Google Expanded Text Ads: 10 things you need to know

Expanded Text Ads are coming to Google AdWords. Are you excited? But more importantly, are you ready?

Expanded Text Ads were one of several huge AdWords changes Google announced recently – if not the biggest. I still can’t believe that Google will soon actually increase its ad text limits by 2x!

So what exactly is changing? Here are 10 things advertisers need to know about Expanded Text Ads.

1. What are Expanded Text Ads?

Expanded Text Ads are 2x bigger than current text ads. The new ads are designed to maximize your presence and performance on mobile search results with a bigger headline and an extra long description. (And with a mobile-first mindset, whatever works on mobile is going to get applied to desktop too.)

Expanded Text ads will show across all devices – desktop and mobile – and will wrap automatically based on device size.

Google began testing Expanded Text ads in Q2 of 2016.

2. Why is Google making this change?

Google is calling this the biggest change to text ads since AdWords launched 15 years ago.

Several months ago, Google began thinking about what an AdWords ad would look like if they created AdWords in today’s mobile-first world, where more than half of the trillions of searches conducted on Google per year are done via a mobile device.

Google’s first move toward creating a unified experience across devices came in February when it killed off right side ads on desktop. Now with the constraints of desktop right-side ads gone, this change seems like a natural progression from the super-sized headlines introduced in 2011.

3. How much bigger are these expanded ads?

Expanded text ads are 2x bigger (math nerd alert: technically 47 percent bigger) from today’s AdWords text ads.

You now have a total of 140 characters of ad copy space to use, marking the end of the current 25-35-35 limits. No comment from Twitter as yet about their thoughts on Google adopting a 140-character limit. Here’s a little more info on the changes from the AdWords blog:

So make all those extra characters count. Create eye-catching and emotional ads that searchers can’t resist clicking on.

4. What do the new Expanded Text Ads look like?

Here’s a before and after of what the ads will look like on mobile and desktop:

And here’s what Expanded Text Ads will look like in the AdWords interface:

5. How much are headlines expanding?

Advertisers will have two 30-character headlines when Expanded Text Ads become available later this year.

Advertisers currently are limited to a 25-character headline.

That’s means our headlines will soon increase by 140 percent!

6. How much will descriptions expand?

Advertisers will have one 80-character description line.

Advertisers currently are limited to two 35-character description lines.

That means descriptions will increase by 14 percent.

7. What’s changing with display URLs?

AdWords will automatically extract the domain from the final URL.

Advertisers can then add up to two paths to enhance the display URL (using up to 15 characters).

8. Will this improve CTR?

Yes! More text means greater visibility. Early reports indicate that Expanded Text Ads are seeing CTR increase by as much as 20 percent.

At WordStream, we’ve observed CTR increase by around 12 percent by adding ad or call extensions to mobile text ads – so we expect increasing the character counts of headlines and description should result in more clicks.

Regardless, you can bet we’ll be closely tracking the performance of this new ad format as it becomes more widely available.

9.  When will the new ads roll out?

Google hasn’t officially revealed when all advertisers will have access to Expanded Text Ads. Keep an eye out and we’ll update when we know more details.

10. What should you do to prepare for Expanded Text Ads?

Raise your Quality Scores now! Quality Score is already the most important metric in your AdWords account, but it’s about to become even more important.

Businesses that occupy the top spots will take up the most valuable SERP real estate – especially for commercial queries. It could make anything below position 2 or 3 on mobile devices irrelevant!

Additionally, you’ve got a lot of ad text optimization ahead of you. You’ll need to make sure your text ads are all rewritten to take advantage of this new format. Google is giving you 2x more space with Expanded Text Ads – so be ready to use it to your advantage!

Find out how you’re REALLY doing in AdWords!

Watch the video below on our Free AdWords Grader:

Visit the AdWords Grader.

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Where do the biggest brands spend their marketing dollars?

Different retailers have different priorities when it comes to their marketing budgets, but the most valuable brands – Amazon and Apple – are banking on search.

We all know Amazon is the undisputed king of ecommerce. From November 2014 to November 2015, the company raked in more than $71 billion in online sales, which is more than Walmart, Apple, Macy’s, The Home Depot, Best Buy, Costco, Target, Gap Inc., Williams-Sonoma, Sears and Kohl’s sold. Combined.

What is Amazon doing that the others aren’t?

According to Fractl, a Florida-based content marketing agency which analyzed the marketing spend of these massive retailers, search gets the lion’s share of Amazon’s budget. During that year period, the ecommerce giant spent $8 million on TV and radio, a number that sounds very high in isolation. However, Amazon spent $54 million on print and $1.35 billion on search.

Among the other retailers, only Apple – called the most valuable brand in the world last year – and Etsy prioritize search to such a degree. Apple spent far more on TV and outdoor advertising than Amazon, though search still made up 86 percent of its spend. Search was an even higher percentage for Etsy: 91 percent, with 1.39 million going to search and $90,000 to other digital channels.

The Etsy finding was the most interesting to Lillian Podlog, project manager at Fractl, who noted that Etsy doesn’t have the same juggernaut status as Apple and Amazon.

“With Amazon and Apple, you can ask what came first, their success or where they put their marketing dollars. Maybe at this point, they can do anything, but Etsy has the same tactic and if you look at organic search rankings, it’s doing really well,” she says.

Etsy saw among the highest ROI in the study. For every $1 spent on marketing, the online marketplace saw $1,600 in sales. Additionally, Etsy, along with Apple and Amazon, had a disproportionately high SEMrush rankings compared with the others, which means they saw higher organic traffic.

That’s a common correlation among the brands analyzed by Fractl. Most of those with larger search spends have higher SEMrush rankings.

“So many people use ad blockers, so many people have blindness to display ads. Investing in search, whether its paid or building your SEO, requires you to really think about what kind of content you’re putting on the Internet that would appeal to users and boost your SEO,” says Podlog. “It requires you to be more thoughtful and considerate about what the customer really wants.”

Among the only exceptions to that rule are Williams-Sonoma and The Home Depot. Digital makes up 51 percent of sales – and 57 percent of the marketing budget – for the former. Nearly a quarter of that budget goes to search, but Williams-Sonoma still doesn’t rank particularly high. On the other hand, The Home Depot does, despite only spending 11 percent on search, instead prioritizing TV and radio.

Where do some of the other major players put their money?

• Best Buy puts the majority of its dollars in TV and digital, favoring network channels and display advertising over cable and search.
• Costco, on the other hand, largely eschews TV. Instead, the warehouse retailer allocates 57 percent of its marketing dollars to display and nearly all the rest to magazines and newspapers.
• Macy’s is another one with a heavy print focus. The brand spends $16 million on display and $32 million on search, which sounds like a lot of money, but is just a drop in the bucket by comparison. Macy’s spends 5.5 times as much on TV and more than 8 times as much on print.
  “Macy’s is one of those companies that has an established name and an established consumer base, but if it wants to take some of Amazon’s chunk of online retail, it has to invest more in those other channels,” says Podlog. “Macy’s has been around for so long, but I personally think that unless it changes the shape of its spending, it’s going to suffer.”
• Nordstrom’s priority is similarly on print – $27 million on magazines, compared with $6 million on search, $4 million on display, $5 million on TV and $2 million on outdoor – but the strategy is a bit different from that of Macy’s. While Macy’s spends most of its money on newspapers, Nordstrom goes for magazines, a medium that meshes better with the brand’s luxury focus.
• Netflix, despite being heralded as one of the premier digital disruptors, doesn’t spend nearly as much money on digital advertising as one would assume. The streaming giant spends $1 million each on display and online video, and $17 million on TV with a particularly heavy focus on network. It makes to sense to Podlog, who points out that “people are watching TV, they’re not on Netflix.”
• Target’s marketing budget is probably the most balanced. The retailer spends 46 on TV, 22 on print and 28 percent on digital. The majority of that digital spend is allocated to search, but $23 million is still set aside for online video.

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Five of the most interesting search marketing news stories of the week

It’s Friday, and time for our weekly round-up of the week’s news in search marketing. 

Today we have the most expensive AdWords keywords, a new site testing tool from Google, and a look at whether Google factors in anchor text in internal links.

Google’s next mobile update will factor in page speed

Mobile page speed isn’t currently used as a ranking factor by Google, but that will change with the next mobile friendly update.

Google’s Gary Illyes confirmed this at a recent Search Marketing Summit in Sydney. Though he wasn’t giving dates away, it appears this update is a matter of months away.

What are the most expensive keywords in the US?

Our columnist Chris Lake has compiled a list of the most expensive AdWords keywords in the US. (We have the same list from the UK too).

What have we learnt? Well, the US keywords are much more expensive than those in the UK. The top US keyword is upwards of four times more expensive than the equivalent across the Atlantic.

Also, whereas gambling terms dominate in the UK, it’s legal keywords in the States. 78% are legal terms, including nine of the top ten.

A new mobile-friendly testing tool

Google has just launched this tool, based upon the Page Speed Insights tool.

The tool tests and gives a score for these three things:

• Mobile friendliness
• Mobile speed
• Desktop speed

Google will also send you a report detailing the reasons for your scores and suggestions for improvement. Looks like Google needs to work on that desktop score ;)

Does Google count anchor text in internal links?

Shaun Anderson from Hobo Web carried out an interesting experiment looking at whether the anchor text used in internal links is used as a ranking factor by Google.

The answer seems to be yes. Please read Shaun’s blog for the full details, but he essentially linked to a page on his site which didn’t contain the keywords used in the anchor text linking to it.

The page then ranked for that keyword, and stopped ranking when the link was removed.

A useful recap of Google I/O

There was lots to digest from Google I/O and Google has helpfully listed and explained the various announcements on the Webmaster Central Blog.

They are:

• Rich cards
• New Search Console reports
• Real-time indexing
• More detail on Accelerated Mobile Pages
• A new and improved Structured Data Testing Tool
• App Indexing’s migration to Firebase
• App streaming
• A revamp of developer documentation

And finally, the launch of ClickZ Intelligence…

Last week saw the launch of ClickZ Intelligence, a new service providing a range of reports aimed at digital marketing pros.

There’ll be some dedicated SEO and PPC reports further down the line, but for now we have reports on social customer service, ecommerce checkout, customer journeys, mobile ads, AI, and mobile commerce (see Rebecca Sentance’s look at this report from a search perspective).

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A seven step B2B AdWords tracking audit

Conversion tracking can be the bane of a PPC professional’s existence. And that’s because there are so many variables.

Every business has a different website and CMS, a different thing they want to track, a different web development team with different proficiencies. All these different variations make this part of PPC one of the hardest parts to implement.

Though tricky, conversion tracking is essential. Because AdWords tracking gives you the data you need to be able to make smarter decisions about where you’re spending your advertising dollars, and when to optimize your PPC account.

In this post, I’ll outline seven steps you can take to audit the status of your PPC conversions …

1. Find out what the business is already tracking

The first thing you can do is find out what the business is tracking today.

Go to your AdWords dashboard > Tools > Conversion actions, where you can see conversion status.

2. Check your conversion actions

Check that the web pages jive with the conversion set up by looking at the “webpages” section.

This will show you the website pages that are reporting conversions.

For B2Bs, you can usually tell that it’s a proper conversion page if it ends with .com/thanks or .com/confirmation—or any type of page that renders after a visitor completes an action.

In the image above, the white paper URL is only tracking people that go to the white paper download page, not the people who have actually downloaded the white paper. This is a good example of tracking the wrong thing.

3.Verify the tracking tag is set up correctly

Verify that the AdWords tracking tag is set up on the right page (the thank-you or confirmation page), and set up correctly.

You’d be surprised at how easy it is to goof this step—even if you have developers or technical people working on it.

First, find the tracking tag for individual conversion actions by going to the AdWords dashboard > Conversions actions, and click on the one you are interested in viewing.

You’ll then see something like this:

Then, go to the actual web page and right click to view page source. Once the HTML side of the page is visible, you can quickly look for the code by searching on the HTML page for the conversion ID number, using the information you retrieved from your AdWords dashboard (like in the image above).

Once you see that the code is actually on the page, verify it’s placed in the right area on the web page. This help file from AdWords showcases where to place it, and here’s a marked-up image:

4.Use the ‘Tag Assistant’ extension to verify tracking codes

I love the “Tag Assistant” Google Chrome extension to validate tracking on any given web page.

From the Google help files, the following shows the status messages you’ll see from it:

Be aware that you may get recommendations from the extension, even when the code is implemented correctly. This is usually because there are additional details you could implement to make the tracking more robust.

You can grab the extension here.

5. Check the AdWords conversion data with internal conversion data

Check the last month’s conversion data, and then ask your client (or if you’re in-house, your team) if the numbers are consistent with their internal tracking (like in Salesforce.com or their own internal tracking system).

Sometimes the company may be reporting more or less conversions than what you’re seeing, and if it’s within range, there’s nothing to worry about. But if you start to see huge differences, that’s when you want to dig in and find out more.

6. Compare with Google Analytics data

Now this step is an extra step that not every business has implemented. We always track conversions using both types of code, the AdWords tracking tag and the Google Analytics tracking code.

Some businesses prefer the Google Tag Manager product, which is a simplified version for adding and updating conversion tracking and additional items (presumably without bugging the web developer every time you need something).

In Google Analytics, we’re also looking for similar numbers to the AdWords conversions. They’re never going to be completely the same because the two platforms report differently (this Google help file clarifies the difference). If something is off in a big way, time to start researching.

And sometimes the issue goes deeper than just looking at the numbers. For example, say a website visitor has three things to do on the site: fill out a request, sign up for a newsletter and sign up for a webinar.

What can happen is the business may be tracking all three in AdWords, but they only have one form set up to track in analytics. So be sure to understand what conversion actions are represented in both tracking systems.

7. Go through the conversion process yourself

You can verify the conversion tracking is correct by taking the action on the website yourself. Start by doing a search online using the desired keyword, click the ad and fill in the form.

I like to use some easy identifier when I’m first performing the search (e.g., “personal injury lawyer Pauline test”), so that you can easily find your conversion.

To sum up: Yes, conversion tracking can be a pain in the you-know-what, but it’s the only way you can make sound decisions about your AdWords account on a daily basis. Take the time to see if your PPC client or your business is doing it right by following the steps in this article.

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10 things you need to know about the new Google Maps Local Search Ads

Last week was quite eventful for PPC marketers. Google announced a number of changes coming to AdWords and Analytics during the Google Performance Summit, with mobile being the huge focus.

Google revealed several incredible mobile statistics. We were introduced to Expanded Text Ads. We got a sneak preview of the new Google AdWords interface. And so much more.

Another big change was what Google described as “the next generation” of local search ads.

So what exactly are these new Google maps ads? What’s changing?

Here are answer to the top 10 questions you’re asking (or should be asking!) about the new Google Maps local search ads.

1. How are Local Search Ads on Google Maps changing?

The new Google Maps ads are designed to help businesses be more visible at moments when consumers are searching online (especially on a mobile device) for somewhere to eat or shop.

In the coming weeks and months, Google will be revealing several new Maps ad formats and features that are designed to drive more foot traffic to your physical location. These include Promoted Pins (including brand logos), in-store promotions, customizable business pages, and local inventory search.

Google’s goal is to optimize the Google Maps experience so that users actually see the ads but without going so far as to become obtrusive and become a distraction to users who may be driving (e.g., there are no plans for interstitials or audio).

Google introduced local ads to the Google Maps app in 2013.

2. Where will the new ads be shown?

The new local search ads will appear within the Google Maps app, on the Google Maps mobile, desktop, and tablet sites, and on Google.com Expanded Maps results.

In the Google Maps app, which has more than 1 billion downloads, a single ad with a purple ad label will be featured in the top spot above the organic results.

For searches within Google Maps, Google will show a maximum of two ads with a purple ad label at the top of the search results.

For Google.com location-related searches (officially known as Google.com Expanded Maps Results), users who click on the “More places” link at the bottom of the Local 3-Pack will first see a Google Maps ad in the top position with a yellow ad label, above the other map results.

3. Why is Google making these change?

During the Summit, Google revealed some insane statistics that should make all marketers stand up and take notice.

Here are seven mind-blowing mobile stats that explain why you must bridge the gap from the mobile world to the physical world:

• Around 90 percent of all global sales will happen in stores, as opposed to online.
• Nearly a third of mobile searches are related to location.
• Location-related searches have been growing 50 percent faster than mobile searches overall in the past year.
• Over a billion people now use Maps.
• Google searches (on Google.com and Maps) guide consumers to 1.5 billion destinations every year.
• 84 percent of consumers conduct local searches.
• Three out of every four people who search for something nearby using their smartphone end up visiting a store within a day, and 28 percent of those searches result in a purchase.

If your business has a physical location and you want to grow, then it’s extremely important that you make it ridiculously easy for people to find you online when they pull out their smartphone to search for what you sell.

4. What are Promoted Pins?

Google will soon bring Promoted Pins to Maps. These branded pins are designed to help your business stand out to people who are nearby or who will walk or drive right by your business. It’s your opportunity to be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys.

For example, if you run a restaurant, your ad might convince someone passing by to grab a bite to eat. Or if you want people to stop at your gas station, your Promoted Pin could convince people to pull in and fuel up.

Here’s what Promoted Pins look like:

So if you were in need of a pharmacy, Walgreens’ ad might appear at the top of your search results (assuming there is one near you). In addition to highlighting details about Walgreens, you’ll see an in-store promotion ($3 off contact lens solution).

The right promotion could help your business drive more store visits.

For example, let’s say you’re on your way back from successfully buying contact solution at Walgreens. There’s a Starbucks a couple blocks away and you’re a regular customer. To entice you to visit, Starbucks might use a Promoted Pin on Google Maps to offer you $1 off any beverage if you use your rewards card.

5. How does Google Maps choose which ads to show?

There could be hundreds of stores near your location but only a few precious ad spots. How does Google know which listing is the most relevant to the searcher?

Google says it is using a “variety” of signals, including:

• Query context.
• Location.
• Search/browsing history.
• Interests.
• Behaviors.
• Time of day.
• Demographics.

What Google Maps is doing is similar to the ad serving used on the Google Display Network.

So if Google knows that you don’t often go to Starbucks, Google Maps won’t show you Starbucks ads. Pretty smart, eh?

6. What else is changing with Google Maps?

Local pages are getting a new look, all designed to increase foot traffic to your store.

When someone taps on a local search ad, they’ll be taken to a page that advertisers can customize. The local pages will include important business details such as store hours, phone number, address, and driving directions.

Businesses can also highlight offers that are unique to that promoted location (e.g., 10 percent off an item) and allow people to search for items in your store’s local inventory. Google will only show local inventory if it is relevant to your business.

7. How can I display local inventory?

According to Google data, one in four people avoid visiting stores because they don’t know whether a specific product is in stock. That’s why you should bring local inventory information into your customizable local page, along with ability to search through that inventory.

How do you display that information? You need to provide Google with your inventory feed. You can see Google’s specifications here.

8. How much will the new local search ads cost?

Advertisers are currently charged on a cost-per-click basis for Google Local Search ads. These clicks include:

• Get location details.
• Get directions.
• Click-to-call.

9. When will the new local search ads roll out?

The new local search ads are currently in beta. Google hasn’t revealed an exact date when the ads will become more widely available, but it’s a safe bet they will start rolling out to more advertisers within the next three months.

10. What do location-based businesses need to do?

While you wait for access to the new ads, there are a couple things you can do now.

First, and most important, you must enable location extensions. Only ads with location extensions enabled will be eligible to show. Location extensions are proven to positively impact your performance.

You can advertise on Google Maps right now. Just check that all your information in Google My Business is complete, accurate, and up to date. Any inaccurate information will make it that much harder for people to find you when they’re ready to buy. Which could be right now.

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Six lessons advertisers can learn from local SEO

Last month, ClickZ Intelligence published its report into ‘The State of Mobile Advertising’, in partnership with Search Optics.

Among the report’s findings was the revelation that mobile advertisers are missing out on hyperlocal opportunities in a big way. As our Editor in Chief Graham Charlton observed in the article linked, “With the near ubiquity of smartphones, and their growing use to access digital content, the opportunity to target based on location has never been greater.”

And yet, advertisers aren’t taking advantage of these opportunities to employ hyperlocal tactics in their advertising. When asked which of the hyperlocal tactics listed they used to target consumers with ads – including tactics like customer match, retargeting and basic radius based on GPS data – less than half of respondents said they were using any of the given strategies.

One survey respondent said, “Armed with their mobile devices, consumers are conducting ‘near me’ searches that require brands to be more responsive than ever. If your business is not present when near me moments of need occur, you might as well not exist.”

So how should businesses be stepping up their efforts to target consumers locally and be present at the top of search when it is most important? Here are six lessons that advertisers can learn from local SEO to make the most of these hyperlocal opportunities.

Be mobile-first

As the quote above neatly illustrates, mobile and hyperlocal go hand in hand like UX and SEO. As many as 94% of mobile searches are said to have local intent, and 50% of those are likely to visit a store within one day.

Mobile is an essential consideration for all digital businesses, as Google consistently ranks mobile-friendly sites above those which aren’t, and has even confirmed it is developing a separate mobile index for searches carried out on mobile. (More reasons go here)

Designing for mobile increasingly means taking a mobile-first approach to user experience and content, rather than simply adapting to mobile.

But designing for mobile doesn’t just mean designing a mobile ‘friendly’ or ‘responsive’ site any more. “Mobile First is mobile first,” asserts Salvador Carrillo, CEO of Mobile Dreams Factory, in the ClickZ Intelligence report ‘The DNA of a Great Mobile Commerce Site’. “If you have or will have more traffic in mobile, start designing in mobile.

“Responsive web is not simply about designing a liquid or adaptive multi-device site. You have to create a totally different experience in mobile.”

Don’t neglect your Google My Business listing

Paid ads aren’t the only way to be present at the top of search. The ‘map pack’ of local search results which appears near or at the top when users make a local search is composed of Google My Business listings, which are completely free to register and an easy way to ensure your business appears across Google’s services, including Maps and Google+.

These results are even more important on mobile, where it takes a significant amount of scrolling to move past the paid ads – where they appear – as well as the local map pack, making a presence in the local map pack almost equivalent to being on page one of organic search.

In our first #ClickZChat of May, ClickZ Chatters discussed local SEO, and specifically gave their thoughts on what the absolute basics are that marketers should be covering to achieve decent local SEO. Graham Charlton tweeted that marketers should be sure to claim their Google My Business listing:

Q2 – Google My Business listing. Easiest and cheaper way to increase your profile. #ClickZChat

— Graham Charlton (@gcharlton) May 4, 2016

Even if you’ve already claimed your listing on Google My Business, take a moment to check that the details are all updated, local and correctly categorised and that you’re using the best and most recent business images that you have.

We’ve put together a guide on how to optimise your Google My Business listing, with input from four experts in local SEO.

Publish regular, fresh and local content

A well-known tenet of SEO is that publishing fresh content is a great way to stay on top. Search engines treat up-to-date content as an indicator that the information contained on a website is more likely to be current, relevant and accurate and thus provide a better experience for users, and so they’re more likely to give it a higher ranking.

From a marketing perspective, content marketing done well can achieve excellent ROI, so there is a very solid marketing argument to be made for publishing relevant content as well. Publishing content fleshes out your business, giving it increased authority on the topics you publish about, and presents additional opportunities for consumers to engage with your business.

To boost your business’s local presence and relevance, you should also strive to make your content, or your blog, a local destination. Greg Gifford gave this advice during his presentation on winning the local visibility race at Brighton SEO, pointing out that a blog with thoughtfully curated local content can become a go-to destination, providing valuable information to visitors that isn’t just about the company (but is still relevant to its message), while also building strong links with other blogs and businesses in the process.

Twitter user JaroG4, during our local SEO #ClickZChat, also advised businesses to focus on relevant local events in their content in order to stand out and get noticed.

@sewatch Q2. From a content perspective, focusing on relevant events can also play a significant role in getting noticed #ClickZChat

— JaroG4 (@JaroG4) May 4, 2016

Go after local links

Building on from the previous point, publishing quality content can be very effective in building links with other local businesses and institutions – figurative links, as well as actual web links. As Jim Yu wrote in his piece for ClickZ about blogging and SEO, although backlinks have a bad reputation from the days of ‘black hat’ SEO, website owners shouldn’t be afraid to go after them. And links with a lot of local relevance can be particularly valuable.

In his presentation at Brighton SEO, Greg Gifford gave a clever tip for getting ahead in local visibility that most businesses wouldn’t think to do: go after ‘crappy little church website’ links, links with huge hyperlocal relevance that no-one else is pursuing.

Even if the websites themselves aren’t the most professional and don’t have a lot of domain authority, it doesn’t do to underestimate their importance in a local context. And you can build those entities (whether they’re churches, youth groups or local news blogs) as topics into your content, giving it local relevance at the same time as building relationships that benefit your business.

Small, hyperlocal websites can wield a lot of local clout if you manage to gain links from them

If you’re worried about keeping on top of of the links you’ve gained or making sure you don’t have any that will harm your presence in search, read up on how to track your backlinks and how to deal with harmful backlinks that might hurt your ranking.

Make search ads relevant to context and location

Where you do place localised ads in search, it isn’t enough just to target them locally: consumers expect the advertising itself to be relevant to their context and location. A study by Google found that 4 in 5 consumers want ads that are “customised to their city, zip code or immediate surroundings”. As Google writes,

“By accounting for a consumer’s constantly changing location, all businesses can benefit, whether they are an online-only company looking to attract consumers in certain cities, a brick-and-mortar store trying to reach local consumers or a multichannel organization hoping to drive consumers from online to store.”

Image via Going Local: How Advertisers Can Extend Their Relevance With Search

Don’t take local visibility for granted

The overriding message from the ‘State of Mobile Advertising’ study as well as from all of these tips is simple: don’t overlook the importance of local visibility or take it for granted. Too many advertisers are neglecting opportunities to target consumers locally – opportunities which are demonstrably worth their while.

The ‘State of Mobile Advertising’ survey also found that where advertisers do employ local targeting techniques, regardless of what they are, the results are overwhelmingly positive. When asked how effective the hyperlocal tactics they used were for driving successful ROI from mobile advertising, the vast majority of advertisers (anywhere between 73 and 96%) rated their tactics “good” or “excellent” at driving ROI.

So the biggest lesson that advertisers can take away from local SEO is to not underestimate the importance of a local presence for your business. Local SEOs understand this, and advertisers should, too.

For more great insights, trends and best practice guides on digital marketing, head to ClickZ Intelligence and check out our library of reports.

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The most expensive 100 Google Adwords keywords in the US

Google is on track to make more than $70bn in revenue in 2016, and the lion’s share of that number will be generated by its insanely successful advertising business.

As I’m sure you know, advertisers pay a fee every time somebody clicks on a link in one of their ads. Some of the costs per click being paid are absolutely staggering, though they must be worth it, from the advertiser’s perspective.

Last month I analysed a large chunk of Google Adwords data from SEMrush to discover the most expensive keywords in the UK. Today, I’m releasing the same research for the US. The old adage suggests that everything is bigger in the States, and that certainly seems to apply to advertising expenditure.

So, here are the top 100 terms, based on a massive dataset of 80m keywords…

As you can see, the legal sector dominates, with the most expensive term closing in on a truly incredible $1,000 per click. It sounds insane, but consider that the average mesothelioma settlement is in excess of $1m and it starts to make a lot of sense. Legal terms account for 78% of the top 100, and nine of the top 10.

Water damage is another big ticket item, with clicks costing more than $250 for the top terms. Repair costs and associated claims for water damage into the tens of thousands, so again, it figures.

The other sectors that need to spend big to make an impression include Finance (largely focused on insurance), B2B (typically around the provision of business telephony) and Health (the top terms being linked to rehab).

One of the most obvious difference between the UK and US research is the total absence of any terms related to gambling in the latter country, where it remains illegal to gamble online. Gambling terms account for 77% of the UK’s top 100 terms, with the most expensive cost per click coming in at around $220.

The other thing is the lack of typos. In the UK advertisers are quite happy to seek out people who cannot spell, something that makes the eyes narrow when those terms are linked to gambling.

Sector by sector

Here’s a sector-specific breakdown of the top five most expensive terms in the US. Note that I’ve adjusted the scale for each one, such is the variance in click costs between industries.

You can share these charts individually, should you wish to do so.

As Google continues to turn the screw towards a fully fledged pay-to-play model my bet is that we’ll see even more keyword inflation over the next few years, though ultimately there may be a point at which things start to plateau.

What do you think? Are you surprised by the amount being spent by advertisers? Do leave a comment below…

from Yong Johnson’s DM blog http://ift.tt/25wS3TF via transformational marketing
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