Tag: Google AdWords

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Google Search Goes to Secure Encryption Causing SEO Headaches

Google announced this past week that for all signed in users it will now show search results with an https:// address. This means that if you are signed in to Google+, Gmail or any other Google Properties when you go to Google.com the page will default to https://www.Google.com.

So what you say, “no big deal”, well here’s the rest of the story…

“Today, a web site accessed through organic search results on http://www.google.com (non-SSL) can see both that the user came from google.com and their search query. (Technically speaking, the user’s browser passes this
information via the HTTP referrer field.) However, for organic search results on SSL search, a web site will only know that the user came from google.com.”

This is very important news for website owners who are using Google Analytics to track traffic on their website and for the SEO firms that you may employ who may be tracking keyword information. You can read the full article on the Google Webmaster blog.

The bottom-line is that Google is not going to show the search terms people used to find your website when doing organic searches. This information has been incredibly valuable. One, it let’s you know what keyword search activity has helped people to find you so you can build on these successes; two, it allows you to evaluate your current SEO strategy to adjust if needed; and three, it allows your Google AdWords account manager to harvest additional keywords to help your AdWords program perform better.

Google does go on to say that they are making the change to protect a user’s privacy but annoyingly enough they are showing the full data in Google AdWords accounts. As a result webmasters all around the world have gone crazy over this news. Here is a link to a site that has archived a few of the most interesting articles on this topic if you would like to read more.

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How Do You Know How Much a Click Will Cost on AdWords?

So you want to try AdWords, but want to make sure you will get performance. You understand you need a high enough maximum cost per click to be in the auction and your daily budget needs to be high enough to support your maximum cost per click to get AdWords to serve your program, but how do you estimate for planning your cost per click to see if you can even afford AdWords?

Google AdWords has a tool that will allow you to see estimate cost per click figures. You can visit the tool here. If you have an AdWords account when you click the link, AdWords will send you to the tool page within your own account so you can benefit from your own account history. What I recommend with all new potential AdWords advertisers is to run a few keywords that they consider important to their business to get an idea of where the bid auction is to that an effective and practical monthly click budget can be set.

Make sure that when you use the tool that you select in the drop down menu for columns the “Approximate CPC”. Remember this is an approximate. In my experience is has even been on the low side. The figures you will typically see will be for the United States by default if you are in the US, but make sure that you are not seeing global results. You can reorder the data with your selections. The local search column is not to be confused with “local” like in your region. Local in this case means your entire country based on your initial tool settings.

Do not budget your AdWords program based on the numbers you see in the tool. Remember every chance you have for a click once your program is running will be based on an auction. The figures the tool gives you should be considered a range and the real costs will typically be higher.

Once you have an estimated cost per click, then factor in how many realistically priced clicks you want per day to try to achieve your marketing results. You may find out that your budget of $2,000 per 30 days you thought you wanted to spend will simply not be enough when your click cost may be $10 per click. Additionally you may have felt you wanted to run 6 ad groups but can realistically afford only two to run or you will parse your budget between too many programs.

Although AdWords says you can set your 30 day click budget and maximum cost per click to anything you want, they also have the option to not serve your program if your settings are simply not competitive in your marketplace.

For more AdWords help, make sure to visit our website to read about our AdWords management services.

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Are You Out of the AdWords Auction? How to Tell

The AdWords clients that come to me typically are small to medium sized business owners who have tried to do AdWords themselves and not been successful. Because they feel AdWords could work for them, based on what they have read, they want a professional AdWords account manager to optimize their account. In many cases when I take over an account I see that the client was not bidding enough to be in the auction. Here are a few examples:

Client A Last Month Activity

30 day click budget $1,800
Clicks  received 3
Impressions received 250
Current max. CPC setting $1.01
Average ad position 1.2

Client B Last Month Activity

30 day click budget $2,600
Clicks received 12
Impressions received 800
Current max. CPC setting $4.00
Average ad position 9

In the above examples there are two scenarios. In the first case it appears that there is simply no demand for the Client A’s products as his ads are showing in position 1.2 but yet he has very few clicks. In the second scenario, for Client B, it appears that he may be below the first page bid or have a quality score problem.

In both cases I would say that the client is simply out of the auction. When you are bidding too low, based on your marketplace, Google may deliver your program but at very low rates. In fact, you may see a high ad position but very few impressions. In other cases you may see a very low average ad position figure. But both are true indications that your maximum cost per click setting is simply too low.

To re-mediate the problem, I recommend for a seven day period changing your campaign settings to allow Google to set the keyword bids without a bid cap. This will allow you to see where the market place is bidding and then you can evaluate what a fair price is for your click, based on what your competitors are paying.

Check in Wednesday to read my post on how maximum CPC and daily budget work together to either keep you out of the auction or get performance.

For more information about our Google AdWords account management services visit our AdWords program page.

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Why Some Businesses Will Always Need Pay Per Click Advertising

No matter how hard you try to optimize your website and improve in the organic search results, for some businesses, they will never be able to stop advertising on Google AdWords or using pay per click programs. I’m not being negative, just realistic! Even with great organic placement search engines change the game and sometimes much to your detriment.

Here’s a case in point, this past year Google replaced the top organic search results, that had any location reference, with listings from their own Google Places accounts. Google sometimes will show as many as ten Places page listings; pushing hard won organic results below the fold (to the point on your computer screen where you have to scroll to see it). This strategy may simply not be a test but rather a long term change based on how bullish Google is on mobile and location identification for searchers. We’ve had several instances where client websites which had top organic placement for years on state and region specific keywords had been impacted seriously by these means.

So how can a business which still actually has great organic placement but is now seeing their website listing pushed down below local searches compete? Although we do recommend that you get into the game with Google Places pages so your own information can appear above the organic results, how about the national selling firm that cannot set up Google Places pages for the locations that are important to their business appear high enough on the search results page to get buyers’ attention – pay per click and Google AdWords!

The bottom-line is that for some businesses there will always be a need for pay per click or Google AdWords regardless how high their organic search placement is. If you need a Google AdWords manager who understands your needs consider our services, in the last 90 days Google is recording that we have managed account with an accumulated ad spend of over $119,000. We are experienced professionals and our firm is a Google AdWords Certfied Partner.