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Adwords - Top Tactics for Tough Times

Google have published a useful list of tactics for optimising your paid search campaigns during the economic downturn.

http://www.google.com/adwords/tactics

1. Focus your ads on low prices and savings

2. Use value-related keywords

3. Make sure your ad groups are targeted and relevant

4. Don't waste money on irrelevant clicks

5. Make it easy for customers to buy

6. Focus your money on your high-performers

The full article is here

Google mobile search ads - perfect for fast moving challenger brands

Google mobile search ads are a vastly underused channel for brands in my opinion. The good news is this means that at the moment they are a relatively cheap way for challenger brands to reach prospects in a recession.

Even big auto brands like BMW, VW, Jaguar, Honda, Ford, Toyota, Mercedes and Audi are not advertising on Google mobile. Their ads were missing from a quick search I did back in December 08 and again on Google mobile today, despite each having a mobile internet site. This seems like laziness on the part of media planners, or have these brands tested mobile search ads and found them lacking? Not enough search volume on mobile? Maybe they just don't want people to go to their mobile sites? Who knows.

Come to think of it, Audi aren't advertising on "proper" Google on PC at all at the moment, either. They are relying on natural search and not paying for any PPC, so they're excused :)

The only auto brands I could see advertising on Google mobile were Renault and Fiat - challenger brands - and SwiftCover car insurance. Do SwiftCover count as a challenger brand too? Maybe. They were certainly advertising against all the car brand keywords.

While a good channel for most brands, mobile ads are particularly obvious for mobile handset manufacturers, and mobile entertainment  brands (mobile games etc). Again, for mobile games it's the new challenger brands who tend to be advertising on mobile (www.lastlevel.mobi), as well as bigger brands like EA Mobile. While mobile handset and operator brands like Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, O2 and Carphone Warehouse aren't advertising at all on google mobile. That's just weird if you ask me.

Here's a 1 minute google mobile video with requisite iPhone-style imitation west coast drawl voiceover. Actually, looking at this video I can see why nobody has bothered advertising. Most people have probably fallen asleep by the end.

We love the SEO Rapper

aka the Poetic Prophet - Paid Search 101 Rap

Google allow alcohol brands to advertise spirits in the UK

Google have changed their policy on "Hard alcohol and liqueur" - spirits like Whiskey, Rum, Vodka etc. Previously these ads were banned on Google. From this week spirit ads are allowed in the US, with plans to roll them out in the rest of the world soon, with spirit Google ads in the UK expected in January.
 
Ads for beer, wine and champagne are also now also allowed on Google, in a change to previous policies.

From Google's adwords blog:
"To comply with the updated hard alcohol and liqueurs policy, advertisers must promote the information about hard alcohol and liqueurs that their websites contain, such as recipes and brand messages. Ads that directly promote the sale of hard alcohol and liqueurs are still not permissible through <Google's> program. In contrast, advertisements for beer may directly promote its sale.

For example, under the hard alcohol and liqueurs policy, you might market to individuals searching for helpful and relevant alcohol-related information by promoting holiday cocktail ideas or the caloric content of popular spiked beverages. Under the beer policy, you might state a specific sales promotion for a great winter ale."
 
See the Google blog, the updated Google alcohol policy, and you can see beer ads live on Google in the UK here.

Google Analytics in 60 Seconds: Find the Best Keywords

Actually it's 90 seconds, but it's a pretty good overview of how Google Analytics can be used to track which google search keywords are actually bringing sales, and which are just burning up media budget.

Google mobile voice activated search on iPhone

This looks cool - wish I had an iPhone

Selling cars with Google 101 - Search

Here's a video from Google it's a simple introduction to how car dealers and auto brands can use google search ads to sell more cars. It's got a US voiceover, but it's all still relevant to the UK market. At 5 minutes in they start talking about geo-targeting - showing specific ads to users based on their geographic location in the UK - ie a prospect in Birmingham automatically sees an an ad for Toyota's Birmingham dealership when he searches on Google for Toyota.

A lot of auto brands and car dealers aren't using this yet, and I don't really understand why not.