A new intenational trade democracy? Perhaps not at this
moment in time, but signs of change are here.
A short time ago, people saw international trade policy as a
matter for business economists outlining global trade
scenarios, government officials negotiating behind closed
doors or international business lobbies in
Brussels, Geneva, Washington and other cities.
No longer. Seattle’s international trade meeting changed
this stereotype, as thousands of anti-globalization
protesters marched outside the meetings. Doha’s response
was a declaration to make international trade work for all.
Cancún, in backlash, registered the disappointment of
developing countries; but for the first time, because of the
promise of Doha, those voices took center stage. Hong Kong
kept the doors open to discussion. However the voices
in the discussion have changed.
For the rest of the story, visit:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/1005/
Friday, July 7, 2006
Thursday, July 6, 2006
AAA monopoly tactics working
AAA Tourism pressure is working as Quickbeds have announced through Travelweekly not only the removal of the self ratings of hotels but dropping them to the bottom of the sort order. I think this is a step to far. While AAA has the legal right to force the removal of the stars from hotel they cannot compel a site to take away another rating system. Quickbeds (and others) should have more strength and faith in their product people and support accommodation of good quality. AAA should rely more on this brand and standing and less on its monopoly legal rights.
Expedia continues holiday push in UK
New site launch for Expedia UK with different look and feel to the US and other sites. This and other functionality changes such as split payment is continued evidence of their attack on the tour operator market.
Why not in the free search results?
Having spent countless hours working with the AdWords program and our advertisers, the Inside AdWords crew is pretty familiar with the questions that come up again and again. And we've found it both fun and instructive to answer a few of the more popular ones here in the blog.
One question that's often on advertisers' must-ask list is why their site does not begin to appear in Google's free search results once they have started advertising with AdWords. By way of illustration, here's a recent question (slightly edited, and excerpted from a longer post) from the AdWords Help group:
It's important to know that Google's advertising programs are entirely independent of the unpaid search results. So being an AdWords advertiser (or AdSense publisher) doesn't affect the inclusion or ranking of your site in the Google search index. Put another way, being an advertiser will neither help nor harm one's inclusion or ranking.
That said, an excellent place to get answers to your search-related questions is the Webmaster Help Center -- where you'll find links to lots of information on topics such as webmaster guidelines and your site in the Google index.
Also, don't forget to take another look at recent Inside AdWords posts regarding Google Sitemaps, another useful tool that may assist you in getting your site listed.
Update: changed Help Center links
Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew
One question that's often on advertisers' must-ask list is why their site does not begin to appear in Google's free search results once they have started advertising with AdWords. By way of illustration, here's a recent question (slightly edited, and excerpted from a longer post) from the AdWords Help group:
We are the only "widget" company in Santa Barbara County. When someone does a search using for example "widgets Santa Barbara" our sponsored link shows up at the top of the list. This is how it should be and it means that AdWords is working properly. However, why is it that our site does not show up in the free results?
It's important to know that Google's advertising programs are entirely independent of the unpaid search results. So being an AdWords advertiser (or AdSense publisher) doesn't affect the inclusion or ranking of your site in the Google search index. Put another way, being an advertiser will neither help nor harm one's inclusion or ranking.
That said, an excellent place to get answers to your search-related questions is the Webmaster Help Center -- where you'll find links to lots of information on topics such as webmaster guidelines and your site in the Google index.
Also, don't forget to take another look at recent Inside AdWords posts regarding Google Sitemaps, another useful tool that may assist you in getting your site listed.
Update: changed Help Center links
Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Your ad targeting questions answered
Andre asks: We are an online travel agency and recently put some Google ads on our site. Is there a way to make our ads more targeted to topics such as airlines, hotels, and etc.?
We say: Andre, this is a good question. As you may know, AdSense technology automatically determines which ads to display on your pages based on the overall content of that page; we can't manually target ads to specific keywords or categories. However, if you'd like to display ads related to topics like airlines or hotels, you can add more text-based content about these topics to your site. Make sure to include complete sentences and paragraphs to help our crawlers gather information about your pages and determine relevant ads to display. Also, if you do make changes to your site, keep in mind that can take a week or two before those changes are reflected by your ad targeting.
Mike asks: I have a blog with posts on different topics. How do I ensure that my ads are always targeted to the most recent post?
We say: Mike, have you tried section targeting? Section targeting allows you to suggest sections of your text and HTML content that you'd like us to emphasize or downplay when matching ads to your site's content. We want to make sure you're always receiving your maximum revenue potential, so our technology automatically detects whether your targeting suggestions will improve your revenue and adjusts accordingly.
Jessica asks: I’ve noticed some dating ads recently, which are not really appropriate for our site. How do I filter all the ads that contain word ‘dating’?
We say: Jessica, we don't currently offer the option to filter ads by keywords or topics. However, you can prevent unwanted ads from showing on your site by using the Competitive Ad Filter in your account. You can filter ads from up to 200 URLs from advertising on your site.
Jonathan asks: We have a commerce site that sells kitchen appliances. As soon as we implemented AdSense, ads from our direct competitors began to appear. We're using the Competitive Ad Filter list, but do you have any other tips that might benefit a site like ours?
We say: Jonathan, first, we recommend testing AdSense on a few pages to see how it performs. Some commerce publishers find that AdSense complements their sites by adding an additional revenue source without affecting their bread and butter businesses.
If you find that's not the case for you, there are still ways you can use AdSense strategically. For example, you might want to place Google ads on checkout pages or sales confirmation pages to provide your customers another action to take when they've completed shopping. If you're an AdWords advertiser, you can place ads on the pages where you normally place your conversion tracking code. However, if you use this placement, please make sure you're in compliance with our program policies regarding non-content pages. You should only place the AdSense code on checkout or sales confirmation pages if they contain signficant text-based content, which ensures that we're able to serve relevant ads.
You can also use a web analytics tool to figure out from which pages your visitors exit your site. If you're losing traffic without sales on a few specific pages where your users aren't finding what they're looking for, AdSense might provide a good 'next step' to help you monetize this traffic without compromising your business objectives.
Posted by Cathleen Jia - AdSense Publisher Support
We say: Andre, this is a good question. As you may know, AdSense technology automatically determines which ads to display on your pages based on the overall content of that page; we can't manually target ads to specific keywords or categories. However, if you'd like to display ads related to topics like airlines or hotels, you can add more text-based content about these topics to your site. Make sure to include complete sentences and paragraphs to help our crawlers gather information about your pages and determine relevant ads to display. Also, if you do make changes to your site, keep in mind that can take a week or two before those changes are reflected by your ad targeting.
Mike asks: I have a blog with posts on different topics. How do I ensure that my ads are always targeted to the most recent post?
We say: Mike, have you tried section targeting? Section targeting allows you to suggest sections of your text and HTML content that you'd like us to emphasize or downplay when matching ads to your site's content. We want to make sure you're always receiving your maximum revenue potential, so our technology automatically detects whether your targeting suggestions will improve your revenue and adjusts accordingly.
Jessica asks: I’ve noticed some dating ads recently, which are not really appropriate for our site. How do I filter all the ads that contain word ‘dating’?
We say: Jessica, we don't currently offer the option to filter ads by keywords or topics. However, you can prevent unwanted ads from showing on your site by using the Competitive Ad Filter in your account. You can filter ads from up to 200 URLs from advertising on your site.
Jonathan asks: We have a commerce site that sells kitchen appliances. As soon as we implemented AdSense, ads from our direct competitors began to appear. We're using the Competitive Ad Filter list, but do you have any other tips that might benefit a site like ours?
We say: Jonathan, first, we recommend testing AdSense on a few pages to see how it performs. Some commerce publishers find that AdSense complements their sites by adding an additional revenue source without affecting their bread and butter businesses.
If you find that's not the case for you, there are still ways you can use AdSense strategically. For example, you might want to place Google ads on checkout pages or sales confirmation pages to provide your customers another action to take when they've completed shopping. If you're an AdWords advertiser, you can place ads on the pages where you normally place your conversion tracking code. However, if you use this placement, please make sure you're in compliance with our program policies regarding non-content pages. You should only place the AdSense code on checkout or sales confirmation pages if they contain signficant text-based content, which ensures that we're able to serve relevant ads.
You can also use a web analytics tool to figure out from which pages your visitors exit your site. If you're losing traffic without sales on a few specific pages where your users aren't finding what they're looking for, AdSense might provide a good 'next step' to help you monetize this traffic without compromising your business objectives.
Posted by Cathleen Jia - AdSense Publisher Support
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