What will change?

Currently, on exact match, an ad will only show when the exact keyword is queried. On phrase match, an ad will only show when the keywords are entered in their original sequence.

For example, if an advertiser is buying the term “black sneakers” on exact match and a user types in “black sneakers”, the user will be served an ad since the keywords are exactly the same. If the advertiser is buying the term “black sneakers” on phrase match and a user types in “running black sneakers”, the user will also be served an ad since the query is in the original sequence. However, if the user typed in “black running sneakers”, he or she would not be served an ad. Now with the new matching behavior, the user will be served an ad if he or she types in “black sneekers” or “running black sneekers”, because the exact or phrase match keyword will match to a misspelling.

In a perfect world, everybody would spell or type everything correctly every time they search for something. Reality is, when users are doing a quick Google search, they’re probably not thinking about spelling, grammar, or using proper punctuation. According to Google, at least 7% of search queries contain a misspelling and the longer the query, the higher the rate. Even if the query is spelled correctly, there are multiple variations, such as “children vitamins” and “children’s vitamin” or “booking flight” and “book flight”. It’s the same intent, but different queries.

Google’s organic searches already correct these close variations by matching to user intent. When I type in “cupcake recipie”, Google will detect my misspelling and will give me organic listings for “cupcake recipe”:

What This Means for Marketers

This new matching behavior would not only make advertiser’s lives much easier, but it can potentially increase traffic to the website.

Building out a comprehensive keyword list to include every slight variation of the same term can take a lot of time. So, having exact and phrase match terms matched to misspellings, singular/plural forms, stemmings, accents, and abbreviations will be a significant time saver. The new matching behavior will also increase relevancy among searchers since they’ll be served an ad that better reflects their intent, rather than to a specific word in their query.

For example, with the new matching behavior, if a searcher types in “black shooz”, they may receive the same ad below as they would if they were typing in “black shoes”:                                                           

Google conducted an early test measuring the impact the new matching behavior has on advertisers that get a third or more of their clicks from exact or phrase match. The overall results show that the new matching behavior increased AdWords search clicks by 3% with comparable CPCs. However, these results may vary by advertiser.

As I mentioned earlier, Google is also making this new matching behavior optional. So, the advertisers out there who would like to keep the current matching behavior the same for their campaigns can certainly do so.

Once these controls are rolled out, advertisers can log into AdWords and select the campaign settings tab. The keyword matching options will be found under “Advanced settings”.

Potential Impact

The new matching behavior will not really affect advertisers who already have all the variations on their exact and phrase match keywords running in their campaigns, so long as they opt out of this change. However, if they want to switch it up and opt in, they should be prepared to see an increase in CPCs, as there might be more advertisers in the space should the query be a close variation of their exact or phrase match keyword. The new matching behavior could be good though for those who are missing out on potential traffic from these close variations and are willing to pay to get that traffic.

Another aspect to consider is the necessity of this change on individual campaigns. Advertisers build out exact and phrase match keywords to target a more niche audience, so it’s fair to say that traffic from those keywords are from more qualified users, as opposed to traffic from broad matched keywords. It’s hard to tell how much more niche an audience an advertiser can target if they’re already using exact and phrase match keywords.

But who knows, this new matching behavior sounds good in theory, but advertisers won’t know the real impact until mid-May, if they make the decision to opt in to this change.

Recommended Reading

For more information, visit the Google blog and read the official announcement.

What is Pinterest?  Pinterest is a ‘Virtual Pinboard’ website where users can share photos/videos (pins) of ‘things’ they find interesting.  Individual boards can be created based on a specific category to maintain organization of ‘pins’.  Taking a page from the Twitter handbook, users can ‘follow’ other users to see real-time pins.  One can follow all of the user’s pins or follow just a specific board.  The design of the page makes it simple to view many images and doesn’t require a ‘next page’ button to load more. As a user continues to scroll down, more pins will appear.

How Does it Work

There are two ways to pin something:

1)      Via website using the ‘pin it’ bookmarklet (javascript bookmark)

2)      Uploading an image directly from a computer.

There is an app for the iOS that allows a user to pin images easily; an Android app has yet to be seen.  Currently, all things that are ‘pinned’ to a profile are public.  Other users can comment, ‘like’ or ‘re-pin’ (sharing the pin to that user’s own boards) anything that has been pinned.  A user also has the choice to view all pins from a specific category, displaying pins from any user in the Pinterest-sphere.  There is also a great search feature that allows users to find pins filtered by pin names, board names or user names.

Why is it so Addictive?

According to a report provided by Shareaholic, Pinterest drove more traffic to blogs than Twitter in February!  That is very impressive, given that the company has only been around for two years and only recently became very popular.

But why? Pinterest is addictive because users can easily share things a user identifies with, recommends or wants.  It allows users to be thought leaders/curators in various types of categories (fashion, food, travel, arts, etc.).  It’s all about the individual.  The freedom to share anything and the instant gratification of other users re-sharing pins or ‘liking’ them keeps users engaged.  It’s the acknowledgement that fuels the wildfire.  Whether it’s to create a board filled with things a user wants or to create recommendations for other users, there are limitless reasons why people enjoy sharing images/videos in this manner.

How Do Brands Get Involved?

Currently, there are no forms of advertisement on the Pinterest site, but that does not mean a brand should not have a presence there.  With the current list of categories, some brands may think they do not belong.  But in reality, it’s not about the categorization of a brand at all; it’s all about the individual boards that will gain followers and drive engagement.  Also, just because a brand fits into a specific category doesn’t mean it should shell itself into that category. 
For example, Hyundai’s Pinterest page has a board for a few of their models.  Most likely, the boards are listed under in the ‘Cars & Motorcycles’ category since it’s the most obvious.  What if Hyundai started categorizing in a more creative way, thus creating many more boards? Here are a couple ideas: sharing an image of their ‘Blue Link’ technology and categorizing it under ‘Technology’ or an image of their family-oriented SUV vehicle under the ‘Kids’ category.  This will result in reaching many new audiences in a very unique way.

Barneys NY has a great Pinterest page.  They are all over the ‘Fashion’ category with multiple boards ranging from ‘spring trends’ to ‘black on black’.  Many of the pins are directly from the Barneys NY website, allowing users to easily purchase a product they like.  For Barneys NY, this serves as an additional outlet of advertising at no fee.  Sure, a user can go directly to the e-commerce site and browse through all the listings themselves, but at a time where people are inundated with media consumption, advertisements, social networks, etc., the Pinterest formula is much appreciated.

Even if a brand is not prepared to manage their profile on Pinterest, they should still sign up to claim their ‘vanity URL’ before another user registers for it.  The ability to share pins via Facebook & Twitter allows a brand to quickly notify their existing engaged customers of pin updates to increase exposure. 

What’s Missing?

While Pinterest is currently a very ‘hot’ topic in the online world, there are some features that can be added to make it more valuable:

• Messaging capabilities for communication outside of commenting
• Customizable board covers with relevant pins, rather than sorting pins by ‘most recent’
• Expanded video/image support beyond YouTube with additional platforms (i.e., Vimeo, Hulu, etc.). Some rich media that should animate remains static; gifs pin as a static image and flash doesn’t pin at all.
• Reverse pinning to allow followers of a user to ‘Pin’ items to an existing board. This would allow even more engagement with followers of a brand.  Imagine a brand hosting a game or competition where users have to submit pins and the users could vote by ‘liking’ pins.
• Advertising opportunity via top board placements or ‘sponsored’ boards. If a user selects a category, all the recent pins show on top.  Since there is only one page, the top of the page is most valuable.  Another option is serving an advertiser’s board on another user’s feed page. If a user follows a specific category of boards more than others, brands can take advantage of this option.

Final Thoughts

There is still much growth for Pinterest, especially with other photo-sharing competitors like Instagram & Lockerz trying to gain market share.  The main difference for Pinterest is the images which are shared are not only taken from a user, but could be from anywhere on the web.  With more users signing up for the free service, it’s only a matter of time before Pinterest becomes part of an every-day conversation with sayings like, “That looks so yummy, you should pin that!”

Recommended Reading

13 ‘Pinteresting’ Facts About Pinterest Users

Pinterest Now Generates More Referral Traffic Than Twitter

Twitter Benefits are Twofold

This expansion seems to benefit the San Francisco-based company in two basic, yet essential ways:

1. Broadens potential revenue opportunities
2. Expands paid advertising reach

EMarketer projected that of its $700 million net capital, Twitter’s 2011 ad revenue alone was approximately $139.5 million, about 20% of their net capital. Estimates for 2012 predict ad revenue will increase to over $259.9 million. The correlation between increasing the pool of potential advertisers and fattening their bottom line appeals to Twitter’s long-held ambition to elbow their way into the big leagues alongside profit-margin heavyweights Google ($36.5 billion in total ad revenue) and Facebook ($3.2 billion). While the launch of the small business self-serve feature is not expected to net huge ROI initially, it is a significant step in Twitter’s holistic moneymaking model and long-term revenue growth. Through this new program, small businesses that have opted in will be able to manually set bids for Promoted Accounts on a cost-per-follower basis. For Promoted Tweets, advertisers pay on a cost-per-engagement basis, only paying when users directly engage with tweets; i.e. retweeting, clicking through embedded links, or opting to follow.  While larger brands commonly bid on keywords, interests and hashtags around major advertising events, smaller brands will have to focus on buying highly targeted,  unique terms,  while simultaneously using Twitter’s localization geo-targeting functionality to keep their advertising dollars closer to home. These small-scale advertisers will now be able to set their own campaign budgets and write their own copy, versus previously having to communicate campaign settings via Twitter representatives.

The second, arguably more valuable, upshot of this new do-it-yourself ad system is simply more advertisers buying ads on Twitter. Skeptics point out that polluting the user interface with increased advertising may have drawbacks in terms of user experience and overall sentiment towards the social network.  However, Twitter insiders (including CEO Dick Costolo) seem confident that they will be able to push this small-scale initiative to the forefront of their capabilities portfolio, without annoying their users.

In the preliminary phase of the program, Twitter is joining up with American Express to add a qualifying element to the business selection process. By navigating to an AE-specific Twitter redirect, American Express card members and merchants are able to register for this self-serve option on a first-come, first-serve basis. As an incentive for increased spend down the road, American Express is also giving away $100 in advertising credits, eligible for use towards Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts. Many point to Twitter’s partnership with AE as a vital way of vetting and eliminating potential spammers from beating the system, while simultaneously allowing Twitter to keep a tight rein on carefully rolling out new products with minimal backlash. It also isn’t any surprise that to register for the offering, users are required to follow @AmericanExpress.

Putting Self-Service into Practice 

Going live in late March and only available to the first 10,000 businesses that sign up, the new self-service platform will likely be the first step on a long path of increased profitability and maximum scale for the microblog phenomenon. By eliminating the need for constant support and manual uploads by Twitter representatives, buying ad space on Twitter will become easier, faster and more scalable. Both established brands seeking to up their presence and consumer awareness as well as newcomers will find paid advertising on Twitter more affordable. Only time will tell how this new development will affect Twitter’s profit margin and its movement to position for a Facebook-like IPO.

Expanding Twitter’s Mobile Presence

Twitter recently began blasting Promoted Tweets across its iPhone and Android mobile applications. These will now be incorporated into mobile users’ timelines when they log into the service on their phones. This integration across devices will add a new advertising experience for mobile users and expand Twitter’s reach capabilities. This marks another milestone in the growing impact of Twitter’s paid advertising, as more than half of its 100 million active users access Twitter via mobile devices. By leveraging its growing mobile user base with this opportunity for increased ad revenue, Twitter seems to be staying busy expanding its suite of products, effectively improving its ROI and broadening its ever-growing sphere of influence. 

Recommended Reading

Twitter Opens Up Self-Serve Ad Platform to 10,000 Small Businesses

Twitter Unveils Self-Service Advertising System

Twitter to Roll Out Self-Service Advertising System

Twitter Mobile Advertising to Expand for iOS and Android Devices

New Formats with New Concerns

In early February 2012, Facebook filed for an IPO of $5 billion. With so much positive publicity over the past few years, Facebook outwardly seems to be an unstoppable force posed to match or overtake other internet giants such as Google and Bing. While the IPO highlighted many positive aspects of Facebook’s business model (including nearly $3.7 billion in profit), it also mentions that advertisers may view some of Facebook’s social ads as unproven. Also discussed was how an increase in mobile viewership could adversely affect ad revenue due to minimal revenue currently generated through mobile devices.¹  When Social Media Week commenced in New York City a few weeks ago, advertising experts warned attendees of the unproven nature of Facebook’s advertising platform. In addition to unproven new ad formats and placements, ad fatigue that hampers the effectiveness of a large portion of Facebook’s advertisements gives way to understated concern.

What is Facebook Fatigue?

According to PC Magazine, the average Facebook user “spends almost eight hours on the site during any given any month”,² which is nearly four times longer than the average Google user. This is supremely attractive to both Facebook itself and advertisers looking to buy media. Who wouldn’t want their advertisement to be seen from a targeted consumer at such a vast length of time? The caveat, however, is this longer exposure period tends to lead to lost interest in the ad at a much quicker rate than standard paid search ads on Google and Bing. While Facebook allows advertisers to target users on a more finite level, the double-edged sword is the advertisement being shown to a much smaller base of people who are seeing the ad at a much greater frequency. Thusly, users can become significantly more disillusioned with the advertisement after seeing it multiple times.  The more targeted the audience (for example, targeting to women over 25 who are married and live in New York), the more likely a user will see the same ad multiple times.  If the user didn’t click the first five times he or she was served an ad, it is unlikely the ad will be clicked on during subsequent impressions. As a result, advertisements lose their effectiveness and can lessen the reach of a brand.

Vary Copy Solution

How can advertisers combat Facebook ad fatigue? The most important step is to vary ad copy and images as frequently as possible. Facebook ads tend to perform best right after they launch due to particulars within the Facebook ad system and that ads are freshest when first served to the user. Re-launching ads with new copy and images, even if they are the same ads, tricks the system into thinking the ads are brand new.  As a long-term solution, varying ad copy and images frequently will keep ads fresh. As a short-term solution, creating supplementary interest targeting will create new opportunities for ads to serve and raise click through rates.

CPC v. CPM Strategy

A more experimental strategy to combat Facebook fatigue is the use of a CPM bidding model instead of a CPC bidding model.  With a CPC bidding model, Facebook is only paid by the advertiser if the user actually clicks the ad. If the click through rate is particularly low for a certain ad, the CPC will rise incrementally to the point where it is no longer cost efficient for the advertiser.  While Facebook used to be a cheaper option for advertisers as opposed to Google and Bing, the demand for media space and brand visibility has substantially increased cost. In Q2 2011, the average CPC on Facebook increased over 54%, similar to the 25% increase in Q1 2011.³ These numbers only figure to grow as 2012 continues and more global users join the service.

As CPCs and demand continue to rise, substantial increases in spend and decreases in efficiency may seem inevitable to the advertiser.  However, as an alternative to CPC bidding, CPM bidding has distinct advantages within Facebook. While CPM bidding has fallen out of favor within paid search, CPM still has a market within paid social. By optimizing creatives to maximize the click through rate, CPCs should be lower in a CPM bidding model then they would be in a CPC bidding model. The negative of a CPM bidding model, similar to paid search, is the risk of losing budget in a much shorter time span.  CPM bidding should also be combined with changes in ad copy and images as well.  Neither CPC nor CPM bidding is officially advocated one over the other by Facebook and methods should change depending upon the goal of the campaign. In general, however, utilizing CPM bidding is becoming an effective practice to combat against Facebook fatigue.

In addition to ad fatigue, there are signs that Facebook users are generally becoming more fatigued with the service.  While the total number of global users is on the rise, there are indications extracted from Facebook’s ad tool that the social media giant is losing users.⁴ In the meantime, as long as total number of Facebook users increases or keeps at the same levels globally, advertisers and users alike will continue to flock to Facebook for the latest gossip, news, timeline pictures, and much more. Continually changing ad copy and experimenting with bidding models are important strategies for advertisers to spend money effectively in the world’s largest social network.

Recommended Reading

¹http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-02-01/facebook-ipo/52921528/1

²http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393988,00.asp

³http://www.simplyzesty.com/facebook/facebook-ads-are-increasingly-competitive-as-average-cpc-rises-by-54/

⁴http://www.insidefacebook.com/2011/06/13/available-data-shows-facebook-user-numbers-growing-quickly-or-slowly-or-falling/

SEO, Paid Search and Social Implications

A possible implication for paid search is a change in ad placement.  Since targeting top ad positions is a high priority for many advertisers, the roll out of the ‘symptoms onebox’ may push some paid search ads to the side rail or the bottom of the page.  Another implication is that if an ad shows for a more generic symptom and the searcher clicks on one of the more refined links, a new search results page and a new set of ads could show.  This could be a lost impression for the first ad or another ad may show again for the new query.  However, this could also be a way for generic searches to be more quickly connected to refined keywords.  For example, if an ad doesn’t show for the general symptom search, but a user clicks on the refined condition, it could assist the searcher in finding the results more quickly for the refined query. The impact to organic search results could mean that results are pushed even further down the search results page.  This is especially true in instances where paid search ads maintain the top 3 positions (shown in the screenshot below) and cause all organic listings to be pushed down further below the first page fold.

In these instances, having paid search presence in top positions is important along with SEO optimized results.  Since social results are also incorporated into organic results with Google + Your World, it will be important to link social components to remain competitive organically.  Positions of, paid and organic ad placements may continue to change and evolve, so having a strong presence continues to be important, as well as the incorporation of social results where possible. 

Recommendations

In an ever changing landscape, holistic integration of strong organic and paid search should be even more of a priority.  It is important to maintain the strong presence because this is just one of many ways that we are seeing Google make changes to the SERP (e.g. when Google introduced mega site links, Google+…etc) to test enhancements to the search experience.  .  As search results evolve, organic and paid search should work together to fully adapt to the newly affected landscape.  In addition, utilizing paid ads can be emphasized when organic listings are more impacted, and vice versa. 

Lastly,  when building out keyword lists, advertisers should assess terms to utilize this new roll out and ensure keyword coverage is appropriate,  buying terms on the ‘symptoms onebox list’ that makes sense for the respective brand. 

Recommended Reading

Inside Search – The Official Google Search Blog

How Does Google Use My Data?

In order to provide a better online experience, Google uses data to determine anything from what language a user speaks, to what ads are most beneficial.  Basic information is gathered in two ways: the sign-up process and the user’s interaction with various services. Personal information such as the user’s name, email address, phone number and credit card information is collected when an account is first created.  Details on how services are used, such as a search query and IP address, are gathered by Google and stored into server logs.  If a location-enabled service is used, Google absorbs the information about the specific area.  Finally, information is then stored and saved through the use of cookies and pixel tags when a user interacts with a Google service.

Through the process of capturing information, Google is able to deliver customized content to a specific user. For consistency purposes, Google may use the name provided from a user’s profile across all services and replace past names associated with the account.  Other users who already have access to another user’s email and contact information can access their name and photo as long as it’s publicly displayed on their Google profile.

Users Maintain Control

Despite the fact that users are unable to opt out of the new policy without closing their account(s), products such as Google Dashboard and Ads Preference Manager will continue to provide control and transparency of personal settings.  These settings are applied to services including: Gmail, Docs, Web History and YouTube.  Curious to see who Google thinks you are? The Ads Preference Manager allows the user to view ads that are the most relevant to them and their personal interests, essentially allowing them to target themselves. The user’s interests are connected with an advertising cookie stored in their browser, allowing the specific user the choice to opt in or out.  After the user logs into their account, they can select “Ads on the Web” to see data Google has gathered from their activity.  Another option for users is creating multiple logins in order to keep data separate.  It’s worth noting that when a user shares information publicly, it can be processed by other search engines.

The Controversy

Google claims their new policy will simplify the privacy terms for many users, however, the underlying issue of data sharing raises many red flags.  With growing concerns about the power to opt out of data sharing activities, Google has been forced to shed light on their new approach to handling personal information, subjecting itself to harsh criticism. While Google defends their position on the latest policy, users may not agree so easily when data in separate services is compiled into one main database for Google eyes.  Concisely, Google can deliver aggregated information from one Google product to another, which provides an improved targeted search for users.

What Does This Mean For Advertisers?

The updated privacy policy applies to every single Google product except for Google Wallet, Google Books, and Chrome. The major impact of the policy change on marketers and advertisers is that more relevant search results will be delivered to consumers. The fact that Google can create a profile of a single user through their interaction with various products allows for this collection of data to be invaluable for advertisers in the near future.

Summary

The shift in Google’s privacy policy doesn’t change how the search engine collects and applies a person’s information; however, consumers must remain alert.  While some users might embrace the policy change, others might find it intrusive and distracting.  While updates to privacy policies may not be the most entertaining items to read, consider this a wakeup call to review the terms and conditions of all websites.

Recommended Reading

Google seeks to clarify new privacy policy

Lawmakers press Google on privacy policy changes

Google Changes Again, Launches One Privacy Policy to Rule Them All

The Social Impact on Paid Search

Initially, +1s were URL specific and could only be accumulated when users +1ed the URL within the SERP or within an Adwords ad that directed traffic to the same landing page.  Now, Google is displaying +1s with ads on Google.com as well as on the display network.  Google notes that ads with +1s tend to have higher click-through rates (CTR) and typically perform better because they have been socially recommended.

Often times Google+ is compared to Facebook, especially due to the connection between the “like” and “+1″ button; however, it is important to keep in mind the difference between search engines versus social engines.  According to Google, people that search on Google billions of times a day are often looking for brands and businesses.  As a result, these brand pages help people develop meaningful connections through their search queries.  Previously, the Direct Connect feature allowed users to navigate to a Google+ brand page by including a “+” before the search terms.   Because brand pages are now appearing on the SERP without the use of Direct Connect, users are immediately exposed to the brand’s recent posts and pictures within the Google+ brand page.

 The Google+1 Button Boost & What Advertisers Should Know

The launch of the Google+ brand profile increases the importance of +1s in advertising.  Most are aware the +1 button allows users to publicly endorse brands within organic search results and even on paid search and display ads.  Paid search ads in Google also carry the same +1s that organic search results carry.  As a result, paid search ads that link to sites many people have +1’d are more likely to receive higher placements within paid results.  This can influence a user’s decision about which ad to click.  Paid searchers will have to account for this in their pay-per-click strategy as +1s grow in popularity.              

There is greater opportunity for the advertiser to create strong connections between marketing channels, including both paid and organic search.  These brand pages aggregate all of users +1 activity throughout the brand’s organic listings and paid search advertisements.  Essentially, brand pages represent a user’s engagement with the brand anywhere within the Google search web.                                                                                                                                                      

Because advertisers have control over +1 activity and user behavior, ads become more relevant and brand interaction increases.  Advertisers should pay close attention to this interaction and influence in order to plan for the future.  With an increasing number of brands utilizing social media as part of their overall advertising efforts, it will be crucial to take note how many brands shift focus away from Facebook to Google+.

For example, if you live in the US and want to visit Google’s French website, you would use the country TLD identifier “.fr” for France.  Some popular generic TLD’s include:

Many of these TLD’s have rules for registration.  For example, only official government agencies can own a .gov TLD.  Other TLD’s such as .com, .org and .net are all available with no rules to entry.  In addition, many of the TLD’s have a different expiration date and need to be re-registered at an earlier or later date than others.

SEO, Paid Search and Social Contribution

As more companies use SEO, Paid Search and social strategies to promote their brands, the type of TLD becomes less significant.  In the past, high traffic-generating keyword-based .com’s were purchased.  Based on Google’s former algorithm, a domain that contained a generic keyword like “dog.com” would be relevant in the search results if someone searched on the term “dog”.  But as of October 25^th 2011, Google was granted a patent on a new algorithm that allows little emphasis on the keyword contained within a domain.  This gives freedom to any brand that does not have a generic related keyword within their domain.

A brand can capitalize on a keyword that produces large volume, but that does not mean a brand cannot survive without that option.  In fact, most of the top traffic producing US websites contain words that do not exist in the English dictionary: Google, Twitter, Yahoo, Bing, etc.  Brands can still achieve success with a healthy SEO, Paid Search and social strategy.  For example, the term “twitter” had no search volume before 2006 as it was not yet an actual word, yet the purchase of twitter.com did not hinder the company from becoming a household name and a top 10 traffic producing website in the US.

.COM

The most well known TLD is .com.  19 of 20 top US traffic websites contain .com.  Searches for the term “.com” exceed any other TLD.  .Com is the most sought after TLD, with little to no entry for generic terms with that particular extension.  Those generic .com’s also tend to be the most expensive TLD’s on domain registration sites such registration.com and networksolutions.com.  Practically all premium domain names for sale contain .com.  The vast majority of Fortune 500 companies have a .com TLD.  Many people can easily find a company using the brand name followed by a .com in the URL.

Public Perception

• A company with a .com is perceived as more legitimate given the majority of successful companies have their brand’s .com registered in their name

Traffic Volume

• Traffic volume can be lost from consumers searching for a brand’s .com when that brand does not own a .com

.COM vs. Other TLD’s

Although a company may be able to purchase a different TLD, the problem becomes competition.  If someone already owns the .com of an actual company, that company will have to sacrifice the lost traffic to the owner of the website.  Supply and demand regulate purchasing a domain.  The demand for a .com website is much higher than that of any other TLD.  If a website is available that is a generic term, one can expect the price of that domain to be higher for the .com over any other TLD.  As people continue to see .com as the dominant TLD, it will remain the most valuable.

Other TLD’s such as .net and .org are virtually the same as .com and are usually the next choice offered by domain registration sites.  Wikipedia is a .org website with a top 10 traffic ranking in the US.  Websites without a .com will not be penalized by Google in SEO results.  As .com’s become less and less available, .org’s, .net’s, and .biz’s, etc. may become a publicly viable solution.

According to Adweek, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) went as far as to add hundreds of new TLD’s starting in January 2012.  This may or may not be confusing for people who are comfortable with the current TLD’s, but it may open up more avenues for branding.  If less emphasis is placed on .com’s as they become almost impenetrable, other TLD’s may become more valuable with room for generic keywords again.

Recommendations

In a full blown digital age, companies should choose a brand name that has a .com available given that the public sees .com as a staple URL.  New brands should not get into the habit of choosing a name first and web address second, but rather the other way around.  As .com’s become a dry well, companies will have to get creative in choosing a brand name given that most .com websites are already taken.  Existing companies whose .com has been taken should choose a domain that is highly marketed and resonates best with the consumer.  Generic keyword influenced domain names have all been chosen and are not as relevant as they were in the past.  With SEO, Paid Search and Social strategy such an integral part of promoting a brand, a domain name that does not contain a .com or generic keyword does not mean a brand cannot succeed, although having a .com is preferable and should be sought after first.

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What will change?

Similar to television in quality and style, this content will be delivered as episodes and organized into channels with scheduled programming across 18 various content genres. The categories will range from home & garden to sports and appeal to a wide range of audiences.

To keep viewers engaged and returning to the channels, episodes will launch in three waves – January, April & July. Currently, YouTube is planning to launch 40-60 hours of new content per channel each year. By the end of 2012, each channel will average 535 new episodes.

With a reported estimated budget of $100 million, Google has signed on a long list of celebrities, musicians and professional athletes to produce and star in the shows hoping to attract a large audience. The current roster includes Rainn Wilson, Shaquille O’Neal, Madonna and Amy Poehler and much more while trusted media outlets such as Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Everyday Health have also joined.

YouTube is also planning to socialize Original Channels to promote sharing of this content. Reports indicate users may be able to find content from the celebrities they follow on Google+ and Twitter as well as share their favorite shows & episodes with friends.

What This Means for Marketers

The launch of Original Channels is great news for marketers who are looking for new and innovative ways to increase brand awareness through digital video.

The variety of categories and some of the biggest names in television programming will likely attract a broad audience and keep users interested. Channel genres will be similar to cable television channels where marketers can cherry pick specific genres that will appeal to difference audiences from African Americans to Teens to Moms.

With this release, YouTube will further differentiate its self from the competition because of the lack of professionally produced original video on the internet. While other video content providers such as Hulu exist and will compete for viewership, they offer stale reruns which will not keep users coming back in the long run. Original Channels will also be able to leverage YouTube’s existing integration into household devices by being available on laptops, tablets, mobile devices and even Google TV.

YouTube Original Channels will offer marketers a variety of ad units. Ads will be similar to commercials on television today with marketers having the option of choosing between “in-stream” (auto-playing commercials) or “in-slate” ad where viewers have the option of choosing the commercial they choose to watch. YouTube will also allow marketers to purchase banners that appear on Original Channels and overlay ads that appear within the programming, encouraging click through to a brand’s website.

To ensure marketers can gain learnings and measure the performance of the media buy, YouTube will allow marketers to integrate YouTube Insights to collect data on viewers who have been exposed to the advertisement.

With all these benefits, YouTube Original Channels is a great way to reach a specific audience that might not be available through other content video providers on the internet.

Potential Impact

As more Americans are cancelling their cable subscriptions and using the internet for their primary video consumption needs, YouTube has developed what can be described as a free television system over the internet. As many have learned, when you offer consumers anything that is free over the internet, they will follow. If the free product is great, it will become a hit. It has happened many times before with examples such as Facebook, Gmail and even the original YouTube portal. These trends indicate YouTube Original Channels will be a hit as well.

To learn more about YouTube Original Channels, you can go to The Official YouTube Original Channels Website or read the official announcement on YouTube blog.

Additional Reading

More Great Content Creators Coming to YouTube

Original Channels – YouTube

On November 2^nd, 2011, Google announced new design and experience updates to Google Search and other products to improve the overall online user experience.  One of the new updates affects paid search results shown on the right side of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

What Has Changed and Why?

In some cases, ads that have previously shown on the right side of the results may start appearing below the organic results as shown in the screenshot below.

Google has found that in certain cases, displaying ads below search results is more aligned with the user’s flow as they scan pages from top to bottom.  As a result, Google search pages and ads are dynamically optimized to provide the best user experience.

According to tests implemented by Google, on average, this placement performed better than side ads in terms of click-through rate.

How Does This Impact Your Campaign?

At this point, it may be difficult to see the new ad placement in Google as they are currently being displayed for queries with fewer ads.  Although Google has seen bottom ads generate higher click-through rates compared to side ads during experiments, individual ad performances may vary.

There is currently no Quality Score or bid threshold at this time.  Moving ads from the right side to the bottom is solely based on improving user flow.

How Can This Impact Performance?

Eye-tracking studies have shown a top to bottom pattern on the SERP with lower engagement on side ads.  They also indicate that majority of users are mostly engaged with top sponsored ads or top organic search results.  Although side ads get less attraction from a user perspective, it seems as though bottoms ads would get even less attention.  With that said, it is surprising that click-through rates would be higher for bottom ads.

And what about competitors?  If your ad is showing at the bottom and competitor ads are on the top or side, could you be losing qualified traffic?

Next Steps

There is no option to opt out of having ads show on the bottom of the page, and it’s too early to determine how performance can be tracked on specific campaigns. If your selected keywords results in a high volume of paid ads, your ad will most likely not show at the bottom of the page.   In addition, if top performing keywords are in the syndicated position, chances are there will be small impact on overall performance.