With the new year just around the corner, it's a good idea to tidy up your clients' accounts for success in 2009. Locating keywords and campaigns that have a high bounce rate, meaning users left after visiting just one page of the site, is a good first step when optimizing AdWords accounts to be more successful.

But time is of the essence, so check out this quick video tip on how to use Google Analytics reports to identify poor performing keywords and campaigns in your clients' AdWords accounts. For more details on Google Analytics reporting, visit the Analytics Help Center. Happy New Year!

We're back with the fourth fact in our series to help clear the air about Quality Score and help you run more effective campaigns for your clients. Today's fact is:

A few bad days of test performance will not ruin your Quality Scores. In order to optimize your clients' accounts, we encourage you to run targeted tests on your bids, creatives, and keywords. These small tests are a useful way to measure the impact of changes before applying them more widely. You should carefully track the performance of your experiments. If you find that the changes you've made don't perform well after a few days, you can revise your experiment or delete those changes and the short term impact on your Quality Score will soon be outweighed by the positive performance you have accrued in the rest of your client's account.

We'll bring you our next fact in the new year. Wishing you Happy Holidays until then!

Posted by Dan Friedman, Product Marketing Manager

It's update time again! We've released version 7.0 of AdWords Editor for Windows and Mac, and have included some sought-after metrics. This release of AdWords Editor includes data for first page bid estimates and keyword Quality Score. Version 7.0 also offers optional usage tracking to send anonymous statistics to Google and help us improve AdWords Editor. You can learn more about these and other new features in the release notes.

As always, we want to remind you to save comments and unposted changes by backing up your work before you upgrade. Then, after you've installed the new version, you can download your account and import the backup file.

Posted by Kerrie Lenhart, Product Specialist

Everyone gets hungry, but how do you get people to be passionate about granola bars? We'll explore how Nature Valley's "Where's Yours?" campaign did just that with a good question and a lot of creativity. In this campaign, travel enthusiasts were invited to submit a video describing their own "Nature Valley" for a chance to win one of three trips to exotic locations, making the campaign's YouTube channel one of the most subscribed-to sponsors in YouTube history.

In this webinar, John Williams of General Mills will provide a campaign overview, Shane Robbins of MRM Worldwide will recap campaign strategy, and Angela Reynar of Google will highlight the ad effectiveness research, which measured brand lift, online behavior, and offline sales.

If you haven't yet, check out the "Where's Yours?" site and YouTube Channel, and view the campaign-starting video below.

Register here to join us for the webinar on Thursday, December 18th at 12pm EST. You'll need the event password googleCPG to register, and you'll then receive an email with further details and dial-in information for the webinar.



Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team

Welcome to the third fact in our series on Quality Score. We've been posting specifics about Quality Score to set the record straight on some of the common questions we receive. Today's fact is:Google does not keep track of your landing page Quality Score history. We've heard some concern from advertisers who think their current Quality Score is being lowered by previous landing pages' Quality Scores. However, Google only uses the most recent check of your landing page to determine its relevance and quality.

If you're interested in warming your hands by the glow of your computer, we've got some great educational material for you to cozy up to. Whether you're interested in tapping into social media, managing financial services clients, or just looking to learn more about opportunities for online advertisers, join us for our upcoming webinars:

Intro to Social Media
December 10, 2008, 2PM EST
Register here
This webinar gives an overview of social networks and dispels the myths that they're only a venue for teens. Learn who's on social networks, why they're visiting, and all the opportunities for advertisers, including OpenSocial, targeting capabilities, ad formats, global and mobile opportunities, and reporting metrics.

Shopping for Investment Services
December 11, 2008, 2PM EST
Register here
Compete, Inc. and Google will share the findings from a joint study that analyzed the research behavior of investors, specifically how these investors used search to research their decisions. In this webinar, we'll answer the following questions:

• To what extent is the economy driving interest in this category?
• How are economic conditions changing the way investors research and shop for investment accounts?
• What online and offline resources do consumers use in their research and shopping process?
• What is the role of search in the research process?

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

We've recently launched a new AdWords Help Forum with a range of improvements. Designed to help facilitate a vibrant AdWords community, the forum is a great place to meet other savvy AdWords users or develop relationships with new advertisers looking for help.  Our very own Google experts also frequently answer questions.  Here are just a few of the new features you can expect to see when you visit the forum:

We recently began our series on Quality Score to help dispel any myths or misconceptions about this factor in your account. For the second installment of our series, we bring you this fact:As always, feel free to send us your questions or comments at agencyblog-feedback@google.com.

Posted by: Dan Friedman, Product Marketing Manager

You've probably heard of the AdWords display ad builder, our free tool that enables you to create image ads quickly and easily. As the holidays approach, it's important for retail and other consumer-oriented businesses to highlight their key products and be able to create fresh ads based on inventory and demand levels. Display ad builder can help you do just that, without the need for professional designers or a long turn-around time.

Here are some ideas for how to use the display ad builder tool and image ads to help drive sales for your clients:

• Create image ads around a high-demand product, and use text to highlight any deals or promotions you're offering for the holidays. For example, if there's a lot of demand for a particular toy (perhaps the Tickle Me Elmo of 2008), use an image of that toy to drive user recall and entice them to buy the item from your store.
• Create multiple ads so that as the holidays approach, you can react quickly to inventory levels and demand.
• Use images to promote items that aren't selling as well. It can be easy for shoppers to think only of what's hot this holiday season. Images can remind them of additional needs, like household goods or appliances that are good gift ideas but may not get a lot of hype.
• Use holiday pictures and backgrounds to create themed ads. As the holiday season approaches, use image ads to convey greetings and highlight any special offers.

If you'd like to learn more about the display ad builder, or how to use image ads, you can visit our display ad builder site, or watch our tutorial.

Posted by Vivek Tata, Business Marketing Manager

We recently launched a host of new features for Ad Planner, our free media planning tool. To help you stay up to date on how you can use Ad Planner to inform your advertising decisions, we'll be showcasing the latest additions in our Intro to Ad Planner webinar. Join the Agency Learning & Development team on Monday, December 1st at 2pm EST/11am PST to find out more about:

• Defining your audience by keywords and geography
• New site ranking methods
• Ways to analyze your media plan
• International demographic data

While we recommend this webinar for Media Buyers and Media Planners, all are welcome to attend. You can register for the webinar here, using the registration password agency1. Once you register, you'll receive an email with full details on how to join the webinar. Don't forget to make a note of the event password, adplanner1, since you'll need it to attend the webinar. See you online!

Posted by Kate Stonich, Agency Learning & Development Team

In our conversations with advertisers, we hear a number of questions about Quality Score, a key metric in the accounts you manage. Quality Score measures how relevant your keywords are to users' search queries and influences CPCs and first page bids in your account. We'll be bringing you a short series of facts about Quality Score to help answer the questions we frequently receive, beginning with this one:

Showing up in a higher position will not benefit your Quality Score. Although higher-ranked ads may typically earn better clickthrough rates, Quality Score is normalized to compensate for performance differences resulting from ad position.

Stay tuned for more facts, and we're always open to hearing your suggestions via email at agencyblog-feedback@google.com

Posted by Dan Friedman, Product Marketing Manager

Since we launched Google Ad Planner a few months ago, you've suggested more ways we could help improve your media planning process. First, we're excited to announce that Ad Planner is now accessible to anyone with a Google account. Second, we've released a number of new features that we built based on your direct input.With three new site ranking methods, you can decide how you want your site results ranked and displayed. You can choose between sites most likely to attract your target audience, larger known sites to increase your campaign scale, or a balance between the two. By applying other site filters, you can narrow your search to only sites that accept ads, sites in specific categories like "Video Games," or sites that end with a particular domain suffix like ".edu."



With Google Ad Planner's new interactive bubble chart, you can compare sites in your media plan by demographics, frequency, traffic, and unique visitors. In the example below, the red bubble shows a site heavily skewed towards females under 35, which is inconsistent with other sites in the media plan. By discovering such outliers, you can easily refine your media plan targeting.



Sign in now to see the improvements, maybe check out a training video or two, and let us know what you think.

[Cross-posted from Inside AdWords blog.]

In an effort to further understand and improve the landscape of online marketing, Google has partnered with WPP Group to create a research program for faculty from universities worldwide. The participants will be challenged to develop a research project addressing a major question surrounding online marketing, such as the interaction between online and offline media or an investigation into audience types and engagement.

Creative theories and data-driven analysis are encouraged, and Google and WPP will provide marketing data to qualified participants in the program. Best of all, award recipients will receive between $50,000 to $70,000 to complete their proposed research.

If you or someone you know is interested in the program, we invite you to visit the Marketing Research Awards page and frequently asked questions on the Google Research site.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

The weeks ahead are full of activity for online advertising conference-goers. If you plan on attending any of the upcoming shows, we've compiled a list of the conferences where Google will be in attendance. Hope to see you there!

ad:tech New York
November 3-6, 2008
New York Hilton, New York, NY

Webmaster World PubCon
November 11-14, 2008
Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

Search Engine Strategies Chicago
December 8-12, 2008
Chicago Hilton, Chicago, IL

Posted by Christina Hill, Events Team

Our AdWords API team has recently announced the release of version 13, which brings a host of changes to the API. Among the added functionalities are new reports, new geotargeting options, and the ability to retrieve Quality Scores and first page bid estimates for your keywords. For full details, please take a look at the release notes to stay up to date.

And as you update your campaigns for the holiday season, you'll now receive 20% more API units until January 15th, 2009. While you may be increasing your API usage to keep up with the busy time of year, don't forget that you can make the extra quota work even more efficiently by following these suggestions for "cutting API calories from your app" and avoiding the API holiday weight!

The holiday shopping season can be a boon to retailers, but during strained economic times it's particularly important to understand how to measure the effectiveness of online campaigns. We partnered with Compete, Inc. to study the role that search plays in the retail buying process, and recently held a recorded webinar to present the findings. In the webinar, now available here, we explore the following questions:

• What role does search marketing play in driving online and in-store sales?
• How do shoppers use branded and non-branded keywords in advance of purchase?
• How can marketers measure the effectiveness of paid search and the value of non-converting clicks?

We hope you find the information valuable when planning your clients' holiday campaigns this year.

Posted by Laura Hood, Creative Team

We've just launched the beta version of the Display Ad Builder tool, which will allow you to create and customize image, animated, and Flash ads for the Google content network from within your client's account. If you've ever struggled with design resources for creating display ads or needed to whip something up for a client at a moment's notice, the Display Ad Builder may come in handy next time those situations arise. For more details on the Display Ad Builder and how to use it, see our Display Ads 101 site or watch this video tutorial.

Due to technical issues, we've rescheduled our Education Industry webinar that was originally planned for Wednesday, October 8. The webinar will now take place on Wednesday, October 15 at 10am PST/1pm EST, and you'll find full registration details below. We apologize for the delay and any inconvenience, and we hope you'll join us next week.

Date: Wednesday, October 15
Time: 10am PST/1pm EST
Register here

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team

As you may have heard, we just released version 6.5 of AdWords Editor, our free online account management tool. If you're already using AdWords Editor, you will be prompted to upgrade automatically. If you're new to AdWords Editor, you can download the latest version here.

To keep you up to date, we've compiled a sneak peek into some of the new features you can expect with version 6.5:

• Horizontal scrolling in the data view and auto-sizing columns.
  
  
• Calendar picker for performance statistics and campaign end dates.
  
  
• New Keyword Opportunities tool to help you find new, relevant keywords for your campaigns. Use the expansion feature to generate keyword ideas from words or phrases, or the multiplier feature to combine lists of terms to create new keywords.

For full details of these and other new features, please see the release notes. And if you have questions about the benefits or functionality of AdWords Editor, have a look at our frequently asked questions and our Help Center.

Posted by Kerrie Lenhart, Product Specialist

We know that January is going to be a big month for advertisers in the education space and we'd like to help as you prepare to discuss budgets, new campaigns and existing strategies with your education clients. Register here

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team

Our AdWords API team just announced the AdWords API Local Database Sync project. The AdWords API provides developers a way to manage large accounts quickly and easily by connecting directly to the AdWords platform, and this project is aimed at helping to improve that efficiency.

The scripts that make up the project can be used to schedule reports using the AdWords API, store the results in a local database (using SQLite), and then run queries against the database. Since keeping your AdWords account information in a local database that's updated by calls to the API can be faster and more cost-effective than calling the API directly multiple times, the API Local Database Sync will help developers who don't yet have a way to synchronize their local database.

For more information on this project and lots of technical details, visit the AdWords API blog and the project's home on the Google Code site.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

If you're interested in using Google's Conversion Optimizer tool for your clients' campaigns, but are having trouble meeting the requirement of 100 conversions over the past 30 days, we'd like to help. We've compiled some tips below to boost your clients' conversions in order to be able to use the Conversion Optimizer for their keyword-targeted campaigns.

- If your client is willing to increase advertising spend, and:

• is regularly hitting their budget, you can increase their budget.
• is not usually hitting their budget, you can increase their CPCs in the ad groups of the affected campaign. Higher CPCs can help improve their Ad Rank, which can lead to better-converting clicks.
  

- If your client is not willing to increase their advertising spend, they may consider moving their conversion tracking code to a more prominent - yet still valuable - page on their site.

For example, if your client sells insurance, they can move the code from the "Thank You" page after a signup to the page where someone requests a quote. They'll still see data for meaningful actions on the site, while increasing the likelihood of receiving conversions since more people reach the quote page. [Note: if they do move the conversion tracking code, wait about two weeks before implementing Conversion Optimizer to allow the system time to adjust to the change.]

For more tips on reaching the conversion threshold requirement for the Conversion Optimizer, visit our Help Center.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

Searching for your clients' ads can be a daily occurrence, especially for a time-sensitive or high-priority campaign. But what if you want to see an ad in a campaign targeted to another geographic location? Or, what if you don't want to accrue any extra impressions, since searching for an ad repeatedly can change the position in which you see it?

The Ad Preview Tool will allow you to search for the ad you're interested in without accruing impressions. It's your window into which ads are active and running across the country or around the world.


Access the Ad Preview Tool in the Tools menu of your account or through the direct link here and get a new view of your ads.

Posted by Brian Tanaka, Optimization Specialist

The latest AdWords Industry Newsletters have hit the streets and are ready to help you and your clients make the most of your AdWords advertising. If you have clients in the Entertainment, Tech B2B, or Auto verticals, check out the highlights below for a taste of what you'll find inside.

• Entertainment & Media: Learn easy editing tips with AdWords Editor.
• Tech B2B: Take advantage of a free YouTube channel to reach new audiences for your business.
• Auto: Expand your reach in three different ways with Google Maps.

More topics await inside each newsletter, so be sure to browse through any that are relevant to you. And if you'd like to subscribe to any of the newsletters, please drop us a line at awnewsletter-feedback@google.com.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

The next time you're researching keywords in the Keyword Tool and want a better sense of the popularity of your potential new terms, try adding some columns to your results. The Keyword Tool now displays more information about a keyword's approximate search volume, so you'll be able to see trends over time.

For example, the keyword "back to school" shows a strong search peak in August, while searches for "back to school movie" stay relatively consistent all year, thanks to diligent Rodney Dangerfield fans.


To add columns to your results, use the "Choose columns to display" drop-down menu to select the data you'd like to see after you've entered your keywords into the Keyword Tool.

Knowing when to expect spikes in traffic can help you allocate your clients' budget to the most appropriate times of the year. And knowing that there are so many Rodney Dangerfield fans out there just may help you get a head start on your holiday shopping list.

Posted by Stephanie Blake, Agency Team

We've recently created the AdWords Editor guide to give you an at-a-glance look at the features and functions available in the latest version of our free account management tool. Whether you're looking for a quick overview of the product or want a cheat sheet of keyboard shortcuts, download the PDF guide and use it when you're ready to start managing your clients' campaigns online.

Posted by Lindsey Wall, Agency Team

Google TV Ads recently joined the YouTube community with its own YouTube channel, and it's a great resource to explore if you have clients interested in television advertising. Take some time to check out the channel and you'll find:

• Instructional videos such as an introduction to Google TV Ads and tutorials on how to create ads using Final Cut Pro and Vegas
• Real examples of Google TV ads created through the Ad Creation Marketplace
• Testimonials from clients who have used the Ad Creation Marketplace
• Success stories from clients who've achieved strong results with Google TV Ads

While you're on the site, don't miss the newest success stories from independent media agency Carat and credit management firm TransUnion Interactive. Happy viewing!

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

The AdWords Editor Team will be hosting an 'Optimizing in AdWords Editor' webinar on Thursday, September 11 at 10am PDT. The session will cover AdWords Editor tips and tricks related to the following topics:

If you're looking for more ways to help your clients get ready for the holidays, check out the latest issue of the Consumer Technology Industry Newsletter (which you may remember as the Tech B2C Industry Newsletter).

Although it's intended for advertisers who sell consumer electronics, software, hardware and other technology-related products and services, the newsletter also provides helpful and beneficial tips you can apply to your clients' campaigns that span other industries. Highlights from this issue include a feature on ad text A/B testing and a holiday prep guide, complete with tips and a checklist.

If you or your clients would like to receive this newsletter in the future, please let us know at consumertech-newsletter@google.com.

Posted by Ashley Kibler, Creative Team

For those of you planning on attending SES San Jose next week (August 18-22), we want to make sure you mark your calendars for the events Google will be hosting:

What's new with Google Analytics and Website Optimizer?
Tuesday, August 19, 2:45pm - 3:45pm
Join Avinash Kaushik, Product Evangelist, and Tom Leung, Business Product Manager, as they discuss the latest updates to Google Analytics and Website Optimizer. You'll also learn effective ways to use these tools to improve your site navigability and ROI. See the full session details on the SES San Jose agenda.

Google Dance
Tuesday, August 19, 7pm - 11pm
Glow in the dark with us at the Google Dance, where you'll be able to demo Google's latest products, snack on some tasty treats, and, of course, dance. Register here.

Last but not least, come by the Google booth at any time during the conference to say hi, ask questions, and meet some Googlers. See you in San Jose!

Posted by Helen Chou, Agency Team

Although the weather's still warm, the holidays will be here before we know it. To help you prepare for the winter rush, we'll be holding a series of three webinars to cover planning strategies, targeted methods for reaching your audience, and key ways to streamline purchases and evaluate your success this holiday season. The sessions are:

• Setting the Stage: Make the Most of the Holiday Season
• Wednesday, August 27, 10:00am PDT
  
  
• Expanding Reach: Find Your Target Audience
• Wednesday, September 3, 10:00am PDT
  
  
• Analyze & Simplify: Measure Success & Streamline the Buying Process
• Wednesday, September 10, 10:00am PDT

For more details about the webinars and full registration instructions, please visit our Unwrapped: Retail Holiday Guide website. We hope you can join us!

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

Our fleet of newsletters has recently grown with the launch of the Travel Industry Newsletter, which is designed for advertisers selling travel services and products.

Online travel spending will represent 35 percent of all travel revenue in 2008,¹ so to help you take advantage of this trend, the latest issue of our newsletter will explore how to increase your clients' business exposure with Google Maps and provide optimization advice for strong keywords and landing pages. You'll also discover ways to engage customers through vivid ad formats and stay informed with the new Travel Industry Knowledge Center, a centralized location for tips, success stories and relevant news.

If you'd like to receive upcoming Travel Industry Newsletters, please let us know at travel-newsletter@google.com.

[1] JupiterResearch, US Online Travel Consumer Survey, May 2008

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

Keyword lists can be like people: some are highly organized; some are not. An organized account is easier to manage and target effectively, so the next time you find yourself faced with a long list of disparate keywords that need to be broken into different ad groups, try using the Keyword Grouper tool in AdWords Editor.


You'll find the Keyword Grouper tool located in the Tools menu of AdWords Editor. To use it, select the keywords in a campaign that you wish to organize, and the tool will generate common themes based on those keywords. AdWords Editor will then give you the option to create new ad groups from those themes, and will move the corresponding keywords into the new ad groups. You'll be able to see the proposed ad groups before you save any changes, so test it out for yourself.

Visit our Help Center for more tips on organizing your account and AdWords Editor's features and functionality.

Posted by Bill Yancey, Agency Team

About a month ago we launched Google Ad Planner, a free media planning tool to help you define and reach your target demographics by identifying the websites they're likely to visit. We're all ears when it comes to feedback, and have incorporated some key points that we've been hearing from you. Here's what you'll find with our first set of updates:

• New metrics and data
  We've added additional metrics for site visitation including average time on site, total visits, and average visits per visitor. These metrics can be useful in understanding how engaged users are with a particular site. In addition, we've upgraded our content categorization algorithms and have improved content category labels. If you find a mislabeled site, please let us know.

• Direct-add functionality
  If you have an idea about some sites you'd like to include in your media plan, you can now add them directly to your plan rather than having to locate them using the research function.
  

• In-plan indicator
  The research tab in Google Ad Planner now indicates the sites that are already in your media plan, to help prevent sites from being added multiple times.
  

If you haven't tried Google Ad Planner yet, you can sign up here, and as always, let us know your thoughts.

Update as of August 6: We've also added new metrics on the research site list to show reach and unique visitors for your defined audience.

Posted by Wayne Lin, Product Manager

Companies that offer many different products or services have one thing in common - the potential for large keywords lists. If your clients fit this description, here are a few tips on how to manage a keyword list when you find it's getting, well, too hard to manage.

First: Focus on the big players

To break down a massive keyword list into more manageable pieces, consider starting with the keywords that receive the most traffic or represent your client's most popular products. Create ad groups with customized ad text for these top keywords, rather than writing specific ads for every product your client offers.

For example, let's say your client sells DVDs. You can create ad groups for the top ten movie titles per genre and write specific ads relating to those keywords.

Second: Organize the rest

What about the rest of the keywords that are more obscure or aren't as popular? Here are some options to effectively manage those:

• If you have keywords that are very specific, such as product model numbers or small-town names, group them together and use keyword insertion in the ad text. Remember to continue to organize your keywords into ad groups with closely-knit themes so that your ad text is as relevant as possible.
  

• Use AdWords Editor when making large-scale changes to your clients' accounts. By importing account statistics directly into AdWords Editor, you can easily make changes based on account performance. For example, you can locate and delete keywords that haven't received any traffic in the past.
  

Lastly, be sure to test various approaches to keyword management to find the optimal method for you. For more tips on managing your keyword lists, visit our Help Center.

Posted by Sarah Hobbs, Optimization Specialist, Agency Team

We've added a brand-new industry newsletter to our line-up: the AdWords Health & Wellness Industry Newsletter.

This resource is designed for advertisers who market products and services related to medicine, health, fitness and wellness. If you have clients in the health and wellness industry, check out the newsletter for useful information such as a study of the vitamins and supplements market, and tips on how to think holistically about your clients' healthcare businesses. If you'd like to receive this newsletter in the future, please let us know at health-newsletter@google.com.

Remember: If you or your clients would like additional tips to help your AdWords campaigns maintain a clean bill of health, pay a visit to the AdWords Health & Wellness Industry Knowledge Center.

Posted by Ashley Kibler, Creative Team

The back-to-school season is rapidly approaching, and although students everywhere may be dreading it, this time of year can bring big sales for online retailers. To help you and your clients make the most of this year's back-to-school season, our Retail Team will be holding webinars to cover industry trends, profile demographics of your target audience, and provide tips to reach your clients' key customers.

Each of the hour-long webinars will cover the same material, so feel free to choose the session that fits into your schedule, and register using either link below.

Wednesday, July 30, 10:00AM PDT: Register
Thursday, July 31, 10:00AM PDT: Register

Posted by Laura Hood, Creative Team

As part of our Advertiser Education series on the Google Business Channel, we've recently added videos that can help you answer your clients' questions about Google's content network. For newcomers to the Google Business Channel, it's a YouTube channel designed to bring you videos about Google's business solutions.

The three-part video series begins with an introduction to the content network, and also covers optimization tips and demographic bidding strategies for the content network.




We hope you'll find these videos helpful in managing your clients' content network campaigns, and you may even want to share them with newer members of your team as training modules. For more information, please feel free to visit the content network microsite.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

We recently announced the launch of Google Ad Planner, a research and media planning tool that provides demographic information about websites, both on and off the Google network. To help answer questions about Ad Planner and to provide an introductory look into how to use it, we'll be holding two webinars this week. Geared towards media planners at agencies, these webinars are free and open to all.

You'll need to register before the webinar using one of the links to the events below. Both sessions will cover the same material, so you'll only need to register for one.

Intro to Ad Planner

Date: July 16, 2008 4:00 – 5:00 pm EST
Link to event
Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239
Registration password: agency1
Event number: 573 433 113
Event password: planner1

Intro to Ad Planner

Date: July 18, 2008 2:00 – 3:00 pm EST
Link to event
Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239
Registration password: agency1
Event number: 577 712 627
Event password: planner2

Posted by Annie Hsu, Product Team

It's always nice to put faces to names, so we're happy to announce the launch of the AdWords Events page. This page will be a centralized location for you to find all the conferences, events, and speaker sessions that Google will be attending or sponsoring. Additionally, you'll find links to attend our online webinars as well as our offline AdWords Seminars for Success. Finding the next Google event that's relevant to your agency is as easy as browsing or searching the calendar.


We hope you'll join us for some of these events and continue to use the site as a reference in the future. You'll find it permalinked on this blog, so come back often for the latest updates.

Posted by Christina Hill, Events Team

When faced with a question that stumps us, we tend to ask others. The next time you've got an AdWords inquiry, you can pose your question to more than 18,000 members on the AdWords Help group, a user-to-user community for AdWords advertisers.

In this community forum, active since August 2005, a wide variety of AdWords advertisers ask and answer questions, share their knowledge and offer useful tips. Although the focus is on members assisting each other, the AdWords team also contributes as well. You'll see their posts marked with a small 'G' icon.

If this sounds like a place you'd like to visit, ask questions, share your own knowledge, or direct your clients as a self-service resource, we'd be pleased to have you. You'll find the AdWords Help group on Google Groups, right here. Anyone may browse to their heart's content without joining the group, although a free and easy membership is needed in order to post.

We hope to see you there.

Posted by Alla Tolchinsky, AdWords Team

If you weren't able to attend our webinar on June 10 about AdWords Editor - our free application for managing and making bulk changes to your ad campaigns - not to worry. You can watch the recorded version that's now available on the Google Business Channel. The hour-long webinar session is geared towards experienced users of AdWords Editor, as it covers the new features available in version 6.0 as well as advanced use cases for the tool. Check it out if you want to brush up on your knowledge or want to get more acquainted with version 6.0.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

In this series, we've covered the basics of a strong content campaign and the use of negative keywords. Now let's take a look at how to improve the performance of an existing campaign.

Our first stop for data is almost always the Placement Performance report (PPR). The report provides site-by-site performance metrics – including clicks, impressions, cost, and conversion data – for domains or URLs on Google's content network where your ads have appeared. With this data, you can identify the specific sites and placements in the content network that are meeting your ROI objectives, and focus on those areas.

Here are some tips for using the Placement Performance report:

• Run the Placement Performance report at the URL level, not the domain level. Remember your ads are contextually-matched to specific pages within a domain.
  
  
• Too much data? The ‘Advanced Settings’ section of the Report Center can help.
  Filter the data you receive to only include the metrics you want to see. For example, you can filter your results to see only the sites that got more than 100 impressions, with a CTR above 0.05%, and a conversion rate above zero. Use the dropdown menu to set these restrictions.
  
  
• Sort it out. Locate the sites that stand out from the rest – whether it’s the highest cost or the fewest conversions. Sort the data in your report by the metrics that matter to you so you can quickly identify which sites are strong performers.
  
  
• Use site and category exclusion to prevent your ads from showing on the sites that are not performing well for you, as indicated by the report.
  
  
• Use placement targeting to show your ads on sites that convert well for you. With CPM and CPC pricing available, you can choose the option that best meets your goals.

For more tips on running Placement Performance reports, visit our Help Center.


Posted by Alice Lin, Danh Ly, and Thu Nguyen, Optimization Specialists

If you have clients in the education space or are looking to bring on new ones, you may be interested in reading our latest Success Story for Allied Business Schools. Here's a sample of what you'll find:

• Founded in 1992
• Specializes in distance learning alternatives
• 365 employees, based in Laguna Hills, CA
• Started using AdWords in 2002

What they needed:

• To generate qualified leads and increase student enrollment
• To target individual states with different messages
• To improve website functionality and performance

What they accomplished:

• Used AdWords to generate 30% of total leads, with a lower cost-per-conversion than other marketing programs
• Implemented Website Optimizer and tested variations of their landing page, resulting in an increase in visitor conversion rates
  
  

"When we realized how well we could geographically target online, that made all the difference. It allows us to separate out costs, traffic, leads and cost-per-conversion from state to state."

-Ali Haris, search marketing specialist for Allied Business School


To read the full Allied story, download the PDF, and visit the AdWords Success Stories Site if you'd like to read more. We've recently added new videos and an updated form so you can tell us your story.

Posted by Maris Gersh, Creative Team

For some, the first day of summer marks a time for vacation and relaxation, but if you have clients in the travel industry things may just be getting busy. With more people searching for summer getaways, there’s no better time to check out the new Travel Industry Knowledge Center.

Designed for advertisers in the travel space, you can get a list of recommended Google products, read stories about travel companies who have found success with AdWords, and get tips on making the most of your clients' AdWords campaigns.

Here's an excerpt from the "Get more bang for your buck"section:

We hope you find these tips helpful so you can spend more time doing some traveling of your own.

Posted by Laura Hood, Creative Team

Unlock the mystery behind a campaign’s low search traffic. Knowing how your ad stacks up against others in your market can help you make more effective changes to your campaigns. So, before you start restructuring the whole account, get clued in by running an Impression Share report (IS).

The IS report will tell you the percentage of impressions where your client’s ads were shown out of the total available impressions in the market you were targeting. With insight into potential traffic, you can make more informed decisions by getting answers to these questions:

• Do I have room to expand in my targeted market?
  
  
• Am I losing impressions due to rank?
  
  
• Am I losing impressions due to budget?
  
  
• What's my impression share for specific keywords I'm using? (Hint: use the IS Exact Match report)

The next step is to learn how to improve your client's impression share, and the mystery is solved.

Posted by Josephine Tsay, Agency Team

If you use a My Client Center (MCC) account on a regular basis, we'd like to hear from you. Our product team has created a survey to collect your input on how you use the current MCC features and functionality, and what you'd like to see in the future. Please take a moment to complete the survey, and thanks in advance for your feedback.

And if you don't currently use an MCC account to organize and manage your client accounts, you can find more information on how to create and use one here.

Posted by Gina Blohowiak, Product Specialist

[Note: This post has been reprinted from the Inside AdWords blog.]

If you're a media planner at an ad agency, you know that planning an online display buy can be challenging, particularly in scaling your campaign's reach while keeping it relevant for your target audience. Plus, how do you keep track of the millions of sites out there that might be just right for your campaign?

To make your life easier, we're introducing Google Ad Planner, a research and media planning tool that connects advertisers and publishers. When using Google Ad Planner, simply enter demographics and sites associated with your target audience, and the tool will return information about sites (both on and off the Google content network) that your audience is likely to visit. You can drill down further to get more detail like demographics and related searches for a particular site, or you can get aggregate statistics for the sites you've added to your media plan.

While Google Trends for Websites, announced last week, is designed for all users, Google Ad Planner is designed with media planners in mind. Using Google Ad Planner, you can quickly create media plans and export to a .csv file, which can be opened in most spreadsheet applications. Or, you can export to DoubleClick's MediaVisor, which helps you manage all your other media planning, buying and campaign management activities.



We hope you'll find this tool useful and discover many relevant sites--small and large--that would otherwise be hard to find. As Ad Planner is a new product, it's currently available by invitation only. If you're interested in trying it out, you can apply here.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

Seasonal dips happen in nearly every industry, and a slow quarter can be a great time to shift gears and take more time to fine-tune your clients' accounts. Read on for some of my top suggestions for making the most of a lull in traffic.

1. Test, test, test: Slow quarters are a great time to test and iterate.
   
   
   • Prepare for periods of peak traffic, like the Q4 retail season, by optimizing now. Test new ad groups, clean up keyword lists, and get in front of new audiences with content network campaigns.
   • Try products like Google's Website Optimizer to find the most optimal website design or Google Analytics to gain insight into how users interact with your site.
     
     
2. Be prepared: By staying on top of industry news and trends, you'll know when slow periods are ahead and you can plan accordingly.
   
   
   • Forecast quarterly budgets and make sure you've allocated your resources correctly.
   • When creating the industry calendar that I described last time, highlight periods of potential slow growth. Develop a plan for those weeks or months to make sure that you're using the time to improve campaign performance.
     
     
3. Room to grow: Review your client's account and focus on areas that may have growth prospects.
   
   
   • For example, if your client offers a variety of loan types, you may find that consumers are currently expressing more interest in student loans than they are in home loans.
   • Use Google Trends to help you identify markets that are expanding based on search volume.
     
     
4. Interest now can mean sales later: Examine the buying cycle.
   
   
   • In some industries, like business-to-business tech purchasing, the buying cycle is long, and has a predictable yearly cycle. Even if customers aren't converting on their clicks immediately, they may be doing research in order to plan for future purchases. Target these prospective consumers with non-branded search keywords and content network campaigns so they know where to turn when they're ready to buy.

Posted by Vivek Tata, Google Industry Analyst

Whether you have clients selling Tech B2B products and services or you're just interested in gaining traffic in new markets, in the latest edition of the Tech B2B Industry Newsletter, you'll find information that can help. We provide tips on reaching more customers, product solutions to anticipate and track who your customers are, and detailed information to help you run successful campaigns. For example, how can the information contained in Google Trends help you optimize your account?


Take a look to find out, and if you'd like to receive this newsletter in the future, let us know at techbtob-newsletter@google.com.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

In our last blog post, we recommended using negative keywords for your content network campaigns to help improve your targeting. We got a number of questions asking for more details, so we're taking a deeper look into that topic here, using the example of a client selling gourmet chocolate gift boxes.

• Use negative keywords at the ad group and campaign level, as appropriate. If you have negative keywords that apply to all your ad groups within a content campaign, save time by adding them at the campaign level.
  
  
• Get ideas for negative keywords from the Keyword Tool. For example, if you enter chocolates in the Keyword Tool, you'll see a number of related concepts. Select your negative keywords based on the traffic you're interested in excluding. In this case, you may not want to appear on pages related to the LG chocolate phone, chocolate Labrador dogs, or the books and movies Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Like Water for Chocolate. Add these terms as negative keywords to help target your ads.
  
  
• Keep in mind that users are browsing content network websites rather than searching for specific terms, so you can still receive relevant traffic from sites that aren't directly related to your product or service. You may want your gourmet chocolate ads to show on sites for other gourmet foods, desserts, or gifts, so choose your negative keywords accordingly.

Posted by Danh Ly, Thu Nguyen, and Alice Lin, Optimization Specialists

Posted by Vivek Tata, Industry Analyst

For an online advertising campaign, major industry news events can be great sources of targeted traffic - if you've planned ahead. For example, when Microsoft released its new Vista OS last year, it affected hardware and software manufacturers, retail stores, and of course, web traffic. Products with the global impact of Vista aren't released every day, but every industry has its major news events such as mergers, conferences, and launches.

Even if your clients aren't at the center of these big events, it's still likely their business will be impacted. Here are some free Google products and tips that can help you stay up-to-date on industry happenings and take advantage of the buzz:

• Subscribe to Google News Alerts. You can define a set of queries that will trigger an alert if a related news story appears, so you can keep track of a wide variety of topics without spending your whole day reading the paper.
  
  
• Set up a Google Reader feed. Read up on industry news frequently to make sure you're on top of potential traffic surges. Blogs that track industry rumors can be a good place to start: for weeks before the official announcement of the Apple iPhone, technology blogs like Engadget were posting the latest buzz about Apple's secret new phone.
  
  
• Create a Google Calendar listing major conferences and expos in your industry. For technology-oriented retailers, for example, that would include major events like MacWorld and the Consumer Electronics show. With Google Calendar, you can customize and share your calendar with your co-workers.
  
  
• Plan your budget allocation around upcoming events. When a big event comes, you don't want your campaigns to miss out on all the targeted traffic.
  
  
• Use your ad creatives to respond to market trends. Another advantage of being in the know is using advertising to proactively address industry announcements. For example, if your client's competitor is releasing a new version of a product, you can have ad text ready that highlights the advantages of your client's offerings.

Posted by Cathy Bishop, Creative Team

Problem: Skincare company Murad had used AdWords to advertise on Google's search network for years with strong results. However, after finding that sales growth for one of their product lines had hit a ceiling, Murad was challenged with reaching new customers while keeping acquisition costs low.

Solution: Murad partnered with Internet marketing agency WebMetro, who recommended using Google's content network to increase their ads' visibility and boost product sales. Using Placement Performance Reports (PPR), WebMetro was able to identify which sites were performing well and adjust their bids accordingly.

Results: WebMetro increased Murad's sales by 15% and lowered their overall cost per acquisition by 13% through advertising on the content network.

If you're looking for additional traffic for your clients or are interested in learning more about Murad and WebMetro's success, read the full story for details.

Posted by Kerrie Lenhart, Product Specialist Team

Version 6.0 of AdWords Editor launched today and we wanted to make sure you're up to date on the changes. Check the release notes for the full details, but here's a quick summary and some important reminders:

New bulk editing tools: Spell check, append text, and drag and drop ad groups within the tree view.


Account statistics features: Export performance statistics to CSV, update minimum CPC bids, and experience improved downloading of account performance data.


Compatibility with AdWords features: Version 6.0 now supports CPC placement targeting and certain functions with Conversion Optimizer campaigns.

Remember to export an archive of your account before you upgrade in order to preserve comments and unposted changes. After you've installed version 6.0, download your account and then import the archive file.

If you'd like more information on the changes, be sure to attend our advanced AdWords Editor webinar on June 10 for full details on version 6.0, and join the AdWords Editor forum to stay up to date on future announcements.