NebuAd - New Twist on Behavioral Targeting for Online Ads
News stories this week highlighted Silicon Valley startup NebuAd, which recently unveiled their behavioral targeting network at ad:tech.
Behavioral ad targeting is nothing new on the internet, and I easily recall it being offered in one form or another as far back as about 1999. In fact, 24/7 Real Media currently offers behavioral targeting through their ad network as just one case in point. So what’s new with this incarnation is the way in which NebuAd collects data to base the targeting upon. NebuAd’s innovative twist on behavior targeting is based upon monitoring individuals’ internet browsing habits through their ISP, essentially seeing all the sites and pages that a user visits. (more…)
Popularity: 11% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 12/11/2007 | Permalink | 
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Filed under: Advertising, Paid Search, Research and Development, Security, technologybehavioral targeting, internet ads, internet advertising, Nebu Ad, NebuAd, online ads, online-advertising
Voice Search the Next Big Thing in Mobile
Gregg Stewart has a great article today at Search Engine Watch on how Voice Search may be the “next big thing” that’s actually already arrived to large degree.
He posts an interesting graph from the Kelsey Group that estimates some fantastic growth figures for ad-sponsored directory assistance usage over the next few years.
Although I don’t really question any of the points Gregg made (more…)
Popularity: 3% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 10/12/2007 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Local Search, Mobile Search, Paid Search411, directory-assistance, voice-search
Should you buy search ads for your brand keywords?
I confess, as a search engine optimizer, I used to think that buying ads for one’s own brand name was a complete waste of money. After all, all companies should rank in top slots for their own brand name(s), if they’re doing their SEO right, and if you’re ranking tops then people will be able to find you if they’re looking for you. As such, I thought that buying ads for your own name was just paying for clicks that should rightly come to you anyway.
But over time, I’ve heard other experts stating that their research shows that having ad presence for brands along with natural search ranking appears to enhance overall click through rates in a synergistic manner. And, with greater experience, I’ve seen a number of cases when companies really should be buying their own brand name keywords for ads!
I see that George Michie over at the Rimm-Kaufman Group criticized a recent Microsoft study claiming that some advertisers are wasting money by buying their own brands in paid search ads — and I think George was right to criticize this. Read on and I’ll elaborate…
Popularity: 13% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 08/24/2007 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Advertising, Monetization of Search, Paid Search, brand namesAtlas-Study, brand names, brand-ppc, brand-search, Microsoft-Ads, Paid Search, paid-vs-natural, Pay-Per-Click, ppc
Pay-Per-Action Ads may open up Google to being a victim of fraud
I was just reading Barry Schwartz’s report that Google is opting-in some AdSense publishers into Pay Per Action (CPA) ads. He poses the question of why would Google push these ads on the publishers who haven’t asked for it? The immediate answer I come up with is that this could actually be a test to try to detect fraud, since CPA is thought to be less prone to exploit. After all, the publisher would only get paid for these ads if someone buys - not just clicks on the ads on their sites. Perhaps the publishers that are getting opted-in are ones for which Google has had some question about the quality of click-through in their regular PPC ads.
I’ve been thinking that an unpublished problem with Google’s pay-per-action product is that Google itself is likely to become more a victim of fraud with these types of ads. Read on and I’ll describe…
Popularity: 7% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 07/26/2007 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Advertising, Google, Paid Search, Tricks, Worst Practicesclick-fraud, Cost-Per-Action, CPA, Google-AdSense, Pay-Per-Action
7 Habits of Highly Effective PPC Advertisers
I just saw this great article on “Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertisers” by John Ellis, who does search marketing for Gaylord Entertainment, and I thought it was worth highlighting.
Some of the tips include:
- Â Control spending by adjusting bid amounts, not daily spend budget
- Â Conversion matters, not click-through rate (CTR)
- Â Avoid bidding up for top position
…and more. I think there’s some great stuff here - both for paid search newbies as well as veterans.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 05/31/2007 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Monetization of Search, Paid SearchPaid Search, Pay-Per-Click, ppc, PPC-Tips, Search-Engine-Marketing
Superpages to Factor CTR into Ad Rankings
I noticed that Greg Sterling just reported over at Search Engine Land that Idearc Media’s Superpages is going to begin factoring in ad click-through-rates into the measures used for ranking ads on the vast networks of sites where Superpages content appears. I was aware of this plan prior to my departure from Superpages, and I think it’s one of the cooler things my old teammates are developing.
Naturally, this follows other major ad networks who do similar things. Google, for instance, has begun using quality scores to decide ad rankings and the pricing of the ads.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 04/26/2007 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Advertising, Paid Search, Yellow PagesAd-Rankings, Advertising, CTR, idearc, Idearc-Media, Pay-Per-Click, ppc, superpages, Superpages.com
Get some free clicks
Not playing in PPC yet? Then here is some free cash (well, credits) to get you started…
- $200 credit at Live Search (MSN). Code is DM-2-1106
- $75 credit at Yahoo. Code is US1522
- $50 credit at Ask.com. Code is SESCHI06
- $300 credit at LookSmart. Code is SESCHQ4
Now go forth and craft some great search ads!
Popularity: 6% [?]
Posted by Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts on 12/23/2006 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Paid Searchppc
“Search Master” teaches SEO101 but needs SEM101 himself
Was surfing an SEO blog and this Google ad caught my eye:
I’m pretty up to speed with the SEO experts in New Zealand, being based here and all, and I hadn’t heard of any SEO training being given by any master optimizer in Auckland. I was intrigued to learn more about this self-proclaimed “Search Master”. So I clicked. Guess what I got! Yep, a nasty error instead of a landing page!
Methinks this “Search Master” with his SEO101 and SEO201 courses needs to go back to school himself for SEM101. 
Lesson #1 in SEM101: If you’re going to pay for clicks, make sure your landing page works!
We all make mistakes, but this seminar is in 3 days and you’d think he’d be watching the online registrations pretty closely right about now…
Popularity: 5% [?]
Posted by Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts on 11/11/2006 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Paid Search, Worst Practicessearch-marketing-worst-practices, SEM-mistakes
Click Fraud Costs Estimated at over $800M
In Report: Advertisers Cut Spending, Blame Google and Yahoo for Click Fraud, a new report states that advertisers wasted over $800 million last year on phony clicks.
Some points of interest:
- “The Internet advertising market is expected to be worth about $15.6 billion in 2006, up from about $10 billion in 2005.”
- “Google is expected to capture about 25% of that market, compared to Yahoo’s expected 20%, according to research firm eMarketer.”
- PPC therefore is valued at around $7-8 billion this year.
- “15% is estimated as fraudulent”
- “37% of advertisers are reducing their PPC activity”
I predict that this fraud perception will fuel advertisers increasing reliance on natural search, where click fraud is not incentivized.
Will click fraud be the catalyst that finally causes retailers to more equally allocate their spending between PPC (pay per click) and NSO (natural search optimization)? So, for example, shift from $1MM/yr PPC and $150k on NSO, to more like $1MM/yr PPC and $1MM/yr NSO?
As PPC gets more expensive, the act of click fraud gets more costly, and that bad apple must begin to spoil the bucket at some point - not completely I’m sure, but probably enough to cause advertisers to rethink allocation and importance of NSO.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Posted by Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts on 07/10/2006 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Paid Searchclick-fraud, Paid Search, ppc
The Keyword Index Is Out: $1.39, On Avg.
Interestinghttp://battellemedia.com/archives/002496.phpFathom’s quarterly index is out, and prices “eased� a bit (3%). Average keyword price is $1.39. From the release:
Popularity: 5% [?]
Posted by Brian Klais of Netconcepts on 04/21/2006 | Permalink | Email
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Filed under: Keyword Research, Paid Searchaverage-bid-amounts, Keyword Research, Keyword-Index, ppc
