Posts Tagged ‘adwords’
AdWords Update: Get 60 Characters in Your Text Ad Headline!
Google AdWords have just introduced a major change to the way ads are display in the top positions on Google search (this applies to only top ranking ads, above the organic results and not on the side).
Description line 1 is now displayed along side the headline text in the headline for top ranking ads. This means a total of 60 characters would now be displayed for the top 3 sponsored results i.e. the allowed 25 characters in ad headlines + 35 characters allowed in description line one.
For your ad headlines to display 60 characters, two criteria must be met: Read More »
Modified Broad Match now Available in All AdWords Accounts
Google officially announced the global launch of their much awaited modified broad match modifier via their AdWords blog. They had been undergoing a test rollout both in the UK and Canada since May but July 14th marked it’s global rollout. According to Google:
The broad match modifier is a new AdWords targeting feature that lets you create keywords which have greater reach than phrase match and more control than broad match. Adding modified broad match keywords to your campaign can help you get more clicks and conversions at an attractive ROI, especially if you mainly use exact and phrase match keywords today.
How Modified Broad Match Works
If you had two keywords under normal broad match, say:
mobile phones
You would typically attract clicks from searches related to ‘mobiles phones’ that may also include variations such as synonyms and misspellings. So ‘mobile phones’ under broad match may attract keywords:
- cell phones,
- cellular phone deals
- vodafone mobile contracts
- mobile phone plans
- iphone hacks
- free mobile phones
- mobile phone contracts
- 3g mobile phones
- pink mobile phones
The trouble with broad match is that it typically can get out of control by attracting irrelevant search traffic. The only way to taper irrelevancy is to constantly build and improve an extensive list of negative keywords.
Under broad modified, you can actually ‘fix’ a single keyword as constant in a key phrase you bid for. This constant *must* be present in all searches your broad modified keyword attracts. Let me illustrate. Say you bid for the broad modified key phrase (To implement the modifier, just include a plus symbol (+) directly in front of one or more words** in a broad match keyword.):
mobile +phones
This would attract searches with the keyphrase ‘phones’ present or close variations such as misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations and acronyms, and stemmings (like “drive” and “driving”) BUT not synonyms as normal broad match would return. So the above key phrase would attract searches for:
- mobile phone (singular/plural)
- mobile pohne (misspelling)
- cell phone
- cell phones
- cell phnoes (misspelling)
notice ‘phone’ is the constant.
This modified key phrase:
+mobile +phones
Would attract searches for:
- moblie phones (misspelling)
- mobiles phone (singular/plural)
- mob phones (abbreviations)
- mobile phones
- mobile phone
Again the constants here are keywords ‘mobile’ & ‘phones’ – so its offers a much wider reach than phrase match and more control than normal broad match.
It is a very interesting add-on to AdWords and is bound to improve conversion rates if implemented properly.
We have already implemented it on all our clients’ AdWords accounts and are seeing positive results already.
Watch this space….
How to Use the Thesaurus to Kick Start Your Keyword Research
Thesaurus’ came in very handy when I was essay writing in Uni and are still very relevant to me as a search marketing professional today. The thesaurus is my number 1 keyword research tool and the perfect resource for finding synonyms or related keywords. The beauty of using a thesaurus is that a bulk of keyword research has been done for you by thesaurus publishers. My favourite online thesaurus site is Thesaurus.com. Visual Thesaurus is also a handy tool if you are after a visual representation of keyword relationships (but it requires an annual subscription of about $20). I’d rather keep things simple by sticking with Thesaurus.com. Better still, thesaurus.com used in combination with the AdWords Keyword Tool is a clincher for your keyword research efforts.
How to Use Thesaurus.com and AdWords Keyword Tool
Type in your keyword in Thesaurus.com (in this example I typed in “architect”) – it should generate a list of results
Copy the URL- I copied ”http://thesaurus.com/browse/architect” for this example
Go the AdWords Keyword Tool – then copy and paste the thesaursus URL in the website text field.
AdWords Keyword tool crawls the specific page on thesaurus.com and returns even more keyword results
This not only helps you leverage two very powerful keyword tools at the same time but also ensures that no stones are left unturned over the course of your keyword research.
