What’s the difference between the two programs? With the Google Certification Program, we’re offering updated learning materials written by Google experts. We’ve developed four in-depth exams on AdWords management called Fundamentals, Advanced Search, Advanced Display and Advanced Reporting & Analysis. The exams are designed to prove proficiency in these areas and are being widely adopted by employees of search marketing agencies. In addition to this, we launched Google Partner Search, a directory to help advertisers find agencies to manage their campaigns. Currently, all Google Advertising Professionals who have opted in are part of Google Partner Search, but this will not be the case by the end of October.
We’re informing all of you who have qualified under the old Google Advertising Professionals program to update to the Google Certification Program. In order to do so, a company must meet a minimum AdWords spend level, and have at least one employee become individually qualified under the Google Certification Program.
If you have an employee that already qualified under the old program, this is a great time for them to update their skills through the Google Certification Program. Upon completion, just update your company profile so that advertisers can find you using Google Partner Search.
Jason Miller: On the Google Display Network, we genuinely believe that marketers and agencies get access to the most brand-friendly network out there.
It’s important to emphasize that Google's technological expertise is in doing two things very well: first, crawling and analyzing content at great scale (as a search engine that’s Google’s core competency) - and second, targeting ads precisely at massive scale. We’ve applied this to the Display Network for quite some time.
We broadly invest in 4 areas to ensure brand safety:
First, strict policies. We don’t permit sites with content that violates our program policies.
Second, technology. Several layers of review - before admission to the network, the precise time of ad serving, and continuous automatic scanning - uphold our program policies. We do real-time blocking of ads if the page violates policy. We do this at massive scale and at a page/URL level - not just a site level.
Third, transparency. We offer domain - and, importantly, URL - level reporting. This provides deep insight into the sites and pages where our clients’ ads were served, on-demand. Major advertisers regularly get a report that shows what their ads looked like in the context of a given page.
Finally, advertiser controls. We give advertisers a robust set of controls to closely manage their ad delivery across the GDN, including hand-picked bundles of sites (such as the Ad Planner 1000) or individual sites, an above the fold filter, specific site and category exclusions.
Recently, we signed up to the standards and practices under the IAB’s Networks and Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines.
For the complete interview, including commentary on DoubleClick Ad Exchange enhancements and the safety of inventory on the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange, visit AdExchanger.com.
With this feature, you can search across all of the accounts linked to your MCC. When you search, your results will include accounts, campaigns, ad groups, ads, keywords, and placements that match your search term. Let's say you want to find all keywords related to Canada. Just enter the search term "canada" and we'll show you results that match that term. Learn more
Labels help you organize your accounts into groups or flag clients that require attention. You can identify important clients with the label "High Priority," mark active vs. inactive accounts, or identify accounts belonging to the same client. Then, you can filter your dashboard to quickly view all accounts with a specific label. Learn more
Simplified dashboard buttons
We noticed that as we added features to the new MCC interface, the buttons on the dashboard were getting a bit crowded. We’ve made some changes to clean things up and make it easier for you to quickly manage your client accounts.
ThinkPersonals with Google - A Date with Google Tuesday, August 17th at 10amPST / 12pmCST / 1pmEST This webinar will cover the latest online dating trends and what they mean for your business, how to drive more consumers to your dating site using Google's platform, and optimizing your strategies to take advantage of the latest online dating trends. Register here
ThinkHoliday with Google Tuesday, August 24 at 11amPST/ 1pmCST / 2pmEST During this webinar will we share findings on the latest consumer shopping trends and discuss key strategies marketers can implement to increase holiday revenue. We will also discuss learnings from holiday 2009, new online trends and recommendations for holiday 2010. Register here
ThinkB2B with Google - Engaging your audience at the Zero Moment of Truth Wednesday, August 25th at 11amPST / 1pmCST / 2pmEST Join Google for a discussion about the Zero Moment of Truth for B2B and how marketers can effectively & efficiently engage business decision makers at that crucial point in the purchase process. Register here
ThinkTravel with Google: Google & O/TX Present - The Traveler's Road to Decision Wednesday, September 1st at 11amPST / 1pmCST . 2pmEST Join us for the webinar to learn the most important planning resources for travelers; how behavior differs among leisure, business and affluent travelers; where and why search engines are used in the travel booking process; how travel related use of online video and mobile devices has evolved this year Register here
On the GDN, you have real-time reporting for every site and URL where your ads ran. You can view basic metrics like impressions, clicks, clickthrough rate (CTR) and cost, or, by implementing our free AdWords Conversion Tracking, you can measure conversion metrics to determine your campaign’s return on investment (ROI). We also recently introduced view-through conversion reporting to provide a more complete picture of your display campaign performance.
With rich site- and URL-level data like this, you can see exactly what’s working and respond on the fly, increasing bids for sites generating lots of sales, or decreasing bids for, or excluding, poorer-performing sites.
With Conversion Tracking enabled, you can also unleash our bid management tool, Conversion Optimizer, to help increase your conversions while decreasing your cost-per-acquisition (CPA). One of the most powerful bid management tools available, the average campaign using Conversion Optimizer sees a 21% lift in conversions with a 14% lower CPA*.
Web analytics and optimization
Your campaign’s performance is heavily influenced by the experience visitors have on your site. Google Analytics is a free tool that helps you measure user behavior on your site, providing metrics such as time spent on your site, page views, traffic sources, bounce rate, etc. Using this information, you can identify areas on your site you need to improve to increase conversion rates and ultimately, your ROI. Although Google Analytics works independently of Conversion Tracking, it’s possible to automatically import your Analytics data into Conversion Tracking, enabling you to consolidate reporting and optimization across these measurement tools.
While Google Analytics tells you what’s happening on your site, Website Optimizer empowers you to change it. You can show your visitors multiple versions of a page or elements on a page to test which are most effective, thereby getting more of your visitors to convert into customers.
Measurement beyond the click
Finally, research shows the impact of display ads extends beyond immediate clicks and conversions. After seeing display ads, many users search for the advertised product or brand, or visit the advertiser’s web site days or weeks after having seen a display ad, even if they didn’t click. Recently, we launched Campaign Insights to help you measure the impact of your display campaigns beyond immediate clicks and conversions. Campaign Insights calculates the incremental lift in both online search activity and website visits that result from a display ad campaign. By comparing a large group of users (many thousands, minimum) who saw a particular display ad, with an equivalent, large group that did not see the ad, we can determine the incremental change directly attributable to the display campaign. With this insight, you can establish how well your display campaign is working beyond just clicks.
This post ends our series on the Google Display Network. Over the past four weeks, we hope you’ve discovered new ways Google can help you run successful display campaigns. For more on the GDN, please visit our microsite.
Posted by Emel Mutlu, Marketing Manager, Google Display Network
* Analysis compares performance of Conversion Optimizer campaigns over the course of a year with a control set of campaigns and represents the average impact of Conversion Optimizer. Actual impact may vary form campaign to campaign.
Late last year, we announced a beta version of the updated Keyword Tool, which brought you increased functionality and a streamlined way to identify new keywords for your account. Since then, we’ve been working hard to meet our long-term goal to combine all the features you love from both the Keyword Tool and the Search-based Keyword Tool into one comprehensive tool.
We think it’s the right time to begin this final transition since you can now find many of your favorite features from tools in the updated Keyword Tool.
Both of these tools will be available in their current forms through the end of August, after which time their addresses will redirect to the updated Keyword Tool. We’ll post again when the transition is complete and the updated Keyword Tool exits beta (and drops the “updated” from its name).
The updated Keyword Tool has a number of benefits over the older tools:
Flexible search options: Search by any combination of keyword, website/URL, and category (where available) and receive a single set of results
Easy keyword refinement: Filter results by word or keyword match type
Advanced options: View statistics for mobile search and use data filters based on local searches, search and ad share, and more
We also listened to your feedback and added some completely new features:
Removing Duplicate Keywords: When you access the Keyword Tool from within an ad group, keywords that are already in that ad group will appear with an “Already in ad group” message next to them
Adding Negative keywords: Now, you can easily add keyword ideas as negatives right from your keyword idea list. Just click on a keyword and use the drop down menu to select and save your negative keyword
We’ll continue to improve upon the updated Keyword Tool to make it more useful for you. Give it a try if you haven’t yet to take advantage of its new look and features. If you need to, you can always access the tool without signing in to AdWords. However, for the best results, you should access the tool from within your account. Just click the “Keyword Tool” link from the Opportunities tab. For a full set of directions on accessing and using the tool, visit the AdWords Help Center.
Posted by Alexandra Kenin, Product Marketing Manager
