Category: Google AdWords

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AdWords Third Party Compliance – We Passed

My business was just reviewed this past month by Google under their new Google AdWords third party compliance program. You can read all the details about this new Google AdWords policy in this article by Google. As a Google AdWords Certified Partner, being in compliance is important. If you are found to not be compliant, Google can remove your certification and even disable your ability to manage accounts.

My firm passed the review which is now to be done yearly or in some cases more frequently if Google receives complaints about a Partner. I have to say the review was thorough! As we operate transparently and were already adhering to Google policies the audit was not a problem for us, but for others, may require a change in business model, updates to their website, or new information communicated to every customer.

In summary this is what Google requires your Google AdWords Certified Partner to do:

  1. “At the minimum provide advertisers with monthly data on AdWords costs, clicks and impressions at the account level.”
  2. “All third parties primarily serving small to medium-sized clients are required to provide the Google Disclosure Notice.”
  3. “Third parties may not engage in unclear, deceptive or harassing sales practices.”
  4. “Third parties may not misrepresent their relationship to Google.”
  5. “You may not make improper guarantees about Google to your clients.”
  6. “You may not violate Google’s branding guidelines.”
  7. “You may not improperly use AdWords accounts, or AdWords marketing or sales material.”

You’ll want to check out the full article as I know of several situations when client’s have told me what other AdWords service suppliers have said to them are in direct violation with the policies.

As for me, I feel that a compliance review is a good thing. It keeps Google AdWords Certified Partners on a level playing field. No more having to compete for a client against a competing service that is saying they have a special preferential relationship with Google and that they get special deals that I can’t possibly get and give to the prospect.

Thanks Google for helping to make the Google AdWords Certified Partner status I work hard to get and keep mean something!

You can verify our Partner status with Google AdWords.

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Google AdWords Trademark Violations Explained

In this video, Nancy McCord President of McCord Web Services, shares her insights on trademark use on Google AdWords. In this video you will learn:

  • Trademark policy overview on Google AdWords
  • What a trademark violation flag looks like in the AdWords control panel.
  • What you can do to lock up your own trademark from use in Google AdWords.
  • How to resolve a trademark issue in Google AdWords.
  • Tips to prevent trademark problems in AdWords.
  • Why you need to be concerned about trademark violations and flags.

For information about our Google AdWords advertising services please visit our programs page.

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Google AdWords Advertising Services – Local Start

Sometimes it is not practical for a business to hire a Google AdWords™ account manager. Let’s be real about it, sometimes the fees for account management are too high for a business who wants to just test Google AdWords™ or has a small initial budget.

For this very special type of customer my firm has developed a very special program called Local Start™.

These are the types of clients that would want to consider our Local Start™ Program:

  • Have a 30 day click budget from $100 to $300
  • Want to show their ads in a 15 mile radius from their business location
  • Do not have the skills to self manage and AdWords account
  • Are not interested in having regular account management
  • Are really looking for a turn-key automated option for Google AdWords
  • Wants to have their ads show in Google Maps searches

Our Local Start™ program is perfect for these scenarios. Building an AdWords Express™ account treed off of your Google Places™ account, we help you get the local exposure you need plus harness the massive power of Google to help get the word out about your local business.

Although Local Start™ is not a good match for all businesses, it may be the perfect solution for some that are just now considering Google AdWords™ as an option.

For businesses that really want to test Google AdWords™ at a higher monthly ad spend, need professional help and guidance, we recommend our Quick Start™, Fast Start™ or Power Start™ programs. To find out more about all these programs, please visit our Google AdWords™ advertising services page.

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Google AdWords and the New Auction Insights

Just this last week Google AdWords added an “auction insights” icon to AdWords control panels. On certain keywords (on the keyword tab or keyword rollup found on your campaign tab) you may see a small block graph icon. Tick the box next to the keyword and then click the button called “keyword details” and then select “auction insights”.

AdWords will return a list of your actual competitors and your position in the AdWords auction. The table will show the following data:

  • Impression Share
  • Average Position
  • Overlap Rate
  • Position Above Rate
  • Top of Page Rate

This information is very important and allows you to be much more strategic about your bidding and to understand more fully what is happening in your account. This additional transparency is welcome indeed and I would like to thank Google for providing it.

Here are a few things you can do with the data:

  • If your impression share is high and you are in the top position, you can lower your click cost to have a greater ROI (return on investment).
  • You can actually see the names of the businesses and sites you are competing against. You can harvest these names and do an additional ad group to try to take additional market share away from them. This is a short term approach, but as Google will most likely drive the quality score of these keywords down quickly, but you can bleed off a bit of traffic and boost CTR. It just depends on how competitive you want to be.
  • If your impression share is low and you are not in the top position as frequently as you would like, this may be a good time to optimize and possibly increase your bid.
  • If your impressions share is high, your ROI great, you may want to consider breaking out that keyword and variations of it into its own ad group to get an even higher quality score and even better return.

I have to say that I personally feel that the auction insights tool is a wonderful refinement to AdWords. Knowing who you are competing against and how you really stack up against them by keywords is excellent and a feature I will be using to strategically position my clients in their marketplaces.

For more on how my firm can help you with Google AdWords, please visit our Google AdWords services page for account management options.