Category: Google

Posted on

Google’s New Friend Connect

Finally I have finished integrating Google’s new Friend Connect into my website content pages. If you don’t know what Friend Connect is, it is a new programmer-free social interface that allows any website to use hi-tech programming features to allow site visitors to interact with the content. The key is that with Friend Connect you do not need to have any programming skills.

I have used the page review rating and comment module in many pages of my website. You can visit our instruction section to click through the various pages to see how it looks and how it works. Click into a few pages and you can see how the modules act and work on the page. Leave a comment, mouse over the stars and leave a rating and you can do so anonymously.

Personally I found the application after a few dry runs, extremely easy to work with and simple to install. There are several modules you may want to consider for your use. You can install a comment module that even allows video upload, a website rating module, a page comment and rating module, and a friend network module. For my needs, I am only using the page rating.

One thing that I have found is that it is best to only have one comment or rating module on a page otherwise the application gets confused.

It is easy to style the modules anyway you want from inside Friend Connect and then style the <div> that contains the content back in your source code. Implementation of Friend Connect is still best for webmasters or people who know their way around source code.

I consider the application a new exciting way to interact with website visitors. Take a look and tell me what you think by clicking comments below.

Posted on

Anchor Text Explained

Anchor what?Anchor what? Anchor text- this is the phrase that appears underlined in any link, and search engines consider anchor text highly important.

Here are few examples fo good and bad anchor text in use as a quick tutorial:

Poor use of anchor text:

Click here to download our white paper of Google AdWords. (Note the anchor text in this example is click here.)

Great use of anchor text:

Review our 9 page white paper comparing Google AdWords to Yahoo Sponsored Search now! (See the difference? Much more meat for search engines and actually more descriptive of what the link is actually about.)

Not only should great anchor text be used in websites, but in blog posts, e-newsletters and any online content including feature articles and even press releases. If you provide reciprocal link exchanges change your anchor text to not underline your business name, but rather your services using important keywords.

Using improved anchor text in all you do online is just one small yet simple way to boost your organic search placement.

Posted on

Google Using Organic Search to Determine Cost Per Click Values in AdWords

Jeremy Chatfield of Merjis has said it best in this post detailing why some keywords in AdWords accounts will never generate impressions. Additionally he predicted on 9-16-08 some of the impacts of the 9-15-08 AdWords quality score updates would actually mean for advertisers. His predictions have come true. Read this interesting article on how he feels that Google develops the cost per click for brand new accounts before the ads even start to run in this post from his blog from trends in organic search.

I have gone back to read this post several times over the last month and feel that Jeremy has nailed what happens in AdWords and that Google uses trends and histories accumulated from activity in organic search to determine the value of a click in their network. If you have ever wondered why great keywords in your accounts will not show impressions no matter what you do, you will find the answers in his post.

Jeremy Chatfield is a leader in the Google AdWords professional account manager community. We became friends in one of the Google AdWords support forums (even before social networking). I think that you will agree that several of his key points deserve particular merit and consideration.

1. …in addition the PageRank derived algorithms, some kind of AI that collects information about clusters of words and their proximity.

2. [In regards to cost per click]…The weaker the synonym, the higher the very first (Initial) MinCPC you are offered.

3.  …When I see “$0.22″ in a new account, I immediately assume that it is the Initial MinCPC, just after the AdGroup has been made, and that the keyword is a close synonym of advert copy. If I see a $0.50, I assume a weaker synonym.

4.  …[On the Google Slap] When this happens with rarer searches, and a business depends on that stream, it can look as though Google has made a decision to pull the plug on the business. Impressions on a carefully chosen set of keywords can die to nothing, overnight. Phone calls to Google will result in denials of any changes to the system. But still the business is in the pits.

Transparency has not been one of Google’s strong suits and with the Google announcement that they make between 10 to 50 quality score updates a month (see this past Wednesday’s post) it has to be assumed that this is really all about profit generation and not improving the consumer experience in reality.

Google’s motto used to be “Do No Harm”. I now recommend that the motto be changed to “Get What You Can, Fool!”

Unfortunately we in the professional and advertising community have helped Google to control us in this manner, we jumped when Google Analytics was offered! How do you think that Google has leared the value of a click and the value of click through rate on websites, but by taking the proprietary information, that we used to guard closely, that they now harvest from Google Analytics, as well as trends in Google.com search activity and history from iGoogle and personalized search results to create golden handcuffs for us and to bleed us for cash in AdWords.

What is particularly unfortunate in this whole scenario is that there is not really a strong viable platform alternative to Google AdWords. If there was, then Google would not be able to exert the control that it does on advertisers and their pocket books. If there was ever a case to prevent Google AdWords ads from showing on the Yahoo Search network, this is it!

Posted on

AdWords Shows Activity From Search Partners

Just posted this last week on the Google AdWords blog was a note that AdWords will now show, in the campaign view, separate activity from the Search Partner network. You can read the full article and see a screen shot at the AdWords blog.

For many client accounts we do not enable Search Partners but now we have metrics that will help accounts to decide if this is a good or bad option for them. Previously any Search Partner activity was recorded in the Search activity.

Just what exactly is the Search Partner network and what does it consist of? Well according to Google, they hang the big carrot over your head encouraging you to be in the Search Partner network. Some people even think erroneously that the Search Partner network is Google.com.  Here’s what Google says about the Search Partner network:

Search partners include AOL, Ask.com, and many other search sites around the web.

What Google does not spell out here but any Googler at the customer service phone number will clarify for you is that any site, yes ANY site – even including Joe Plumber’s website, that has a Google search bar is included as a Google Search partner. Some good ones are Adobe.com, AOL.com, ASK.com, but also sites like AskDaveTaylor, Business.com, and others small and large. In fact if I used a Google Search box on my website, I would be considered a Search Partner.

Improving the transparency of activity from Google Search Partners is a very good thing as enabling your ads to be shown in the Search Partner network can be a big budget sapper and render some of your clicks to be of questionable quality. Now you will have a tool to help you decide if showing ads in the Search Partner network is good for you.