January 2016 | The Web Authority

January 27, 2016January 22, 2016

As Search Shrinks, Social Grows

Man having an idea! — Mobile has shaken the world of search.

As a void is created in search by the changes that the mobile web has brought about, social media is filling the gap by becoming the “go to” location for reviews and personal recommendation.

“Is Search (As We Know It) Dying” is an excellent point of view and a great read for today. As the author notes, social media icons like Facebook are deep into development for the next generation of search and mobile use. One of the biggest pushes are for artificial intelligence and personalized assistants; keeping users tied in and connected.

Take into account activity on social networks, where queries like “I am visiting London, England next week, what have you done or loved that I should make sure to put on my to do list?” are commonplace and readily answered by friends, family and acquaintances.

Although users have loved, then hated, and now appear to love again social sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, I am seeing more businesses and consultants feel that it is now time to get serious about establishing and keeping a presence on these social media sites.

Courtney Danyel (the author of the aforementioned article) puts it all succinctly in this ending comment, “In the long run, brands and businesses focusing the majority of their energy on optimizing for search will face the inevitability of stunted reach and growth.” I could not agree more.

January 25, 2016January 22, 2016

Mobile Spells the Death of Google

I read an article with interest this last week that laid out a very compelling case for the death of search engines. You can read the full article called “Is Search, As We Know It, Dying?”

The key takeaway that I have seen on my own is that the increased used of mobile devices is turning the regular world of search upside down. Consider on Google AdWords – activity in mobile means increased website traffic, more clicks, but does not translate into more conversions.

As mobile activity has increased in Google AdWords, computer activity has decreased and with it conversions, time on page, and the bounce rate has increased.

Google and Bing continue to scramble to make search meaningful for smartphone users by introducing interactive maps with ads but users are looking for other resources via apps to get the information they want.

Just consider how searches for hotels, venues, and restaurants has changed. Trip Advisor is a great example of how a mobile app is replacing traditional search for smartphone users.

Just yesterday I needed a round tablecloth, I did not search on Google, but rather started my search directly on Amazon.com.

With Google and Bing getting pressure to keep their search audience and websites like Amazon and mobile apps like Trip Advisor stepping in to provide targeted quality search results, we may be seeing the demise of traditional search engines in the next three to five years and maybe even sooner.

For more about me, Nancy McCord, and McCord Web Services, please visit our website at www.McCordWeb.com.

January 20, 2016January 18, 2016

Google Shopping Best Practices

Use Google Shopping with Keyword Targeted AdWords.

If you have an online store, you’ll want to be using Google AdWords Google Shopping ads because Google shows pictures of your products mixed in with the organic search results. Does that mean if you are using Google Shopping you should not be using regular AdWords – no absolutely not!

For best performance you should use Google AdWords Shopping Ads PLUS regular Google AdWords.

Here’s why:

Google Shopping ads will show for very specific search queries and in some instances, but not as frequently as you might wish, on related search queries.
What if an end user does not know the brand or model number of your products? A regular Google AdWords PPC program, with remarketing, and even a dynamic search ad program will complete online coverage for you. This gives you the best of all worlds and allows for greatest ad visibility.
Cost per click (keyword targeted AdWords) may actually cost less than costs in Google Shopping. If you see your cost per click continuing to escalate in Google Shopping try adding a keyword specific campaign to your advertising mix to expand cost effective opportunities and ramp back your cost per click settings in Google Shopping.
Even if you don’t want to move into regular AdWords pay per click advertising on keywords, make sure you are at the minimum using remarketing and dynamic search ads in conjunction with your Google Shopping program. This will give you greater market penetration.

Get started out right in Google AdWords with professional set up that includes the first four weeks of account management.

January 18, 2016January 18, 2016

Insights Into Mobile Lead Generation in Google AdWords

I manage many AdWords accounts across a diverse selection of verticals and wanted to share with you an insight that I am finding out appears to be true for many of our clients.

Mobile is a very important part of the lead generation equation; even if you are not seeing strong lead generation coming directly from mobile do not discount its importance.

Here’s one test I did recently…

I moved a client totally out of mobile using a -100% bid as their Google Analytics traffic stated that only 3.0% of their visitors were coming in from a mobile device. This client runs a Yahoo store and is using one of Yahoo’s generated mobile websites.

Immediately we saw a 12% drop in overall conversions, a 33.87% drop in cost, a 35.38% drop in clicks, and 27.17% increase in cost per conversion.

What I am finding out is that for many clients mobile activity, when stopped completely, causes a drop in even desktop conversions.

So although mobile is valuable for your overall lead generation strategy controlling the bid is very important.

Google recommends using this formula to assign the correct bid for mobile to achieve the best return on ad spend.

(Mobile conversion rate divided by the desktop conversion rate) – 1. This give you the percentage to be up or down in your bid.

I personally review all accounts every 30 days and when I am in the account on a weekly basis review the setting based on an upward or downward trend in mobile conversions to tweak the bid.

Mobile bidding is certainly not a set and forget setting. Your success or lack of success in this important segment will impact your overall program’s conversions.

To get us to manage your AdWords account, it starts with a phone call. You can reach our office after today’s holiday at 540-693-0385.