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Google AdWords has released a new keyword tool. This one lets users plug in their website and a few keywords. The tool, dubbed Search-based keyword tool, takes a look at the site and makes suggestions for keywords that may be relevant to your paid search campaign.

The idea is that you might be missing out on terms that are being searched for. I have to admit, when I’ve used keyword tools, I’ve often been wishing I knew what people were searching for instead of guessing.

But the SEO copywriter in me also knows that so many sites are already optimized for keyword terms based on traditional keyword research, which often starts with a guess.

Plus, the existing keyword tool takes keywords and phrases plugged in by the user already returns a bunch of suggestions.

The tool’s strength lies in avoiding human error. In other words, the existing AdWords keyword tool relies on human entry. This tool looks at the site and can help marketers avoid overlooking terms they may have missed.

Still, remember the tool is in beta. And Google makes it clear that it’s not responsible if you use their suggested keywords in a way that violates the law. Say, by creating an ad that includes a trademarked term.

Related Reading:
AdWords Keyword Tool Now Shows Numerical Data

China Central Television (CCTV), the largest state-owned television network in China, recently ran a report accusing Baidu of questionable practices regarding medical search advertising. The accusations suggest that Baidu was allowing non-licensed medical companies to advertise while preventing some of the licensed ones from bidding on popular medical terms.

Baidu engaged in talks with CCTV to learn more about their accusations. They also removed paid search listings of medical companies who did not have proper licensing on file with Baidu.

Baidu maintains that they do not prevent the licensed companies from advertising. Advertising by medical companies makes up about 10-15% of Baidu’s revenue.

Of course, this is not the first time that state entities in China have caused unnecessary, undemocratic problems for Baidu.

Related Reading:
Baidu’s Profit Increases 91% in Third Quarter 2008

To be honest with you, I never really paid much attention to this.  As I was going through Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, which I talked about in the previous post, I was hit by the realization of just how important the page title is.  According to the guide, the purpose of the page [...]

New market research has found that blog readers are strongly influenced by blog content when it comes to purchase decisions across a number of categories, and that blogs play a key role in ushering readers to the point of an actual purchase. BuzzLogic, a social media analysis company and ad network, sponsored the market research and JupiterResearch, a Forrester research company, conducted the survey of more than 2,000 online consumers in the US.

Their Harnessing the Power of Blogs survey also found that blog readership has grown 300% over the past four years. The results also suggest that consumers who read blogs more than once per month — or frequent blog readers — use blogs as the top online navigation tool to discover other blog content, ranking higher than general Web search or blog search.

The new market research will be the focus of a free webinar, “Consumers and the Influence of Blogs: What it Means for Your Marketing Mix,” which will be held on Thursday, November 20, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. EDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT. The free webinar will be moderated by Matt McGowan, vice president and publisher for Incisive Media’s digital marketing businesses, and will feature Barry Parr, Analyst at JupiterResearch, and Rob Crumpler, President and CEO of BuzzLogic.

Looking more closely at how blogs factor into consumer purchase decisions and the nature of blog influence on buying behavior, the survey found:
• Blogs influence purchases: 50% of blog readers say they find blogs useful for purchase information.
• Blogs sway more purchases among readers than social networks: More frequent blog readers say they trust relevant blog content for purchase decisions than content from social networking sites. Enid Burns of The ClickZ Network focused on this finding in her recent story about the survey, “Study: Blogs Influence Purchases More Than Social Sites.”
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3631303
• Niche focus ups influence factor: For those who have found blog content useful for product decisions, 56% said blogs with a niche focus and topical expertise were key sources.
• Blogs go beyond tech: Outside of technology-related purchases, for which 31% of readers say blogs are useful, other key categories include: media and entertainment (15%); games/toys and/or sporting goods (14%); travel (12%); automotive (11%); and health (10%).

According to the study, blogs factor in to critical stages of the purchase process, weighing most heavily at the actual moment of a purchase decision. When it comes to respondents who said they have trusted blog content for purchase decisions in the past, over half (52 percent) say blogs played a role in the critical moment they decided to move forward with a purchase.

Blog readers were also surveyed about the influence of blogs as it relates to the following steps of the purchase process:
• 21% decide on a product or service,
• 19% refine choices,
• 19% get support and answers,
• 17% discover products and services,
• 14% assure,
• 13% inspire a purchase
• 7% execute a purchase.

For frequent blog readers, ads on blogs are on par with sponsored search results. However, trust of blog advertising exceeds that of social networking site advertising. A quarter of these readers say they trust ads on a blog they read; paid search links also accounted for 25% of the responses, while 19% say they trust ads on social networking sites.

The study also suggests that ads on blogs spur a number of activities: 40% of blog readers have taken action as a result of viewing an ad on a blog; 50% of frequent blog readers say this is the case. The top activities include:
• 17% read product reviews online,
• 16% sought out more info on a product or service,
• 16% visited a manufacturer or retailer website.

JupiterResearch designed and fielded the survey in August 2008 to online consumers selected randomly from the NPD Group US online consumer panel. A total of 2,210 individuals responded. For more information on the survey’s methodology, go to JupiterResearch.

Now, blogs certainly aren’t considered the “newbies” of the social media scene – “granddaddies” is probably a more appropriate term. But that gives them an advantage from a marketing perspective – the medium has matured and moved from early adopter phase to the mainstream.

This may come as a surprise to some search engine marketers, but blog readers do not appear to rely as heavily on search as a means to find new blogs as consumers of traditional online media do. According to the new survey, one in five consumers who have read a blog in the past 12 months — or general blog readers — use blog links to discover new blogs. Further, the study suggests blogs are not consumed in isolation — 49% of blog readers and 71% of frequent readers read more than one blog per session. Other key findings include:
• Links more powerful than search: For frequent readers, links beat search as a navigation tool: 38 percent said blog links were the top tool for discovering new blog content as compared to 34 percent who voted for Web search.
• Links signal trust: For frequent readers, blog links appear to have similar impact as a trusted recommendation from a person (a response from 39 percent of survey participants).
• Blog search not yet mainstream: Blog search engines received the lowest ranking from respondents: 6 percent of general readers and 11 percent of frequent readers say they use these tools to discover new blogs.

If you are interested in getting more details about Harnessing the Power of Blogs, register for the free Webinar. Again, it will be held on Thursday, November 20, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. EDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT.

Paid search has come to YouTube. Users can pay to have their videos appear in a right hand sidebar called “Sponsored Videos” in the results of desired search terms.

It works pretty much exactly like AdWords. You bid on terms, set daily limits, etc. You only pay when someone clicks to watch.

Check out YouTube’s YouTube video for more details:

Related Reading:
YouTube Adds Search to Embeddable Videos
Yellowbook and YouTube Enter Content Distribution Partnership
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Changes are coming to the way AdWords calculates its Quality Score and Ad Rank. The changes will be implemented in the coming weeks.

First up, Quality Score will no longer take ad position into account. The idea is that simply dishing out the dough for a higher position has nothing to do with the quality of the ad.

CORRECTION: Here’s what Google really said: “To calculate the most accurate Quality Scores, it’s important that the influence of ad position on CTR be taken into account and removed from the Quality Score.” Bloggers have been pointing out that Google has been doing this. When I get further clarification from Google, I’ll let you know! Stay tuned.

Next, Ad Rank is going to focus on quality for ads that appear on top of the search results. Ads must meet a “quality threshold” in order to appear in that prime real estate. It will be possible for a lower positioned ad to jump above a higher position ad in the sidebar ads to hang out in the box above the organic results if it meets the threshold but the higher positioned ads don’t.

Clearly, Google is making quality a key focus in AdWords. This may be an attempt to improve the program in the midst of a slowdown in growth for paid search. Or it could be an attempt to show that Google is more concerned about quality than price - and therefore advertisers need not be worried about a little thing like a search advertising deal with Yahoo.

What do you think about the focus on quality? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading:
Google Makes AdWords Site Stats Logo Optional
AdWords Editor Version 6.5 Released
AdWords Conversion Optimizer Releases New Eligibility Requirements
AdWords API Gets an Update and Extra Quota

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Microsoft adCenter has released a slew of updates for the fall to aid you in your paid search campaigns. The updates include:

• Campaign Management: ability to pause and resume ads and keywords, geo-targeting enhancements, and improved performance reporting on the Ads page
• Editorial Improvements: faster reviews, dynamic feedback about why ads and keywords were disapproved, and inline notification when dynamic text causes your ads to exceed character limits
• User Management: if previously you were only able to have one user, now you can create multiple account users
• Content Ads (U.S. only): get keyword bid suggestions and performance estimates for your content ads

What do you think of the updates? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading:
Microsoft adCenter Launches Learning Center
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