| | | This Week at Google AdWords
Well, this has certainly been a busy week at Google. One thing I can say for Google, they are very energetic and we're never wanting for good writing material.
 Yahoogle Deal Abandoned
Right on the heels of revising the scope of the agreement between the two search giants, Google announced this Wednesday that the deal will not go forward. This came to pass after the US Department of Justice decided it would file an anti-trust suit if the agreement was implemented.
Many thought this would be a disastrous alliance and the effects it would have on the industry were very difficult to predict. We'll never know, but I for one am glad we won't have to find out.
Adsense Publishers Blocking Ad Display
While searching around for article content, I came across this forum thread and it's a real eye opener. Some advertisers are jamming in last minute political ad displays that are getting placement on completely irrelevant sites. While this isn't exactly new, what most incenses site owners is the controversial, issue based advertisements that are not relevant and could offend large numbers of visitors to their sites. More information can be found in this article.
Google is aware of this and has posted on their blog the means to block unwanted ads, but apparently, the ads get displayed well before the AdSense publishers can review them to block. This delay in the system has caused many site owners to turn off AdSense altogether as it is the only means of getting unsuitable ad display off immediately.
I am not really surprised by this, as I've always been pretty skeptical about how effective an automated system is at determining relevancy. The wide variety of sites that are complaining of this reinforces my opinion of general content display.
Regardless, the time lag involved is something Google really needs to take a look at.
Quality Score Change is a Go
Google has been doing a lot of work on overhauling how their ad ranking system works and last week they announced upcoming changes to QS. This has been made live as of Monday.
There were two major changes made:
1. They have adjusted their algorithm to take into account the effects of ad position on click through rate. Presumably this means if your ad is not always in a high position or on the first page, you will not be penalized for a low CTR (Click through rate).
2. They have also made an algorithm that allows promotion of lower bidding ads to the top slots on the basis of meeting a certain (unspecified) Quality Score threshold. The use of the term "threshold" implies that it may be a fixed score point i.e. 8/10 QS, but they haven't made this clear.
I'll be interested to see what effects these changes will have on existing campaigns.
Google says, "Keep in mind that these enhancements may cause changes to your ad position, spend, and performance." "While we don't believe that any immediate changes are needed on your part, we encourage you, as always, to watch your key metrics and to make adjustments as appropriate."
You betcha! I'm going to have to plow through all my accounts over the next little while and make sure to compensate for this.
by Tim Rule, PPC Specialist
| | Google Yahoo Deal Ends / Microsoft to Return?
The entire "Microsoft seeks Yahoo, Yahoo turns down Microsoft, Yahoo & Google hook up, and then break up, now Microsoft may be back with Yahoo" thing seems like an ongoing plot in a bad soap opera.
Back in June Google announced an advertising agreement that would allow Yahoo to use Google Ads on its websites. Many search marketers were left speculating the impact this would have on campaign effectiveness, however, this was all for nothing now that the Department of Justice has ended the deal.
Now that this deal is no more, the possibility of a Yahoo acquisition by Microsoft will likely be revisited. After news came yesterday that of the collapse of the deal, Yahoo shares saw an 8% rise by close.
According to CNN Money, many Yahoo shareholders are hoping that Microsoft will get back to the table with Yahoo and make a new offer.
The original offer by Microsoft, nearly a year ago, was for $29.06 a share. At the time Yahoo was looking for something along the lines of $35 to $37. Microsoft was willing to go as high as $33.
With Yahoo shares currently trading at around $14, if Microsoft does step up again, you can bet the offer will be much less than it was before. Perhaps Yahoo should have taken the original deal.
by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO
| | Wireless Internet Approved by FCC for TV Airwaves
According to Bloomberg.com the FCC has approved a proposal by Google to utilize unused television airwaves for wireless internet access. Approved by a vote of 5-0 yesterday, this will ultimately allow for free Wi-Fi web access, especially in rural areas.
Any devices built to access the free wireless web will be required to utilize anti-interference technology, and makers of such devices will need to obtain FCC certification for each product.
Craig Mundie, Chief Strategy Officer for Microsoft noted a week ago, that if the FCC approval went through, that devices might be available to the public in as early as 12 months.
While this may take us one step closer to free internet for everyone, I think I may just prefer to pay for my access as I can only imagine the ads we will be bombarded with for this free access - it has to be paid for somehow. A PDF released by the FCC is available with more information.
by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO
| | Scanned Documents Now Searchable at Google
Last week Google began turning PDF files of scanned printed documents into digital text, and as a result their searchable index has expanded once again.  Previously, only rarely would a scanned document appear in the organic search results. With the technology of optical character-recognition (OCR) implemented now these scanned PDFs will find their way into the results. In an article posted at Information Week, one downside to this is the possibility of personal information appearing in the search results. Social Security numbers that could have gone unnoticed in scanned court documents could be discovered by Google. "Public.Resource.org, a project that aims to make public government publicly accessible, recently found about 1,700 documents with Social Security numbers or alien identification numbers out of a corpus of 2.5 million court documents that go back decades."
Unless Google wants more future lawsuits on its hands, I can imagine that issues such as this will be rectified rather quickly. This process of turning an image back into readable text will likely have other uses such as reading text stored within images in a website. This could open the doors to using image based text more freely in one's site design. While this use is not in place at the moment, it seems like a natural step forward. by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO
| | The Net Reality
Best 2008 Inventions: Ten months into the year and the first 'list' has come out with Time Magazine announcing the year's best inventions. Taking top honours is 23andMe, an inexpensive consumer DNA analysis service. Other winners include Hulu.com, the video-streaming site that legally offers free TV shows and movies online; NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; and the Large Hadron Collider.
Product Designers Wanted: Interested in having your input in future PC design? Intel and Asus have joined together and launched a site at WePC offering an opportunity to one and all to collaborate on community designed PCs and "design innovative new products" for netbooks, notebooks and gaming notebooks. Prizes will be rewarded.
The Internet and Human Rights Guidelines: A coming of age for the World Wide Web, the Big 3 - Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are uniting "to limit what data they should share with authorities worldwide and when they should do so."
The article states:
The guidelines, to be announced Tuesday, call for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to try to reduce the scope of government requests that appear to conflict with free speech and other human rights principles.
The Global Network Initiative guidelines were drawn up by the Internet companies along with human rights organizations, investors and academics.
King of Spam: Ever wonder who to thank for all that spam you get? Well, PC World has compiled their Top 10 list of spammers.
Two Corporate Initiatives that will Make a Difference: I certainly hope this is the beginning of a nice corporate trend.
Google has announced a $2.5 million grant to Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) to protect folks from a new strain of biological viruses known as arenaviruses.
Wal-Mart's Green Strategy has unveiled its "Global Responsible Sourcing Initiative". It "is now demanding its suppliers, including the massive number based in China, live up to environmentally friendly manufacturing practices and product-safety guidelines to make that vision come true."
"To that end, Wal-Mart recently brought together more than 1,000 of its leading suppliers, in Beijing, to tell them that big changes were in store. All of the suppliers in Wal-Mart's universe--not just those from China--were soon going to be held to higher manufacturing and operations standards, to "build a more environmentally and socially responsible global supply chain" at Wal-Mart, announced company executives."
By Bill Stroll, Sales Manager
| | | | | | | | Top Web Marketing Articles from StepForth
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment