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Google Releases Geographic PPC Click Distribution Data
Chris Laub | September 17th, 2008
Earlier this month, Google added a new report to their Reports Tool. This new option allows advertisers/account managers to see where the PPC clicks they are getting are coming from. While we all know the benefits of geo-targeting certain markets can be great, this takes things to another level. Advertisers have always been able to geo-target their campaigns, allowing them to compare CTRs & conversion rates from different markets. However, this new tool allows advertisers to take this one step further. Using this tool, advertiser can now run nationwide ads and determine what markets they should be focusing on in a relatively limited amount of time, all the way down to the ad-group level. While this could be costly for smaller businesses trying to determine what markets to focus on, this could be extremely effective for nationwide businesses looking to target only the highest performing markets. In addition, advertisers can further optimize their campaigns by focusing on the markets that have the highest conversion rates and/or ROI. So, start running those reports people! Read more at the official Google Blog. Save this Post!
Digg This!
Chris Laub | July 24th, 2008
For all you search engine savvy, Wall Street minded professionals out there, here’s something to chew on. Reports of a $200M Google bid for the user-driven, content evaluation website Digg.com have surfaced this week, and the financial & legal implications are wide ranging. As of now, Digg is inked into a 3 year contract with Microsoft that has generated approx. $11.3M in venture capital for the site using Microsoft’s ads. In addition, Microsoft has been part of the negotiations for Digg too. However, their supposed bids are more in the $100M range. Even in that range, investors do not think this is a good move for the shareholders of either company. This is extremely relevant given MSFT shares are down 33% from their 52 week high, while GOOG‘s are down a whopping 44.2% from their 52 week high. According to Google’s own Ad Planner system, Digg gets 6.5M unique visitors per month. Using very basic math, assuming Google could run ads on Digg at a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of $4 per page, the $200M bid values the company at 60 times revenue! Tweaking the CPM cost will alter Digg’s valuation, but even at $12 with a 100% growth rate in its first year post-acquisition, we’re talking 10 times earnings (which is still high for you non-investors out there). Which brings us to Google’s intent. Their financial consultants have obviously crunched tons of numbers and most likely have multiple value variations based on growth rates, CPMs and other factors. Continue reading…
Microsoft Cashback
Chris Laub | May 29th, 2008
I just wanted to get this out there before it becomes old news. Last week Microsoft made another bold move to gain market share in the search industry. After running some Beta tests last year, Bill Gates announced they will be pushing forward with their Microsoft Live Search Cashback program. In short, advertisers in the e-commerce division of search marketing (e-commerce accounts for 30% of searches, but 80% of search revenue) can now switch to a Pay Per Action model instead of Pay Per Click. Translation: advertisers can set a bid for how much they’re willing to spend when a search query turns into a sale. With 61% of e-commerce purchases originating in the search engines, this is a significant move. In addition to basically guaranteeing the advertiser is getting some business for their click money, Microsoft also created an incentive for the shopper. To draw people like you in, Microsoft decided they would offer Cashback savings to users who buy using their engine. What does it all mean? Microsoft will basically pay you to shop with them/pay you not to use Google. During the shopping process, in addition to browsing to find the lowest prices, their results page will show which purchases quality for the Cashback program. After the purchase is made, they will deposit the amount listed right into your account, no hassles. While this is a bold move (and one that is highly unlikely to generate much revenue), the beta tests did help them accomplish their goal Continue reading…
Powerset Search Engine – Natural Language Search
Chris Laub | May 14th, 2008
On Monday, Powerset launched the beta version of their own search engine. While this is not interesting in and of itself, they have attracted a great deal of attention by using a unique algorithm to generate more relevant results. Using ‘natural language search,’ their system actively interprets the meaning of words rather than simply matching them or analyzing how frequently they are mentioned in a document. In the blogosphere world, this form of artificial intelligence has propelled them into direct competition with our favorite search engines. In addition, it has sparked rumors Microsoft may be interested in buying them out. I have to give them some credit, they were considered competition to and acquisition material for the most advanced search engines on the planet, all pre-beta release. What makes this system so interesting is the engine’s ability to interpret the meaning of words, and actually deliver on that promise. Rather than simply indexing all the material contained in a document, the engine literally reads and assigns meaning to every single word in every single document. Talk about heavy processing capacity. By analyzing the literal meaning of a word, and then analyzing the linguistic meaning of a word and finding synonyms, the engine can find what they claim to be more relevant results than the ‘exact match’ system used on our favorite engines. I would normally smash any engine trying to compete with Google, but how can you blame anyone for trying to deliver more relevant results to the end user. Continue reading…
No Recession At Google
Chris Laub | April 23rd, 2008
On April 17th, Google once again prevailed on Wall Street, releasing earnings reports that beat analyst’s estimates with force. Despite growing concern over the impact of the slowing economy on Google’s revenues & reports released by comScore indicating Google’s clicks were down for the fourth quarter of 2007, Google managed to increase revenues over 20% compared to the first quarter of 2007. Since analysts on Wall Street have become obsessed with Google, their success is worthy of brief examination. Investor fears that online advertising revenues would fall are justified in the sense that advertising is usually one of the first expenses businesses cut out in times of economic woe. In addition, this is the first major economic crisis the engine has faced since its induction. You would think a business facing such a crisis would opt to bring in as much cash as possible. Not so. Instead of milking their advertisers for all they could, Google instituted stricter text ad policies that ensured search results were more relevant for the end user. By doing this, they decreased their potential customer base by barring bogus advertisers using irrelevant (or simply bad) web sites from advertising on their engine. On the surface, this is negative news for investors. To make things worse, in February of 2008 comScore released a report citing Google’s paid clicks were down for the 4th quarter of 2007. The release successfully scared analysts & investors. Then, comScore came back out and said that the trend had continued into Continue reading…
Tags: google future, google outside USA, googles expansion, no recession at google, recession at google
Posted in Google | 2 Comments
Pay Per Call – The ‘Other’ PPC
Chris Laub | April 2nd, 2008
Being new to the SEM industry, I was intrigued to learn Pay Per Click has a sister, Pay Per Call, who is attracting a great deal of attention within the mobile advertising industry. Whether the younger sister proves to be the more attractive one is yet to be seen. In short, Pay Per Call is self-explanatory: advertisers pay for phone leads instead of click leads. On March 19th, 2007, mobile advertising giant Medio announced a partnership with Ingenio, a major leader in the Pay Per Call market. As of now Medio has inked deals with cellular carriers T-Mobile & Amp’d for their mobile pay per click services. As the two coalesce, they will offer Pay Per Call advertising on a mobile level. While this all sounds exciting, in my humble opinion, the partners are facing huge obstacles in tapping into this market. As is with Pay Per Click, the idea is to use highly targeted keywords to reach as specific of an audience as possible. With PPC II, users will be delivered text ads that contain a title, description (sound familiar?) and a phone number. When the user calls the number Ingenio has provided them with, the advertiser is charged a bid rate for the call. While this is a GREAT solution for small business owners without a website, I see three main problems with this strategy. Number one: when that water pipe burst in your house last night, did you hop on your Amp’d cell phone, get online, and Continue reading…
Tags: Ingenio, Medio, mobile ads, Pay Per Call, pay per click, sem
Posted in Google, Technology | 2 Comments
