Tim Daly recent article in MediaPost raised this very question. Is Impression Fraud More Dangerous Than Click Fraud? If you would have asked me this a month ago I would have said no. At that time not very many people were talking about it. The more we talk about this the more people will start recognizing this as an option that can be used to attack the competition.

As defined at Wikipedia, “Impression fraud is an insidious variant of click fraud in which the advertiser is penalized for having an unacceptably low click-through rate for a given keyword. This involves making numerous searches for a keyword but without clicking of the ad.”

This devious senario involves two competitors competing head to head. Even if one is a big company and the other is small the playing field is pretty level because this is the internet. Lets say that the smaller company has been writing better ads and has better landing pages and is spending the same amount each month as the large company. The larger company can spend ten times the budget of the smaller company but the landscape just doesn’t allow it. The playing field is leveled, or is it?

Now lets say that the larger company knows a bad month can wipe out the budget for the smaller company and decides to play dirty. The larger company pauses all campaigns for his company and artificially inflates the impressions with some bogus automation tool. The larger company is safe because they, temporarily, pull out of the campaign. Because of Google’s, and now Yahoo Search Panama’s, quality score penalty they will start paying more for a click than they did prior to this event. This will increase their cost per acquisition and possibly cause them to stop the campaign.

You might ask why am I providing all this information. People who have never thought about this have now been provided with an option that they didn’t previously consider. I pondered this very point but decided the best defense is education. Although not fool proof there is at least awareness about click fraud. Enough people are paying attention to click fraud and complaining when they see something out of the ordinary. This is forcing the engines to make appropriate refunds.

For impression fraud awareness can bring this same kind of reaction. If you see a unusual increase in impressions and notice an unusual decrease in click through rates for some keywords then you will know to at least consider this. If your cost per click rises for these keywords you might consider contacting the publisher to file a complaint. If enough of us are doing this the engines will start paying attention and, at least, give this the attention now provided to Click Fraud.

As always these are my thoughts but I look forward to your point of view.

Technorati Tags: Click Fraud, Impression Fraud, Search Marketing, Pay-Per-Click

Pay Per Click | No Comments »

Google’s Black Box

Advertisers are one step closer to having the information from Google required to determine how to improve their click cost on Ad Words. Up to this point we knew only of the black box that determined the Quality Score for the Ads. We know that the price we pay for a click is based upon a good Quality Score. Previously we could only infer that our ad and/or landing page was bad or good when our cost per click went up or down, respectively.

Why a Quality Score?

The enforcement of Google’s Quality Score makes sense. Its ultimate purpose is to nudge the advertiser toward more relevant ads and landing pages. As advertisers we see that an ad is doing good or bad by the click through rate. Since, reportedly, the Quality Score factors in the relevancy of the landing page, among other things, the introduction of a gauge other than the click through rate is welcomed.

Quality Score Grades

Google is now assigning a Quality Score grade (Great, OK, Poor) to each keyword. We don’t know where Google draws the lines but I think it is safe to assume that a grade of “Great” indicates you are getting a better cost per click that the guy with a “OK” grade. Also a Quality Score of “Poor” is likely to yield a higher click cost than “OK”.

Improving the Grade

The first thing I will do with the Quality Score grade is to compare it with what I thought I knew. If I have a “Great” score does it mean I will always have a good click through rate? Can I detect any variations and trends in this? Is there any correlation between a “Great” score and how many times I repeat a search term on the landing page? Can I overdo it and cause my score to drop? Can I detect other patterns related to a poor grade? Some may look at this new keyword column as a simple monitoring attribute. I see it as a little more information that can help perfect an ad word campaign.

Check back here periodically to see what I learned. Feel free to share your thoughts on this new addition.

Technorati Tags: Pay per click, Google Quality Score, Search Engine Marketing

Pay Per Click | No Comments »

If you’re an AdWords advertiser, make sure you read the post on the AdWords blog, Quality Score Updates.  As you may have noticed, your campaign management dashboard now contains a new Quality Score column.  (To see this, click on the Keywords tab in your Ad Group, then Show/Hide columns, then select Show Quality Score).  According to Google, this is a precursor to a change that will occur next week in the AdWords algorithm.  So if you see an “OK” or “Poor”, you should either select a keyword that is more relevant to the product or service that you’re advertising or make your ads more closely related to the keywords.  If you make the changes now, you’ll be better positioned to benefit from the algorithm changes which will reward those with “Great” quality scores with lower minimum bids.

For another good overview of the pending changes, check out what Andy Beal at Marketing Pilgrim has to say.

Technorati Tags: google, adwords, quality score, PPC

Pay Per Click | No Comments »

We run a lot of paid search campaigns for companies with service area constraints. In some cases, the client has already been running the campaign before we take over. So we get the opportunity to see the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to local ppc marketing. Here’s a list of the top mistakes:

1. Running a National Campaign Without Using Location Specific Keywords

We’ve all seen the results of this one. You type in a term like “carpet cleaning” on Google. You click on an ad and then find out that the advertiser only services the greater Atlanta area and you’re in Kansas City. The only winner in this equation is Google. If you’re running a national campaign and you only service a certain area, make sure you add the location(s) served to all you keywords (e.g. carpet cleaning Atlanta).

2. Running a Local Campaign and Using Only Location Specific Keywords

This happens when an advertiser selects a specific city when setting up where the ad should be displayed and then includes that city name as part of every keyword (e.g. carpet cleaning kansas city, duct cleaning kansas city). People who live in the service area may not always include the location in the search query, so you’ll miss out on legitimate traffic.

3. Not Mentioning That You’re a Local Merchant

If you are advertising to a specific area and you have a physical location in the area, flaunt it! People like doing business with members of their community.

4. Not Testing Ads and Landing Pages for Market Differences

If your business services 5 metropolitan areas, don’t make the mistake of assuming that each area will respond identically to the same offer. It’s very easy and cheap to run separate campaigns and offers for each area. It’s also inexpensive to develop specific landing pages (where the person ends up after they click the ad) for each market. In some markets, it may also make sense to run campaigns in more than one language (e.g. a merchant in Houston may want to market directly to the areas’ Hispanic population). If you choose to do this, make sure that you can execute seamlessly from the click on the ad to the phone call or visit to your location.

5. Not Using a Local Tracking Phone Number on Your Landing Page

This reasoning here is very similar to what was discussed under # 3. The local tracking number is important if, like so many local merchants, your business thrives on phone calls. You’ll be able to gauge the performance of your ad campaign.

6. Not Examining the Click Through Rate (CTR) and the Conversion Rate (CR) at the Market Level

If you fail to examine the CTRs and corresponding CRs at the market level (e.g. region or city), you will end up investing too much in a campaign that gives you very little bang for your buck, and not enough in a campaign that’s a real winner. Here’s a guideline for determining what to do: High CTR + High CR = Invest More Money; Low CTR + High CR = Improve Ads then Invest More Money; Low CTR + Low CR = Try Improving the Ad and Landing Page before making a decision; High CTR + Low CR = Improve the Landing page then Invest More Money. For a local campaign that’s not getting a ton of impressions and clicks, it may take several months of testing before you get definitive results.

7. Not Taking Advantage of Yahoo Panama

We have seen significant improvements in available clicks and overall campaign costs for our local clients post Panama. The key is going in and properly setting up a local campaign on Yahoo for all the new targeting features. If you were running a campaign on Yahoo/Overture, not Yahoo Local, you need to go in and create new campaigns and ad groups that target your service area(s).

8. Running a 24/7 Campaign

This is particularly wasteful unless you are selling a product online (your site has a shopping cart). If not, make sure you set up Google and MSN Ad Center so that your campaign only shows during your business hours. (This function is not currently available on Yahoo).

9. Not Tying in Your PPC Campaign with Local Offline Advertising

Research shows that there is a strong connection between the airing of national TV commecials and online searches related to the product. While the connection may not be as strong for local merchants, it still makes sense to buy all the keywords related to ads you’re running on local radio or TV. This can be especially powerful if you use a local celebrity endorser in your radio or TV spot. People often remember the celebrity’s name and the product or service (e.g. Buck O’Neil mortgage) even when they forget your brand name (e.g. James B. Nutter mortgage).

10. Not Bidding on Your Company Name

Even if your site is number one in the organic rankings for your brand name, you should still include your brand name in your list of keywords. At least this will keep your competition from occupying one available paid search listing space.

If you’re not a local marketer, here are some other great tips.

Technorati Tags: ppc, local ppc

Pay Per Click, Local Search | No Comments »

Like many I have purposely delayed converting client accounts over to Yahoo Search’s Project Panama. I had a sneak peek months ago and knew about the new fresh look but was not convinced our agency should be the first to expose our clients to this unproven platform.

I learned one year ago at the 2006 SES Conference in New York directly from Yahoo that Panama would be using a quality score to determine the cost per click opposed to the traditional Overture bidding that we have grown accustomed to. There was a small uproar with some attendees when this was announced. To be honest I was kind of relieved. I still cringe when I think of the inflated bid prices that have been artificial set by hyperactive bidders who didn’t take time to romance the campaign instead of trying to seduce it. Now these individuals will have to spend time in writing good ads and landing pages, or pay more than the ones who do.

I have seen the blog postings of some who are unimpressed with Panama. A reoccurring theme is that they are happy with the new user interface but will not be satisfied until Yahoo Search increases the volume of available searches.

I actually agree with both these points but will point out one thing I have not yet seen discussed in a blog posting. Yahoo’s implementation of local search has paid off well for us and our clients. Our firm has a heavy emphasis on geo-targeted searches and have campaigns that target up to 20 DMAs for one client. The goal, of course, is to generate traffic only within these geographic pockets. Up to this point Google and MSN have allowed this but Yahoo Search was a non performer. And no, Yahoo Local was not the answer.

We didn’t want to miss the coverage that Yahoo offered so we made location a part of each and every search term. This is very tedious and made for a lot of search terms but we have done this for years with many clients and thought the results were worth the effort.

The initial results of our Panama geo targeted campaigns are extremely promising. The volume of searches has increased of course, but with the added benefit of multiple ad groups and the ability to test them we have also increased the click through rate. Since we have a good quality score, we are paying less for more.

What is truly note worthy is the increase in conversions. We have to study this over a longer period but first indications are, in proportion to the clicks, we are getting more conversions from Yahoo than with Google. For the client in this particular study we track conversions by telephone appointments with each call recorded. We are seeing cases where the phone appointments are up while the overall click costs are down. We contribute this to Yahoo having, for this industry, a better conversion rate than Google.

Again these are early results but look promising. I will give it another month and report back with further details. Let me know what you have seen.

Pay Per Click, Blogs | No Comments »

The Center for Media Research reported Monday that 81% of survey respondents plan to increase 2007 spending on email marketing while 70% of respondents said they apply basic or no analysis to these campaigns.

As an Online Marketer I sometimes grumble at how offline media is not held up to the same standards as online for measurebility. I have even had a client, one of the top five US companies in telecommunications no less, say we shouldn’t hold traditional media up to the same standards as online. This was said while we were sitting down going over the details of their online campaign which reported how every dollar spent related to each conversion we achieved. The results of the online campaign weren’t bad but there was always this offline media superiority aura hovering over our heads. Since there was no way to measure the offline results it must be performing better than online.

Based upon experiences like this you would think I would be relieved to see survey responses like this. Wrong! We must go forward using the tools that are available no matter how uncomfortable they may sometimes make us. This should be done even at the cost of a decision to terminate a non performing online campaign and continuing a offline campaign where we just don’t know.

Pay Per Click, SEO, Tracking, Analytics, Offline Marketing, E-Mail Marketing | No Comments »

This question has been answered in so many ways with a common response of “it depends.” And it’s true–it depends on how much you need to make on your product or service after all the costs have been subtracted out.

Yes ROI has been written about many times before but for a good reason. You need to know how much you should spend to secure a sale. If your product sells for $500 and you stand to make $250 after all the manufacturing and administrative cost, and you know you need to clear $150 per sale to make it worth your time, then you have $100 per sale to put into your PPC campaign.

Once you have a clear goal for your online campaign you can quickly determine if it is worth pursuing. Using basic tools you determine the available searches (Impressions), apply the expected click through rate (CTR) for your industry so you know how many clicks to expect (Total Clicks), apply the average cost per click (Avg. CPC) so you know how much you expect to pay (Total Cost), and round it out by multiplying your conversion rate (CR) by Total Clicks so you know how many customers (Total Customers) to expect.

I will plug in some example numbers for these as follows: Impressions = 10,000, CTR = 8%, Total Clicks = 800, Avg. CPC $2.50, Total Cost = $2,000, CR = 5%, Total Customers = 40.

Remember the $100 per sale that you determined you could pay for a PPC campaign. Using the above example we would divide our total cost of $2,000 by the total customers expected of 40 resulting in an expect cost per acquisition of $50. Since this $50 is below the $100 we were prepared to pay we should proceed with the campaign.

A big consideration with all of this is to be aware that a new campaign does not have history to accurately predict the performance of any of these parameters. This is not a reason to neglect going through this process. Once you have a clear goal you can monitor the progress and pull the plug or accelerate the campaign as appropriate.

Technorati Tags: Pay Per Click, Marketing Budgets, SEM

Pay Per Click | No Comments »

This site is the new home for www.siteedgeagency.com. Welcome, and check back for industry news and helpful tips.

siteEDGE News, Client Stories, Team Profiles, Pay Per Click, SEO, Usability, Tracking, Analytics, Offline Marketing, Public Relations, Brand Management, E-Mail Marketing, Marketing Tools, Bios, Case Studies, Whitepapers, Press | No Comments »