A great discussion thread on Webmaster World regarding their poll that ran last week asking Would You Allow Google to Manage Your AdWords Account? To a seasoned PPC manager, the results were not surprising.  An overwhelming majority of the responses were basically, “no way!”  In short, readers feel that the Google AdWords representatives who manage accounts for big and small advertisers cannot do as good a job as an SEM company or someone who manages it themselves.   There are many stories in the thread, mostly negative about their experience with having Google manage their account.

Just take a look at the pie chart, 87% said no, they would not allow Google to manage their AdWords campaigns. That is out of 150 Webmaster World reader responses.

The other responses said that they would allow Google do the set up of the initial campaign but then take it over from that point going forward.  That really means, no, they won’t allow Google to manage their campaign.

To take a step back, Google has a large stable of staffers just down the street from our office ready to help you set up and continue to maintain your Google AdWords account.   And they do it for free. The issue is, at least according to the stories in the thread, they don’t manage the accounts as effectively or as smart as you would yourself or as a professional PPC management company. At least, those are the overwhelming opinions in the thread.

Google can’t take the time to truly learn and understand an individual marketers business.  That is why there are so many advantages to working with a local SEM resource.

Just remember, “Free” is not always a good investment.

This week,  Google brought out the final fact in their  Quality Score series.   The facts are great resource for both marketers and agencies executing AdWords campaigns.

Here is the official post courtesy of  Dan Friedman,  Google Product Marketing Manager:

Quality is given extra consideration when determining which ads appear in the top positions. For ad placement in top positions above Google search results, we use the same Ad Rank formula as we do for all other search ads, based on your Quality Score and CPC bid. However, in order to ensure that the highest-quality ads show above search results, only ads that exceed a certain Quality Score and CPC bid threshold are eligible to appear in these positions. The CPC bid threshold for these positions is determined by the matched keyword’s Quality Score; the higher Quality Score, the lower the CPC threshold.

Keep in mind Google Ads are positioned on search and content pages based on their Ad Rank.  The ad with the highest Ad Rank appears in the first position, and so on down the page.  The CPC bid threshold is determined by the matched keyword’s Quality Score; the higher Quality Score, the lower the CPC threshold.

As most of you know, up to three AdWords ads are eligible to appear above the search results (as opposed to on the side). Only ads that exceed a certain Quality Score and CPC bid threshold may appear in these positions. If the three highest-ranked ads all surpass these thresholds, then they’ll appear in order above the search results. If one or more of these ads don’t meet the thresholds, then the next highest-ranked ad that does will be allowed to show above the search results.

The formula is as follows:

Ad Rank = CPC bid × Quality Score

From Google’s official AdWords help content:

The Quality Score for Ad Rank on Google and the search network is determined by:

• The historical clickthrough rate (CTR) of the keyword and the matched ad on Google; if the ad is appearing on a search network page, its CTR on that search network partner is also considered
• Your account history, which is measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account
• The historical CTR of the display URLs in the ad group
• The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group
• The relevance of the keyword and the matched ad to the search query
• Your account’s performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown
• Other relevance factors

Make sense?

Most people haven’t noticed but Google recently tweaked their AdWords so that they appear closer to the organic and map listings.

Based on the changes, it’s probably safe to say that Google is testing the efficacy of the new ads. Do they produce more clicks? Do they produce more quality clicks?

There’s an interesting comparison to be made to Bing in this regard: when research firm User Centric performed an eye tracking study comparing Bing to Google back in June, it found that Bing’s sponsored search results on the right side of the page caught the attention of 42% of the participants while AdWords ads on the right side of Google SERPs only caught the attention of 25% of the participants.

While one of the reasons for this may be that Bing is new and users haven’t had time to develop the same level of ad blindness they have with AdWords, User Centric found that ads above the organic search results above Bing and Google received a similar amount of attention, hinting that ad blindness wasn’t all there is to it. You’ll notice that when it comes to the ads on the right-hand side of the page, Bing’s ads are placed much closer to the organic search results than are Google’s. Therefore it seems logical that the proximity does play some role here.

Given that Google generates billions of dollars in revenue each quarter from AdWords, if Google’s experimentation with AdWords placement proves effective, the impact could be quite significant.

The Google AdWords Blog announced they will be allowing advertisers to add their full address to their search ads through location extensions.

Location extensions gives advertisers a way to create new local ads with extensions from scratch or add extensions to your existing text ads. This will replace the need to have local business ads as a separate ad unit. The feature is not yet live for all, Google will roll it out to advertisers in the upcoming weeks, but you will be able to add this feature in the future. To do so, you login to AdWords, click on a campaign, then click on settings. Then under the Audience > Locations section, you can select “Show relevant addresses with your ads.” A Google Local Business Listing is required to make this possible.  Below is a sample of the new ad copy:

Now that the deal is official it’s bound to shake up a few things in the SEM/SEO world.  The main fact is that Bing will now power Yahoo! search and will gain access to their search technology – for specific details on the deal check out our earlier post Yahoo and Microsoft Unite.  It’s a good place to start.

So what, in plain English, does this mean for your search marketing efforts?

For starters, Bing is now – without a doubt – worth your SEO team’s time.  ComScore estimates that Bing will now have around a 28% market share when combined with Yahoo! Even if that estimate is high, 10-15% of the search market should not be ignored. If you haven’t been already, it’s time to start paying attention to the Bing algorithm and how it differs from Google’s. There are a few differences obvious at this point:  Bing currently only surfaces the top 5 results for many searches, resulting in better click rates and conversions if you make it there; the results are ‘richer’; and Bing’s traffic is more likely to convert, whether this is due to demographics or how the engine works is still unclear. This deal will result in more SEO focus on Bing, providing more insight on how exactly the search engine ranks results.

The deal may also affect PPC behavior. Many companies are exclusively using Google AdWords – now, with only two major search engines, the level of complexity and time commitment involved in having PPC campaigns across multiple search platforms has decreased. It is a compelling reason to participate in both. This may mean better quality ads and more competition (read higher costs) in the traditionally lower cost AdCenter (Microsoft) and Yahoo!

Another consequence of the deal may be that we lose some of the Yahoo! properties that have become important tools for webmasters and SEOs alike. Yahoo! Directory, Delicious, Yahoo! Maps and a host of other frequently used tools may disappear. Yahoo! Site Explorer, one of the most reliable sources of link data, may also hit the chopping block (Microsoft & Google both removed the link query operator’s functionality years ago). What stays and goes is completely speculative at this point, it will most likely become more obvious in the coming months.

There are bound to be many more important changes that effect SEO strategy to come out of this deal and we’d love to hear your questions, concerns, or insights in the comments. Keep in mind that full implementation of the deal could take as long as 2 years after regulatory approval – so SEOs have some time to get up to speed on any changes and prepare for their effects.

The governments “cash-for-clunkers” program officially starts today, July 27th.  The goal of the program is to help energize dealer sales after months of agonizingly slow showroom traffic.  With production reduced, dealers have been working off their swollen supply in recent months and many have offered fire sale type deals with heavy advertisements in traditional media outlets.

The official name for the $1 billion government program is The CAR Allowance Rebate System (CARS).   The government says they “want to help consumers buy or lease a more environmentally-friendly vehicle from a participating dealer when they trade in a less fuel-efficient car or truck. ”

Here are some other details from the official government web site:

• Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date
• Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify
• Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG (some very large pick-up trucks and cargo vans have different requirements)
• Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the full year preceding the trade-in
• You don’t need a voucher, dealers will apply a credit at purchase
• Program runs through Nov 1, 2009 or when the funds are exhausted, whichever comes first.
• The program requires the scrapping of your eligible trade-in vehicle, and that the dealer disclose to you an estimate of the scrap value of your trade-in. The scrap value, however minimal, will be in addition to the rebate, and not in place of the rebate.

Many local dealers have been running TV and radio advertisements the last couple of weeks to promote their participation in the program.   A Google search this morning for the keyword phrase “cash for clunkers” generated over 4.7 million search results, with ZERO local dealer sponsored search ads.  ZERO.  What a great opportunity to drive some motivated traffic to a dealer site.  The majority of the position 1 thru 10 ads were from manufacturers, Nissan, Toyota, GM, Honda and others.  Not a single local dealer.  What a missed opportunity.   Search activity for the CARS program and related keywords will be higher than ever this week with all of the publicity from government PR and news outlets .    Why not build a “clunkers” landing page on your site, sponsor some keyword advertisements and generate unique web visitor traffic and subsequent showroom visits.    Conversions could be easily measured with a clunkers conversion worksheet.   And these visitors are obviously farther along in the sales cycle than a viewer watching a local newscast.    I counted 5 dealer advertisements in last night’s local news broadcast at probably $800-$900 per spot at least.

In addition, the few dealer sites I looked at with CARS specific content, were not optimized for these related keywords in the search engines and therefore were missing out on potentially higher rankings based on local CARS related searches.

Come on guys, get with the program!

Courtesy of Sillicon Alley Insider-N. Carlson|Jun. 11, 2009, 12:01 PM

Note Yahoo #2.   This is why Yahoo and Bing are talking partnership!

Top 100 Google Advertisers by Keyword in April ‘09
Rank	Advertiser	Advertisements	Change from Prior Month (%)
1	amazon.com	107,373	18
2	yahoo.com	102,742	13
3	nextag.com	76,189	15
4	target.com	70,329	12
5	ebay.com	69,742	-33
6	bizrate.com	59,172	5
7	shopping.com	57,855	30
8	pronto.com	56,958	13
9	shopzilla.com	52,683	13
10	local.com	46,297	22
11	ask.com	42,253	19
12	aol.com	36,774	569
13	purelocal.com	29,435	41
14	best-price.com	28,810	73
15	webcrawler.com	28,197	14
16	pricegrabber.com	26,376	32
17	expedia.com	25,887	18
18	shop.com	21,887	-1
19	winbuyer.com	21,660	28
20	smarter.com	21,418	-3
21	business.com	21,412	11
22	glimpse.com	20,658	-4
23	tripadvisor.com	20,199	19
24	priceline.com	19,427	16
25	info.com	19,168	691
26	hellolocal.com	18,854	20
27	kayak.com	18,771	15
28	sidestep.com	16,523	6
29	google.com	15,843	24
30	become.com	15,765	27
31	like.com	15,515	11
32	simpli.com	13,731	13
33	orbitz.com	13,451	9
34	travelocity.com	13,297	16
35	hotels.com	13,078	20
36	sears.com	12,523	56
37	zappos.com	12,484	27
38	blurtit.com	12,270	21
39	greatstyledeals.com	11,488	9
40	overstock.com	11,397	19
41	jcpenney.com	10,989	27
42	ebaymotors.com	10,603	-25
43	bookingbuddy.com	10,117	9
44	dell.com	10,083	27
45	hotels-and-discounts.com	9,749	18
46	classifiedads.com	9,353	22
47	booking.com	8,640	19
48	yellowpages.com	8,353	35
49	icerocket.com	8,188	14
50	homedepot.com	7,845	88
51	nordstrom.com	7,830	17
52	righthealth.com	7,498	17
53	crateandbarrel.com	7,109	44
54	lowfares.com	7,030	19
55	onetime.com	6,976	5
56	ixquick.com	6,666	19
57	hp.com	6,590	30
58	hotwire.com	6,517	9
59	edmunds.com	6,465	15
60	mapquest.com	6,354	316
61	lowes.com	6,177	52
62	courseadvisor.com	6,091	15
63	consumersearch.com	6,057	50
64	msn.com	5,926	39
65	bhphotovideo.com	5,849	9
66	buyerzone.com	5,802	20
67	newegg.com	5,749	-8
68	potterybarn.com	5,736	25
69	shopwhiz.us	5,735	123
70	servicemagic.com	5,718	17
71	jayde.com	5,660	16
72	travelzoo.com	5,543	15
73	mytravelguide.com	5,507	14
74	tigerdirect.com	5,350	61
75	gifts.com	5,153	54
76	hardwarestore.com	5,142	27
77	drugstore.com	5,046	18
78	capital.com	5,037	13
79	alibaba.com	4,991	125
80	mysimon.com	4,874	163
81	banks.com	4,811	37
82	hotelreservations.com	4,689	17
83	techserious.com	4,631	33
84	justanswer.com	4,605	12
85	2020software.com	4,524	5
86	northerntool.com	4,500	28
87	made-in-china.com	4,445	48
88	cheapflights.com	4,276	7
89	hiexpress.com	4,261	15
90	swainsinc.com	4,102	14
91	marriott.com	4,099	29
92	cheaptickets.com	3,984	24
93	justclicklocal.com	3,902	-16
94	localjobsavailable.net	3,864	3
95	areaguides.net	3,812	6
96	industrial101.com	3,620	15
97	compare247.us	3,598	289
98	hotelsbycity.com	3,596	-10
99	att.com	3,564	7
100	alottoolbars.com	3,561	12