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Increase Click-Through Rates Using Google Seller Ratings

Posted on January 3rd, 2012

The introduction of Google Seller Ratings is significant because it can increase paid search traffic and click-through rates, and potentially increase conversions due to the visibility of the seller ratings and the inherent trust that is created by their presence. Seller ratings are like a personal referral from other customer about which merchants to purchase products and services from.

Seller ratings can really make your ad stand out from the competitors. The bright colour of star ratings is easily recognised and the bigger size of ads when seller ratings are added can increase your click through rate.

What are Google Seller Ratings?

The Google Seller Rating extension provides user-submitted ratings information about sellers next to their AdWords ads. They are matched to Adwords advertisers’ ads through the domain of the display URL of the ads.

The Seller Rating stars are generally a useful tool for advertisers: they are free, add a visual dimension to ads and, most crucially, enhance the advertisers’ reputations and increase users’ trust in them.

If your ad has an extremely high quality score and shows in the top panel (above natural results), the extension will also display the number of qualified reviews next to the rating.

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Get PPC Campaigns Ready for Christmas 2011

Posted on November 21st, 2011

Get PPC campaigns ready for XmasTo ensure your paid search efforts are as successful as they can be this Christmas, here are my top pay per click festive tips:

Start Planning Early

Start pushing your Christmas offers earlier to encourage people to purchase sooner. Christmas searches start as early as October. Therefore it is important to ensure you have a presence on key terms now so consumers remember you later on in the process. (more…)

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Fast Track your keyword expansion

Posted on September 8th, 2011

Expanding your keyword lists for PPC and SEO with relevant keywords will certainly widen your audience reach.  And as long as your average conversion rates remain high, it should lead to more sales.

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Stream:20 Top 20 – Choosing the right Ad Server (Part 2)

Posted on August 3rd, 2011

Here’s the next instalment of our Top 20 Tips for choosing the right Ad Server:

Databases

11.  The ease with which data from all marketing channels can be matched back to any existing backend databases is an important consideration. Existing customer details as well as future customer information provides valuable insight, such as lifetime value, which can’t be tracked without these backend databases.  Because cookies expire on average 30 days after the impression and each order ID is considered ‘new’ by the Ad Server there is no way for them to track the lifetime value using the Ad Server alone.  So make sure your databases are in order and compatible with the Ad Server you choose.

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Stream:20 Top 20 – Choosing the right Ad Server (Part 1)

Posted on August 2nd, 2011

In our view choosing the right Ad Server is one of the most important decisions an online marketing operation can make. Why?  Because not only does it host all your online advertising and deliver them to your target websites, it also “audits” your online marketing spend by monitoring click throughs and impressions of your online ads.

This gives you a fast and accurate view of where you are spending, how effective it is and how you might improve things. As a result, your choice of Ad Server will dictate how you use your data, and how flexible you can be with the big decisions in online marketing. So clearly, it is vital you get your choice right.

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Stream:20 Top 20 – Pay Per Click Part 2

Posted on December 20th, 2010

Here’s the second instalment of our Top 20 tips for optimising a PPC campaign:

11.  Make sure you continuously work at improving your keyword quality score, the higher your score the lower your click costs

12.  Build highly targeted landing pages relevant to the keyword and ad group themes. These will improve conversion rates and keyword quality score

13.  Test new ad copy regularly even if your existing ads are performing well.

14.  Regularly audit your competition using spyware tools

15.  Optimise content network activity by managing your top performing sites separately – Advertising on other websites not just search once you get conversion data use this to target

16.  Switch on google ad words mobile targetingcor at least test search for mobile devices, as it is now becoming a good source of quality traffic

17.  If using an agency, confirm what is happening with Yahoo and Bing rebates. They should be passed back to you the client

18. Audit both Yahoo and Bing programs regularly for missing converting terms present on Google. These programs often get neglected due to their relative importance

19.  Test the Google content network again, the quality has improved in recent times!

20.  Last, but certainly not least, ensure you have set your campaign budgets correctly. You might find keywords that are performing well are coming offline prematurely as budget caps are hit

by James Parker, PPC Consultant

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Stream:20 Top 20 – Pay Per Click Part 1

Posted on December 16th, 2010

It can be pretty easy to set up a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising campaign, but getting the most out of your investment takes a bit more work. In this latest Stream:20 Top 20 we give you top tips on how to optimise your campaign.  Here’s the first 10, with the next instalment to follow shortly:

1.  There are lots of ways to find key words, so don’t just rely on Google’s keyword suggestion tool to generate new keywords for testing. Use other sources such as log file data or meta search engines (that collect data from all search engines)

2.  Keep ad groups tightly defined with all keywords sharing a common theme. This makes the task of writing targeted ad copy that much easier

3.  Separate match types – broad and exact – into different ad groups to ensure you protect the quality score of your exact match (converting) terms

4.  Get in to the practice of running Google Search Query reports regularly to find the actual search queries that trigger ads and drive conversions

5.  Once you have found these converting terms, isolate them on exact match and bid separately from broad. This typically allows you to be more aggressive

6.  Regularly remove poor quality keywords that do not generate sales, this will improve your overall quality score by campaign / ad group

7.  Attribute value to keywords that begin the conversion process and not just to those keywords that are the last step before conversion

8.  Apply any negative keywords ie words you don’t want to be associated with, at ad group level.  This is particularly important if you are channelling a majority of spend through broad match keywords

9.  Repeat the search term in your ad titles and descriptions where possible. Not only is this best practise, it generally also aids click through rates

10.  Use site link ads – individual deep link to specific and relevant content on your site – to improve user experience

by James Parker, PPC Consultant

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The Impact of Google Instant on PPC & SEO?

Posted on September 16th, 2010

Google Instant is Google’s new way to display search results while the logged-in user is typing a query. Google tries to complete the query during the input.

For example, when you enter “bike h” then Google will display the results for the keyword “bike helmets” because Google thinks that this is the most likely query.

Google Instant will not display the search results for the keywords “bike h”, which are totally different. If you want to get the results for “bike h”, you have to click the search button.

Here are some quick initial thoughts on how the new Google Instant functionality might impact PPC and SEO.

It’s impossible to predict all outcomes at this early stage, but what we can say with some certainty is;

  • The number of impressions keywords will receive will increase sharply with ads now appearing for irrelevant search terms and refreshing with every new keystroke.
  • Click Through Rates (CTR) will drop which could have an impact on Quality Score (QS) and ultimately costs.
  • Also, the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ links could have a negative effect on paid search CTR’s.
  • Could be an advantage to PPC advertisers in lower positions (see below) Apples PPC ad sat in p3 sits above all other ads on the page and now has more prominence. Obviously this is only an advantage if the ad is relevant.
  • SEO listings get moved further down the page as the drop down box features more prominently – not good for 100% natural search reliant brands – but further increases the importance of SEO and PPC being used side by side.
  • User search behaviour will change, with people now going for the option of the Google suggestion rather than completing their actual query, which could effect your carefully chosen Keywords you have optimised your site for.

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Hiring Generalist Online Marketing Consultants

Posted on August 12th, 2010

We are currently growing our consultancy team and need talented, professional, experienced individuals to work on major blue chip clients. We are currently looking for generalist online marketing consultants.

As a Stream:20 consultant you will spend time working on-site at the client’s office as well as Stream:20 offices in Central London.  As such, willingness to travel outside of London and throughout Europe will be an advantage.

Who are Stream:20?

Stream:20 is a leading online marketing consultancy based in London (City).  We are a young, dynamic company which has experienced steady growth since our launch in late 2005.  We have signed a number of impressive clients and are continuing to grow.

Our mission is simple – to help our clients increase online revenue – we are passionate about performance and return on investment.

Job Description and Candidate Details

We are looking for consultants who have highly developed skills in a number of different disciplines – you will either be a specialist in a single channel or have a well-rounded knowledge of two or more of the below;

A minimum of 4 year’s experience is required (exceptional candidates below this level will be considered).  Blue-chip client background essential.


Candidate Requirements

Key responsibilities:

  • Thought leadership
  • Strategy formation
  • Strategy implementation and/or managing external agencies to implement
  • Senior stakeholder liaison
  • Presentations to senior management

Skills/Experience:

  • Ability to absorb large amounts of information and data in order to be able to understand clients business
  • Background in managing and implementing large scale online marketing channels – you will have worked with large budgets
  • Understanding of opportunities/effectiveness/limitations of online marketing channels and techniques
  • Ability to consult into both senior management as well as a marketing manager level
  • Excellent negotiation skills
  • Work well under pressure to tight deadlines
  • Motivated by targets / results
  • Excellent presentation and interpersonal skills

Personality Traits:

  • Assertive
  • Diplomatic
  • Confident
  • Personable
  • Ambitious
  • Proactive
  • Innovative
  • Enthusiastic
  • Motivated
  • Entrepreneurial

This is a great opportunity to get involved with a young, growing company – excellent future opportunities will exist for the right candidate.

Please send us a CV along with salary expectations.

NOTE TO RECRUITMENT CONSULTANTS: DO NOT CONTACT US REGARDING THIS ROLE

Posted in Stream:20 News | Tags: , , , , , ,

Search Generalist – Paid and Organic Search

Posted on August 12th, 2010

Stream:20 are recruiting for a Search specialist – Someone highly skilled in PPC, and strong or growing in strength in SEO.  Please get in contact if you feel you can meet these requirements

Candidate Skillset

PPC requirements

  • Comfortable dealing with large budgets i.e. £150k + per month
  • Highly numerate, at least 50% of the job is number crunching / setting rules for bid management software
  • Methodical, large search campaigns can contain thousands of keywords all of which must be managed
  • Innovative, able to find new opportunities to drive quality traffic / improve conversion
  • Excellent working knowledge of Google Adwords, Adwords Editor, MSN Adcenter and Yahoo Search.
  • Ideally be GAP qualified, Google PPC exam

SEO Requirements

  • Good strong list of brands you have worked on
  • Experience of performing Search Engine Optimization, preferably in a client-facing role.
  • Strong understanding of SEO practice and methodology – including architectural and design competencies, on-page SEO factors, content and writing knowledge, and off-page link and promotion understanding.
  • Strong understanding of SEO tool sets and search analytics tools.
  • Understanding of basic HTML and dynamic web development (JS, CSS).
  • Good knowledge of MS Excel, Word and PowerPoint
  • Must be detailed oriented, have strong presentation and project management skills and excellent verbal and written communication skills

Candidate Requirements

Key responsibilities:

  • Thought leadership
  • Strategy formation
  • Strategy implementation and/or managing external agencies to implement
  • Senior stakeholder liaison
  • Presentations to senior management

Skills/Experience:

  • Ability to absorb large amounts of information and data in order to be able to understand clients business
  • Background in managing and implementing large scale online marketing channels – you will have worked with large budgets
  • Understanding of opportunities/effectiveness/limitations of online marketing channels and techniques
  • Ability to consult into both senior management as well as a marketing manager level
  • Excellent negotiation skills
  • Work well under pressure to tight deadlines
  • Motivated by targets / results
  • Excellent presentation and interpersonal skills

Personality Traits:

  • Assertive
  • Diplomatic
  • Confident
  • Personable
  • Ambitious
  • Proactive
  • Innovative
  • Enthusiastic
  • Motivated
  • Entrepreneurial

This is a great opportunity to get involved with a young, growing company – excellent future opportunities will exist for the right candidate.

Please contact us if you would like to apply for a position.

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