Google Adwords

The last few days we noticed that Google started testing images on the side PPC ads.  They tend to appear on the side, top right position 3-4.  Not sure about this test as the images do look small and not very clear as you can see form the screenshots below.  It seems that Google is pulling the images from the feed submitted to Google Merchant Centre.

Five Google Tools You Should Know

Google Adwords keyword tool: Generates search volumes and variations of your keywords. https://adwords.google.co.uk/o/Targeting/Explorer

Google AdWordsSearch Based Keyword Tool: See what keywords are on your site that people are already searching with on Google with this tool that compares your website content to actual search queries. Now part of Google Adwords keyword tool.

Google Insights for Search: Reports search trends over time. www.google.com/insights/search

Google AdWords AdPreview Tool: Preview your ads in real time as they appear on the search results. https://adwords.google.co.uk/d/AdPreview

Google Website Optimiser: Optimize your landing pages by evenly splitting web traffic between multiple pages to compare performance. www.google.com/websiteoptimizer

Google once more shows that Mobile is very important to them! The last few years Google is focusing on mobile a lot by helping website owners to make their website more mobile friendly. The latest approach is by Google Sites, they launched a new feature where business onwers can create a simple mobile site within minutes.

They offer six different templates depending on the site you would lke to create with different options for colours. The sites are aimed for small businesses giving them an easy option to create a mobile website for free and with no coding skills.

The video below showcases how easy is to create a mobile website:

The second market we visit (following the first part) is Russia. Another market where Google is trying hard to gain more market share but so far it has been unsuccessful (Google has about 21.9% of search engine generated traffic).  The main search engine in Russia is Yandex www.yandex.com . Yandex recently launched a new version with the option to search in English, German, French and other European languages.

According to research studies conducted by TNS, FOM, and Comcon, Yandex is the largest resource and largest search engine in the Russian Internet market, based on audience size. Yandex currently has over 64% market share in search and has over 10 billion web pages indexed. Recently opened their first offices in US and they have plans to expand to the US and other European markets in the coming years.

Yandex Numbers

• In Russia: the leading portal according to independent research;
• For Russian-speaking audience: 57 % (world), 86% across Russia, 92% across Moscow
• In Europe: №3 in TOP-10 European Search Engines
• Yandex growing at the fastest rate among the top ten – 94% per year

Yandex use their own alogirthm which according to some analysts is more robust due to the complexity of the Russian language. They do offer PPC ads on a CPC model, the interface is available in English and simple to use. So far we have found that with the right optimisation some good results could come out from Yandex.

PPC Ads In more detail

Ads placed via Yandex.Direct can be found on the right side of the Yandex Search Results Page (up to 9 ads can appear simultaneously and 1-2 above Search Results).

The text consists of a header (up to 33 characters in length including spaces) and the description (up to 75 characters in length including spaces). The header contains a hyperlink to the advertised site.
If there are more ads than ad space for the same keyword by different clients, only the ‘best’ 11 ads will appear when the user types in a matching keyword as part of his/her search request. You have an option to advertise in the premium position above search results or run your advertisement in the guaranteed 1st (top) position on the right or guaranteed positions below that. The lowest right position with no guaranteed placement appears in rotation with other advertisers. Usually, the higher positions cost more per click.

The ads from different clients with the same keywords are in an auction, thus the ad with the best bid (the price paid for each click) has a better chance to be displayed. The ad’s CTR (click-through-ratio, the average possibility for a user to click on a particular ad) is also counted when selecting the ‘best’ ads to be displayed.

We got an email yesterday from Google Adwords letting us know that now the +1 button will be availble on the PPC results.

In the coming weeks, your search results and ads on Google will include a +1 button, which users can click to recommend your ads. You don’t need to make any changes to your account in order to take advantage of them. The final landing page URL of your ads can also appear on the Google profile of any user who +1’s your ad.

Think of the +1 button as a way for fans of your business to recommend what you offer, for all their friends and contacts to see. By helping searchers see more personal, relevant ads, we believe you’ll see more qualified traffic. You can also add the +1 button to your site to give your customers the opportunity to +1 your site after visiting it.

We started seeing the button a few weeks ago on the search results and now we can see it on almost all our searches. Unfortunately Adwords didnt mention anything about reporting and if we are going to be able to see how many people click on the button or even which ad/which URL.