Every day I am looking at my search query reports on Google to exclude keywords that seem to cost a filthy fortune and occasionally add a few terms that even I haven’t thought of. Broad matching and bad spelling at least make pouring through these reports a bit of a giggle-fest if I am in a decent mood. Here are a few recent discoveries:

Broad Matches
I am pretty sure that Google’s broad matching has changed in the last 6 month and I am finding queries on a daily basis that I have to roll my eyes at:

• what kind of continue training in technology can you imagine would be required as you progress in top ten career of today – I wonder if Google had a conversation back to this person?
• www atmark train com – a broad match to IT training perhaps?
• i love college music songs – a broad match to IT college I am guessing
• get pregnant games online – I am not questioning Google’s matching here – I just find it odd that people are searching on this
• do something fun online – a broad match to an online training keyword
• make your own jacket – broad matched to make your own game
• can i become a witch – I’m sure you can sweetie – but you don’t need a degree, thanks for clicking… (rhymes with witch)
• is homework necessary yes it is – I’m a little tired of this by now

Bad Spelling
Seareously… can no won get enything rite:

• vertual games
• jogos oline do crash
• schdel
• dersup gams
• makeing games – really… you never learnt to drop the “e” ?
• cretors dowloeds
• teche elementary – Please don’t – the kids have a hard enough time in school

With adCenter to take center stage for account managers when the Yahoo! / Bing search merger becomes a  reality, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft will invest the money into both the web and desktop interfaces to make it competitive with AdWords.

Google is usually the first choice for running advertising campaigns due to the sheer volume of search queries they process every day. Yahoo! and Bing both deliver some good results, with Yahoo! having the ability to match Google in terms of lead volume for campaigns. However, with their advanced-standard match process and some painful trademark rules, your keyword lists are usually a fraction of your Google build outs.

The other reason why AdWords is the first choice is because it is simple, fast and comparatively transparent.  Unless Microsoft pulls a Windows 7 Dock (I’m a Mac and Windows stole my idea) on it’s adCenter interface and editor, campaigns will remain imports of our already built Google campaigns.

The adCenter web interface is not a lost cause and neither is the Desktop. After downloading the Yahoo! Desktop Editor and trying to do even the most simple task, then eventually giving up due to speed and other things, I now have new respect for adCenter’s Desktop.

Reports

The web interface offers a Search Query Report, which is an essential tool for anyone running broad match keywords. From the Reports tab in your account, select Search Query Performance.  Choose Specific Accounts, Campaigns and Ad Group for the Report Scope (if you run campaigns for multiple clients). The account that you reached the Report Center from should already be selected. Expand the Change Columns and Layout section. Here you can add and remove columns for the data you want to see (although a few core data sets can’t be removed).  Conversions are not selected as a default so if you are running a lead based campaign you should add this in to the report.

You can filter the report further but these are hard coded options rather than custom parameters like in AdWords. Once you have created the report it will display in your web browser and you then have the option to download it as a CSV or Zipped CSV. I find the web interface version of the report hard to read and there isn’t anything that you can do with the report within the interface (you can’t assign negatives or add relevant keywords to an ad group) so I just download it as a CSV.  They do have a little graph you can play around with but unless you are running only 15 keywords it is redundant.

One of the nice things about adCenter’s broad matching technology is that it doesn’t get too silly (unlike some recent search query results in Google) and I don’t end up deleting/excluding too many keywords.

Tools

In the Tools tab of the Web Interface is a download for Microsoft Advertising Intelligence, which is an addon to MS Excel. Once downloade,d this tool allows you to research keywords (traffic, demographics, categories), generate keywords (extraction, suggestions, popular) and look up pricing and vertical KPIs.

MS AdCenter's Ad Intelligence Tab

I have played around with the keyword generation through the Wizard, which allows you to create keyword lists from an Excel list that you may have and extract terms from a website or a specific vertical. The actual Wizard is fairly simple (and rather sparse) and the website extraction pulls keywords that I didn’t know were on the site but not quite relevant. Then the wizard will ask you how you would like to expand on this list, via the customer’s bidding behavior or by suggesting queries which contain the original keyword.

I chose to go with Queries that Contain Your Keyword. Because my client’s website has a case study on the home page and it mentions the word “additional” the keyword tool suggested (among many other irrelevant queries) “patrick chan joubert additional twist specific value.” Hmmm. Luckily adCenter’s broad matching algorithm doesn’t quite go that far (I wouldn’t put it past Google’s though).  In comparison to Google’s keyword tool (based on a URL) there are too many far fetched queries to be trolling through.

There is a third step to the Wizard though and that is Keyword KPIs. You have two options at this stage: 1. viewing monthly traffic or 2. monetization (including CPC, CTR, impressions and clicks). I chose the latter and was pleasantly surprised by the final Excel report that was generated.  Even though there are plenty of suggestions that are useless it still gives you an insight into which search terms generate traffic on Bing and their average CTR and CPC.

Keyword KPI's Ad Intelligence Report

The Popular Keywords button in the the main toolbar is pretty cool; it allows you to research spikes in search queries, top keyword searches (apparently in the Exotic Pets vertical monkey terms are a big hit on Bing), top keywords by domain (still figuring this out), and Top Vertical lists (I kept receiving an error every time I tried).

For the other tools you need to have a populated data sheet to run the queries. As I like to work in Excel when building out keyword lists (for concatenation) I will probably give AI a proper go in my next campaign build to see if it is really worth the effort.

Google launched a new Labs tool called, Google Public Data Explorer, which allows you to analyze large amounts of public data on popular search topics using colorful and pretty visual representations. The charts and maps created through Public Data Explorer can easily be changed to represent different time periods.

The charts and maps created by the new tool are great for interactive marketers as they simplify data, making it easy to evaluate for use in campaign optimization and easy to communicate findings to clients or other interested parties. Say you have a client that provides alternative treatments for cancer. You can use the data to determine which, if any, geographic locations have a higher incidence of this cancer. Then you can geo-target your campaigns to those specific locations in an effort to reach a more qualified audience.

The data is provided by the World Bank, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, Eruostat, California Department of Education and more. Currently, there are 80 different topics in the tool (I’m not sure if cancer incidence is actually one of the data sets, that was a simply an example of how it might be used). Charts can be made into line graphs, bar graphs, world maps or bubble charts, and you can select specific time frames of data.

What’s been happening in the exciting world of interactive marketing this week? Patents were handed out like wieners at a cocktail party, Yahoo! celebrated its 15th birthday, users get all stary-eyed over Google’s customizable search and education is a main focus with Transformation 2010 and SMX West. And tons more, of course.

SEARCH MARKETING/INDUSTRY GENERAL

Bid your desktop a fond farewell

Well, not quite yet, but soon. Google’s European director of online sales, John Herlihy, recently stated that desktops will be irrelevant in just three years; smartphones will be the dominant platform for accessing the internet. Three years doesn’t seem like a long time, but remember that Twitter barely existed in early 2007. A lot has changed since then and a lot could change by 2013. What does this mean for advertisers? At the risk of sounding like a broken record: if you haven’t already, you need to get started on mobile marketing now! Seriously. Contact us.

SEM semantics

I frequently run into search marketing nomenclature issues. Oftentimes people use the wrong initialisms to refer to different aspects of search. Mostly it’s people using “SEO” to describe both paid and organic search; however, these people typically aren’t in the industry, so I forgive them. Danny Sullivan laments another naming conventions gone wrong. He has noticed more and more people using “SEM” to describe just paid search, not the general term for referring to all types of marketing run on search engines. Who’s to blame for these naming confusions? Should we stick to the arbitrarily defined, prescriptivist meaning or should we adapt, much like the industry had done since the term was coined? What do you think? Is it obvious enough what I think?!

Ignite Global Week

I’ve recently taken a keen interested in Ignite events. Actually, I’ve become pretty obsessed and I’ve been trying to come up with a killer presentation of my own. I’ll be sure to post a video if I ever get up the courage. Anyway, if you haven’t been to an Ignite, I highly suggest you check it out. The idea is that everyone gets five minutes to run through a 20 slide presentation where the slides advance automatically every 15 seconds. Topics range far and wide, and humor and nerdiness are encourage. It’s a great place to learn something, network and have a fabulous time. Mashable put together a nice piece on why you should attend. If you visit the Ignite site, you can watch some videos from Global Ignite Week to get the idea, then find an Ignite near you.

AAAAs coverage

The AAAA’s annual conference, Transformation 2010, took place this week in San Francisco. Transformation brings together the top advertising and marketing professionals to discuss pressing issues, latest trends and industry challenges. Find coverage of this year’s conference at The Huffington Post.

SMX West coverage

SMX West also took place near the Bay Area this week. Naturally, the search marketing crowd was a bit more active online—there’s a great deal of coverage on blogs and Twitter. Peruse the list of coverage from Day One, Day Two and Day Three to find something that fits your fancy.

Yahoo! turns 15

Happy, happy birthday, Yahoo! The company was incorporated on March 1, 1995, making it 15 years old this week. The awkward teen years are almost over, you can make it! And then you can start dating at 16. I think Microsoft would be a good match! Check out a company timeline in their Flickr account.

Topeka, KS changes name to Google, KS

In an attempt to convince the search engine supergiant to build an experimental broadband network in their city, Topeka, Kansas temporarily changed their name to “Google, Kansas – the capital city of fiber optics.” The town will be named Google, KS for the entire month of March. Read the full story at Mashable.

Customize your Google results

Google announced the option to highlight certain results that you frequent or particularly like; on future searches, these results display in a special section at the top of your results. The option is being referred to as “stars” and is replacing SearchWiki. It will be rolled out globally over the next few days.

New GCN tools allows for better site placement

Google released a new tool for use with their Content Network. The tool allows you to ensure that your ads don’t show up below the fold on any given site. The tool takes into account browser, monitor size and screen resolution to predict where an ad will land. This is a neat tool that will be especially useful for those advertisers mostly concerned with branding.

SEO

The many benefits of Twitter

The good folks over at SEOmoz have a unique way of using Twitter—as a research tool for SEO programs. In his Whiteboard Friday video, Rand Fishkin explains how to pinpoint when a keyword reaches “Query Deserves Freshness” mark, allowing you to create timely and fresh content and gain a significant competitive edge. Watch the video here.

Leveraging your employee’s good name

Does your company have famous employees? Or at least talented, knowledgeable ones that others are interested in learning more about? Of course you do! If not, you may want to rethink their employment status! You can leverage your employees’ personal brands to rank higher. This article offers some easy tips for getting even more from your hardworking employees, such as creating a employee profile pages with bios, properly tagged photos, titles and H1s, unique phone numbers and links to their other online profiles and accounts. Read the full article to learn more.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Measuring social media with analytics

Everyone is doing or wants to do social media, but the big question still remains: How can you measure the value. This article offers ways to track social media efforts using web analytics. The major metric you should look for in your analytics platform is referrals from social media sites, and the user engagement from those referrals. Read the full article to learn other tips.

Facebook gets newsfeed patent

That’s right, Facebook has been awarded a patent to the newsfeed. But not just any news feed, the patent singles out a particular type of newsfeed: one in which the updates are associated with an individual user, linked to other news items and displayed in an assigned order. Furthermore, it is expected that Facebook will only cite the patent defensively, rather than enforcing against other newsfeed type sites. Gain a better understanding of this new patent at ReadWriteWeb.

Social spammer showcase

This Search Engine Journal article explains six types of social media spammers. Review the list, understand the different types and make sure you never become one.

MOBILE MARKETING

Everyone can use click to call ads

You no longer need a physical store address to benefit from Google’s click to call extension for mobile devices. The service, which was introduced in January, was originally limited to businesses that had a brick-and-mortar location with an actual street address. Now, any business can include a clickable phone number that routes to a call center. Learn more at Search Engine Land.

LOCAL SEARCH MARKETING

Google receives location-based marketing patent

Facebook’s patent news pales in comparison to Google’s. Naturally. This week, it was discovered that Google received a patent for location-based advertising, which includes the use of location for targeting purposes, setting minimum bid prices for ads, performance analytics offerings and ad content modification. It’s assumed that Google will only use the patent for defensive cases, rather than cracking down on other companies or requiring license fees. Google originally filed for the patent in April 2004. Talk about foresight! Just one of the many reasons Google is the powerhouse it is today. Learn more.

So many times I have come across reports that look great: lots of juicy data, trending graphs and conditional formatting. However, what’s the high level roll-up that all that data is stating? What are the key takeaways? If you opened up the report a year from now, would it still make sense when that call or meeting explaining the report is no longer top of mind? My tip of the week is a reminder that:

1. Reports should make sense in isolation from a call or meeting
2. You should always review the data and answer the questions why, what and how

For example, Why did the CPC increase? What happened that could have impacted it? How do you plan on counter-attacking this in order to stay competitive but still reach client goals?

One extra tip:  Use a nicely formatted naming convention for reports so they are not only easy to sort your folders start getting full, but also enable you, if dated correctly, to find those old reports so you can run historical year-over-year and month-over-month comparisons.

Without further ado, here’s your weekly roundup of interesting articles and timely news for the interactive marketing industry. Enjoy!

SEARCH MARKETING/INDUSTRY GENERAL

Yahoo! integrating Twitter

This week, Twitter agreed on content-sharing deal with Yahoo! that will encompass more than the ones with Google and Bing. The three main areas of integration will be: 1. Access to Twitter feeds on Yahoo!; 2. Ability to update Twitter status from Yahoo!; and 3. Integration on Yahoo! Search and media sites. Learn more about this deal at Mashable and Search Engine Land.

Will loss of Google cause loss of eyesight?

If Google shuts down its search engine in China, some scientists feel they’ll be left in utter darkness. In fact, one scientist has been quoted as saying: “If I lose Google, it will [be] just like a man without his eyes.” This is because the majority of Chinese scientists (>75%) use Google as their primary engine for research, while only 17% use Baidu as their primary engine. These findings were gathered during a recent survey conducted by Nature Publishing Group. Learn more about the survey and how Chinese scientists expect to deal with the loss of Google.

SEO

SEO for ecommerce

Most ecommerce sites pose a particular challenge to SEOs. The typical lack of (original) content and linkability (especially for smaller retail sites) makes these pages difficult to optimize. But there are simple workarounds, such as increasing unique content, adding expert product reviews and buyer’s guides, presenting data differently and including an education or info section. Learn more about these tactics and some others.

Which URL shortner to use?

It’s hard to imagine that a service as straightforward as shortening a URL could have so many options. But the many URL shortners out there all provide somewhat different features and functionality. Most people know of bit.ly, snURL and tinyURL, but there are tons more. Does it matter which one you use? Yes, it does, especially if you’re concerned about 301 redirects (and in case you aren’t, you should be). Check out this detailed comparison chart put together by Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan to decide which one is best (Hint: it starts with bit and ends with ly).

SOCIAL MEDIA

How Buzz hijacks your Gmail profile

So, you did the smart thing and opted out of Buzz when you heard the uproar about privacy issues. Good for you, I did, too. But what I didn’t realize I was opting out of was my Google Profile. Apparently, Google replaced “About Me” info with Buzz activity in your Profile. If you turned off Buzz, you turn off your Google Profile as well. Check out an in-depth post on the topic.

FTC, disclosure and your blog

So, the new FTC guidelines for bloggers are in effect, but little has changed because of them. These guidelines, set back in December 2009, were created to ensure full disclosure for testimonial announcements, bloggers and celebrity endorsements. Just because there hasn’t been a major crackdown yet, doesn’t mean we won’t see on in the near future, so be sure you understand and are following the guidelines. Find out if you’re affected and how you should conduct yourself.

Twitter ad platform to launch next month

It seems that Twitter is finally ready to start generating revenue. It only took them three years, that’s pretty typical for any new business. But, I would argue, not one that has enjoyed the immense popularity that Twitter has. Either way, Twitter is scheduled to make an announcement sometime next month, possibly at SXSW, regarding an ad platform that will be integrated into the site. According to Twitter, the ads will be relevant and useful so the user doesn’t really know it’s an ad. I’m all for seamless integration of ads, causing little distraction and focusing on products/services specific to my interests; however, I do not appreciate clicking on a seemingly innocent link only to learn it’s an advertisement. There’s a small sense of betrayal and disappointment when this happens, and I don’t know that it’s the best method. There must be some way to tell that a tweet is an ad. That’s just one woman’s humble opinion though. What do you think? Check out the full article on Mashable for more info.

How Twitter and Facebook make you more productive

For those of us that do social media for a living, this article isn’t necessary to show our bosses we’re not just futzing around on Twitter and Facebook all day. But for those that aren’t lucky enough to tweet and update statuses all day long, this article is for you: “How Twitter and Facebook Make Us More Productive.” And it’s in Wired, so it must be for real. Read this article thoroughly, show it to your boss, then Twitter away guilt free every now and then.

LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION

GWO tips for better product pages

For any business with numerous product pages, it can be difficult deciding which pages to optimization, not to mention what aspects to test on page. This post on the Google Website Optimizer Blog offers 25 beneficial tips for creating better product pages tests, thus creating better product pages. Here are just a few tips to whet your appetite: test product images on right side versus left side; test manufacturer’s version of product description versus custom copy; test various locations for up-sell/cross-sell items. Read the full post for all tips.

MOBILE MARKETING

What can mobile do?

Mobile can do a lot, if only we face our fears and let it. That’s the moral of a recent article on Search Engine Watch. The author discusses mobile coupons and their slow adoption by consumers; focus on engagement by brands, rather than purchases and driving traffic; and inability to measure revenue impact. However, even with some seemingly negative aspects, the author urges advertisers to test mobile for several reasons: 1. low CPCs; 2. Engines are looking for feedback and will make an honest effort to improve based on comments; 3. Competitive edge; and most importantly, 4. It’s test marketing, it won’t kill you. Are you convinced yet? Good, contact us.

Recently I went through a very large campaign and added new ads to all ad groups so that the copy precisely matched the landing page action item (the text on the button for a form).

Waddayaknow – it has worked. Very well. I actually find the copy that I am using a little cheesy so it was a bit of a “ok whatever” moment when I decided to do it. Out of all leads I received the next day 1/3 were from that one ad copy (the title had a keyword insert and the display URL was different for each ad group to reflect the theme of the ad group ).

It is always best to test action items on your page, whether it be words on a button, like Download Now v Download Software, and then have some ad text that correlates to these tests. It was mentioned in a meeting yesterday it would be great to be able to tie in a Google Website Optimizer test with ad text. Maybe one day (probably at the same time that I get my ad text testing platform)…

Matching Ad Text to Action Items

I bid optimize on the web interface mainly because I can quickly view the average position, average cost per click and the spend for a couple of different date ranges.

On occasion I reset an ad groups bids back to default. This usually happens when I have upped the default bid higher than most of the previous specific bids (that were higher than the old default bid).

The easiest way to do this is to select all the keywords:

Select All Keywords in an Ad Group

Choose Edit – In Table:

Edit Keywords in a Table

When you’re in the table view the default bid is shown as blank. Set the first keyword in the table to blank and then click on a little note like icon will appear when you hover over a bid field and this will populate all of your bids with that specific bid. All bid fields should go blank. Click Save.

Set Keyword Bids to the Default Bid

Note: This will only edit the keywords shown in the view. To edit all keywords at one time you need to Edit in Spreadsheet without selecting all the keywords (this will open your keywords and their parameters in a Google Docs spreadsheet). Otherwise with the Edit in Table, once you hit save the interface will take you back to the Keywords tab and you have to go to the next page and repeat the process.

In this month’s issue of “Meet the Authors,” we’re going to profile our newest fearless leader, Alex Porter. After serving as VP for some five years, Alex was promoted to president of Location3 Media at the beginning of February. Essentially, Alex has been carrying out presidential duties for some time; it’s only now been made official. Besides running Location3, Alex is also an active board member with the New Denver Ad Club and helped the Colorado AMA develop their new Digital Dynamics educational webinar series. But Alex isn’t commander in chief in every area of his life—at home, there’s no question that his two boys rule. Read through all of Alex’s blogs and learn some fun facts and quirks about him below.

Where did you grow up?

Baltimore, MD

What is your favorite thing about Colorado?

There’s always something outdoorsy to do.

Favorite foods:

Steamed Blue Crabs, Bone In Rib Eye Steak, Fresh Pasta

When I was a kid, I wanted to be:

President of the United States

Preferred search engine and browser:

iGoogle/IE8

What is your dream vacation?

Snowboarding in the Italian alps, then sunning at the Venice Lido, then a wine tour of Italy

Favorite song/artist:

Currently its “Doomsday” by Elvis Perkins

Who is your celebrity doppelganger?

Hugh Grant or Ponyboy

Favorite book/author:

If I say Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Does that make me a geek? (Yes!)

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

Cows Heart

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Bluetooth phones

What phrase do you overuse the most?

Shazam!

What is your proudest moment at Location3?

It’s in the future.

What is your proudest moment in life?

The births of my boys.

We had our Google Ad Words reps in our offices last week for their ‘state of the search industry’ address, which is always interesting and helpful. Google’s client/agency support has always been miles ahead of Yahoo and MSN, but that’s a topic for another day. In Google’s presentation they had a slide illustrating the increase in long tail keyword usage and the huge decrease in one to two word keywords. At first I didn’t think anything of it as it makes sense and is something we have known from our own data for years, but then I remembered a blog I had read the night before from Matt McGee that describes the exact opposite.

In Matt’s blog he presents data from Experian/Hitwise which indicates that one word keywords have actually increased by 17% in 2009. It’s important to point out that the Hitwise data represents all search engines, while Google’s is specific to their results. So what might have caused a rise in one word keywords as of late?

I would first look to how the search result pages have changed in the last year with Google, Yahoo and MSN all displaying much more content through universal search based on a users IP address. When someone searches with single keywords such as ‘sushi’ or ‘shoes’ results are returned that provide much more options than before. As I’ve noted in previous blogs the engines display local businesses that are relevant to the search term entered. Similarly, sponsored ads can attach a local address to the text ad for that search query as well. Personally, I know this new format has changed my search behavior as I’m able to put in less to get more results.

Another contributing factor to this increase can be applied to the dramatic rise in mobile usage. Mobile phones provide a resource for immediate on the spot information and that information is almost always requested through as little searching as possible. The convenience of mobile browsing has developed a search behavior much more dependent on location rather than keywords.

So how does this affect advertising strategies? From a sponsored campaign perspective there is no argument against the need for long tail keywords and the effective CPA’s they generate, but a searchers behavior should also be observed when building a keyword portfolio. This includes the select use of one and two word search terms that can ‘assist’ with the overall performance. Without going too deep into visitor acquisition channels and attribution models, it’s thought that these ‘top of the funnel’ keywords are usually clicked on well before the actual conversion is made.

Organically, this puts even more emphasis on having a correctly optimized map listing as trends show those will be appearing more frequently for generic search queries. Achieving high positioning on a general search term in the maps can provide significant web, phone and in store visit traffic.