On Friday, Google announced that their location extensions were given a makeover. Location extensions, which allow advertisers to enhance their paid listings by either manually or automatically including their location information, used to be limited to one location per ad. Now, if you have a Google Places account linked to your AdWords campaign up to four of the business locations closest to the searcher can be displayed.

This new feature can have some great benefits for brands with multiple locations.

1) For brand terms location extensions allow the customer to pick the closest location to them. It also adds real estate to any brand term search

2) For non-brand terms location extensions allow a brand to gain additional coverage on the SERP. This is especially helpful for locations that may not be in the 3 or 7 pack of the map listing results

3) Improved campaign click through rate. This is from an informal survey of my campaigns that have location extensions implemented but the ads that show with location extensions tend to have a CTR that ranges from .8 to 2% higher than ads that don’t show with location extensions in the same campaign.

Although this makeover is a step in the right direction, there are some situations where implementing the new set-up may not be right for an advertiser.

1) The new extensions only allows for four locations to be visible so groups of stores larger than four that are advertising together may not want to take advantage of this feature because it may result in uneven exposure of the stores.

2) You need to have a Google Places account hooked up to your campaign to take advantage of this feature. If you don’t have access to the Google Places account or you don’t want to hook it up because you don’t want up to four locations to show, this feature is not available to you.

As I was updating my smart phone advanced segment the other day I was surprised to find that my client was also getting traffic from two new breeds of internet browsing tools. The first, the game console. Of course! Playstations and Wiis can be a substitute for computers. The second, the portable music player such as the Sony X1000 Walkman, has internet browsing capabilities. I immediately rushed into my advanced segment edit area and started creating. I needed to know how this traffic was performing! The results ladies and gentlemen, were neat.

Client #1:

Client #2 (I went a step further in this one and broke out paid as well):

Google Analytics-Specialty Segmentation

Although the traffic levels weren’t earth shattering, I was surprised to see in both clients that the traffic sent from these segments had high engagement rates. I am assuming we will see the traffic from these segments continue to grow as the year goes on. In the meantime, remember, that it isn’t just computers and phones driving users to your site anymore.

Since the New Year is finally here, it is a good time to think about updating your ad copy.  Is it giving off a 2008 message instead of a 2009 one? If you think you are ringing in the old instead of the new, here are some suggestions for revamping your ad creative:

1) Make sure you aren’t mentioning any months that are past and now far away. You do not want to create the impression that you are not paying attention. If you see your click though rates dropping, run, don’t walk, to your ads and make them more relevant to the new year.

2) If your client has anything to do with typical resolutions, take advantage with catchy “You must change your life now, we can help!” type ad copy. Nothing promotes change more than an irresistible call to action

3) Tax season is almost upon us. Along with that comes the need for financial solutions for some people. If you are in this industry, make sure your ad copy is updated

4) Tax refunds also cause some people to splurge on things such as vacations and large TVs. What better way to get business than offering a TV for the Superbowl with no payments until you get your tax check in the mail? Let your offers be known.

Those are just a few examples of ad copy revamps for 2009. Yahoo! also offers a few tips on their blog. What is your most creative 2009 creative? Please share your most innovative and topical ad copy.

Recently, our stock market has dropped to its lowest point in five years, sending our country into an economic crisis and spreading just as quickly across the globe. Around this time, a mid-size, full-service advertising and marketing agency in the West saw one of the best lead months it had ever experienced with one of their education clients. Coincidence? This search marketer thinks not.

Looking into it further, using some tools of the trade, it became clear that there is definitely a correlation between some search topics that may be considered fitting for hard economic times and the state of Wall Street. For example, going back to the education example, it is clear by looking at some well known, easily accessible educational institutions that the interest for their services has risen as the stock market falls.

(Date range goes back to July 2007 to account for seasonality trends)

Continuing with this idea, I looked into other search themes that I would consider indicative of hard times. In general, there is a steady rise in most searches that would be related to an economy where people need help due to financial trouble.

While we don’t have any debt consolidation or job site clients, it is clear, according to Hitwise, that this trend continues across all traffic sources.

Although clearly there are industries that the stock market won’t affect such as high end clothing, luxury cars, and luxury homes or anything else more niche (case in point, searches for BMW have stayed steady for a year plus). In general, the declining stock market is a good opportunity for service related companies to continue to turn to online marketing in order to reach their growing client base.

Google announced today that they will be releasing a phone in late October. The G1, which will be hosted by T-Mobile, has integrated into it some of Google’s more popular applications such as Maps, G-Mail, and YouTube. For Google, this means an even further reach, not only in their advertising reach (each of their applications boasts content targeted ads) but also in their goal to be a part of people’s lives outside of the internet. Recently, Google introduced the ability to provide radio, newspaper, and TV ads, theorizing that they could influence potential customers for their advertisers through every step of their day. This also means that the iPhone, now has stiff competition, with Amazon.com already announcing that their mp3 library will be fully compatable with the G1. Retailing for $179, this phone will just push Google further ahead of the curve. The phone is scheduled to release October 22nd, which, happens to be one day after my birthday, hint hint. Am I the only one who will be running to the store?

According to the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seinfeld will be the new face of Microsoft in order to soften their old and inept image conveyed so well by Justin Long and Apple. Although the immediate purpose of Jer’s appearances is an attempt to rekindle the cool image of Microsoft, they are hoping that increased software sales from this tactic will allow them to invest in other much needed areas pertinent to sustaining the company, such as online services. A bold move for sure, we will see if this allows them to once again to be the Masters of the Computer Domain.
Also, not to split hairs but, how long can someone wait before switching endorsements? Seinfeld appeared in an Apple ad in 1997.

According to comScore, more searches are executed on Google than on any other engine. This, coupled with the fact that their interface is so flawless, makes it a perfect resource to try out new techniques. Recently, I had a client tell me a particular brand was hot in Michigan, so, I proceeded to set up a geo-targeted campaign for this brand in Google only, put in some geo-modified keywords and ad copy, and played the waiting game. Two months later, I had three sales to account for my brilliant technique. Which got me thinking. Was I using the wrong search engine to target Michigan? So, using my client’s Index Tools log-in, I began breaking down which search engines were delivering traffic from which states. What I found was interesting. Google, Yahoo, and MSN had 3 states, NY, CA, and FL that all delivered high amounts of traffic, however, each engine had 2 or 3 other states that were delivering a good amount of traffic that were not similar. Therefore, by only taking advantage of geo-targeting in Google, I was missing out on prime sale opportunities in Yahoo! and MSN. My next step is to identify the most popular brands in each of these states to create the ultimate targeted experience.

Two weeks ago Google began offering landing page load time evaluations per keyword on the Keyword Analysis Page, and in several weeks, load time will begin to affect your quality score. This latest addition is supposed to further enhance the searcher experience. This search marketing diva is skeptical. Sure, Google has policies for landing page content and stands firmly behind its belief that it wants to provide the searchers with quality ads, but, how is page load time more important than the actual time spent on the site? How does the fact that a page may take a little longer to load matter more than if the overall user experience is better on the site than a faster loading one. Just because a destination page is appealing by Google standards does not mean that the site as a whole provides a good user experience. I am also a little concerned about having clients change websites to appease Google’s advertising standards. To see if you meet Google’s standards, go to any ad group and click on the keyword tab. Choose the Keyword Diagnostics icon, choose Details and Recommendations for quality score, the Landing Page Load Time is on the bottom.