Unified Device Targeting with Bing Ads

'Bing Ads' sent me this email yesterday: 
In October 2014, Bing Ads rolled out tablet-related device targeting changes. Beginning March 23, 2015 Bing will further consolidate by adding smartphones into a single, unified device targeting option, with bid modifiers available to help manage traffic from various sources. Once this migration is complete, with a single campaign setup, you will automatically reach people across the Yahoo Bing Network wherever they are searching: on smartphones, tablets or PCs — while enjoying the controls you need to help you meet your search advertising objectives. 

What is changing?
Instead of selecting specific devices and operating systems for your ads to target, you will automatically begin to receive traffic from all devices. You can apply bid adjustments to increase or decrease your bid for traffic coming from different devices — providing the flexibility to optimize your campaigns to meet your business goals. This table shows the bid adjustments that are available: 

		Bing Ads	Google AdWords
Targeting selection		Unified across devices	Unified across devices
Bid modifiers	Desktop	Not available	Not available
	Tablet	-20% to +300%	Not available
	Mobile	-100%* to +300%	-100% to +300%
‘If mobile’ URLs		Yes	Yes
Mobile Preference		Yes	Yes

*Bid modifiers available in increments of "1" from -90% to +300%, or you can set to -100% to opt out of mobile ads. 

To see what the new interface will look like, be sure to visit the Unified Device Targeting Frequently Asked Questions section of BingAds.com. 

How will my campaigns be affected?
This migration will impact all campaigns that are currently targeting mobile only or PC/tablet only. This table illustrates the changes for different campaign types: 

Current Device(s) Targeted	Impact
PC + tablet	Smartphone targeting added
Smartphone	PC/tablet targeting added
All Devices (PC + smartphone + tablet)	None

Why is this change being made?
Our goal is to help you connect with searchers regardless of where they are searching, and make it as easy as possible to manage your campaigns across search engines. Mobile searchers drive over 30% of the searches on the Yahoo Bing Network¹ — so if mobile is not currently part of your campaign targeting, you may be missing the opportunity to connect with valuable new customers. 

What do I need to do?
There are several steps you can take now to prepare for the Unified Device Targeting migration. For more information and best practices, please refer to the Unified Device Targeting Frequently Asked Questions section of BingAds.com. 

Action: the most important action to take right now
Review your campaigns to determine if your campaigns (and how many) are targeting either mobile devices only or PC/tablet devices only. If you have campaigns that are only targeting one or the other, review to see if you have more than one campaign targeting the same keyword (for example: a mobile-only campaign targeting the keyword "roses" and a separate PC/tablet campaign also targeting the keyword "roses"). 

If you have multiple campaigns targeting the same keyword, you will need to combine them into a single campaign before migration begins March 23, 2015. Otherwise, Bing Ads will automatically add additional device targets to your existing campaigns, and you run the risk of having multiple campaigns targeting the same keyword, which means you will be competing against yourself for ad placement. 

Action: the second most important action to take right now
If you haven’t already, be sure to create a mobile-friendly landing page or website, so no matter which device people are using, your site will look great. To learn more about best practices for creating mobile-optimized web experiences, review the Mobile Optimized Website Guide on BingAds.com. In addition, be sure to implement {if mobile/if not mobile} query string parameters in your destination URLs to ensure that you are driving traffic to the correct destination. 

Need help? Have questions?
Use these resources for more information about Unified Device Targeting and best practices for managing campaigns during the transition:

• Bing Ads blog
• Unified Device Targeting Frequently Asked Questions
• Mobile Optimized Website Guide

Google Study: PPC and SEO for Branded KWs is better than Just SEO

It used to confuse me before, why would I add my brand keywords or keywords that I am already on top of SERPs for in my PPC campaign? I was thinking that people are going to click on my links automatically because they are already on top.
But I still ran the camapigns with those KWs, just to prevent competitors taking them.
Then I found an inetresting study to justify the paid clicks on branded and organically ranked KWs:

The study which was conducted by Google concluded that 50 percent of clicks generated by paid ads are not replaced by organic clicks when the ads are absent and the website has a first position organic search ranking. The study also shows that as the organic search ranking decreases, the percentage of clicks not replaced by the paid ad increases. This implies that organic search alone cannot drive as much traffic to a website as organic search combined with paid search.
Here is the Abstract:

Impact Of Ranking Of Organic Search Results On The Incrementality Of Search Ads

Abstract: In an earlier study, we reported that on average 89% of the visits to the advertiser’s site from search ad clicks were incremental. In this research, we examine how the ranking of an advertiser’s organic listings on the search results page affects the incrementality of ad clicks expressed through Incremental Ad Clicks (IAC) and as estimated by Search Ads Pause models. A meta-analysis of 390 Search Ads Pause studies highlights the limited opportunity for clicks from organic search results to substitute for ad clicks when the ads are turned off. On average, 81% of ad impressions and 66% of ad clicks occur in the absence of an associated organic search result. We find that having an associated organic search result in rank one does not necessarily mean a low IAC. On average, 50% of the ad clicks that occur with a top rank organic result are incremental, compared to 100% of the ad clicks being incremental in the absence of an associated organic result.

To Read the The Full Study (PDF): http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/37731.pdf 

20 Reasons why Localization is Important to Website Conversion

Thanks to the global reach of the internet, website localization is one of the best things you can do to increase website conversions. By creating a culture- and language-specific version of your website for each demographic market you target, you become a truly international business. All businesses, even small online retailers, can benefit from localization. In fact, you can’t afford not to have localized websites, and here are 20 reasons why.

1. It offers global expansion and increased reach.

Although English is still the predominant language online, other languages, most notably Chinese, Spanish, French, and Arabic, are quickly closing the distance. Offering web content in additional languages and cultures helps you increase your reach and become a respected international business.

2. Localization helps you appeal to multicultural audiences.

Translation helps international visitors find and buy from you, but it doesn’t consider cultural differences and sometimes doesn’t convey your message or brand very well. Localization includes both cultural and linguistic concerns, helping you reach audiences in different cultures much better.

3. It increases web traffic.

Search engines rank websites with localized versions or pages higher than non-localized websites and return your website as a result more often. On top of that, local sites are more likely to link to you when you provide information in the local language. Increasing traffic is one of the three most important things you can do to boost revenue, and more traffic means more sales.

4. You get more traffic from regional and language-specific search engines.

These smaller search engines have much less competition because they’re small and most businesses don’t have localized websites to appear in results. This means it’s much easier for your localized websites to rank higher than your English website. The higher you rank and the more often your website appears in search results, the more traffic and sales you get.

5. Localization increases brand recognition.

When you translate your website into the language and culture of your target market, you show that you respect and value your audience. They in turn are more aware of your business than your English-only competitors because they see your website more often and more easily understand your message.

6. Localization increases website stickiness and sales.

Having a strong localization plan boosts your presence and sales in a targeted area, such as localizing in French and German to increase sales in Europe. Multiple studies have found that when users are presented with a website in their native language, they stay on the site twice as long and are four times more likely to make a purchase from it.

7. It increases overall ROI.

Increased traffic, conversions, and brand awareness also leads to increased trust, credibility, customer loyalty, and satisfaction, in turn leading to more conversions. Localization is also scalable for both your audience and your budget, delivering huge benefits for only a marginal additional cost.

8. Localization maintains low printing and content distribution costs.

Localizing your website increases reach without raising these costs a few ways. First, you can reuse much of the same content across multiple languages; second, translating your website into a new language and culture is scalable; finally, having a web presence costs the same no matter what language or culture. Having a localized website may also eliminate the need for direct mail such as catalogs and brochures in various languages.

9. It is a cost-effective virtual branch office or satellite location.

Instead of building a brick-and-mortar store or renting an office in an international location, your localized websites become those virtual stores by offering information, products, contacts, and everything else you can deliver digitally.

10. Localization lowers customer support costs.

By answering questions and providing information in a target market’s native language and culture, you give customers what they need online in the best format for them, which reduces the need for multilingual phone and chat support.

11. It allows you to target minorities in your own area.

Many countries have large subgroups with their own languages, cultures, and skyrocketing purchasing power, such as the Latino market in the USA. Creating localized websites for these groups helps you solidify your presence and boost sales in your own area.

12. Localization maintains brand image and voice across cultures.

The problem with straight translation is that it doesn’t consider cultural differences and doesn’t always maintain your branding message. Localization is better than translation because it considers communication, sales incentive, design, layout, and programming specific to each culture and area, so you don’t lose the integrity of your brand across languages.

13. You become a local business.

Localizing your website turns you into a local business, which boosts conversions because many people want to buy locally, you get more traffic from local keywords, and you have an easier time building brand awareness.

14. Localization makes your local marketing stronger.

When you have a website specific to a certain area’s language and culture, your local internet marketing efforts (including search engine optimization, directory listings, and social media) benefit from having a local resource to point visitors to.

15. It makes you more trustworthy and credible.

By using the area’s local slang, idioms, metaphors, and figures of speech, you can communicate with your target customers more easily and directly, reducing confusion and boosting your own reputation.

16. Localization appeals to more customers.

Most web users don’t buy products online in a language other than their own. By offering them that option, you attract more prospects and close more sales.

17. It means fewer abandoned carts.

Programming can be as much a barrier as language or culture. Localization includes proper programming to prevent backend problems such as forms that make it difficult to input personal and payment info. Fewer problems means more closed sales and higher average order value.

18. Localization makes payment easier.

When you enable local credit cards, shipping and tax codes, and buying practices, your localized websites attract customers that would shop elsewhere otherwise, boosting your ROI, conversions, and revenue.

19. It increases local sales.

Offering products, support, FAQs, and other information in your customers’ native languages makes them more likely to buy from you because they have all the information they need in a format they understand to make an informed purchase.

20. Localization increases revenue.

Most consumers care more about language than price. So even if they know they can find a product cheaper somewhere else, they are more likely to buy from you at full price if you have a localized website for them.

How to create Google Plus +Post Ads for maximum engagement?

+Post ads amplify your brand’s content by easily turning Google+ posts into display ads that run across the web. The live, social ad format allows you to go beyond clicks to live conversations with your audience. People can join a Hangout On Air, add a comment, follow your brand or give a +1, right from an ad.

Starting May 2014 +Post ads are now available to all advertisers who meet the following 4 requirements:

1. Before you create a +Post ad, first make sure you meet the following requirements:
2. Your Google+ page must have at least 1,000 followers.
3. Your post should contain content that’s relevant to your audience.
4. You have opted in to shared endorsements for Google+ pages

Watch: Toyota +Post Ads Campaign

Promoting Hangouts on Air across the web:

You can now also promote your Hangout on Air with +Post ads that lets users take specific actions before, during, and after the broadcast. Users can RSVP prior to the Hangout, watch the broadcast live, and view a recording after the event.

Automatically promote your most recent post

At any given moment, there is someone interested in your brand, but it’s challenging to make sure you reach people at every moment that matters. Now you can automatically promote your most recent Google+ post, and pay only when people engage with your content, extending the reach of your social content across the web.

Lean more about +Post ads and Google+ by visiting the Google+ for brands site. 

Learn How to Create a +post ad 

Top Adwords Tips Every PPC Advertiser need to Know by heart (infographic)

A mini Brazuka and 3 Caxirolas from Google Adwords Partners

What an exciting surprise I found on my desk this morning.
Google have sent me A mini Brazuka and and 3 Caxirolas.

I believe, like me, you may not know what are these:

• The Brazuka, is the approved soccer ball of the championship games, named by the Brazilian public.
• The Caxirola: is a percussion instrument and the official musical instrument of the 2014 soccer games in Brazil. 

Updates on The Knowledge Graph Results on Google SERP

Did Google move some of the knowledge graph results down the page to throw a duplicate ad graph above it?!

Adwords AdBird: April's Fool Prank

Adwords have just April fooled me. They sent me a notification that they are announcing a new feature called 'Adbirds' ads, where I can select a bird (a sparrow, a pigeon, a duck, an owl, a penguin, or an eagle) type in my ad and select my campaign and adgroups in order for the ad to "fly" around my target audience.

But Tadaaaa..

Just after I submitted the ad for my Pigeon I got the prank:

How Egypt and India are Threatening The Future of Facebook?

As you may know, Facebook exists and grows because of the ads they run on the right side bar. When people click on those ads, the advertisers pay Facebook per each click (or 'Like').

You might also heard of 'Click Farms', where some small companies or individuals charge a facebook page a small amount of money to send them 'Fake' visits and Likes.

How Click Farms Work?

Simply, how these Click Farms work is by hiring people in developing countries like Egypt, India, Indonesia, etc. to Like advertised pages with fake accounts.

What about Legitimate clicks on Facebook Ads?

Even legitimate clicks on Facebook Ads could also generate Fake likes from fake FB accounts because click farmers sometimes click "Randomly" on ads to avoid being suspicious and caught by Facebook Quality Assurance team.
That is what Veritasium, a famous YouTube Channel, tried to proof in a video last week. They ran a nice experiment to proof that even paid ads generate fake likes.

Although the experiment looks interesting, but I do not think it is accurate. I myself tried to run a Facebook Campaign before for a Saudi Arabian Social Activist page to get him many likes for his Facebook Statuses and shared articles but I could not get any clicks although the bidding was set to be too high and the impressions were in thousands. But No Clicks! because the ads were too serious and very restrictive. 

Plus, what makes me believe that the above experiment is not accurate is that how come a Targeted campaign limiting the ad view to the US and Canada get clicks from Egypt? It is technically impossible unless the Click Farmers are using proxies to click on ads targeting Canada, but do they? 

Why Would Such a problem threaten Facebook?

As I said before, Facebook's revenue is coming from Pay per Click Advertising. So, if Facebook is taking money for Fake clicks, and it was proven, Advertisers will stop advertising with the Facebook model provided that they won't sue the company for the thousands they previously paid in vain. 
The US State Department paid 650,000 dollars on Facebook Ads and got less than 2% engagement. 

Conclusion,

Although Click Farms are getting more and more popular and they sometimes click on Facebook Ads, I believe that a company as big as Facebook knows very well how to avoid such invalid clicks, because without Strict Quality Assurance, the will be history. 

Read More: 

How low-paid workers at 'click farms' create appearance of online popularity

Fake facebook twitter and youtube clicks are big business

Google Publisher Toolbar: To know Everything About the ads on your site

Avoid clicking on ads on your sites to know their destination URLs. With the Google Publisher toolbar for Chrome you can view your DoubleClick for Publishers, AdSense or AdExchange Seller account data without leaving your website.

Whether you're using AdSense, Ad Exchange or DoubleClick for Publishers, with the Google Publisher Toolbar you can view information on each of your Google ads, block unsuitable creatives, and see an account overview, all while browsing your own site. 

The Google Publisher Toolbar adds an overlay to each of your Google ads, which provides some basic information about the ad, including its size, display URL and the advertiser name. 

Clicking on the overlay generates an Ad Details pop-up with more detailed data including:

• A link to the ad’s landing page, allowing for safe clicks. 
• Summary reporting on the ad unit including performance metrics, such as clicks, RPM and estimated revenue. 
• The buyer name. 
• The display URL. 

From the Ad Details pop-up, you can also take action on an unwanted creative to block the ad, the URL or the ad network, or send feedback to Google. Clicking on the Google Publisher Toolbar icon generates the Account Overview pop-up that provides a helpful summary including: 

• An estimated account earnings summary for today, yesterday, this month or last month. 
• The top five channels or top five sites in descending order of revenue for today, yesterday, 7 days, this month and last month. 

With the Google Publisher Toolbar, you get an easily accessible account overview and enhanced insight into the ads on your page, together with the ability to manage creatives, without ever leaving your site.

How OutBrain Amplifying Content Works?

Dreaming of seeing your article featured on the CNN, USA Today, NY Times, or many other big names?

Outbrain.com for amplifying content is offering an exciting PPC advertising method, not for ads like Google, Microsoft, and yahoo are doing, but for actual content titles.

So, how does Outbrain works?  

Here is what they say about themselves:

Outbrain is the only content discovery platform dedicated exclusively to the distribution of high-quality content.
With Outbrain Amplify, links to your content appear as recommendations on the web's largest content publishers including sites like Wall Street Journal, Reuters & People.com.
Plus, Outbrain optimizes on engagement so the more interesting your content and the more traffic you drive, the more you will be recommended around the web.

How to Calculate your ROI for Online Advertising campaigns?

3 Years ago, a Sales Manager at Google Adwords, and a friend too, told me if you know the power of Online Adverting, you will keep your campaigns "Always On". Because if for every 1000$ you pay on advertising you gain 1300$ revenue, then why limit your budget if profit can be unlimited?

So, to be more convincing we need to Calculate the net profit by subtracting your costs from your AdWords revenue for a given time period. Then divide your net profit by your AdWords costs to get your AdWords ROI for that time period. 

Here's an example:

($1300               -	$1000)        /	$1000        =	0.3
Your revenue (measured by conversions)	Your overall costs	Your AdWords costs	Your ratio of profit to advertising cost is 30% -- this is your AdWords ROI.

Sometimes your ROI may require a different formula. For example, if you're interested in calculating the ROI for a page view or lead, you'll have to estimate the values of each of these actions.

A Yellow Pages ad for your business may cost $1000 per year and result in 100 leads. Ten of those leads become customers, and each customer provides a net profit of $120, after taking your business costs into account. So the value of each lead is $12 ($1200 net profit/100 leads), and your ROI for the Yellow Pages ad is 120% ($1200 net profit/$1000 advertising cost) x 100.

Here's the formula used in this example: (Total revenue - Total cost)/Advertising costs x 100 = Advertising ROI %

A simple alternative to estimating values for your leads and page views is to use a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) measurement. Acquisitions are the same thing as conversions: they're actions your customers take that you think are valuable, such as completing a purchase or signing up to receive more information.

Using this method allows you to focus primarily on how your advertising costs compare to the number of acquisitions those costs deliver. Using the Yellow Pages example again, your ad may cost $1000, resulting in 10 sales. So your CPA for that ad is $100. Here's the formula for CPA: 

(Costs/Sales) = CPA

Your CPA shouldn't exceed the profit you made from each acquisition. For your Yellow Pages ad, the CPA is 20% less than the profit the acquisitions provide.

Formula to calculate Cost Per Acquisition

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) is calculated as:

ad campaign cost/[number of impressions x CTR x CR]. 

Example: an advertiser pays a CPM of $10. For 20,000 impressions the advertiser has 5 percent click-through rate (CTR) to the landing (destination page). 30 percent of those 5 percent convert to paying customers(CR).

The calculation is: ($10.00 * 20,000Impressions / 1000)/(20,000*0.05*0.30) = $0.67. That is, the cost per acquisition is $0.67.

See Also:

• Cost Per Acuisition Formula for Local Business (Video)

A/B Testing for PPC Ads - Infographic

Source: t3n.de via GREY Germany on Pinterest

All Keywords Match Type Generation Tool for Adwords and Adcenter

Yesterday I stumbled upon a simple, yet handy, Keyword tool for PPC campaigns called Keyword Wrapper.
You insert a list of all your keywords as a broad match type and you hit "wrap". The tool will generate 4 lists of keywords with all the match types. (Phrase, exact, and Broad Match Modifier).

Here is how it looks like:

A Simple Way to Write Effective Ad Copies

• Headline – Use your main keyword
• Line 1 – Promote a benefit
• Line 2 – Show your USP (unique selling proposition)
• Display URL – Use Capitalization in your domain & add your keyword after the /. You can also remove the www from the Display URL if you need the extra room.

What to Check in an Adwords PPC Audit? And How to Manage Adwords?

What to Check in an Adwords PPC Audit? And How to Manage Adwords
If you want to audit an Adwords account for your company or for a client there are some areas, or if you want to manage a currently running account, there are few areas that most people skip , but managing them will increase your accounts efficiency, increase your Quality score and ad rank and decrease your cost per click.

1- Search Terms A Gold Mine

You may have added a long list of keywords to your ad groups (let’s say 1000 keywords for all the campaigns) and you left them running for a couple of weeks, your audience will trigger your ads with different keywords variations (about 100,000 variations). So, do you know where these variations are? And what to do with them? Go to the Keywords tab, selected click “See search terms” and select ALL.

This will show you the actual keywords your Ad is being shown for, their CTR (click through rate) and even conversion rates (if you set the conversions tracking).
This report is highly important because you might think that your conversions are coming from specific keywords, but running this report will show you that actual conversions were coming from more specific variants of their main keywords. Once you identify these keywords you have to either add them to their right ad groups or create new campaigns (or ad groups) for them.

2- How long is your Negative Keywords List?

After you run your report, scan the keyword list it gives you for phrases that don’t match your product or business. Add those keywords as a negative search term for that Ad Group or Campaign.

3- Use Match Type to separate Important Keywords

If you have specific ad groups for brand keywords, competitors, industry related keywords, strategic exact match keywords, etc. you may need to exclude all the targeted keywords in one ad group from the rest ad groups to be able to know precisely how your keywords and ad groups are performing. For example, if you have an ad group for your exact match keywords [buy Samsung S4 online] and [buy iphone 5 online] you will have to add these phrases as negatives to the rest of your ad groups. Or if you have an ad group for your competitors, you will also add them as negatives to the rest of ad groups keywords lists. But be careful with this method because you might add a very important keyword as a negative keyword in a top campaign level without adding it as a positive keyword in the right place. If you are not sure of what you are doing, it is not important to use the above method as it won’t affect your campaigns performance. It is only helpful if you are savvy for accurate data.

4- Use Tightly Themed Ad Groups

When you start a new Ad Group Do Not Overload it with Keywords! This is a major mistake that many people make. You need to keep your Ad Groups very targeted.

• Digital Cameras
• DSLR Cameras
• Compact Cameras
• Telescopic Cameras

Those should be 3 unique Ad Groups. Resist the urge to pile them into one Ad Group because they are all cameras.

5- Play with the Quality Score rules:

If you do not have Quality Score enabled, click on the Keywords tab and select Columns. Make sure the Quality Score is checked. Try to get 7/10 and above for all your keywords. Try to improve any score lower than a 7 and anything lower than a 5 is a serious issue.
Usually Quality Scores can be improved simply by doing a better job of grouping your keywords and writing ads with the specific keyword appearing in the ad at least twice.
If you are doing that and still getting a low score it could be that your CTR is too low or your landing page needs to be more relevant for that keyword. As a last resort simply delete the problem keyword. This is much easier to do if it is a low traffic keyword to begin with.
Sometimes Google will give you a low Quality Score for seemingly no reason at all. You may think you are doing just about everything right and still get a lower Quality Score. In these cases you may want to use a high Quality Score broad match or phrase match keyword combined with a HUGE list of negative terms to get Google to mainly only show your ad for the keyword you’re having issues with. Hopefully you will not have to go to that extreme.

7- Split Testing

You need to be split testing ads against one another. Every Ad Group you have should be running at least two variations of an ad at all times in an effort to find a better performing ad.
However, after you have been split testing ads for a while you will find it harder and harder to beat your best ad. This is where split testing can actually hurt you because 50% of your clicks will be going to an underperforming ad.
The solution is to duplicate your best ad 3 times (or more) and run it against 1 copy of your new ad. This will keep your CTR steady while you test. You can play with the mix to get a percentage you are comfortable with.
Remember to go into your campaign settings and set your ads to rotate more evenly so you can get an accurate split test.

Source: 10 Details Tips for managing Adwords campaigns 

How Display Adverting Can Cost More than Just the Money?

Every Advertising Specialist (Whether Online or Offline) knows how important selecting the Ad space is. No company wants to put its Ad in the wrong place, or in a hidden space. That is why I highly recommend not to use the Automatic placements. Imagine if you are offering travel packages to Greece, you do not want to put your banners over a site citing news about turmoils in Athena because the Automatic placements engine will relate the keywords without understanding the CONTEXT. Or if you are a MacDonald's like brand you don't want to put your sandwiches pictures beside a title that says junk food is bad for your health.


Here are some funny examples on how ads can cost more than just the money.

1-Misplaced Offline Ads

2- Misplaced Online Ads

Photos Source:

• Here Are The Most Hilarious, Unfortunate Online Ad Placements Ever
• 23 Of The Most Hilariously Unfortunate Ad Placements Ever