Accountability is a core principle of AdWords. In order to improve advertisers' experience, we’re making changes to AdWords policies so that advertisers working with third-party partners understand how AdWords is performing for them and know what to expect from third parties. We believe that focusing on what's best for the advertiser is ultimately the best long-term course for third parties working with AdWords.
In July and December 2010, we communicated a number of changes to the way third parties should provide reports and information about AdWords to their clients, including a disclosure document that should be shared by all third parties that have 80 percent of their advertisers spending less than $1,000 per month.
Today we want to inform you that we’ve updated AdWords policies with a third-party policy section that includes above reporting and disclosure requirements. We’ve also clarified enforcement and non-compliance handling, as well as let advertisers know how to contact us if they have any complaints about third parties. See an overview of Google third-party programs.
We believe that most agencies, resellers and other third parties that sell AdWords already meet these policies and will need to make minimal or no changes to their systems. Proactive audits for selected third parties will start on April 1st 2011, although you are strongly encouraged to start complying with these requirements today. Note that we will continue to investigate any complaints and take appropriate actions.
For advertisers, we have updated the AdWords Help Center to provide information and links to applicable third party policies. Should you encounter a third party partner in violation of our policies, you can notify us via the AdWords Help Center “Contact Us” form here.
We hope this provides third parties and advertisers with clarity on the policies AdWords third party partners must adhere to, and offers sufficient information on Google third party requirements. We believe that these new requirements will ensure that every advertiser that works with a third party partner understands their value and has a great experience.
Showing posts with label Reporting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reporting. Show all posts
More information about how partners work with advertisers
We posted additional information about upcoming changes to the way our third party partners should provide reports and information about AdWords to their clients, including a document outlining what advertisers should expect when working with a third party partner and how to notify us at Google about violations of our policies.
We believe that most of your already provide this information to your clients and won't need to make any changes to your systems. Visit the Inside AdWords blog to learn more.
Posted by Jason Shafton, Product Marketing Manager
We believe that most of your already provide this information to your clients and won't need to make any changes to your systems. Visit the Inside AdWords blog to learn more.
Posted by Jason Shafton, Product Marketing Manager
Upcoming webinars - Reporting in My Client Center and Remarketing
Please join us for two upcoming webinars:
- My Client Center (MCC) Reporting
Friday, October 22nd, 8amPST / 10amCST / 11amEST
Learn more about updates to the MCC Client Reporting interface. Topics to be covered include: Why this change to MCC Reporting? What exactly is changing? How do I create a report in the new interface? Where did my templates go? What are email-only users?
Register here
- Remarketing optimization and advanced strategies
Wednesday, October 27th, 11amPST / 1pmCST / 2pmEST
Features of the webinar will include: - List Strategies: Does your current remarketing campaign consist of just a list of all site visitors? Or all site visitors excluding purchasers? By segmenting your lists and tailoring your messages, you can get much better results. We’ll discuss some creative list strategies that will help you think outside the box to expand and improve your remarketing campaigns.
- Case Studies: Green Mountain Coffee, InterContinental Hotels Group, and BidCactus used smart remarketing strategies and saw big success. Hear about these case studies to gain insights for your own campaigns.
- Implementation: We’ll review how to set up remarketing in your account by placing pixels on relevant pages and using simple commands to create custom audience segments.
Register here
Tracking your ad clicks with dynamic destination URLs
Today, we're announcing an update to ValueTrack, a feature for those of you who use third-party tracking software or have access to your web logs. Using the features previously announced, we made it easy to track your search and content campaigns separately by adding special parameters to your destination URLs. With the additional ValueTrack enhancements available today, you can track even more detail including the keyword matching option for your ad clicks.
Starting now, your destination URL can include the {matchtype} and {network} parameters. Here's a quick example of how you might use these parameters:
Let's say you have a keyword-targeted campaign running on Google search, search partners, and the Google Display Network. If your website is www.yoursite.com, you can use the new and existing ValueTrack parameters in your AdWords campaign to set the destination URL to: http://www.yoursite.com/?keyword={keyword}&matchtype={matchtype}&source={network}.
If an ad click comes from a search partner, and the keyword that triggered the ad, used cars, is a broad match keyword, in your web logs you will find that the ValueTrack parameters in the URL have been replaced with the following:
{keyword} = used cars{matchtype} = b{network} = s
In your web logs you will see: http://www.yoursite.com/?keyword=used%20cars&matchtype=b&source=s
To learn more about all of the ValueTrack parameters and see additional examples, visit the AdWords Help Center.
Changes to reporting in My Client Center
For those of you who use My Client Center (MCC) to manage your client accounts, we’re introducing a new interface for the Client Reporting tab. Over the last few months, we’ve developed a new reporting interface to help you get your reports faster, easier, and more securely. A complete list of updates is available in the AdWords Help Center.
For additional details on migrating to the new interface, visit the Inside AdWords Blog.
Note: these changes will only affect reporting for MCC users. If you use the AdWords Reports Center in an individual AdWords account, see our earlier post to learn about the reports that have moved to the Campaigns tab.
For additional details on migrating to the new interface, visit the Inside AdWords Blog.
Note: these changes will only affect reporting for MCC users. If you use the AdWords Reports Center in an individual AdWords account, see our earlier post to learn about the reports that have moved to the Campaigns tab.
Updates to how our partners work with advertisers
Yesterday, we announced some upcoming changes to how you share AdWords reporting information with your clients. We believe that most of your already provide this information to your clients and won't need to make any changes to your systems. Visit the Inside AdWords blog to learn more.
Sharing is caring: new ways to segment, schedule, and email reports
When we discover something great, our first impulse is to share it. How else do you explain the 66 million times people have watched a baby panda sneeze? Sharing the insights you find in your AdWords reports should be as easy as forwarding a YouTube link, so we’ve recently released new options for segmenting, scheduling, and emailing the data on your Campaigns tab.
By clicking the Download button in the toolbar above your data tables, you’ll open a menu that shows you a number of options for sharing reports with others.
First, you’ll name your report, just as you would in the Report Center. Next, you can add segments to reveal different dimensions of your performance. Add multiple segments at once to get a even deeper breakdown of your statistics. For example, you can segment your campaigns by device and day of the week to understand the days when your customers are more likely to see your ad on their mobile devices. Each new segment you add will appear as a separate column in your downloaded report.
From here, you have a few options. You can simply download your report in formats ranging from .CSV to .PDF and personally deliver it to your favorite teammate. Or, you can choose to email your data to one or all of the users with reporting access in your account.
Finally, you’ll set the frequency at which you want this report to run. So if you’ve set up a filter for your keyword list to show, for example, only those keywords containing the term “free” that have cost you over $50 with a conversion rate under 5%, you can now get a weekly email with a report showing you their performance. All the reports you download from the Campaigns tab will appear in your Control Panel and Library, a new area used to manage the reports and custom alerts that you’ve created for your account.
These changes are just the latest in our ongoing efforts to simplify the ways you access your reports. We hope that with more data in the Campaigns tab and easier access to advanced statistics, looking at the different dimensions of your campaign performance becomes common practice. After all, you never know how many baby pandas could be hiding in your campaigns...
Coffee break with clients: Proving the value of display with View-through conversion tracking
Our "Coffee break" series has provided us the chance to have great conversations with clients across industries, who have successfully used Google solutions to meet their marketing goals.
This time we sat down with Patrick Wang, Manager Online Marketing & Technologies from the search engine marketing company LeadQual, which implemented View-through conversion tracking to successfully demonstrate the positive impact of display advertising to Chegg, an ROI-driven textbook rental company founded in 2007 to help college students reduce their book purchase costs.
Here's what Patrick shared:
What was the client's goal?
Chegg was looking to expand its customer base for both rental and buy-back orders. It had more than doubled its growth year / year and had already heavily invested in search, yet had not been satisfied with the success of past display campaigns. We therefore needed a solution that provided reach while also being measurable and cost-effective.
What Google solutions did you use to meet the goals?
We ran display campaigns on the Google Content Network, and used view-through-conversion tracking to demonstrate the additive value of display to growing Chegg's user base.
Can you describe the implementation process?
Chegg provided the display creative, with variations by season. We then developed contextually-targeted campaigns around themes such as "textbook," "used textbook" as well as target student groups like "fraternity." From there, we used the placement performance report to see which sites performed well, and moved them into management placements campaigns.
To receive view-through conversion statistics, we made sure that conversion tracking was set up.The campaigns began running in fall 2009 and remain active.
How did the Google solution perform?
By using view-through conversion tracking, we were able to show the client that the sales driven from the display campaign were within its cost/order metrics. We found that a quarter of the conversions came from people who had viewed, but not clicked, on one of Chegg's banner ads. If we simply looked at conversions directly from clicks, the cost-per-conversion would have been well above Chegg's goals.
If you did not use this Google solution, how would things have been different?
Without view-through conversion data, we would have had a difficult time convincing the client to invest in display.
For more information on view-through conversion tracking, please visit the Help Center.
This time we sat down with Patrick Wang, Manager Online Marketing & Technologies from the search engine marketing company LeadQual, which implemented View-through conversion tracking to successfully demonstrate the positive impact of display advertising to Chegg, an ROI-driven textbook rental company founded in 2007 to help college students reduce their book purchase costs.
Here's what Patrick shared:
What was the client's goal?
Chegg was looking to expand its customer base for both rental and buy-back orders. It had more than doubled its growth year / year and had already heavily invested in search, yet had not been satisfied with the success of past display campaigns. We therefore needed a solution that provided reach while also being measurable and cost-effective.
What Google solutions did you use to meet the goals?
We ran display campaigns on the Google Content Network, and used view-through-conversion tracking to demonstrate the additive value of display to growing Chegg's user base.
Can you describe the implementation process?
Chegg provided the display creative, with variations by season. We then developed contextually-targeted campaigns around themes such as "textbook," "used textbook" as well as target student groups like "fraternity." From there, we used the placement performance report to see which sites performed well, and moved them into management placements campaigns.
To receive view-through conversion statistics, we made sure that conversion tracking was set up.The campaigns began running in fall 2009 and remain active.
How did the Google solution perform?
By using view-through conversion tracking, we were able to show the client that the sales driven from the display campaign were within its cost/order metrics. We found that a quarter of the conversions came from people who had viewed, but not clicked, on one of Chegg's banner ads. If we simply looked at conversions directly from clicks, the cost-per-conversion would have been well above Chegg's goals.
If you did not use this Google solution, how would things have been different?
Without view-through conversion data, we would have had a difficult time convincing the client to invest in display.
For more information on view-through conversion tracking, please visit the Help Center.
New Analytics reports - AdWords Search Funnels
Over the next few weeks, a new set of reports called AdWords Search Funnels (beta) will be made available in your clients' AdWords accounts.
This set of reports describes the Google.com search ad click and impression behavior leading up to a conversion. They provide data on how "upper-funnel" keywords behave on the conversion path prior to the last ad click. In addition to a Top Conversions report, Search Funnels consists of 7 reports including Assisted Conversions, First and Last Click Analysis, Time Lag, and Path Length. The information in these reports will give you even more insight into the ads customers interact with before converting on clients' sites so you can make even more informed decisions about the keywords, ad groups and campaigns in their AdWords accounts.
Take a look at this video giving an overview of the new reports:
Note: Over the next few weeks, the Search Funnels beta will be rolled out gradually to all accounts. They are available only in your AdWords account and not in Google Analytics. They are activated when you have AdWords Conversion Tracking running or if you've imported goals or transactions from Analytics into AdWords, and will only show data for keywords that show up in at least one conversion path. Search Funnel data is currently limited to search ads showing on Google.com, and for ad impressions and clicks within 30 days of the conversion.
For additional information, please visit the Inside AdWords Blog.
Going Mobile in 2010 - Part One, Optimizing Mobile Campaigns
With more mobile devices with full Internet browsers hitting the market and marketers wondering how to best connect with consumers on their phones, we wanted to give you a few targeting best practices for targeting high end mobile devices.. Today we'll be giving you a few tips for optimizing mobile campaigns.
While both mobile and desktop search campaigns use similar best practices, the way we search and browse the web on our mobile phones is slightly different than on our computers. Separating mobile and desktop campaigns and optimizing for performance on each platform will drive greater success for your clients intigrated marketing strategies.
1. Reporting & Tracking
Use Device and Click Type reporting to figure out exactly what is and is not working in your mobile search campaigns. Just like with desktop search, you can (and should) bid according to what is sending traffic to your site and what converts best. Pulling out high performing keywords and placing them into a separate mobile campaign can help drive additional traffic in a growing market.
This holds true for placements and the mobile content network as well. When running a Placement Performance Report for mobile phones, take special note of the Ad Sense for Mobile Apps category of placements (they will show up as adsenseformobileapps.com in the report). You can drill down to the specific URL and gain insight into what apps you should continue to target and which ones you should exclude.
2. Keywords & Ad Text
Searches on Internet-capable mobile devices average around 2.9 words (and only 2.4 on WAP phones). When expanding desktop search campaigns to mobile and/or adding new keywords to your mobile campaigns, keep in mind how people search on their phones. While desktop campaigns may benefit from "long tail", 4- to 5- word keyword phrases, you may want to consider shorter, more general, and location specific searches for mobile phones.
For example, a college student in Boston may search for "Pizza near Union Square in Boston" from their dorm room, but would only search "Boston Pizza" from their mobile phones.
3. Take advantage of what's mobile
In the past few months we've launched several mobile specific ad formats like click-to-download, click-to-call, and mobile coupons in the Local Business Center. Think about what unique advantages and messaging a mobile campaign allows and reach your customers at every point of their day.
For more mobile tips and resources, visit the Google Mobile Ads site, as well as the Go Mobile! Series on the Inside AdWords Blog.
In addition, check back next week for the next installment of 'Going Mobile in 2010.'
Display Ad Builder & Creative Generation
What makes up the ideal creative for your client?
We'll walk you through how you can answer this question using AdWords reporting and the Display Ad Builder, a tool that allows you to quickly and easily customize display ads and to run measurable experiments. Experimentation is not new to advertising, although the theories and ideas that inspired campaigns have evolved over time.
For example, in the early 20th century, the prevailing sentiment in the ad industry was that information made a creative effective. The car ad below sums up the thinking of the time:
National Motor Vehicle, Inc. advertisement (1907) retrieved on 21.1.2010 from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National-advertisement_1907.jpg
Theories eventually emerged suggesting that consumers weren't always need-oriented, but advertisers were baffled by how to measure seemingly subjective behavior. Mid century a study was released that put data to consumer responses. It showed that three factors - the size of the ad, the size of the illustration and the numbers of colors - together could help explain some of the readership difference between a magazine's ads.
Today, you can find out the the factors that trigger the strongest response by using the data in Ad Performance Reports in AdWords, which provide relevant statistics for ad variations, such as text ads, image ads, video ads, and local business ads, and run experiments with Display Ad Builder. Here are two creatives developed with Display Ad Builder for a hypothetical online travel company:
When creating the ads, populate the "Ad Name" field in Display Ad Builder with the ad's elements. We'll call the first "day_scene_cta" and the second "night_people_question." Launch the ads on even rotation to ensure a good sample. Then you can construct a chart like the one below from your Ad Performance Report by adding up the clicks and impressions for each ad component:
Sample data set from internal account independent of example creatives.
In this example, the effectiveness measure is clickthrough rate (CTR), but this can be substituted for conversion rate or cost-per-acquisition (CPA). The chart shows the elements of the ad that had the greatest impact on CTR, benchmarked against the performance of the whole ad group.
You can tweak the reporting to show the impact of relationships as well. Do people prefer images of scenery or people at night? With a well-designed ad experiment, you can use basic data-mining principles to find these results. However you choose to experiment, continue to measure your results so you can find the best creative.
Google Ad Planner and DFA updates provide more data, more ways
The latest enhancements to Google Ad Planner and DoubleClick's DART for Advertisers (DFA) bring new ways to help streamline your online display advertising workflow. With the newly launched DFA Analytics beta and beta integration of Google Ad Planner into the DFA platform, you'll now have a singular, seamless portal for planning, executing, and measuring campaigns -- with just one login. This unified set of tools, all accessible through the DFA platform, bring more efficiency to the campaign management process, saving valuable time and resources.
Beyond access enhancements, both DFA Analytics and Ad Planner also provide you with more data and more ways to analyze it. We've summarized the changes to each product for quick reference below, but be sure to check out the official DoubleClick and Ad Planner blog posts for full details.
The new DFA Analytics beta helps you:
Beyond access enhancements, both DFA Analytics and Ad Planner also provide you with more data and more ways to analyze it. We've summarized the changes to each product for quick reference below, but be sure to check out the official DoubleClick and Ad Planner blog posts for full details.
The new DFA Analytics beta helps you:
- Gain insights quickly. Interactive reports mean easier navigation through your accounts and data. You can model data in charts and graphs, as well as drill up and down through criteria such as advertiser, campaign, or targeting settings.
- Get your reports faster. Reports update frequently - every few hours - and the new user interface enables you to access your data quickly.
- Use new types of reports. Pull geographic delivery data. Additional reports show delivery data by bandwidth, browser, and operating system.
- View subdomain data. See data including traffic estimates and demographics for the largest ten subdomains of any top-level domain. Once you identify subdomains to add, you can do so easily in Ad Planner.
- See available ad placements while researching sites. You'll also be able to search for ad placements alongside domains on the "Search by audience" tab and see traffic and demographic estimates for each placement
- Visualize audience data easily. Quickly compare reach and relevancy of sites you select with a new interactive graph.
- Access more granular publisher data. With publishers now able to opt-in their Analytics data, you'll receive more accurate and specific information about their sites.
- Use Ad Planner within DoubleClick DFA. Log in to your DoubleClick DFA account to access Ad Planner and have one tool for campaign planning, trafficking, and measurement. (Note: This feature is rolling out to all users over the next couple weeks)
Place Pages now in Placement Performance reports
You may remember that earlier this fall we announced the launch of Place Pages for Google Maps, which are web pages for every place in the world. Interested users can find relevant information, photos, directions, and reviews for their favorite places. Users will also see contextually targeted ads, and with the inclusion of Place Pages in Placement Performance reports, you'll now have insight into whether your clients' ads appeared on a Place Page and how they performed.
With this update, you can more closely monitor and optimize your clients' campaigns. While placement targeting is not available for Google Maps, you can increase the likelihood of appearing on Place Pages by increasing bids on high-performing keywords or by creating ad groups with highly specific keywords to target Place Pages relevant to your clients' products or businesses.
With this update, you can more closely monitor and optimize your clients' campaigns. While placement targeting is not available for Google Maps, you can increase the likelihood of appearing on Place Pages by increasing bids on high-performing keywords or by creating ad groups with highly specific keywords to target Place Pages relevant to your clients' products or businesses.
It's all about the conversions
There are a lot of metrics that matter to your clients when evaluating performance, but one of the most important figures for your clients' success is conversions. Our Google teammates in the UK have started a blog called the Conversion Room that focuses on how to use Google tools to measure and increase the number of conversions your clients receive.
Occasionally, some of the information may be UK-focused, but you'll find the overwhelming majority of tips and tools to be applicable no matter where you're located, such as how to use the Search Based Keyword Tool to find high-converting keywords. We hope you find the Conversion Room blog useful. Bookmark it, follow it with Friend Connect, or subscribe via RSS, and get hands-on with your conversion knowledge.
Occasionally, some of the information may be UK-focused, but you'll find the overwhelming majority of tips and tools to be applicable no matter where you're located, such as how to use the Search Based Keyword Tool to find high-converting keywords. We hope you find the Conversion Room blog useful. Bookmark it, follow it with Friend Connect, or subscribe via RSS, and get hands-on with your conversion knowledge.
Google Website Optimizer in 60 seconds
With Google Website Optimizer, you can test different versions of your client's website in order to see which design converts best. But if you need help identifying which pages to test (and only have about a minute to learn how), check out this Website Optimizer in 60 seconds video.
You'll learn how to use Google Analytics to identify the right pages to test with Website Optimizer, such as places where potential customers are leaving your client's site. For more Website Optimizer videos, visit the Website Optimizer YouTube Channel.
You'll learn how to use Google Analytics to identify the right pages to test with Website Optimizer, such as places where potential customers are leaving your client's site. For more Website Optimizer videos, visit the Website Optimizer YouTube Channel.
Segmenting AdWords traffic: Google Analytics in 60 seconds
Need to find out how users searching on specific terms interact with your client's site? Need to know right away? In no time at all, find out how to use Advanced Segmentation in Google Analytics to analyze specific portions of your client's traffic. The latest Analytics in 60 Seconds video is your step-by-step guide to creating and saving segments.
Best of all, you can apply the segment you create to reports and historical data, meaning you can retroactively analyze site traffic. For more video tips that only take a minute, check out the Google Analytics in 60 Seconds playlist on the Google Analytics YouTube Channel.
Best of all, you can apply the segment you create to reports and historical data, meaning you can retroactively analyze site traffic. For more video tips that only take a minute, check out the Google Analytics in 60 Seconds playlist on the Google Analytics YouTube Channel.
Analytics tips from the "streets" of Google
You work hard to track, analyze and optimize ad campaigns to keep your clients ahead of the curve. To help you efficiently and effectively collect and analyze these metrics, we headed out to the street (ok, it was a quick trip through the office) to hear what the Agency Team's Analytics experts had to say. Here are some recommended reports and best practices straight from the experts' mouths:
- I love creating keyword clusters in Advanced Segmentation. I choose "Keyword" as the segment and then type in a keyword fragment that captures the essence of a cluster. For example, if I wanted branded keywords for a Google property, I would do "Keyword" "contains" "goog" (just in case there are misspellings), and for non-branded it would be "Keyword" "does not contain" "goog". Here's a video to learn more. Pretty powerful stuff. - Jesse N.
- My advice is to set up Site Search. It's simple to do, gives you a finger on the pulse of your audience, and can guide optimization and testing strategies. Learn what users are looking for and identify good keywords for your accounts. See what users have or have not found, and use the information for ad text optimizations, A/B inventory tests, or internal site search improvements. - Eddie H.
- I often create an Advanced Segment that only shows Google AdWords data. You can then look into any report and see what's working well and what can be improved with campaigns, specific landing pages, or geographic targeting. - Cassie P.
- Check the Referring Sites report for your own domain name. If it looks like you're your own top referrer, you're doing something wrong. Check for badly tagged/untagged pages. Make sure redirects aren't causing your PPC traffic to get miscategorized. Ensure you're set up for subdomain tracking if applicable. - Brian K.
- My vote would be for Custom Reporting. You create your own report and see data the way you want to. You can also save custom reports, add them to your dashboard or schedule them to be emailed to you. - Kelley C.
Insight, now downloadable
While it may be a while before eternal enlightenment is available via download, Insight from YouTube is now downloadable. With the new functionality, you can export your YouTube Insight video stats into .CSV files for easy sharing and saving, with just one click. You can find the download option under select reports in YouTube Insight, within your YouTube account.
And to learn more about using YouTube Insight to reach your target audience, visit the Official Google blog.
If you build it, they will come. But will they stay?
You want users to find your client's site and be engaged with the content, but some users will leave the site without finding what they're looking for. Paying for clicks that don't materialize into meaningful visits is wasteful, so how do you identify the keywords that are attracting disinterested viewers?
Bounce rate can tell you a lot about whether people are engaged with site content, as it measures the frequency that people leave a site after viewing just one page. Our Analytics Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik, calls this the "I came; I puked; I left" phenomenon. We'll stick with "bounce rate" for simplicity's sake, and in this video, part of our Google Analytics in 60 Seconds series, you can uncover how to use bounce rate to help locate the campaigns, ad groups, and keywords that are resulting in site abandonment. By identifying and eliminating keywords that aren't performing well, you can focus your efforts on more engaged users and help your client's budget go further.
Cleaning up for 2009
With the new year just around the corner, it's a good idea to tidy up your clients' accounts for success in 2009. Locating keywords and campaigns that have a high bounce rate, meaning users left after visiting just one page of the site, is a good first step when optimizing AdWords accounts to be more successful.
But time is of the essence, so check out this quick video tip on how to use Google Analytics reports to identify poor performing keywords and campaigns in your clients' AdWords accounts. For more details on Google Analytics reporting, visit the Analytics Help Center. Happy New Year!
But time is of the essence, so check out this quick video tip on how to use Google Analytics reports to identify poor performing keywords and campaigns in your clients' AdWords accounts. For more details on Google Analytics reporting, visit the Analytics Help Center. Happy New Year!
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