A common AdWords misconception explained...

One great thing about having a large audience of AdWords advertisers is that it makes this blog an ideal place to clear up things which might be called common AdWords misconceptions. Take, for example, the misconception exemplified by the question below -- paraphrased from a post in the AdWords Help forum:

I advertise a niche product, and I'm the only advertiser on many of my keywords. I thought I could bid the minimum CPC of $0.01 on those keywords, and have my ad show. Yet, my minimum bid is much higher. What's up with that?

Good question. Let's start by first defining what minimum bid really means:

The minimum bid, also known as the minimum CPC, is the least that one can pay to have an ad appear for a particular keyword in a particular account. It is very important to know, however, that one's minimum bid is entirely unrelated to how many other advertisers are using the same keyword. Instead, since August of 2005, the minimum bid has been quality based. To put it simply, the higher the Quality Score of a keyword, the lower one's minimum bid will be for that keyword.

So, very low minimum bids are earned by creating highly relevant ad text and keywords that get outstanding Quality Scores. And only the most relevant keyword and ad text combinations will earn a minimum bid of $0.01 (or its equivalent in other currencies).

It's worth noting that every keyword has a minimum bid that is unique to how successfully that word has been used in an advertiser's particular account. So the minimum bid for the keyword 'Kansas City BBQ sauce' will be different in your account than in your next door neighbor's account, who happens to be using the same keyword.

How can you lower your minimum bid? The short answer is to improve your Quality Score by optimizing your ads.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Meet our AdSense engineers: Juliana

Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we're all curious about who's responsible for the magic that takes place behind the curtain. Through our series of interviews with members of our engineering team, we hope you'll gain a little insight into the men and women behind the AdSense engineering wizardry. This Q&A is with Juliana.

Which AdSense projects or features have you worked on?

In the past few months, I have worked mostly (but not exclusively) on custom reports, emailable reports, and the general reporting engine.

What's your area of technical expertise?

Just like many other Googlers, I am pretty flexible about the projects that I work on. I have worked in the area of mathematical programming, virtual webhosting, control centre for various services, and java programming for high volume web applications.

What is the most challenging aspect of working for AdSense?

The flexibility that I have in deciding how to code and design our new features is challenging -- it makes the problem much more complex. It's also what I like most about working for AdSense because it provides room for creativity. People here really appreciate your thoughts, so I have a say in what should go into the final product.

What advice would you give publishers?

We like being able to help our publishers. Please keep the feedback coming.

What are your favorite websites?

Apart from Google, which I really do use all the time, I like petfinder.com, where I found my dog, and doghobbyist.com. I also like nytimes.com and cnn.com for staying current with news.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

I have Newton, a sweet golden retriever mix who comes to work with me every day. He was rescued from the shelter two years ago. He sleeps in a puppy bed under my desk. Many people at Google like him and there are some people who regularly visit my office to play with him.

If you were an animal cracker, which one would you be and why?

Too bad we don't have a puppy dog in the solution space :) Given that constraint, I will choose to be the teddy bear. It is close enough.

Posted by Suzie Dewey - AdSense Publisher Support

Blogtimize!

Blogging is near and dear to our hearts here at Inside AdSense. We know you want to get the most out of those posts – but how do you do it?

1. Choose the right ad formats

Because the typical blog layout uses a narrow section for posts, the medium rectangle fits nicely at the end of each post. The medium rectangle also supports image ads, increasing the competition and revenue potential for that ad space. For shorter posts, a banner may be a better fit.

2. Place ads where your readers will notice

Blog main page:

Whether the subject is gadgets, gossip, or a glimpse into the writer's personal life, readers are deeply engaged with the content of their favorite blogs. What could be more effective than displaying an ad precisely relevant to that content? An ad after each post can serve as a "commercial break" from reading or as an "action step" to take after reading.

Individual blog entries:

As individual post pages don't have a lot of content, the key is to place ads near your content without bombarding the page with ads. For long entries, try embedding a blended medium rectangle into your post and adding a banner at the end. For short entries, just place one medium rectangle or banner at the end.

If there's a comment section after the post, place a banner or a horizontal link unit just above the comment box. Rather than using the traditional Skyscraper in your sidebar, consider using a link unit, which will offer a wider range of topics and may appear less obtrusive.

3. Improve targeting

How can you ensure that your ads are relevant to a specific post? With section targeting, you can target an ad unit to a specific section of the page, as well as block out irrelevant sections such as the navigational links.

4. Customize your ad colors

For more seamless integration with the content, blend ad units into the background of your blog. Choose a bold color for the ad title to help draw attention to your ads while ensuring that users don't confuse ads with content.






















With up to three ad units, one link unit, and one search box on every page, layout options abound! While the suggestions above offer some guidance, you should experiment with different ad unit-link unit-search box combinations on your pages, keeping your particular users' experience in mind when it comes to placement. Most importantly, use custom channels to see what performs most effectively for your site.

Do you have a "blogtimization" success story? Email us to let us know what worked for you.

Posted by Sandra Tsui - AdSense Publisher Support

Take Your Toolbar to Work

We want to take a moment to recognize the tireless efforts of corporate IT teams everywhere. These dedicated individuals work day and night to keep employees' computers running safe and secure. However, the very users they serve are constantly asking them for more: "Can you install Google Earth for me?" "Why don't we use Google Desktop for Enterprise here at work?" "Can we use Google Talk on our internal network?"

In an effort to lend a hand, we're making Google Toolbar beta for Enterprise available today. This free application lets your IT team provide the Google Toolbar across the company with all settings configurable at the admin level to meet corporate standards. Users gain access to all the Toolbar features including the new custom buttons which make it easy to create buttons to search frequently visited sites -- anything from the employee directory to research sites.

Will having the Google Toolbar beta for Enterprise lead to users' more active gratitude towards their hardworking IT team? We sure hope so, but in any case, we're willing to bet people will appreciate it more than they do the next ERP system upgrade!

OFFLINE MARKETING: Marketing Partnerships or Alliances

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing Tips.

No Partnership Will Work Right If Not Strategic Plan!

Tip from Offline Marketing and Advertising Blog.- Forging long-term relationships with marketing partnerships and other types of business alliances or Joint ventures, both offline and online, can create an effective and strategic plan that can aid in selling more than any other method.

Remember, there are thousands of consumers looking to buy your product or services everyday and each day that passes there will be thousands more. All you need to do is make sure that you are getting your information in front of those who are next. So be creative or follow the tried and true methods that are already working for other top businesses in your market, more about this on Marketing X Files.

For example if you own a transportation business, taking people to the airport, your best choice will be to partner with a local travel agency or agencies. Now to make this partnership a super business deal for the travel agent is to agree on paying a flat fee for referrals, doesn't have to be a big commission but anything to help them grow their profit by adding a new relevant service to their customers. You both win... They got an extra service that they can profit from, and you will grow your customer base and sales.

And the best part of this offline marketing method is that: IT'S FREE!


Recommended Resources.

- Marketing On Steroids. By Jay Levinson.
- Guerrilla During Tough Times. By Jay Levinson.
- Search Marketing Lab. Updated Daily.
- Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online. New Version.


To learn how you can be part of an online association full with Internet business experts and advisers for less than 4 dollars, visit the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.


In Conclusion: So make a list of local businesses that have an offline marketing relevancy with your offerings and contact them with a joint venture or business partnership proposal that points at the benefits that they are going to get from this venture.

To get the latest marketing and advertising tips from the offline world by me and Anna Phommatham a marketing and food business expert just subscribe to the site feeds using any of the next URLs:

• http://offline-marketing-advertising.blogspot.com/rss.xml.
• http://offline-marketing-advertising.blogspot.com/atom.xml.
• http://www.offline-marketing-advertising.blogspot.com/atom.xml.
• http://www.offline-marketing-advertising.blogspot.com/rss.xml.
• http://offline-marketing-advertising.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.
  

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

.

INTERNET MARKETING: Giving Away Online Content for Free Marketing

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing Tips.

Everyone love to advertise for free, and giving away content is one of the best way to achieve this. Just by giving other people permission to use your article on their web site, blogs, or in their e-zine. Your ad is the resource box or about the author signature at the end of the article. It's a win, win situation for both. You get zero cast advertising and they get the content they need to gain more subscribers or visitors.

You have many choices for giving away your content. It could be articles, reports, news stories, e-books, e-zines, e-mags, virtual e-mail courses, press releases, web books, a niche blog, and now with multimedia being big you can also provide audio and video content (I'll will show you how to do it later this week). Now you also use the new Google Knol to manage and distribute your content for free, and gain top position on organic search results.

You can take it a step further and put together 10, 20 or more articles into an e-book, and use it to gain more free advertising. For example, give your complementary e-book to one person and allow them the rights to give it away to anyone. Do you see the picture? Let's say only 10 people download your e-book. Those 10 people may give away your e-book to 10 more people. That's a total of 100 people that have seen your ad in the e-book. And it just keeps multiplying like an advertising virus... That's the power of online viral marketing.

When you keep producing free content over a long period of time, you are going to have a hard drive full of content. Now, what you need to do is take all that free content and bring this strategy to another level, because now you can build your own free content directory and use it as a web site traffic machine. By asking people to add the directory to their web site or blogs by linking to yours.

The conclusion is that giving away content gives you three powerful avenues to get free advertising. You can submit free content, allow other people to give away your free content, or have people link to your web site to give away the free content. This way you are putting Internet marketing to work for you instead of you working for it.


To learn how you can be part of an online association full with Internet business experts and advisers for less than 4 dollars, visit the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.


In Conclusion: Do it one step at a time and this strategy will bring traffic to your web site for years to come. Plus, will make you an expert in your market.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

.

Inside Google Enterprise

"Google Enterprise." Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Well, for a few years now, we've been building products for businesses large and small based on Google technology. We're pleased to announce the launch of this, the Google Enterprise Blog - the official blog for our enterprise business. We'll share our thoughts and ideas about enterprise technology, present best practices and tips for developers, and perhaps announce something new now and again.

The Google Enterprise team has a growing list of products that you'll be able to learn more about right here. Most of our team is focused on -- can you guess? -- enterprise search. We have a fundamental belief that it ought to be simple and easy -- just like Google.com. People are people - they don't turn into information scientists when they arrive at work in the morning. Providing simple, fast, and accurate search across all the information in your company can have a profound effect on your business.

But the technology that powers search inside a company is very different. That's why our growing team of search engineers is entirely focused on delivering a quality search experience to business users around the world. Of course, we're never done -- there are always ways to make the search experience more efficient, more comprehensive, or just more fun.

If you have any comments or suggestions about how we can make our enterprise products better, please contact us here.

Name that account

If you receive payments by EFT, you can now keep track of all of your different bank accounts by giving each an 'Account Nickname.' You're welcome to add the name of the bank or any other easy-to-remember name so that, at the end of the month, you'll know exactly which bank account to go to for your AdSense payment. The payment should be in your bank account by the 5th of the following month.

To create an account nickname, go to the Account Settings page of your account and click 'Edit' in the Payment details section. Continue to choose EFT as your form of payment, and you'll be prompted to provide your bank account information, along with an Account Nickname. Choose a name that'll jog your memory in the future, and you'll be set to go.

Posted by Alexa - AdSense Publisher Support

A Google Accounts reminder

Some of you may remember our post from a couple of months ago introducing Google Accounts for AdWords -- a single email and password that lets you access multiple Google services (such as AdWords, Google Analytics, Froogle, Google Groups, and more). Well, Ann-Lee from the Google Accounts team is back with a quick update:

By now, you've been given the option to update your AdWords login to Google Accounts. Over the coming weeks, we'll be asking all advertisers to update their AdWords logins to Google Accounts before entering their accounts. So, we encourage you to update to Google Accounts today if you haven't had a chance to do so already. And remember, if you'd like some tips, check out our FAQs and step-by-step guide."

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Please plan ahead

Just in case you were planning to work on your campaigns this weekend, please note that on Friday, January 27th, the AdWords system will be temporarily unavailable from approximately 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. PST due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log in during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as normal.

As always, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

“It’s All About Results” everywhere

Do you sell products or services to customers outside the United States? If so, we’d like to tell you a bit more about how “international” AdWords really is: in addition to targeting your ads to customers in U.S. cities like Wichita, Kansas, you can also target customers in over 100 countries abroad. If your customers speak another language, you can write your ads in one of 40+ available languages, which include everything from Danish to Japanese to Thai, one of the latest additions to the family of AdWords-supported languages.

And if you speak another language yourself, not a problem! Simply change your language preference in the upper right corner of the AdWords homepage, or within the My Account tab, to view the AdWords interface in the language of your choice. At the end of the day, whether you want to sell your products to customers in Malaysia, show ads to French-speaking prospects in Quebec, or view your account reports in Swedish—AdWords can help you grow your business both here in the United States and nearly everywhere around the world.

Posted by Vivian, Inside Adwords crew

Color your ads beautiful

Your AdSense ad units should complement your overall site design, not detract from the user experience. Ad units that mirror the look and feel of your site can surprisingly increase the effectiveness of your ads. Blending ad colors into the background of your site can soften ad appearance and combat ad blindness, while the 'Ads by Goooooogle' branding distinguishes AdSense ad units from your site content.

Simply matching the background color to the area of site implementation can help increase click-through rate. We recommend creating a custom color palette theme on your site to accentuate title, information text, and URL color. For example, say your site has a white background, black borders and grey text. When generating your ad code on the 'Ad Layout' page of your account, you might customize your color palette to use white borders, a white background, black headings and grey text when generating your ad code.



UPDATED for accuracy.

Posted by Carolyn - AdSense Publisher Support

Sometimes, it's best just to ask...

There's just something about a new year that calls for some serious reflection on the past, followed by a spot of excited and hopeful planning for the future.

In this spirit, the Inside AdWords crew sat down together recently to brainstorm ideas for the future of this blog. One of the first (and best) ideas was to ask you, our readers, what would be most useful or valuable to you during the coming year.

Of course we'll continue to highlight new features of the AdWords program, tell you about tools and techniques that you may not have heard of, answer your questions, and point you towards resources that may help you become an even more successful advertiser.

Still, beyond what we're already doing, what else would you like to see on this blog? We invite you to let us know, and we'll see if we can make it happen. And while you're at it, feel free to weigh-in on the value of our current posts as well.

Thanks in advance!

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Let your ads be seen

As anyone who's ever had stage fright knows, there are times it would be great to be invisible. But while people sometimes feel bashful in the public eye, Google ads tend to perform best when they're easily seen. Increasing ad unit presence on your site and placing ads 'above the fold' (i.e., the area visible on a page without scrolling down) can enhance the likelihood that people will see and respond to your ads.

As a general rule of thumb, ideal ad placement lies in a region balancing the left to right (emphasis towards the left), and top to bottom (emphasis towards the top) portion of a page. Article based pages are an exception, as placing ads directly below an article can lead to a greater number of readers clicking through.

The number of ad units you choose to display can also affect ad performance. While some sites perform well using the maximum 3 ad units per page, it's important to maintain a balance between content and ad display -- the optimal number of ad units per page varies for different sites.

Lastly, remember that custom channels are helpful in the testing process to track ad unit performance. By using channels, you can collect 'before' and 'after' data to help you measure the effects of different ad placements.

Posted by Carolyn - AdSense Publisher Support

Nine for newbies

Your AdSense application has just been approved, and you've got a world of new information to absorb. We've highlighted some key resources to answer all the questions you have about AdSense (but were afraid to ask).

1. First, you can see our handy Quick Start guide to learn how to access your AdSense account and customize your ad code before pasting it into your site. For a more detailed walkthrough, see the Help with Ad Code demo.

2. Once you've added the code to one website, you may want to add it to more of your sites or pages -- the ad code will work for any page or site.

3. Once your ads are up and running, it's time to think about getting paid. The Payment Guide provides a broad overview of AdSense payments, or you can find more in-depth information by watching the Payment demo.

4. If you start to see ads that you'd prefer not to display on your site, don't worry. You can prevent these ads from appearing on your site by using your Competitive Ad Filter list to block them.

5. Are you having trouble with the ads on your site? You can use one of our troubleshooting wizards to sort out the issue, or browse our Help entry on Public Service Ads (PSA's).

6. Familiarize yourself with other AdSense features and products to monetize your site even further: AdSense for search, referrals, and Onsite Advertiser Sign-up that can help you earn more revenue from your site.

7. Concerned about keeping your account in good standing? You can review the program policies for a comprehensive list of do's and dont's or our ten suggestions to help ensure your account won't be disabled.

8. Optimize! Our Optimization Tips will help you earn more and get the most revenue from your AdSense account.

9. Acquaint yourself with the AdSense Help Center. It's the quickest way to get the answers you need at any time.

Now you can get on the road to becoming a successful AdSense publisher...and start driving!

Posted by Julie - AdSense Publisher Support

Give your account a workout

As the season of pumpkin pie and egg nog comes to a close, many of us find ourselves running out to purchase that new gym membership to get back in shape. Here at AdWords, this serves as a friendly reminder that your AdWords account could also use a bit of a workout -- you can slim down your keyword list to get rid of poor performers and then add strong variations for a little extra muscle.

Where should you start? Based on the metrics that are important to your business, use our Find and Edit Keywords tool to cut out keywords that aren't working for you. Simply select keywords based on their performance history (such as clickthrough rate) or by match type and status (such as inactive for search) and then select 'Delete these keywords.' We won't delete your keywords immediately, instead, you'll be taken to a page where you can review the list of keywords that you've specified and then choose which ones you'd like to delete. For example, you may want to get rid of all keywords that have a CTR below 0.5%.

Once your campaigns are feeling lighter, strengthen your keyword list by adding variations of high performing keywords to your account. Simply enter these keywords into the Keyword Tool and add relevant results with one click of your mouse.

So, take a minute to sit down, stretch and ensure that your account gets the workout that it deserves.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

From the mail bag

Malcolm asks: I have noticed that the number of ads displayed in my large rectangle ads has dropped form 4 to 2 ads. Do you know why this is?

We say: It sounds like you're seeing expanded text ads appearing on your site. Our technology optimizes the number of ads per ad unit to ensure your site's revenue potential is maximized. When AdSense determines that fewer ads will perform better in a particular ad unit, the lower paying ads are automatically dropped.



Carmen asks: My webhost is not compatible with JavaScript. Is there still a way I can participate in AdSense?

We say: Of course! You can place the AdSense ad code and search code on any page on any site that complies with our program policies. However, if you don't have a website, or your site isn't compatible with Javascript, you can create a new site using Google's weblog service, Blogger. Signing up for a Blogger account is fast, easy and free.

Once you've created your site, you can begin displaying Google ads in minutes by following the step-by-step instructions listed on the Blogger help pages.



David asks: My application to AdSense was initially disapproved due to an error in my contact information. I have since fixed this error, resubmitted my application, and was approved today. However, I am seeing a 'you are not authorized to view this web page' error message in my ad units and search results page.

We say: Don't worry -- since your application was previously disapproved, the servers may not have caught up with your more recent information, which is why you are seeing the error message. While our servers are being informed of the change to your account status, there may be a delay before Google ads and AdSense for search results start to appear. Ads usually start to appear within 48 hours.



Alastair asks: How much time does it take for my reports to update?

We say: AdSense reports are usually updated every 15-30 minutes, but sometimes there can be a longer delay before your reports are fully updated. Even if you notice a delay in your account reporting, fear not -- your stats are still being tracked and you'll be paid for all valid clicks and impressions.

Posted by Kristin - AdSense Publisher Support

User-to-user support: worth a closer look

Although the Inside AdWords crew has a lot of fun with this blog, we do have a more serious intent as well -- which is to keep our advertisers informed about the AdWords product and aware of resources that will help them to become even more successful.

Along those lines, today we'd like to point you to a collection of AdWords related resources that have two things in common:

1) They're valuable sources of advice and information, 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
2) Chances are you may not know they exist, unless you've thoroughly explored Google Groups.

So we hope you'll take a few minutes to follow the links below and discover some of our valuable user-to-user support communities.

We posted some time ago about the AdWords API, which lets advertisers interact directly with their AdWords account through applications they create. If you are an API user, or are considering becoming one, you will probably find the AdWords API Forum very valuable indeed. Similarly, if you are currently using Google Analytics, we think you'll find the Analytics Help group to be quite useful. To help advertisers maximize their site's exposure on the Internet, outside the realm of AdWords, we've recommended exploring Google Sitemaps. And if you've done this, you may also be interested in a group with the cleverly chosen name of google-sitemaps.

Lastly, no post on the subject of valuable resources would be complete without another nod to the AdWords Help group, which has become a vibrant community with more than 2100 members, helping each other every day.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Tracking those Benjamins

What's $100 good for these days? Well, you could buy a "pet love seat", for one thing. Even better, you could watch yourself earning that amount using the new 'since last payment' reporting option, which shows your accumulated stats and earnings since your last pay period.

On your Reports Overview page, click on the dropdown menu for reporting dates to see this option listed. If you haven't yet received your first payment, it appears in the dropdown menu as 'all time'. If you already have, it shows up as 'since last payment'. Now you can easily see how close you are to hitting the $100 mark!






















Posted by Shirin - AdSense Product Management

One on one with Ray

We recently had the pleasure to catch up with one of our long-time advertisers, Ray Allen, founder of American Meadows, who kindly agreed to be the subject of a customer story a couple of years ago.

Before the wildflower seed business, Ray worked in traditional advertising for quite some time. With his combination of copywriting skills and start-up know how, he has some pretty sage insight to share: “If you look at it from the small business point of view, there are three main benefits of keyword targeted advertising: (1) reach – I can find anyone and everyone searching for the product or service I offer, (2) pay as you go -- there’s no real commitment as with more traditional media, and 3) real time messaging. If I offer a free shipping week, I can dynamically change the messaging of my ads to reflect this.”

This past year, Ray really put his own advice to the test. After running a successful seed business for more than 20 years, he was ready to expand American Meadow’s product line to include flower bulbs. In the fall of 2004, Ray started carrying popular bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. When this initial test went well, Ray extended his company’s bulb selection and created a discount plan whereby customers could advance purchase fall bulbs to save 35% or even 50% depending on how early they placed their orders. He optimized his bulbs campaign and used his ad text to inform customers about his promotional rates.

As Ray explains, “we’re to the point where we planned a whole new launch of a new group of products based on what I can do with AdWords.” When his site offered bulbs at 50% off, his ad text did too. As fall approached and the discounts fell, Ray used the Find and Edit Ad Text tool to change the discount percentage promoted in all of his ads. While that first fall was deemed a success, an optimized AdWords campaign helped boost American Meadow’s bulb sales by 350% the following year. “The medium is so great for this stuff, and people tend to underestimate the importance of ad text,” Ray says. “2005 was a really good year for us, and AdWords was a major part of it!”



To hear more about Ray and how he’s used AdWords to grow his business, check out his newly updated success story here.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

An Analytics update

Back in November, Brett and Andrew from the Google Analytics team announced the exciting news that Analytics would be available right from within your AdWords account. However, due to the overwhelming response, we had to temporarily suspend new signups.

We've now started sending invitation codes to the first set of customers who submitted their email addresses for a Google Analytics account. If you receive an invitation code from us, you can sign up and begin tracking the performance of your websites and AdWords campaigns. The Google Analytics Help Center is a great place to start for any questions you have during the set-up process.

If you haven't yet received an invitation to sign up for Google Analytics, we hope that you'll continue to be patient. The Analytics team has been working long and hard to add server capacity so that we can continue adding new accounts, as well as make your experience using Google Analytics the best that it can be. This means fresher report data, the ability to add profiles to your account, and more. Check the posts on the Google Analytics site to keep up to date on our progress.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

A day in the life of Kim

My day begins at 6:00 AM, which is unusual for me. In every other job I've ever had, my day began by hitting the snooze button at least five times. But I am so excited to get to work and see what is happening with the AdSense network that I now get out of bed with no trouble at all.

That may sound like a bunch of you-know-what, so for proof I turned to one of our publishers for a sign of my genuine love for my job:


















I start my day with a run on the bay and a quick trip to the gym and showers at Google. I usually get into my cube around 8:00 AM, check for any big news, and if all is calm, I work on a novel I am writing for about an hour.

From 9:00 AM until 6:00 PM, my day is packed with meetings. I meet with the people who track our major email support issues. If there are things that need to get fixed, I escalate them to the product management team. I also meet with the managers on my team to track feedback and feature requests from publishers and make sure the most important ones get on the product roadmap, so be sure to keep sending us your feedback! I meet with the business analyst team to track key metrics and make sure that we are constantly monetizing better for you. I meet with visiting publishers to hear first-hand what their experience with the AdSense network is like. I also meet with advertisers who come to Google to hear about their impression of the AdSense network, and to figure out new ways of getting more advertisers to spend on the network.

We are growing fast, so I usually have at least a couple of interviews every day. I also have a meeting with everybody on the team regularly to hear their ideas for improving the program and to check in on general management questions. Most importantly, I approve some new applications and answer some emails from publishers every week.

After 6:00 PM I generally try to catch up on the 500 or so emails in my inbox in time to have dinner with friends in Palo Alto at 8:00. As I head to bed each night, I always look forward to what the next day will bring working on such an interesting and rewarding product.


























Posted by Kim Malone - AdSense Director of Online Sales & Operations

A referrals refresher

You asked: Do referrals generate AdSense for content page impressions?

Rob says: No. Referral clicks and page impressions are now counted separately from AdSense for content statistics. You can check your referral clicks and impressions by clicking on the 'Overview' tab in the 'Reports' section of your account.


You asked: Does using referrals affect smart pricing on my site?

Rob says: Referral clicks and impressions have no effect on smart pricing.


You asked: When will you offer more detailed reporting?

Rob says: We'll soon be making 'Advanced Reports' available for referrals. This will allow you to see referral stats over any specific time frame you desire.


You asked: When are you going to offer different creative sizes/colors and text links?

Rob says: We're always evaluating the feedback we receive, and are continually looking at new ways to make this program more valuable for publishers. We're working on adding more creative options based on current creative performance, on a language by language basis. We're also investigating text links based on your requests.

Posted by Rob Kniaz - AdSense Product Management

Stay on target

As you know, one of the ways Google AdSense ads are targeted is to the content of your web page. But sometimes you may want to emphasize or de-emphasize certain sections of your page -- for example, you may want to emphasize the first paragraph of your article or ignore your menu bar. With section targeting, you can help us determine what parts of your content are important so that your site can show more targeted ads.

If the following apply, section targeting might be a good fit for your site:

1. You're familiar with HTML and are comfortable adding HTML tags to your source code.
2. You want to help guide the crawlers to specific section(s) of your page.
3. The sections you want to target contain a significant amount of text (a large enough percentage of your overall content to help instruct our crawlers).
















Many publishers ask, "Once I've implemented the section targeting HTML code, how will I know if it's working?"

Please note that it may take up to 1-2 weeks before you start to see changes to your ad targeting. Also, we want to make sure your ads are as effective as possible,so our technology detects whether section targeting will improve your results and implements automatically only if you'll earn more revenue.

See our support entry for help getting started with section targeting.

Posted by Phoebe Ho - AdSense Publisher Support

Track search and content clicks separately

Do you use third party tracking software or have access to your weblogs? If so, you may have wondered if you can track your search and content clicks separately using Google AdWords. Well, we're happy to report that it's as easy as creating unique Destination URLs for your keywords or ad text using ValueTrack. This parameter allows you to distinguish the clicks that you receive from search and content sites in the Google Network for both your keyword-targeted and site-targeted campaigns.

To use this feature, you'll need to add the ValueTrack parameter to your URLs. For example, if your URL is www.yoursiteinfo.com, you can use the following parameter for your Destination URL: www.yoursiteinfo.com?type={ifsearch:GoogleAdWordsSearch}{ifcontent:GoogleAdWordsContent}. (Just a reminder: we'll review any change you make to your URLs -- so your ads will stop showing across the Google Network for a short period of time until they've been reviewed and approved.)

When using this code, your third party tracking will be able to identify how many of your visitors enter your site via your Google AdWords ad. More importantly, a click on your AdWords ad from Google or a search partner would appear in your weblogs as the following: www.yoursiteinfo.com?type=GoogleAdWordsSearch. A click from one of our content partners would appear as the following: www.yoursiteinfo.com?type=GoogleAdWordsContent.

Using this feature is a great way for you to better monitor your performance and ROI across the Google Network, and we hope you'll to give it a try.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

‘Dear Inside AdWords…’ - Questions from other folks

As you can imagine, we get a lot of questions daily from advertisers like you. While some of these questions are sent right into the Inside AdWords mailbox, the majority go to our AdWords Support Team. Since many of the questions may be relevant to all of you as well, I thought it’d be nice to share some of the common questions (and answers!) being sent to our other inboxes. (Note: names have been excluded since these advertisers did not send their questions directly to Inside AdWords.)

We’re closing out our books for 2005, and our accountant has asked us for invoices and receipts for our AdWords spending. How can I get them?

Receipts and invoices for your AdWords payments and charges are available for printing directly in your AdWords account. To print a receipt or invoice, simply login to your AdWords account and click the “My Account” tab to view your billing summary. (You can then choose to change the date ranges if you are looking for a specific time period such as January through December 2005.) For receipts, click the “Payment received” link for any given payment, and then click “Printable receipt” – your receipt will then pop up in a new window for you to print at your convenience. To print invoices for your records, just click on the invoice number for any line item.

Occasionally, I get emails from AdWords describing new product changes and policy updates but I always misplace them. Do you have an archive of these emails?

Other than account notification emails, we try to minimize the amount of additional email we send to our advertisers since we know your time is valuable. To this end, we usually send out product or policy updates via email only when they absolutely impact your account, or provide a significant benefit to you. These emails can be found in the Google AdWords News Archive located here. Bookmark this page and you’ll be sure to never misplace these updates. For more information about new product changes, you might want to consider bookmarking this blog or subscribing to receive posts by email as well.

I keep hearing about an AdWords Learning Center. What is it, and how can I use it to my advantage?

The AdWords Learning Center is an online resource that teaches you the in’s and out’s of AdWords. Available in both multimedia and text-only formats, the Learning Center contains individual modules covering everything from how to set up an account to optimization tips. As an advertiser, you can use the Learning Center to learn more about tools and features you may be less familiar with, or to brush up on specific AdWords concepts such as keyword matching options, or local targeting. If you’re feeling inspired, you can even take the mini quizzes at the end of each module to see just how much you’ve learned! By the way, you can always find a link to the Learning Center from the AdWords Help Center main page, in the "About AdWords" section at the top.

That’s all for now, folks. Keep sending your questions our way, and who knows—maybe you’ll see yours answered next time.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

AdSense fan mail 2

Mircea from Romania shared his story with us, and we'd like to share it with you.

What can I say about Google AdSense. They SAVED my BUSINESS. On the days when no one helped me, and no one wanted to advertise on my site, I introduced Google AdSense. When I thought I would never make any money with my site, AdSense saved me, and showed me the way. I am happy to be doing business with Google. From the first day I made revenue, I realised that this is the way to really boost my site's income, so I can give free quality content and free access to users. At this moment I am wearing a white "I love Google!" t-shirt. This is just one of many. I wear them anywhere and anytime I have an occasion. Google AdSense really saved my business. Thank you Google! Mircea Alexandru (Romania)

As we've mentioned before, we really appreciate hearing from you. Whether your story is positive or not, email us here to tell us about your AdSense experience.

Posted by Susan - AdSense Product Marketing

Let's start a resolution

The year may be new, but the resolutions aren't. Eat healthier, get organized, learn a new language -- haven't we heard these before? Instead of trying the same old resolutions, why not try one (or all) of the top ten AdSense resolutions we've suggested below?

1. No more clicking on my own Google ads (tempting though they may be!).

2. Subscribe to Inside AdSense to get updates and suggestions sent straight to me. (You can subscribe by entering your email in the text box to the right of this post.)

3. Broaden my vocabulary of AdSense terms and features: link units, referrals, Onsite Advertiser Sign-up, section targeting, AdSense for search, and more.

4. Use the features above to earn more.

5. Try something new -- like customizing my AdSense for search box using the new options.

6. Filter in moderation.

7. Channel my energy into creating channels for better tracking and testing.

8. Sign up for EFT payments to receive my AdSense earnings more quickly and securely.

9. Provide detailed descriptions of my problems in any emails I send to Google AdSense Support. Well, at least my technical problems.

10. Quadruple my revenue, retire at a young age, and buy an island in Tahiti.

What can we say? One of our resolutions this year is to think positively. :-)

Posted by The Google AdSense team

What do programmers really need to know?

(Cross posted at my java.net blog)

Joel on Software recently posted the following observation:

"...there's nothing hard enough about Java to really weed out the programmers without the part of the brain that does pointers or recursion..."

"But beyond the prima-facie importance of pointers and recursion, their real value is that building big systems requires the kind of mental flexibility you get from learning about them, and the mental aptitude you need to avoid being weeded out of the courses in which they are taught. Pointers and recursion require a certain ability to reason, to think in abstractions, and, most importantly, to view a problem at several levels of abstraction simultaneously. And thus, the ability to understand pointers and recursion is directly correlated with the ability to be a great programmer."

I respect and admire Joel, and he has been hiring programmers for years, so I don't doubt his asserted correlation between pointers, recursion and great programmers... But....

There's a lot of lousy software "out there".

That's not a fair or precise statement, so let me retract it and offer the following:

A lot of software "out there" is great, but it contains pervasive security flaws.
A lot of software "out there" is great, but it is way too expensive to maintain.

Here's some supporting evidence:

• Flaw in Microsoft's Windows Meta File Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution announced December 28th, 2005
  
• Microsoft Internet Explorer PNG Image Rendering Buffer Overflow Vulnerability released June 16, 2005.
  
• Firefox and Mozilla IDN buffer overflow security issue disclosed on September 8th, 2005.
  
• Annual software maintenance cost in USA has been estimated to be more than $70 billion.
  
• The Cyber Security Bulletin 2005 Summary lists 5,198 reported security vulnerabilities last year.
  

What's up with this? Most of this software is not written in Java, so presumeably the authors learned about pointers and recursion.

Maybe mastering a "hard" programming language isn't much of a factor after all.

What do programmers really need to know in order to produce exceptional software?

I agree with Joel that the abilility to "to view a problem at several levels of abstraction simultaneously" is very important... But...

I think that really exceptional programmers have the ability to focus on concrete requirements. Programs are written to solve concrete problems. Abstractions have a way of taking on a life of their own, and that can lead to software that is hard to maintain when a "concrete" requirement changes.

I'll admit that it is a stretch, but even "buffer overflow" problems can be characterized a symptom of misunderstanding a basic concrete requirement (the program should gracefully handle unexpected input).

In some instances, the overhead associated with bounds checking allocated memory is unacceptable, but it is hard to see how a browser would need performance optimized to such a level.

One way to keep focused on the concrete requirements is to test compliance with those requirements all throughout the development life cycle. If you start with a test plan, you'll focus on passing the test.

The great programmer may be the guy who is most adept at writing the "right" test plan (You don't want to waste time passing meaningless tests).

Maybe teaching Test Driven Development is as important as teaching pointers and recursion?

What do you think programmers need to know?

Our Top 10 of 2005

We've written our New Year's resolutions (hopefully I will bike 35 miles to work once a week), toasted with friends over glasses of champagne, and are ready to embrace 2006. Before moving full steam ahead though, we'd like to take one last look at all that happened with Inside AdWords in 2005.

So, to follow in the footsteps of David Letterman and the Google Zeitgeist, here's our very own Top 10 list. While our highlights don't include any references to Brad and Angelina, we do re-visit our favorite feature releases and top Inside AdWords moments-

10) New features are added to the Keyword Tool

9) The Report Center gets a face lift

8) An artist is born...and yes, she also writes for our blog

7) Site exclusion allows you to prevent your ads from showing on specific sites in our content network

6) Our friends over at AdSense notice that we started a pretty good thing

5) My Change History provides you with a record of your account changes

4) Sitemaps allow you to inform Google when you've made changes to your web pages or created new ones so that they'll be included in our index

3) Specify the websites where you want to advertise with site targeting (and learn about our vast array of niche sites)

2) Place separate bids for search and content within the same Ad Group

1) Jon, Vivian, Blake and Andrew hear this blogging thing is going to be huge...

With that, we'll close the door on 2005, and welcome you to a new year of AdWords tips and insights with the Inside AdWords crew.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Haven't linked up yet?

The New Year is a great time to try new things - such as link units. You may find that, pixel for pixel, link units provide the best return on your investment of all our ad formats.



Not convinced? Read how Tim Carter increased his revenue 18% simply by adding link units, or see our previous blog post here.

See our handy help center topics to learn more.

Posted by Dobromir - AdSense Publisher Support