Up Close With Google AdWords Quality Score – Google’s quality score remains a mystery to many marketers, plus Google keeps changing when and how it is used. This session takes a fresh look at the current state of quality score, how it is implemented and tips on using it to your advantage

Moderator: Matt Van Wagner, President, Find Me Faster

Q&A Moderator: James Zolman, CEO, semvironment

Speakers:

Addie Conner, Director of Search Marketing, Course Advisor Inc.
Craig Danuloff, President, ClickEquations Inc.
Nicholas Fox, Business Product Management Director, AdWords, Google Inc.

NOTES:

Addie Conner, Director of Search Marketing, Course Advisor Inc.
Topic: Fact vs. Myth with Google Quality Score

1. There is a different CPC forumula if you are the only advertiser on the page? Fact.
2. Quality score is lost once you  make changes? Myth, QS is changed, but not lost.
3. Match type impacts QS. Myth.
4. Conversion rate impact QS? Myth.
5. Ad Rank QS included landing page quality? Myth.
6. Certain tuypes of site/business models carry a quality score penalty? Fact.  There is a Google FAQ about this.  There is a penalty, but not a blacklist.
7. Long tail keywords are given lower quality scores? Myth.
8. It takes two weeks for Google to determine quality score? Myth.  QS is a real-time factor and QS is determined really based on the amount of clicks your campaign is getting.  A campaign getting 10 clicks a day takes longer to build a QS compared to an account that gets 100k clicks a day.
9. Absolute CTR is the most important QS metric? Myth.  CTR relative to others is the most important QS variable.  You need to compare relative to other in the auction at that rank, this accounts for 95% of your QS rating.
10. QS is carried over to a new account if kw/creative all stays the same? Fact.
11. Landing page quality score is tiered? Myth.  Landing score QS is binary.
12. Quality score is the most important optimization method? Myth, what really matters is ROI.
13. You can help gain higher QS though high bidding? Fact.  Bidding high can put your ad in a position to increase your QS, but bidding high in and of itself will not help.

End Addie.

Craig Danuloff, President, ClickEquations Inc.
Topic: Quality Score (QS) (duh)

Ad rank formula: Bid x QS = Ad Rank.  Working quality score is just as important as raising your bid.  Having a high quality score will allow you to rank righer while paying less, thus netting you a greater ROI on each and any campaign.

Check out the campaign impression share report in Google to get an idea of how bad your ads are within the target search market.  If your ads are not showing 70% of the time, than people typed keywords that you have bought specifically, but your ads are not showing because your QS is so bad.

There are many Quality Scores and QS is figured in real-time during a search:

1. Keywords QS.
2. Ad Group QS.
3. Account History QS.

What QS should you start to shoot for: seven (7).  Seven is the mark showing that if you are below seven you are probably penalized, while above seven you are probably benefiting from QS.

Final thoughts:

1. QS is very important.
2. There are clear steps you can take to improve QS.
3. Advertisers should demand more clarity.

End Craig.

Nicholas Fox, Business Product Management Director, AdWords, Google Inc.
Topic: What Makes a Good Quality Score?

Defining Quality:

1. Relevant
2. Reputable site
3. Honest page
4. Specific page
5. Fast loading page
6. Trust for landing page

The bulk of quality is the CTR.  Click through tells them that everyone that looked at that ad thought it was this % important.  We try to capture things beyond the CTR, but it by far matters the most.  Quality score is then combined with the advertisers bid to rank that ad in PPC.

What we can do as advertisers:

1. Key point is to focus on the user and think about what users would want.
2. Keywords:
   1. Thing about what the user would search for.
      1. Diamonds is better than diamond for jewelers.
   2. Keep keywords to 2-4 words in length.
   3. Don’t use to many keywords: 10-15 per ad is about right.
3. Creative:
   1. Invite the user to do something; be compelling!
   2. Be specific.
   3. Be transparent about what he user will get.

Match types have no effect on quality score (QS), ad position does impact quality score, QS does not suffer when your ads are not showing, ad conversion rate does effect your QS.

Summery: Focus on your users and your customer (come on, please get more specific then that!)  Go to: www.google.com/domorewithless

If your visits from Google are down today, there may be good reason!  I Twittered upon something amusing this morning, but this also stinks too, because it really does make me wonder if the referrals will be less today because of this Google mix up.

Thanks to a tweet by @coplandmj I woke up to an interesting problem Google seems to be having.  Every result in the SERPs are telling searchers “This site may harm your computer”.  I have seen this before on a few sites, but not EVERY SINGLE ONE.  I did a random search for SEO Blog and had to screen shot it for those who may miss it – check out all the SEO Blogs that may harm your computer – LOL.  I wonder how long this one will take to fix, and what the story behind it is.

This site may harm your computer Google Error

Tuesday morning I had the opportunity to meet with a company regarding providing search engine optimization services to them. This is a company that is on the verge of being an Inc. 500 company and I was meeting with the CEO, VP of Marketing, and VP of Development. About 45 min. into the meeting the CEO said, “So how do we get this going?” and my reply to him was something along the lines of, “If we begin working together we will start with, etc. etc.” and went on to explain our process to him. Roughly 10 min. later the CEO stood up and basically said,

I have to get running, so you guys take care of the details and lets move forward, but I have one piece of advice for you, say “when” we begin working with you instead of “if” we begin working with you. We then shook hands and he left the board room.

I’m not one to be offended by someone teaching me something, or telling me how I can do something better. I really do feel that I can learn something from everyone and this experience has left me thinking for the past 48 hours about the power of motivational language and the kinds of words I should be using to encourage action when in meetings. I also have to laugh because yesterday on The Jim Rome Show, he spent about 30 min. praising sales guys for the work they do and how he was in sales once but couldn’t hack it. He talked about weak sales cliches taught as tools such as calling a prospect and saying something like, “I’ll be in your area on the 12th and the 15th, what works better for you?”, like it’s a trap for them now and they can’t say no. Now I wouldn’t say I’m a salesman, but hey…everyone is selling something right?

Anyway, I don’t think the advise I was given by this CEO was weak or anything in the like, but I had to laugh hearing Rome talk about this topic when I have recently been thinking so much about it. I have really been thinking of how I can be more suggestive, or motivational, or optimistic…whatever you want to call it with my language since then and really have been trying to say when instead of if the last few days with any prospects I have met with or talked to.

I have also been reading about the subject and I am aware that their are several great books that deal with the power or suggestion, the powers of positive attitude, the powers of persuasion, etc. and here are a few quotes I have found that I like related to this subject.

“Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds.” Remez Sasson

“Selling is an inner game, and the difference between top performers and average ones is not as great as you might think. Top performers just do certain things a little bit better each day.” Brian Tracy

If any of you have insight in this area, please feel free to comment and share with me and the rest of our readers. Also, please suggest books, etc. that deal with the subject that you can recommend.

I think being a positive thinker is something we can all do better with, I certainly know I can, and will end with us all (in the words of Stuart Smalley) saying, “I’m gonna help people because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and, doggonit, people like me.”

Google News Using More Risque Photos Lately

I have been using Google News for a long time now, and only recently have I noticed them using more risque photos next to the article stories.

I have been wanting to talk about this, and see if anyone else has notice this too?  I know, I know – sex sells, (and apparently increases Google News click-throughs) but I wouldn’t think Google would do this with all of the Kids out there using Google News as a reference.  This picture that I am sharing here, was by a story today, and is less risque then others I have seen lately, but even so I wouldn’t want my mom to walk by when I happened to be on this page – I could hear her now “Matt, what are you looking at?”

I understand that Google can do what they want, and that I can just not use them anymore.  That is not the point.  I like using Google News and will continue to do so – I am just posing the question to others that may have noticed this, or if its just me.  I wouldn’t think Google News would have to use images like this to get the clicks – they are going to get them regardless.  Maybe Google is just doing some internal testing – or maybe I am looking to much into it.  I just thought it was odd, it happened to me on my mind, and thats why I felt like sharing my thoughts on it.

I usually try to do a post about this every year around this time, and add some new information that I have learned with it a long the way too.  This year is a year of savings like no other, and everybody is looking for a deal.  People are trying to save money, and have made major cutbacks in their holiday spending.  Businesses are doing anything they can to get you to keep spending, even if it means less profit for them.  You would be surprised to find the savings I found when doing just a few searches.

I am talking about promotional codes that websites offer, as well as the coupons that some websites will allow you to print off and take right into the store for an additional percentage off.  I found some coupons that would give you an additional 50% off your purchase price with no strings attatched – and to major stores too, like Target.

How to use the search engines:

Most people do not realize they can just go to Google (or any major search engine) and type in “[whatever store name] promotional code”, or “[whatever store name] coupon code” and if that store offers a promotional code, or a coupon code you will find it as a result (you may have to sift through some pages and results), and can put that code in and save a certain percentage off.  Let me give you some screen shots of what I am talking about.

Lets say you were shopping at Dicks Sporting Goods, and are about ready to check out – here is what you would see: Notice how the arrow is pointing to a place that you can enter a promotional code?  That should get you thinking – where do you get such a code?

Dicks Sporting Goods

This is where using the search engines and the technique mentioned above comes into play.  I am going to do a search on Google now for “Dicks Sporting Goods Promotional Code” and get the following results (see screen shot)

Google Search For Dicks Sporting Goods

You see how every single one of the results that you get is a web site offering a Dicks Sporting Goods promotional code.  I didn’t go through every site listed, but I found one that offered a 20% off code on any purchase.  That means if you are spending $400 you will save a whopping $80 – that is a couple of fill-ups at the tank!  IMO, the savings are significant, and if you are doing this with all of your purchases – you are saving a wad of cash this season.  All you have to do at this point is get the code you just found, go back to where you were checking out, put the code in and apply it – and there you go – you just saved 20% on your Dicks Sporting Goods purchase.

You can use this technique with almost any site or store you want to shop at, it just will take you a little time to do some searches.  I use Google for all my examples here, but if you don’t find what you are looking for on Google, you can always use other search engines like Yahoo or MSN when looking for promotional codes.

I want interaction with people!

Lets say you don’t want to do all of your shopping online, and want to actually interact with people and get out.  You can still use the search engines and websites to help you find coupons that you can take into the store and they will scan and give you the discount.

Some printable coupon websites that I know of, and have used personally – there are many more, just search for “printable coupons” on Google

• Coupons.com
• Coupon Cabin
• FatWallet.com
• http://www.thokalath.com/coupons/free_printable_coupon.php

We are going to Macy’s today to finish up some holiday shopping, and a quick search on Google for a “Macys Printable Coupon” helped me find a site where I found this 20% off coupon:

Macy Printable Coupons

The Bottom Line Here:

If you take some time and use the search engines to find coupons and promotional codes, you will be saving big money this season.  So far this year, I have saved over $300 just from my Christmas shopping for the kids.  Saving $300 could turn into a pretty good gift for myself this year!!  I should probably be smart and put it away though!  I hope this gives you some ideas, or reminders of what you can do this year online using the seach engines to save money.  Good Luck, and Happy Holidays!

PLEASE ADD TO THIS:

If you know of any other really good promotional code sites (or techniques) or printable coupon sites then please feel free to comment and add them here.  I want to build this up as a huge resource for anyone who reads this post.

Last week I sat in a meeting trying to quote a company on the services we offered and found it frustrating because they asked me a few questions that led me to pulling up Google and doing some searches for them to show them a thing or two about their competition. The problem was that this group of people I was presenting to where rather large and a lot of them were very novice with search and online marketing. Most had extensive back grounds in offline marketing, but online marketing was a whole new arena to them. The very next thing that started happening was me giving a tutorial on Google Search and how to use it and how their users would be using it to find them. I don’t really mind, but it took me way off base for the presentation and it ended up running over on them.

To make it helpful for them I showed them Advanced Search options on Google and thought that there might be a few of you out there that this might help as well.

To access the Google Advanced Search options simply click on the Advanced Search language next to the query entry box on the Google homepage.

Once on the advanced search page you can select from a number of options to search Google more correctly.

I had to explain to this group how to search using and/or and using quotes, etc. and I found that frustrating to try and explain to them so I just showed them this page and it clicked for them.

There are a few nice features that Google offers, even for the very experienced Googler…I especially like using the File type option for specific files I might be searching for and you can also search within a specific domain.

Now maybe I have been completely missing something, but I have not seen results like this ever come up on a site that has Adsense Ads.  I usually don’t  view a whole lot of sites that have tons of Adsense all over them, but this was something interesting I saw today and wondered if anyone else had seen this yet?  Am I way behind on this, or is this something new that Google Adsense ads are doing these days?

Here is a screen shot of what I saw:

Google Search Box Inside Adsense Ads

The red arrow is pointing to what up to this point has been showing credit card related ads via Adsense.  You will now see that its showing the Google Search box.  I am very interested to know when this started happening if anyone knows?  Makes me wonder what the point even is?  What happens if someone uses the search box and clicks on a natural result?  Does anyone make money?  If the Adsense user makes money then how does Google make money on this?  It just does not make sense to me!

Again, I have not given this the proper time to research it out, but I was just curious cause I saw this tonight and have never seen it before.

Ok, so like me, I’m sure many of you iPhone users out there have been reading the hype about the new Google Voice Search feature of the Google App for the iPhone. I have seen a few stories zip through to me via Google Alerts, but until now I didn’t really pay any attention to them. This morning I decided to download the Google App and give Voice Search a try to see how it works for me. Here is what I found.

Google App Install:

It’s as simple as all the other apps you can download from Apple, simple click on the Apps icon on your iPhone and either search for Google or just go to the Top 25 Free Apps page and it’ll be there, it almost always is…and yet it is FREE. Click on the App, click on Free, click on Install, and bang…the download begins. After a few minutes you’ll be in Google App heaven ;o)

First Open:

When you first open the Google App you’ll see a screen with the following instructions: “For voice search, just bring the phone to your ear and speak.” I did just that with my son yelling in my ear and I got a scrambled mess for my search results. Although the phone did make out what that I had said something, the search results were way off from what I stated (more on that to come).

Features of Google App:

Along with the Voice Search features the Google App is loaded with other Apps within the App. By clicking the Apps button at the bottom you can gain quick access to online Google Apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs, etc. From the settings button you can access search settings to turn on SafeSearch, on/off Voice Search, etc…nothing really that special in the settings.

Does Voice Search Work?

Because my first test of the Voice Search netted me bad results I decided to give it a real test and 9 out of 10 times the phone got my audio search strand correct. Here is what I searched for and the results I got:

1. Spoken term: memory foam mattress, results: memory foam mattress

2. Spoken term: byu cougars, results: byu cougars (they are going to kill Utah BTW)

3. Spoken term: search engine optimization, results: search engine optimization

4. Spoken term: social media optimization, results: social media optimization

5. Spoken term: honda motorcycle, results: honda motorcycle

6. Spoken term: cool beans, results: cool beans

7. Spoken term: Jennifer Garner, results: Jennifer Garner

8. Spoken term: Barack Obama, results: Barack Obama

9. Spoken term: link:www.google.com, results: linksys colin www.google.com

10. Spoken term: money management software, results: money management software

As you can see, the App did great with all my standard search terms, but when tossing in an advanced search request to show the links pointing to Google, the phone got confused. Overall, though…it’s an amazing application and Voice Search is a great feature, earning it a coveted icon spot on my iPhone’s homepage!

Hello and welcome to my first Dream Systems Media Blog post. My name is Andrew Melchior and I’m going to be posting to this blog on a daily (I hope) basis. To start I’m going to give you a little background on who I am and what I’ll be doing here at DSM.

I got started in the online industry back in 2000 when I launched my first ecommerce website and it was fast moving from there. After launching that site I quickly became inspired to learn as much as I could about internet marketing so I dug in deep and began reading all I could along with testing and applying what I learned. I also had the chance during that time to begin working with some ecommerce consulting companies like Prosper, Inc. In doing this, I got the chance to literally work with over 1000 small .com start-ups and this gave me the ultimate learning and proving ground to apply different strategies in. Fast forward to 2008 and I am now part owner in literally 16+ different ecommerce, blog, and service based sites, DSM included, and will be working in DSM to help acquire clients and service them toward helping them reach their goals. I am very confident we’ll be able to do just that and also know that the clients we have will not just be satisfied, they will be amazed at what we can do for them.