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We know that many advertisers set up seasonal campaigns for specific holidays and occasions. Well, if you didn't set an end date for your Halloween campaign yet, here's a quick reminder to log in to your account and pause it. (You can always use it again next year.)

And of course, Happy Halloween from the Inside AdWords crew!


Posted by Vivian Leung, Inside AdWords crew
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We're always working on improvements that will help us show the most relevant ads to our searchers, and we're excited to tell you that we'll soon introduce two changes designed to enhance how we calculate Quality Score and rank ads. The first change helps better evaluate the precise quality of your ad - regardless of its position on the page. The second change improves how we promote ads to positions above the search results. Let's take a look at both of these changes in more detail.

More precise Quality Score calculation
Clickthrough rate (CTR) is the most significant component of Quality Score because it directly indicates which ads are most relevant to our searchers. As you probably have observed, ads in high positions typically earn better CTR than those in low positions, because ads in high positions are more visible to searchers. To calculate the most accurate Quality Scores, it's important that the influence of ad position on CTR be taken into account and removed from the Quality Score.

In the coming days, we'll update the portion of the Quality Score algorithm that accounts for ad position. This will result in more accurate Quality Scores, ensure that ads compete fairly for position based on their quality and bid, and enable Google to show the most relevant ads to searchers by rewarding high-quality advertisers with better ad positions.

Higher quality ads above the search results
We're also improving the way we determine which ads show in the yellow region above the search results. These positions are particularly valuable to advertisers because they are prominently positioned on the page. Given their prominence, it's especially important that these ads be high quality; we therefore place extra emphasis on quality when determining which ads to show in this location.

To appear above the search results, ads must meet a certain quality threshold. In the past, if the ad with the highest Ad Rank did not meet the quality threshold, we may not have shown any ads above the search results. With this update, we'll allow an ad that meets the quality threshold to appear above the search results even if it has to jump over other ads to do so. For instance, suppose the ad in position 1 on the right side of the page doesn't have a high enough Quality Score to appear above the search results, but the ad in position 2 does. It's now possible for the number 2 ad to jump over the number 1 ad and appear above the search results. This change ensures that quality plays an even more important role in determining the ads that show in those prominent positions.

Keep in mind that these enhancements may cause changes to your ad position, spend, and performance. We're launching these updates soon so that you'll have enough time to review your accounts and prepare for your holiday season advertising. 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.

We'll post again once these changes are live.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew
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Want to attend an in-person training for AdWords or Analytics? Seminars for Success offers day-long trainings on AdWords and Analytics for all skill levels from Beginner to Advanced. If you want to get started next week, you can check out an AdWords seminar in Seattle and Adwords and Analytics seminars in Los Angeles.

And if you won't be in Seattle or Los Angeles next week, don't worry. In the coming months we'll also be offering Seminars for Success in the following cities:

AdWords
November 3: Los Angeles, CA - AdWords 301: Advanced
November 5: Seattle, WA - AdWords 301: Advanced
November 13-14: Philadelphia, PA - AdWords 101: Beginner, AdWords 201: Intermediate
November 17: Las Vegas, NV - AdWords 301: Advanced
December 1-2: Honolulu, HI - AdWords 101: Beginner, AdWords 201: Intermediate
December 2: Washington DC - AdWords 301: Advanced
December 4: Houston, TX - AdWords 301: Advanced

Analytics
November 5-6: Los Angeles, CA - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced
December 8-9: Seattle, WA - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced
December 8-9: Montreal, QC - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced

Sign up for Seminars at least 7 days in advance and we'll even throw in a $50 AdWords credit (View the terms and conditions of advertising credits).

For more information about Seminars for Success, including registration details, course outlines, and past attendees' comments, please visit http://www.google.com/awseminars.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew
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One of our favorite and most useful posts from last year was an in-depth look at cost-per-click behavior during the 2006 holiday season by none other than Google's Chief Economist, Hal Varian. In the post Hal explained how CPC's and CPA's (cost-per-actions) vary over time to affect advertisers' ROI.

This year we have two new posts about CPC's and holiday trends over at the newly launched Google Retail Advertising Blog, a great source of information tailored to the needs of retail advertisers. The first post is Hal's updated look at the new data from the 2007 holiday season. The second has some tips regarding scheduling and consumer behavior specifically for your campaigns this winter. Remember, it's never too early to start your holiday planning.

Posted by Christian Yee, Inside AdWords crew
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The Google Marketer's Playbook is a series of educational talks where our experts discuss strategies for making the most of AdWords and other Google products such as Google Analytics and YouTube. You can attend the Google Marketer's Playbook and hear advice on topics such as optimization strategy, measurement and tracking, and increasing reach during the upcoming ad:tech digital marketing conferences.

The next session will be held at the 2008 ad:tech New York show November 3rd and 4th, and the talks are open to all exhibit hall pass holders. To obtain a free exhibit hall pass, visit www.ad-tech.com and click on the 'register' link next to the show you will be attending. Following the talks, attendees will be able to participate in live Q&A sessions with the experts.

The Google Marketer's Playbook at ad:tech San Francisco, Miami and Chicago have already passed, but you can watch recordings of the sessions in this YouTube playlist. These videos are also live on the Google Business Channel which also contains more presentations and webinars about Google's business products and advertising solutions.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew
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Recently, the AdWords Help Forum started posting weekly tips to help advertisers improve their campaigns. This got us thinking... why not share the love with our blog readers? In this spirit, we'll periodically share some of these tips and tricks with you, covering everything from new tools to optimization strategies.

Today, we'll start with unlocking the mystery behind why certain campaigns have low search traffic. First, it's helpful to understand the impression share of your ads. Impression share is a metric that represents the percentage of impressions your ad received out of the total available impressions in the market you're targeting. The Impression Share report, available through the Report Center, gives you insight into how you stack up against others in your industry, helping you make more effective changes to your campaigns and boost traffic. 

With insight into potential traffic, you can make more informed decisions and get answers to question like:
  • Do I have room to expand in my targeted market?
  • Am I losing impressions due to low ad rank?
  • Am I losing impressions due to a low budget?
  • What's my impression share for the specific keywords I'm using?
Once you have an understanding of where you're missing out on potential traffic, the next step is improving your ads' impression share. So, before you start restructuring your whole account to increase traffic, get clued in by running an Impression Share report. 

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew
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We're happy to let you know that we've changed the way your Campaign Summary and Ad Group Summary pages present statistics in order to give you additional level of detail into your campaign performance. Previously, these pages divided statistics into two categories: search, which included Google and search partners, and the content network.

Now, we show one set of statistics for Google and another set aggregating search partner performance. Search partners include AOL, Ask.com, and many other search sites around the web. You can view ad group or campaign performance at a summary level, or broken down by different combinations of Google, our search partners, and our content network. Additionally, separate Google and aggregate search partner statistics will soon be available in the Report Center.

(Click the image for a full-size version)

We hope that this additional level of detail will help you better achieve your advertising goals.

For more information, please visit this entry in the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew
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Today, we announced two strategic partnerships that will make it easier for advertisers to manage their Google TV Ads media buys within their existing systems.

For advertisers who use CoreDirect, our partnership with COREMedia Systems will allow you to view your Google TV Ads sales and response data next to your other media buys and results within CoreDirect.

In addition, our partnership with Harris Corporation will help make more inventory available to Google TV Ads advertisers, helping them expand their reach to more potential customers.

For the latest news from Google TV Ads, please see the announcements on our Traditional Media blog.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew
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Today we released the AdWords display ad builder, which lets you create professional-looking display ads in AdWords without needing to hire a designer or start from scratch. If you've wanted to expand beyond your text ad campaigns, or if you've been looking for an easier way to build display ads, this tool can help.

This new tool lets you create customized display ads with your own text, images, and logo. You can also change colors and backgrounds. The tool can create ads to fit all possible placements across the Google content network, including video and game placements. The display ad builder is available now to all advertisers in the U.S. and Canada.

We've also put together a short video demonstrating how to create your first ad:



And for a more detailed look you can watch a longer tutorial.

To start creating your ads, click Display Ad Builder on the Create an ad page within a new or existing campaign in your AdWords account. If you want to learn more about creating and running display ads, visit the new Display Ads 101 tutorial. As we continue adding new templates and features to the tool, we're want your feedback. Please let us know what would make the display ad builder better for you.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew
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On Saturday, October 18th, 2008 the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10AM to 2PM PDT, for maintenance. While you won't be able to sign in to your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual.

AdWords system maintenance typically occurs on the second Saturday of each month from 10AM to 2PM PDT with this week's maintenance being an exception.

We'll continue to update you via the blog as we always have, but please make note of the October 18th date and our scheduled maintenance further down the road.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew
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We're excited to announce that the Conversion Optimizer is now available to many more campaigns. Any campaign using AdWords Conversion Tracking with at least 50 conversions in the last 30 days is now eligible to use the Conversion Optimizer. Additionally, thanks to improved technology, the Conversion Optimizer now delivers better performance overall.


The Conversion Optimizer uses your conversion tracking data to get you more conversions at a lower cost. It achieves this by optimizing your placement in each ad auction to avoid unprofitable clicks and get you as many profitable clicks as possible.


You might already follow a similar strategy by bidding higher for keywords that convert more often and lower for keywords that convert less often. But the Conversion Optimizer can adjust your ad's placement based on many other factors, including the keyword's broad match query, the user's location, and the conversion rates of Google's search and content partner sites.


These extra adjustments enable many advertisers to achieve double-digit percentage increases in conversions, while paying the same price or less for each conversion.


Check out the AdWords Conversion Optimizer page to get started or to learn more about the Conversion Optimizer.


Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew
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On Saturday, October 11th, 2008 the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT, for maintenance. While you won't be able to sign in to your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual.

AdWords system maintenance typically occurs on the second Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT.

We'll continue to update you via the blog as we always have, but please make note of the October 11th date and our scheduled maintenance further down the road.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew
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Many of our retail advertisers are busy preparing their stores for the busiest shopping season of the year, so we've compiled some tips and tools that can help you optimize your ad campaigns, marketing channels, and website.

Here's an example tip you'll find: specifically mentioning any special holiday promotions you are running in your ad text drives additional interest from consumers. Clear and compelling ads with season-specific text is a good way to generate more clicks.

As for tools, Google has several offerings that retailers can use to help drive additional traffic and sales this holiday season such as Google Product Search, which allows shoppers to search for and find things they want to buy online. You can use Product Search to promote your goods and drive holiday traffic to your store for free.

With the holidays just around the corner, now is a good time to make sure that your site is in the best shape for maximizing your traffic and revenue. Please visit the Holiday tips page for more information, and remember - it's never too early to start preparing for the season.

Update: Corrected tips page link. As a reminder, Google Checkout is currently available only to merchants in the US and UK, and Google Product Search is currently available only to merchants in the US, UK, and Germany.

Posted by Christian Yee, Inside AdWords crew
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On Tuesday, we released version 6.5 of AdWords Editor. This release includes several features to help you navigate and manage your account, such as a new Keyword Opportunities tool, horizontal scrolling in the data view, and auto-sizing columns. You can learn more about these and other new features in the release notes.

If you're already using AdWords Editor, you'll be prompted to upgrade automatically. This update won't require you to re-download your account, and it won't affect your comments and unposted changes. When prompted simply choose the 'Update without Backup' option. Then, after you upgrade, your account will already be in the new version of AdWords Editor.

If you're not already using AdWords Editor, you can visit our website and click 'Download AdWords Editor.' To learn more about the benefits of using AdWords Editor to manage your ad campaigns offline, please refer to these frequently asked questions. Also, comprehensive instructions and tips are available in our Help Center.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew
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Today on (Ad)Word of the Day, we'll be covering landing page from the AdWords Glossary:
An active webpage where customers will 'land' when they click your ad. The web address for this page is often called a 'destination URL' or 'clickthrough URL.'
Your landing pages are most effective when they are consistent with your ads. For example, if your ad is for a specific product at a certain price, both the product and the pricing should be featured prominently on your landing page.

If you're not sure what landing page design works best with your customers, you can use Google Website Optimizer to try different pages to find the most effective one.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew
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