Image and video ads on the Google Display Network!

Image and video ads on the Google Display Network can have a strong impact on the success of your online marketing campaigns. These ads convey your messages in more engaging and memorable ways, enticing viewers to buy what you’re selling.

 

The Display Ad Builder tool within AdWords already lets you easily create image and video ads for free and gives you the flexibility to customize these ads to suit your needs.

 

The Display Ad Builder now automatically creates suggested image ads, using the existing text ads in your campaign.

• Click on the suggested ad that you like best.
• If necessary, customize any fonts, text, or colors that need tweaking.
• Then incorporate the ad into one of your ad groups. It’s that simple.

For more information about Display Ad Builder, visit the Display Network website.

 

Google Adwords updated ‘Display Network Tab’!

A Beta update rolling out in AdWords finally allows search marketers to see keyword data from their Google Display Network.

As Google said “Now you can find all your Display Network targeting and exclusions in one place. We’ve moved your Networks, Audiences, and Topics tabs under the new Display Network tab to make it easier for you to build, monitor and refine your display campaigns.”

With this new data, we can finally optimize to a keyword. This should be a very valuable update to SEMs.

In addition to Keyword data, Google also moved Managed and Automatic Placements, Topics, and Remarketing management into the Display tab. This is really just a bit of house-cleaning to the AdWords UI.

Google Now Allowing Searches for ‘Sex’ On Strict SafeSearch!

Recently, Google stopped blocking the search terms [sex] and [nudity] in Google Image search when the SafeSearch filter is set to the strict setting. In the past, if you searched for those terms with strict SafeSearch on, Google would return a response that read "The word "sex" has been filtered from the search because Google SafeSearch is active."

This information has been brought to light by an internet provider in the US, providing internet connectivity to over 15,000 students.

The term ‘porn’ is still blocked. Google has responded to this by saying that it fine-tunes its algorithms to detect and remove adult content out of SafeSearch restricted search results regularly. Users still coming across objectionable images can report them via the 'Report offensive images' feature in the SafeSearch dropdown.

Google showing snippet about upcoming concert tour dates below the search results!

Google recently announced that, users from now on searching for bands or artists will see a snippet about upcoming concert tour dates below the search results. The concert snippet will show only when the band is touring in the area. The new results for concerts won’t appear if the band is not coming in their town.

These snippets are not from that site listed but from a 3rd party site selling tickets for that band, as is clear from the image below.

 

Google has also given an open invitation to websites wishing to rank for the musician’s name in the area. As Google says, “If you have a website listing upcoming events and would like them to appear in search, you should add rich snippets markup to your web pages. After following the instructions to mark up your events, use the rich snippets testing tool to test your markup and see how it would appear on Google.”

Google announced improved related searches!

Google announced that the related search links on the top of Google Images search results will be more appealing from now on. The search engine giant revealed that they aim to enhance the entire image surfing experience. No more typing is required as one has to simply hover their mouse over the related search links and Google will hover open an image preview of the first three images that will pop up if the query was searched.

As Google said, “We’re making them (related search links) more visual to help you find exactly what you’re looking for or just have fun exploring.”

As an example, Google searched for [greece] and when the mouse was hovered over related search phrase [santorini greece], this was how the result page looked like-

 

Google Advises to use schema.org markup for videos!

Google has launched video support for schema.org and is directing webmasters to use it to describe their videos on the web.

Google said, “We're also launching video support for schema.org. Schema.org is a joint effort between Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Yandex and is now the recommended way to describe videos on the web. The markup is very simple and can be easily added to most websites.”

Google has also recommended Schema.org to describe vidoes, however, has also clarified that the new schema.org video markup would not impact the Video Sitemaps and mRSS feeds. So webmasters can continue with other video XML formats, such as Video Sitemaps and mRSS feeds.  

The search engine giant has revealed that adding the video markup is pretty simple and needs an itemscope, an itemtype, name, description, and thumbnailURL properties. This is how a video player with markup will look:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/VideoObject">

  <h2>Video: <span itemprop="name">Title</span></h2>

  <meta itemprop="duration" content="T1M33S" />

  <meta itemprop="thumbnailURL" content="thumbnail.jpg" />

  <meta itemprop="embedURL"

    content="http://www.example.com/videoplayer.swf?video=123" />

  <object …>

    <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" …>

  </object>

  <span itemprop="description">Video description</span>

<div>

 

Avoid legal traps with your AdWords!

Buying AdWords is an effective way to ensure your business makes easy money from online ads. They're a sure-fire way to bring in new business as long as you use the right words.

 But last week, eyewear retailer Specsavers found itself in court against a Canadian firm, accusing Coastal Contacts of engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct after the company allegedly ran advertisements on results pages where users searched for the words "contacts" and "SpecSavers".

You need to be extremely careful with your AdWords. You can encroach on others' territory and find yourself in some real legal trouble.

Try and make as much money as you can, but be careful not to step on any other business's toes, especially when using another company's name.

AdWords Display Ad Builder could be a very valuable resource in expanding your accounts!

Google’s Display Network can be a great place to generate some additional traffic, leads, and branded exposure. While text ads go a long way in garnering attention, sometimes an image ad can grab searchers’ attention more quickly, especially considering the fact that you can tailor your image ads specifically to match a page’s content.

Google has made it easy for you to build your own image ads very simply in AdWords’ Display Ad builder feature. It could be a very valuable resource to you in expanding your accounts.

Google has made this process even easier. You can create an image ad from any of your existing text ads in AdWords. In the Ads tab in the AdWords user interface, click on the ad you want to use to create your image ad and go to “More actions…” then “Generate display ad…”  Once you click to generate a display ad, Google will create suggested ad layouts using the text from your text ad: click the “Show More” button to get more generated suggestions.

In using your existing ads to create image ads you not only save yourself time, but you can also base your image ads off text ads that have proven to be successful. Plus, you can customize any of Google’s suggested ads to refine their look/layout. This is a really handy feature that could very quickly and easily expand your presence on Google’s Display network.

AdWords-style auction is expected to have wide-ranging effects to sell mobile inventory!

Google’s recent move to sell mobile inventory via an AdWords-style auction is expected to have wide-ranging effects, with some forecasting it will become the industry standard way to sell mobile display ads.

Sources have indicated that the recent price cuts by Apple and Google, announced last week, have already resulted in a slight shift in pricing offered by rival ad networks .

The drop in prices comes as Facebook is expected to announce the launch of mobile ad formats at a US event later this month. Facebook ads can similarly bought via a self-service auction model.

Google has effectively dropped its minimum bid stipulation for AdMob inventory, which is said to have prompted Apple changing how it sells iAds, in a move that has been welcomed by media planners. However, some have questioned whether this will lead to publishers seeking alternative routes to market

Mobile search: Americans searched for restaurants the most, followed by gas stations!

A report by local-mobile ad network xAd has shown some very promising numbers for the mobile search and ad market. The US based Q4-2011 data has been collected from mobile sites and apps that run the ads of xAd as well as the related user behavior taken into account.

xAd reported high performance for the ads it served, including click-through rates of seven percent for search and .6 percent for display. Breaking it down even further, 37 percent of mobile-local searchers and five percent of mobile-display users took secondary actions, which are post-click activities such as calling businesses and accessing driving directions.

The report has revealed that the Americans searched for restaurants the most, followed by gas stations. Bars and clubs make the rear of the search preferences graph in Q4: