Perspective on Dynamic Search Ads - Guest Q & A with RKG

Since introducing Dynamic Search Ads in beta in October, we�ve seen questions from around the web asking about real-world performance and recommendations for implementation. Today we�re grateful to share the perspectives of Matt Mierzewski and Jen Syverud at RKG, an online marketing services firm with B2B and B2C clients ranging from startups to the Fortune 500 (details about RKG below).

Here�s a short video followed by Q&A. RKG has further offered to answer any other questions you might have about their experience with Dynamic Search Ads over on their blog.

Q. What�s your strategy for using Dynamic Search Ads with your clients today?

We think of Dynamic Search Ads as an advertiser-specific broad match type. Here, instead of allowing Google to match searches related to your keywords, you're allowing them to match searches related to your website.

For advertisers without automated pay-per-click inventory-based management solutions, Dynamic Search Ads can help identify products that are new or re-emerging. The system is tremendous in keeping up with changes to inventory in real time. For example, a product line may have been suspended for years, but quietly (without the search marketing team's knowledge) appears back on the website. In this case, keywords for the product line would still be paused until the marketing team is made aware, but Dynamic Search Ads are able to catch the change immediately, create ads, and generate orders. As another example, for advertisers frequently offering clearance products, Dynamic Search Ads are similarly able to offer ads while these limited quantity items are in-stock. In both examples, Dynamic Search Ads act as a safety net for advertisers wishing to advertise on dynamic products and/or inventories.

Q. What were your main concerns with Dynamic Search Ads and how have you addressed them?

One initial concern was that Dynamic Search Ads would cannibalize existing traffic, siphoning it away from active keyword campaigns. What we found was that the vast majority of Dynamic Search Ads traffic was complementary to our campaigns. Another concern was that we would have little to no control over what keywords Google was able to match on. However, Google has provided a great deal of controls within the Dynamic Search Ads product to ensure that the matching queries are relevant to the advertiser.

Q. What does your typical implementation of Dynamic Search Ads look like?

Implementation strategies will vary. In general, however, it is wise to consider pages that the advertiser wishes to exclude, as well as any known keyword negatives within the accounts, and add those from day one. From there, segmenting pages into campaigns or ad groups based on product margin, conversion rates, and so forth will allow for custom max CPC bids and maximum ROI.

Q. What best practices would you suggest for using Dynamic Search Ads?

Through restrictive targeting, exclusions and negatives, tight budgets and close monitoring, Dynamic Search Ads can be made very low risk and the results you see should be encouraging. For conservative advertisers, start by targeting only product level pages in your best converting categories.

A higher-level strategy is to add a site-wide target at a conservative bid with appropriate exclusions, and then layer on additional, more finely targeted ad groups and copy with bids corresponding to their expected performance. This approach is similar to the best practices for running Product Listing Ads and ensures wide coverage, but with a preference towards better quality traffic.

Use the power-tools that Google has made available in both targeting specific pages, while excluding other pages and search queries.

Q. How is Dynamic Search Ads doing with respect to matching relevant queries and landing pages?

With Dynamic Search Ads we can see every search that triggers a dynamic ad, the headline generated, the landing page selected, and, of course, performance stats. The searches that we�ve seen targeted are absolutely relevant to the website content -- it�s the only place Google is able to generate its targeting information from. If the system is matching to any query that the advertiser does not care to be matched on to meet their performance goals, it is very easy to restrict that traffic by URL or Keyword level negatives.

Q. What kind of results are you seeing with Dynamic Search Ads across your clients? Which is it working best for?

We�ve seen Dynamic Search Ads incremental sales impact range from 0.5% to 12%, so it�s important to note that individual account results may vary. The product is compatible with our tracking and reporting systems which makes it easy to measure performance and do head-to-head comparisons with our existing keyword-based campaigns.

Dynamic Search Ads work best for advertisers that have an extensive product offering and well developed web pages for Google to index and match relevant content to.

Q. What do you focus on when optimizing Dynamic Search Ads?

Like other AdWords campaigns, proper campaign management and optimizations are a necessity. Just like broad match, the Dynamic Search Ads product is most successful with carefully selected negative keywords, pages and categories of the website that do not perform optimally, and/or are not goal-oriented. Also similar to broad match, advertisers should monitor queries that produce conversions, and add them back as keywords to other AdWords campaigns.

Q. To what degree do you think Dynamic Search Ads are cannibalizing organic search traffic?

We haven�t seen evidence of cannibalization. But we�ll continue to evaluate performance and, if needed, make adjustments.

Q. Would you recommend Dynamic Search Ads for novice-to-intermediate or intermediate-to-advanced advertisers?

RKG would recommend Dynamic Search Ads for intermediate-to-advanced advertisers. Because it necessitates ongoing management, and is best utilized as a complement to robust keyword campaigns, it�s not likely to be a good fit for novice advertisers. Additionally, as previously mentioned, the richer the site content, number of pages, and breadth of product offering, the more fruitful Dynamic Search Ads will be. Naturally, these characteristics lend themselves to more established and sophisticated campaigns and advertisers.

About RKG

Founded in 2003, RKG is a data-driven digital agency that combines savvy marketers with sophisticated technology to deliver unrivaled results for over 180 clients in paid search marketing, search engine optimization, multichannel attribution management, display advertising and comparison shopping management. Long recognized as the thought leader in search marketing, RKG clients range from start-ups to the Fortune-500, and include both B2C and B2B direct marketers in retail, travel, finance and education. RKG is an independent, privately held agency with offices in Charlottesville, VA, Bend, OR and Boston, MA.

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew

A look at how display builds brands for marketers today

Last week, we shared examples of how direct response marketers are driving strong results with display advertising. But you�ve heard it before -- beyond driving immediate clicks and conversions, display builds brands. And as digital budgets accelerate, for an increasingly growing number of brands, display advertising has become an important part of their strategy. In fact, in the recently conducted Advertiser Intelligence Reports study, by Advertiser Perceptions, advertisers are planning on spending more digital display dollars in the next 12 months for brand goals than direct response.1

So this week, we�re turning our attention to pioneering brands who used display advertising as a critical component in their overall marketing mix to connect with their audience, engage them emotionally, and as a result, drive meaningful results. Let�s take a closer look.

Animal Planet attracted 1.6MM viewers for the season premiere of River Monsters, putting it in the #1 spot among its target audience, by running an integrated video and rich media campaign across YouTube, AdMob, and the Google Display Network. (read case study)

Volvo drove an 88% lift in purchase intent for its new S60 sedan by leveraging the YouTube homepage and masthead unit, interactive video ads on AdMob, and standard IAB ads on the Google Display Network. (read case study)

Sealy reinvented its Posturepedic brand using YouTube promoted video ads and in-stream video ads, which drove 46% of its website traffic during the first week of the campaign. (read case study)

At OMMA Global this week, we shared a simple framework for brand building that we developed after analyzing the campaigns of our most successful brand advertisers. These �better practices� focus on three key areas: connecting with the right consumer at the right moment, delivering an engaging message, and measuring the metrics that matter.

Connecting with the right consumer at the right moment. As consumers continue to access the internet more frequently throughout the day, from a multitude of devices, it�s increasingly important for brand marketers to create device-inclusive, rather than device-specific, campaigns. And by targeting a combination of audience and contextual signals, it�s now easier than ever to reach the right person, at the right time, on the right device through the Google Display Network or DoubleClick AdExchange.

Engaging them emotionally. The best display ads don�t just leverage sight, sound, and motion, but also harness display�s interactive capabilities that drive deep engagement with a brand. Our research shows that rich media ads drive significantly better brand performance than standard Flash ads--1.7X for brand awareness, 2.7X in purchase intent, and 5X increase in brand favorability.2 We also see that newer ad formats, like mobile display and in-stream video, are even more effective at moving consumers down the brand funnel. Lastly, we�ve seen masthead ads on the YouTube homepage garner an 11% interaction rate and drive a 4X lift in engagement compared to standard ads.3

Measuring more robustly. Looking beyond simple clicks and conversions, brand marketers use Campaign Insights to measure increased awareness and interest through the lift in search queries and website visits. Paired with Google Analytics and Multi-Channel Funnels, advertisers can see a complete picture of the chain of online and offline media that drives brand engagement. And to close the loop, many of our brands match geo-targeted display campaigns to offline sales to measure the true impact of a display ad campaign.

More and more studies show that brand marketers who focus on these three levers see the the greatest return on their display ad investment. With display�s ability to connect more precisely with your target consumer, engage more emotionally with interactive messages, and measure robust metrics along all parts of the purchase funnel, it�s no wonder that display builds brands.

Watch this space.
google.com/watchthisspace

(1) Advertiser Intelligence Reports (AIR) study, Advertiser Perceptions, August 2011
(2) The Brand Value of Video and Rich Media Ads, DoubleClick, September 2011
(3) YouTube Homepage Impact Study, Compete, December 2010

Posted by Brian Zeug, National Sales Director, Display and Video

A look at how display drives performance for marketers today

(Cross-posted from the AdWords Agency Blog)

Few would argue that online display advertising is playing an increasingly important role in the marketing mix. While we frequently talk about how the vast majority of our top advertisers have run a Google display campaign in the last year while continuing to increase their investment, today we�re shining a light on some specific examples.

For each brand we�re highlighting today, display was an integral part of their broader marketing strategy. To make it work, they tapped into a robust display advertising toolbox and applied targeting, creative, measurement and optimization solutions that made the most sense for their campaign objective. Let�s take a look at the results.

Airbnb increased the number of nights booked from 800,000 to 2 million with help from remarketing on the Google Display Network and TrueView video ads on YouTube. (Read case study)

Groupon acquired millions of subscribers with the help of contextual targeting and auto-optimization on the Google Display Network. (Read case study)

ShoeDazzle got 45% of their conversions from the Google Display Network by applying a variety of targeting and optimization tools. (Read case study)

At the heart of each success lies a common theme: Great display advertising happens when smart strategies are applied in three key areas: Finding the right customer, showing them the perfect ad, and measuring and optimizing effectively.

Find the right customer. Reaching just the right audience is at the crux of any successful campaign. In fact, marketers are saying the biggest driver of increased display budgets is the availability of better targeting technologies. (1) From remarketing strategies that reach 84% of users on a typical list, to interest categories that show interested users your message while respecting user privacy, we�re constantly innovating to precisely connect your message with your audience. And just last month, we shared strategies for applying the right targeting mix to extract the most out of direct response campaigns on the GDN.

Show them the perfect ad. You can find the right audience, but what do you tell them? With display, marketers have a wide-open canvas to connect with consumers to drive the results they care about. And an effective ad can come in any format. In fact, many of the brands we�re highlighting today used Standard IAB display ad units but with compelling messaging and beautiful creative that really resonated with their audience.

Measure and optimize based on real-time insights. Advertisers have always benefited from transparency into exactly where ads run, their costs, and the right metrics to measure campaign performance, providing actionable insights to optimize their campaigns. Our recent investments in measurement and optimization take this further. Marketers can now see a complete picture of the chain of impressions and clicks that drives campaign performance with Multi-Channel Funnels. And applying Google�s 10 years of experience in developing optimization algorithms, we�ve launched tools like Display Campaign Optimizer, which can be used to do fully automated bidding and targeting to boost conversions and ROI.

So today, while we�re celebrating these successes, more than that, there is a valuable insight here. The display toolbox is a rich one. It�s the agencies and marketers who tap into that toolbox and apply it in ways that make sense for their campaigns, who will greatly benefit from display as a medium. So.. will your campaign be the next one we shine a light on?

Watch this space.

google.com/watchthisspace

(1) Effective Audience Targeting Leads To Bigger Display Budgets, eMarketer, May 2011

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Product Marketing Manager, Google Display, Client Communications

Rimm-Kaufman Group discusses their experience with Product Listing Ads

Recently we had a chance to catch up with Matthew Mierzejewski of Rimm-Kaufman Group (RKG) to discuss his experience managing Product Listing Ads for his clients.

Founded in 2003, RKG is a data-driven online marketing firm that specializes in paid search marketing, multichannel attribution management, and display advertising. RKG has 170 clients that range from start-ups to the Fortune 500 and that include both B2C and B2B direct marketers. In August of 2008, RKG was named to Inc. Magazine's list of the Top 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America.

Matthew Mierzejewski, RKG�s VP of Client Services, has been working with Product Listing Ads for clients since they launched last year, and he�s offered to share some of his results and recommendations for other saavy marketers here:

Inside AdWords (IA): What initially drew your interest to Product Listing Ads?
Matthew Mierzejewski (MM): We have many retail clients who are looking for scalable ways to increase their presence in search. Because Google managed the targeting for Product Listing Ads, we wanted to see how much incremental traffic we could gather outside of our existing keyword-targeted campaigns. Also, the prominent ad listings with highly relevant product images are an extremely attractive ad space to play in.

IA: Was the implementation challenging?
MM: Most of our retail clients are already using Merchant Center to get free traffic in Google Product Search. For those clients, the basic CPC implementation was pretty simple. Furthermore, working with Google to implement some additional attributes was helpful and has allowed us to accurately track and improve our ROI.

IA: How much incremental traffic should an advertiser expect from Product Listing Ads?
MM: It varies a fair amount based on product category and bid level, but we see some clients getting up to 10% additional traffic from Product Listing Ads. These are clients who have already done a lot of work with their core keyword-targeted accounts, so it was great for them to have another tool available.

IA: How do the conversion rates for Product Listing Ads compare to keyword-target text ads in search?
MM: We've seen conversion rates up to 10% higher on Product Listing Ads compared to average text ad conversion rates. Taking it one step further and looking at queries that serve both a Product Listing Ad and a text ad to the same product-level landing page, we're seeing Product Listing Ads in some cases with a 30% higher conversion rate. With all other elements being held equal, we conclude that since the user is able to see the exact item of interest, price, and often a promotional message, they are more likely to convert per click in Product Listing Ads versus text ads.

IA: How do the costs for Product Listing Ads compare to keyword-targeted text ads in search?
MM: In general, where the data is significant and we're bidding effectively to ROI targets, we're bidding and paying up to 15% more on Product Listing Ads compared to text ads. Though, as I called out earlier, in many cases we're seeing a greater return on Product Listing Ads traffic, so we can afford to be slightly more aggressive [with our bids].

IA: How do results vary between clients who use cost-per-click (CPC) pricing versus those who use the cost-per-action (CPA) pricing?
MM: We don�t see much difference in terms of conversion rates between CPC and CPA pricing. Though, in general, clients who use CPC pricing have been able to get more volume than those who are using CPA pricing. We like the idea of CPA pricing, but if we optimize our CPC bids we�re able to meet our ROI goals just as easily. It�s all a matter of testing and optimizing.

IA: Who do Product Listing Ads work best for?
MM: Advertisers with products that already do well in natural product search are ideal, since they know that users are already searching for their products. In general, when a user�s query can closely match a specific product in your Merchant Center feed, you�ll do better. For example, canon eos 60d will do better than men's suit coat. Think of it as objective versus subjective user intent that a robot would have a hard time parsing out.

IA: What advanced tips do you have for an advertiser using Product Listing Ads?
MM: Advertisers should be using some combination of, if not all available, Merchant Center parameters available to them: adwords_grouping, adwords_labels, adwords_publish, and adwords_redirect. Those attributes should be used to set up granular product targets inside of AdWords. Segmenting those bids will ensure proper ROI goals can be met. Sometimes this means using multiple attributes together to get the best result.
Finally, you should consider utilizing promotional messages for various product targets. These can easily differentiate your ad from the competition and can lead to higher CTRs and CRs if you can afford the offers.

We�d like to thank Matthew and RKG for taking the time to talk to us about their experience with Product Listing Ads so far. To learn more, including how to get started and best practices, please visit our Help Center.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

New case study: How Enhanced CPC drives success with third-party bidding tools

Since we launched Enhanced CPC last year, many of you have used it to increase your conversions and ROI. In fact, approximately $3 billion in annual spend is now being managed through Enhanced CPC and Conversion Optimizer.

With Enhanced CPC, you can get more conversions at or below your current CPA by simply checking a box on your Settings tab. The feature uses your Conversion Tracking data to determine the likelihood that a user will convert and dynamically raises or lowers your bid for each auction based on this information. Since Enhanced CPC is designed to work with max CPC bids, you can continue to manage your bids as you always have�even if you use a third-party bidding tool.

W3i, a company that distributes and monetizes desktop and mobile apps, found success in using Enhanced CPC to complement their third-party bid optimization tool. Enhanced CPC incorporated Google�s unique knowledge of the user and auction to automatically adjust bids that were set by the third-party tool, thereby �enhancing� its performance.

By using Enhanced CPC with their third-party bid optimization tool, W3i increased their conversions by 19.7% and decreased their CPA by 9.7%. It also reduced the amount of time that they had been spending on manually adjusting bids based on factors such as time of day and allowed them to focus on their business. You can download the full case study here.

To learn more about how Enhanced CPC works with third-party bidding tools, visit our Help Center. There, you�ll also find instructions for enabling the feature in your account. Maybe the next Enhanced CPC success story will be yours!

Posted by Lisa Shieh, Inside AdWords crew

An AdWords take on Search Stories

During last year�s Super Bowl, we did something unprecedented for Google--we aired our first Super Bowl commercial. Our television commercial, Parisian Love, is what we now call a �search story,� since it tells a user�s story through the eyes of the Google.com search box.

Since the first airing of Parisian Love, many new search stories have been created. While each story is unique, they all highlight the ways in which users are searching, whether it�s on Google.com, Google Maps, or mobile--and whether users are clicking on a search result or an ad.

We believe that ads are information and can be a vital part of the search process. As AdWords advertisers, we know you feel that way too, and we wanted to share with you three of our favorite search stories. These stories are all very different, but they all feature ads! As you watch the videos, can you spot them all?

Healthy Habits
A woman takes up healthier habits.
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Love at First Bite

A sweet ending to missed connections in the big city.

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It's Greek to Me

A hesitant traveler discovers he's born to cruise.

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For the full video playlist, watch here.

Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew

Advertisers save time and uncover new keyword ideas with the Opportunities tab

If you�re a small business, time can often feel like your most valuable and most constrained resource. While you�re doing everything you need to do to keep your business up and running, important tasks like AdWords account optimization can fall to the bottom of your to-do list.

Knowing that time is a key factor for all AdWords advertisers, we created the Opportunities tab to provide you with automated and customized keyword, bid, and budget ideas. Here are two stories of advertisers who used the Opportunities tab to find new keywords quickly and easily.

Fitness Singles
Chris Mattioli founded Fitness Singles, a fitness-focused online dating website in 2003. With Chris�s dedication and some help from AdWords, he has grown his business to over one million global members today.

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Like many small business owners, Chris wanted to improve his AdWords performance, but didn�t have a lot of time to work on his account. When Chris discovered the Opportunities tab, he knew it was a good fit for Fitness Singles, since it allowed him to uncover new keywords quickly and easily.

Chris scans the keyword ideas in the Opportunities tab regularly to find terms related to fitness, online dating, and singles. He�s found many ideas that are similar to the keyword combinations and variations that are in his account, but that he may have accidentally overlooked. He�s also found completely new relevant keywords to include in his campaigns. In one instance, Chris saw terms such as promotion code and coupon among his keyword ideas. From there, he decided to add a number of discount-based keywords to his campaigns. Chris says, �The Opportunities tab can often find new keywords that are relevant our ads and that don't currently exist in our account. It also helps you identify new keyword areas--even when you thought you had it covered.�

resortsandlodges.com
Ryan Bailey, President and Co-Founder of resortsandlodges.com, describes his company as a full-service agency rather than a travel directory. "We have a rapidly growing client base of two thousand-plus and a business model that gives our clients turnkey marketing and advertising support.� While part of a large company, VEMGlobal.com, resortsandlodges.com runs as a small business and keeps its operations small and scrappy.

On the site, you can 'book your spot' to save your travel information, plan your next trip, and more
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Like Fitness Singles, resortsandlodges.com uses the Opportunities tab to find new keyword ideas and save time. Ryan says, �The Opportunities tab provides high-quality keywords--and a lot of ideas we wouldn�t have thought of otherwise, which is the whole point! It�s great that you can easily scan through the ideas and find hidden jewels and then apply those insights for both keyword selection and site optimization.�

Mollie Moore, the company�s interactive marketing manager, also used the Opportunities tab to help with a website redesign project in March 2010. The previous version of resortsandlodges.com had dozens of links at the bottom of the page, and Moore was tasked with de-cluttering and limiting these links to the most important content. Looking at the number of keyword ideas associated with a particular theme as well as the traffic estimates for each keyword idea, the team learned that �the most effective content sections were top destinations, popular resort types, popular trips, and so forth,� says Moore. �We also used ideas from the Opportunities tab to build out our meta titles, descriptions and keywords embedded in the back-end of every page on the site. Using the Opportunities tab, we can reduce guesswork in determining the most effective content."

To learn more about Fitness Singles and resortsandlodges.com and how they use the Opportunities tab, read their full case studies in the AdWords Help Center. You can learn more about the Opportunities tab in the AdWords Help Center or our YouTube video series.


Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew

International tourists find the Polish seaside through Google AdWords

Sebastian Hejnowski�s parents built the Villa Zdroj Bed and Breakfast in 2002 to share Poland�s beauty with weary travelers. Located in Miedzyzdroje, a city on the coast of Polish island Wolin, Villa Zdroj is one of the island�s first modern bed and breakfasts.

Sebastian�s parents handle reservations, property development and sometimes breakfast. Sebastian runs the advertising efforts for his parents� Villa, including Google AdWords. �When we first started our AdWords campaigns, we focused on Poland but we soon realized that there was increasing interest from our neighboring countries,� says Sebastian. When he noticed an upward trend in drop-in visitors from other countries, he decided to launch campaigns across Poland�s borders as well.

Villa Zdroj

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According to Sebastian, the variety of outdoor activities combined with the relatively inexpensive cost of Polish tourism make Wolin a vacation paradise for Germans and Scandinavians. �Germans and Scandinavians were coming to Miedzyzdroje, but mostly staying in expensive five-star hotels,� says Sebastian. �B&B�s were never an option since they didn�t know where to find them.� So Sebastian made Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden his first international targets. The strategy proved correct: �We were one of the first Polish B&B�s to create a website in English. When we targeted an AdWords campaign to these people, they started calling and booking reservations.�

As time went on, Sebastian noticed that Poland had become more and more accessible to Europeans due to an increase in flights to the area. To capitalize on this trend, Sebastian expanded his AdWords campaigns even beyond bordering countries. �With time we extended the campaign to the Great Britain and the Netherlands.� says Sebastian. �Europeans tend to explore new places and travel extensively.�

Sebastian with his family
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Today, foreigners account for more than half of Villa Zdroj�s guests. And Sebastian estimates that up to 60% of those international guests book Villa Zdroj because they found his AdWords ads.

Thanks to his effective targeting, Sebastian now sells out all of the villa�s rooms during peak summer travel season. He adjusts his ad campaigns to reflect availability: �In summer, we track vacancies and adjust our campaigns accordingly. We pause the campaigns if we�re booked a few weeks out.�

In 2012, Poland will host the Euro Cup and Sebastian�s dad is already getting ready for an influx of visitors. �My father is considering buying a big projector so everyone can watch the games together in the communal room,� says Sebastian. �We�re already excited to share the Polish seaside with more out of town visitors!�

Learn more about Villa Zdroj Bed and Breakfast and Sebastian�s successes online in this short video (it's in Polish, but you can view captions).

Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew

Going Global with Google

AdWords started with the idea of connecting you with customers searching for your goods and services - wherever those customers may be. Today, we're announcing the launch of Google Global Market Finder, a free online tool that helps you find new markets overseas, and Google Ads for Global Advertisers, a new website that brings together Global Market Finder, AdWords, Google Translate, and other tools that can help you find, engage with, and support your customers worldwide - whether those customers are consumers or businesses searching for suppliers online.

Global Market Finder helps you answer the question: who are my potential customers overseas?

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To use the tool, enter keywords that describe your product or service and select a market or region you'd like to explore. You can choose from regions such as the European Union, the �G20� economies, or the Americas.

Global Market Finder automatically translates your keyword into languages used in each of your selected markets. It then ranks each location by market opportunity by combining search volume, suggested bid price, and competition for each translated keyword. With this tool, businesses can answer questions like �how competitive is this market?�, �how does demand in one location compare to demand elsewhere in the world?�, and �how much would it cost to start advertising in this new market?� Since automatic translation is not perfect, be sure to confirm that the translated terms are appropriate for your business.

The second resource we're launching today is Google Ads for Global Advertisers, a website where you can learn more about Google tools that can help expand your business overseas. Google Ads for Global Advertisers contains step-by-step guides and tools that take you from local to global: from finding the right markets to expand your business, to localizing your website and campaigns into another language, to running ads in a foreign market, and finally, to monitoring your global ad spend.

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This website pulls together resources for you to:

• Find the right market for your products and services, by using tools such as the Global Market Finder
• Translate your websites and ad text using Google Translate Web Element and Google Translator Toolkit
• Reach new customers with relevant online ads
• Understand options for international payment, shipping, and customer service

On the website, you will also find examples of businesses like yours that have gone global using AdWords - examples such as a mosaic company in Lebanon, a bespoke shoe retailer in Sydney, a tech support company in India, and a bed and breakfast in Poland. We hope our new website and tools will help you reach overseas markets, whether you�re a small business testing exports for the first time, or a mid-sized company looking to grow your multinational business.

Both Global Market Finder and Google Ads for Global Advertisers will be available in 43 languages. There are more than 1.9 billion people online. Wouldn�t you like to add some of them as customers?

Posted by Michael Galvez and Srinidhi Viswanatha, Global Advertisers team

Great tech support and good karma found with Google AdWords online

Cross-posted from the Google Small Business Blog:

When Uday Challu noticed a growing dissatisfaction with avenues for technical support, he was inspired to create a better way for people to get help with their tech troubles. So in 2007 he founded iYogi.com, India�s first direct-to-consumer remote technical support company. Founded on a belief in good karma, iYogi aims to mitigate frustrations with technical products and services by delivering a high-quality customer service experience.

iYogi Founder Uday Challu

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iYogi provides round-the-clock, 24-hour service on a wide variety of technical products and issues, in Australia, Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Uday uses Google AdWords to reach these international customers.

Uday says he saw search and, in particular, AdWords as a way to reach customers in need of technical support. He says, �iYogi services are currently available in multiple geographies and advertising with AdWords seemed like the most obvious way to reach customers who were turning to the Internet to find and fix their problems.�

With the intent of starting small and building to scale, Uday targeted his first campaigns to the U.S. only. Using location and language targeting, iYogi launched a U.S.-only campaign with general keywords related to customer support, and honed his campaign over time. �We gathered lots of intelligence from the Search Query Report, which helped us identify other keywords people in the U.S. were searching for,� says iYogi Vice President of Online Marketing K.R. Sreejith. �We also tested new ad texts and customized these ad texts to highlight popular keywords.�

Then, using lessons from his experiences in targeting the U.S., Uday expanded into the Canadian market. He found his experience in the U.S. helpful for the Canadian campaign, but didn�t see similarly high volume. After examining the global competitive landscape, he decided to expand to Australia and the U.K.

�We quickly learned that ads in the U.K., for example, had to be different than ads in the U.S.,� says Sreejith. �Using the Search Query Report, we noticed that the popularity of certain keywords was different in the U.K. and that there are differences in the spelling of these terms. We also learned from our sales teams that U.K. customers spend more time on the phone than do U.S. customers. So, we edited our ad texts and landing pages to reflect these different keywords and values.�

Today, iYogi is one of the fastest growing remote tech support providers in the world. As Uday continues to expand his business internationally, he�ll continue to use insights gained from his ad campaigns and to provide the rest of the world with similarly karmic technical support experiences!

Posted by Anand Devsharma, Team Manager, India

Live webcast: 5 Tips to Turbo-Charge Your Online Marketing Campaign With YouTube

Event Date: November 16, 2010 at 02:00 PM East/12:00PM Central/11AM Pacific. Register today.

As a dentist, Dr. Bob Wagstaff knew he had a better way to cure bad breath than most other solutions in the market. So he founded Orabrush to sell a tongue brush to help consumers more easily clean their tongues of the germs that cause bad breath. When Dr. Bob first tried promoting his new invention, many forms of traditional advertising failed him. A $50,000 infomercial went nowhere. Then, Jeffrey Harmon suggested a marketing campaign built around a YouTube video. That first video cost $500 and has since earned the company over 13 million views, setting Orabrush on the path as an innovator in online video marketing.

Join this live Webcast with AdAge to hear from Jeffrey Harmon and Abe Neiderhauser, the team that has helped earn Orabrush more than $1,000,000 in sales through YouTube, AdWords and online marketing.

Posted by Gordon Zhu, Inside AdWords crew

Original Skateboards on building a brand and increasing sales in tandem

Editors note: Today�s guest blogger is Scott Imbrie, CEO and Co-Founder of Original Skateboards. His passion is longboarding, a popular form of skateboarding that blends elements of surfing and snowboarding. Scott started Original in 2002 with his brother, Brad. The brothers began selling longboards shortly after Scott's 20th birthday, when Brad was just 17. Original distributes its products in most surf, skate, and snowboard shops on the East Coast of the United States and in many other areas around the world.

My brother Brad and I started Original in 2002. We both loved board sports and saw longboarding as our ideal next adventure. At the time, it was almost entirely unknown. We wanted to build longboards and trucks that would allow descents of the steepest paved roads in the world. We also wanted to travel to those locations to prove it could be done. YouTube and Google AdWords have helped us to achieve those goals.

Since March 2005, we have been using Google AdWords for online search advertising. In conjunction with positive organic rankings, search placement (even on terms where our organic rankings are top 5) has helped us ensure brand presence for our primary keywords; it has also established us as a leading brand in our industry. Building on this strong search marketing foundation, we expanded our AdWords efforts to the Google Display Network. The Display Network consistently contributes additional conversions and expands market awareness of our brand.

In our experience, Display Network site visitors interact more often with our Brand Channel. Despite having an immediate conversion rate lower than search based visitors, they are more likely to share their experience socially. By providing these more active customers sharable content, such as YouTube videos, we make the most of our Display Network clicks.

That being said, YouTube is much more than a simple way to allow our customers to share our videos. YouTube helps us find customers globally through video. We now have more than 105,000 YouTube subscribers, and our business has grown by a factor of 10 since we aired the first video.

For more information on how Google AdWords and YouTube have helped us grow a successful small business based on global reach, strong branding, and consistent sales conversions, head on over to the YouTube Blog.

Posted �by Gordon Zhu, Inside AdWords crew

Measure the phone calls you get from AdWords

What if you found out that your AdWords campaigns were bringing you more customers than you realized?

Zac Stafford, Senior Search Strategist at Nina Hale Search Marketing in Minneapolis, MN, recently discovered that this was true for his client, modern furniture retailer Room & Board. Stafford saw some encouraging results as an early beta tester of AdWords call metrics, a new feature that automatically includes a unique phone number in your ads to measure the calls that you receive from AdWords.

�By cross-checking our call metrics reports with our sales records, we saw that half the people who called the toll free number in our ad purchased online but the other half purchased in a store. Before using call metrics, we determined our ROI just by looking at the online sales numbers. Now we have proof that online search ad campaigns drive in-store purchases.�

Today we're announcing that AdWords call metrics is available for more advertisers, making it easier than ever to measure the phone calls that AdWords generates for your business. Using the technology behind Google Voice, call metrics assigns your campaign a unique phone number which is automatically inserted into your ad on both desktop and high-end mobile devices, where the number is clickable.

Call metrics ad at the top of the search results:

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Call metrics at the right of the search results:

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When a user calls the number in your ad, the call is automatically routed to your business, and AdWords notes that this call took place. Then, when you look at your AdWords reports, you�ll see the number of calls generated by each campaign, call duration, and in the near future, caller area code. You'll still only pay for clicks on your ads, but we intend to charge for call metrics in the future.

Once you know where your calls are coming from, you can refine your marketing strategy to make sure you�re getting the most out of your ads. For example, you could test different ad text variations to see which results in the most calls or reallocate budget to campaigns that truly bring you the highest ROI.

Currently, call metrics is only available to a limited number of US advertisers. We plan to make the feature available to more advertisers in the coming months. To find out if call metrics is available in your account and to learn more about the feature, visit Google Ad Innovations.

Additionally, if you want to see call metrics in action, watch the video above.


Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Senior Product Manager, AdWords

Grow traffic with help from YouTube videos and AdWords

Editors note: Today�s guest bloggers are Troy Olson, Digital Advertising Manager, and Jeff Loquist, Search Marketing Manager, for ShoppersChoice.com. ShoppersChoice.com owns and operates a family of web stores with a wide selection of products, from barbecue grills and accessories to patio sets.

We started out with search-based advertising using Google AdWords. It helped us get traffic to our site BBQGuys.com at a relatively low cost � AdWords has been a great way to help us capture customers when they�re looking for a �BBQ grill� and other items we offer.

We happened upon marketing on YouTube almost by accident. In response to customer service calls, we started creating instructional videos to show people how to best use their BBQ grills. We were getting a lot of traffic and great comments. So we decided to build out our Brand Channel and add more content, such as recipes by Chef Tony. YouTube is great for conveying our company image, and distributing unique content that people can relate to, especially people who enjoy food and eating! Learn more about our �secret sauce� for success that combines YouTube and AdWords.

Posted by Gordon Zhu, Inside AdWords crew

Even More Reasons to Join the Sitelinks Party

Since launching Ad Sitelinks last November, more than 100,000 of our advertisers have made use of the format to provide deeper access to their sites� relevant content directly from ads on Google.

If you�re still on the fence about using Sitelinks, or haven�t looked into it yet, here�s even more reason to add them to your campaigns: on average, campaigns that have used one-line Sitelinks have seen an increase in CTR of more than 10 percent, and those with two-line Sitelinks continue to see the bump of more than 30 percent that we noted back in June.

Others are seeing even larger performance boosts. After implementing Sitelinks on their branded campaigns, Nationwide Insurance saw their CTR rise by 73 percent and conversions increase 60 percent over a 90-day period. Check out their full case study here.

Sitelinks offer a great way to give users a variety of paths to take based on their interests. For instance, if you search for �engagement rings�, Blue Nile gives you three different additional links that they think will help meet your needs. Maybe you�re trying to get ideas for what�s popular right now in engagement rings, or already have something in mind that you�re ready to craft. In either case, this ad directs you the appropriate way.

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If you�re looking for more information on how to implement and get the most out of Sitelinks, check out our new online course on the feature and read the FAQ in the Help Center.


Post Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew

Custom shoes made possible with custom AdWords campaigns

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.

Mike Knapp and Michael Fox had always dreamed of founding a start-up. Jodie Fox (Michael�s wife) had always loved custom-made shoes. When her friends started asking her to design shoes for them and to bring these handmade shoes back from her travels, she, Mike and Michael saw a business opportunity. The trio founded their online custom shoe design company Shoes of Prey to share the design experience with the rest of the world.

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The business first took flight in Australia, where the founders live and their company is headquartered. Their first customers were trusted friends, who tested the online creation tool and proudly wore their personalized designs. The ability to create custom shoes quickly went viral. It seemed that with each step they took, the initial testers received questions about where they found their fabulous footwear. Soon strangers began making purchases, and when the website spread to overseas locations, the team began offering different currencies to allow for international sales.

The team had already created an AdWords account to promote Shoes of Prey to online customers in Australia. As they expanded internationally, they created new AdWords campaigns targeted at English-speaking countries with currencies they could process. They used AdWords location-targeting to show ads in new locations: Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. Michael says, �Despite being based in Australia, it took only a matter of days for our first orders to start coming in from the other side of the world. It was exciting to see!�

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Currently, about 10 percent of Shoes of Prey�s shoe sales come from AdWords customers�and about 40 percent of those sales are from international buyers. One of the main reasons they�ve been successful in reaching international audiences is the ease with which they can edit ad texts for each location. �Gift certificates have been really popular on our site,� Michael says. �So we use AdWords to promote our gift certificates. Key events for us are Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Christmas.�

Michael then uses Google Insights for Search to identify each country�s peak search traffic dates for these occasions. �We time specific AdWords campaigns to target each of these events. Mother's Day is on a different day in different countries, so AdWords lets us run ads at different times of the year for the various countries, and edit the ads so they speak to users in those countries. For example, we�ll mention the price of our shoes in euro in Ireland and in dollars in the U.S.�

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After only a year of operation, the founders have hired three new employees and have formed partnerships with local firms in Japan and Russia to localize their offering in those markets. �Early on in the life of our business, AdWords showed us the potential our business has for growth outside Australia, so we now offer Japanese and Russian versions of our website, complete with local marketing and customer support in those markets,� says Michael.

With AdWords, Michael, Jodie and Mike have been able to share their passion for custom shoes with international customers who share their love for customization. Their next step is to inspire all shoe lovers to design their own footwear. Michael tells us: �We're starting to experiment with the Google Display Network to help us find those first customers while they're browsing the web.� And they�ll continue to use AdWords location targeting and ad text customization to reach new international customers who might not know just how much fun designing shoes can be!

Posted by Gordon Zhu, Inside AdWords crew

Finding your hidden treasure: international campaigns with AdWords

Cross posted from the Official Google Blog.

In 2000, Antoine Assi founded Middle Eastern export website www.aldoukan.com�it was one of the first e-commerce businesses in the Middle East. He was just 20 years old and he made time to develop the business in between computer science classes at his university. He needed a way to advertise his website from the comfort of his own dorm room, so he decided to test out Google AdWords.

His friends didn�t believe him when Antoine said he was going to sell and advertise traditional Middle Eastern foods and goods online. However, by 2004, his business had grown so rapidly that he decided to take leave from school to run it full-time. He then started his second company, www.mosaicmarble.com, which sells handcut decorative tiles online internationally.

Antoine believed there was a gap in the mosaic market and he wanted to share these artistic and historic decorations abroad. He knew there was a market for these tiles internationally�he just didn�t quite know where the opportunity existed. To identify these international growth opportunities, Antoine built on his knowledge of AdWords: He ran several AdWords campaigns, each targeted at the location and language of the test country.

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From there, Antoine measured sales and percentage of website traffic from each country and campaign. He ended campaigns for countries with low sales volume and invested in campaigns for countries with higher sales volume and greater return on investment. Where he saw steady product sales, Antoine even had the company website translated into the language of the successful host country. As you can imagine, translating the site to the language of a country in which he�d already seen success only further promoted sales in that location.

Antoine refers to his AdWords campaigns as his hidden treasure, telling us that �the second month we started advertising on Google, we started feeling overwhelmed by the orders and the inquiries... We had to hire new employees on a weekly basis.�

Mosaic Marble quickly grew from two employees and eight artists to more than 40 employees and 120 artists. And the company�s website is now available in seven languages: Arabic, English, Finnish, German, Italian, Portuguese and French.

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In addition to helping him expand his business, these international campaigns helped Antoine and his colleagues share these cultural icons with a larger part of the world. There are now homes and public spaces adorned with these ancient Greek creations in more than 50 countries worldwide. �Due to Google,� says Antoine, �we have customers such as the President of Congo, the Dubai Minister of Internal Affairs, the Princess of Jordan, and the Royal Music Academy of London.�

�Posted by Gordon Zhu, Inside AdWords crew

Go Mobile! Series: A case study in optimizing mobile campaigns

More and more people are accessing the internet on their mobile devices. Take advantage of this trend by making sure that your ad campaigns are opted in to show on mobile devices with full internet browsers. If you�d like to take things to the next level, create separate mobile-focused campaigns so that you can optimize your keywords, ad text and landing pages for people using mobile devices.

To help you understand what mobile optimization looks like, we thought we'd share the approach that Razorfish, a global digital advertising agency, took for one of their retail clients:

• The Razorfish team started by duplicating the existing desktop campaigns and switching the settings to target mobile devices with full internet browsers.
• Since their client had a well-known brand name, they focused on branded keyword terms with enough traffic to help them learn quickly about what was working best for their campaigns.
• To measure performance, they tracked several conversion metrics including whether a mobile user looked up the brick and mortar store location or downloaded a coupon from the website. Right away, they saw a 7.5% lower cost per conversion on mobile devices, encouraging them to test ways to optimize their mobile campaigns.
• Razorfish tested whether variations in the campaign�s landing page would affect conversion rates. The team hypothesized that mobile users might be looking to take a specific action, and by starting the user�s experience closer to that action, the client would see better results. As it turned out, for this client, they saw much higher conversion rates when the user was directed to a landing page that showed nearby store locations.
• Finally, they tested variations in the ad text. Four versions of ad text were tested, including the original copy used in desktop campaigns. Each of the three new versions provided over 9.3% lift in conversion rate over the strongest performing copy in their desktop campaigns.

We hope you can learn from Razorfish's success and apply some of these strategies to your own mobile campaigns.

To learn more about the approach Razorfish took to optimize their client�s mobile ad campaigns, or read about other case studies, check out our Mobile Ads Success Stories.

Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew