Editors’ Picks Affect Organic Results On Bing

Today, I was doing some searches on Bing and noticed something really unique. The first result in the organic results for the keyword auto insurance is something called Editors’ Picks (first screenshot below). When I click the title, it goes to this page on Bing that highlights some of the sites their editors found (second screenshot below).

I wanted to point this out for a few reasons. First and foremost, it’s cool and unique. Microsoft adCenter powers the paid and organic results for both Yahoo! and Bing. That said, both Yahoo! and Bing are adding on neat, unique features on top of the standard results. While Yahoo is Pushing The Limits of Organic Search with custom widgets and Rich Ads, Bing is pushing the limits with their Editors’ Picks.

Second, it’s quite likely that the Editors’ Picks will affect your organic program on Bing. The Editors’ Picks are ranking quite well. If you’re in the Editors’ Picks, that’s really great news. Not only do they rank high, but it’s also a way to get a second listing if your website already ranks on its own. If you’re not in the Editors’ Picks, it’s likely your organic listing is being pushed down. You’ll want to work really hard and think about creative ways to get into the Editors’ Picks.

Third, as online marketers we need to be careful not to assume that Bing and Yahoo! will have the same organic results. Fundamentally, they are powered by the same engine, but now we are starting to see some really unique customization on top of the fundamentals.

Way to go, Bing! I’m looking forward to seeing more custom features within organic search on both Bing and Yahoo!

Images in this post © Bing.com

My Weekend Musings (3rd Edition)

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 18 0

The weekend is here, thank goodness! If you’re in online marketing, it’s all about taking some time to relax and reflect during the weekends. That’s how you stay motivated and productive for the long run! Thanks to inspiration from my good friend Morgan Linton, I started writing these weekend musings posts to take a step back and reflect on my week. Without further ado, let’s jump into this week’s musings…

The Weekend Is Coming

I really enjoy public speaking! Last Tuesday, I spoke on a panel at SVForum’s CXO Forum at Sheppard Mullin Palo Alto about Marketing In The Digital Age. This was an amazing event and truly distinguished panel. I was humbled and honored to be on such an incredible panel. Moreover, I was dazzled with the high caliber C-level audience. My advice to those in the corporate online marketing career path: Go after public speaking events, they will grow you as a person and as a leader.
It’s all about connections. How did I get the speaking opportunity on SVForum’s CXO Forum? I was recommended and referred by a friend/co-worker who has some seriously impressive connections. It’s really important to build strong connections. Also, it’s important to make your connections your friends and, of course, make sure to pay them back (or even better pay them forward) whenever you can! Everyone wins!
I’m intrigued by customer testimonial marketing/product marketing (mainly becuase my wife is an expert at this stuff), and had the amazing opportunity to do a Video Testimonial for Marin Software. I’m really pleased how it turned out. Not only is their product amazing, but Marin has a world-class marketing team (and video production team). Thanks, Marin for the opportunity, you rule!
You can’t do it on your own! I have had some incredibly difficult decisions over the past few weeks (in a good way). I wouldn’t be where I am without my wife, family, friends, and mentors. Also, I have been following a lot of inspirational folks on Twitter such as Diddy and Rev Run, and their Tweets have been truly inspirational. Find your sources of support and inspiration. Become a source of support and inspiration for others. Stay inspired, stay on your game!
One of my big 2012 Goals is donating a record amount to charity. Today, my wife and I cut a check to Second Harvest Food Bank that’s 300% the amount of any other single donation we’ve made in our lives. It felt good. There is no reason that anyone in our community should go hungry. Get out there and help those in need of assistance!
About a month ago, I Was Live on the Radio. My good friend Donald Landwrith hosts an amazing show called The Free COO. It’s an amazing show, and quite inspirational.

Thanks for reading! You may want to also check out my the first edition and second edition of my musings. Wishing you an amazing week!

Image of The Weekend Is Coming © KLH49

Monitoring Your Google AdWords Quality Score

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 14 7

If you’ve been advertising on Google AdWords for a while, you know that it’s all about quality score. The better your quality score, the better you rank, the lower your CPCs, and the more revenue and margin you can squeeze out of your Google AdWords campaigns.

On a keyword level, it’s super easy to measure quality score. After all, quality score is exposed on a keyword level. (Side note: If quality score is low for any particular keyword, I always recommend breaking it out and optimizing ad copy.)

Now, let’s say you’re managing millions of keywords like me. How do you get a sense of your overall account level quality score? Here’s how… Each month, I recommend exporting your entire Google AdWords account with all columns. Then, I recommend creating a new column called quality score * cost that equals the product of quality score and cost. Next, sum the new quality score * cost column and also the cost column. Divide the quality score * cost sum by cost sum and you have your weighted average quality score for your entire Google AdWords account!

Make sure to to do this exact same exercise each and every month. On Google’s back end, quality scores are not on the simple 1 to 10 scale that they export to the end user. However, the 1 to 10 scale is the best we have. These days, a high-spending AdWords account with a lot of history and a great quality score should have an average quality score in the 7 range. When you start measuring on a month to month basis, you’ll see some fluctuations (usually within a 1 point range). Make sure your weighted average has at least two decimal points.

Why do you want to measure this number? There are a few main reasons. First and foremost, you want to see if all your ad copy and reorg projects are working. If your quality score improves, it indicates your work is paying off. Second, you want to keep an eye out of major issues with your account. If your quality score drops, there’s likely a new competitor in your category who is adversely affecting your click through rate (and therefore quality score) or something is wrong with your account. A drop is something to spend time investigating. Third, quality score is a great metric to manage upwards. It’s a way to benchmark your team’s performance. It’s not as important as revenue and margin, but is one other indicator of progress.

Image of check mark © alexsl

Important Google AdWords Campaign-Level Checks

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 11 2

A while back I wrote about Six Essential Campaign Checks. These Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter checks are just a few of my favorite daily checks. Today, I wanted to highlight some important Google AdWords campaign-level checks that I like to perform every few months (typically every quarter). These checks will often yield some great quick wins in optimizing your PPC account, especially if you have a large team, big budget, and complex program.

Tip 1: Check For Missing Sitelinks

I’m a huge fan of sitelinks. Now, Google is displaying up to Six Sitelinks in paid search. However, if your campaign is missing sitelinks, they won’t deliver! Make sure to regularly go through your AdWords campaigns to verify that they all have at least six sitelinks.

Tip 2: Check Your Ad Rotation Settings

These days, Google offers several ad rotation options: rotate evenly, optimize for clicks, and optimize for conversions. Rotate evenly is rarely the right setting, unless you are testing ad copy. Sometimes, after tests have concluded, we all forget to return the settings to optimize for clicks or optimize for conversions. This optimization is super easy: Check your campaign settings and make sure the ad rotation settings are consistent and correct.

Tip 3: Check Your Delivery Method

When I’m testing a new campaign, I like to leverage a low budget (maybe a few hundred dollars/day). Once a campaign is proven, however, I like to raise budgets and change my delivery method to accelerated. Make sure to audit your campaign settings: Did you forget to move over from standard to accelerated? You never want to cap the delivery of a highly profitable, proven campaign (that is, unless you truly have a limited budget to work within). Also, while you’re at it: Make sure your budgets are set correctly. Great performing campaigns can easily outgrow old, small budgets.

Tip 4: Check Your Negative Words

Google seems to get more and more aggressive with its (expanded) broad match over time. As a result, I’m spending more time and getting amazing results deploying new negative keywords. Sometimes when I generate new negatives, I may add them to the campaign which helped generate them. However, if you block a bad query in one campaign, it could always pop up in another. From time to time, make sure you have parity in your campaign level negatives across all your campaigns. Of course, there always will be a few exceptions (and it’s important to keep track of those so you don’t mistakenly deploy them to other campaigns).

Tip 5: Check Your Networks, Devices, and Geo-Targeting Settings

Settings can make such a difference in your campaign’s performance. As just one example, I like to separate out tablets and smartphones (rather than blend them into my desktop campaigns). Sometimes, however, settings can get mixed up (especially with a rapidly growing/changing account). Make sure your targeting settings are correct and you can instantly improve your bottom line.

Image of Bullseye © CGinspiration

Yahoo! Pushing The Limits of Organic Search

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 9 9

I’m a huge fan of Yahoo! Back in December, I posted about how Yahoo! Rich Ads Are Back. Recently, I have noticed Yahoo! pushing the limits of organic search as well. Go to Yahoo! and type in the word “refinance”. A screenshot of the results is below. Check out the Quicken Loans result. I’m totally thrilled with the integration of the mortgage refinance rate table right into the organic result.

This was the vision of the Search Alliance all along. Yahoo! and Microsoft partnered so adCenter could power the paid and organic results on both search engines. However, Yahoo! always had the plan that they would focus on user experience and advanced add-on functionality on top of the standard results. It’s awesome to see this vision turning into reality. Great work Yahoo! Want to customize your organic search results on Yahoo? Reach out to your account management team and see what beta tests may be available.

Image in this post © Yahoo!

Three Tips When Buying SEM Software

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 7 6

I’m a huge fan of SEM software. Some of the most popular posts here on PPC Ian are all about this very topic. Eight years ago, when I first started out in this industry, there was no option but to build your own SEM software using the search engine APIs. Today, platforms like Kenshoo and Efficient Frontier are better than what any company could possibly build in-house (or at least the vast majority of companies). As such, the Build Versus Buy decision is somewhat easy, in my opinion. Let’s say you’re in the market for SEM software. Today I’m going to share three off-the-beaten-path tips you should consider when buying your platform. I’ve already covered most of the standard stuff in my SEM Automation Whitepaper so today’s tips are some of the more advanced ones.

Tip 1: Get Peace of Mind In Your Contract

SEM Automation

Once you buy your new SEM platform, you’re going to invest a lot in the integration. I’m talking about getting your back end conversion data into the platform, testing and optimizing bidding algorithm, training your team at length, setting up reporting/alerting, and so much more. All of this stuff, if done right, will take a lot of time. It will also propel your SEM program to new levels never thought possible. The byproduct of this all? Once things are working, you really won’t want to change platforms. Sure it’s possible, but it’s going to be a setback for your operation once your new platform is all set up perfectly. For this very reason, I recommend having your legal team insert language into the contract so that the SEM software company cannot raise prices on you. Or, if they do, it’s capped at a certain amount per year that you’re comfortable with. Now, I’m not saying that the SEM software companies will try to raise prices. Most likely, you will be just fine and the price will stay the same. That said, I’m talking about peace of mind here. Whether you’re buying SEM software or any other software for that matter, get some peace of mind in your contract!

Tip 2: Get Resources Behind Your Ideas

Every vertical in online marketing is different. SEM platforms these days offer so much functionality that they cover almost every use case imaginable. That said, after leveraging your SEM software for a while, it’s likely you’ll come up with some idea specific to your company that has not been thought of before. Personally, I’m championing one such idea right now. My tip: Make sure to purchase software from a company that’s interested in hearing and acting upon your ideas. It’s truly great when you’re working with a platform that is receptive to client feedback.

Tip 3: Make Sure Your SEM Software Company Has Funding

The space is heating up for sure. Acquisio acquired ClickEquations. Adobe acquired Efficient Frontier. When you invest in SEM software, it’s not only about the present but it’s also about the future. Make sure to invest in an SEM platform that is going places. Make sure you buy SEM software that has resources (money) to innovate. SEM is a fast-paced field that changes daily. There’s a ton of overhead in innovating SEM software. Make sure the money is there to make it all happen! By the way, the platforms I discuss here on PPC Ian have major funding behind them.

Image of SEM © gdas

Acquisio T-Shirt Slogan Contest

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 5 9

I just went to SMX West 2012 and one thing was clear: It’s all about SEM Platforms. When it comes to SEM Platforms, Acquisio is one of the best. I’ve blogged quite about about Acquisio here on PPC Ian. Some of my favorites: The Must Have Retargeting eBook of 2012, Acquisio Acquires ClickEquations, and My Guest Post on Acquisio’s Blog.

Today, it was a beautiful day here in the SF Bay Area, with temperatures in the 70s, even though it’s just early March. This year, the weather has been unreal. To enjoy the great weather, Nicole and I enjoyed the outdoors while wearing our very own Acquisio t-shirts. You can see several pictures in this post. Whenever I run into Acquisio at the search marketing conferences, Marc and his team are always so generous with their amazing t-shirts. Next time you’re at an SEM conference, head over to their booth and they will hook you up!

I’m excited today to announce that Acquisio is Running a T-Shirt Slogan Contest. The contest is great! Between now and March 30, head on over to the contest page (the one I just linked to) and enter your slogan. Then, between April 6 and April 20, the public will vote on the slogans. On April 20, the winner will be announced. What does the winner get? They get a free pass to the Acquisio User Summit on July 28 and July 29, 2012. Also, they get free airfare to and from the conference (it’s in Montreal). Last, they get two nights at the Hyatt Regency Montreal during the conference! I’m definitely going to enter, it would be my dream come true to attend Acquisio’s User Summit. I highly recommend entering yourself!

All Images In Today’s Post © PPCIan.com

My SMX West San Jose 2012 Pictures & Recap

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 29 14

Some of my absolute favorite posts here on PPC Ian are the ones about search engine marketing conferences. Yesterday, I attended SMX West San Jose 2012 and the conference absolutely rocked! As always, my favorite part about the entire conference was the networking and fun times with friends, both new and old. Today, I’m thrilled to share tons of pictures and a recap of SMX (Search Marketing Expo) West 2012.

It All Started Off With Great Sessions & Great Lunch

Lunch With Rocket Clicks SEM Agency

I arrived at the conference early yesterday. Since my team shared our all access pass, I attended sessions the morning of day 1. I picked two really great ones. It all started off with Hardcore Local SEO Tactics and then I headed over to Best Practices With adCenter For Bing.

Both sessions were great, but the first one, the local SEO tactics, really opened my eyes. I’m an enterprise level advertiser for large online brands. Sure I leverage geo-specific strategies to the max, but I’ve never promoted physical local storefronts before via SEO. The level of insight from the local marketers was really helpful and totally made my day.

PPC Ian, Jeff Ferguson, and Marin Software

Also, I enjoyed the adCenter session too but I’m already an expert with the adCenter Desktop Tool so it was more of a review for me. As far as sessions go, my teammate Mike went to the Power Tools For The Paid Search Pros later in the day and said it was really great. My good friend David Rodnitzky, CEO of PPC Associates spoke at that one!

After these great sessions, I was ready for a great lunch… Back at SMX Advanced Seattle 2011, I met Steve Kroll, Director of Operations at Rocket Clicks SEM Agency. Steve is a true leader in our industry and has become a great friend. I got a text message from Steve right before SMX West saying he wouldn’t be there but two of his colleagues would.

I really enjoyed meeting Nicole Mennicke, Director of PPC, and Liz Lord, Senior Paid Search Analyst, from Rocket Clicks. Nicole and Liz kindly treated myself and my teammate Mike to lunch at Arcadia Steak House. (It’s funny, Mike and I had lunch last year at that same place. It’s really great food.) We had an amazing lunch, chatted and PPC strategies, and I’m totally impressed with Rocket Clicks. If you’re looking for an SEM agency, you definitely want to reach out to my friends at Rocket Clicks.

Let The Expo Hall Networking Begin

PPC Ian and My Friends At Acquisio

After lunch, I was fired up and ready to network. So, I headed over to the expo hall at SMX West. Surprisingly, it was a lot smaller than previous years. There were some truly great exhibits there, but it just felt small.

As soon as I walked in, I ran into my good friends from Marin Software. There booth was front and center, right near the entrance. I always enjoy meeting up with Marin because they are so impressive. I have a ton of friends there, absolutely love their SEM Platform (it’s amazing), and enjoy hearing about their rapid growth. While speaking with Matt Lawson and his team, I also met Jeff Ferguson, CEO and founder of Fang Digital. Jeff is one of the most seasoned online marketers around, he’s been doing this stuff since the mid 90s.

After spending time with my friends at the Marin booth, I headed over to Acquisio. I was totally blown away! Acquisio has a brand new booth that is out of this world. Each year, the booths keep getting more and more impressive. Acquisio’s booth was one of the best I have seen. Recently, Acquisio Acquired ClickEquations and they are on a roll!

PPC Ian With BrightEdge

Next, I started walking around the expo hall and found a company called BrightEdge. I really enjoyed chatting with Brad Mattick, VP of Marketing, and Mark Melnyk, Talent Acquisition at BrightEdge. BrightEdge is a rapidly growing SEO platform for enterprise advertisers. I’m totally going to check it out and am quite intrigued by the platform. After all, I’m the greatest proponent of SEM automation platforms around (such as Kenshoo). I can’t get enough of these cool technologies!

Next on the expo floor was BoostCTR. As the name implies, this service/platform helps you boost the CTR (click through rate) and also conversion rate of your PPC campaigns. It was really great to learn that BoostCTR has offices right near mine in San Francisco and I’ll be reaching out to schedule a lunch and demo shortly.

While the expo hall floor was a bit small, I was impressed with the quality of companies there. I’m thrilled I learned of two new companies (BrightEdge and BoostCTR) that will help me directly improve my online marketing programs.

Time To Rest & Then Go To The Sharks Game

PPC Ian and BoostCTR

After the amazing times at the SMX West expo floor, I headed over to the coffee shop at the Marriott. I enjoyed spending some time there relaxing and getting some work done. It’s there that I actually published my blog post about 5 Tips For SEM Conferences. I love working at coffee shops and I’m always inspired in that type of environment. I need to remind myself to work at Starbucks and over coffee shops more frequently, it’s all about being productive in an environment you like.

After relaxing and working for a bit, I joined my friends from Marin Software for the San Jose Sharks game. Marin, I can’t thank you guys enough for treating me to the amazing game! We had such great seats at the Sharks game (check out the picture below). It was actually my first San Jose Sharks game, and I definitely want to go again. It was a real blast. The food at the HP Pavilion was really good too. So, there you have it! My SMX West 2012. I did not attend days 2 and 3. After taking in so much on day 1, my team went to the conference on days 2 and 3. We always take diligent notes and share our findings after the conference so I can’t wait to hear what my team learned. I can’t wait until my next SEM conference!

More Pictures From SMX West 2012

SMX West San Jose Sharks Game

SMX West Expo Hall

5 Tips For Search Marketing Conferences

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 28 3

I’m at SMX West San Jose today so it’s the perfect time to share a few tips for getting the most out of search marketing conferences. This is going to be a quick post since I’m on my iPad during a break, but I truly feel these are some impactful tips. Also, stay tuned! I have tons of great photos from the conference coming up in my SMX West 2012 recap (to be posted in the next few days).

Tip 1: Take notes during the sessions and present your findings to your team when you return. It’s all about active listening. The closer and more actively you listen, the more tips and SEM strategies you will take home. The end goal: Grow your business!
Tip 2: Don’t get discouraged by a less helpful session. We’re all at different levels. A session that may be helpful for one person may be less helpful for another. To get a lot out of an SEM conference, you only need a few good sessions. You only need a few golden nuggets of info. It’s ok to attend a few sessions that aren’t as helpful.
Tip 3: It’s all about Twitter. Stay active on Twitter to communicate, network, and participate. The more actively you participate, the more enjoyment and value you will obtain. Also, this is a great way to market and promote yourself as an SEM professional.
Tip 4: Network with other online marketers. Schedule lunches, enjoy coffee meetings, and definitely forge relationships in the expo hall. Your network is everything in the SEM industry, invest in yours. Challenge yourself to forge relationships with at least 5-10 new online marketers you did not previously know.
Tip 5: Stay all day and night. You never know what will happen or who you will meet. Stay involved. Get there on time and participate in the events at night. I’m a big fan of sleep and this is a difficult one for me, but I know I can always sleep later!

Hope this helps and have fun at SMX West 2012 and other search engine marketing conferences this year!