After ringing in the New Year in Brazil I’ve been back and beavering away on all things search again. And what do I have to show for it? A new column on search engine land covering the strategic to do list for 2010 for search engine marketers. Also, a new SEMcast podcast is also posted, on the to do list and also how to use Google’s new sitelinks and product links that are increasingly popping up on the results pages.
Also I’ll be speaking at SMX West on Twitter Marketing Tactics, its nice to know the efforts we’ve been putting into Twitter at Viator are getting some attention.
Speaking Engagements, Tip of My Hat, Uncategorized google product links, google sitelinks, smx west
Hot off the presses today a new SearchEngineLand article from me on Q4 SEM - advice on what search engine marketers should be working on in Q4 depending on if its high or low season for their business. And for those who prefer to listen than read (lazy! just kidding…), I’ve got a similar podcast on Q4 SEM up on geekcast.fm.
In both I make a sincere plea for search engine marketers to volunteer their expertise to help non-profits out with their Google Grants. They need it, so give some time to help out an organization you love near you.
Tip of My Hat q4 search engine marketing, q4 sem
I posted my monthly in-house column on Search Engine Land, this time the topic is Google AdWords partner sites gaining SEO benefit from paid ads.
Sometimes the articles cause many comments, tweets and even controversy (which is fine, just keep it respectful). This time around is a record for me, 85+ tweets and counting, many comments and it was even the third article in the Search Cap newsletter today. Woot!
Check out what all the fuss is about - Google AdWords Partner Sites Gain SEO Benefit from Paid Ads.
Tip of My Hat google adwords and seo, paid ads and seo
SEMcast #12 - Search Marketing and Acquisitions is now unleashed on the world. If you are thinking about starting another company in your space to do more ppc or buying a competitive company, check this podcast out for some advice.
Also we’ve been poking around and noticed a site getting SEO benefit out of the AdWords ads on it. We cry unfair, not cool to take my AdWords work and give the credit to someone else’s site. AdWords advertisers beware! You can read more about our beef: Google & The Infinite SEO-PPC Loop.
Tip of My Hat, Wag of My Finger adsense ads, adwords seo, ppc adsense ads, search marketing buying a company
Posted over on searchengineland in the in-house column is my latest article - a practical guide to the new AdWords interface. Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments with your tips and tricks for the new AdWords interface in the comments here or at searchengineland.
Tip of My Hat new adwords interface
I’m now a columnist on one of my favorite sites about search engine marketing, search engine land. Check out my first article on the pros and cons of bid management solutions. In short, I debate the pros and cons of using an automated bid management solution. I won’t spoil it by telling you if I am more pro or con, read the article! I’ll have articles appearing about once a month as part of the In-House column.
SearchEngineWatch responded with a critical blog post on me “dissing” bid management, but I think they missed a lot of my point and I wrote a very polite comment saying so to further the discussion, which they have yet to post. So much for a community dialog! For shame.
Also, check out SEMcast #11, now live on geekcast.fm, also on the topic of bid management.
Lastly, have I mentioned lately that I’m on twitter? I am. For random life updates and some search commentary follow kellpickles.
Tip of My Hat bid management, bid management solutions
If you live under a rock you might not be aware, but more than likely you have heard that Microsoft and Yahoo have come to terms on a ten year search deal. The most relevant points for paid search engine marketing managers are these:
- Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic/paid search platform for Yahoo.
- Yahoo will be the exclusive seller of both companies’ premium advertisers while self-serve advertising will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter.
- The latest timeline I’ve seen suggests that paid Microsoft/Bing results will being appearing on Yahoo in early 2011 in major markets with the goal of all results by early 2012.
While it might be tempting to forget all about Yahoo’s switch to Microsoft paid search results, after all you have until early 2011 (that’s like a year away!), I would definitely encourage search engine marketers to start laying the groundwork now to manage risk in the switchover and get ahead of the competition.
- Start a MSN AdCenter account. If you haven’t already, get your ppc campaigns up and running on Bing/Microsoft. They are garnering more search query share (~9% in July 2009) so search engine marketers should be advertising on Bing just to get the incremental revenue from another search engine anyway at this point. And eventually, you’re going to need an account there when Yahoo stops showing your ppc ads. If there’s any hiccups in transferring over Yahoo campaigns when the switch is made, it won’t matter to you as you’ll already have all those campaigns running on MSN. Bonus, you’ll have historical MSN data to compare to before the switchover, that plus your historical Yahoo data will tell you what your new MSN with Yahoo performance should be if all is working well after the switch.
- Start getting regular reports out of Yahoo. Data is one of the most valuable assets a search engine marketer can have and who knows what will happen to yours when Yahoo ceases to operate their sponsored search platform. Pull regular monthly reports and store them if you haven’t been doing regular reports. When the switchover occurs, you’ll be armed with historical data to compare how well your Microsoft listings on Yahoo are performing versus your old Yahoo listings. You can also identify any year over year losses or softness and focus on improving those areas. This is all about mitigating risk and keeping your paid search engine marketing campaign performance as good as ever.
- Get familiar with MSN’s interface and reports. I am sure in the coming year changes and enhancements will be made, but MSN’s AdCenter is a different beast than Yahoo or Google’s paid search platforms. Spend some time learning how it works, you’ll have an advantage over everyone scrambling to learn when the switchover is made.
- Try to get an account manager at MSN. If your spend is in the thousands, try to get an account manager at MSN. Sometimes there’s no substitute for a real person when issues arise. If you start now, by 2011 you will have built a rapport with your account contact and they’ll be ready to help with any transition issues that arise when Yahoo changes over.
- Don’t procrastinate. I know, I know, 2011 seems like ages from now. But think about how busy you are with just day to day search engine marketing tasks and if you spend just a little time each week pulling some Yahoo reports and getting your account up on MSN, you’ll be happy you had a year to get it all done. Trust me, its going to suck if you wait until the last minute.
Do you have other suggestions on preparing for the Yahoo-MSN switchover? I’d love to hear them, leave a comment!
Industry microhoo, microsoft paid search, microsoft yahoo merger, yahoo paid search
Quality Score can be confusing. There’s a bunch of factors, some seemingly mysterious, that can, at the end of they day, seriously damage (or improve) the ROI of a paid search campaign. My bottom line message: pick only relevant keywords and write a good ad that links to a good page. Write lots of good ads and test them to get the strongest one. Let that be your guide and ye cannot fail.
Don’t just take my advice. Google has now released a very simple and useful Quality Score guide. Check it out and go forth to pare out those irrelevant keywords and improve click-through rates.
I know some search engine marketers hate Quality Score, but I love it. Why? Because we pay a much lower cost per click than our competitors for a much better position. Quality score is a reward for running a well managed paid search campaign. When Quality Score becomes your friend instead of your enemy you’ll see what I mean.
Tip of My Hat google quality score, paid search engine marketing, quality score guide
SEMcast #9 is now online, all about tips and tricks for new Google AdWords interface. Enjoy!
Also I have a crazy travel schedule for the remainder of the month, so I doubt I will be posting much before August. So get out from behind the computer and enjoy summer!
Uncategorized new adwords interface, search engine marketing podcast, semcast 9
