Web Marketing Archive

True to form, Google is making big changes when it comes to their online PPC system, Google Adwords. Recently, the search engine leader announced 2 major changes to their paid advertising channel including:

1. Enhanced Campaigns
2. Phone Numbers In Ad Text

As a result of the first change, Enhanced Campaigns, advertisers will no longer have the option to target desktops, mobile phones and tablets independently. Instead, each campaign will appear across all devices. The thought behind the new upgrade is that we live in an ever-connected, multi-device world and it should become easier to create and manage campaigns that can more effectively target all devices.

Google describes the key features of the upgrade as follows:
1. Powerful marketing tools for the multi-device world
2. Smarter ads optimized for varying user contexts
3. Advanced reports to measure new conversion types

While this is undoubtedly a huge change that will affect every advertiser currently running Mobile Campaigns, some features that advertisers and marketers have become especially fond of, namely “click to call” and ad extensions will remain available after the upgrade.

Google’s second change, Phone Numbers In Ad Text, forces all advertisers to utilize Google’s “call extensions” feature and no longer supports the display of phone numbers inside ad text or sitelink extensions. In Google’s announcement regarding their decision to alter the way phone numbers are used in advertising, they stated, “We are making this change to foster a safer, more consistent user experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.”

However, what this change really does is allow Google to charge for mobile ad engagements as part of its transition to enhanced campaigns.

What This Means For You:

1. We have already seen CPCs begin to climb over the past couple of weeks and it is projected that they will continue to rise over the next few months. After all, advertisers that have not concentrated on mobile and/or tablets will now flood the market, creating a much more competitive space.
2. Decisions will need to be made as to whether advertisers will want to participate in Google’s “call extensions”. Currently, “call extensions” have two unique settings. The first allows advertisers to utilize their own phone number but limits exposure strictly to mobile phones. The alternate setting allows the call extension to be shown across all devices but displays a unique Google call tracking phone number that forwards the call for an additional $1 (cpc charges will still apply).

Although these changes are huge, Google still provides the best online advertising opportunity to reach prospective customers/clients who are actively searching for what your business has to offer. And while these changes will undoubtedly take some “getting used to”, ultimately, they will provide users with a better experience and more relevant results whether they are at work or on the go!

After a review of Medifast’s existing PPC campaign, we developed a strategy to help increase conversions (phone calls) and overall ROI. As a result, year over year traffic is up 125% and call volume has increased 300%.

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True to form, Google is making big changes. But this time, it’s to their online PPC system, Google Adwords.

Recently, the search engine giant announced their largest change in over a decade, “Enhanced Campaigns”, an updated system every advertiser will be forced to transition to by this June. The thought behind the upgrade is that we live in an ever-connected, multi-device world and so it should become easier to create and manage campaigns that can more effectively target individuals across all devices.

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If 2012 was the year of the Penguin and the Panda, then what will 2013 be the year of [insert name of cute, cuddly animals here]??? If your SEO results suffered in any way, shape, or form last year, many Industry experts believe online marketers will endure “more of the same” this coming year. The list of what to expect includes continued updates to last year’s game-changing Penguin and Panda algorithms (link buying, content stealing is bad!); and a lot more interest in what’s happening with your brand in Social Media (activity and growth is good!).

Sites that have been “over-optimized” will continue to slide downward in favor of sites that provide better user experiences. Period, end-of-story. While this may not be the most shocking news to people, the Big G has been promising this as reality for at least the past 6-7 years. But it wasn’t until Penguin and Panda updates happened last year, that we finally believed them.

Other predictions include the squeezing out of organic real estate on the SERP’s in favor of more Paid Ads (get used to it) and perhaps a little more competition from a relatively new, upstart search engine (see Blekko.com). While we don’t anticipate that Blekko will steal away a thunderous amount of traffic away from Google, they are already making inroads on mobile tablet searching. We expect that they, at the very least, finally get on the public’s radar this year.

If we were to offer any advice coming into the new year, it is this – optimize your brand online the right way! Look at your analytics, look at your site speed & load times, look at your activity in Social media, and look to see where your customers are getting hung up and falling out.  Your goal this year should be to better meet the needs of your customers. If you are still unclear what the purpose of your users are, why not survey them just to be sure. While SEO is not the end-all, be-all it once was, organic traffic is still the best return on your investment. So, understanding how to play the game is still worth your while.

Here’s wishing you the best of success online in the new year!