Entries from Search Engine Roundtable tagged with 'adwords'

Google AdWords Updates Billing Page

If you login to your Google AdWords account and visit the billing summary page, under "my account," you will notice that the page looks different. Google's FAQ page says they have updated the page for three reasons, "transparency, flexibility, and...

Google to Run Image Advertisements in Image Search

In September 2005, we reported that members were seeing image ads with Google Image Results. It seems that this is on the horizon and will be tested (and possibly rolled out) anytime now. As Bloomberg reports, "Display ads may work...

Google AdWords "Automatic Matching" Beta To Expand Tomorrow

The very controversial Google AdWords Automatic Matching feature has been confirmed to be expanding to other advertisers as early as tomorrow. In short, automatic matching is a new algorithm used to automatically target new keywords, not included in an advertiser's...

Google AdWords Traffic Estimator Figures From The API Wrong?

A Google Groups thread reports that the numbers reported from the traffic estimator tool within Google's AdWords API interface is reporting different numbers based on the IP calling the data. The AdWords advertiser said that depending on which IP is...

Quick Bookmark URL for Google AdWords Live Chat

Need help with Google AdWords? If you're afraid of picking up the phone and find email to take too long, you have another alternative: live chat. This URL may be specific to the UK (or may fit both UK and...

Of Course Google Indexes Content About Vodka & Hard Liquor

Frank Watson, AKA AussieWebmaster, has written a blog post at Search Engine Watch complaining that Google basically indexes content on hard liquor, such as vodka. Frank's specific complaint is that vodka results come up in Google Product Search for a...

Google AdWords Dowtime Schedule on May 17th & Minor AdWords Editor Update

There are two Google AdWords updates that readers should take note of. First, AdWords Editor 5.0.1 has been released. The only change is a small one, but it may help users: The four tabs for ads (text, image, local business,...

The Display URL May Impact Your Google AdWords Quality Score

Your Google AdWords display URL may impact your AdWords quality score, but to what extent is the question? A Google Groups thread has discussion on the topic, where AdWordsPro.Jordan, an official Google representative, says that it may have an impact....

Google's AdWord Quality Score To Add Landing Page Load Time In June

I reported this later last night at Search Engine Land but this is very important news for Google AdWords advertisers. Google will be introducing into the quality score component of your ad rank, the speed at which your landing pages...

Video Ad Support Comes To Google AdWords API Sandbox

An older Google Groups thread was just updated by Jeff Posnick the AdWords API Advisor, an official Google representative in charge of the AdWords API development and support. The Googler explains that the API Sandbox should now support the creation...

Google Says They Fixed AdSense Reporting Bug But Publishers Not Convinced

Yesterday we reported about a major reporting bug that impacted both AdWords & AdSense users. Yesterday at about 9pm (EST), Google's AdSensePro Stephanie said the reports were now fixed. Yes, that is about 40 hours after received our first reports...

Google AdSense & AdWords Reporting Still Showing Incorrect Data After Over 24 Hours

Starting at about 5am (EST) yesterday, I have been noticing reports in the forums about Google being slow to update both the AdSense reports and the AdWords reports. The two largest threads discussing the issues can be found at WebmasterWorld...

Google Fishing Out AdSense Arbitrageurs Through AdWords Accounts?

A WebmasterWorld thread has speculation that Google is now seeking out AdSense arbitrageurs through AdWords accounts. The rumor is that Google is banning AdSense publishers by looking to see if their AdWords accounts are sending traffic to pages with AdSense...

Google Finally Begins Enforcing The Display URL Policy

Since early February we were warning Google AdWords advertisers that Google would be enforcing the display URL policy, where the display URL must match the destination URL. The policy enforcement was suppose to begin on April 1st. On April 10th,...

Advertiser Dreams May Come True: Yahoo May Boost Google Ads Again

Last night, the big news was again Microsoft/Yahoo/Google business dealings. You can see all the headlines at Techmeme, including (1) Microsoft might start the hostile takeover today (tomorrow) and (2) Yahoo might announce they will continue to carry Google ads...

Google Opens TV Ads To All US Advertisers

Google's AdWords blog announced that all US based advertisers should now be able to participate in Google's TV Ads. Honestly, I think Google opened this up to all US advertisers on April 11th or the day before and just announced...

Google AdWords Displays Ad Scores: Pscore, mCPC & thresh

A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion around one advertiser noticing Google displaying three scores directly under a Google Netherlands ad. Here is a picture of the ad with the scores underneath the ad: So I began to do some research and...

Google Blending Ads More Into Organic Results?

A recent WebmasterWorld thread is complaining that Google seems to have changed the yellow background color of the Google sponsored ads to a color just a bit different then the white background. Tedster explains that the color he sees now...

Google Tests Higher Placement of AdWords URLs

A Sphinn thread has discussion about a new AdWords experiment where Google flipped the URL location in the ad from the bottom of the ad to above the description line of the ad. The Get Elastic Blog has a screen...

Google Faces Class Action Suit Over Ambiguous Google AdWords Input Box

InformationWeek discusses a recent lawsuit that Google is facing over some ambiguity in an ad. (Photo courtesy of Valleywag) More specifically, from the image above, you see that there are 2 boxes. If you leave the second one blank, it...

Google AdWords Editor Users Report Statistics Issue

WebmasterWorld members are reporting strangeness when using the Google AdWords Editor to retrieve statistics. According to some, the editor tool is pulling information, but "not all of it." Google is aware of the problem according to the user. At this...

Advertiser Feedback on Yahoo Displaying Google AdWords Ads

Search Engine Watch Forums moderator, abbottsys, posted detailed feedback on Google Ads Being on Yahoo Search. The Search Engine Watch Forums thread has only one post but deserves a lot more participation, in my opinion. Normally, I would summarize, but...

You Cannot Transfer Google Advertising Professional Exam Scores

A Google Groups thread asks if one can transfer their Google Advertising Professional exam scores from their old company to their new company. The Google Advertising Professional program was launched in 2004 to help Google give certification to professionals selling...

ASCII Art Improves CTR in Google AdWords Ads, Study Shows

Loren Baker reports at Search Engine Journal that copy that stands out from the crowd gets higher click through rates. He explains that a campaign which utilized ASCII art (e.g. //~vw^v^vw~\\ and the like) got a 50% higher CTR than...

Google Website Optimizer is No Longer Beta, Available to All

Guess what? After forever (it seems), Google has taken Google Website Optimizer out of beta. Now, anyone can access the Google Website Optimizer to increase your site's conversion rate. (Previously, you had to open a free AdWords account to use...

Google Drops Price For AdWords API Usage

AdWordsAPI Advisor posted in a Google Groups thread that Google is now able to drop the prices they charge for using the AdWords API. How can they do this now? Debbie Leight, Product Marketing at Google, said because Google was...

Yahoo Ad Test on Google Continues

Yesterday I reported that Google stopped running the Yahoo ads test that they started a week earlier and then asked why. I asked why would they stop the test early? Well, the answer is that they did not. The individual...

Google Adds Three New AdWordsPro Staff Members

In March, we reported that Google AdWordsPro was getting inundated with questions and feedback, and two new representatives were added. Well, it's a month later and it seems that the trend is continuing. AdWordsPro announced Tuesday on Google Groups that...

Yahoo Really Only Tests Google Ads For a Week?

Yahoo told us they were testing Google ads on Yahoo Search for a two week period within the US market only. Again, a two-week period, so why am I receiving reports that the test is now complete, after just a...

Google AdWords Picks Most Expensive Keyword From Most Expensive Campaign

A WebmasterWorld member is having difficulty understanding how and why she's seeing an overlap of broad match terms within her campaigns overall. She explains that broad match is "kick[ing] in for a more generic term, when the specific term is...

Possible Google AdWords Slap on April 12, 2008?

There are a few early reports that some Google AdWords advertisers received what is called a Google Slap, basically a spike in their minimum CPCs due to Google's quality score. A WebmasterWorld thread has two confirmed reports over the weekend...

Redirect Google AdWords URLs or Update Destination URLs?

We all have to make website updates some time or another. Sometimes it's an easy fix that you can do within the scheme of your web design. In other cases, a 301 must be implemented. How does this impact other...

Google Does TV Ad Push: Offers More AdWords Advertisers TV Ads

A report from Search Engine Watch Forums says that all of a sudden, the option for Google TV ads appeared for him when he logged into his AdWords account. Just logged into my AdWords account and was greeted by a...

Google Ads Now Live on Yahoo Search

Yesterday I reported that one of the many Yahoo announcements were that Yahoo was going to test running Google ads on Yahoo Search USA. According to a Search Engine Watch Forums thread, the Google ads are now live on Yahoo....

Is Google AdWords Really Enforcing The URL Policy? No!

Since mid-February we have been reporting that Google to Lay Down the Law on AdWords Display URL Policy. We have issued reminder after reminder, heck, even Google posted reminders all over the place - sometimes in big red backgrounds: But...

Google AdWords Changes UK Trademark Policy To Match US Policy

The UK PPC Blog reports that Google AdWords UK has changed their AdWords trademark policy to be more aligned with the US policy. An email sent to him said: If you’ve submitted a complaint letter requesting that we prevent advertisers...

Is Google's AdWords Spider Lowercasing Destination URLs?

A WebmasterWorld thread has an advertiser complaining that Google's AdWords spider appears to be lowercasing the destination URLs they have. The thing is, the lowercase URLs for this webmaster don't work with the site and they don't have the time...

Google AdWords Ads on Apple iPhone

Google renders their ads on an Apple iPhone almost exactly like they would on a normal web browser, but with a few changes. (1) It appears that Google will not show as on the right hand side of the search...

Have You Ever Recovered from a $10 Google AdWords Quality Score?

A Google AdWords advertiser at WebmasterWorld reports that he used to pay $0.15 per click on his ads but recently his quality score forced him to up the price of his AdWords ads to $10. He'd like to know if...

Google Releases AdWords API Version 12

Google has announced that it has launched the newest version of the AdWords API: version 12. Release notes are here, but include the following new features: Conversion Optimizer support CPC bidding for placement-targeted ads Expanded code sample library Version 11...

Does Exact Match in Google AdWords Override Broad Match?

Let's say you're performing a campaign on Google AdWords and you have similar search terms -- for example, some with broad match and some with exact match for particular queries. Say, for example, that one of your searches is for...

Reminder: Google AdWords Display URL Policy Coming April 1st

In February, we reported Google intends to change the AdWords URL policy, where the display URL must match the landing URL. Now, if you log onto your Google AdWords account, you'll likely see this in your dashboard: There are still...

Screen Shots of Google AdWords Demographic Bidding

This morning I complained that Google AdWords demographic bidding was announced to be available to all advertisers but yet truly not available to all advertisers. At 7pm (EST) tonight, Google emailed me back, telling me it is now really live....

Google Launches Demographics Targeting to All Advertisers

Google AdWords announced that demographics targeting is now available to all advertisers. Google has been testing this feature for over two years now and relaunched the test recently without comScore data, although you can still use demographic targeting with comScore...

Alert: More Google AdWords Phishing Attempts

Over the weekend, there was a new onslaught of Google AdWords phishing attempts. Basically, fake emails have gone out that appear to be from Google. The emails ask you to login to AdWords and update your billing information. Although the...

Google Shuts Down Support For AdWords API Version 10

A couple days ago, Google has officially shut off support for version 10 of the AdWords API. A WebmasterWorld thread has one advertiser who is very upset, claiming Google did not warn him. Our system stopped working today, just as...

Google AdWords To Limit Site Exclusion Feature To 5,000

A WebmasterWorld thread reports that Google has plans in the near future to limit the number of sites you can exclude as an advertisers in the Site and Category Exclusion area of AdWords. Here is a screen shot to shock...

Google AdWords Groups To Gain Two New Representatives

Google AdWordsPro posted a thread at Google Groups announcing that his/her 20% time is not cutting it for answering all the questions in the Google AdWords Help Group. So because of that, they have enlisted two new AdWordsPro guides. The...

Google Teases Advertisers By Reversing March 2008 "Google Slap" For Half Day

On March 5th, Google came down hard on many many advertisers serving them the March 2008 Google Slap, where AdWords advertisers saw their minimum CPC prices sky rocket overnight. Hundreds of advertisers were impacted by the "slap," and we still...

Google Promoting Content Network To AdWords Advertisers

Some publishers feel you may see a slight spike in your Google AdSense income in the near future. Why? As martinibuster reports in a WebmasterWorld thread, many AdWords advertisers, including myself, have received emails from Google to give the content...

Google Sends Out More TV AdWords Beta Invitations

On March 6th, Google seemed to have sent out a boat load of invitations to the AdWords TV ads program, to current AdWords advertisers. Google has been beta testing TV ads for a while now but it seems like they...

Google AdWords Adds Category Exclusion To Site Exclusion

Google keeps adding new ways for AdWords advertisers to fine tune where their ads are displayed within the Google content network. Last night the Inside AdWords blog announced the new feature that allows you to now exclude categories of sites...

Test Your Page Load Time Before Google Tests it For You

So Google confirmed page load time will be a factor in the quality score and it is just a matter of time for this to be implemented. In fact, the Inside AdWords blog posted an official announcement about it last...

March 2008 Google AdWords "Slap": Minimum Bids Surge

There seems to be a ton of discussion going on at DigitalPoint Forums and some at WebmasterWorld about a recent Google AdWords Quality Score update where many AdWords advertisers saw their minimum bids spike up. The reports all come from...

Google Forgets To Renew SSL Certificate For Conversion Tracking

Last night at Search Engine Land, I reported Google Forgot To Renew Their SSL Certificate. A WebmasterWorld thread reported the issue with https://www.googleadservices.com SSL certificate at noon (EST). What that meant was that from between noon time and about 8pm...

Google Confirms Page Load Time As Future Factor in AdWords Quality Score

Yesterday we reported that Landing Page Load Time Will Impact Google AdWords Quality Score. We finally received confirmation of that from AdWordsAdvisor in both WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums. Here are the details: This factor is not yet live...

Landing Page Load Time Will Impact Google AdWords Quality Score

A WebmasterWorld thread discovers a brand new Google AdWords quality score metric, page load time. The new factor has just been added to the AdWords full dump of their help section (here is a picture for archiving purposes). If you...

Several Google AdWords Prepay Accounts Offline

Google has confirmed that there are several members who have Google AdWords Prepay Accounts that are offline and are not performing at all. AdWordsPro writes: This issue is being addressed as a high priority by engineering, and I suspect that...

Update To Google AdWords "Automatic Matching"

Yesterday I posted Have Extra Money in Your Google AdWords Account? Google May Spend it With "Automatic Matching". I was fairly negative in my post, but I did explain both sides. First, Google sent me a statement: As part of...