Instant gratification - your way
In the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, do you remember Veruca Salt, the girl who kept screaming, "I want it NOW, daddy!" Well, that's pretty much how I feel about searching the web on my mobile phone. It takes longer for pages to load, and it's not easy entering text in the first place - so I want the answer NOW, Google!
For all you Verucas out there, we engineers have been working on three new Google search features for mobile phones. Starting today, if you type [movies] or [weather] and a location, or enter a stock ticker symbol, we'll show, predictably enough, movie showtimes, weather forecasts, or live stock quotes above the Google web search results that display on your phone.
Talk about instant gratification - and the best part? No golden tickets required.
Going Mobile with Sitemaps
Back in June, we had Shaluinn from the Product Team tell you a bit about Google Sitemaps, which allows webmasters to directly inform Google about changes and additions to their websites. As you may remember, Sitemaps informs our "spiders," which go out and crawl the web, thus speeding up the discovery and addition of pages to our index.
Many businesses want their sites to be found in Google's search results, but did you know that potential customers may be looking for your product or service from their cell phones? Google Mobile Web Search allows people to search, from their phones, through sites that have been specifically designed for mobile devices.
We add new sites to our mobile web index every time we crawl the mobile web. And just as Sitemaps can help Google crawl your site effectively, webmasters can now use Google Mobile Sitemaps to tell us about their mobile web pages. If you have URLs that serve mobile content, help us add them to our mobile web index. More content for us, more potential traffic for you!
Many businesses want their sites to be found in Google's search results, but did you know that potential customers may be looking for your product or service from their cell phones? Google Mobile Web Search allows people to search, from their phones, through sites that have been specifically designed for mobile devices.
We add new sites to our mobile web index every time we crawl the mobile web. And just as Sitemaps can help Google crawl your site effectively, webmasters can now use Google Mobile Sitemaps to tell us about their mobile web pages. If you have URLs that serve mobile content, help us add them to our mobile web index. More content for us, more potential traffic for you!
Powered by Google
This past weekend 10 Googlers competed at Hood to Coast - the largest relay race in the world - where more than 1,000 teams start at the top of Mt. Hood (11,249 feet) and race 200 miles to the coast of Oregon. This was our rookie year, and our team, "Powered by Google," included Nathan Stoll, Bismarck Lepe, David King, Katie Hotchkiss, Sean Knapp, Michaela Prescott, Natalie Criou, Dan Brown, Tyrona Heath, and me.
Armed with a flashlight and decked out in a reflective vest, Nathan started us off at 7:45 Friday night with a 6-mile run down the face of the mountain. The runners on deck hopped on Van #1 to cheer him on and meet him at the next exchange. The runners who weren't on call until the second stage headed to the nearest Best Western Pony Soldier Inn for some spaghetti and shut-eye.
At the sixth leg exchange Sean passed the baton to Michaela and the race continued through the midnight hour while our starters headed back to the Pony Soldier for a 60-minute power nap. After refueling on Red Bull, coffee, power gels, and turkey sandwiches from a nearby gas station mini-mart, we caught up with Van #2 as the sun rose over Portland. From there, through the dusty back roads and increasing temperatures, we continued passing the baton in 4-8 mile intervals.
It all went smoothly until we met an 18-minute logistical error at exchange 24 (read: we lost Van #2) and then had a flat tire at exchange 29. But we rebounded with solid performances in the final legs, making up much lost ground. Finally, cloaked in a Google jersey, our anchor leg, Sean, crossed the finish line in 22 hours, 19 minutes, and 17 seconds.
In the time it took us to reach the coast, we had each run an average of 20 miles at 6:48/mile. We captured a third place finish in the "corporate mixed" division, and a top 50 finish overall, out of 1,063 teams.
Not bad for a bunch of first-timers. Just wait until next year: we won't be rookies anymore.
Small is beautiful
Back in June, we introduced Google Sitemaps, a beta program that lets webmasters inform Google quickly about new or updated web pages, and boost Google index coverage of their web pages.
The thing is, working on the Google Mobile team, you learn that desktop computers and mobile phones aren't created equal. (For one, your desktop won't fit in your front pocket.) At first, the Google Sitemaps program didn't support web pages designed to fit the smaller screens of mobile phones.
We've fixed that. Starting today, webmasters of sites of all sizes can submit their mobile website URLs to Google Mobile Sitemaps, an extension of the Google Sitemaps program. And just as cool, mobile phone users can search through these, and other mobile-friendly websites, using Google Search for the Mobile Web. Here's to the little guy (or device, rather)!
An AdWords history lesson
Four score and thousands of advertisers ago, Google engineers brought forth on this continent a new form of advertising, conceived in relevance and dedicated to the proposition that all advertisers should have access to an effective marketing channel.
We recently sat down with Ross K., one of the original AdWords engineers, and got a little history lesson...
We recently sat down with Ross K., one of the original AdWords engineers, and got a little history lesson...
Before the fall of 2000, Google offered advertising through Premium Sponsorships, but there was no way for advertisers to set up campaigns for themselves. As we're often prone to do, we ran a limited test, showing a little link that said "see your ad here" to a small percentage of Google users.Today, of course, you can still find mail-order lobsters on Google, in addition to tarragon, garlic, and black peppercorn. And if we've made you hungry, the rest of the lobster bisque recipe is here.
After the link went live, we eagerly waited for the first advertiser to sign up. A few engineers kept checking the system, and within minutes, our first AdWords customer had created the very first ad through online sign up. They were a small business that sold live mail order lobsters. Less than half an hour from the time the link went up, their ad was live on Google! These guys had never considered using online marketing before, but saw our test link and signed up when they realized they could just do it themselves right then and there.
'Dear Inside AdWords...' - list o' sites, and a couple of introductions
Thanks for sending us all your great questions. This week, we've got two more to share with you:
Dear Wesley: Yes, as part of our site targeting feature, you can specify URLs for sites on which to target your ads. (The sites, of course, must be part of the Google content network.) While there's not a way to get the entire list of sites available, you can generate a list of eligible sites based on a combination of URLs and/or topics and keywords that you specify.
For example, let's say that you don't have specific websites in mind, but you know that you want to advertise on sites with content about gardening, lawn care, and landscape architecture. You can enter these terms into the campaign wizard, which will show you a list of all relevant sites based on those topics. You can then choose the sites you'd like to include in your site targeted campaign.
Dear Ima: Good observation! I suppose this would be a good time to make formal introductions. The Inside AdWords crew is excited to have Arielle and Sarah join the team. Arielle and Sarah bring with them many years of AdWords experience and they pretty much know the system inside and out. Look for some of their tips and insights in future blog posts.
P.S. In addition to being talented bloggers, they are also proficient artists—as demonstrated by their self-portraits below:
That's all for today! More answers to your AdWords questions next time.
I know that you can now target your ads to show on specific content sites. I would like to know how I can find sites that display Google ads so I can target my ads on them. – Wesley R.
Dear Wesley: Yes, as part of our site targeting feature, you can specify URLs for sites on which to target your ads. (The sites, of course, must be part of the Google content network.) While there's not a way to get the entire list of sites available, you can generate a list of eligible sites based on a combination of URLs and/or topics and keywords that you specify.
For example, let's say that you don't have specific websites in mind, but you know that you want to advertise on sites with content about gardening, lawn care, and landscape architecture. You can enter these terms into the campaign wizard, which will show you a list of all relevant sites based on those topics. You can then choose the sites you'd like to include in your site targeted campaign.
I've noticed new people blogging on Inside AdWords. What's the deal? – "Ima Plant" ;-)
Dear Ima: Good observation! I suppose this would be a good time to make formal introductions. The Inside AdWords crew is excited to have Arielle and Sarah join the team. Arielle and Sarah bring with them many years of AdWords experience and they pretty much know the system inside and out. Look for some of their tips and insights in future blog posts.
P.S. In addition to being talented bloggers, they are also proficient artists—as demonstrated by their self-portraits below:
That's all for today! More answers to your AdWords questions next time.
"Sign up for Gmail"
It's pretty exciting to see those words on the Gmail homepage. For the last 16 months, a lot of people have been asking us how they can sign up for Gmail, and today we're happy to be able to say, "Just go to gmail.com." From there, you can get an invitation code sent to your mobile phone, and with this code, you can create a Gmail account. Once you have Gmail, you can try out our brand new IM and voice service, Google Talk.
Why use mobile phones? It's a way to help us verify that an account is being created by a real person, and that one person isn't creating thousands of accounts. We want to keep our system as spam-free as possible, and making sure accounts are used by real people is one way to do that.
We're also working on some new mobile features that will make your Google account more useful and secure, such as SMS alerts and password recovery. When you sign up using your mobile phone, you can choose to save your number with your account so you can use these features as soon as they become available.
Right now, sign-ups only work with U.S. mobile phone numbers, but we're eager to support others. With Gmail now available in 29 languages (and counting), we're already working hard to bring you "注册 Gmail 邮箱," "Зарегистрироваться в системе Gmail," "Abra sua conta no Gmail" and many more.
Google gets to talking
Google has a friendly talk-in-the-hallway kind of culture that I love, but Google engineers seem to be everywhere now, from Bangalore to Tokyo to Dublin to Zurich. I work on a team that's in Mountain View, Kirkland, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. We like to talk about the projects we're working on, but a hallway is hard to come by. So we've put together a gadget that keeps us talking, even when we're on different sides of the planet.
It's called Google Talk — a small program that lets you call and IM other Google Talk friends over the Internet for free. We're releasing it in beta today for all Gmail users (once you sign on, you can start inviting any of your friends to try it too).
The sound is great — usually much better than a regular phone — and it's a perfect way to use that computer microphone you never realized you had. My laptop with its built-in mic makes a superb speakerphone. Google Talk also works great with just about any standard mic or headset you can plug in to a computer.
We're already finding that Google Talk is pretty useful, as it's great to be able to see when friends are awake and online in London, Tokyo, or the exotic Kirkland Public Library. And of course it's wonderful to be able to ring friends on a whim, without having to dial all those pesky country codes.
Geeks in particular might notice that the Google Talk service runs on the open XMPP protocol. So even though many people will log on using Google Talk, you can also use iChat, GAIM, Trillian, Adium, Psi, or another one of the many great XMPP clients out there.
There's a reason for that openness. We believe Internet communication networks should openly interoperate, and that they should include IM and voice. The openness of the Google Talk service to XMPP clients is just a start. We like SIP too, and we want to also federate between servers. We've already started working with our friends at EarthLink and Sipphone to federate our respective real-time communications services so all our users can talk to each other for free. If you're interested in federating with us or would like to interoperate in a way that we have not yet implemented, let us know.
Search my campaigns
Want to see how a particular keyword is performing but having trouble remembering where it's located in your account?
Here's a tip from Annie H., an AdWords specialist:
Here's a tip from Annie H., an AdWords specialist:
Searching for keywords within your account is as easy as searching on Google. Just type your keyword into the search box located in the upper right hand corner of all your Campaign Management pages. This tool will find that keyword (and related keywords) in your account, and you can click on a link that will take you directly to the relevant Ad Group. If you want more advanced search options, try using the Find and Edit Keywords tool located under the Tools menu of your account.
Blake's hidden gem o' the week #6
We've heard continued interest in learning more about the new keyword states and quality-based minimum bids from our advertisers, so in this installment of the hidden gem o' the week, I'd like to spotlight several new pages of the Help Center that you may not have seen as of yet.
Without further fanfare, here are a few links that I hope you'll find useful:
Without further fanfare, here are a few links that I hope you'll find useful:
Introducing Desktop 2
At Google we’re never satisfied. Last fall we released Google Desktop Search, which finds reams of information of all kinds on your computer with Google-fast speed and accuracy. But then our product people got to thinking: what about when you’re feeling kind of lazy? Wouldn’t it be cool if your information could come to you, both from the web and from your own computer?
So today we’re pleased to introduce Google Desktop 2, whose new features include:
-- Sidebar, an intelligent desktop panel that gives you continually updated personalized info like your email, photos, stock prices, weather, RSS and Atom feeds, and so on. All of it is automatically customized for you, and ever-more-precisely tailored to your own interests based on how you use your computer. Think of Sidebar as an information valet who’s really resourceful, conscientious and insightful (and whose salary is zero).
-- Expanded and improved desktop search. If it’s on your hard drive and we can’t find it, you might want to ask yourself whether you really need it - and if you do, you might want to download a plug-in, or build one yourself.
-- Quick Find, which lets you search your hard drive to find files and launch applications as fast as you can type.
-- Outlook search and integration. If you’re an Outlook user, this is probably your dream come true.
You can learn more about Desktop 2 here. Enjoy.
The machines do the translating
This year, Google entered the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Machine Translation evaluation, an event that has taken place annually since 2001 to support research in this area and to improve the state of the art. Participants included university labs, industrial labs, government labs and commercial machine translation companies from all over the world.
Our approach was to use statistical translation models learned from parallel text, that is, sets of documents and their translations. The system learns a model automatically from the parallel data. This approach differs from the rule-based approach used by many existing commercial machine translation companies which is based on large sets of handwritten translation rules.
We're very pleased with the results of this evaluation. Our computing infrastructure allows us to do a lot of experiments and work with huge data sets very easily.
The linguasphere at large
Since part of our mission is making the world's information universally accessible and useful, we strive to offer our services in as many languages as we can.
Today we're happy to announce the launch of Google in Cambodian, Corsican, Kazakh, Lingala, Pashto, Quechua, Shona, Tajik, Tatar, Tonga, and Yoruba. This launch raises the count of Google languages to 116.
We would like to extend our thanks to the volunteers who have translated Google into these languages. If you can't find it yet in your own lingua franca (please note: we do already offer Swedish Chef, Hacker, and Klingon) consider becoming a volunteer translator through the Google in Your Language program.
Answers to your new keyword state questions
Now that you've had a few days to adjust to the new active and inactive keyword states, we wanted to answer some of the questions that we've heard most:
Question no. 1: Why do I still see disabled keywords in my account?
Though we're no longer disabling keywords within your account, keywords that were previously disabled will remain in your account for approximately one month. At that time, we will delete all disabled keywords. This gives you the chance to evaluate your disabled keywords and add any valuable ones back into your account. We'll send you an email before this happens to let you know that your disabled keywords will soon be deleted.
Question no. 2: Where can I see the minimum bid for my active keywords?
You can see the minimum bid for your active keywords by running a custom or keyword report. Just make sure that you select 'Active' in the 'Status' column. You can also view the minimum bids for active keywords in the Ad Group details page by clicking the box next to the appropriate keyword (or select them all by checking the box next to 'Keyword) and clicking on the 'Edit CPCs/URLs' button.
Question no. 3: Will the minimum bid for my keyword change?
The minimum bid for your keyword is dynamic and can change over time. Remember, the minimum bid is determined by your Quality Score, which looks at your keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of your ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors. If one of these factors improves, such as writing ad text that is more relevant to your keyword, your minimum bid may decrease. If you'd like to keep tabs on the minimum bids for all of your keywords you can set up a daily or weekly report to be emailed to your inbox.
Question no. 1: Why do I still see disabled keywords in my account?
Though we're no longer disabling keywords within your account, keywords that were previously disabled will remain in your account for approximately one month. At that time, we will delete all disabled keywords. This gives you the chance to evaluate your disabled keywords and add any valuable ones back into your account. We'll send you an email before this happens to let you know that your disabled keywords will soon be deleted.
Question no. 2: Where can I see the minimum bid for my active keywords?
You can see the minimum bid for your active keywords by running a custom or keyword report. Just make sure that you select 'Active' in the 'Status' column. You can also view the minimum bids for active keywords in the Ad Group details page by clicking the box next to the appropriate keyword (or select them all by checking the box next to 'Keyword) and clicking on the 'Edit CPCs/URLs' button.
Question no. 3: Will the minimum bid for my keyword change?
The minimum bid for your keyword is dynamic and can change over time. Remember, the minimum bid is determined by your Quality Score, which looks at your keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of your ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors. If one of these factors improves, such as writing ad text that is more relevant to your keyword, your minimum bid may decrease. If you'd like to keep tabs on the minimum bids for all of your keywords you can set up a daily or weekly report to be emailed to your inbox.
That's so random
The cool thing about Google Video is that anyone, anywhere can send us their videos, and then everyone in the world can see them. Summer intern Nestor Hernandez wanted to make sure every video had a chance to be seen, so he came up with a page that displays a grid of random video links. We all liked this idea so much (if it wasn't for this new feature, for instance, I never might have found my current favorite) that along with launching a new random video page, we also now have 3 random video links right on the Google Video front page. Every time you refresh either page you'll see different links, so enjoy, and visit us often.
Courts signal that Google's keyword policy is lawful
There have been a few erroneous reports suggesting that a judge ruled against Google in a case involving GEICO. It's actually the reverse of that, so we thought we'd clarify a few things about that decision.
Last December, the judge in the case ruled decisively in our favor on the issue of keywords. In her oral ruling, she stated that GEICO had failed to prove that using "GEICO" as a keyword to trigger ads was likely to confuse consumers. Then, earlier this month, she issued a written ruling explaining the reasoning behind the December ruling.
In her written ruling, she stated that GEICO's own evidence "refutes the allegation that the use of the trademark as a keyword, without more, causes a likelihood of confusion." That is a clear signal that Google's policy on trademarks and keywords is lawful.
What has generated the confusion is another part of the ruling, of little significance to Google, that relates to the use of "GEICO" in ad text. Google already has a policy that prohibits advertisers from using someone else's trademark in their ad text when the trademark owner objects. Our policy on that is here.
It's been our longstanding policy -- dating back to well before GEICO filed its lawsuit against us -- to block use of a trademark in ad text when the trademark owner objects. GEICO said that there were instances when their trademark appeared in competitors' ads even after GEICO objected. In her December oral ruling, the judge called this a "narrow issue," and said that Google and GEICO should "see whether or not there can be a resolution of what is left in the case." In the recent written decision, she reiterated these points, and explained that while she thought that the ads with "GEICO" in the ad text were confusing, she hadn't decided whether Google was liable for that.
Judge Brinkema's decision is consistent with several other court opinions. A court in Austria recently ruled in our favor, concluding that the use of a trademark to trigger ads isn't likely to confuse consumers. A German court has also ruled in our favor on this issue. And in a case not involving Google, a federal appeals court in the United States recently reached the same result in a keyword-triggered ad case.
We're very pleased with Judge Brinkema's decision, which tracks our AdWords trademark policy. The decision is a victory for consumers.
Finally, even though we believe our current policy strikes a good balance between advertisers, users and trademark owners, don't be surprised if our policy evolves over time. We believe it is possible for an advertiser to create an ad that uses a trademark in a legal and non-confusing way - after all that is what comparative advertising is all about.
'Dear Inside AdWords...' - deleting keywords, and "those highlighted top ads"
This week, we'll answer some of our readers' questions about deleting keywords in bulk and ads that appear above the search results.
Dear Alex: You can use the Find and Edit Keywords tool in AdWords to filter out or delete keywords based on specific criteria. For example, you can find all the keywords that have shown less than 100 impressions in the last month (as I’ve highlighted in red in the screenshot below). The tool also allows you to view the list of keywords found based on your criteria first, so you can verify that you won’t be deleting any wanted keywords by accident. (e.g. the "No changes right now" option in the second highlighted red box below) You can also find and edit keywords by other criteria such as CPC, CTR, number of clicks, and more. I know this doesn't necessarily help you track down all your keywords with low impressions from the past several months, but this would be a great addition to the tool and I'll forward your feature request to our product team.
Dear Erik & George: The ads you’re referring to are automatically placed above the search results on Google.com by the AdWords system, depending on a number of variables and performance factors including: ad approval status (these ads must be approved), maximum cost-per-click (CPC), clickthrough rate (CTR), and ad text. This is to ensure that we can provide the most relevant advertising to our users. There is not a way to request one of these top spots since placement is automatically determined by the AdWords system. However, we can tell you that the ads that qualify for these spots also tend to rank first or second among AdWords ads in the regular spots on the right side of the page, and are evaluated with a stringent ranking formula that favors higher CTRs. Our advice would be to continually monitor and optimize your keywords and ad text in order to get the best performance; our favorite tips can be found here.
Do you have some AdWords quandaries of your own? Send them to us and we'll try our best to answer some of those questions here.
I'd like to use the keywords tools in AdWords to delete all keywords which haven't accumulated impressions for several months. I don't want to delete keywords I've put in over the last few weeks (whether they accumulated impressions or not) to give the newer ones a chance first. Is there any way to do this? - Alex
Dear Alex: You can use the Find and Edit Keywords tool in AdWords to filter out or delete keywords based on specific criteria. For example, you can find all the keywords that have shown less than 100 impressions in the last month (as I’ve highlighted in red in the screenshot below). The tool also allows you to view the list of keywords found based on your criteria first, so you can verify that you won’t be deleting any wanted keywords by accident. (e.g. the "No changes right now" option in the second highlighted red box below) You can also find and edit keywords by other criteria such as CPC, CTR, number of clicks, and more. I know this doesn't necessarily help you track down all your keywords with low impressions from the past several months, but this would be a great addition to the tool and I'll forward your feature request to our product team.
I’ve noticed that sometimes an ad is located on the top of the search results in a highlighted sponsored link. What makes an ad appear there versus the regular ad spots on the right side of the search results? – Erik F.
I’m interested in showing my ads in the highlighted section on the top of the search results. How do I get my ads to show there? – George S.
Dear Erik & George: The ads you’re referring to are automatically placed above the search results on Google.com by the AdWords system, depending on a number of variables and performance factors including: ad approval status (these ads must be approved), maximum cost-per-click (CPC), clickthrough rate (CTR), and ad text. This is to ensure that we can provide the most relevant advertising to our users. There is not a way to request one of these top spots since placement is automatically determined by the AdWords system. However, we can tell you that the ads that qualify for these spots also tend to rank first or second among AdWords ads in the regular spots on the right side of the page, and are evaluated with a stringent ranking formula that favors higher CTRs. Our advice would be to continually monitor and optimize your keywords and ad text in order to get the best performance; our favorite tips can be found here.
Do you have some AdWords quandaries of your own? Send them to us and we'll try our best to answer some of those questions here.
A quick heads-up
From our tech team:
On Friday, August 19, 2005, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. PDT [?] due to system maintenance. Please note that your campaigns will continue to run normally during this short downtime. We apologize for any inconvenience.
About the new simplified keyword states
Sorry we haven't posted for a couple days. If you've logged into your account today, you'll probably see why. We've been really busy preparing for our new simplified keyword states and quality-based minimum bids. We've said farewell to the normal, in trial, on hold, and disabled keyword states, and your keywords will now be either active or inactive, depending on their Quality Score and maximum CPC. Remember, the Quality Score determines the minimum bid for your keywords. If your maximum CPC meets or exceeds this minimum bid, your keyword will be active. As you begin to navigate through this new world of active and inactive keywords, we wanted to point out a few tools that can help improve your account management:
Reports – If you'd like to view the minimum bids for all keywords in your account, you can create a Custom Report. You'll see the minimum bid and maximum CPC bid set for your keywords, as well as clicks, impressions, cost and more.
Find and Edit Max CPCs - If you'd like to raise the maximum CPC for your keywords to the minimum bid, the Find and Edit Max CPCs tool is for you. We've added a new option at the bottom of the page that allows you to ' Increase each keyword's Max CPC to the recommended minimum bid.' You can make mass changes to your account with the click of the mouse.
AdWords API - For API users, we've introduced a new minCPC field in reports, and updated the keyword statuses to include the new 'active' and 'inactive' statuses. You can read more about these changes here, from the API blog, or in the Developer's Guide
Conversion Tracking - In the end, it's all about results and the value of your keywords to you. Make tracking your ROI easy by implementing our free conversion tracking tool. If you know how much your keywords are worth to you, it'll make it a lot easier to bid on them
Reports – If you'd like to view the minimum bids for all keywords in your account, you can create a Custom Report. You'll see the minimum bid and maximum CPC bid set for your keywords, as well as clicks, impressions, cost and more.
Find and Edit Max CPCs - If you'd like to raise the maximum CPC for your keywords to the minimum bid, the Find and Edit Max CPCs tool is for you. We've added a new option at the bottom of the page that allows you to ' Increase each keyword's Max CPC to the recommended minimum bid.' You can make mass changes to your account with the click of the mouse.
AdWords API - For API users, we've introduced a new minCPC field in reports, and updated the keyword statuses to include the new 'active' and 'inactive' statuses. You can read more about these changes here, from the API blog, or in the Developer's Guide
Conversion Tracking - In the end, it's all about results and the value of your keywords to you. Make tracking your ROI easy by implementing our free conversion tracking tool. If you know how much your keywords are worth to you, it'll make it a lot easier to bid on them
Attention, Froogle shoppers...
I'm excited to tell you about the enhanced version of Froogle Mobile, a handy service for checking online prices from your cellphone. Say you're in a store eyeing that new BeDazzler that you've always wanted. A quick price check via Froogle Mobile, and you can rest assured that you're getting this wardrobe staple at a fine price. You can also sort queries by price, and Froogle Mobile is now available to our friends in the U.K. too.
This was posted from Microsoft Word
Last July, a few of us visited the Democratic National Convention to see political bloggers in action. Many were using Microsoft Word to post their reports. It was a multi-step process that didn't look like fun, but for citizen journalists, punctuation, spelling and grammar are important. That got the Blogger team thinking about how to help Word users to become bloggers.
So just now I fired up Microsoft Word, wrote this, hit 'Publish' on the brand new Blogger for Word toolbar and voila - you're reading it. Which means there's really no excuse, blogwise, if you prefer to finely craft your posts over time. Use Blogger for Word as a way to back up your document drafts with the 'Save as Draft' button or work on posts while you are offline and post them later. Hope you enjoy this new add-in.
We get letters …
The Google mailbag is filled with stories like this one, demonstrating the reach of Google across countries and between people. Occasionally we'll feature such a story here and hope you enjoy reading them. If you have a noteworthy tale about how you've used Google, write to testimonial@google.com.
Laura Escobosa is the executive director of Operation Rainbow, an all-volunteer organization which organizes medical missions to poor countries for American doctors and nurses specializing in orthopedic and plastic surgery. The people on these missions are affiliated with Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and one regular stop for them has been Esteli, Nicaragua. Among those mentioning his Operation Rainbow experience is Dr. Elliot Krane, who cites it on his CV.
Just two weeks ago, this year's team was preparing for its annual trip to Esteli. At the same time, a quite unrelated journey was underway. A young American woman, Alice Orman, was visiting Esteli en route to her new year-long role as an English teacher in Honduras. While in Esteli, she had an accident that led to a leg break in two places. Though local doctors wanted to help, they lacked good facilities or equipment for setting a complicated break properly.
Someone at the hospital remembered the Stanford doctors. The staff knew they were coming soon, but who, and when? Alice called her parents in Nashville for help. They went to Google and typed in [Esteli Stanford] and up came Dr. Krane's reference. They emailed him late that night, and by morning he had replied from his office in Palo Alto. He told them about Dr. Larry Rinsky, an orthopedic surgeon who was packing his bags right then for Esteli. With a copy of Dr. Krane's email reply in hand, Dr. Rinsky called Alice's parents and assured them he would see Alice, and that the team would do what it could for her.
So Alice rested and waited another day, hoping that the arriving team would treat her in addition to their Nicaraguan patients. Ms Escobosa says the team of Stanford doctors and nurses treated her right away, gave her crutches and some TLC too. Within a short time she was able to continue on to Honduras for her year of teaching. And she's there now.
Back in Nashville, Scott and Mindy Orman were very relieved: "When we received the call from Alice," writes Mindy, "we were very worried and didn't know how we could help, being so far away. But the miraculous timing of the Stanford doctors' annual mission trip to Esteli, and the Google search that led us to them, assured us that Alice would be in good hands. We are so thankful for all the prayers and encouragement of so many folks and the excellent care she received from the Stanford team."
Ms. Escobosa wrote us to marvel at the coincidences that led to this happy ending. We're glad we could be part of it.
What's an urchin?
 | VS |  | ? |
An urchin can be a colorful creature of the sea, or it could be a product that increases your business intelligence. While I have a liking for the former, I’m probably more of an expert on the latter, so this post will be about the picture on the right. I’ve learned that Urchin is a tough product to discuss because it means different things to different people. So rather than regaling you with a long list of features that may or may not apply to you, I wanted to highlight a great use of Urchin that I’ve heard directly from a client.
This particular client was concerned about improving the conversion rate on her site. She wanted to know why she had so many visitors, but so few sales. We showed her the site overlay report from Urchin and helped her examine the organization of her landing pages.
She noticed that one link on the bottom of the page was actually leading to the highest conversion rate, so she moved that link up on the webpage and made it more noticeable. Three weeks later, she found that she had more than doubled the number of conversions on the site.
With the right information from Urchin, she was able to make one minor change (which took a few minutes to implement) and improved her business significantly. This is just one quick example of how Urchin web analyics can make your website better – Urchin can do much more for your advertising campaigns and website content.
One of the reasons we're so excited about web analytics is the level of insight it can offer to website owners. Here at Google, our mission is to make the world's information universally accessible and useful. Web analytics helps us move towards realizing that goal because it collects the data necessary to more effectively communicate web content and improve visitors' experiences. And the coolness of seeing a funnel optimization doesn't hurt either :).
Read more (and decide if you want a free trial) at http://www.urchin.com. And, as always, feel free to email us if you have any more questions about it.
Urchin photo courtesy of www.oregonstate.edu
Making books easier to find
In October 2004 we announced a program called Google Print, a way for publishers to make their books discoverable by the millions of people who search on Google every day. Shortly thereafter, we added a complementary program to help find all books more easily by partnering with libraries to index their collections too. The goal of Google Print is ambitious: to make the full text of all the world's books searchable by anyone. These books are hard to find now, and for most of them, no full-text search exists. We think that making books easier to find will have a positive impact on the world, and we welcome the challenge.
As with many ambitious ideas, Google Print has sparked a healthy amount of discussion. And we've been listening. Over the last few months, we’ve been talking with numerous publishers, publishing industry organizations and authors about our Google Print Publisher Program and Google Print Library Project. Today I’d like to mention two new features that reflect these discussions and which we feel will considerably improve both programs.
If you’re in the Publisher Program (or you decide to join it), you can now give us a list of the books that, if we scan them at a library, you’d like to have added immediately to your account. This way you can have your books in Google Print, which will put them into Google.com search results, direct potential buyers to your website, provide ongoing reports about user interest in your books, and your books will also earn revenue from contextual advertising – even if they are out of print.
We think most publishers and authors will choose to participate in the publisher program in order to introduce their work to countless readers around the world. But we know that not everyone agrees, and we want to do our best to respect their views too. So now, any and all copyright holders – both Google Print partners and non-partners – can tell us which books they’d prefer that we not scan if we find them in a library. To allow plenty of time to review these new options, we won’t scan any in-copyright books from now until this November.
We're going to continue talking about Google Print with our partners and the publishing industry. These discussions have been crucial in helping to build a program that benefits the industry and, most important, the millions of users who'll be able to discover new books. Stay tuned.
*Update: People have been asking us how we came to this new policy for the Google Print Library Project. We consulted with a variety of constituencies and ultimately decided that this new approach would best balance the rights and needs of users and publishers while remaining consistent with our web search policy. Google automatically indexes content across the web. Most web publishers find this service convenient and useful, but we gladly offer those who prefer that we not index their site a way of telling us not to do so via a robots.txt file. Similarly, the Library Project aims to make it convenient and useful for publishers to get their books into Google Print, but those publishers who don't want to take advantage of this service can now simply tell us which books they'd like us to exclude.
More on going negative
Last month, I blogged about why negative keywords are so important. One of the things you have asked about since then is how to find good negative keywords. Here are a couple of suggestions from Eric J., an AdWords specialist:
- Plug your keywords into the AdWords Keyword tool. If any of the terms don't seem to fit your product, consider including them as negatives. As Andrew said, this may result in decreased traffic to your site, but it also could drive more targeted leads because you are filtering out the users whom you don't want before they get to your site.
- Also, try a Google search on your keywords. Say you sell clothing. A Google search for "clothing" brings up results for wedding dresses and vintage clothing. If these aren't the types of clothing you sell, add them as negative keywords. You don't need to search through all 51,000,000 results for clothing; just click through a few search result pages to make sure you have all the negative keywords you need.
It's a Mini world
Everyone else is having fun with Google Maps; why not your friendly neighborhood Google Mini team? Here's our ever-expanding map of satisfied customers who are giving our website and intranet search appliance rave reviews.
P.S. Don't forget to drag your way over to Europe.
Fill in the blanks
Sometimes one wants to use a search engine to find a very specific piece of information rather than to learn about a topic. If search engines were truly intelligent, you could just pose a question the same way you would ask a person. An alternative is to get the search engine to 'fill in the blank.' So instead of asking [who invented the parachute?], you can enter the query [the parachute was invented by *]. (The blank, or wildcard, search is marked by * - an asterisk.)
There is so much text on the web that this method often works well, but to make it more effective, we've improved the way results are found in response to queries containing such blanks. This includes allowing softer pattern matching, if necessary, and promoting results in which the blank filler is relatively more frequent in the context of the query.
One nice thing about this approach to answering questions is that the same mechanism can be used in all languages, so the improved blank filling will work on google.com in your favorite language. It can also be used for exploratory queries rather than questions as such: try something like [Glasgow is the * capital of Europe].
Blake's hidden gem o' the week #5
I've already pointed out at least one keyword related hidden gem already. But the ability to create well thought out - and targeted - keyword lists is so essential to success with AdWords, that I thought I'd point out a couple of other useful pages as well.
First off, it's difficult to create great keyword lists without first having given some thought to your actual advertising goals. Here are a few essential questions to ask yourself, that'll help you decide how best to organize your advertising, and create effective keyword lists.
Then, an AdWords Help Center page entitled "Where can I find keyword ideas?" provides a couple of very simple tips which, over the years, I've realized that lots of advertisers simply forget to leverage - perhaps because they are simply too close to their own business.
Sometimes it pays to just take a step back, and focus on the basics!
First off, it's difficult to create great keyword lists without first having given some thought to your actual advertising goals. Here are a few essential questions to ask yourself, that'll help you decide how best to organize your advertising, and create effective keyword lists.
Then, an AdWords Help Center page entitled "Where can I find keyword ideas?" provides a couple of very simple tips which, over the years, I've realized that lots of advertisers simply forget to leverage - perhaps because they are simply too close to their own business.
Sometimes it pays to just take a step back, and focus on the basics!
Breaking story: Google News Feeds
For some time now, the Google News team has noticed a steady uptick in feature requests for feed support. We're happy to announce that starting today you'll be able to get Google News results in two feed flavors, Atom and RSS. You can use either format in your favorite feed reader. And since feed reading can be addictive, don't forget to feed yourself after feeding your reader.
Guest Bloggers: those Freakonomics Guys
We didn't know quite what to expect at Google during our visit last week. A few months ago we'd been asked to give some kind of presentation to an undetermined number of Google employees. Were we interested? Sure, we said. This was still many weeks ago. When something is that far away, you'll generally agree to it without much thought.
Because we arrived at Google late -- we were coming from a meeting with some people who may want to turn Freakonomics into a board game (!) — our tour was cut a little short. Still, we did manage to see:
- Your Google-logo-colored pylons at the extremely low-key "security" post.
- Your very user-friendly name-tag-generating/sign-in computer
- Your very, very fancy toilets.
- Your rack of primordial servers with the thin layers of cork that used to make the fire department so nervous.
- Your roaming dogs, one friendlier than the next.
- Your scrolling query screens: Hillary Duff … pits puppies … Yenifer Lopez … Spanish Dictionary (we were a bit disappointed not to see a Freakonomics, but maybe it got caught in your filter; people sometimes give it some pretty deviant spellings.)
- Your quartz rug, robust cacti, fancy yurts, and ecologically sound staircase in the Africa building.
Whomp! It wasn’t some little room, with a conference table and a couple dozen people, as we'd imagined. It was a big, big room, rows and rows of chairs, all of them filled with Googlers, and many, many more Googlers sitting on the floor and standing in the back and – well, not exactly hanging from the rafters but it felt like it. The walls were black, the stage lights white-hot, the room alive with chatter. This wasn’t a presentation; this was a presentation. It was a Sally Field moment: They like us! They really like us! (We realize, of course, that the average Googler is far too young to catch this reference. Don't worry; it's not very funny anyway.) As we picked our way through the floor-sitting Googlers, it felt like we should have been carrying a couple of Telecasters; it was likely the closest that either of us will ever get to having a rock-star moment (in truth, Dubner was a minor-league rock star, but that was in the late 80s, so it doesn't really count).
Google had passed around a few hundred copies of Freakonomics (we immediately wondered if the order would be counted as a bulk sale, and therefore underweighted on the N.Y. Times best-seller list), so now, looking across the long rows of chairs, you could see one Googler after the next with the open book in his/her lap, as if preparing to hear a speech from Chairman Mao. It was, well, freaky. A bit like happening upon your own funeral.
There was one podium and one microphone, so we decided to do a tag-team talk, discussing the book (e.g., why crack dealers still live with their moms) and telling a few stories based on research that’s happened since the book (e.g., monkey prostitution at Yale). We seemed to do okay, based on the fact that everyone laughed a lot. The biggest laugh came when Levitt mentioned that we spoke at Yahoo! a day earlier and got a much smaller crowd. That was true; Google’s turnout was about double Yahoo!'s. On the other hand, that means Google may have lost twice the productivity (unless you think that our talk may have somehow increased productivity). The best question of the day was, "What would you do with our data if we could give it to you?" We've thought about that quite a bit ever since; we'll keep you posted.
After our talk, we spent a few minutes hanging around with miscellaneous Googlers. This was the most impressive slice of the day; not only were they all smart and inquisitive and friendly, but they were so damn happy. For instance, there's surely no company in the world where so many employees wear t-shirts with their company logo, which we took to be a sign of deep pride (or perhaps simply a deep discount).
One person we talked with after our presentation was actually an old friend of Dubner's, a writer named Anya Kamenetz who is the fiancee of a Google employee. Dubner hadn't seen her in a couple of years and had no idea she was even in California. Even stranger, Levitt had seen her on PBS not long ago, just as the two of us were starting to do TV appearances, and called up Dubner to say, I just saw this young woman named Anya on TV, and she was so good and natural at it that it made me realize that that’s how we should try to be on TV. The reason Levitt remembered her name is that Dubner's daughter is also named Anya, a name he (Dubner) chose in some part because Anya Kamenetz was such a good name model. So here, a few thousand miles and a few months away, all these strange random elements got tied up in a neat bow, on the Google campus. Somehow it doesn’t seem as if it could have happened anywhere else.
'Dear Inside AdWords...' - T is for tips, U is for URLs
Thanks for all your great questions. We love hearing from you, and we'll continue to answer as many questions as we can. Without further ado, here are some of this week's questions:
Dear Manny: Google has a variety of resources to help you understand AdWords and how you can optimize your campaign performance. For example, you can watch our interactive demo on Optimization Tips or read the list of tips we’ve put together to help you get more out of your AdWords campaigns. If your customers are based in a specific geographic location, you may also want to check out the interactive demo on Local Targeting.
Dear Karen: As you know, all AdWords ads must comply with our Editorial Guidelines. URLs are an important part of the ads, so they must be functioning properly and accurately reflect your ad and website. Be sure that your Destination URL (the URL that a user is taken to) links to a working website (and not to a file or an application), and that your site has content that is relevant to your ad. It’s also important that your Display URL (the URL shown in your ad text) and your Destination URL direct the user to the same website. I don’t know the exact issue with your particular ad, but you can always check out the Links section of the editorial guidelines to see what other factors may cause the URL to be disapproved.
That's all for today. We'll try to answer more of your burning questions next time.
Oh! How I wish I was young (I’m 81) so I could study and learn more about how to take advantage of all Google AdWords has to offer. I have two AdWords campaigns now and I'd like to know what I can do to get more "hits". If there's anyway you can help out, preferably without too much technical "speak”, I would appreciate it greatly! – Manny K.
Dear Manny: Google has a variety of resources to help you understand AdWords and how you can optimize your campaign performance. For example, you can watch our interactive demo on Optimization Tips or read the list of tips we’ve put together to help you get more out of your AdWords campaigns. If your customers are based in a specific geographic location, you may also want to check out the interactive demo on Local Targeting.
I received an email from AdWords that said that I had a "Disapproved Destination URL" in my ad; what does this mean and how can I fix it? –Karen C.
Dear Karen: As you know, all AdWords ads must comply with our Editorial Guidelines. URLs are an important part of the ads, so they must be functioning properly and accurately reflect your ad and website. Be sure that your Destination URL (the URL that a user is taken to) links to a working website (and not to a file or an application), and that your site has content that is relevant to your ad. It’s also important that your Display URL (the URL shown in your ad text) and your Destination URL direct the user to the same website. I don’t know the exact issue with your particular ad, but you can always check out the Links section of the editorial guidelines to see what other factors may cause the URL to be disapproved.
That's all for today. We'll try to answer more of your burning questions next time.
Keyword: chefs
One of the most fantastic perks at Google is free meals for employees. I've always loved having fresh food available, and today that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. As our Mountain View HQ grows, so does the need for people who know how to make good food, and plenty of it.
The search is now on for not one, but two, executive chefs to fuel Googlers. We already serve umpteen meals a day (not including snacks). We go through 55 gallons of olive oil a week. At our breakfast bar, the chefs turn out two fresh smoothies, or one custom omelet, each minute.
This is why we're looking for industrial-strength chefs who know how to cook with fresh and organic ingredients. People who will thrive on the accolades - and demands - of repeat customers who come to eat day in and day out.
There's a cook-off for the finalists - a team of Googlers will taste their dishes and vote for their favorites. And then we'll announce the winners with great fanfare. Till we do, check back here for updates, menus and a recipe or two.
Just to give you an idea of what our chefs turn out, here's the daily menu for one (admittedly the largest) of our 5 cafes.
SALADS
Ahi Tuna & Avocado Poke
Fresh line caught Ahi tuna diced with organic avocados and minced ginger, habanero chilies, cilantro, green onions and sesame seeds, tossed with a fresh dressing of orange juice, rice vinegar, tamari, sesame oil, lime juice, tangerine oil, sambal oeleck and garnished with black and white sesame seeds.
Calypso Rice Salad
Perfectly steamed wild rice with Valencia orange segments, currants, diced red bell peppers, cilantro, green and red onions, mint, coriander and cayenne, tossed with orange juice and extra virgin olive oil.
Tuna Melt Salad
Al dente elbow macaroni tossed with mayonnaise, cider vinegar, Dijon mustard and lemon juice, then topped with tuna salad, cheddar cheese and green onions.
VEGHEADS
Eggplant, Tomato & Onion Skewers
Organic eggplant, tomatoes and onions, skewered, baked, and topped with cilantro chutney and yogurt sauce.
Stir-fried Cauliflower
Organic cauliflower stir-fried with mustard seeds, turmeric, diced tomatoes and red onions.
Greek Spinach Salad
Organic baby spinach, Greek feta cheese, roasted tomatoes, red onions, Kalamata olives and toasted pistachio nuts, tossed to order with a dressing of fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil, oregano and minced garlic.
CHARLIE’S GRILL
Pork Loin Steak
Berkshire Farms pork loin brined in marjoram, paprika, red wine vinegar and brown sugar, then seared to perfection. Served with a roasted red pepper sauce.
Eggplant Ratatouille
Organic eggplant roasted with Roma tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, white onions, bell peppers, garlic, basil, parsley, extra virgin olive oil and a splash of red wine.
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Organic russet potatoes mashed with buttermilk, cream and butter.
BACK TO ALBUQUERQUE
Agua Fresca… Mora
Blackberry infused water.
Pollo en Huerto
Free range chicken with garden vegetables: organic zucchini, onions, fresh corn off the cob, tomatoes, green, red and yellow bell peppers, carrots, jalapeños, cilantro, garlic and oregano.
Vegetarian Tamale Casserole
A casserole of organic zucchini, carrots, onions, green and yellow bell peppers, corn off the cob, green peas and diced tomatoes, with chili powder, oregano, cumin and garlic.
Snap Peas
Organic snap peas sautéed with garlic and extra virgin olive oil.
EAST MEETS WEST
Seared Day Boat Scallops in Green Coconut Curry Sauce
Day Boat scallops seared to perfection and tossed in green curry coconut. Topped with a red bell pepper coulis and daikon sprouts.
Pad Thai Noodles
Pad Thai noodles stir-fried with yellow and red bell peppers, garlic, ginger, shiitake mushrooms, cilantro and Thai basil.
Broccoli, Cauliflower & Haricot Verts
Stir-fry of organic broccoli, cauliflower and haricot verts with garlic, ginger and Dave’s special brown sauce.
Jasmine Rice
Jasmine-scented rice steamed to perfection.
AL FORNO ROMANO
Roasted Pork Loin
Berkshire Farms pork loin with mozzarella and bell pepper sauce.
Roma & Green Onion
Organic Roma tomatoes, green onions, Gruyère and fontina cream.
I PIADINI
Arugula with Dried Apricots
Organic arugula with dried apricots, shaved Parmesan cheese, tossed with extra virgin olive oil and vinegar.
IL SECONDO PIATTO
Herb Roasted Chicken
Free range chicken legs and thighs roasted to perfection with extra virgin olive oil, fresh herbs and herb salt.
Creamy Tomato Polenta
A lush blend of polenta, slow roasted tomatoes, cream and butter.
Sautéed Wild Mushrooms
Organic shiitake, cremini, button and oyster mushrooms sautéed in garlic and herb salt.
Capelin Pesto
Toasted pine nuts, basil, Parmesan cheese, garlic and herb salt.
SOUPS
Spinach Lentil Dahl
Tropical Shrimp Bisque
Wild Rice & Pork
Sweet Onion with Peas (chilled)
DESSERTS
Red Velvet Cake with Bright White Frosting
Hazelnut Shortcakes with Plum Compote
Chocolate Coconut Cheesecake
Creamy Lemon Macadamia Nut Cookies
Cherry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Quick system maintenance update
Last week we mentioned that the pages under the 'My Account' tab would be temporarily unavailable due to system maintenance for a period of time this Saturday, August 6th. We wanted to let you know that this maintenance has been postponed until later this month (so this weekend you can access your account without restriction). We'll continue to notify you in advance about any planned maintenance, and we'll try to schedule them so they cause as little disruption as possible.
Blake's hidden gem o' the week #4
We've received a couple of emails wondering why Blake's hidden gem o' the week focuses on links to the AdWords Help Center, when everyone already knows that the information is there and how to find it. Good point.
Here's the reason behind my weekly focus on these links: in my years with the AdWords support team, I've been surprised again and again by the number of advertisers who are simply unaware that answers to just about any AdWords question are available 24/7 on the AdWords site, in the Help Center.
So, by way of pointing folks to useful information that they may not be aware of, here are this week's hidden gems:
Would you agree that there are few things more important to advertisers than profitability? After all, there's not much point in advertising if one's ads are costing more more than they bring in, right?
One key to understanding if your advertising is profitable is to track your conversions. You'll find a great deal of information on this very important topic in the Help Center, right here.
And if you're truly committed to maximizing your profitability, I hope you'll take some time and soak up even more info on tracking and interpreting your results.
Here's the reason behind my weekly focus on these links: in my years with the AdWords support team, I've been surprised again and again by the number of advertisers who are simply unaware that answers to just about any AdWords question are available 24/7 on the AdWords site, in the Help Center.
So, by way of pointing folks to useful information that they may not be aware of, here are this week's hidden gems:
Would you agree that there are few things more important to advertisers than profitability? After all, there's not much point in advertising if one's ads are costing more more than they bring in, right?
One key to understanding if your advertising is profitable is to track your conversions. You'll find a great deal of information on this very important topic in the Help Center, right here.
And if you're truly committed to maximizing your profitability, I hope you'll take some time and soak up even more info on tracking and interpreting your results.
Lights, camera, action
Today marks the launch of Current TV, which will let television viewers (like you, for example) broadcast their own videos to the world. Amidst this content contributed by viewers, Current TV produces segments which use Google Zeitgeist data to highlight trends in what people search for using Google. Ever wonder what the most popular searches are for animals? The answers may surprise you (liger, anyone?) Jointly created by teams at both companies, these Zeitgeist segments are aptly named Google Current.
Congratulations to the Current TV team. We wish them the best of luck in their admirable effort to empower television viewers!
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