News + Suggest join forces
I've always been a big fan of both Google News and Google Suggest. So in my 20% time, I've worked on a way to bring them together, and I'm now happy to report the launch of Google Suggest on Google News, which provides you with search suggestions specific to news in your country, in real time, while you type. If you're already a Suggest user, you'll see this right away, but it's not on by default. Although Suggest + News is currently English-only, the suggestions will reflect the English-language regional edition you're viewing.
I find that this helps me save time while doing frequent searches (e.g. [google]. And seeing the Suggest list gives me a sense of the most common news queries. Enjoy!
Choose a different account time zone
Here's the latest scoop from Jon D., a member of the campaign management team, about a much requested feature coming soon to all AdWords accounts:
It’s important to note that your account time zone can be set only once, so please choose wisely! Also, if you don't select a different time zone, your account will remain on Pacific Time.
Currently, all AdWords accounts are set to Pacific Time. However, in the coming weeks you’ll see a message in your account inviting you to set your account's local time zone. This means your entire account, including all ad serving, reporting, and billing, will be calculated and managed according to the time zone of your choice.
It’s important to note that your account time zone can be set only once, so please choose wisely! Also, if you don't select a different time zone, your account will remain on Pacific Time.
A great day for 3D
Last month we told you that @Last Software had joined the Google fold. Today we’re releasing Google SketchUp, a free version of our 3D modeling software, which makes our long-time vision of making 3D accessible to everyone a reality.
We’re still offering SketchUp Pro 5 for design professionals like architects, designers, builders, art directors and game developers. Both Google SketchUp and SketchUp Pro 5 enable you to place models in Google Earth; Pro users get some additional features.
The new Google SketchUp is for the do-it-yourselfer, the hobbyist — really anyone who wants to build 3D models for use in Google Earth. Go ahead and model that new kitchen, or deck, landscape your virtual garden, or impress your teacher with a roller coaster or medieval castle. When you’re finished, place your model in Google Earth. There! The beginning of a virtual world. Warning: don’t start messing with this stuff after dinner because your first experience could be an all-nighter… making an idea come to life in 3D can be very addicting.
And what could be better than that? Well, sharing your work with everyone else through the 3D Warehouse. Accessible through both versions of SketchUp, 3D Warehouse enables you to upload, search, browse, view, and download SketchUp models. Just as you do with Google search, enter some keywords and the 3D Warehouse shows you all your options. Grab the one you want and import it into your model. (Note that the Warehouse is not stocked up yet — so model something yourself and upload it for all the world to see.)
Visionaries, utopians, virtual world builders: your time has come.
Google Maps in Europe
We're excited to announce that we have just launched beta versions of Google Maps for France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. These sites include the full suite of interactive street maps, driving directions, and integrated local business search. This has been a global effort with Google teams in Paris, Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, New York, Mountain View, Kirkland, Sydney, London, Dublin, and Zurich working together for much of the past year to build a truly "local" product.
Accompanying this release, we have greatly improved high resolution imagery coverage for Europe in both Google Maps and Google Earth. Check out the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Olympiastadion in Berlin, and the Grand Canal in Venice.
To give you a preview of what's to come, we've also rendered street maps for many other countries in Europe. Developers, you can incorporate these maps and imagery into your own websites using the free Google Maps API Version 2.
Ads quality and you
Earlier this week we caught up with Nick, Product Manager for our ongoing ads quality initiatives, about a change to the AdWords system that you may notice in the coming weeks.
We're always looking for new ideas on how we can improve the quality of the ads that our users see, so please feel free to send us your suggestions -- we'll make sure they find their way to Nick.
"My job at Google is to watch over the quality of the ads we deliver to our users and to design ways to increase the quality of those ads. We believe that ads provide valuable information when they are highly relevant to what users wish to find -- and that by showing high quality relevant ads, users will consider ads as a first choice when they're searching for products and services. At the end of the day, our users benefit from relevant ads and our advertisers get more qualified leads over time.
We constantly evaluate how our users interact with the ads we display and look for opportunities to show more ads when we think they'll be useful -- and fewer ads when we think that users might not want to see them. With this in mind, on queries such as 'car insurance' or 'flowers,' we try to show a wide selection of relevant ads to our users. And, for queries where users are most likely not interested in a product or service, such as 'dog friendly parks in Mountain View,' we may aim to show fewer ads.
Starting today, and over the coming weeks, we'll be implementing an ads quality change designed to show fewer ads on queries for which our users might prefer not to see them and more ads on queries for which ads are useful. The impact of this change will vary from advertiser to advertiser, so we wanted to give you a heads-up and suggest that you keep an eye on your keyword performance over the next few weeks.
If you notice a decline in impressions or clicks on some of your keywords, you may wish to ensure that your most important terms are each specifically entered as keywords in their own right, rather than relying on broad or phrase match to include them. Or, if you notice an unwanted increase in impressions or clicks for some keywords, consider adding negative keywords to more finely tune your targeting.
We're always looking for new ideas on how we can improve the quality of the ads that our users see, so please feel free to send us your suggestions -- we'll make sure they find their way to Nick.
Small change to scheduled report delivery
This just in! Read on for a quick service announcement from the AdWords Report Center team:
In order to provide global support for AdWords advertisers, scheduled report delivery will be shifted by about three hours starting this week. Daily, weekly, and monthly reports will become available at approximately 9:00 am PDT on Mondays, and daily reports will be available at around 6:00 am PDT the rest of the week. Please keep in mind that actual times can vary. This shift is temporary and part of an ongoing process to improve support for our global advertisers.
Mother's Day: it's not too early...
Mother’s Day is more than two weeks away which leaves you plenty of time to send a gift without having to pay for pricey rush delivery. And, with the gift taken care of, you'll have time to think about the intersection of Mother's Day and your AdWords advertising.
As we’ve mentioned in the past, holidays provide an excellent opportunity to capture additional qualified traffic. Therefore, you might consider creating a new Ad Group or campaign to focus on Mother’s Day, or any other upcoming holiday. Once the holiday has passed, you can pause it and save it for next year.
In addition to Mother’s Day, here are some other significant holidays and events for the retail industry:
January – New Year’s Day
February – Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras
March – Spring Break
April – Easter, Passover
May – Mother's Day, Memorial/Victoria Day
June – Father's Day, Graduation, Summer Weddings
July – Independence Day (US), Canada Day
September – Back to School, Grandparents Day
October – Halloween, Thanksgiving (CAD)
November – Thanksgiving (US)
December – Christmas, Hanukkah, Boxing Day (CAD)
If your site or business doesn’t fall into the retail industry, don’t fret! The AdWords site offers a total of 12 industry profiles, each including optimization tips to help you improve the performance of your campaigns.
As we’ve mentioned in the past, holidays provide an excellent opportunity to capture additional qualified traffic. Therefore, you might consider creating a new Ad Group or campaign to focus on Mother’s Day, or any other upcoming holiday. Once the holiday has passed, you can pause it and save it for next year.
In addition to Mother’s Day, here are some other significant holidays and events for the retail industry:
January – New Year’s Day
February – Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras
March – Spring Break
April – Easter, Passover
May – Mother's Day, Memorial/Victoria Day
June – Father's Day, Graduation, Summer Weddings
July – Independence Day (US), Canada Day
September – Back to School, Grandparents Day
October – Halloween, Thanksgiving (CAD)
November – Thanksgiving (US)
December – Christmas, Hanukkah, Boxing Day (CAD)
If your site or business doesn’t fall into the retail industry, don’t fret! The AdWords site offers a total of 12 industry profiles, each including optimization tips to help you improve the performance of your campaigns.
This is a test. This is only a test.
From time to time, we run live experiments on Google — tests visible to a relatively few people -- to discover better ways to search. We do this because there’s no good substitute for understanding how real people, in real-world situations, actually operate. Theories are fine, but “improving the user experience” really happens best when we understand what people do online.
So to learn more, we sometimes randomly select a group of people to see a possible improvement to search options. Or we may select a group of people and try out a new element while they're searching. If you ever wonder why your Google site looks slightly different from that of the person sitting next to you, this is why.
We are currently testing new ways to refine searches so that, for example, a search for jobs might offer a choice of job location or function, rather than forcing you to continually narrow the terms you type in to a standard Google search.
We’ve run another test to learn more about how people navigate to find the information most relevant to them: how you might find image search or information in Froogle, for example, when that might be just the thing you want. Here’s how that one looks.
And we test ways to enrich web results, such as by offering a "Remove Result" option that would omit particular results from future searches if you decide they’re not useful. You'll see this feature if you're already signed in to a Google service when you perform your web search.
There's no set schedule when we'll roll out these sorts of new ideas (if at all), but these tests help us to improve your search experience.
p.s.: Google is also active in CHI, the major organization on user experience and usability. We're participating in the annual conference this week in Montreal. More here.
Celebrating Earth Day
To help spread the word about keeping our planet green this Earth Day, Google has joined forces with Scholastic – the folks who brought us Clifford the Big Red Dog – to distribute lesson plans (and a contest) to middle-schoolers across the U.S.
Using Google Earth, teachers can fly their students around the world to talk to them about issues like climate change and how it has affected places like Glacier National Park, the Chesapeake Bay and Los Angeles. And they can introduce students to community initiatives across the country where volunteers are cleaning up their cities, planting trees and beautifying. Using Google Earth, teachers can show their students placemarks of the towns where outreach projects are taking place and students can get involved in cleaning up their own environment.
As for the contest, students write their own environmental stories by researching a topic of interest and illustrating it with Google Earth images. Following detailed instructions, they can create their own Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files which they will send to us for review. The top three environmental story creators will win prizes for themselves, their class and their teachers, including a week at Earth Camp, technology grants and Lenovo laptops for the classrooms.
This Earth Day project goes to 30,000 middle school teachers across the country in poster form (with placemarks on the front and lesson plan suggestions on the back), and it’s also being emailed to 100,000 more teachers. There’s a Scholastic website for teachers and a special Google Earth page too.
Avoiding RSI
From time to time, a resident physician at Google headquarters weighs in with her thoughts on healthy living. This is not medical advice, and you should check with your own doctor before pursuing any particular course of action.
There is a Chinese saying that "To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short." In other words, how long can you tap on that keyboard or sit in that chair before you hurt yourself. We’re not designed to remain as sedentary or perform the fine motor movements for the long uninterrupted hours that we have to do in so many of our jobs. Evidence suggests that prolonged abnormal posture and repetitive movements contribute to neck, limb and back pain. These conditions are collectively known as overuse syndromes, or repetitive stress injury (RSI).
RSI is no small matter. It accounts for 34% of all lost-workday injury and illness — and costs almost $20 billion annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The National Academy of Sciences has concluded that an estimated $50 billion is lost by businesses every year from sick leave, decreased productivity and medical costs linked to repetitive stress disorders. The Academy has published two reports since 1998 which directly link repetitive motion to workplace injury.The damage sustained from RSI is due to structural changes in the muscle fiber as well as due to decreased blood flow. Nerves can also be involved. The immobile tissue and surrounding inflammation compress the nerve which can cause numbness or tingling and eventually weakness if the nerve is damaged severely.
For those of you who need evidence, see this study on "Overuse Syndrome." In this study, biopsies were taken from hand muscles of injured and normal subjects, which demonstrated the structural damage in the muscle fibers and correlated the damage with the severity of the injury. In another study, biopsies were taken from neck muscles, and reduced local blood flow was found in the injured areas. The greater the pain difference, the greater the reduction in blood flow.
Some of the most common RSI injuries are tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Work-related carpal tunnel syndrome now accounts for more than 41% of all repetitive motion disorders in the United States, says this study. And here's a telling title: "Hard work never hurt anyone: or did it?" -- it's a review of occupational associations with soft tissue musculoskeletal disorders of the neck and upper limb.
So what should you do? The key to treatment is prevention. Research shows that injuries decrease and productivity increases when employers encourage stretch breaks and stress the importance of ergonomics. See for example this one at at Ergonomics Now.
Here are a few tips: -- Breaks should be taken every 30-45 minutes for at least 5 minutes. If you need assistance there are free downloadable timers that will help remind you to do so.
-- Stretch your arms, hands, neck, and back during breaks. This yoga site demonstrates some exercises. Other sites are listed below.
-- Maintain posture alignment. Don't slouch on the couch with the laptop.
-- Work stations should be reviewed initially and with each office move. Adjust your chair, monitor, keyboard, mouse, laptop. Alternate keyboards and mice periodically.
--Shift your gaze from the computer screen to the distance. And don't forget to blink!
--Limit non-essential computer use. This may be heresy -- but do give the surfing, gaming, emailing, and text messaging a rest.
-- If pain occurs or persists, see your doctor, who may recommend wrist brace, ice packs, anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen, cortisone injections, physical therapy, and most importantly, rest to allow healing. Don't procrastinate in addressing your symptoms -- the sooner you tend to them, the better off you are.
And finally, here are more sites that may be helpful:
Safe Computing Tips
Alternative Pointing Devices
Alternative and Ergonomic Keyboards
Harvard RSI Action
RSI exercises
RSI Page
Update: One more: Boston U.'s Ergonomics Self-Help Guide (Flash)
This year's India Code Jam
On April 6 and 7, Google India celebrated the coding community in Southeast Asia by hosting the second Code Jam competition. At nearly 15,000 entrants, this year’s registrations topped last year’s. The annual software coding fest consists of two online rounds, in which participants competed to solve three coding problems more quickly and accurately than their competitors. The top 50, who came from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Singapore (and included one female finalist, by the way), were invited to compete in the onsite finals. (We made a video about the finals.)
Though it was incredibly close, last year's winner, Ardian Kristanto Poernomo, from Indonesia, snagged the grand prize once again. Abishek Kumarasubramanian from Chennai, India was less than 3/100ths of a point behind him.The two-day event also featured of team building activities and Google engineering presentations. We’re especially delighted that over half of the finalists expressed their interest in working for Google. And if you’re one of those, go here.
Save some trees this Earth Day
Ever since the first Earth Day in 1970, people around the world have celebrated our planet each April 22nd. Earth Day is equally about appreciating the beauty of nature and volunteering to help the environment. So while you remember to turn off the water when brushing your teeth and hopefully go out to plant a tree, keep in mind the small things you can do within your AdWords account to save a few trees as well.
Many advertisers print invoices or receipts for their AdWords account. Instead of printing these documents, just log in and view them. We'll keep your account history available online, so unless you need them for tax purposes, try to review this information online instead of on paper.
The same goes for reports. While AdWords offers the ability to print report graphs, you can always view the reports you create from the Report Center tab of your account, download them in different formats, or have them emailed to you.
And if you really have to have paper copies, print on both sides of the page. You'll use half the paper and half the trees. Have a happy Earth Day tomorrow!
Many advertisers print invoices or receipts for their AdWords account. Instead of printing these documents, just log in and view them. We'll keep your account history available online, so unless you need them for tax purposes, try to review this information online instead of on paper.
The same goes for reports. While AdWords offers the ability to print report graphs, you can always view the reports you create from the Report Center tab of your account, download them in different formats, or have them emailed to you.
And if you really have to have paper copies, print on both sides of the page. You'll use half the paper and half the trees. Have a happy Earth Day tomorrow!
Back on the map
Last October, we merged our local search site with Google Maps. At that time, we thought it was most appropriate to name the integrated product "Google Local" to emphasize the broad searching capabilities of the site and that it was much more than an ordinary mapping site. But we underestimated how much people loved Google Maps. Many have continued to refer to the site by the previous name, and many have explicitly asked us to "bring back Google Maps." Since it's most important to us to give our users what they want, we've decided to change the name officially to Google Maps.
Does this mean that local search is no longer important to Google? Absolutely not! Google Maps continues to have the killer combination of maps, driving directions, and local business search. And local search has become a fundamental part of the Google search experience; it's now embedded within a number of our products, including Google web search, Google Earth, Google SMS, and Google Mobile.
Easier web page creation
My mother wanted a site for her law practice that potential clients would find when they Googled her. My professor needed a place on the web where he could post assignments and readings for Psych 131. My friend Casey was excited about creating an online encyclopedia of Big Lebowski trivia.
All of them wanted simple web pages that looked great, but none of them wanted to take the time to learn HTML, wrangle with complex tools or shell out cash for a designer. They managed to cajole me, their
These frustrations stayed with me when I started working at a California company full of friendly neighborhood techies that encourages its employees to devote 20% of their time to scratching their intellectual itches. So I gathered a team of engineers and designers passionate about using their 20% time to make it easy to publish useful, attractive web pages.
After many months of focusing on designing a product that our friends and families would enjoy, and politely coaxing web browsers into doing things they were never meant to do, we're happy that "Google Page Creator" is now part of the Google Labs family. Labs is Google's technology playground, a place where we can experiment with new services that have us excited, but that aren't all grown up yet. We rely on constructive feedback from early users to help us nurture these experiments from intriguing ideas into mature products.
Google Page Creator is just a small step in helping people get their words, pictures and ideas on to the web. But it's nice to know that when my friends want to share their experiences from a Venetian monastery, or coworkers feel compelled to give their appropriately-named bowling team a web presence, I know where to point them.
System maintenance Saturday afternoon
In case you were planning to log into your account this weekend, please note that on Saturday, April 22nd, the AdWords system will be temporarily unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT due to system maintenance.
While you won't be able to log in or make any changes to your account during this time, your ads will continue to run as normal. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
While you won't be able to log in or make any changes to your account during this time, your ads will continue to run as normal. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Keeping up with recent research
As a graduate student at the University of Maryland years ago, I took an interesting course on quantum computing. The topic intrigued me and, from time to time, I like to go back and and see what is new in the area (for all I know, Google may some day need quantum computers to extend search into the intergalactic domain :-) ).
Today we're launching a feature of Google Scholar which will make it easier for researchers to keep up with recent research. From quantum computing to copper binding in prion protein. It's not just a plain sort by date, but rather we try to rank recent papers the way researchers do, by looking at the prominence of the author's and journal's previous papers, how many citations it already has, when it was written, and so on. Look for the new link on the upper right for "Recent articles" -- or switch to "All articles" for the full list.
Scholarly endeavors are about learning what has already been done and building on it. We hope this feature will help researchers worldwide learn from and build on the latest advances.
Update: Clarified new feature by adding new sentence to end of second paragraph.
Google Calendar data API
Last week, there was Google Calendar. This week, developers can start writing code that uses it. Enter the Google Calendar data API, which can be used to write external applications that query, create, and update Google Calendar events, so they're available to Google Calendar users or other API-enabled applications.
Find more details here.
What does 'Active' really mean?
We've noticed a fair amount of confusion regarding what the word 'Active' really means, as nicely illustrated by the following (slightly edited) post from the AdWords Help group:
To get to the heart of the question, let's first take a look at what 'Active' doesn't mean: in all cases a status of 'Active' is not meant to indicate (nor is it a guarantee) that one's ads are running.
Rather, in the case of campaigns and/or Ad Groups, a status of 'Active' simply means that the campaign (or Ad Group) is not paused or deleted. And, in the case of keywords, 'Active' means that the keyword has a minimum bid at or above the minimum required for that keyword to be eligible to show an ad.
This means that it's possible for a campaign or Ad Group to show a status of 'Active,' but for the ads within that campaign or Ad Group not to be running. Likewise, it's possible for a keyword to have an 'Active' status (meaning that it is eligible to show) but for no ad to appear. This might occur, for example, if a campaign daily budget is set lower than the recommended amount or if the ads are disapproved.
Reading other meanings into the status of 'Active' can lead to confusion, so we hope that we've been able to bring a little clarity to what 'Active' really means.
My "Starter Campaign", my "Starter Ad Group" and my keywords are all listed as having a status of "Active" -- are you saying that even though they're all *listed* as "Active", they're not *really* running after all...?
To get to the heart of the question, let's first take a look at what 'Active' doesn't mean: in all cases a status of 'Active' is not meant to indicate (nor is it a guarantee) that one's ads are running.
Rather, in the case of campaigns and/or Ad Groups, a status of 'Active' simply means that the campaign (or Ad Group) is not paused or deleted. And, in the case of keywords, 'Active' means that the keyword has a minimum bid at or above the minimum required for that keyword to be eligible to show an ad.
This means that it's possible for a campaign or Ad Group to show a status of 'Active,' but for the ads within that campaign or Ad Group not to be running. Likewise, it's possible for a keyword to have an 'Active' status (meaning that it is eligible to show) but for no ad to appear. This might occur, for example, if a campaign daily budget is set lower than the recommended amount or if the ads are disapproved.
Reading other meanings into the status of 'Active' can lead to confusion, so we hope that we've been able to bring a little clarity to what 'Active' really means.
OneBox for all your corporate information
We added OneBox functionality to our Google Search Appliance today, which means you can now find just about anything through your friendly Google search box. Lots of folks have been asking us - is this going to kill the corporate portal market? For the record, we have no desire or plans to kill anything. But it's clear to us that people prefer search to having every possible piece of information thrust at them willy-nilly. And they like having search front and center on their screens, not buried, as it is all too often inside company intranets. As industry-watcher John Battelle explains, search is so powerful because it responds to an expressed intent by the user. Shouldn't corporate portals do the same?
Google OneBox for Enterprise is cool because it takes a completely understood and tested design metaphor and extends it to another domain. Um, what I meant to say was, employees already know how to get movie listings, weather forecasts, and flight information through simple Google queries. So it won't surprise them (in fact it may delight them) to learn that they can get real-time contact info, sales forecasts, and customer information the very same way. We launched an initial set of OneBox modules with Oracle, Cognos, SAS and Salesforce.com; some of these partners talk about that here.
And there’s one more thing. We're also introducing an all-new Mini that's 25 times faster and half the size of its predecessor!
Narrow your account-wide searches
Ann-Lee, on the account management tools team, is back with another useful tip:
If you'd like more information on our account management tools, please review our latest additions -- advanced search and the move or copy tool -- or get a refresher on the wide variety of tools available to enhance your success.
Starting this week, you'll see a new option to 'pick from list' when you access any of our suite of account management tools, such as the Find and Edit Ad Text tool. Let's say you want to update the ad text of certain ads for an upcoming promotional campaign. Using the 'pick from list' option, you can easily specify in which Ad Groups the tool should search. For broader searches, you can still use the existing filters to find keywords or ad text across your entire account.
If you'd like more information on our account management tools, please review our latest additions -- advanced search and the move or copy tool -- or get a refresher on the wide variety of tools available to enhance your success.
Can you crack the code?
Back in college, I had this idea of an Internet-based puzzle extravaganza. It would have one thousand puzzles of various types, more than anyone could ever expect to solve in the time limit provided. It was all going to tie into a central theme and an intricate story.
I got to about two hundred before I got exhausted (in both senses of the word).
Almost a decade later, that dream has come true: a small group of us at Google, in cooperation with Sony Pictures, have managed to create 12,358 original puzzles for The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google.
That's right, 12,358 (I'd make a joke about Fibonacci numbers, but that would be too obvious), all designed to honor both a fanatical puzzler’s sheer love of a mental challenge and the labyrinthine spirit of The Da Vinci Code itself. They'll be released over the next 24 days, in the form of six different challenges at four difficulty levels, with enough variety that I think everyone will be able to find something they like and play it over and over -- although if you're in the U.S., you'll want to try to complete all 24 and make it to the Final Challenge, where I hear there's a pretty nice prize package awaiting the winner.
I'm rather pleased with how this project fulfilled my youthful dream, and very proud of how well our team's creative synergies were able to mesh with the world of The Da Vinci Code, the cinematic version of which will premiere just as the Quest wraps up. Yes, we'll have to turn the puzzles off then -- after all, how else are we going to get you all offline to join the rest of us in the multiplexes?
Good luck, and more importantly, have fun!
P. S. Okay, this wouldn’t be a Da Vinci-related post if I didn’t give you a clue: if you really want a mental workout, try solving the Chess Challenges by looking only at the board, without using the multiple choices to help you. The training you get may very well prove helpful should you turn out to be one of the elite few who reach the Final Challenge.
AdWords 101: What’s in my account? (Part 1 of 3)
Your AdWords account is organized in a series of tabs that allow you to manage your campaigns, create reports, control your Analytics tracking, and manage your billing information and preferences. In the first of three lessons covering the various components of your account, we’ll go over what's contained within the first tabbed page known as "Campaign Management." The Campaign Management tab houses much of what you'll need to set up and run your AdWords campaigns, so it's important for you to understand all the different features and tools available to you on this page.
When you log in to your AdWords account, you are automatically taken to the main Campaign Summary page of the Campaign Management tab. You can think of this page as the main dashboard for your account—all of your campaigns are listed with summarized statistics (such as campaign status, impressions, and CTR, to name a few) for your quick perusal. In addition, you can also perform the following functions from the Campaign Summary page:
Also within the Campaign Management tab are links to Tools and Conversion Tracking. You’ll find these links in the green tab directly under the words "Campaign Management." The tools you’ll find will help you better optimize your ads and analyze your performance. There are even tools to help you more easily modify your campaigns. Some of the tools that we’ve featured on the Inside AdWords blog in the past include the Keyword Tool, Copy or Move Keywords or Ad Text, and the Ads Diagnostic Tool. (We've listed the links to those posts below.)
Conversion tracking is another useful tool for those of you who want to better track the performance of your campaign. You can read more about conversion track in one of our previous posts listed below.
Homework: use the following resources to help you navigate and make the most of out of the tools and features found in the Campaign Management tab.
Learning Center
Navigating the Tabs
Campaign Management
Help Center – FAQ
Account Navigation Demo
Tools
Deciding whether to use Conversion Tracking
Previous Inside AdWords posts
Keyword Tool
Find / Edit Tools
Conversion Tracking
Next time, we'll discuss the next two tabs: Reports and Analytics. Until then, take some time to explore all the links and pages with Campaign Management—you'll be glad that you did!
When you log in to your AdWords account, you are automatically taken to the main Campaign Summary page of the Campaign Management tab. You can think of this page as the main dashboard for your account—all of your campaigns are listed with summarized statistics (such as campaign status, impressions, and CTR, to name a few) for your quick perusal. In addition, you can also perform the following functions from the Campaign Summary page:
- Access your campaigns - click on any campaign name to be taken into the Campaign Details page.
- Search your campaigns – use the handy search box on the upper right corner to locate campaigns, Ad Groups, ads or keywords in your account.
- View alerts – messages will appear on your Campaign Summary page above the table when we have important notifications about things that may affect your account.
- Create a new campaign – use the links above the table on the left hand side to create a new keyword- or site-targeted campaign.
- Change campaign status(es) – need to pause, resume or delete one of your campaigns? Want to change your campaign settings? You can do this easily by clicking the check boxes beside the relevant campaign(s) and then select the appropriate action buttons in the first row of the table.
- Change the date range - select the time frame for which you'd like to see your statistics reported in the table, be it a pre-defined period such as "last 7 days" or "yesterday", or a custom date range which you specify.
Also within the Campaign Management tab are links to Tools and Conversion Tracking. You’ll find these links in the green tab directly under the words "Campaign Management." The tools you’ll find will help you better optimize your ads and analyze your performance. There are even tools to help you more easily modify your campaigns. Some of the tools that we’ve featured on the Inside AdWords blog in the past include the Keyword Tool, Copy or Move Keywords or Ad Text, and the Ads Diagnostic Tool. (We've listed the links to those posts below.)
Conversion tracking is another useful tool for those of you who want to better track the performance of your campaign. You can read more about conversion track in one of our previous posts listed below.
Homework: use the following resources to help you navigate and make the most of out of the tools and features found in the Campaign Management tab.
Learning Center
Navigating the Tabs
Campaign Management
Help Center – FAQ
Account Navigation Demo
Tools
Deciding whether to use Conversion Tracking
Previous Inside AdWords posts
Keyword Tool
Find / Edit Tools
Conversion Tracking
Next time, we'll discuss the next two tabs: Reports and Analytics. Until then, take some time to explore all the links and pages with Campaign Management—you'll be glad that you did!
It's about time
We're all busy people. Whether it's work or play, school or family, every day is filled with stuff that takes time. Keeping track of schedules isn't easy, and frankly we haven't been too happy with the tools available. So we invite you to try Google Calendar -- a tool that simplifies keeping track of events, special occasions, and appointments -- whether they’re on your own agenda or on the calendars of contacts who opt to share their schedules with you.
First, we tried to make it fast and easy. You can add events just by clicking and entering one line of simple event information. No muss, no fuss, no cumbersome forms to fill out. And it’s integrated with Gmail so you can add events mentioned in messages to your calendar with just one click.
Second, we wanted to make sure you could use it to see all the events in your world. It’s drop-dead simple to see calendars from your friends and family, or calendars you find with the built-in calendar search tool, right next to your own calendar. You can choose to share as much or as little of your own calendar, too.
Third, we focused on helping events come alive. You can turn any event on your calendar into an invitation just by adding the email addresses of your guests. They can see and respond to your invitation, whether or not they use Google Calendar themselves. Event reminders by email and text message to your mobile phone help you remember what’s on your agenda.
Finally, we kept it open. Google Calendar supports the iCal standard so it cooperates with many other calendar applications, enabling you to easily get event data in and out. Also, webmasters can add customized Google Calendar event reminder buttons to their pages, letting visitors quickly add copies of events to their calendars.
We thought it was about time to let you take a look.
AdWords support -- making it simple and effective
Not long ago, over on the AdWords Help user-to-user forum, a member asked:
Good question. And, since the answer written by our colleagues on AdWords Help proved helpful in that forum, we thought we'd post a (slightly edited) version here as well. With that, here is a brief overview of our email support, along with several tips for getting a timely and effective response from the AdWords support team.
That's about it! We hope these tips will prove useful -- and, as always, we welcome your feedback.
Could someone from Google publicly answer the question: what should we expect from Google customer service?...
Good question. And, since the answer written by our colleagues on AdWords Help proved helpful in that forum, we thought we'd post a (slightly edited) version here as well. With that, here is a brief overview of our email support, along with several tips for getting a timely and effective response from the AdWords support team.
- Let's start with response time. Our target for email turnaround-time is a maximum of one business day (Monday through Friday). We always aim to answer as quickly as possible, of course, and frequently beat the 24 hour time by a substantial margin. As some advertisers have noted, it may also occasionally take longer than 24 hours -- especially during peak periods, such as after the launch of new features/tools, during extremely active retail seasons, and so forth.
- The most common reason for an advertiser to not receive a response to their query is that their email program has been set to filter certain types of mail. In other words, a response is sent, but it ends up in the recipient's 'junk mail' folder. So, be sure to double check your email filters.
- The best way to contact support is by using the 'Contact Us' link from within the account about which you have questions. This link can be found on the top right of each page in your account.
- If you are not able to use the 'Contact Us' link in your account, then please use the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of the AdWords Help Center home page.
- If you are contacting us from the Help Center, then please be sure to identify your account by customer ID and/or email address. A surprisingly large number of emails come in each day with no way to identify the account associated with the question. As you might imagine, this makes a meaningful response more difficult.
- Please note that sending your email by a means other than the above mentioned methods will slow down your response -- or possibly prevent it altogether, as the support teams can't answer an email that is never received.
- At present, customer service folks work Monday through Friday. So, for example, writing to support late on a Friday afternoon is likely to mean that your reply will not be received until at least Monday afternoon.
- Be aware of peak periods and slack periods. Highest volume of email occurs on Monday. Volume is lower, and turnaround-time is potentially quicker mid-week. So if your question is routine rather than urgent, take advantage of this and consider writing mid-week.
- Be as succinct and as specific as possible with your questions. If the support team has to make a guess as to what the question is, then the answer is likely to be longer in coming and less useful as well. And, in many ways, it is best to ask a single question (or very few) per email. Asking 5 or 8 questions in one email may slow your response down a bit.
- It is important to provide whatever background information will be required to answer your questions fully and quickly. For example, please include pertinent dates, campaign and Ad Group names, the keywords in question, etc.
- Finally, every email is answered by a real person. So, if you ever get a reply that doesn't meet your satisfaction, please reply directly to that email. This will send your response to the person who originally answered your email, who is already familiar with your account. This prevents duplication of research and speed things up. Also, be sure to explain what was lacking in the original answer.
That's about it! We hope these tips will prove useful -- and, as always, we welcome your feedback.
An AdSense primer for AdWords advertisers
As you learned in AdWords 101, you have the option to target your ads to both search and content sites within the Google Network, and these sites are all part of our AdSense program. Most of you use AdWords to reach your audience across the web, but how many also provide visitors to your site with advertising that is relevant to the content of your pages?
Just like AdWords, AdSense is all about relevance. This program allows publishers of all sizes to earn money by displaying targeted Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. You decide how to best complement the content on your page. If you're looking to provide your visitors with the power of Google search and relevant advertising, check out AdSense for search. Or, perhaps you've had trouble advertising on your site because your content often changes. With AdSense for content, ads are targeted to your pages in real-time to provide your visitors with content that applies to them.
We'd also like to mention that AdSense recently introduced a feature that many AdWords advertisers have been asking about: AdWords referrals. If you've increased your sales or awareness about your business through AdWords, you may have told a friend or neighbor that AdWords can help their business, and now you can let visitors to your site know as well. For each advertiser that you refer through the referral button who spends $100 with AdWords, you'll earn $20.
How can you participate? If you're interested in any of the above features, you can apply to the AdSense program. Make sure that you check out the program policies first.
As always, let us know if you have any questions about AdSense, or AdWords referrals, and we'll answer them right here.
Just like AdWords, AdSense is all about relevance. This program allows publishers of all sizes to earn money by displaying targeted Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. You decide how to best complement the content on your page. If you're looking to provide your visitors with the power of Google search and relevant advertising, check out AdSense for search. Or, perhaps you've had trouble advertising on your site because your content often changes. With AdSense for content, ads are targeted to your pages in real-time to provide your visitors with content that applies to them.
We'd also like to mention that AdSense recently introduced a feature that many AdWords advertisers have been asking about: AdWords referrals. If you've increased your sales or awareness about your business through AdWords, you may have told a friend or neighbor that AdWords can help their business, and now you can let visitors to your site know as well. For each advertiser that you refer through the referral button who spends $100 with AdWords, you'll earn $20.
How can you participate? If you're interested in any of the above features, you can apply to the AdSense program. Make sure that you check out the program policies first.
As always, let us know if you have any questions about AdSense, or AdWords referrals, and we'll answer them right here.
Day off for Dennis
From time to time, we like to reflect the world we live in through the logo designs on our home page. These Google 'doodles' are designed exclusively by the original Doodler, Dennis Hwang. Here in the UK, we wanted to let Dennis have the day off and give someone local the chance to get their artwork in front of millions. After a successful pilot competition in 2005, we're pleased to tell you that our 2006 "Doodle 4 Google - My Britain" competition is now open and accepting doodles from pupils ages 4-18 in all schools across the UK.
A panel of experts will judge, narrowing the submissions down to a Top 30 and the public will vote for their favorites. The winning doodle will be hosted on the Google.co.uk home page for a day, and also bag the artist a trip for four to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. To get your (again, UK) school involved, please check out Doodle 4 Google - My Britain.
AdWords Editor beta update
Following up on our past post, last Wednesday, we released version 0.9.3 of AdWords Editor. Recently, there's been some confusion about whether this means the application is now widely available.
According to Andrew of the AdWords Editor team:
According to Andrew of the AdWords Editor team:
AdWords Editor is still in beta and by invite only, but with the release of the latest version, we also invited 5,000 more advertisers to participate. We'll be inviting more users in the coming months, so stay tuned! We've received a lot of positive feedback from our beta participants so far. Please keep it coming -- your feedback is taken seriously.
This year's Anita Borg Scholarship winners
It's that time of year when we happily announce the winners of the 2006 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. We're awarding 19 $10,000 scholarships to these outstanding young women -- graduate and undergraduate students who are completing degrees in computer science and related fields -- with our congratulations:
- Brianna Bethel, University of Colorado - Boulder
- G. Ayorkor Mills - Tettey, Carnegie Mellon University
- Gillian Rachael Hayes, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Himabindu Pucha, Purdue University
- Karen Fullam, University of Texas at Austin
- Kristen Walcott, University of Virginia
- Kristina Chodorow, New York University
- Laura Rouse, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Marta Magdalena Luczynska, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Megan Olsen, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Michele Banko, University of Washington
- Neven Abou Gazala, University of Pittsburgh
- Parisa Michelle Tabriz, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Rebecca Nancy Nesson, Harvard University
- Shana Kay Watters, University of Minnesota
- Sharmishtaa Seshamani, Johns Hopkins University
- Soumi Sinha, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Tracy Westeyn, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Vinithra Varadharajan, Carnegie Mellon University
- Alicia Avelon Permell, Michigan Tech University
- Anagha Mudigonda, Polytechnic University New York
- Anna Tikhonova, University of California, Davis
- Annie (Hsin-Wen) Liu, University of Washington
- Ashima Kapur, Carnegie Mellon University
- Cindy Rubio Gonzalez, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- Delphine Nain, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Divya Arora, Princeton University
- Emily Grace Christiansen, University of Minnesota-Morris
- Emily Shen, Stanford University
- Erika Chin, University of Virginia
- Eva Mok, University of California, Berkeley
- Evelyn Mintarno, Stanford University
- Gina Upperman, Rice University
- Hayley Nicole Iben, University of California, Berkeley
- Jiayue He, Princeton University
- Jing Chen, University of Pennsylvania
- Laureen Lam, San Jose State University
- Lingyun Zhang, University of California, San Diego
- Lu Xiao, Pennsylvania State University
- Meeta Sharma Gupta, Harvard University
- Moushumi Sharmin, Marquette University
- Neha Rungta, Brigham Young University
- Rachel Weinstein, Stanford University
- Sunny Consolvo, University of Washington
- Tanya Lee Ann Crenshaw, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Valerie Hajdik, Texas A&M University
- Xiaonan Zhao, Northwestern University
International AdWords update: more promotional credits for Google Advertising Professionals
Once in a while, we like to tell you about what's happening with AdWords in other parts of the world. Today, we have an international update about the Google Advertising Professionals program. As you may remember, this program provides training and qualification for both individuals and companies who manage AdWords accounts for their clients.
One of the benefits of becoming a Google Advertising Professional is that you receive a number of promotional credits for your customers to try out AdWords for free. Starting this week, we’ve expanded the availability of promotional credits to 6 new countries: Australia, Canada, Israel, Poland, South Korea, and Turkey. Program participants from these 6 countries will now see promotional credits available in their Pro Center tab in My Client Center. If you want to find out more about the Google Advertising Professionals program, check out this site.
One of the benefits of becoming a Google Advertising Professional is that you receive a number of promotional credits for your customers to try out AdWords for free. Starting this week, we’ve expanded the availability of promotional credits to 6 new countries: Australia, Canada, Israel, Poland, South Korea, and Turkey. Program participants from these 6 countries will now see promotional credits available in their Pro Center tab in My Client Center. If you want to find out more about the Google Advertising Professionals program, check out this site.
Out of the Wi-Fi wilderness
In Wi-Fi terms, I can go just 19 steps from my front door and still get coverage. The nearest coffee shop seems within reach -- but signal strength-wise, there's not enough power to pick it up. And the signal definitely isn't strong enough to get to the restaurant kitty-corner from my place. Frankly, my home Wi-Fi connection works just enough to let me use it in the middle of oncoming traffic (especially dangerous considering that I live on a Muni line). As soon as I take that 20th step, I either lose signal altogether, or have to pay some crazy amount of dough to jump onto the Internet at a paid hotspot.
So when I'm out and about, how am I supposed to stay current on the filming of M.C. Hammer's latest videos in downtown San Francisco? Of course, I also need constant connectivity to keep tabs on the inventory of pirate supplies at 826 Valencia. And without Wi-Fi, how else can I check in on craigslist missed connections in real time?
This is why I am especially excited to hear that the City and County of San Francisco just chose the bid from EarthLink and Google to offer citywide Wi-Fi access. If all goes well, construction will commence this year on a network that would provide it for free to virtually the entire city at speeds up to six times dial-up.
I can't wait for Wi-Fi everywhere. Who knows? Pretty soon I might even be able to wirelessly place an order with the Tamale Lady. But first, I need to dodge this streetcar bearing down on me -- yikes!
Update: Revised first 3 sentences for clarity.
Toolbar v2 for Firefox fans
Here in the Kirkland, we've had one of the rainiest winters in a long time, giving me extra time to work on the latest release of the Google Toolbar for Firefox. Today, we're happy to release the beta version of Google Toolbar 2 for Firefox. If you were wondering what we were doing with that extra time indoors, Toolbar for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux -- and in 16 languages.
This new release includes feed integration with the Google Personalized Homepage and a number of other feed readers. We've made searching better by including previous queries, spelling corrections, and suggestions for popular choices. Gmail fans might appreciate having the mailto: links in Firefox open a compose window in Gmail -– no more copying and pasting email addresses. And to combat the ever-increasing threat of phishing, we've integrated the Safe Browsing extension into Toolbar to alert you when a page is trying to steal sensitive information. Check out everything in the new Toolbar here.
As a dedicated Firefox user, I think that the latest version enhances an already innovative browser. Meanwhile, you IE Toolbar 4 fans may notice that the feature sets aren't identical. That's because Firefox and IE users have different needs. Rest assured that we're working to get the most popular features in both versions.
Here's my new customized Firefox Toolbar, showing my Google Personalized Homepage (built from feeds I discovered using the feed feature). It also gives me history, popular queries, and query corrections in my search box, which I moved to the upper right with the new custom layout.
Why no pop-ups?
Over the years we've received more than a few emails asking the questions posed in the (paraphrased) advertiser email below:
According to the AdWords Editorial Guidelines, "We do not allow links to landing pages that generate pop-ups when users enter or leave your landing page. We consider a pop-up to be any window, regardless of content, that opens in addition to the original window."
In other words, the guidelines refer not only to pop-ups, but also to pop-unders or any other new window which opens from your landing page. And, the policy applies regardless of the intent of the content. Even though the author of the above email has a pop-up intended to gather information rather than promote something, we do not make exceptions to these guidelines.
So, "what's the big deal?" Why does AdWords care so much about pop-ups? Well, we can sum up the answer to that in three words: bad user experience. Studies (such as the ones cited in The Most Hated Advertising Techniques by Jakob Nielsen) show that users truly dislike pop-ups, pop-unders and their ilk -- and (this is key to you as an advertiser) also tend to dislike sites that employ them. We want to ensure that our users have a very positive experience when they click on a relevant ad, and we suspect that you do too.
We hope that this brings clarity to a hot topic. To sum up, creating an advertising program that searchers trust (and therefore use over and over again) is to everyone's advantage -- and we think that not allowing pop-ups after clicking on an AdWords ads will keep users coming back and provide them with the relevant (and positive) advertising experience that they desire.
I just got an email saying that my ad was disapproved because my landing page had a pop up when the ad was clicked on. Pop ups are very common, and I'm not sure why it is a problem. What's the big deal? Can you make an exception in my case? My pop up doesn't try to sell anything, I'm just giving my customers a chance to tell me what they want. That should be OK, right? - A pop-up fan
According to the AdWords Editorial Guidelines, "We do not allow links to landing pages that generate pop-ups when users enter or leave your landing page. We consider a pop-up to be any window, regardless of content, that opens in addition to the original window."
In other words, the guidelines refer not only to pop-ups, but also to pop-unders or any other new window which opens from your landing page. And, the policy applies regardless of the intent of the content. Even though the author of the above email has a pop-up intended to gather information rather than promote something, we do not make exceptions to these guidelines.
So, "what's the big deal?" Why does AdWords care so much about pop-ups? Well, we can sum up the answer to that in three words: bad user experience. Studies (such as the ones cited in The Most Hated Advertising Techniques by Jakob Nielsen) show that users truly dislike pop-ups, pop-unders and their ilk -- and (this is key to you as an advertiser) also tend to dislike sites that employ them. We want to ensure that our users have a very positive experience when they click on a relevant ad, and we suspect that you do too.
We hope that this brings clarity to a hot topic. To sum up, creating an advertising program that searchers trust (and therefore use over and over again) is to everyone's advantage -- and we think that not allowing pop-ups after clicking on an AdWords ads will keep users coming back and provide them with the relevant (and positive) advertising experience that they desire.
AdWords 101: Targeting the right customers (Part 2 of 2)
We hope you enjoyed the first half of our lesson on targeting. Today, in the second half of the lesson, we'd like to tell you a little bit more about targeting the search and content networks and explain the difference between keyword- and site-targeted campaigns. Search? Content? Or both?
When you sign up for an AdWords account, your ads will automatically show on Google.com, as well as across the Google Network, which consists of both search and content partners. Displaying your ads on the search network means that, in addition to showing your ad on Google.com, your ad may be shown on other Google properties such as Froogle, or on a partner's search site such as AOL when a user types your keyword into his or her search box.
Ads on the content network are displayed when the content of a page is relevant to the keywords that you have chosen in a given Ad Group, so you want to ensure that each Ad Group revolves around a single theme. For example, your ad from an Ad Group with keywords relating to coffee makers may show up on a product review site that discusses coffee and coffee brewing tools. These ads are considered contextually-relevant, that is, they fit with the general context of the page on which they appear. Ads opted into the content network may appear on Google properties such as Google Groups or Gmail, or on our many partner websites. And, the content network supports ads in additional formats such as image ads or animated image ads.
Where should you choose to run your ads? The choice is up to you. If your ads show across the entire Google Ad Network, you can reach more U.S. Internet users than with any other web property or ad network.* So, if you're looking to expand your customer base, the Google Network provides you with an easy way to reach out to users who are looking for your product. To view or edit your current network preferences, go to Edit Campaign Settings, and check the appropriate boxes under Networks.
Keyword- or site-targeted?
To give you even more control over your ads on the content network, AdWords allows you to choose whether you want to target your campaign using keywords, or by targeting specific sites. Keyword targeting is probably the type of campaign you are most familiar with—choose your list of keywords, and your ads appear either when searchers type one of those keywords on Google.com or the search network, or on contextually-relevant pages within the content network. With site targeting, you can not only choose specific sites where you want to show your ads, but also take advantage of additional targeting options such as site sections or demographic site selection. Again, site targeting is available only for sites in the content network. For more details on site targeting, check out one of our previous posts on this topic.
Homework: to review and learn more about the two targeting options discussed today, be sure to catch up on some of these valuable lessons and resources.Learning Center
Ad Distribution
Site Targeting
Help Center – FAQ
Google Network Overview
About the Content Network
Site Targeting Overview
Previous Inside AdWords posts
Search / Content networks
- Showing ads on Google properties
- Tracking search and content clicks separately
- A fireside chat on content targeting
- Introducing content bids
- 6 tips to optimize for the content network
- Advertising outside of the (text) box
Site Targeting
- Introduction
- CPM pricing
- Site Sections
- Demographic site selection
Well, there you have it: all the ways that AdWords allows you to home in and target customers wherever and however you want, be it by location, language, distribution channel or criteria. Until next time, we wish you much success in trying out all these targeting options.
*Source: Custom analysis conducted for Google by comScore Networks, November 2005
When you sign up for an AdWords account, your ads will automatically show on Google.com, as well as across the Google Network, which consists of both search and content partners. Displaying your ads on the search network means that, in addition to showing your ad on Google.com, your ad may be shown on other Google properties such as Froogle, or on a partner's search site such as AOL when a user types your keyword into his or her search box.
Ads on the content network are displayed when the content of a page is relevant to the keywords that you have chosen in a given Ad Group, so you want to ensure that each Ad Group revolves around a single theme. For example, your ad from an Ad Group with keywords relating to coffee makers may show up on a product review site that discusses coffee and coffee brewing tools. These ads are considered contextually-relevant, that is, they fit with the general context of the page on which they appear. Ads opted into the content network may appear on Google properties such as Google Groups or Gmail, or on our many partner websites. And, the content network supports ads in additional formats such as image ads or animated image ads.
Where should you choose to run your ads? The choice is up to you. If your ads show across the entire Google Ad Network, you can reach more U.S. Internet users than with any other web property or ad network.* So, if you're looking to expand your customer base, the Google Network provides you with an easy way to reach out to users who are looking for your product. To view or edit your current network preferences, go to Edit Campaign Settings, and check the appropriate boxes under Networks.
Keyword- or site-targeted?
To give you even more control over your ads on the content network, AdWords allows you to choose whether you want to target your campaign using keywords, or by targeting specific sites. Keyword targeting is probably the type of campaign you are most familiar with—choose your list of keywords, and your ads appear either when searchers type one of those keywords on Google.com or the search network, or on contextually-relevant pages within the content network. With site targeting, you can not only choose specific sites where you want to show your ads, but also take advantage of additional targeting options such as site sections or demographic site selection. Again, site targeting is available only for sites in the content network. For more details on site targeting, check out one of our previous posts on this topic.
Homework: to review and learn more about the two targeting options discussed today, be sure to catch up on some of these valuable lessons and resources.Learning Center
Ad Distribution
Site Targeting
Help Center – FAQ
Google Network Overview
About the Content Network
Site Targeting Overview
Previous Inside AdWords posts
Search / Content networks
- Showing ads on Google properties
- Tracking search and content clicks separately
- A fireside chat on content targeting
- Introducing content bids
- 6 tips to optimize for the content network
- Advertising outside of the (text) box
Site Targeting
- Introduction
- CPM pricing
- Site Sections
- Demographic site selection
Well, there you have it: all the ways that AdWords allows you to home in and target customers wherever and however you want, be it by location, language, distribution channel or criteria. Until next time, we wish you much success in trying out all these targeting options.
*Source: Custom analysis conducted for Google by comScore Networks, November 2005
More feeds for speed
The personalized homepage has a new directory with more content and more ways to browse, search and add it to your Google homepage. A lot of content owners have been asking for ways to drive adoption of their feeds and modules. One option is the "Add to Google" button you can add to your website as a way to quickly connect fans to your content. Enjoy all the new stuff and as always, feel free to discuss.
Cupid's algorithms
Ever been on a date and wondered "What on Earth am I doing with this person?" Or perhaps you wished there was a way that you could instantly find your perfect match, and then go on a date during which everything just went right?
Wish no more: Google Romance, a beta product currently incubating in Google Labs, uses cutting-edge personal search algorithms to help you find your soulmate, then sponsors your first Contextual Date with said soulmate-to-be in exchange for showing you highly relevant advertising that just might help Cupid's arrow find its mark. Does it really work? Ask our internal beta testers -- if you can find them, that is. Not a single one has shown up for work in days.
So why not give it a try yourself? You've got true love to gain, and only your faith in psychographic and contextual advertising software to lose.
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