Think Works Digital Insight: PPC

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THINK WORKSDIGITAL INSIGHT: PPC

NOVEMBER 2012

PPC | SEO | SOCIAL | DISPLAY | ANALYTICS | AFFILIATE | ACADEMY

Welcome!Welcome to the first edition of Latitude’s Think Works Digital Insight newsletter. Think Works is a thought leadership series, delivering cutting edge knowledge and ideas via reports, seminars and email updates to our clients, contacts and the wider industry. This report brings you the latest updates in pay-per-click marketing, with some great hands-on tips for improving your campaign.

The first edition looks at the latest paid search developments, investigating what Google’s latest change in policy means for marketers and the impact of developments at Bing. We also take a look at new social media targeting techniques on Facebook and Twitter and give you some Google Display Network tips for this Christmas.

Hope you like it. Let me know your thoughts!

Duncan FisherOperations DirectorLatitude Digital Marketing

“The first edition looks at the latest paid search developments, investigating what Google’s latest change in policy means for marketers and the impact of developments at Bing.”

01 Welcome

02 Maturing PPC market

04 Search engine race04 Google changes policies… again05 Bing ups its game05 No positive impact from Bing and Yahoo

search alliance06 Future gazing: Google BETA products

on the horizon

Contents06 Google display network tips for

this Christmas

07 Over £20,000 additional revenue via Youtube

08 New social media targeting techniques

08 Custom ads on Facebook now a reality09 Gender targeting on Twitter

10 Contributors

http://www.linkedin.com/company/164687?trk=tyah

https://plus.google.com/110694227135032730179/posts

http://www.facebook.com/LatitudeDigitalMarketing

https://twitter.com/Latitude_Group

http://pinterest.com/latitudedigital/

http://www.latitudegroup.com/ppc/

http://www.latitudegroup.com/seo/

http://www.latitudegroup.com/social-media/

http://www.latitudegroup.com/display-advertising/

http://www.latitudegroup.com/analytics/

http://www.latitudegroup.com/affiliate-marketing/

http://www.latitudeacademy.co.uk/



Google released its Q3 earnings a while back amidst a flurry of press attention. There has since been a lot of negativity surrounding the news; presumably this is not just because of the accidental early announcement bang in the middle of the trading day, but also because the leaked press release was a draft rather than a finished version. According to Google’s figures dating from the third quarter of 2011 to the second quarter of 2012, the average cost-per-click (CPC) is decreasing.

THINK WORKS | DIGITAL INSIGHT: PPC | NOVEMBER 2012

Maturing PPC market

“Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our network members, decreased by approximately 15% in the third quarter of 2011 and by approximately 3% in the second quarter of 2012.”

It is worth bearing in mind, however, that the average CPC that Google refers to is for all countries and includes both search and display, which cannot be split down into UK specific data. Interestingly, Latitude’s search specific data has seen a different trend within the UK market.

Quarterly Google UK search CPC data

Source: Latitude Digital Marketing

$0.70

$0.60

$0.50

$0.40

$0.30

$0.20

$0.10

$0.00

2011

Q1

2012

Q2 Q3 Q4

Reviewing data from both 2011 and 2012, we can see that our CPCs are higher and increasing steadily this year. In Q3 specifically, there has been a further increase and we can split out this data by device to analyse it further:

Average CPC by device

Source: Latitude Digital Marketing

£0.50

£0.45

£0.40

£0.35

£0.30

£0.25

£0.20

£0.15

£0.10

£0.05

£0.00Desktop Mobile devices

with full browsers

Tablets with full browsers

n Q1 2012 n Q2 2012 n Q3 2012













http://investor.google.com/earnings/2012/Q3_google_earnings.html



Think Works Mobile ReportRead more on mobile and tablet opportunities for businesses in our Think Works Q3 Mobile Report.Email [email protected] to receive your FREE copy.

Maturing PPC market


DesktopsvsTablets

Desktop computers have historically had the highest average CPCs but in Q3 2012 there was a dramatic jump for tablet with the average CPC just 1p lower than desktop. Looking into this further for September alone, tablet CPCs are actually higher than desktop CPCs.

Google vs Facebook

Referring back to Google, their investors are stating that mobile is responsible for the drop in average CPCs. Mobile traffic for Google is largely incremental, not like Facebook where mobile traffic is cannibalising desktop traffic.

Dropping CPCsvsGrowing number of clicks

Another important question is what does it actually matter if CPCs are on the decline if the number of clicks is growing at a faster rate? Google state that “aggregate paid clicks increased approximately 33% over the third quarter of 2011 and 6% over the second quarter of 2012”.

Brand CPCsvsCTRs

Another viewpoint to consider is whether brand CPCs are on the decline because of the continued increases in click-through rates on brand terms due to ad extensions.

Taking into account these factors, advertisers need to beware of the trends that are developing to position their strategy accordingly. Rising tablet CPCs suggests a growing importance of tablet users as advertisers bid up to compete for click share. If advertisers wish to avoid rising CPCs, the incremental traffic from mobile devices must be part and parcel of any strategy, especially as Google is effectively rewarding mobile optimised landing pages with better quality scores. It may only be a matter of time before they start penalising non-optimised mobile websites.

Overall, Google’s top level CPCs may be falling, but click volumes are rising, which means more revenue for Google. Mobile and tablet devices are also the two fastest growing devices in terms of PPC click volume, meaning even more revenue for Google. Therefore even as Google CPCs are falling and market analysts predict doom and gloom, their click volumes are rocketing and future revenue for Google is, in fact, looking good.

UK’s paid search market is maturing at speed. Advertisers should therefore consider investing in other channels alongside PPC, which should include Facebook, Display and Affiliate as well as their mobile offering.

“Advertisers should consider investing in other channels alongside PPC.”













mailto:[email protected]


What happens when sitelinks are lost?

£2

£1

£0

n Average CPC n CTR20%

15%

10%Sep 1, 2011 Sep 30, 2011

Sitelinks lost CTR drops from 17% to 10%. QS

falls. CPC increases.

Get In TouchTo discuss the impact on your PPC campaign, contact us.E: [email protected]: 08450 212 223W: www.latitudegroup.com

Google changes its PPC policy… againAbout three years ago, Latitude blogged about the “exciting release” of paid site links on Google and recently, after countless developments to the site link product, Google announced that they would start enforcing one policy in particular.

Back in 2009, Google gave selected advertisers the option to add up to four additional site links to their PPC ads for selected terms, empowering the advertiser to tactically steer the customer to a specific product offer or even informational pages. Whereas advertisers were up until now permitted to send their side link traffic to the same page if they wanted (allowing advertisers to use them more as additional ad copy than deep links), the new policy means that advertisers must point each site link to unique content, as demonstrated opposite.

Shortly after the release of the paid site links product three years ago, we saw market increases in click-through rates of as much as 10-15% in some cases. The benefit to ad rank, and ultimately the average cost per click for a campaign, became so powerful that it was common best practice to deploy site links across every campaign. As the thresholds were lowered, Google allowed them to show for generic, as well as brand terms. As a result, the very thought of them being taken away must make many advertisers shudder. In fact, the effect of the site link policy change can be clearly seen in the below graph:

Search engine race



But fear not! The policy will only realistically affect new campaigns with duplicate landing page content and URLs. Existing campaigns won’t be affected until they are edited. The change in policy, however, does emphasise the need for multiple unique landing pages on a website, even if only to show the maximum site links eligible, such is their importance in today’s paid search auctions.

“The change in policy, however, does emphasise the need for multiple unique landing pages on a website, even if only to show the maximum site links eligible, such is their importance in today’s paid search auctions.”














http://www.latitudegroup.com

http://www.latitudegroup.com/blog/google-paid-site-links/

http://adwords.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/unique-sitelinks-policy-will-be-more.html


Adding video, images and custom search boxes to PPC ads is now possible through Bing Ads – and this time the development comes with a very attractive bonus. Rich Ads are now available to all advertisers on their exact match brand terms and there is no incremental cost for implementation.

Rich Ads are a must for any serious advertiser. Do you want to increase your click-through rate? Do you want to make it more difficult for competitors to bid on your brand terms? Do you want to increase the reach of your display and TV ads? If you are responding to each question with a resounding ‘yes’, it’s time to get the ball rolling.

Google site link ad extensions have quickly become so important that they form best practice and so it can only be assumed that Bing’s Rich Ads will follow suit. The ability to show a richer ad in look and feel adds weight to the advantage of deep linking with site link extensions. The forms that rich ads can take are:

Bing ups its game


Search engine race

“Rich Ads are a must for any serious advertiser.”

The other consideration for Rich Ads is that you can show a standard text ad as well, which means not only can you dominate the search results for your brand terms with a Rich Ad, you can also push competitor ads

No positive impact from Bing and Yahoo search alliance

Bing completed the process of merging its UK search marketing accounts and search traffic into Microsoft’s adCenter in April 2012, resulting in all search results and ads being delivered by Bing. At Latitude we have reviewed and compared our search engine spend for October 2011 with October 2012 to see what changes have occurred since the merger of Yahoo and Bing in April this year. In October 2011, the combined spend through Yahoo and Bing was at 6.4% and in 2012 spend through Bing had declined to 4%. So we’re yet to see any positive impact following the search alliance.


n Google n Bing & Yahoo n Google n Bing

93.6% 96%

4%6.4%

further down the page to reduce their presence even further. In fact, according to current Bing Ads policy they shouldn’t be there at all but you can probably expect that policy to change.














Search RemarketingThe search remarketing product is an exciting new development, bringing the world of display into the domain of search. It works in a similar way to retargeting, where visitors to a website can be served ads based on the pages of the site they visit. This allows advertisers to target these visitors with relevant ad copy when they search, giving the chance to up-sell, cross-sell and also bid up or down for a particular searcher. Additionally, advertisers can exclude searchers that are unlikely to convert.

Future gazing: Google BETA products on the horizon


Search engine race


Demographic Targeting for SearchThis product gives advertisers the chance to exclude signed-in users on Google based on their age or gender, which provides a great new way to create targeted user journeys with tailored ad copy and even custom landing pages.

Both of these new betas from Google require white-listing and are not guaranteed. Contact Latitude for more details.

As Christmas draws ever closer, we turn our attention to the Google Display Network (GDN) and how it can become an important part of your online marketing strategy. Here are some top tips including some new features to be aware of:

1. Remarketing is your friendIf you have never advertised on the GDN, remarketing is a great place to start. Targeting customers that have already expressed an interest in the products and services of your website ensures a greater chance of conversion and so represents lower risk. There are the obvious benefits of enticing customers back to convert as well as being able to cross-sell and up-sell. However, it also offers the added benefit of reinforcing your brand as well.

2. Tools for the jobIf you’re already using Google Analytics to track activity on your website, you can now create remarketing lists without any additional code by making a one-time change to your existing Google Analytics code, replacing just one line. Simply select from predefined lists or create your own to get started under the ‘admin’ tab.

5 Google display network tips for Christmas

3. Use negative audiencesTargeting audiences based on the behaviour they exhibit on GDN sites, or indeed your own site, is a great way to improve your campaign performance. By creating a remarketing list based on visitors to your homepage or a top landing page, you can define customers that are aware of your site already. By creating separate GDN campaigns and excluding this list, you can ensure that your activity is focused on new customer acquisition. Furthermore, you can show different, relevant ad copy to help entice consumers.

4. Use images and textIn order to create a successful GDN campaign, ad usage is going to play a pivotal role. By using both image and text ad formats, you will be able to reach more sites. Crucially, the image ad sizes you use will determine how many sites your ads will be eligible for but if you have limited resources, stick to the most popular: ‘300x250’ and ‘728x90’.

5. Light up for ChristmasGoogle’s latest ad format is just the ticket for retailers, offering advertisers the opportunity to engage with consumers even more. The smart-hover feature of Google’s Lightbox ad format ensures the advertiser only pays when a consumer has actively engaged, so even if they don’t click through you can be sure they registered an interest.













“We are delighted about how YouTube performed as a marketing channel and how it helped us increase Get The Label’s brand awareness. It is now a key factor in our online marketing strategy.”Liz McNamaraMarketing ManagerGet the Label




The ChallengeGetthelabel.com is a leading online fashion store and mail order catalogue, primarily targeted at 16 to 24 year old men and women, offering significant savings on branded sportswear, leisurewear and footwear for all the family.

While Get The Label is a well-established brand within the fashion retail market, building on brand awareness was recognised as a key objective, alongside generating sales and revenue. Get The Label carry out successful catalogue drops and TV advertising, so it was decided that Latitude would use Get The Label ads on YouTube as pre-roll video ads.

YouTube has been proven to increase brand searches and assist conversions, so Latitude felt that this was a perfect match for Get the Label also adding another channel into their already wide ranging marketing activity.

The Solution As one key demographic for Get The Label is younger professionals, Latitude decided to target people viewing music videos on Youtube with video ads. Music videos are one of the most popular searches on YouTube, meaning many impressions can be generated to help brand exposure. Latitude undertook research to establish which music artists’ videos were most appealing to this demographic.

Having learned that artists such as Coldplay, Adele and Lady Gaga were most popular amongst this demographic, Latitude launched a contextually targeted campaign aimed at people viewing their videos. A campaign was also set up targeting people viewing dubstep videos, as a TV ad contained a track that would appeal to dubstep fans.

Over £20,000 additional revenue via Youtube

CASE STUDYYOUTUBE

The ResultsOver three months, Get The Label achieved:

Over £9,000 of revenue directly from YouTube

Over £11,000 of Youtube assisted sales














New social media targeting techniques



The new feature works by a heavily-encrypted matching process between Facebook user email logins and customer email addresses. By unpicking the masses of data held within a CRM system, marketers can use custom audience targeting in several ways:

1. Building loyal relationshipsCustomer loyalty is essential for profitability, and Custom Audiences can be used to build solid relationships with existing customers and encourage repeat purchases. You can encourage and reward loyalty with personal messages and promotions.

2. Re-acquainting with lapsed customersTargeting one-time customers with a “we miss you” message can help to engage with lapsed customers, strengthen relationships and tempt them into making another purchase.

3. Building a solid fan baseBuilding a brand reputation on Facebook can be made easier with custom audiences. Marketers can target customers with page-like ads, knowing that they are much more likely to become a fan than non-customers. This can then be extended to friends of fans who are likely to share similar interests.

4. Nurturing prospectsBusinesses can collect emails from prospective customers via events, in-store sign-ups, loyalty schemes and many more offline marketing methods. Using Custom Audiences, marketers can reach these offline prospects online and keep them interested with brand engagement and interaction.

5. Acquiring new customersFor businesses who are concerned purely with acquisition of customers, such as memberships or newsletter sign-ups, excluding the Custom Audiences list will ensure existing customers are not targeted.

6. Cross-sellingIf your CRM database holds product information for each customer, you can use custom audiences to cross-sell similar products. For example, a retailer may have a list of customers who recently purchased a bike; Custom Audiences targeting can be used to cross-sell helmets, lights, cycling shorts etc.

7. Supporting other marketing techniquesCustom audiences can be integrated with other marketing programmes, such as emails or magazine drops, to keep your brand fresh in the minds of new and existing customers.

No doubt this is a big step for Facebook advertising and a great opportunity for marketers to get closer to their existing customers and potential prospects. The possibilities are endless and it really is a no-brainer for marketers who want to exchange loyalty for revenue.

Custom ads on Facebook now a realityWith more than 1 billion Facebook users, finding the right customer can seem impossible. However, with the new custom audience targeting option, marketers can now reach their actual customers, rather than relying on rational assumptions about who their customers may be.

This is a big step for Facebook, and possibly a game changer for its advertising appeal. With the launch of “Custom Audiences”, Facebook advertising has now shifted a little closer to being a revenue-driving platform, rather than simply a branding tool.

“With the launch of Custom Audiences, Facebook advertising has now shifted a little closer to being a revenue-driving platform, rather than simply a branding tool.”














Get In TouchTo discuss the impact on your PPC campaign, contact us.E: [email protected]: 08450 212 223W: www.latitudegroup.com

Twitter currently has over 500 million users worldwide and 10 million in the UK. The number of users in the UK in particular is growing further, especially with the help of TV shows and businesses pushing their @handles and #hashtags as a means of creating engagement and ultimately sales with their customers. Unsurprisingly, this has led Twitter to attempt to monetise on the platform by adding new features aimed at attracting advertisers. Since launching Twitter Ads in the UK in 2011, Twitter has continually developed and tweaked its advertising offering.

The latest targeting feature to hit Twitter is gender targeting. For a social network that doesn’t ask for users’ personal details, such as age and gender, targeting via gender seems a tough ask! So, how have they done this? Twitter uses a variety of social signals, such as which accounts users follow, their profile names and phrases used in tweets to determine the gender of the user. Twitter claim that this tool has been 90% accurate in initial tests and any account that Twitter can’t accurately identify by gender won’t be segmented using the new targeting option. It is early days with this targeting and only time will tell us how effective it actually is, but it is a step in the right direction to having your Twitter Ads appear in front of the right eyes.

Gender targeting on Twitter


New social media targeting techniques


“Twitter use a variety of social signals, such as which accounts users follow, their profile names and phrases used in tweets to determine the gender of the user.”














http://www.latitudegroup.com

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/15/twitter-uk-users-10m




ANDREW MCCOYSENIOR PPC STRATEGIST

COLIN BOUCHERPPC STRATEGIST

JACK FINLAYACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

HELEN PRICEQUALITY & INSIGHT MANAGER

Contributors

Part of the Callcredit Information Group

AboutLatitude Digital Marketing has pioneered the use of digital channels in the UK and internationally for 10 years. Areas of expertise include search engine optimisation (SEO), pay- per-click (PPC), social media marketing, online display advertising, affiliate marketing and conversion analytics. The agency works across a range of sectors including retail, gaming, travel and leisure with clients such as Post Office, bet365, Fitness First, Effortless Skin and Haven Holidays.

Latitude is an international agency with native speakers in 20 different languages managing across the world. They also deliver the thought leadership series “Think Works”, which brings cutting edge knowledge and ideas via reports, seminars and email updates to clients, contacts and the wider industry.

Exceptional results from the brightest minds in digital.

Get in touchTo talk about your PPC strategy, contact us:

E: [email protected] T: 08450 212 223

W: www.latitudegroup.com

Search Analytics

Social Affiliate

Display Academy

LAURA STAFFORDPPC STRATEGIST

DUNCAN FISHEROPERATIONS DIRECTOR













http://www.latitudegroup.com/

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