Keeping Up With Google: Changes To Advertising On Results Pages

Every time Google makes a change in the way it ranks searches or handles ads, the marketing blogs explode in a fiery display of “This changes everything!” articles. If you’re busy working in the trenches, though, you don’t care about the strategic implications of Google’s latest changes to how the advertisements on the results page shows up. You want to know how those changes affect your ongoing efforts. Fortunately, if you’re doing things correctly, you should already be doing most of what you need to do. Here’s a breakdown:

1. Keep An Eye On Performance Reports

Make sure you’re getting the most out of the data collected in the performance reports. Pay close attention to the info collected under “Top vs. Other.” Since you have access to records going back quite a while, look for any performance changes between now and a time prior to the changes, in early February or earlier. Ads on the right rail probably weren’t responsible for a lot of your conversions or clicks. Generally speaking, impressions have probably gone down.

If anything runs contrary to the general rule of CTR trending upwards and impressions trending downwards, something is making your campaign buck the trends. Get into deeper detail and see what’s really going on. If you need to really get into the nitty gritty think about hiring a SEO expert to really help you optimize your ad campaign.

2. Monitor Budgets And Bids Carefully

When you assess the cost of your current campaigns, it’s important to hold yourself in diagnostic mode. Don’t alter your spending until you see clear signs that you need to increase your bids. Look at how your position is holding on the Top vs. Other report. Use your current standing and your goals to set your bids; resist any temptation to go wild.

Bear in mind that there is positive news coming from the changes as well as negative, and you may need to shift your budget around to take full advantage. Position four is driving a lot more traffic than it used to, and you want to make sure your daily limit is high enough to take full advantage. Don’t miss out on useful clicks because you’ve set your limits incorrectly!

3. Use Extensions Wisely

Top ads can make better use of extensions now; the same holds true for bottom-placed ads. Without those faithful right rail ads to help you, you need to make the most of the opportunities you have to use extensions to your best advantage. Make a full survey of what’s available to you and grab onto promising extensions you’re not using.

Note the subtle changes in the layout as well as the big ones. Sitelinks are generally displaying as two-line links rather than sitelinks + details. Translation? You need to have four good links that work without supporting text instead of two supported links.

Sitelinks with details aren’t gone forever; you just need to stake an exclusive claim on the territory above the results. That means it’s not the time to cut the details entirely; they may still drive traffic your way. Give the system plenty of choices to work with and include as many sitelinks as possible.

4. More Competition? Retarget And Regain Focus

AdWords is still an auction above all else. Depending on your niche, the latest changes may increase competition for your chosen terms. This can force your ads out of the positions you designed them for.

One possible response is to start investing in features like Customer Match or Remarketing Lists. These strategies will cost money, so make sure you’re targeting a high-value audience.

5. Keep Writing Compelling Copy

While layouts and choices have changed, the way Google judges ad quality hasn’t. Position on the page still plays a huge role in determining CTR projections. This is one of the biggest factors in creating strong leads. If you don’t have high quality compelling copy, you really won’t matter how much money you throw into your adword campaign.

Conclusion

The biggest part of this latest change is saying a fond farewell to our old friend, the right-rail ad. Bear in mind that this is neither the first nor the last change to the results page that we’ll have to deal with. Don’t spend too much time mourning for what’s lost; work out what’s become more effective.

By keeping a sharp eye on segmented reports, you’ll see how the changes have altered the flow of traffic in your own campaigns. Adjustments, as described here, should be enough to keep things working in your favor.

Software For Lead Generation

An Overview Of What You Can Expect 

Do you know what lead generation is? It’s a way to develop, nurture, and keep track of the interest of prospective customers so that your sales team can convert them into customers.

How Lead Generation Is Changing 

The way that leads are generated has undergone a major change. In the past, the B2B marketing departments primarily focused on branding activities and building awareness, while another group would work the phones to talk to prospects and identify the ones who were ready for a sales talk. Things are different now that prospects have access to all the solution and product information they require through the Internet.

The marketing departments of today now understand that they no longer have to push the process of sales. Now, they use cross-channel marketing platforms and marketing automation to facilitate the buying process. Because of this, they are not using an approach that is dramatically different to nurture and cultivate their leads before they mark them as ready for a call from the sales department.

How To Educate A Prospect Over Time 

The process of lead generation in the modern market starts in the buying cycle much earlier than it did in the past. Marketers now position themselves where they are more likely to be found by potential customers who are searching for the information on a problem that the marketers can solve with their product in search engines, educational webinars, and social media websites. This process of education means that the sales process is positively engaging with the organization and works well to nurture leads. When an organization provides content that is valuable to the consumer, they are more likely to be remembered when it comes time to decide to make a purchase.

 

The so-called digital body language, the behavior of the prospect online, lets the sales team understand if they are ready to talk about making a purchase. This readiness to buy is identified through a process known as lead scoring, which weighs the behavior of the individual against a list of activities linked to the intent to buy. During the sales conversation, the discussion will revolve around service levels, pricing, and contracts but will have been made possible because of the foundation built earlier in the process of lead generation through buyer education.

Are Telephones Relevant Any Longer In the Lead Generation Process? 

Calling prospects still occur even though the phone is no longer the primary way of qualifying them. Either outsourced teams or inside team members continue to call prospects exhibiting some interest. This is done to further qualify and engage with prospective buyers. The call might be done to let the prospect know about an event or a value proposition as part of the engagement and nurturing process. In other cases, the call might be done to further qualify their level of interest by asking questions.

Closing It Out

The software used in today’s process of lead generation is focused on managing the life cycle of the lead process starting with the first engagement and extending through the nurturing process, scoring of the lead, and the ultimate hand off to the sales team. Even though the lead qualification process still includes teams on the phone, they are no longer the only method to determine which prospects are truly interested.

What is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is one of the life blood's of your company.

If you don't have strong lead generation you will:

  • Work harder

  • Make less money

  • Be less happy

  • and likely fail as a business

    •  

So what is it exactly?

Working from the most simple definition and according to our good friends at Perspective Edge, lead generation, is the process of generating leads.

What is a lead?

A lead is a prospect, a potential buyer, of your products/services.

How do we generate potential buyers?

I think generate is probably the wrong word. A better word would be, attract.

When it comes to "lead generation" we should be focused on attracting qualified buyers. In reality, I can't create a prospect. They already exist and they better already have a desire for what I am offering. If I am having to convince them they want what I have, then I am fighting an uphill battle.

It's like trying to sell a cheap hamburger to a guy who is full already full from a filet mignon. It's just not going to happen. He's full. Why would he want a hamburger?

But, if I found a really hungry guy who didn't have a whole lot of money. It would be much easier to sell him the hamburger as it fits right in with what he wants and can afford.

We need to think in the same lines. Who is most attracted to my product? Those are the people I need to focus my marketing efforts on.

Is my product an expensive luxury type item? I shouldn't be trying to convince all of the people out there how awesome my product is. They don't care. They can't see themselves enjoying what you have as they can't afford it. There's too much guilt. They don't have the mindset for it.

Who would be most attracted to an item like this? Someone with some money and who is looking to impress others. They want the experience your luxury items gives them. They want to feel expensive. Make sure you check out Jacksonville SEO Yelp for a good example of this. Play into the desires and wants of your prospects. This is how you create a massive flow of leads that will actually buy your products.

You don't want to have 500 leads that you have to call or follow up with that all say no to what you are offering.

Don't waste time.

Create leads out of prospects that you know will want your products. There is no point trying to appeal to people who have too many barriers in the way of purchasing what you're offering.

Here is an awesome video outlining some of the best lead generation methods:
 

About Us

My name is Juanita and I started this website simply to give you more direction in lead generation.  I have been working as the CMO for at one time “small business” that has turned into a very profitable machine.  Most of that is due to the lessons that have been learned in generating qualified and high value leads.

Much of this has been learned through the blood, sweat and tears of endless nights of frustration.  Our company was only a year old and nearly broke when we finally began to put in place the principles that have brought us here now.

We look back and are truly amazed at the fact we even survived as a company without having these in place and are further astounded at the massively huge companies that only do one of these well and have had such great success.

Simply put this is a place to share thoughts on these lessons that have brought us here.  The simple mysteries of lead generation that surprisingly aren’t that mysterious when you know them.

Hopefully you will stick around and get something out of the lessons that we’ve learned.

-Juanita