Perry Marshall says, “It’s now impossible to go outdoors without seeing people with their heads buried in their mobile devices. At the store, at our kids’ soccer games, at a restaurant, and even in our cars, we’re addicted to our smart­phones. And your prospects are no different (in fact, many of those people you see buried in their phones are your prospects).So it should come as no surprise to hear that mobile search has been skyrocketing year after year. Mobile search has become one of the biggest areas of profitability for Google, and it’s only going to continue to grow.Here... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “To help publishers address the nitty-gritty activities involved in implementing ad viewability, the IAB published a primer with tactical tips and best practices on Tuesday.The primer focuses on what publishers can do on the ad tech side of the business, including managing relationships with vendors, agencies and advertisers.While the IAB stresses the importance of creating engaging content on increasing ad viewability (if users aren’t engaged, they won’t scroll down the page), the primer directly addresses three ad delivery levers:– site redesign to ensure... [...]

Frederick Vallaeys says, “After a quiet start to the year with few notable changes in AdWords, the last month has seen a lot of interesting things happening, most notably the change to the layout of ads on the search results pages.I’ve shared my initial thoughts about this change on my company blog; but now that it’s been live for a few weeks, I wanted to weigh in with ways to optimize accounts that are impacted, including using bid to position rules and Quality Score optimization.What changed to ads on GoogleThe week of February 19, Google began removing right-hand side (RHS) ads,... [...]

Sara McGuire says, “Clickbait. A word that is tossed around so often now that I think we are prone to forget how effective it really is.After all, just because you are aware of something’s existence doesn’t mean you’re able to extricate yourself from it.You know what clickbait titles are. They’re those titles so sensational, so absurd, so full of promise that you feel compelled to click them.Click and they’ve got you, or your traffic, at least, and maybe even a share if you find the beginning of the article interesting enough (people don’t read most articles all the way through)”.Can... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “While the debate around ad blocking continues, Opera has decided to build a native ad blocker that ships with its browser.The company announced that it’s “the first major browser vendor to integrate an ad-blocking feature” and the reason won’t come as a surprise.It looked at the stats, which show that a growing number of consumers want ad blockers to protect them from bloated web pages, poor browsing experiences and unwanted tracking.With ad blocking built in to its browser at the web engine level, Opera says it can provide “unmatched... [...]

Jamily Gann says, “If you’ve searched Google recently, then you may have notice something different. In the past, searches for products pulled up two or three paid ads in the search results, and then along the right side of the screen, more paid ads were displayed. Those right-side ads? They’re gone now. In their place is an opportunity for ecommerce companies.Hello Product PlacementThe words “product placement” bring to mind characters drinking from a can of Coca-Cola during the most exciting scene in the movie. Well, okay, we can run with that. Only, instead of characters, it’s... [...]

Barry Levine says, “On the heels of the Internet Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) recently released primer on ad blocking, the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) has launched an Ad Block Gauge so websites can detect ad blockers.It comes in a standalone version or as part of the Illinois-based organization’s new Site Certifier tool for website and app metrics.Vice President of Product Leadership Joe Hardin told me that the Gauge is free when included with the Certifier, but there is a fee when it’s standalone. The pricing, like that of Certifier, is figured out on a case-by-case basis, dependent... [...]

Tommy Wyher says, “The marketing world has changed dramatically in recent years and Google AdWords is one of the platforms creating this change.It’s one of the most effective methods of paid online advertising available.This advertising system is used by thousands of small, medium and large organizations.All of these organizations have one thing in common.They want to tap into the huge numbers of people who search for information, products and services online. When used properly, Google AdWords has the potential to send large numbers of people to you who want exactly what you have to... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “No doubt you’re all aware by now that Google is removing ads from the right-hand side of its search results pages (SERPs). Ads will now only appear at the top and bottom of SERPs. To give some context around what this means for search marketers, we asked several experts for their take on why Google made this decision, and also how marketers need to adjust their PPC campaigns as a result. Why did Google remove the ads?Richard Hartley, PPC Director at JellyfishThese days, Google is ‘mobile first’ due to mobile searches beginning to overtake desktop searches,... [...]

Rebecca Maynes says, “There’s a lot of talk about ad viewability at present, and with big players such as Google announcing in 2015 that it would only charge advertisers for 100% viewable impressions, it’s easy to see how it’s become such a hot topic in the digital marketing world.But what exactly does it mean to be “viewable?” Does this mean people will look at your ad? We recently conducted a research study that set out to answer these questions.Conducting the eye-tracking studyThe study was conducted in two parts: an online survey of 1400 participants for quantitative... [...]