience, featuring Product Listing Ads (PLAs), was the single largest change to the retail paid search landscape last year, and the offering continues to evolve as the official release of PLAs on smartphones was announced last month. PLAs are not only a new ad format but also a new marketplace, with auctions running independently of traditional text ads although they're often being served alongside them on search result pages. Now that the new market has had time to mature, we can take the opportunity to step back and review what we have lea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Search | How To | Marketing Metrics | Search Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising

The Google Search app for iOS  has been updated with bug fixes and an improved voice search, but there's no mention of Google Now included in the latest version of the app. Last month, the leaked video posted below suggested that Google Now would soon be available for iPhones and iPads via the Google Search app, but there has been no official comment from Google besides a remark Chairman Eric Schmidt made at the Google Big Tent Summit in India. In response to a direct question about the availability of Google Now for iOS, Schmidt said, "You’ll need to discuss that with Apple," inferring [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Search

Google Universal Search is a way that Google blends in matches from its "vertical" or "specialty" search engines, like image search or video search, into webpage results. What's the best way to tap into Universal Search in order to be visible? Have video content, especially on YouTube, according to a new study. The study, by Searchmetrics, is covered in more detail by our sister-site Search Engine Land. Searchmetrics also produced an infographic summarizing the key findings (click to enlarge): As you can see, video content is far more likely to be blended into the search results than [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: Search | Google: SEO | Google: Shopping | Google: YouTube | Video

Before getting into ad scheduling strategies for Google's Enhanced Campaigns, let's review Paid Search Trends for March. CPCs remained relatively flat month-over-month with little movement. Retail CPCs showed a slight decline for Google, showing relative softness compared to last year. It remains to be seen whether this is a temporary dip or a long-term indicator. Finance CPCs nudged up as the tax deadline approaches. Overall, Google CPCs are 1% up year-on-year, while Yahoo!-Bing is flat. March 2013 Cost-per-Click (CPC) Update, US Search MoM Change YoY Change [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google | Google: Search | How To | Marketing Metrics | Search Marketing

Cost-Per-Clicks (CPC) fell across the board month-over-month, as is typical for February, resulting in a 5% lower CPC for Google and 3% lower for Yahoo!-Bing, compared to January. Year-over-year (YoY), retail CPCs are stronger on Google, partially due to rising CPCs on Product Listing Ads (PLAs), ending at a 5% YoY gain for Google and a slight 1% loss for Bing. February 2013 CPC Update, US Search MoM Change YoY Change Google Retail -3% 7% Finance -10% 2% Overall -5% 5% Yahoo!-Bing Retail [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Search | Marketing Metrics | Search Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising

No question -- Google's the world's most popular search engine. But half of those billions of queries it handles comes from Google partners, rather than searches at Google directly. That tidbit came today from Nikesh Arora, senior vice president and chief business officer for Google, when he was talking with Liz Gannes of AllThingsD at the Dive Into Media conference. It's not a figure I recall seeing out there before. Perhaps it is, and I've missed it. But it's interesting nonetheless. Specifically, Arora said that of all the search queries that Google handles, about half of thos [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Features & Analysis | Google: Search | Top News

This is the first installment of a regular column following cost-per-click (CPC) trends in search marketing. We will focus primarily on the US market, but we'll also take a regular look at international markets, as well as providing additional insights into segments that appear to be significant short-term trend drivers. Google’s CPC drop has finally bottomed out in January, our analysis finds, supported in part by increasing CPCs and click share on tablet devices.   January 2013 CPC Update, US Search MoM Change YoY Change Google Retail [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Search | Marketing Metrics | Microsoft: Bing | Search Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising

Google's new Google Search app for iOS is now out, bringing with it a Siri-like quality of speaking to get answers and having them read back. The app is cool, but it can't do all the "assistant" things that Siri can. Then again, for many searches, the Google Search app can be much faster than Siri. That's something which might make Google, rather than Siri, the first choice for iPhone, iPad and other iOS searchers. The Zooey Deschanel Test The Google Search app and Siri are not the same in capabilities. Google is designed to help with searching; Siri can help with searching as well as d [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Search Marketing | Features & Analysis | Google: Search | Top News

Mozilla’s latest upgrade to the Firefox web browser, Firefox 14, officially launched on July 17th and brought with it a number of desirable new features. These features, however, can have some not-so-desirable consequences for data analytics. One of the more notable changes (from both the user and the marketer’s perspective) is that Firefox will now encrypt all searches made through the location bar, search box, and right-click menu using Google SSL search. By enabling secure search as a default for users searching on Firefox, Mozilla aims to provide a more secure web browsing experi [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Google | Google: Search

If there's one thing that's characterized the digital marketing universe, it's fragmentation. Marketers use one tool/platform to implement one campaign element, another tool to implement a second, and never the twain shall meet -- not in trafficking, and certainly not in reporting. And, of course, there are usually many more than two elements. This Achilles' heel is starting to pain marketers more than ever now, as their target audiences are engaging with messages on a multitude of devices and expecting consistency. "It’s hard to reach the right audience at the right moment with the ri [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Google: Display Advertising | Google: Search | Top News

Back when Google was an upstart search engine, one way it distinguished itself was to fight against a pay-to-play business model called "paid inclusion." Indeed, paid inclusion was one of the original sins Google listed as part of its "Don't Be Evil" creed. But these days, Google seems comfortable with paid inclusion, raising potential concerns for publishers and searchers alike. What Is Paid Inclusion? There are two main ways that companies show up in Google's search results. Companies either buy ads or hope that Google decides that their content is relevant enough to appear in what are ca [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Features & Analysis | Google: Search | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column