Google Adwords Mastery » Case studies http://googleadwordsmastery.com Gaining competitive advantage through Google Adwords Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:33:02 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Perspective on Dynamic Search Ads – Guest Q & A with RKG http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/nXtMG_oGbyQ/since-introducing-dynamic-search-ads-in.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/nXtMG_oGbyQ/since-introducing-dynamic-search-ads-in.html#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:52:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander 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
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2012/01/perspective-on-dynamic-search-ads-guest-q-a-with-rkg/feed/ 0 A look at how display builds brands for marketers today http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/KPAnzjj5omU/look-at-how-display-builds-brands-for.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/KPAnzjj5omU/look-at-how-display-builds-brands-for.html#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:52:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander 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
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2011/09/a-look-at-how-display-builds-brands-for-marketers-today/feed/ 0 A look at how display drives performance for marketers today http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/1PWu0eV_vyI/look-at-how-display-drives-performance.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/1PWu0eV_vyI/look-at-how-display-drives-performance.html#comments Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander (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.

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

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Product Marketing Manager, Google Display, Client Communications
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2011/09/a-look-at-how-display-drives-performance-for-marketers-today/feed/ 0 Rimm-Kaufman Group discusses their experience with Product Listing Ads http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/qqZWFHdakvA/imm-kaufman-group-discusses-their.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/qqZWFHdakvA/imm-kaufman-group-discusses-their.html#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:32:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander 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
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2011/06/rimm-kaufman-group-discusses-their-experience-with-product-listing-ads/feed/ 0 New case study: How Enhanced CPC drives success with third-party bidding tools http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/NCS-J0wwxZM/new-case-study-how-enhanced-cpc-drives.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/NCS-J0wwxZM/new-case-study-how-enhanced-cpc-drives.html#comments Wed, 11 May 2011 21:14:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander
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
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2011/05/new-case-study-how-enhanced-cpc-drives-success-with-third-party-bidding-tools-2/feed/ 0 New case study: How Enhanced CPC drives success with third-party bidding tools http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/NCS-J0wwxZM/new-case-study-how-enhanced-cpc-drives.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/NCS-J0wwxZM/new-case-study-how-enhanced-cpc-drives.html#comments Wed, 11 May 2011 21:11:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander
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
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2011/05/new-case-study-how-enhanced-cpc-drives-success-with-third-party-bidding-tools/feed/ 0 An AdWords take on Search Stories http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/Z_9Zqb2uNdU/adwords-take-on-search-stories.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/Z_9Zqb2uNdU/adwords-take-on-search-stories.html#comments Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:45:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander 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.
click for full size image

A sweet ending to missed connections in the big city.

A hesitant traveler discovers he's born to cruise.

For the full video playlist, watch here.


Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2011/03/an-adwords-take-on-search-stories/feed/ 0 Advertisers save time and uncover new keyword ideas with the Opportunities tab http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/rOaTMoSMuIM/advertisers-save-time-and-uncover-new.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/rOaTMoSMuIM/advertisers-save-time-and-uncover-new.html#comments Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:45:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander
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.



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
click for full size image

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
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2011/02/advertisers-save-time-and-uncover-new-keyword-ideas-with-the-opportunities-tab/feed/ 0 International tourists find the Polish seaside through Google AdWords http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/9JLleDN74pQ/international-tourists-find-polish.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/9JLleDN74pQ/international-tourists-find-polish.html#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:03:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander 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

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
click for full size image

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
]]> http://googleadwordsmastery.com/index.php/2010/12/international-tourists-find-the-polish-seaside-through-google-adwords/feed/ 0 Going Global with Google http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/2zu2Fukhtjk/going-global-with-google.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/ATHs/~3/2zu2Fukhtjk/going-global-with-google.html#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 01:00:00 +0000 Geoff Alexander 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?



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.



This website pulls together resources for you to:
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
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