Month: May 2012

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Google Cracks Down on Misleading AdWords Service Providers

All third party service providers of Google AdWords™ advertising account set up and management services are being audited. I am in the middle of my compliance review right now. For some businesses who perform Google AdWords™ services, this will be a real wakeup call!  I won’t name names, but there are some big mainstream providers whose names I hear from clients consistently as offenders.

It is about time that Google really cracked down on what third party providers sell in regards to Google AdWords™. I cannot begin to tell you about the phone calls I have received from clients shopping for a new account manager and the misinformation that they have been told about their service providers relationship with Google.

I have heard from prospective clients that their current account managers have:

  1. A special relationship with Google to get clicks at a lower cost or bundled price.
  2. They have a deal with Google that their ads get top placement always.
  3. That they buy placement on Google as well as buy keyword activity in bulk.
  4. That they and only they get special pricing and their clients don’t compete in the AdWords auction.
  5. That their account is not transportable and that they are not allowed account access.
  6. They get special ad positions from Google because of who they are.
  7. If you spend so much in a 30 day period, Google will match it dollar to dollar up to $10,000.
  8. If you pay them you are guaranteed top placement of your ads in Google Places.

If you are tired of being mislead by your account provider or been approached with these types of selling tactics, you can complain directly to Google about that service. Rest assured that they will be found out in the months to come as ALL third party providers come under the AdWords™ services compliance microscope.

At McCord Web Services, we make no margin or commission on any clicks delivered in  your account. Find out from Google more about working  with third party account managers like McCord Web Services. McCord Web  Services manages your account with the highest level of integrity and adheres  strictly to Google’s policies to provide full transparency for how clicks are  delivered and how your budget is spent. At all times, you have full access to  your AdWords™ advertising account.

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Microsoft adCenter Name to Be Updated?

I follow adCenter on Twitter and noticed that this past week they had announced the new name for their service is Bing Search Advertising. Interesting… as a Microsoft Advertising Accredited Professional, I wonder when adCenter will be changing their name and the adCenter program will be updating their professionals badge.

Here are a few of the  names I might recommend to them:

Bing Accredited Professional

Bing Advertising Certified Professional

Bing Advertising Accredited Professional

It will be very interesting to see what happens to the program in the months to come. Personally, I feel that adCenter is a good program. I like the interface and they have picked up many of the tools that AdWords has that make account management easy and serve ads better like inline editing, broad match modifiers, and radius targeting.

In the weeks to come, we’ll be updating our own adCenter services to offer a bundled program with AdWords. In the meantime, you can review more information about adCenter advertising and our account management programs.

 

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Bing’s New Local Business Portal is a Winner

The Bing Local Business Portal may not have gotten your attention, but I am here to say that you really need to check out this very smart and innovative new tool.

Here’s why:

  • Create your local listing on Bing.com. You create a business page just like you do in Google Places. The listing will be shown in Bing local searches on Bing.com typically above the organic searches.
  • Create your own unique mobile site right in the portal. Mine is http://bbp.ms/vawigk. Make sure you grab your own link when you create yours as it is hard to find in the control panel after it has been made.
  • Create deals, events, and promotions and even unique QR codes for your deals online.
  • When you create a deal, Bing will post the deal right on to your Facebook page when you select to do so.

You can set up your own page here: http://www.bingbusinessportal.com to find out all that this new Bing Business Portal can do visit their FAQ page. It all starts with claiming your listing and then updating your business information as appropriate. You will need to verify yourself as the business owner once by phone PIN or regular mail, but once set up you have full access to all the tools.

With localized searches and a mobile presence an important tool to being found online today, this application is free to use and really worth a careful look. Bing has done a very nice job making this local site a valid business tool, not just a placeholder page.

 

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Google’s Animals Impact SEO for the Future

Google’s growing zoo of animals that includes a Panda and Penguin have changed the complexion of search engine optimization forever. Just what is this zoo of animals you ask? Panda and Penguin are just two of the names of recent far-reaching Google algorithm updates. These two important updates have hit web businesses with a low relevance penalty relegating their placement to a figure so low that no one can find them in Google’s index; quashing businesses in the process.

These two updates focus on links, content relevancy, and optimization techniques. All of these Google has deemed to be “unnatural” and thus warranted of being filter out of their index. But, in the process many legitimate businesses have seem their income drop to nearly nothing and are scrambling to remediate their website.

What’s the Future Impact?

From my personal perspective these are the long term impacts that affect the search engine optimization industry:

  1. Link building will have to happen naturally through great content and article marketing only to high value industry niche sites. This means a higher level of writing and no more article spinning or article placement on a number of sites.
  2. Website content must no longer be considered thin but in-depth unique and informative. This requires a better level of writing and a clear strategy for content creation.
  3. Want to create a website mainly to make money off of AdSense ads? Better find a new way to make money. It appears that Google is really filtering out these types of sites that typically try to build placement with “easy” links and have thin keyword dense content.
  4. Watch the level of keyword density. It used to be that to move a site we worked on a 7% keyword density. Now we can only strive for between 1% and 2.3% or so and not get dinged by Google as overly optimized. It means that content really needs to be readable first and optimized second.
  5. Off site conversations need to be beefed up on social media with links and information pointing back to the parent website, but in a meaningful way. That means a real conversation with followers not a commercial in every update.

Search engines are rewarding quality, large, authoritative websites that are consistently working to provide a rich information experience to readers. If you are looking for a firm to help you position yourself for this new world of search engine optimization, I invite you to check us out at www.mccordweb.com.