2015 Year In Review – A Magical Year of Travel, Speaking and Partnerships

10 of the most popular SEW guest articles from 2015

A compilation of the most popular articles from Search Engine Watch guest contributors in 2015.

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Dedicated thank you pages are no longer optional for PPC

Are there technically ways to get around having a dedicated Thank You page on your site? Sure, it’s come time to quit taking short cuts and get yourself a dedicated landing page. Here’s why.

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Three ways we failed at B2B PPC in 2015

Nobody’s perfect and heck, let’s be real, B2B PPC can sometimes be even more challenging and have even more gray areas than B2C.

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Guess What Happened Next: Koozai TV Video Outtakes 2015

That’s another great year done for Koozai TV, but it wasn’t without it’s mishaps.

With many muddled speeches, forgotten words, a bit less profanity and a whole lot of messing around, we wrapped up almost 50 videos throughout this year.

So sit back and enjoy this compilation of some of the moments behind the scenes at Koozai TV.

We’ll be back in 2016 with a brand new format for our videos so make sure you subscribe to our website updates, newsletter, YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

The post Guess What Happened Next: Koozai TV Video Outtakes 2015 appeared first on Koozai.com

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Customer journey from search to checkout - Star Wars: The Force Awakens tickets

In which we take a look at the experience of searching for a product, looking at a brand’s paid search ad for the item and its subsequent landing page, all from a customer’s point of view.

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Why you shouldn’t forget to update your Universal Analytics tracking codes

With Google announcing that it will be retiring its classic Analytics, if your sites and apps are still using old and outdated tracking codes and libraries, you’re going to miss out.

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Top 10 Content Marketing Tools

It can be all too easy to focus solely on results when you’re working on your digital campaigns. Although without the right tools in your arsenal you’re going to fall short every time.

Here we’re going to look at the top 10 Content Marketing tools that you should be using to boost the performance of your campaigns.

1. Gorkana

Site: http://ift.tt/1NOGAUe (Paid)

In the past, I’ve talked about the value that Gorkana can bring to your Content Marketing efforts and now, thanks to a recent update, it’s better than ever before.

By using the ‘Database Search’ function, you can segment your search and find the most appropriate journalists and bloggers to reach out to. This saves you from the painstaking task of crawling sites looking for contact details, which 9 times out of 10 don’t deliver. The site is updated on a regular basis so you can be sure that you’re contacting the right company, department and person.

The beauty of Gorkana is that it gives you all the information you need in one place. Looking for a monthly UK publication that specialises in consumer tech and has a strong social following? Gorkana makes these requests a doddle.

This accuracy has a knock-on effect to the success of your campaign. For example, using it when creating your Content Marketing strategy means that you can easily locate the sites and publications that your target audience reads. It can also be used to identify those key people who are most likely to share, link to and host your content.

Filters include:

• Sectors
• Country
• Social Media
• Language
• Interests
• Keyword
• Media Type
• Frequency
• Circulation
• Keyword
• Social Media

2. Copyscape

Site: http://ift.tt/I3vzgJ (Paid)

If you’re not already using Copyscape then you really should be. Sites like Copyscape are helping make duplicate content a thing of the past – or at the very least they’re making a considerable dent in the issue.

Using a debit card, credit card or Paypal account, you buy a certain number of credits, depending on how many your budget allows. Then simply copy and paste the content that you want to check into the text field. Next, click ‘Search Private + Internet’. This clever piece of tech will instantly identify any lines of text that have been duplicated, and provides their location.

What’s more, you can also compare the two versions of the content. This is great for checking if your content has been scraped so that you can pro-actively work to prevent a Google penalty for duplication.

A trap many Content Marketers fall into is unintentional plagiarism. It’s all too easy to read a piece online when researching for your own work, only for the odd line or phrase to accidently wheedle its way in. Copyscape helps to eradicate these instances and ensure that your content is 100% unique.

3. HARO

Site: http://ift.tt/fslNCK (Free)

Help a Reporter Out – more commonly known as HARO – is a powerful sourcing service connecting journalists, brands and industry experts. Every year HARO helps introduce over 475,000 sources with just over 35,000 journalists, making it an essential tool for brands and reporters alike.

So how does it work? Well, you just need to visit the site, sign up for the service and state your fields of interest. Then you will receive a minimum of three emails per day with the latest media requests for your chosen subjects.

HARO sends out over 50,000 media requests from high-quality outlets each year. This free tool is perfect for those looking for newsjacking opportunities. Journalists on deadline will provide a short description of what they need help with, or require a comment on, the kind of expert they have in mind and the deadline for entries.

This straightforward pitching approach works well for content marketers looking to increase their client’s reach and showcase their expertise. It’s also an effective way to facilitate your SEO campaign. So it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. Content Marketers can provide comments and statistics related to their client’s expertise and journalists get high-quality content to include in their articles, thus saving time on sourcing data from multiple sites.

Preferences include:

• High Tech
• Energy and Green Tech
• Sports
• Public Policy and Government
• General
• Travel
• Business and Finance
• Biotech and Healthcare
• Lifestyle and Fitness
• Entertainment and Media
• Education
• Giftbag
• UK

4. #journorequest

Site: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23journorequest&src=tyah (Free)

Twitter is an undoubtedly powerful tool that many Content Marketers utilise every single day, but are you aware of the #journorequest feature?

Type #journorequest into the search bar on Twitter and you’ll be greeted with countless tweets from journalists all over the globe looking for help from brands and industry experts. This is a great tool for sourcing news stories to contribute to.

To use the hashtag to its full potential and make your search more defined, just type #journorequest and then a topic relevant to your client into the search bar. For example, for a business insurance client, you might type ‘#journorequest insurance’.

The #journorequest is fantastic because both parties involved get something positive out of the experience. Journalists who are often working to a strict deadline have less research to carry out and gain a quote from a credible source. You or your client, on the other hand, gets to increase their brand’s exposure, share their expertise and acquire high-quality links. As always, make sure that the link is natural. Keyword stuffing in anchor text just isn’t good enough.

#PRrequest is also a great hashtag to search for in Twitter. This is more for clients who want to gain exposure for a certain product or service. An example would be a consumer technology provider wanting to boost sales of their key products and a journalist looking for tech products to review for a Christmas gift guide.

It’s worth noting that links included in any product reviews must be no-followed so that Google doesn’t deem them as paid-for links and dismiss them entirely.

5. Buzzsumo

Site: http://buzzsumo.com/ (Paid)

Buzzsumo is an effective tool for a number of reasons, the first being that it’s perfect for checking how your content is performing. Just enter the URL of the content into the search bar and, hey presto, you’ll see the social shares it’s acquired. You can also view the backlinks that the content has acquired.

Another reason that Buzzsumo is a great resource for Content Marketers is that it’s extremely effective for identifying which sites and publications are talking about subjects relevant to your business, or that of your client. This can then help when it comes to newsjacking. It saves a huge amount of time spent on trying to find targeted articles to contribute to.

It can also be used when creating your Content Marketing strategy. Type your chosen topics into the search bar and you’re instantly shown the existing content that’s out there. This shows what is and isn’t working and will hopefully inspire you to create something even better now that you’re armed with information on how to make it more effective.

Filters include:

• Date – 24 hours, past week, past month, past 6 months, past year or specific date
• Language
• Country
• Content type

6. Ahrefs

Site: https://ahrefs.com/ (Paid)

Ahrefs is a wonderful resource for Content Marketers. You can use the ‘Content Explorer’ to search for a topic relevant to yours or your client’s brand. You’re then provided with a list of content that has gained the most social shares.

The effective tools allow you to tap into the mindset of your intended audience. You can see what grabs their interest and causes them to share online, and then use this to help boost your marketing strategy. It’s also a great source of inspiration. Ask yourself: “Can I improve on this?” If the answer is yes, you could potentially create a powerful piece of content. However, make sure you find a hook, an angle, to make it unique.

Ahrefs is also a brilliant tool to use when newsjacking. Again by typing in topics relevant to your client, you can see the posts out there that you could potentially add a comment to. You can also filter by date and location to make your search more defined.

The search results include the title of the article, the author, the date it was published and a link to the content. So next time you’re searching for leading sites to work with as part of your Content Marketing efforts, keep Ahrefs in mind.

Filters include:

• Date
• Domain name
• Language

7. HootSuite

Site: https://hootsuite.com/ (Free)

Hootsuite is so much more than social media scheduling software. It’s also a powerful aggregator, making it an essential tool for Content Marketers. You can add a whole host of social media platforms to the software and assign each one its own tab. That way you can keep up-to-date with all your social platforms in one place.

Hootsuite provides you with the capability to add streams to your dashboards so that you can keep on top of not only the latest industry updates, but also your social media activity and interaction. This is perfect for analysing how a social media campaign is performing, for example tracking a hashtag connected with a competition.

Of course, Hootsuite is known for its social media scheduling. It’s still one of the best scheduling tools  around and given the effective additional features it offers, it has developed into an essential piece of kit for marketers.

If you want to improve your Hootsuite skills, there’s also a great ‘Hootsuite University’ course you can take to get the most from your social campaigns. There’s a fee attached to this, but it’s well worth the investment.

You can add the following social networks:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google+
• LinkedIn
• WordPress
• Instagram

Feeds options include:

• Home
• Mentions
• Messages (inbox and outbox)
• Your tweets
• Likes
• Retweets
• Scheduled posts
• New followers

8. Feedly

Site: https://feedly.com/ (Free)

Feedly is an invaluable tool for those looking to collate news stories that are relevant to their clients. The site provides a minimalist, user-friendly experience, optimised for productivity rather than style.

With Feedly you can discover fresh, authoritative voices on both niche and broad topics. You can easily share or schedule posts to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and more by using a Hootsuite or Buffer plug-in. Remember that a brand which only shares its own content is somewhat one-dimensional. Sharing stories connected with your brand helps define it as an authoritative one that passes on valuable information.

There’s also the capability to monitor news about your client and their competitors by connecting Feedly to Google Alerts. Feedly can be used as a resource of information too, enabling you to stay informed about all the latest news related to your brand. It helps you keep your content relevant and competitive.

In addition to these useful features, you can also share the collections that you create with colleagues and networks. This can be used to discover what other thought leaders and teammates are reading.

9. YouGov Profiler

Site: http://ift.tt/1zV3doa (Free)

YouGov Profiler is a fantastic tool to have at your disposal. Enter the brand, person or subject that you want to research and it will segment the data into a series of fields.

You’re presented with a multitude of insightful data based on your search term, including where the average amount people interested in that term live, their earning power and their social grade. You’re even given a glimpse into their interests and online behaviour.  The data is 100% accurate and based on information given by YouGov panel members.

Content Marketers can use YouGov Profiler for a variety of different tasks, the most important being audience identification when you’re creating your Content Marketing strategy. For trustworthy data on your intended audiences, YouGov Profiler is one of the best tools around. It provides an unparalleled breadth of data, which is why it’s used by a wealth of agencies and brands across the UK.

The paid version gives you access to exclusive information from YouGov Cube, a data vault that holds over 120,000 data points on a group of over 250,000 UK YouGov panel members.

Results include:

• Demographics
• Lifestyle information
• Personality traits
• Brands they are invested in
• Entertainment preferences
• Online activity
• The type of media they consume

10. TweetDeck

Site: https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/ (Free)

TweetDeck is an extremely powerful Twitter tool that provides real-time tracking, organisation and engagement data. It allows you to create a customer Twitter dashboard where information on how your brand is performing on Twitter is just a click away.

The free tool means that you can create custom timelines to keep track of everything from lists and searches you’ve created to follower interaction activity and more, all in one place.

You can set up custom searches to track topics, events and hashtags connected with your brand and then refine the results with TweetDeck’s filtering system. For example, you may have a search column set up showing people tweeting stories or mentioning your brand’s name or account. That way you can see in real-time how people are reacting to your content.

What’s more, you can share your account with your marketing team without having to share your password, meaning that a vacation or sick day doesn’t mean giving others access to the valuable data.

Columns include:

• Mentions
• Activity
• Likes
• Followers
• Messages
• Trending
• Collections
• Lists
• Collections
• Scheduled

Get in Touch

These are just a handful of the Content Marketing tools we use to deliver award-winning results at Koozai. Have you come across an effective tool that hasn’t made it onto our list? I would love to hear from you. Leave your suggestions or comments below.

If you don’t have the time or expertise in-house to reach your Content Marketing goals, then get in touch with Koozai today.

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Brand name bidding: should you buy ads for your brand terms?

Why do brands bid on their own brand terms? Is it a good idea, or a bad one? Aren’t you just paying for traffic that you’d otherwise get for free?

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How to create custom segments in Google Analytics

Segments allow marketers to interrogate Google Analytics data more effectively in a way that suits their business needs. This post explains how to create segments.

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Content Writer vs Copywriter: What’s the Difference?

A Content Writer and a Copywriter is the same thing, right? They both write words used in online and offline content, so surely they’re just fancy names for what is essentially a writer?

In actual fact, they’re very different. They both act as a cornerstone for the other; think of them as two different sides of the same coin, as although there are similarities in the two skill sets, there are also some clear differences, too.

From a traditional marketing perspective, the answer is pretty simple. Let’s explore…

What is a Content Writer?

Put simply, they write content. Although there must be more to them than that, surely? Well, yes, Content Writers create a range of different content types using written word; usually long-form, rich-content that is search engine optimised.

When a Content Writer creates a piece of content they are most likely considering the use of keywords, Meta, and how shares and links to the piece will amplify the content. A Content Writer can also be known to create ‘evergreen content’; articles, blog posts, newspaper pieces, magazine features, whitepapers and any other types of long-form, content.

Content Writers are quite journalistic in nature, with editorial copy tightly in their remit, generally writing pieces of content with longer word counts and intricate details – these authoritative pieces perform better when being shared online too.

And how, you might be wondering, is that any different from a Copywriter?

What is a Copywriter?

A Copywriter is of a similar vein in that they also write copy. However, Copywriters are usually used as advertising vehicles, typically specialising in short-form copy, such as straplines, headlines or press ads.

Now that’s not to say that Copywriters shouldn’t have long-form copy in their arsenal. In fact, what we’re seeing is a transition of Copywriters to web writers in marketing, such as display advertising, creating an even stronger online presence. Over time, these will naturally migrate to Content Writers.

Copywriters are praised for the creation and ideation of words in campaigns, where the marketing material is used to persuade a person or a group to think or act a particular way. This is generally achieved in short-form copy or storytelling, evoking emotion and a personal connection with the audience; it also lends itself to a humorous or jovial tone – perfect for straplines or headers. In fact, for a Copywriter, brevity is vital.

That being said, there is a cross over in remits.

How Do Content Writers and Copywriters Work?

Arguably, they’re two of the same and in no uncertain terms is one easier than the other as a profession. However there are definitely differences that seem to be overlooked and these can come in handy if you’re looking to hire a writer for specific work.

These days, it’s crucial to be well versed in both.

Further differences between the two lie with the submittal deadlines. Although this isn’t always definitive, Content Writers appear to have longer lead-times than Copywriters. Their work is a result of well-planned content with the help of road maps, timelines, content calendars and the like. Whereas a Copywriter can be called on at the last minute to provide copy. Whilst being agile and reactive should be in both skill sets, Copywriters are less likely to plan in their workload as concisely as a Content Writer.

Saying this, Content Writers should not remove working to tight deadlines from their skill set either and Copywriters won’t always have the luxury of a working extension.

Going forward, Content Writers and Copywriters must work arm in arm to build traffic, create relationships with customers and consumers and ultimately build the brand. So although they have slightly different responsibilities, it’s paramount to include them both when building websites. However, as Copywriters grow to combine strategic writing with great content, they may just have the best of both worlds. As the term Content Writer is still in its infancy, perhaps we’ll continue to see a cross over as it evolves.

What Do You Think?

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with how the terms have been split? Are you a writer and feel that it’s more about perspective, or do you think they are much of the same and a Content Writer is just marketing jargon – probably at some point thought up by a Copywriter?

Please add your thoughts to the comment section below or tweet me @coco_nicol. I’d love to know what you think.

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The Future Of Search

(This is the transcript from our new video so it may not read as well as a normal blog post would)

Hi there. Today I want to take you through the future of search. It’s going to be a quick overview of what threats face Google in the next sort of decade or so from existing competitors as well as new entries to the market.

First off, let’s have a look at the existing competitors. So we’re talking about Yahoo! Bing mainly in sort of the UK/US markets, but we’re also seeing a massive growth in DuckDuckGo as well as Baidu, the Chinese search engine.

So if we look at Yahoo! Bing, the way Windows 10 ha integrated Bing is a massive step forward for the search engine, and there’s also been sort of complaints again that they’re limiting competition. But this does present quite a good opportunity for Bing to grow its market share. As well as this, it’s had a tie up with Spotlight, the Apple search software, which means that it basically is integrated into Apple iPhones and iPads and any devices running the iOS software, which is a monumental market to be the default search engine on.

We also want to look at the threat from the newer competitors on the market. So DuckDuckGo have formed a huge, comprehensive search engine based on the whole idea of privacy being a huge issue and that Google infringes privacy too much with its existing products. DuckDuckGo has seen a massive, massive growth and recorded four million searches per year. So it’s seeing sort of huge inroads in terms of becoming a big competitor to Google.

As well as this, Baidu is a huge competitor in China. It absolutely dominates the search market, much like Google does here. That search engine is available for users outside of China. So anyone in Western Europe, America, or anywhere, in the same way that Google is, can use Baidu. It would just take a good sort of marketing push to start integrating that wealth of knowledge and expertise that Baidu obviously have into becoming a real competitor to Google and causing it some real issues.

As well as the existing competitors, Google has also got to be slightly aware of areas such as Amazon, Facebook, and Apple.

So Amazon is becoming one of the biggest competitors, and one of the heads of Google has already stated that Amazon is their biggest competitor. The reason he said this is because the product search on Amazon is huge. The market it has is massive, and one of the issues for Google is that product search is one of the main reasons why people advertise on Google. Bringing in that revenue is a huge part of Google’s advertising module, which brings in $58 billion every year for their business, and this is a core driver of Google.

So that’s a huge threat that Amazon have been able to pose. They’re really going to push forward with that, especially now they’ve started to exclude Google AdSense in Amazon as well, and they have started to exclude products such as Google Chromecast, for instance. It shows how much of an influence Amazon want to become in that market.

Facebook also have over a billion users, and they recorded a billion active users in one day, which again is not far off the numbers of Google. It’s just presenting another major opportunity for advertisers and Facebook itself to come together and create a real competitor to Google.

One of the big areas that Facebook could really excel at is local. It has a lot of location data. A lot of people like things from their local areas, and the knowledge it has on users is incredible. Even competitor Google, which has a lot of tracking features, but it doesn’t have the actual raw information per user that Facebook has. You can see through Facebook advertising at the moment how strong that data is to advertisers. So that provides a humongous opportunity for Facebook to really rival Google, especially in local searches and again probably moving into more web searches in the future.

There are also rumours that Apple may be using its Spotlight search feature, which has grown massively in the instruction of the new iOS, to create a web competitor for searches to Google. There’ve been a lot of rumours about job posts for specialists in search. This is one area that Apple, with its many billions in reserves, could give Google a real fight in terms of the iOs devices having inbuilt search software that bypasses Google completely.

So it’s a huge threat to Google, especially as mobile devices are becoming so popular. It would sort of mean Apple versus Android when it comes to mobile searches. So it presents a massive opportunity for Apple and a major threat to Google.

So the future of search is looking a bit more diverse than it used to be, especially for the UK and the US markets that have a massive reliance on Google. The competitors are growing in number and in ability and posing a much greater threat through specific types of searches, rather than Google sort of collect all search version of its algorithm.

So hopefully that gives you a little bit more information on the future of search. We’ve also written a blog post on it as well that you can have a look at. And if you’ve got any questions, please feel free to follow me @JamesaChallis. Thank you.

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Why do you have a website? Balancing your site's intentions with the visitor experience

What seems like quite a straightforward and possibly ridiculous question is meant as a ‘gut-check that shouldn’t just be identified only once by an organization, but periodically over time.

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A Guide To Gmail Sponsored Promotions Ads

Today I will be guiding you through one of the more recent features within Google AdWords called Gmail Sponsored Promotions (GSP). GSP is a way of targeting users based on their Gmail account activity. GSP previously lived in their own UI, but Google realised how successful a platform it was and recently released it from Beta to all advertisers – which means that everyone can now have a play!

This guide will cover the advert layout, targeting options, top strategies, how to set up a campaign in Google AdWords and tips to get you started.

Advert Layout

The Gmail advert is set out in two sections in the Gmail inbox – a collapsed ad and an expanded ad, but essentially this is the same advert. The collapsed ad appears as a ‘new message’ in your inbox and when you click on it, this then leads you to another ad – the expanded ad. You pay for the cost per click (CPC) every time somebody clicks on the collapsed ad. The expanded ad then leads the user to your landing page; however, you do not pay for the click from the expanded ad to the landing page (this is free).

The screenshots below are taken from my personal Gmail account to show you the layout. It’s quite clever really; as you can see there are two adverts targeting my search history – mortgages and mobile phone companies – so it’s an extremely personalised method of targeting!

Collapsed Ad

Expanded Ad

Targeting Options

There are many targeting options you can select when using GSP, including the use of keywords, topics, interests, remarketing (including Customer Match) and demographics.

Advertisers were previously able to target based on recent purchases made by the user and their job title. However, this feature was removed when GSP moved from the independent UI to the standard AdWords interface.

Top Strategies

The best strategy to use – which many people are getting excited about – is to bid on your competitors’ domains by uploading them into the keywords section. This means that your ads will appear to those who are receiving e-mails from your competitors. Be prepared to bid aggressively and tweak bids to gain impressions using this strategy, as there will be a lot of competition now GSP’s out of beta.

Another great strategy is to target the domains that have the same target market as you, but are not necessarily competitors. For example, if you owned a garden machinery company, you could target gardening magazines’ domains, as you would both share a very similar audience. This is another fantastic way to place your ads in front of the right audience.

Google has recently released Customer Match, which is another effective strategy to use. For Gmail ads, this works by uploading a customer’s e-mail addresses to a campaign in order to make your ad pop up in your customer’s Gmail inbox (sneaky I know!). Check out Dean’s post on Customer Match to find out more about this.

It’s important to try different strategies to find the one that works best for your business. Utilise the targeting options including keywords/topics alongside the Gmail placement.

One thing to note with these strategies is that you shouldn’t try to use the targeting methods too narrowly: if the targeting is too granular you won’t gain enough traffic. For example, you do not want to be targeting topics on top of keywords and the Gmail placement, as your targeting would be too narrow. Try to stick to using the Gmail placement and one other targeting method per campaign.

How Do I Create A GSP Campaign?

Now to the fun part that will help you get started – setting up your first GSP campaign!

First of all, you need to make sure you have a Google AdWords account. When you have filled in the relevant details, you can start to build your campaign. Select “Campaigns”, then “Display Network only”.

From here, you need to name your campaign and select “Display Network only” (ensure all features are ticked) and you can also choose to upload settings from your existing Display Network campaigns to save time. You then choose the locations you want to include and exclude, and the language you are targeting.

Choosing the bid strategy is the next step. I would normally advise starting out with the basic options and selecting the option “I’ll manually set my bids for clicks”; this is so I have more control over how much I want to bid, rather than letting Google run away with my money! When your campaigns are live and accumulating over 15 conversions a month, you can explore the “Advanced Options” and turn on “Enhanced CPC” to increase your conversions.

You then need to set the budget for the campaign. If your campaign is limited by budget, the best strategy is to initially set your budget low and increase it as time goes on. However, if you start out by using the competitor domain strategy, be prepared to spend a little more than the average Display Network campaign, as this can be competitive. You can set your delivery method to “Standard: Display ads evenly over time” to conserve your budget.

I recommend using Ad Extensions in all campaigns, even if they may not appear half of the time. So ensure you fill out the Location and Call extensions, as this is great for increasing your click-through rate (CTR). For the ad schedule, choose the days and hours you want your ads to run. Ad rotation needs to be changed to “Rotate evenly”, as you will be split testing your ads to find the best ad text variations.

Frequency capping is where you cap the number of times somebody sees your ad. It’s always best to set a frequency cap in your campaigns to limit unwanted impressions. I generally aim for three impressions a day per campaign, but this depends on your business model and what you are selling. Another way to set your frequency capping is by using the reporting in Google Analytics to see how many visits it usually takes for someone to convert.

The last options can be left as they are unless you have any specific requirements.

From here, you can save and continue, and then create and name the first ad group. You could split your ad groups up by naming them after different sections of your business. For example, for Koozai there could be a “Digital Marketing” campaign and another for “PPC”. This can also be reflected in your ad creative. We then go on to select our targeting options. Select your Gmail placement under “Use a different targeting method” and add the website mail.google.com.

Select the option “Narrow your targeting further (optional)”, then “Display keywords” and add in the domains or keywords you are targeting. If you want to use other methods of targeting, you can do this here too.

Make sure you select “Conservative Targeting”, which lets AdWords automatically find new customers. Click “Save and continue”.

Once you have saved this part, you’ll come to creating the ads. However, you need to skip this part as AdWords hasn’t integrated creating ads into this section of the set up yet. Continue to confirm the campaign.

Now the creative part – actually making your ads! Dive back into your campaign, select “Ads” and then “Ad Gallery”.

Select “Gmail Ads”.

You have four options to choose from. I would advise starting with the simplest template “Gmail image template” which is essentially a big banner ad that targets one landing page. I would also recommend testing the “Gmail single promotion template”, which includes a call to action button for you to add in an additional landing page. The last two options are for more advanced features. The “Gmail multi-product template” creates an ad unit similar to an e-commerce category page that displays multiple products and links out to different landing pages. The “Gmail custom HTML upload” option allows you to embed videos, forms and click-to-call capabilities and must be formatted as a zip file.

If you were to select the “Gmail image template”, it would look like the example below. Name your ad, choose your display URL and destination URL. Upload your logo (or you can be creative with this and upload a different design) and upload your main image. Remember to include a call to action in your ad text and image.

After you’ve saved this, create another ad to split test against your original ad and you’re ready to rock!

Tips

I will now go through some of the best practices to take into consideration when running your GSP campaigns.

Gmail Reporting Columns

Enable the Gmail reporting columns in order to measure your campaigns accurately. The options are “Gmail saves” (when somebody saves your ad to the inbox as if it were a real message), “Gmail forwards” (which shows the number of times somebody forwards your ad on to somebody else as a message) and finally “Gmail clicks to website” (which indicates the number of clicks that go through to your landing page). It is vital to track the “Gmail clicks to website”, as this is essentially your real Cost per Click (CPC). The CPC recorded in AdWords for Gmail Ads relates to the Cost per Click on the initial collapsed ad.

Be Creative 

Optimise the ad image by split testing against another ad, or if you need calls to your business, add your phone number to the expanded ad image. The “Advertiser” and “Logo” sections don’t need to be filled in exactly as they are – you can be imaginative with what you upload. Gmail Ads allows you to be creative with text and images – so make the most of it!

Exclusion Types 

Use exclusion types, which can be found under “targeting” in your campaigns. You could exclude certain keywords or topics depending on what campaign type you have set up. Don’t go too wild on this, as your targeting is narrow as it is! Site category options are also best to review and switch off, in particular “Parked domains”, “Error pages” and “Gambling”, as in the example below:

Desktop 

Start your campaign by targeting desktop users only by setting a bid adjustment of -100% on mobile in the devices section. This will save costs in the beginning – after a few months you can then test whether mobile devices are worth having switched on.

Target and Bid 

Within the targeting settings, always make sure you choose the option “Target and Bid” when selecting your targeting options. This is because you want your ads to show based on your targeting selections – especially the Gmail placement, as otherwise your ads won’t show.

Frequency Capping 

Remember to set your frequency capping, like you do in your remarketing campaigns. You don’t want to waste too many impressions on a person who may be getting fed up of seeing your ad!

Embedded YouTube Video 

If you have a relevant video, make sure you include this by embedding your YouTube video into the ad. This will improve performance and expand the reach of your video.

There we have it – your complete guide to Gmail Sponsored Promotions Ads. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me on the social profiles below or alternatively contact Koozai for help on setting up your Gmail Sponsored Promotions campaigns.

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