Google’s New Change to Keyword Search will Impact Data for Analytics
Thursday October 27, 2011
MoreVisibility’s Twitterchat (#MVCHAT) took place yesterday, October 27 discussing the important new announcement from Google, regarding a change in the way keyword search data will now be gathered. The topics discussed included:
MVCHAT is a weekly 30 minute discussion starting at 3:30 pm (EST) covering a variety of online marketing topics. Clients, advertisers, and online marketing enthusiasts are invited to participate in this rapid-fire conversation by following and including #MVCHAT in tweets. Read more about #MVCHAT in the news here.
Stayed up until midnight to adjust your Black Friday budget? Worried about bids while on vacationing in the Caribbean? Don’t fret — Adwords Automated Rules has come to your rescue.
The new feature allows advertisers to schedule changes at campaign, ad group, keyword or ad level. You could set up a rule that enables your special promotion ads to appear at the time the sale goes live or maintain first page visibility by raising the maximum CPC when an ad falls below a certain position.
Image from Google Adwords Blog
You are limited to 10 active rules and Google does not recommend using Automated Rules for campaigns that have other automatic bid management settings enabled as they could conflict with each other.
Creating rules makes the management of your Adwords account more efficient since you don’t need to log in every time a change is need. However, you must keep an eye on the rules to make sure they perform as expected and remember that the automated rules do not replace the need for consistent optimization and basic best practices.
We all are guilty of getting caught up in our industry specific jargon. In the case of MoreVisibility, I catch myself using acronyms like, SEM, SEO, PPC, GA, GAAC, etc. then having to backpedal to explain the meaning of these acronyms (see below), which are like second nature to me. At the same time, we easily forget that those who are looking for us online may not be searching the way we think they are. Whatever industry you are in, I encourage you to take your business cap off and consider what people are typing into search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. to find your company. This exercise will help to not only expand, but also diversify your PPC keywords. You’re probably rolling your eyes right now and thinking I totally know what my searchers are typing into Google to find me…but do you really??
Not everyone searches the same way; trust me. Take someone looking for a new pair of Nike sneakers for example. You will see anything and everything in between (Nike, Nike.com, Nikes, Nike’s, Nike’s Shoes, New Nike’s, New Nikes, Buy New Nike’s, Nike Shoes, Nike Sneakers, Buy Nikes, Buy Nike Sneakers, Find Nikes, Find Nike Sneakers, etc. The list of variations is virtually endless. It’s the same with your business, although perhaps not as extensive.
So what can you do to try to cover your bases? The answer is keyword research, keyword research and yes, more keyword research. Make sure you are using multiple variations of your core keywords within your paid campaigns. Try typing these keywords into the engines to see what results you get. In addition, ask your friends on Facebook, your followers on Twitter and your connections on LinkedIn how they would search for your company, products and/or services. Their answers may surprise you! Furthermore, if you have not done so already, employ an analytics tool on your site. This can be a very helpful way to see which keyword(s) people are typing into the engines to find you. We utilize Google Analytics in house and many of our clients do, as well.
Everyone searches differently. If you don’t diversify your keyword menu, you could be missing out on valuable eyes to your site.
Just in case:
SEM = Search Engine Marketing
SEO = Search Engine Optimization
PPC = Pay Per Click
GA = Google Analytics
GAAC = Google Analytics Authorized Consultant
975 South Federal Highway, 2nd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33432
800.787.0497
ph: 561.620.9682
fx: 561.620.9684
info@morevisibility.com
