AdCenter Blog

Geo Targeting in AdCenter Desktop

2008-09-15T13:47:00.002+01:00

Setting Targeting Options in the AdCenter Desktop

Setting geographical targeting options in the Microsoft AdCenter web interface is painful to say the least. AdCenter desktop makes this time consuming task pretty easy.

In AdCenter, targeting settings are at ad group level so you should make sure the campaign you want is selected in the browser window.

Then click into the Manager Window and select CTRL & A to highlight all the ad groups in that campaign…

Next, click the Targeting link at the foot of the Manager Window

Choose the targeting options you require and click “Ok”.

REMEMBER TO SAVE!

Don’t forget that AdCenter Desktop requires you to save your changes before you upload.

All Done!

Google Launches Chrome Browser

2008-09-03T21:53:00.004+01:00

Just what we need... another web browser!
Google's Chrome browser is now available for download. Google is touting it's new web browser as "One box for everything - Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages."

AS you enter a search term in Chrome's address bar, the browser will "suggest" keywords for you as well as showing you recent sites you have visited that are related to your search term.

I guess the immediate impact of this will be that users will be tempted to use more generic phrases. If you're intending to search for "Cheap Holidays to San Antonio" and after a couple of key strokes, chrome suggests "cheap holidays" the temptation must be to hit the return key and avoid all that typing. It'll be interesting to see what impact this will have on PPC campaigns built around spelling errors as Chrome seems to correct these for you.

AdCenter Desktop Favourites

2008-08-24T16:50:00.001+01:00

Another of AdCenter Desktop’s “simple but useful“ features is the ability to set ad groups as “favourites” and then access them quickly from the Dashboard.

This is useful when you have large accounts with hundreds or even thousands of ad groups. With Google AdWords Editor we tend to setup “Primary Focus” campaigns and manually move good performing ad groups into this campaign so we can focus more of our attention and effort on these groups. Whilst this method has some advantages, the Favourites feature is much easier to manage as the ad groups remain in their existing (and hopefully well themed) campaigns.

Setting an ad group as a favourite is simply a matter of right clicking the ad group in the Browser window and selecting the “add to AdCenter favourites” option. All favourites are then listed in the Dashboard.

AdCenter Desktop Alerts

2008-08-23T18:34:00.002+01:00

The AdCenter Alerts functionality within the AdCenter Desktop is a really neat idea particularly if you are managing a number of accounts.

AdCenter alerts allow you set thresholds for CTR and CPC. Let’s say that you want to monitor any ad group where the average click through rate is below 5%. The AdCenter Desktop allows you to set 5% as the threshold for Ad Group Average CTR and Desktop will list all ad groups that fall below that threshold in the Desktop Dashboard.

Setting the alerts is pretty simple; just select the Alerts icon form the Ribbon at the top of AdCenter Desktop and a dialogue box will appear allowing you to set the thresholds.

Any Adgroups that fall below that threshold are then listed in the Manager screen.

The alerts dialogue box states that you can set alerts to notify you when values drops below or rises above the set threshold but I couldn't see how to implement this. It would be useful to trigger an alert when the CPC is above a set amount but that didnt seem to be an option.

It would also be useful if AdGroups which triggered an alert were highlighted in the main Manager screen rather than tucking them away in the Dashboard.

Adcenter Desktop Beta

2008-08-13T20:22:00.001+01:00

At last we have our hands on the new AdCenter Desktop Beta!

At first glance the interface looks surprisingly (and refreshingly) different to AdWords Editor. The navigational elements are very similar to those found in Office 2007. At the top of the application you'll find the "ribbon" which is grouped into three main tabs called Home, Manage and Research.

The home tab features panels for uploading and downloading data plus a handy "preview" tab that totals the number of changes you made since downloading your data. This feature also allows you to quickly check your ads for potential editorial issues before uploading.

The export function allows you to export your account in AdCenter format, a 3^rd Party format, as HTML or as an adCenter archive (acea). What would have been fab would be a direct export to Ms Word (if you want to spell check an entire account export as a HTML file, open in IE and then choose the File > Edit with Word option).

I guess the most eagerly awaited feature would be the import function. It's not unfair to say that most ad agencies would want to manage their accounts in Google and then port across to adCenter. Maybe the adcenter desktop is good enough to switch that around but for now a seamless import from AdWords Editor would be a boon. I'll confess that this is the first thing I tried when I got the desktop and importing direct from an AdWords Editor export didn't work for me but I've not had much time to play yet.

Next along the ribbon are the stats options allowing you to view stats for a series of preset time ranges and although changing the setting does prompt another download it worked pretty quickly.

Live Cashback

2008-07-09T21:20:00.002+01:00

In an attempt to increase search volume Microsoft Live Search has been running its cashback system in the states for a while now.

Described by some cynics as "Microsoft paying for searchers" the move would appear to be a genuinely innovative way of generating much needed traffic.

The idea of offering rewards for loyalty is not new but having spoken to a number of people over the past few days, cashback may well prove to be the incentive needed for users to switch from Google particularly when they are considering a making purchase rather than just browsing.

You can preview the system (it's going to take a while to bring cashback here to the UK) by going to Live Search and changing your country option from United Kingdom to United States (English) in the right hand menu bar (or simply click this link).

Search for DVD Players and you'll probably see one or more Live Search Cashback icons in amongst these ads. These icons tell you that the vendor is offering a discount for Live Search visitors. What you'll probably find right now is that most of these icons link either for the Cashback site itself or to Ebay.

Couple of points that may be worth noting...

If the discounts offer a genuine incentive for those looking to buy and not just browse, the impact on ROI could be very interesting.

Is there a conflict between Microsoft's claim to want to increase the quality of ads compromised by clearly differentiating and highlighting vendors who are willing to participate? Presumably the CTR for ads featuring the icons will increase substantially.

Don't the icons look very similar (in shape and position) to the Google Checkout icons and will consumers confuse cashback with checkout?

From a PPC marketers point of view Cashback seems to be a great idea and a clear demonstration that Microsoft can be innovative and creative in its struggle to gain search query share.

How do you compete with a verb?

2008-07-09T13:24:00.002+01:00

As previously mentioned AdCenter’s main challenge is in generating search volume.

Google has such a large share of the search market that it’s hard to see how Live Search can compete. Microsoft talk a lot about “disruptive technology” and how producing something that is better than the competition or markedly different can de-throne a market leader.

I guess here in the UK a good example of disruptive technology would be Dyson Vacuum cleaners. There are parallels in that Hoover was the dominant brand and indeed the brand became a verb as in “to Hoover the carpet”. Very few people in the UK talk about “vacuuming the carpet”. Likewise people talk about “Googling” when they are referring to Search. Dyson entered the vacuum cleaner market with a new and innovative product that undoubtedly stole some of Hoover’s market share.

LiveSearch has two challenges...
How to come up with disruptive technology that is markedly different (and better) than Google.

How to compete with a verb. Despite Dyson’s disruptive technology, we still don’t “Dyson the carpet”.

Part of the Live Search strategy revolves around Live Search Cashback which is already underway in the US but more of that later.

AdCenter Desktop

2008-06-27T08:18:00.002+01:00

Those of us in the UK who have yet to get our greedy little paws on the new AdCenter Desktop application can check out some grabs at the PPC Hero blog.

I had a sneak preview at a recent AdChamps event and will be posting a review and step by step tutorials as soon as we can get hold of a copy.

AdCenter to Penalise Aggregators?

2008-06-23T23:09:00.001+01:00

At the recent AdChamps event in London there was a great deal of talk about improving the quality of the search results pages and much of that talk was focussed on the issue of aggregators, price comparison sites and consolidators.

Depending on which side of the fence you’re sitting on the news that AdCenter are to start penalising aggregators with higher click costs will come as quite a shock. I guess it depends on your (or rather Adcenter’s) definition of an aggregator.

Undoubtedly the ads-to-ads pages that simply link from AdCenter to Google Adsense listings are irritating to say the least but what about sites like TravelSupermarket that allow consumers to compare prices from different operators in what is an incredibly fluid marketplace? The popularity of these sites surely indicates that consumers find them to be of real value.

The travel industry in particular is full of consolidators and aggregators of tour operator product. It’ll be interesting to see how AdCenter apply this new quality algorithm and the effect it has on comparison sites including MSN’s own aggregator MSN Shopping!

To be fair to the AdCenter team, the motivation appears to genuinely be to increase the user experience but I guess squeezing extra cash out of high spending accounts such as MoneySupermarket won’t hurt either.

AdCenter Desktop “weeks away”.

2008-06-22T17:26:00.001+01:00

Pareto’s 80/20 rule certainly applies to PPC and to AdCenter in particular. Because of the low traffic volumes AdCenter can generate it can often seem that 80% of our effort produces just 20% of our search revenue. Hopefully all this will change when the new AdCenter desktop is launched.
AdWords editor has revolutionised the way most PPC marketers work and saves us countless hours when trying to get repetitive tasks such as mass bid updates through the system. True, you can currently export your data from AdWords Editor into AdCenter through the third party import functionality but it’s still a clunky process.
Having seen a quick preview of the new AdCenter Desktop it does look remarkably (but unsurprisingly) similar to AdWords Editor and that’s no bad thing. Training Staff on PPC in general is time consuming enough but to have to train on two different desktop applications would be yet another burden. Hats off to AdCenter then for not trying to re-invent the wheel.

Excel Plug in for AdCenter Beta

2008-01-09T22:09:00.000Z

The AdCenter plug in for Excel is now available in beta form on the AdCenter blog. I've not had much time to play with it yet and it is VERY US-Centric but from first impressions it looks amazing.

Setup is really simple, just download it and run the setup file. When you next run Excel you'll see a new tab for "Ad intelligence". click that tab and there's a whole bunch of tools for keyword research, performance data, demographic data, click cost and position estimates etc.

Some of the more funkier stuff includes...
"Keyword extraction" where you can enter some site urls in excel and the plug in will tell you the keywords used by that site.

"Search Buzz" shows you the top "spikey" keywords. Now if you've no idea what a spikey keyword is... where've ya bin? A spikey keyword is one where there is some external factor that causes a spike in traffic during a given period. Take "Travel Agents" as an example and the plug in will tell you that "Thomas Cook" has a Spikey index of 5378 and the spike occurs between the 6th and 7th of January (ok so maybe a little more work needs to be done on it but it's till just a beta).

The monthly traffic volumes option is great. Highlight a keyword and the plug in will give you traffic data for each month (past and future).

A lot of this stuff you can get already at adcenter labs but it's great to have it locally in Excel.

UK SME's and PPC

2007-12-30T23:07:00.000Z

Mel Carson posted some research details on the adcenter blog a while back about the perception UK small Business had of PPC advertising.

Apparently...
"The research which questioned 400 UK SMBs, reveals 44% of SMBs not doing search marketing think it is too time consuming; 56% think it is too expensive; and 33% too complicated. However, 76% of SMBs promoting their website on search engines see an immediate increase in sales."

Mel then goes on to "expose" the myths

Myth 1: Over a third (34%) of respondents think it would take a day or more to set up a campaign. In reality, the time taken from opening an account to it going live can take as little as 15 minutes.

Fact 1 : Ok so technically you can get an ad up and running in 15 minutes but let's be realistic. To create campaigns of any real value takes time, knowledge and patience.

Myth 2: Some 56% cite cost as a top reason why SMBs will not invest, with a quarter of all SMBs thinking the best keywords are already taken. Actually, SMBs can invest as little as 10-20 pence per click or a monthly budget of around £5.

Yup, cant argue with that one!

Myth 3: Many are put off by the idea that it sounds too complicated – with the overwhelming majority (89%) thinking it was more difficult than online banking. However, SMBs can easily manage accounts from their desk and are likely to see immediate results from just a few simple keywords.

Fact 3: Mmmmm not sure about that one Mel! Don't know who you bank with but as much as I love adCenter it's not the easiest interface in the world.

What's perhaps more interesting in the report are the stats for those SME's who tried to set their own accounts up but gave up! 33% of those thought it was too complicated. 44% thought it was too time consuming and over half thought it was too expensive.

Of course, I am biased but like any sophisticated system, the better your knowledge the more you're likely to get out of it. We see lots of accounts that have initially been setup by managers and business people with better things to do with their time.

Any agency worth their salt will reward their clients with better quality traffic and at a lower cost which should more than cover any fees they charge.

PPC engines have a vested interest in persuading clients that creating and running PPC campaigns is a walk in the park. The reality is somewhat different. It'd be nice to see AdCenter, Google and Yahoo actively promoting the use of agencies and in the long term it'd pay off for them too. The better a campaign is run, the more likely a client is to continue invest in marketing spend which is of course good news for the engines.

Qualifications such as AdWords Professional and AdExcellence help to promote agencies but we could do with these being more actively promoted.

You can view the research here

adExcellence

2007-12-29T21:41:00.000Z

Although adExcellence (AdCenter's version of the AdWords Professional programme) is not yet available outside the US, the adExcellence Classroom is of course online.

There was talk about the programme being available in the UK before the end of the year (2007) but I guess this isn't going to happen

AdCenter Upgrade

2007-10-30T08:38:00.000Z

Received this notice from the adCenter team this morning...

Upgrade highlights
Instant editorial feedback on your ads and keywords during the creation process so your ads will go live faster.

More intuitive reporting allowing you to easily analyse and optimise your reports with interactive filtering, sorting, and graphs.

Flexible budgeting for your campaigns. Now you can set a daily budget target with a maximum spend per month.

Substitute default dynamic text to be used if your inserted keyword or placeholders cause the ad to exceed the maximum character limit.

2007-10-08T23:58:00.000+01:00

New Ad Submission Process
Just a quick update on the latest AdCenter interface stuff. The really good news is that you no longer have to submit each ad one by one to change the status from Draft to Active.

1. On the Select a campaign page, open the appropriate campaign.
2. On the Select an ad group page, select the check boxes of the Draft ad groups you want to submit, and click Actions.
3. In the Actions drop-down list, select Submit ad group.
4. On the Windows Internet Explorer dialog box, click OK to submit.
-- The status of the ad groups will change to Active, and your ads will be live, if your ad groups did not require an editorial review.

2007-10-01T23:20:00.000+01:00

I'm going cold turkey

I've been a Google search type of chap throughout my online life. For as long as I can remember, when I want to find something I "Google" it. What's a competitor up to? Google It!When was the last time Wales one anything at Rugby? Google it! Have any of my pathetic attempts at SEO bore fruit? Google it!

As of tonight, I'm going cold turkey and switching my allegiance to Live Search. I know, but i can handle it. Sure I search a lot but I can control it. Yes I know, when I type my own name into Google I get loads of Ego links that make me feel slightly less insignficant than I really am. But tonight, for 7 days straight I'm using Live Search instead!!!

Wish me luck!

Darn! Just realised I wrote this in Google docs and published it to my Blog which is on Blogger.com AND I'm wearing my Google underpants as I type this... DOH!

Quality Score Changes

2007-10-01T22:51:00.000+01:00

AdCenter have announced some changes to the quality score system. If I'm reading it correctly the changes mainly affect the ads that appear in the top slots above the standard search results.

According to the AdCenter Blog...
"As part of the Live Search 2.0 launch, we have made changes to the adCenter quality-based ranking system – the formula that we use to calculate which ads appear in the mainline"

"This change represents a win-win for advertisers and searchers; in addition to giving you more control over placement, searchers are getting better quality ads in the mainline."

In simple terms there would appear to be a minimum quality threshold that an ad must surpass if it's to appear in the top slot (sorry.... "Mainline").

The Blog Post then goes on to say...

"You could see your ads move in or out of the mainline depending on your CTR and set Max Bid. You may need to bid more to maintain mainline positions. You may see ads move up into the mainline without bidding more. For ads remaining in the mainline. Your actual CPC may increase"
Bold bits are my emphasis

Mmmm not totally a "win win" situation then ;)

The case of the disapearing Video Thumbails

2007-10-01T22:40:00.000+01:00

Ok so yesterdays post was all about the funky new video thumbnails on Live Search. Having raved about how cool they were, someones gone and removed the video link. When I mentioned in the office today that all the video thumbails started "talking to me and moving around" my loyal colleagues suggested it was time I took a holiday or at least have a lie down.

THEY WERE THERE, I PROMISE!

Just becuase they strip away the link doesnt mean you still cant get to them :)

Try this link to Harry Potter!

Live Search - Video

2007-09-30T23:05:00.001+01:00

Microsoft are really pulling the stops out the improve LiveSearch. Google has such a grip on consumer searching that it's hard to see how live can possibly catch up. Then again... check out the Video tab on www.live.com. Search for something obvious like "Harry Potter" or "Pulp Fiction" and hover your mouse over any of the thumbnails. Cool or what?

Changes to the bulk submission process

2007-09-29T21:46:00.000+01:00

I bumped into Microsoft's Mel Carson at AdTech who (apart from ribbing me again that I haven't updated my blog in a while) let me know that the draft submission process is about to get a whole lot easier.

Up until now, after you submit a bulk upload you have to go back into every order and run through a painfully dull process to change the submission status from draft to active. According to Mel, this will change in the next version of adcenter which will probably go live this weekend.

Yet more evidence that the nice people at AdCenter really do listen to the user-base and make changes based on feedback.

Live Maps

2007-09-28T00:01:00.000+01:00

Bless 'em but Microsoft allways seem to be chasing Googles tail when many of their applications are actually quite a bit better than those offered by the Big 'G'.

As a case in point go and have a look at http://maps.live.com/ With the new 3D plug in for Firefox users, Maps give Google Earth a serious run for its money.

The Windows Smartphone version is great for locating bars, clubs and Venues when you're out and about.

Live Search Update

2007-09-27T23:53:00.000+01:00

The LiveSearch index just got bigger! Microsoft claim that its index now contains up to 30 billion pages. Additionally, the SERPS have also had a face lift with the inclusion of images and streamed video. With Microsoft grabbing around 11% of all US searches it still has a long way to catch Google but seems to be making a concerted effort to increase its share.

Campaign Level Negative keywords

2007-07-16T06:18:00.000+01:00

Anyone who's dealt with big campaigns with lots and lots of keywords can breathe a sigh of relief this morning. You can now put negative keywords at Campaign level as well as at ad group level.

AdGroups tend to be structured together in logical campaigns based around product groups such as "Fridges" or brands such as "Yamaha". Typically there will be a bunch of negative keywords that apply to all keywords in a campaign. Taking a Yamaha Bike Dealer as an example, he/she may want to put negatives that prevent his ads being show for other Yamaha products such as "Drums","Keyboards", "Sewing machine". These negatives apply to all his/her ads within the Yamaha group not just one or two isolated ad groups. Now these can be put at the campaign.

Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?

2007-06-30T23:15:00.000+01:00

"Why should I pay to appear in the Search Engines when I can get in the organic side for free" they used to ask me (not quite sure who "they" are but you know what I mean). Ahhh says I! Because SEO is complicated and difficult to understand, because sometimes despite your best efforts you just don't appear, because the search egnines are very secretive about how they rank your pages, because there are bots and spiders who visit your site and check for relevance and quality!!!

Whereas pay per click is...

AdCenter Professional

2007-06-30T22:49:00.000+01:00

I remember when the AdWords professional programme came out. Because AdWords was quite limited in those days the "exam" was a tad easier than it is now. You didn't have to swot up on all that functionality simply because there wasn't much.

On that basis, I guess Microsoft are gonna be swamped when the new AdCenter Pro accreditation comes out with everyone trying to get qualified before the study list starts to get longer and longer and longer.