Google Adwords migration: "Optimize For Conversions" will start from February 2012!

Google announced in December 2011 that starting in February 2012, they will be migrating Conversion Optimizer and Enhanced CPC campaigns to "Optimize for conversions".

Google said this will lead to a 5% increase in conversions, on average of all advertisers who switch. Google added:

“To ensure that your campaign settings are also in line with your conversion goals, we plan to migrate existing campaigns using Conversion Optimizer or Enhanced CPC with "Optimize for clicks" ad rotation to "Optimize for conversions" ad rotation.”

 

If you do not want to be migrated, tell Google by January 31st by using this form.

Here is a video with more details on this tool:

 

Google introduced Multiple Admin Function to Google+

As an early Christmas gift to the brands currently optimizing the Google+ brand pages, Google announced the introduction of the multiple admin features for brand pages.

According to the Blog post:

• You can now delegate up to 50 named managers as administrators for a page.
• A new notification flow will ensure that these managers stay in the loop on all the activity that takes place on a page, giving managers the ability to stay involved in page conversations.
• Show an aggregated count of users that have engaged with your page, either by +1’ing it or by adding it to a circle. This way, both you and your page’s visitors can get an at-a-glance summary of who is interacting with your page.

And as a couple of extra stocking fillers, Google has also updated the Google Photos experience with an updated light box, as well as adding a ‘volume’ slider which allows users to determine how much content from each Circle they want displaying in their main feed.

Not everyone will be able to see the updates yet, Google say the features will be rolled out completely over the next couple of days.

Google introduced ‘AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program’ !

Google launched its new 'AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program'. This vendor referral program has been designed for the small business advertisers who want to invest in AdWords. The small businesses will be referred to a list of companies that have been a part of Google's 'authorized reseller' program.

The idea behind becoming a SMB partner is that it will allow the company’s customer base to expand and deliver better, more direct and reportable results to the advertisers. Since only a chosen few highly qualified companies become Premier SMB Partners, that is why becoming a partner will help companies stand apart from the crowd.

The minimum criteria that you need to fulfill to be able to sign up for the program:

• Large existing customer base of small / medium sized businesses
• Tele / field sales force with the ability to sell Google’s advertising products
• Commitment to provide phone and/or email customer support to their advertiser base
• Existing operational infrastructure (billing, reporting, etc) to service thousands of customers

Google says that to become Premier Partner, the companies will have to undergo scrutiny (that includes training and testing) by Google. Also Google will instruct and supervise their product and sales positioning.

Google Sitelinks expanded to 12 Pack!

When you’re searching, you often have a specific task in mind, like figuring out which exhibits are showing at a nearby museum. Despite this narrow goal, people often start with a broad query, like [metropolitan museum of art], with no mention of exhibits. For these searches, the first result may include a list of links to specific sections of the site, which are called “sitelinks.”

Google has been testing really large expanded Sitelinks in the search results for some queries for the past few weeks.

After much testing, Google finally posted official confirmation that these new large sitelinks are here to stay.

Google said the Sitelinks will now be “full-size links with a URL and one line of snippet text.” The links and snippets will be very similar to the standard regular results, which Google says makes “it even easier to find the section of the site you want.” Plus, Google is upping the number of sitelinks from eight to twelve sitelinks for these queries.