Google Sitelinks have recently launched in Beta for Paid Search ads.  These operate in basically the same way as Organic Sitelinks do, however, one must set them at a Campaign level versus. them automatically getting picked up by engine spiders. 

Thus far, most accounts chosen for the Beta have been enabling the links for their branded Campaigns.  Branded keywords will most likely trigger the Sitelinks versus non-branded.

An advertiser can log into their AdWords account, choose a Campaign, go to the Campaign Settings tab and post up to 10 Sitelinks.  Once the links are named and assigned landing pages, they may show along with your Paid Search ad in Google’s results.

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The Brief

Google Local Listing Ads have been launched in Beta for the San Francisco and San Diego areas.  These are not to be confused with Location Extension Ads, formerly known as Google Local Business Ads (LBAs).

Previously, Local Business Ads were managed through the Local Business Center Interface.  Now that LBAs have been converted to Location Extension Ads, they are managed through the AdWords interface.  For more information on Location Extension Ads, click here.

The new product, Local Listing Ads (LLAs), is in Beta, will be managed through the Local Business Center interface, is free only for the first 30 days, and the listings will be shown in Google.com search results as well as Google Map results.  You can view a short LLA tutorial on YouTube here. 

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Now, I am not one to spread vicious rumors (though I do like to hear one every once in a while), but what is up with the search engines’ sporadic and unexplainable fluctuations in CPCs? MSN and Yahoo! seem to be bigger offenders of this than Google, but Google is not innocent of this yet. They just put a great PR spin on it calling it Real Time Quality Score. I am just going to state it — I feel that the search engines are doing these increases because they can.

A very specific example that I have of this is one of my clients saw a 100% increase in their CPC for their brand term in MSN over just one week. We probed MSN to see what the possible reasons could be for this huge increase in one week – their answer was “could be competition.” My first problem with this answer is the could part. Don’t they have a better understanding than could? My second issue with this answer is the competition part. I went online and checked who the competition was, and to my surprise, there was none. I hit the refresh button; again, no competition.

The above is just one example of the increase of CPCs in MSN without a solid explanation. I have seen through another one of my clients our branded CPC has increased from the $1.00 range well into the $3.00 range in a very short period of time, without any obvious changes in the SERP environment.

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Last week, Google moved its Real Time Quality Score (RTQS) testing out of beta and launched it live for all AdWords advertisers.  RTQS allows for Google’s algorithm to calculate Quality Score (QS) on the fly each time a search is conducted.  Previously, the Quality Score was not calculated in Real Time, but over a period of time.

When I first heard about the rolling out of this update to the calculation of Quality Score, I was hopeful it would be beneficial to both searchers and advertisers alike.  For searchers, it would allow for instant determination by Google’s system to serve up the most relevant query results.  Thus, in theory, giving searchers exactly what they are looking for each and every time they search.  For advertisers, I was crossing my fingers we would also see a lower cost-per-click (CPC) since our ads should be showing in higher positions when they are more relevant, with an increased QS to help boost them up there.  Also, since results being served will be real-time relevant to what the searchers are looking for, that should then mean advertisers will see more qualified traffic, creating more clicks, a higher click-through rate (CTR), and a lower cost-per-acquisition (CPA).

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Many of you have received a ghastly amount emails and news posts about Google’s new beta browser, Chrome. And, if you’re like me, you thought “Here we go again.” Does the world need another browser? First, we received news about Flock, and now we hear about Chrome. What is the “piece de resistance” that will outshine the likes of Internet Explorer (IE) or Firefox? Is this site going to be a heavy contender for the latest and greatest battle of the beta browser?

I’ve never been one to partake in the legendary browser wars of the last five to ten years. To me, it’s just a BROWSER. If it works, is easy to use and is on my computer- great! Most common Internet users feel the same way. If you’re not a designer, programmer or tech-geek (and I say this with great affection), how much does your browser choice affect your life? I would dare to guess not that much. Continue reading »

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