Archive for the ‘Keyword’ Category

Google Adwords Recommendations By Email

June 4, 2009

Today I receieved the first email from Google Adwords I can recall receiving suggesting keywords not already within my Adwords account I should consider using.

The email’s subject line captured my attention:

Google AdWords: Ten powerful new keywords for your marketingprinciples.com campaigns

Upon opening the email, I found the following message along with Google Adwords top ten keyword recommendations for my website marketingprinciples.com.

Google Adwords Recommendations

Google Adwords Recommendations

I wasn’t surprised with any of their keyword suggestions as much as I was with their having sent their search based keyword tool recommendations to me.

According to Adwords:

These are just the top 10 keywords. The Search-based Keyword Tool actually found 712 recently-searched keywords related to your site.

For each suggested keyword, the tool will also show you:

The average number of searches per month
The competitive bidding level for each term
The estimated bid to appear in the top three ad positions
The suggested landing page for each keyword

As suggested at the conclusion of their email, I logged into my Adwords account and ran the Search Based Keyword Tool to retrieve the “712 recently-searched keywords” related to my site.

However, the search-based keyword tool produced 73 keywords for marketingprinciples.com not 712.

Google Search Based Keyword Tool

Google Search Based Keyword Tool

Regardless, the search-based keyword list the tool provided for my site was relevant and specific to my business.

The recommended keyword list can be saved as a draft to an Adwords account or exported in a spreadsheet.

The tool’s most valuable feature is its matching of the new found keywords with their corresponding web page url.

For site’s with hundreds or thousands of pages, this feature can significantly reduce the amount of time needed to successfully program Adwords campaigns.

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Google Adwords Quality Score Updated

September 21, 2008

As promised on the Inside Adwords blog, Adwords accounts are now showing Quality Score data for each ad and its keyword.

I first noticed the Quality Score data across all of my active accounts yesterday.

Each ad and keyword’s Quality Score shows its status – whether the ads are showing or not as well as its numeric Quality Score.

I have found Adwords Quality scores ranging from 9 down through 2.

I am not sure whether Adwords assigns a Quality Score of 10 to any ads and keywords performance. Nor am I sure whether they score any ad and keyword below 2.

If Adwords does, I haven’t yet found any examples to share.

Within the new Adwords Quality scoring system, ads and keywords which score 9 and 8 are considered “Great”.

Adwords Quality Score 9

Adwords Quality Score 9

Adwords Quality Score 8

Adwords Quality Score 8

Ads and keywords showing 7, 6 and 5 are “OK”.

Quality Score 7

Quality Score 7

Quality Score 6

Quality Score 6

Quality Score 5

Quality Score 5

Ads and their keywords with Quality scores of 4, 3 and 2 are considered “Poor”.

Quality Score 4+No

Quality Score 4+No

Quality Score 3 No+Poor

Quality Score 3 No+Poor

Quality Score 2 No+Poor

Quality Score 2 No+Poor

I have found examples of OK Quality Scores where the ad and its keywords weren’t being shown for numerous reasons.

Additionally, I have found examples of ads and their keywords being shown while still having a Poor Quality Score.

Having numeric Adwords Quality Scores for each ad and keyword will surely help Google Adwords deliver more relevant and targeted advertising while also helping their advertisers score more targeted search traffic.

Google Advertising Seminars

May 26, 2007

I decided to apply for the Google Adwords Seminar leader position again.

Their latest application was slightly different from the first one in December of 2005. After looking over my original application, I am surprised my application was even given serious consideration.

Two Google Adwords Seminar Leaders were chosen in early 2006. I believe they have since presented Google Adwords seminars to over 1,000 attendees.

Spending the last year and a half preparing for and writing my book: For Sale By Google – How To Make Money on the Internet Selling Your Products Using Google Adwords and Search Engine Marketing Strategies has given me an entirely different perspective on the paid search business and search in general.

I believe my answers below do in fact reflect that change in perspective.

Section 1:
Background Info
All fields are required.

First Name: Tim
Last Name: Cohn

Email address: timcohn at gmail.com

Website: Search Marketing Communications

Phone number: 405-842-0163

Current Address:
(Street address) 6403 NW Grand Blvd., Suite 208
(City) Nichols Hills
(State / Province) OK
(Zip Code/Postal Code) 73116

1) How long have you been an AdWords advertiser?

Since March of 2002.

2) Do you have experience with other advertising channels? If so, please explain.

Yes, since 1989 I have been a direct marketing consultant.

I have developed marketing campaigns through nearly every form of advertising media available to the small and medium size business.

I have created and ran advertising campaigns in radio, television, magazines, newspapers, yellow pages and direct mail. No other recognized form of media compares to Google paid search. Word of mouth marketing out performs paid search but the process has yet become measurable and thus manageable.

Since the advent of Adwords, I have focused exclusively on producing results for myself and clients through reaching the search audience through paid search.

I have personally managed the production of 100 million impressions and one million clicks.

3) Do you have teaching or training experience? If so, please explain.

I spoke several years ago about the power of Google Adwords to business audiences in Atlanta, GA and Scottsdale, AZ. I have since accepted a contract to write a book about my Google Adwords experience for John Wiley and Sons. The book, For Sale By Google – How to Make Money Selling Your Products on the Internet Using Google Adwords and Search Engine Marketing Strategies is nearing completion.

As you may gather from the title, the book targets the small to medium size business market with an emphasis on how they can reach their audience more cost efficiently with Google Adwords as compared to their other media options while generating leads and sales in the process.

I believe my direct marketing background which is rooted firmly in advertising accountability and return on investment helps me give proper perspective to the small business owner who needs guidance when it comes to choosing where best to place their advertising dollars.

4) Do you or any of your family members work in the internet search and advertising industry, or for any company that you might reasonably consider to be a direct competitor to Google? If so, please explain.

No.

5) Resume: please paste your resume or a URL linking to your resume into the box below.

As a self-employed marketing consultant, I don’t have a resume per se. However, I do however keep a Curriculum Vitae of the projects and deals I am working on.

Section 2: Short Answers
1) Why do you want to be an AdWords Seminar Leader? (1-2 paragraphs)

A. If I am not constantly teaching others all that I have learned and I continue to learn about Google Adwords, I will be doing both them and my self a disservice.

B. I believe in the power Google Adwords has to transform the small business and the small business owner’s life! I made a commitment to understanding and mastering Adwords to the best of ability long before it became a requisite for being competitive in the market.

2) What is the most challenging situation you have faced when managing AdWords accounts? (1-2 paragraphs)

Being ignorant of any Adwords feature.

3) If you could change one thing about AdWords, what would it be? (1 paragraph)

Add Zip Code Targeting.

4) What is your favorite AdWords tool or report? Why? (1 paragraph)

The Keyword Tool.

Because it rationalizes demand into language.

Section 3: Video Presentation
Please submit one video presentation containing the following 2 components:

a) Introduction (max 1 min.) – Tell us who you are, when you first started using AdWords, and why you want to be an AdWords Seminar Leader.

b) Lesson (max 7 min.) – Choose one of the following two topics and create a lesson as if it were a partial session of an AdWords Seminar. You may use visual aids, but please do not repeat or reuse any materials from the AdWords Learning Center.

* OPTION 1: Your audience is a group of local small business owners with small advertising budgets. They are concerned about competing with large, national advertisers who are also advertising on AdWords. Explain to them how AdWords pricing works, and which AdWords features can help them advertise effectively in this competitive environment.

* OPTION 2: Your audience is a group of new AdWords advertisers. During the Q&A session of the seminar, one advertiser asks: “I’ve been advertising on AdWords for a few weeks. I’ve spent a few hundred bucks, but I’m frustrated because I can’t get my ad to show up on the first page of search results. I’m always in 7th or 8th place on the second page. How do I get my ad to show up on the first page?” How would you address his question?

GoogleTestAd – Google Test Ad

September 6, 2006

For some time I have seen the GoogleTestAd show up in search data as a popular keyword query. I decided to dig a little deeper. Google Test Ad even has its own Wikipedia entry. However, tonight I see Google is bidding on their own keyword. The Adwords ad reads: Congratulations! This is a family safe ad. All systems are go! Clicking the ad in turn leads to a Google search results page for Family Safe.