Google Adwords Blog

When working in PPC, which side of the fence is best to work on, client or agency?
Having recently made the transition from client to my first agency role, it’s clear that both have their own mutual benefits. Ultimately it comes down to personal preference.
In my previous role, the client’s industry was all things power tools, [...]

There is an old argument, whether a business should focus its marketing spend on PPC, SEO or a combination of the two. There are clear advantages and disadvantages to both.
 
SEO
A new website, in a competitive industry, is going to find it difficult to get rankings on high-traffic keywords quickly. Even with an established website, it’s [...]

So, Microsoft have released their new search engine, Bing. Apparently, it’s not a search engine, though – it’s a decision engine. According to Microsoft (www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/may09/05-28NewSearchPR.mspx), this means that it is a “new and more powerful kind of search service … designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly [...]

A good relationship between a PPC account manager and their client can be just as useful for optimisation as anything else.
Currently, I speak to about half my clients on a weekly basis, be it over the telephone or via email.  I’ve found myself chatting about going out at the weekend, being a regular golfer and [...]

The Quality Score has always been a bit of a contentious issue. Some people argue that as it pushes adverts with high clickthrough rates up to the top of the search results, and hence increases Google’s income, it’s evil. But who does it actually hurt?
Well, there’s no doubt that it’s become more and more difficult [...]

The theory’s sound. You want to get as many sales as possible for your budget, so you adjust the bids in such a way as to ensure that it runs out just as the day ends (on average). Bidding any less will give you fewer clicks, as will bidding more (since you run out of [...]

Just read a blog posted yesterday from E-Consultancy: http://econsultancy.com/blog/3817-paid-search-down
It appears that the percentage of clicks going on Paid Search is falling, which is potentially a misleading statistic (see my blog on Google and the 80:20 ratio). But they make another, very interesting point.  They indicate that the biggest fall is on brand-name keywords, and quote [...]

It’s great for any PPC Company, when a new client comes in with a huge monthly spend and little expertise in PPC advertising.  We can really show off our knowledge, achieve great results and have a shiny happy client.  But what about the other clients we get:
1.     Those With Minimal Monthly Spend
As an agency, we [...]

So, Google have just rolled out a new version of their Quality Score. Gone is the (understandable) minimum bid, and in its place we now have ‘First Page Bids’. If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, you may want to read this: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/08/quality-score-improvements.html.
It went live on our accounts yesterday (16th September), and after poking [...]

One Adgroup Fits All: Should I split my keywords down into one per Adgroup? This has been a topic of much debate with even the most experienced PPC advertisers coming to blows. This blog doesn’t aim to solve the mystery once and for all, but simply to look at the pros [...]