Search Engines Engineer is a self-educated and Do it your self DIYS area with the tips and real working areas around the Search Engines.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Product Listing Ads Appearing On Bing
Microsoft has been fast-following Google AdWords with new features in adCenter recently, so it’s not a huge surprise that some have spotted what look like Product Listing Ads (PLAs) in Bing Results.
“AdCenter is currently working on several ad product initiatives. Each initiative is at a different stage development and rollout stage,” a Microsoft spokesperson gave a statement. “The ad treatment referenced in RKG’s blog post is from a prototype experimentation that aims to collect initial engagement data on ads with detailed product information.”
While Microsoft wouldn’t give us creative specs for the unit, it appears to be a small, square image that accompanies the headline, landing page URL and text in the ad. As of yet, there’s no product name.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Announcing AdWords campaign limits increase
Last year google Adwords support increased the limits for all advertisers to 500 campaigns and 3 million keywords per AdWords account in response to feedback from many of our advertisers, we are pleased to announce yet another AdWords campaign limit increase.
It is now possible to have 10,000 campaigns (includes active and paused campaigns) per account. With this change, it is now possible to easily manage and monitor more campaigns in a single place.
AdWords Editor, the AdWords API, and all other AdWords services are compatible with the new limits.
A full list of all account limits, including creative and ad extension limits, is available in the AdWords Help Center.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Why use CPA Bidding?
Anyone interested in achieving a ROI (return on investment) while using AdWords should at least look into testing CPA bidding once at some point. The opportunity to use an automated system which can consider a multitude of calculations every time a search relevant to your business is made, is a valuable one, especially when the system has the ability to make the best decision for your business. These calculations are based upon a variety of factors such as an ad’s conversion history, the keyword’s broad match query, the user’s location and the conversion rates of Google’s Search Network and partner sites on the Display Network. These factors can be taken into consideration manually to a certain extent but could never be performed as fast and often as the CPA bidding is able to. The manual approach would also mean downloading stat reports, analyzing keyword and ad performance, reviewing locations and time activity, etc; all this takes a considerable amount of time which is valuable within any business. The CPA bidding option addresses this issue and allows you to have a more automated approach to management.
When this feature was first released I decided to test it out on one of my client’s campaigns. The results were fairly instantaneous and resulted in a reduction in cost per conversion with an increased total number of conversions. Even now I will occasionally test CPA bidding with different client accounts to compare the performance against running the campaigns manually, generally the CPA bidding will match the performance at the very least but it is not unusual for it to perform even better.
Anyone interested in achieving a ROI (return on investment) while using AdWords should at least look into testing CPA bidding once at some point. The opportunity to use an automated system which can consider a multitude of calculations every time a search relevant to your business is made, is a valuable one, especially when the system has the ability to make the best decision for your business. These calculations are based upon a variety of factors such as an ad’s conversion history, the keyword’s broad match query, the user’s location and the conversion rates of Google’s Search Network and partner sites on the Display Network. These factors can be taken into consideration manually to a certain extent but could never be performed as fast and often as the CPA bidding is able to. The manual approach would also mean downloading stat reports, analyzing keyword and ad performance, reviewing locations and time activity, etc; all this takes a considerable amount of time which is valuable within any business. The CPA bidding option addresses this issue and allows you to have a more automated approach to management.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Ad rotation settingsLast month Google announced the Ads Rotation changing and how creative rotation works in AdWords. Specifically, when Google changed the even rotation setting to rotate evenly for a period of 30 days, after which AdWords would optimize to show your higher performing creatives more frequently.
The concerns have focused on (1) the lack of an opt-out for this change and (2) the potential that the 30 day even rotation window might be shorter than your testing window for new ads. With the modified Rotate evenly setting, Google tests indicate that Google will provide you with more valuable traffic in an automated, efficient manner. They have found that, on average, optimized creative rotation results in an increase in click-through rate and an increase in total conversion volume for advertisers. Here’s an example describing the benefit (note: data is intended for illustrative purposes only):Advertisement A has a 3% CTR, while Advertisement B has a 1% CTR. Under the original Rotate evenly setting, the ads would show roughly evenly, resulting in an average CTR of around 2%. Under the new setting, Advertisement A will show more frequently after the even rotation window has passed, bringing the average CTR closer to 3%, or a 50% increase in clicks. The systems will also continue to run Advertisement B for a low fraction of traffic to continue to test how well it performs.Google also optimizing that if they see a large amount of demand for the opt-out over the next few weeks, they will also offer the opt-out in the AdWords interface directly.You can opt-out by filling in your information on this form or by contacting your account representative. Both of these changes will go into effect on June 11, 2012.
The concerns have focused on (1) the lack of an opt-out for this change and (2) the potential that the 30 day even rotation window might be shorter than your testing window for new ads. With the modified Rotate evenly setting, Google tests indicate that Google will provide you with more valuable traffic in an automated, efficient manner. They have found that, on average, optimized creative rotation results in an increase in click-through rate and an increase in total conversion volume for advertisers. Here’s an example describing the benefit (note: data is intended for illustrative purposes only):Advertisement A has a 3% CTR, while Advertisement B has a 1% CTR. Under the original Rotate evenly setting, the ads would show roughly evenly, resulting in an average CTR of around 2%. Under the new setting, Advertisement A will show more frequently after the even rotation window has passed, bringing the average CTR closer to 3%, or a 50% increase in clicks. The systems will also continue to run Advertisement B for a low fraction of traffic to continue to test how well it performs.Google also optimizing that if they see a large amount of demand for the opt-out over the next few weeks, they will also offer the opt-out in the AdWords interface directly.You can opt-out by filling in your information on this form or by contacting your account representative. Both of these changes will go into effect on June 11, 2012.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
MSN Adcenter tips
Today I am going to share a few tips about Microsoft adCenter (formerly MSN adCenter). I believe that all the information written in this article is true, correct and complete.
I. Microsoft adCenter (formerly MSN adCenter) is Microsoft’s online advertising platform after forming an alliance with Yahoo! have an estimated audience of 164 million potential US customers. That’s 30% of US Search Market.
II. According to Microsoft website MSN/Live Search is converting users into buyers at a higher rate than Google or Yahoo and it’s correct too as from my own experience I have found that Microsoft adCenter offers a better conversion rates than Google AdWords. There were times when my conversions were over 25%.
III. The traffic quality of Bing is the best when compared to Google or AOL. It means you get more Return On your Investment (ROI).
IV. The whole Sign Up process is pretty easy with simple and powerful user interface. But I must say that Google AdWords’ interface is the best of all as it’s very simple and easy to use.
V. For customer support I give 5 star rating to Microsoft adCenter. And Google sucks when it comes to customer support. They were sending automated replies instead of responding to my emails.
VI. Pay less for quality traffic. It’s one of the biggest advantages of MSN adCenter over Google AdWords. adCenter’s bid rates are much lower than that of Google. The Minimum bid required per click is 0.05$. However the number of clicks are significantly lower than that of Google, it’s because of Google’s 60% market share in search market.
VII. Unlike Google AdWords there is no activation fee for Microsoft adCenter.
VIII. At this point of time Microsoft adCenter accepts only payments via Credit Card. Microsoft adCenter don’t accept PayPal but they do accept some Virtual Credit Cards and Gift Cards. I have recently tried to create an account using a Virtual Credit Card. The Sign Up process went smoothly but after a couple of hours I got an email message from adCenter team that they were unable to process my credit card. But I have used that same virtual card when I first used adCenter. Now they are not accepting the same I guess they improved their credit card verification process.
IX. I have read in some forum/blog that we can create up to 3 Microsoft adCenter accounts using the same credit card and earn coupon credits. Unfortunately it’s wrong you can’t Sign Up for multiple accounts to get the Promotional Credits. However it may work for you but it’s against Microsoft’s terms. Microsoft’s clearly says that “Promotional credit is valid only for new advertisers opening a new account with Microsoft adCenter”.
X. The Microsoft adCenter Promotional Credits is valid only to the residents of the US, Canada, UK, France & India.
BONUS Tip: Microsoft adCenter Promotion is different for each countries. adCenter Coupon for United States and Canada is $25, for UK it’s £30, for India it’s Rs. 500, and for France it’s €30. And so, your address and currency should match (e.g. UK address, UK currency; US address, US currency). You cannot change the currency once the account is created so make sure that the coupon is for the same currency and country you are located, otherwise it will not work properly since the adCenter promo codes are considered as type of currency.
I. Microsoft adCenter (formerly MSN adCenter) is Microsoft’s online advertising platform after forming an alliance with Yahoo! have an estimated audience of 164 million potential US customers. That’s 30% of US Search Market.
II. According to Microsoft website MSN/Live Search is converting users into buyers at a higher rate than Google or Yahoo and it’s correct too as from my own experience I have found that Microsoft adCenter offers a better conversion rates than Google AdWords. There were times when my conversions were over 25%.
III. The traffic quality of Bing is the best when compared to Google or AOL. It means you get more Return On your Investment (ROI).
IV. The whole Sign Up process is pretty easy with simple and powerful user interface. But I must say that Google AdWords’ interface is the best of all as it’s very simple and easy to use.
V. For customer support I give 5 star rating to Microsoft adCenter. And Google sucks when it comes to customer support. They were sending automated replies instead of responding to my emails.
VI. Pay less for quality traffic. It’s one of the biggest advantages of MSN adCenter over Google AdWords. adCenter’s bid rates are much lower than that of Google. The Minimum bid required per click is 0.05$. However the number of clicks are significantly lower than that of Google, it’s because of Google’s 60% market share in search market.
VII. Unlike Google AdWords there is no activation fee for Microsoft adCenter.
VIII. At this point of time Microsoft adCenter accepts only payments via Credit Card. Microsoft adCenter don’t accept PayPal but they do accept some Virtual Credit Cards and Gift Cards. I have recently tried to create an account using a Virtual Credit Card. The Sign Up process went smoothly but after a couple of hours I got an email message from adCenter team that they were unable to process my credit card. But I have used that same virtual card when I first used adCenter. Now they are not accepting the same I guess they improved their credit card verification process.
IX. I have read in some forum/blog that we can create up to 3 Microsoft adCenter accounts using the same credit card and earn coupon credits. Unfortunately it’s wrong you can’t Sign Up for multiple accounts to get the Promotional Credits. However it may work for you but it’s against Microsoft’s terms. Microsoft’s clearly says that “Promotional credit is valid only for new advertisers opening a new account with Microsoft adCenter”.
X. The Microsoft adCenter Promotional Credits is valid only to the residents of the US, Canada, UK, France & India.
BONUS Tip: Microsoft adCenter Promotion is different for each countries. adCenter Coupon for United States and Canada is $25, for UK it’s £30, for India it’s Rs. 500, and for France it’s €30. And so, your address and currency should match (e.g. UK address, UK currency; US address, US currency). You cannot change the currency once the account is created so make sure that the coupon is for the same currency and country you are located, otherwise it will not work properly since the adCenter promo codes are considered as type of currency.
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