Equator Live

Google has launched Hotel Finder (Experiment) – a search tool specifically designed to make it easier to find and compare hotels for your trips. It is another arm of expansion into price comparison products.

Currently only available for US hotels, the tool enables users to define areas that interest them, view popular locations with highlights, and shortlist properties to compare their prices (both current and average prices to contextualise any deals being offered). (more…)

Posted on August 11th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

For anyone yet to take advantage of Google’s ‘target by device’ settings, you could be missing out on improved CTRs and stronger return by not separating your PPC campaigns by device type. One of our travel clients got improved CTRs of approximately 10% on mobile devices following the segregation and specific targeting of mobile devices. (more…)

Posted on August 11th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

One of the most common paid search myths we hear surrounds the number one position in the listings, often presented as: “If our ad isn’t in the top spot, it’s just not worth it.” If you delve deep enough into the array of PPC blogs and forums available online you’ll be sure to find more than one opinion on this subject. Some say that most users click on the top ads without even reading them, whilst the lure of Site Links causes others to heavily support these spots in the search marketplace. (more…)

Posted on August 11th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

We’ve mentioned in previous articles that Google has a habit of playing around with the layout and general appearance of the SERPs. Well, June was no exception. This month we were treated to some amends surrounding the positioning of URLs and domains in PPC ad copy. Now, some of our ads on the right of the Organic listings look like this:

Whilst others above the Organic listings look more like this:

At this stage, the impact of such a move is undetermined. For those with domains matching their target keywords it is no bad thing – not only will their destination URL be bolded, but a big part of their headline will be in bold too. We’ll keep an eye on this change to see how it affects other domains too.

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

Google’s latest contribution to their continually growing work on Local and Mobile comes in the form of Product Ads. Still in beta, these ads are designed for use in mobile campaigns and combine the location intelligence of your mobile with the product inventory of local stores.

Yes, you can already capitalise on the local aspect via a mobile campaign with location extensions, but now you can supply your PPC campaign with local product feeds. With Products Ads, users searching for ‘new bikes’ will find your store (because it’s 10mins away from where they are currently located) and they’ll know what products and how many products you have in stock matching their query. Some say this will give local small business owners a leg-up on the big-chain competitors who simply won’t have time to submit local inventory at this level.

Who says Google isn’t working for the little guys too?

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

Riding high on the positive feedback they’ve received about Site Links, which we all love, Google pushed the boat out a little further with the creation of Embedded Site Links. For those not too familiar with the original version of this add-on, here’s a quick recap:

• Site Links enable PPC managers to display additional links underneath their ads, serving as direct links to select pages on clients’ websites,
• They only show if you hold one of the positions directly above the Organic listings,
• They provide another essential set of opportunities to promote specific products/pages beyond that highlighted in the main ad copy,
• They generate some excellent results, ranging from CTR increases of at least three percentage points, additional onsite conversions and lower cost-per-sale results.

So what’s the difference? Mainly, embedded links are within the main copy ad rather than sitting underneath it. The actual text in your ad copy that matches one or more of your Site Links becomes the link in itself.

Google is sure that this version of their very popular add-on will encourage even more users to click on your ad, and, depending on how the Embedded links are formatted, this may be true. On the other hand, the additional lines of text offered by original Site Links makes the ad more noticeable, gives you 35 extra characters to gush about the product/service your site is offering, and (whilst maybe a little frowned upon) does move both the competitor directly below your ad and the Organic listings a little further down the page.

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

In November 2010, Instant Previews were added to Google.com, providing users with a preview of the landing page for each organic search listing as they typed. During April this was rolled out to include PPC ads, and with it has come an renewed appreciation for PPC’s  post-click marketing (PCM) experience – AKA the landing page.

(more…)

Posted on June 30th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

The launch of Adwords Search Funnels in March of last year was exciting news for many PPC managers. Basically it provides insight into the journeys some of your customers took prior to converting but there is so much more insights available from this tool: (more…)

Posted on June 30th, 2011 in Paid Search, SEO with no comments

Now it only arrived late on 30^th but the March update wouldn’t be complete without even a small mention of Google’s latest initiative – the +1 Button.

Part of Google’s gradual wading into the social networking market; Google is labelling the +1 as ‘word of mouth marketing in Google search’ (more…)

Posted on May 9th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

Following on from the surprise launch of Google Instant back in September and, according to some in the industry, partly spurred on by the release of Yahoo’s interpretation of Instant (Search Direct), Google has rolled out Instant on Google Places search results.

Whilst not a hugely momentous development in itself, it shows Google’s confidence in this product as they gradually integrate it into more of their vertical search features.

(more…)

Posted on May 9th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments