Recently we did a series of posts on AdWords Ad Extensions, complete with a quick follow-up on how Google decides to display ad extensions and a closer look at the following extensions:Google AdWords Location ExtensionsGoogle AdWords Product ExtensionsGoogle AdWords Sitelink ExtensionsGoogle AdWords Call ExtensionsBut after concluding the series we quickly realized that we left an ad extension off the list (the downside to pompously titling something “The Ultimate Guide to X” is that you can easily be guilted into pretty much never-ending updates, so be careful with your hyperbolic in-title-adjectives).

One ad extension we missed was Google AdWords communication extensions. This isn’t available for everyone, but it’s a very interesting extension that could have some serious implicat... > Read more

This post is the first in our series on Google AdWords reporting via the AdWords dimension tab. Today we’ll cover the AdWords time report. This report is pretty flexible and allows you to slice date-based data in a variety of different ways, so understanding how it works can be valuable for anyone managing a pay-per-click campaign.

What AdWords Reports Live within the “Time” Drop-Down?There are seven reports you’ll find within the AdWords time drop-down. Obviously the labels themselves give you a pretty good idea of what unit of time each of these items is focused on, but we’ll walk through what you might use each of these reports for:Day of the Week – This is breaking down a period of time (e.g., the last six months) by day of the week. Your business might (or might not) perfor... > Read more

We recently concluded our series on AdWords ad extensions, and thought we’d take a similar approach to a series of reports that live under the Google AdWords Dimensions Tab. Many people rely on the main AdWords tabs for their standard reports – at the campaign, ad group, keyword, and ad level – but there are a series of reports that offer a ton of great data all rolled up under the dimensions tab.

In this guide to using the AdWords dimensions tab, we’ll be breaking out each of these reports and showing you:How to pull the report and manipulate the dataWhy this report is (or in some cases isn’t) importantWhen the data will be helpful and actionable (and in some cases: when it won’t be)Available Reports in the AdWords Dimensions TabBelow is a brief explanation of each of the repor... > Read more

This is the final post in our series on Google AdWords Ad Extensions. Previously we’ve covered:Google AdWords Location ExtensionsGoogle AdWords Product ExtensionsGoogle AdWords Sitelinks ExtensionsAnd today we’ll be rounding out the series by covering how to use Google AdWords call extensions.What Are Call Extensions & Why Are They Important?Google’s help section describes Call Extensions as follows:Call extensions make it easy for customers to call you directly from your ad and for you to better understand the value of your campaigns by measuring the phone calls that your ads generate.

Call extensions are a type of ad extension, an ad feature that allows advertisers to include additional information about their businesses and offering to their text ads. In the case of call extens... > Read more

As is the case with pretty much anything Google does or pays attention to, if you’re a search marketer or someone for whom search traffic (paid or natural) is an important part of how you market your business, it’s helpful to pay attention to the things Google does, and to think about why they’re likely to do those things.

In the past week Google has made two big announcements surrounding their analytics offering:They unveiled Google Analytics Premium, an enterprise analytics package.They announced real-time Google Analytics, which allows you to see how people are interacting with your site in real time rather than waiting hours for the data to refresh.When looked at in a vacuum, these seem like pretty standard iterations for the folks at Google. When you layer on some context, though... > Read more

This is the second installment in our multi-part series on Google AdWords Ad Extensions. Last time we covered Google AdWords location extensions, and today’s focus will be on product extensions.Product extensions is a feature that allows you to link your Google Merchant account with your AdWords account to have enhanced listings for your products shown in search results on Google properties:In this post we’ll walk through why product extensions are important, how you can use them in your account, and when to use the extensions as well as how best to apply them.

Why Are AdWords Product Extensions Important?Product extensions are important for much the same reason the other ad extensions are important: they offer increased visibility in search results. This means more clicks – in many v... > Read more

One of the most underutilized weapons in a number of AdWords accounts is ad extensions. Ad extensions allow you to take up more real estate on the SERP, providing additional links to your site, product images and other information that can draw people in and increase your click-through rates. In this guide, we’ll be walking through each of the AdWords ad extensions in detail, showing you how they work, when they work, and why you’d want to leverage them.

In this post I will provide a brief overview of each. Click the headings on each section for an in-depth look at each of the AdWords ad extensions. (You might want to go ahead and bookmark this guide now...)Google AdWords Location ExtensionsAdWords location extensions show in response to certain local queries, and the data shown to sear... > Read more

Sometimes the controls inside of an AdWords account can be pretty overwhelming and confusing. AdWords is constantly adding new features, and it sometimes becomes difficult – particularly for new to intermediate-level advertisers – to quickly diagnose certain specific issues in their account. I think this is particularly the case on the content network, as many advertisers with a limited knowledge of AdWords will have had most of their experience working with search campaigns.

One seemingly simple issue that often frustrates unfamiliar advertisers is how to control cost per click (CPC) on the content network. Today we’ll talk about why your content network CPCs might be higher than they need to be, and how you can correct the issue.Mistake #1: Failure to Split Out Content and SearchThi... > Read more

One of the challenges for any specialist is evangelizing your own channel. Whether you’re a pay-per-click consultant, doing PPC full time in house, or just list PPC campaign management as one of the channels you manage, you want to be sure that the proper budget and credit are being assigned to your pay-per-click campaigns.

In some instances just looking at the standard reporting options might not give you a full picture of where the value in your PPC campaign truly lies, but in this post we’ll introduce you to a few tools that will help you get more granular insight into the true performance of your pay-per-click campaigns. Demonstrating PPC Value with Multi-Channel Funnels Multi-channel funnels from Google Analytics are a great (new) means of showing previously hidden value b... > Read more