Latest from Our Online Marketing Blog

Google Announces the new “Modified Broad Match” keyword match type

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 07/16/2010 in Industry News  

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Google has announced it's newest addition to the three existing keyword match types (exact, broad, and phrase).  This new match type, named modified broad match, is designed to give advertisers and businesses more controll over the queries their keywords are displayed for, while still giving Google some room to match their keywords with relevant variations.

Keyword Match Types: Explained

Keyword match types are considered one of the most important tools in limiting your Cost-per-click (CPC) while maximizing your Return-on-Investment (ROI).  However, match types also tend to be one of the most misunderstood topics in Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Management.  Match types are utilized to help Google determine what search queries should be matched with the keyword you are bidding on.  For example, if you are bidding on "shoes," Google might assume that you are interested in search queries such as "men's shoes," "children's shoes," and "women's shoes."  It is up to the advertiser to help Google direct the correct search queries to the correct keywords.

Before the addition of this new "modified broad match type," there were three distinct match types available, broad match, phrase match, and exact match.

Exact Match: These keywords act just as you would expect.  If you have a keyword utilizing exact match, only search queries that appear exactly like the keyword you are bidding will be shown.  Example: only search queries that are "shoes," with no words before or after it and with the exact same spelling will trigger the exact match keyword [shoes].  This will not trigger "men's shoes," or "where can I buy shoes?."

Phrase Match:  These keywords give the advertiser some controll over what search queries trigger a keyword.  If you have a keyword utilizing phrase match, search queries must contain the exact phrase that you are bidding on, but are allowed to have anything before and after that phrase.  Example: if you are bidding on the phrase match keyword "tennis shoes," it will be triggered for ANY search that contains the phrase "tennis shoes," in that order, somewhere in the search query.  The search query "best tennis shoes" or "womens tennis shoes in CA" will both trigger the phrase match keyword "tennis shoes."

Broad Match: For many, this match type is the most difficult to completely understand.  Here is Google's official description of the broad match type:

"With broad match, the Google AdWords system automatically runs your ads on relevant variations of your keywords, even if these terms aren't in your keyword lists. Keyword variations can include synonyms, singular/plural forms, relevant variants of your keywords, and phrases containing your keywords." 

For example, if you are bidding on the broad match keyword "tennis shoes," your keyword will be triggered for search queries such as "blue tennis shoes," "running shoes, and "tennis shoe photos."

Modified Broad: Broader than Phrase, Phrasier than Broad

The modified broad match type has been created to provide more reach than phrase match and more precision than broad match, a happy middle ground.  While broad match keywords allow google to replace your keywords with relevant search queries, modified broad match tells Google that certain words must be in the search query, but Google can replace them with "misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations and acronyms, and stemmings," but not synonyms.  This diagram by Google helps to vizualize this concept.

By utilizing modified broad match type keywords in conjunction with other match types, advertisers have yet another opportunity in Google AdWords to lower their CPC's while increasing their ROI.

Silverback Strategies Achieves Google AdWords Certified Partner Status

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 06/30/2010 in Silverback News  

Silverback Strategies, a premiere, full service Internet Marketing Firm, is proud to announce that it has been granted the status of Google AdWords Certified Partner by Google.

Although Silverback Strategies has been a Google AdWords Qualified Company for years, Google has recently revamped their certification program.  According to Google, the new certification program was developed to "offer better training and more rigorous certification in AdWords proficiency, and to lower costs for those who help advertisers and businesses get the most out of AdWords."  When Google announced this change, all previously qualified companies were required to re-qualify for this status.

The new Google AdWords Certified Partner Logo, presented only to the agencies that meet the new certification criteria.

As the Internet Marketing industry has grown and evolved over the past several years, Google has looked to give their advertisers the most up-to-date and relevant information to aid Advertisers and Marketers with their Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns.  A few of the benefits of this new certification include:

• Up-to-date, comprehensive, strategy-focused training and certification on the latest tools and best practices for managing AdWords accounts
• New training materials to help agencies better understand recent changes in search marketing and AdWords functionality, available via webinar series, learning center, or on-site training at Google
• More challenging certification exams to test practical application of knowledge and best practices (rather than simple recall of knowledge)

About Silverback Strategies

Silverback Strategies partners with businesses large and small to provide state-of-the-art web design, search engine marketing and pay-per-click campaign strategy, consulting and execution.

Silverback Strategies is made up of an obsessively focused team of online marketing strategists, SEO specialists and elite Web designers – all Google-certified and as experienced as they come. One thing they all have in common is a commitment to understanding our clients’ businesses inside and out. Some clients choose Silverback Strategies for turnkey SEM solutions. Some look to them for consulting to support their internal SEM efforts. But every client stays with Silverback Strategies because they deliver hard-data results.

 

Keep A Close Eye On Your Competition With The New “Analyze Competition Tool” From Google

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 06/24/2010 in Industry News  

Marketing 101 – Understand Your Competitive Landscape

It’s one of the first things taught in any intro marketing class; one of the most important aspects of your business is where you stand in relation to your competitors.  Who competes with you for your customers’ time and money?  How do you perform in comparison to them?  These questions are essential when preparing effective marketing strategies.

These questions and others like it are just as crucial for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketers as it is for traditional media marketers.  In the past, however, there have been very few tools to assist PPC marketers with their competitive analysis.  The most they could do was manually enter in the keywords they were bidding on to see their competitor’s ad copy, or use the Traffic Estimator tool to gauge potential traffic and Cost-Per-Clicks (CPC’s) of individual keywords.

To help fill this gap and assist AdWords advertisers and business owners in understanding their competition, Google has recently released the new Analyze Competition tool.

 

Analyze Competition – What It Does

Here is Google explaining the Analyze Competition tool in their own words:

There are three key benefits of the Analyze Competition tool:

1. Understand whether your performance is in the normal range for advertisers like you.
2. Identify areas of your performance that might be improved by optimization changes.
3. Explore new opportunities to grow your account and become more competitive in your market.

Essentially, by making this data readily available, this tool will allow advertisers and businesses alike to save weeks, months, and precious advertising dollars on costly market testing.

 

Analyze Competition – How It Works

The Analyze Competition tool takes all of the guesswork out of understanding your competition.  It's simple, graphical interface allows you to get the data you want in a form that will make sense.  There are three steps to using the Analyze Competition tool:

1. Choose A Metric:
   Currently, Google allows advertisers to compare four key campaign metrics with their competitors: impressions, clicks, clickthrough rate (CTR), and average position.


2. Review The Categories:
   By crawling your web pages and AdWords campaigns, Google determines which categories (50 top-level categories made up of 7000 total categories), or themed groups, that generally describe the subject of your advertising.  This allows you to compare your performance against that of other advertisers who advertise similar products or services.


3. Review the Data:
   Google provides two types of data.  The first is the “competitive range,” represented by the bar broken into five sections, of which you belong to one in each category.  This range places you into one “bracket” of advertisers, from lowest to highest.  The bar graph allows you to see how you compare with your competitors within your competitive range.

 

Conclusion – Get A Leg Up On Your Competition

Google has added yet another intuitive and informative tool which should be included in any PPC Marketing strategy.  In conjunction with the several other tools and reporting options Google has developed, the Analyze Competition tool allows advertisers to see information and data which would have normally taken much longer to attain.  The correct analysis of this data will no doubt create new and recently unseen opportunities for advertisers and businesses to refine and optimize their PPC campaigns.

 

 

Silverback Strategies Invited to 2010 Google Content Network Seminar

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 04/15/2010 in Industry News   Silverback News  

Last month Silverback Strategies was one of only 14 companies in the country to be invited to the 2010 Google Content Network Seminar at Google's NYC Office. The 2010 GCN seminar offered a full day of hands-on workshop sessions covering how the Google content network can be used to generate more traffic and more conversions for advertisers (as if the free lunch from the Google cafeteria wasn't enough). 

As the worlds largest advertising network, the Google content network not only offers a unique opportunity for boosting online exposure but also a 6% lower cost per acquisition than the search network. With a new Google study attributing 20% of the median advertiser conversions to the Content Network, it's looking as though Google's 3.1 billion dollar Double Click acquisition is starting to pay off.

Joe and Neil show off their Google passes

Silverback Strategies Guest Speaks at James Madison University

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 02/23/2010 in Silverback News  

SEO agency Silverback Strategies is becoming a popular guest speaker at universities and organizations interested in the latest trends in Internet marketing, the agency announced today. Case in point was their invitation to speak to some of the nation’s top Internet marketing students at James Madison University, who are currently preparing for the 2010 Google Online Marketing Challenge. Silverback vice president Joseph Erfe and CEO Neil Welsh spoke to this year’s competitors at the university on February 12, 2010.

Teams from JMU dominated the 2008 and 2009 Google competitions, which give university students a chance to test out their Google AdWords management strategies on a real business in a real online campaign.

JMU students Rachel Bruton, Meredith Rauh and Brandon Sockwell, working with local tour operator mobiletours.org, took first place in the Americas region in 2009. Two other JMU teams were ranked in the top 50 in the Americas region, and in 2008, JMU placed five teams in the top 10% globally. More than 2,000 student teams from 57 countries around the world took part in the 2009 challenge.

The JMU teams are students of marketing professor and renowned Internet communications expert Theresa Flaherty, who invited the Silverback experts to speak to her classes about their experiences with Google AdWords management, pay per click management and careers in Internet marketing. Erfe is a JMU alumnus and former student of Dr. Flaherty’s. He offered the students real-world examples of how AdWords campaigns are planned and executed based on the work Silverback does for its clients on a daily basis.

“This is my third year implementing the Challenge with JMU marketing students. It’s a very enriching and practical educational experience for students as they develop an understanding of online marketing strategies, Google tools, client relationships and marketing analytics,” said Dr. Flaherty.

In addition to teaching courses at JMU, Dr. Theresa Flaherty is co-editor of Advances in Electronic Marketing, and her research has appeared in a broad range of elite journals related to technology, marketing and the Internet. She currently serves on the Google Global Academic Panel and runs the Twitter account and Facebook Fan page for the Google Online Marketing Challenge.

The annual Google Challenge enables students around the world to gain practical online marketing experience. Student teams receive $200 of free online advertising with Google AdWords and then work with local businesses to devise effective online marketing campaigns. Teams outline a strategy, run a campaign, assess their results and provide the business with recommendations to further develop their online marketing. Teams submit their reports and are judged by a panel of independent academics from around the world.

"The Google Challenge is a great way for students to get practical experience managing an AdWords campaign – we love engaging with groups like this who will steer the future of online advertising,” said Erfe. “My own experience at JMU clearly influenced my career path, and thanks to Dr. Flaherty, the school is well ahead of the curve when it comes to education in online marketing – I know they’ll do well in the Google competition again this year.”

“With growing interest in pay per click management and Google AdWords campaign management in particular, we’re getting a lot more speaking opportunities like this one,” says Neil Welsh.“The skills these students are building in their coursework and through competitions like these are becoming more and more valuable – it’s phenomenal to see how astute these kids are about Internet marketing and where it’s headed.”

Click the links to read more about the Google Online Marketing Challenge and James Madison University's College of Business and Department of Marketing. 

ad:tech 2009 and Google Meeting

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 11/17/2009 in Silverback News  

Our Trek to NY: ad:tech 2009 and Google Meeting

Here’s the lowdown on our jam-packed trip to ad:tech NY this year: Google, Affiliate Marketing & Social Networking Trends, Facebook…and more Google. 

ad:tech is one of the top advertising and technology conferences, with worldwide shows and a mix of talented keynote speakers, informative panel discussions and workshops.

The ad:tech 2009 conference in New York had more than 250 exhibitors, 200 speakers and 60 panel discussions, each one loaded with information to help organizations to not only improve their marketing and advertising techniques but to also get the latest on up-and-coming products and services.

Sessions we loved

Two conference topics I was eager to learn more on were “Affiliate Marketing:  A better Alternative” and “Social Media Strategies:  How to Take Advantage of a Huge Opportunity.”  Here are some highlights from these phenomenal panel discussions.

The Affiliate Marketing panel discussed how billions of dollars are paid out to affiliates globally, yet there are still a lot of growth and opportunity for affiliate marketing whether you’re an advertiser or publisher.  With companies tightening budgets while individuals are spending more and more time online, it is important that both parties know the benefits of advertising or publishing on Affiliate Networks.  Quality control is set for the market when performance-based models are provided for both publishers and marketers (better ads get better payouts).  If you’re an Advertiser, make sure that you’re providing the right commission to your publisher.  When you are fair with your commissions, you can then leverage quality publishers to carry your ads. They’ll have better sites, more relevant content and can be trusted.  Advice for publishers: when you have relevant sites that don’t spam the system, you’re more likely to make more money and acquire better advertisers on your site.

To learn more about Affiliate Marketing:  Check out Shawn Collin’s “Affiliate (Tip)” at:  http://blog.affiliatetip.com/

The social media panel discussion was also very interesting.  There are billions of page views monthly for social networks, yet a lot of companies don’t advertise on them.  Here are some hot topics on whether Social Network Advertising is right for you:

First, let’s talk about volume and connections.  Social network usage continues to grow, and more and more pages are being viewed.  It’s all about the getting a slice of social network “Pie.” By connecting people online, service/product reviews, advice and information can now be dispersed instantly.  The beauty of instant connectivity is that consumers can network prior to making any decision to buy. Take a new video game, for example. One good mention on a well-connected user’s Facebook page can entice dozens of friends to purchase the game. 

Reggie Bradford, CEO of Vitrue and Rich, remarked that that before the internet, advertising was more promotional. Today it’s about creating a story and letting end users decide for themselves.

Face to Facebook

We spoke with the Facebook folks at ad:tech and will be following up with more discussions on how we can use Facebook to our clients’ advantage.  With Facebook advertising, we can create targeted ads to promote products, sites, events and more – tapping into the more than 300,000,000 active Facebook users. 

Dinner with Google

Before we left New York, we had one more stop, a dinner meeting with Meg and Joe from Google to discuss cool new features for our AdWords management at Silverback Strategies.

The Google team was kind enough to share some info about one of the latest services, “Google AdWords: Display”, a new image-based feature to drive visibility for your business using Flash, video and other rich media graphics. Call us, and we’ll tell you more.

This conference was a great place to learn new techniques and ideas from the best minds in the industry.  If you’re a business professional or even a student, definitely check out upcoming ad:tech conferences at www.ad-tech.com.

Re-designed Better Brain Center Site Launched

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 11/16/2009 in Silverback News  

Better Brain Center teams up with Silverback Strategies to launch the new Neurofeedbackconsult.com.

Better Brain Center provides the most comprehensive selection of neurotherapy and brain enhancement protocols for a more individualized treatment approach. They offer: full quantitative EEG maps, mini qEEG mapping, traditional neurofeedback utilizing both traditional and low frequency protocols, passive infrared hemoencephalography neurofeedback.

With the new site re-design, we have completely updated the look and feel of the brand; a new logo was created, while implementing the latest landing page design trends.  We also organized the navigation to make the overall site experience user friendly.  The Better Brain Center has been featured in several highly regarded publications, like Men’s Vogue, Alternative Medicine, Washingtonian, The Washington Post and more.  With the new design, we feel that image, experience and expertise of the Better Brain Center can now truly shine online as well. 

To learn more about Better Brain Center, visit them at http://www.Neurofeedbackconsult.com  

New FitOne Site Launched

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 11/10/2009 in Silverback News  

One of the DC Metro Area’s premier fitness training companies, FitOne Personal Training Studio partners up with Silverback Strategies to launch the new Fitonestudio.com.

FitOne offers unique personal training programs that provide the latest fitness techniques in a boutique fitness environment. Their clients can partake in a variety of training programs that include individual, buddy and small group training.  Clients can also participate in specialized programs like, nutrition education, pre- and post-pregnancy exercise, post-rehabilitation, bridal programs and much more.

With the new site, user navigation, brand awareness and search engine compatibility were taken into account.  Aside from having the FitOne brand be reflected throughout the overall page designs, we also made sure that the site was not only easy for site visitors to navigate through but also for search engine spiders.  We wanted to make sure the site looked great and that fitonestudio.com continued to rank for search terms like “Alexandria Personal Trainers, Alexandria Personal Training,” and more on major search engines.

To learn more about FitOne Studio, visit them at http://www.fitonestudio.com  

News Release Picked up by USAToday.com

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 10/07/2009 in Industry News  

Evolving Markets:  Businesses, Consumers, and Search Engines

Industry expert Silverback Strategies will be presenting an educational seminar for DC Area businesses on how the Internet has changed the way people shop and look for information.

Business owners understand that in order to grow their company, they need to target customers. However with more and more people going online to research and purchase goods or services, business owners must also understand the importance of web presence and leveraging Internet marketing, especially SEO Management and Pay Per Click Management.

Silverback Strategies, one of the leading U.S. online marketing firms will hold the “2009 Internet Marketing Seminar” for DC Area companies on October 8, 2009 in Alexandria, Virginia.  Silverback Strategies will be presenting important statistics and reporting from Google to help business owners and management gain a better understanding on how the market has evolved.  Companies that attend the engaging seminar will learn where consumers spend most of their time searching for products and services; they will also learn how online marketing can help grow their business.

“More and more people are looking online first whether it’s for information or to purchase products or services.  I think that the statistics and reports from Google will help the seminar attendees gain a better understanding to properly attract new customers or members,” said Kurt Lambert, Account Manager, Silverback Strategies.  “With the seminar, businesses will definitely learn how to save more on their marketing budget by cutting back on ineffective tactics that don’t provide strong return on investments.”

To register for this seminar, visit:  http://www.silverbackstrategies.com/seminar

About Silverback Strategies:

Based in Alexandria, Virginia, Silverback Strategies partners with businesses large and small to provide state-of-the-art web design, search engine marketing and pay per click campaign strategy, consulting and execution. The company is privately held.  For media inquiries, speaking engagement and interview requests or additional company information, please visit: http://www.silverbackstrategies.com/ or call (888) 434-7775.

USAToday.com even decided to pick up our news article.

Advertising Week DC session attended by Silverback

By: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted on 09/16/2009 in Industry News  

Here at Silverback Strategies, we recently took time out of our busy schedules to attend part of Advertising Week DC 2009. It is a good thing we attended, too, because the morning session we were present for was packed with very resourceful knowledge, tips, and experiences from some of the most respected names in the business.

The speakers of the morning session included Liz Dolan, the CMO for the Oprah Winfrey Network, Chris McGill, the founder and CEO of the social bookmarking giant Mixx, Claire Alexander, VP of Discovery Communications, and Col. Mike Jones, Commander in the Army National Guard. There was also a panel of mobile device experts sharing their insights on the future of smartphones and mobile communications as well.

Our experience from Advertising Week DC 2009 was definitely beneficial and we will be sure to register for any events they schedule in the future.

A shot of the panel of experts during DC Advertising Week 2009

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