SEM
Impact of Google +1 Button on Search Results
There is an ongoing conversation about the impact of the Google +1 button on search engine results. With Google’s +1 button push and integration in Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics, it is inevitable that the +1 button will influence Google’s search engine algorithm, and ultimately a website’s rank in search engine results.
The level of impact, however, is still unknown and will likely change overtime as Google tweaks the formula.
Here are three possible scenarios illustrating how the +1 button will influence search results.
+1 Clicks Reign Supreme
The first scenario is the simplest, where the more +1 clicks a page receives, the higher it will rank in search engine results. This scenario, although the easiest to conceptualize, is the most unlikely because it will be too easy for spammers to “game” the system. There are already people selling +1 clicks.
+1 Limited to Your Network
The second scenario involves social integration and personalized search results, where the more +1 clicks a page receives from people in your network, the higher it ranks in your search results. This means the absolute number of +1 clicks for the page do not matter, but only the clicks from your network. This scenario is much more likely as more users begin to use the Google+ network. This scenario also makes it difficult to “game” the system.
+1 Complexity
The most likely scenario is Google will develop a formula that will involve multiple factors that include the first two scenarios. Other factors that may determine the impact of the Google +1 button in search results include:
- the number of +1 clicks over time (a continuous number of clicks over time is better than a single spike)
- the most recent +1 click (more recent the better)
- the number of +1 clicks by users in your city (the more clicks by users in your area the better)
How do you think the Google +1 button will impact search results?
Victor
Tags: +1, google, plus 1, search engine, SEM
Behaviourally Targeted Online Ads…On the Rise!
Check out the eMarketer’s forecast as summarized by the fabulous daily, CynopsisDigital. Based on our team’s experience and success using behaviourally targeted online ads, this trend makes perfect sense. Still, the numbers are staggering.
“Assuming that privacy concerns are adequately addressed, behavioral targeting will generate more than $1 billion in ad sales in the U.S this year, according to a forecast from eMarketer, with that number more than doubling to $2.6 billion by 2014. Behaviorally targeted ad dollars will rise as a proportion of online display spending from 14.2% in 2010 to nearly 20% by 2014, when ads targeted based on interests or intentions will account for 7.6% of total US online ad spending.
U.S. Behavioral Targeting Online Advertising Spending 2008-2014 (millions)
Year Spending % Change
2008 $775 47.6%
2009 $925 19.4%
2010 $1,125 21.6%
2011 $1,350 20.0%
2012 $1,700 25.9%
2013 $2,100 23.5%
2014 $2,600 23.8%
Source: eMarketer”
- Moyra
Tags: ad spending, behavioural advertising, online advertising, online marketing, PPC, SEM
How to optimize a currently running Adwords campaign?
Google Adwords Campaign Optimization
Professional advertisers don’t just publish ads and hope they will work. Yes, some ideas come from creativity and brainstorming sessions, but, in my opinion, the best campaigns are the ones that are tweaked using mathematical techniques.
Today we will explore the challenger/recruit concept. The main idea is simple: at any time in your campaign, you should always have two variations of your best ads running. Why? It is rare that a new concept will work perfectly out of the box. Reasons are that the public might not react exactly the way you expected or worse, a competitor started his campaign with a similar ad and you lost your distinctive concept.
Ads resulting from this technique will be slow incremental improvements? based on market response. Let’s say for example your best ad is “Most practical product, click here”. You should cut 20% of its budget and reallocate the money into a new slightly different ad for example: “Most practical product, buy here”. Run the recruit for a few days and if it’s performing better than the challenger, replace it.
One difficulty can be determining how many impressions you need before making a decision. Ads should run for a minimum of 1 week to eliminate the effect of week days i.e. if your ad contains the word “coffee”, it might be more popular on Monday hehe. Also, be careful of special holidays. There is no absolute rule on the number of impressions you should base your decision on, however, a good rule of thumb is about 200 impressions per day for the monitoring period.
eMarketing strategist
Tags: adwords, google, PPC campaign, PPC optimization, SEM
