Last week, Google unveiled updates to the Location Targeting (geo-targeting) function within AdWords. In the wake of this event, I felt that there was no better time than the present to write a 1-2 punch article on geo-targeting. The geo-targeting options in AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM) both have the same end goal: serving location-targeted ads. But to use these tools effectively, every PPC advertiser should have a solid understanding of the subtle differences between …

Recently, my colleague, John, discussed some quick fixes for your PPC account. His article focused on low conversions, low quality conversions, and low quality score. Today, I will focus on three additional issues that can arise when managing a PPC account: low click-through rate, low traffic and low ad position.

Low Click-through Rate

Before you can worry about your conversion rate, or the quality of your conversions, you first need to get users to click on …

Yahoo! recently announced another new tool in their user interface that automatically gives your campaigns a ‘tune-up’ to help improve your overall performance. I just started the tune-up process for one of my campaigns today. Although I haven’t received my proposal yet from Yahoo! on my tune up, I can say it was really easy to set up, and it seems that it will provide some useful recommendations on how to improve my campaign’s performance in terms of match …

• Greg Meyers at SEMGeek recently posted about the AdWords reporting tool: Impression share. He has followed this post with an interesting question: AdWords Impression Share Exact Match: Fact or Fiction? Greg doesn’t determine the factual or fictional status of this report, but he does draw another conclusion: Google wants you to spend more money by using more broad match keywords (according to the report’s results). This means advertisers spend more with less-targeted keywords. Interesting points indeed, but …
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When you’re first starting out in pay-per-click advertising, there is a tremendous learning curve. You have to discover the inner workings of 3 (sometimes more) different PPC advertising platforms. There is the trial and error of figuring out which tools and methods work for your particular account. And then there is learning how to react to the myriad of issues that can arise when managing a PPC account. This week I’d like to point out some …