George Alger’s Post

Are you making the most of Google's Performance Max? Learn about the holistic benefits of using Performance Max alongside traditional search campaigns. #GoogleAds #PerformanceMax #DigitalMarketing

Starting some time next year, advertisers will no longer be able to create new Call Ads, and existing Call Ads will eventually be transitioned to Responsive Search Ads. #GoogleAds #digitaladvertising #GoogleAdsUpdates

Are you making the most of Google's Performance Max? Learn about the holistic benefits of using Performance Max alongside traditional search campaigns. #GoogleAds #PerformanceMax #DigitalMarketing

Think of optimizing search terms in Google Search Ads like making a "wanted" list that will catch the attention of people who need your service. Imagine you have a cleaning service ad, and every day, people are typing different things into Google, like: - "house cleaning near me" - "window cleaning service" - "pressure washing my driveway" - "cleaning company in Charlton" Some search terms are great because they match exactly what you offer, like "house cleaning near me." These terms are like flashing signs that say, *"This person really needs our help!"* But sometimes, people type things like: - "cleaning products"  - "DIY cleaning tips" These aren't helpful because they're not looking to *hire* anyone. They’re just looking for advice or products. If your ad shows up here, you’re spending money without getting a customer. **Optimizing search terms every day** means: 1. **Keeping the good ones:** We check which search terms brought people to your ad, and if they’re good ones (like "house cleaning near me"), we keep them.    2. **Removing the bad ones:** For search terms like "cleaning products," we can tell Google, “Don’t show my ad for these words anymore.” This helps save money for the search terms that actually bring you potential customers! Why it matters? Doing this daily keeps your ad focused on people who really need your cleaning service, meaning more calls and less wasted budget. #ppcmarketing #googleadstips #adwordsstrategy #leadgeneration #digitaladvertising #sem #paidsearch #conversionoptimization #onlinemarketing #googleads #ppcads

Shrinkflation sucks. I can't think of any situations where it's fun to pay more for less - whether it's tomatoes, toilet paper, water filters, you name it. It seems that even search advertising is starting to feel that way, with costs rising and ROIs taking a hit. And it's not just in our heads or anecdotally either - there's data to support it. According to a recent article in Search Engine Land, it seems that search ads are in fact increasing in cost and delivering less. Take a look at some of the numbers: Cost per leads in the majority of industries have risen by 25% since 2023 and CPC up 10%. All the while Google reaps record profits. The funny, or not so funny detail, is that this is almost an exact repeat of a similar report Search Engine Land released last year. 2023 also reported costs going up across virtually all sectors for equal to or lesser results. So, what are our options? Just bunker down and accepting it isn't super favourable, since we're more than likely going to see the same thing happening over the course of this year. That's more or less how you die from a thousand cuts. Alternatively, quitting advertising altogether isn't the solution unless your campaigns are really putting you in the red (which begs the question as to who is running your campaigns). Rather, its probably as good a time as any to start seriously auditing your channels, campaigns, and keywords. Take a look at all your analytics and make sure the funnels are tightened up and you're able to see where you're getting the best returns and what can be trimmed. Maybe some sales or leads just aren't worth the cost. And, of course, if you're feeling ambitious, there's always other avenues for paid advertising, such as video, influencer, and even doubling down on SEO. Of course, maybe I'm overthinking things. Maybe some people don't mind paying more for less... https://lnkd.in/exNzckSs #paidAds #SEM #search #campaigns

Search ads are often considered a necessary evil — the price we pay to use a search engine for free. But according to Associate Professor Navdeep Sahni, searchers might actually benefit from seeing these ads. With Charles Zhang, PhD ’22, Sahni collected data from real users and real ads in a field experiment on a widely used U.S. search engine. Three million unique users were split into two groups: one saw the usual number of “mainline” ads that appear among the top results and in the middle of the page; the other group saw fewer. If ads are a nuisance, one would expect that seeing fewer of them would lead to higher user satisfaction. But that’s not what Sahni observed. Instead, with fewer mainline ads, subjects used the search engine less. “People are going to use a product more when they like it and less when they don’t,” Sahni says. “We concluded that users liked the search engine less when the ads were removed than when the ads were present.” As the researchers find, search ads offer value to users that they miss out on when ads aren’t present. “We are not saying that all search ads are good,” Sahni notes. “Our point is that [they] can be positive for users. That goes against the widely held point of view that ads are a high price that users are forced to pay for access to search.” #marketing https://lnkd.in/gVab42Qw

Search ads are often considered a necessary evil — the price we pay to use a search engine for free. But according to Associate Professor Navdeep Sahni, searchers might actually benefit from seeing ads. With Charles Zhang, PhD ’22, Sahni collected data from real users and real ads in a field experiment on a widely used U.S. search engine. Three million unique users were split into two groups: one saw the usual number of “mainline” ads that appear among the top results and in the middle of the page; the other group saw fewer. If ads are a nuisance, one would expect that seeing fewer of them would lead to higher user satisfaction. But that’s not what Sahni observed. Instead, with fewer mainline ads, subjects used the search engine less. “People are going to use a product more when they like it and less when they don’t,” Sahni says. “We concluded that users liked the search engine less when the ads were removed than when the ads were present.” As the researchers conclude, search ads offer value to users that they miss out on when ads aren’t present. “We are not saying that all search ads are good,” Sahni notes. “Our point is that [they] can be positive for users. That goes against the widely held point of view that ads are a high price that users are forced to pay for access to search.” #marketing https://lnkd.in/eKbyYuJ9

4 Trends in Paid Search Advertising https://lnkd.in/dNA7sDDS

Search ads are often considered a necessary evil — the price we pay to use a search engine for free. But according to Associate Professor Navdeep Sahni, searchers might actually benefit from seeing ads. With Charles Zhang, PhD ’22, Sahni collected data from real users and real ads in a field experiment on a widely used U.S. search engine. Three million unique users were split into two groups: one saw the usual number of “mainline” ads that appear among the top results and in the middle of the page; the other group saw fewer. If ads are a nuisance, one would expect that seeing fewer of them would lead to higher user satisfaction. But that’s not what Sahni observed. Instead, with fewer mainline ads, subjects used the search engine less. “People are going to use a product more when they like it and less when they don’t,” Sahni says. “We concluded that users liked the search engine less when the ads were removed than when the ads were present.” As the researchers conclude, search ads offer value to users that they miss out on when ads aren’t present. “We are not saying that all search ads are good,” Sahni notes. “Our point is that [they] can be positive for users. That goes against the widely held point of view that ads are a high price that users are forced to pay for access to search.” #marketing https://lnkd.in/gjBFUCAM

Search ads are often considered a necessary evil — the price we pay to use a search engine for free. But according to Associate Professor Navdeep Sahni, searchers might actually benefit from seeing these ads. With Charles Zhang, PhD ’22, Sahni collected data from real users and real ads in a field experiment on a widely used U.S. search engine. Three million unique users were split into two groups: one saw the usual number of “mainline” ads that appear among the top results and in the middle of the page; the other group saw fewer. If ads are a nuisance, one would expect that seeing fewer of them would lead to higher user satisfaction. But that’s not what Sahni observed. Instead, with fewer mainline ads, subjects used the search engine less. “People are going to use a product more when they like it and less when they don’t,” Sahni says. “We concluded that users liked the search engine less when the ads were removed than when the ads were present.” As the researchers find, search ads offer value to users that they miss out on when ads aren’t present. “We are not saying that all search ads are good,” Sahni notes. “Our point is that [they] can be positive for users. That goes against the widely held point of view that ads are a high price that users are forced to pay for access to search.” #marketing https://lnkd.in/gHJEyGcE