I was running through the ‘see search terms’ list on one of my accounts recently when I was struck by how many clicks had been gained by extreme long tail versions of keywords I had in my keyword lists. An example of what I mean by extreme long tail is ‘holiday insurance for kayaking grade 5 rivers in Uganda’. This search query gained me 2 visits from 2 impressions last month on one of my campaigns and it got me thinking; could long tail keywords be useful in PPC advertising?

After a quick think, I came to the conclusion that by adding long tail keywords to a keyword list, anything other than sparingly, was probably not that useful of an idea. This is because the majority of long tail keywords would have no search volume and would struggle to gain a decent quality score. Therefore, spending time on writing copy and organising new ad groups would be time wasted. However, the addition of keywords that are more specific than a umbrella term and more generic and open than a long tail (let’s call them medium tail for the sake of this post), is a solid strategy for building your keyword lists when you have hit a kind of keyword wall.

The advantage of a medium tail is that the terms would be likely to have search volumes and quality scores that would warrant creating specific ad groups and copy for. The medium tail terms if on ‘phrase’ or ‘modified broad’ match would go a long way to capturing the multiple permutations of long tail applicable to your campaign. Thus meaning you are not missing out on all these bonus clicks. Thirdly any visits you gain from these medium tale ad groups would be by nature of the search, highly targeted. So although they would only represent a small percentage of your overall traffic, they would be more likely to convert to an enquiry/sale. Last but not least the final benefit of a medium tale keyword is it would be cheap due to its low search volume and competitiveness.

So if you are struggling for keywords to add to your PPC lists or would like to increase the amount of targeted traffic to site for not a lot of extra money, why not try adding some medium tail keywords to your campaigns.

I’ve noticed a few unusual features on Adwords lately which can only mean one thing, its testing season at Google HQ.  Maybe I’ve been in the job too long but I get a bit exited now when I catch a glimpse of a potential new feature.

I was at Google HQ last week and they mentioned that a new feature was imminent where below your add text an option for embedding a video will be available, so for example a new viral you wish to run can be displayed under your ad text to further engage the searcher.

Another option I actually caught on a screen shot (see below) is where below the ad text there is another line stating ‘additional information’. As you can see by providing some additional information you can request a call back or email from the advertising company just based on the content of the ad copy. I believe this could be a fantastic feature for companies who regularly offer special offers and would also be great for adding data to email marketing spreadsheets and alike.

I’ve also read posts stating that Adwords will soon integrate the +1 symbol into the PPC ads I haven’t seen one yet, but it can’t be far away. What I would like to know is has anyone else seen any new Adwords features that as yet haven’t being mentioned on the Google Ad Innovations page. If you have comment on this post and let us know what you have seen and how you feel it may affect searches.

I will remember Wednesday 1 June 2011 with great fondness for some time. No it wasn’t that time of the month when I change my boxers, It was the day I reached the nucleus of search, a day visit to Google UK HQ.

Now I’d heard stories and read posts about how delightful the environment the Google employees operate in but I never thought it would be as exquisite as it was. The closest thing I can liken it too is Charlie’s chocolate factory made famous in the Roald Dahl books. Except the umpa lumpas were replaced with highly skilled computer engineers and alike and the end product wasn’t chocolate it was information.

So just like Charlie and the other kids entering the factory with golden tickets I entered Google HQ brandishing an a invite for the engage for agencies event they were holding to showcase services the program and Google currently operate and offer and allow a forum for us agencies to ask questions. Now this part was all very interesting and I got many good answers to my questions from the helpful Google staff, but the tour of the office is what I will really remember.

The first major thing you notice about the office is that it has a real London flavour to it with a mock tube maps for navigation and red phone boxes scattered liberally about for staff to make video conference calls or just find a bit of peace and quiet. They even have a full size London bus on one floor the staff can climb aboard and have a cheeky meeting or just pretend they drive a bus.

In the middle of the office is an area they have made into a forest with mock trees and grass and hammocks where the staff can go and be creative while relaxing. The staff must get pretty relaxed there because I’m pretty sure one of the guys was sleeping in the corner!!

The canteen was unlike a work canteen I had ever seen before also. For starters everything is free which is a nice touch and the variety of food on offer was like the biggest and best buffet I have ever been to. I was especially impressed by the ability to make your own smoothies by placing the fruit in a blender which is attached to a bike, in order to make the blender work you have to cycle the bike!

It wasn’t just the interior design that impressed me at Google HQ but also the staff who were all very knowledgeable and helpful. So in conclusion a thoroughly enjoyable day, but also valuable as I learnt a little more about Google products and upcoming innovations. Hopefully I’ll get another invite again soon!

This next series of blog posts highlights some features you should be using on your Adwords accounts but perhaps aren’t. The reason I know some people out there aren’t using some of the features I will highlight in this series is in days gone by (before I starting doing this for a living), I used to be just an average PPC marketer and I wasn’t using some of these features either. This is because know one had shown me they existed and how to use them. So brace yourself for the Creare PPC show and tell.

These features offer a variety of benefits from sprucing up the appearance of your ads to helping provide more accurate reporting of your campaign. This week we will be looking at competitive metrics.

Competitive metrics in regards to Adwords provide data about the exposure of your ads and the exposure your ads missed out on. These metrics are split into three columns of data which are:

1. Impression Share – The percentage of impressions where your ads were shown out of the total available impressions in the market you were targeting. Obviously if this figure doesn’t read 100% you’re missing out on exposure for your ads. This can be solved by increasing budget or adjusting matching types to increase visibility of your ads.
2. Lost Impression Share (Budget) The percentage of impressions that wasn’t received by your ad in the Search Network due to insufficient budget. Obviously I would never recommend spending more than you can afford on PPC, but if you are lucky enough to have a campaign that provides a positive ROI and this figure is high then you can consider increasing budget to make sure you ads appear on desirable searches more often.
3. Lost Impression Share (Rank) The percentage of impressions that wasn’t received by your ad due to low ad rank. If this figure is high then you have some work to do because it means your quality score and CTR aren’t as good as they could be. This means back to the drawing board and tightening your ad groups, keyword selection and increase relevancy of ad copy to the keywords. This will increase quality score and CTR and from this the lost impression share due to rank will reduce.

All of the above is relatively straight forward and makes sense. The reason I didn’t use these features when I first started out was I didn’t know where to find this data. So perhaps the most useful nugget of information in this post is where to find the competitive metrics. These metrics can be added to your screen by clicking the columns button under the campaign, ad group, settings etc tabs and selecting the sub option of customise columns. From this a menu of columns available appears, select the 3 options below where it reads ‘Competitive Metrics’ and select save. This data is now imported into your account to the right of the average position data…Enjoy!

I went on a course last week and was reminded about the Adwords remarketing tool and its uses in a successful PPC campaign. The remarketing tool will display your ads on the Google Display Network to visitors who already visited your site. It also enables you to target specific sections of these visitors so as not to waste money retargeting those who have already converted.

Previous visitors to your site are a group well worthy of being retargeted by your ad copy though because they have already been to your site but perhaps not purchased/enquired. But in already visiting have shown that something about your site/offerings appeals to their needs. Here are some examples of uses remarketing can be particularly useful for:

• Reminding visitors about their free trial/download
• Use an increasing discount where the offer progressively gets better to help convert visitors
• Find your most qualified, likely to convert visitors
• Filter people who are interested in what you offer, but have never been to your website
• Users who match your target demographic

But how does Google show ads to visitors who have already been to your site. Basically, when a visitor comes to your site, Google issues them a cookie, and their cookie id is added to the remarketing list. During setup, you can determine how long the cookie will follow these users.  Google’s recommended follow time is 30 days, however, you can set it up for as long as 18 months.  For purchase decisions that require a lot of research, planning, and money such as wedding venues a longer retargeting date is probably more appropriate.

To do this, you need to set up remarketing lists on the audience tab in your Adwords Control Panel and Library then create a remarketing campaign. According to AdWords, you’ll likely want to start with a simple strategy and evaluate your results before moving into more targeted lists. If perfectly honest this is solid advice for any new Adwords feature you are trialling but it shouldn’t put you off trying. A lot of the new Adwords features can add increased value to your campaign by helping make the administration a lot easier or directly improve CTR’s and quality scores.