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Archive for the ‘Web/Tech’ Category
3 Microsoft AdCenter Tips to Manage Your PPC Campaigns
Guest Blogger: Laura Rodnitzky is the Director of Production for PPC Associates, a search engine marketing agency with offices in San Mateo and Chicago.
Last month I wrote about a few ways to use Google’s AdWords Desktop Editor to more efficiently manage campaigns in Google AdWords. This month I’ll share some of my favorite tricks in the Microsoft adCenter Desktop Editor program, starting with two of the same things I highlighted in Google AdWords Editor: advanced bid changes and copying campaign settings. Just like Google’s AdWords Editor, the Microsoft adCenter Desktop Editor lets you make changes to your adCenter PPC campaigns offline and post those changes live after you’ve had a chance to Q/A your work. The Microsoft Desktop Editor also allows you to do some bulk changes that cannot be done in the adCenter UI, so it’s a great time-saver. While adCenter Desktop program doesn’t have all of the functionality of Google’s AdWords Desktop Editor, it’s come a long way in the last several months. I’m excited to see what additional features they’ll roll out in 2012.
Here are three of my favorite tools in Microsoft’s adCenter Desktop editor:
1. Advanced Bid Changes
If you find yourself wanting to increase or decrease bids on multiple keywords in one fell swoop, look for the “Change bids” button at the bottom of the adCenter Desktop tool. Note that you can only find this option in the Keywords tab for adCenter, unlike the “Advanced bid changes” option found in multiple tabs of AdWords Editor. (Fingers crossed, the “Change bids” button will soon show up on adCenter’s Ad Groups tab as well!)
To change bids, simply select the keywords that need adjusted bids, and then click on “Change bids”
As in AdWords Editor, the pop-up box lets you choose to increase or decrease bids by a certain percentage amount or dollar amount. You can also choose to “Set bid no higher than” or “Set bid no lower than” a certain amount.
2. Copying Campaign Settings
There’s now an easy way to copy campaign targeting settings from an existing campaign and paste them into one or more additional campaigns in adCenter. The following campaign settings can be copied: Locations, Day of Week, Time of Day, Demographics, and Devices.
To do this, simply right-click on the campaign whose settings you need to copy and then select “Copy” from the menu. Right-click on one or more campaigns into which you want to copy the settings. Select “Paste special” from the menu. A pop-up box will then give you the option to “Paste settings only,” and any available settings will appear on the right-hand side. Select the settings you want to paste (in this case, “Targeting”).
Double-check the campaign settings in one of your edited campaigns, and they should match the settings you copied over – much easier than going in and adjusting each of those settings manually!
3. Change Target Settings (Multiple Campaigns)
The trick above is great if you have a campaign that already contains the settings you want to add to other campaigns. But if you need to apply the same brand-new settings to multiple campaigns, here’s what you can do.
Start by selecting all of the campaigns you want to apply the settings to, and then click on the “Targeting” button at the bottom of the “Campaigns” tab. A pop-up box will appear that gives the option of modifying: Exclusions (websites and keywords), Locations, Day of Week, Time of Day, Demographics, and Device.
You can modify any or all of these settings, and they will be applied to all selected campaigns. This is great when you’re launching or modifying several campaigns at once.
The adCenter Desktop Editor is still somewhat behind AdWords Editor in terms of functionality, but if you’re spending any amount of time in adCenter, knowing the efficiency-based features is vital. If you have suggestions for features you’d like to see added in the Desktop Editor, leave a comment!
Meet the Stars of Search Marketing
SEO.com recently came out with a stellar infographic featuring the Stars of Search Marketing. You may or may not yet be familiar with these names but in the world of Search Engine Optimization, you should definitely know their work. This fun infographic also showcases the future of search according to these SEO experts.
For more information about these Search Stars visit their websites:
- Bruce Clay – BruceClay.com
- Matt Cutts – MattCutts.com/blog
- Danny Sullivan – SearchEngineLand.com
- Rand Fishkin – SEOmoz.org
Top 10 Tweets from SMX 2011
Below are a few of the several Tweets I saved over the course of SMX 2011. These are my top 10 favorite Tweets from SMX West 2011. Any we left out? Leave links in the comments below!
#10 – SMX Twitter Announcement by Matt Cutts
“Today we’re adding the ability to block sites directly to Google’s search results: http://goo.gl/bLPOq Yay! #SMX“
#9 – On Site Speed Affecting SEO
“Keep your site load speed to under 4 seconds for a great competitive advantage #smx“
#8 – On Mobile Search
“GOOG sez 29% of Restaurant searches are mobile; 15% of Finance searches & 17% of Auto related searches #SMX“
#7 – On Mobile Usage
“Performics: 6 to 9pm is prime time for mobile search volumes #SMX #1d3“
#6 – On Search Queries
“Microsoft: 37% of people who see ads in newspapers, outdoor ads and on radio will search for more information on mobile #SMX #1d3“
#5 – On Search Query Length
“Query length: 1 word – 23%. 2 words – 24%. 3 – 20%. 4 – 13%. Has been growing longer every year. More sophisticated users. #smx #1a1“
#4 – On SEO and Social Media
“Twitter is a new form of link building. Now your tweets spills over into Google and Bing.” ~ @dannysullivan #smx
#3 – Short Guide to SEO – “Be Awesome”
“Short guide to SEO – make something so awesome people will want to link to it. Repeat. #smx @mattcutts“
#2 – On Mobile Usage, Part 2
“55% of mobile searches take place when users are at home, not on the go. #smx“
#1 – A Little PPC Trivia
“Very first Google AdWords ad? Mail Order Lobster. #smx #1a3“
Any great tweets we left out? Let us know!
(Shameless Plug): Want more SEO and PPC Tweets? Follow the Schipul SEM team @SemBlog
HOWTO: Optimize Your Drupal Website for Search Engines (Video)
The good folks at Lullabot have provided a great set of videos that explain how to configure your Drupal website for maxium Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
If you are new to SEO, these videos are a great introduction to the essential Drupal modules that will enhance your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaign. You will learn the basics of analytic metrics and webmaster tools in order to conduct effective keyword research for the best keywords for your SEO campaign.
Watch and learn how to optimize your title tags, meta tags, sitemaps and more using various Drupal modules. Also, according to the course description, you will learn how to “configure built-in Drupal settings to properly set up your header tags, content silos, menu system, robots.txt and Apache rewrite rules. You’ll learn to measure your site’s compliance and performance before laying out the next steps for your SEO campaign to maximize your site’s conversion rates.”
For more information about these Drupal SEO videos, check out the introductory video below.
1.) Introduction
2.) SEO Checklist Module
3.) Setting up Google Analytics
4.) Using Google Webmaster tools
5.) Researching keywords
6.) On-page optimization
7.) Customizing page titles
8.) Customizing menu paths
9.) Redirecting menu paths
10.) Implementing relevant meta tags
11.) Optimizing for local businesses
12.) HTML header tags
13.) Creating content silos
14.) Leveraging the menu system
15.) Creating & submitting sitemaps
16.) Controlling access with robots.txt
17.) Setting up .htaccess rewrite rules
18.) Testing standards compliance
19.) Importance of site performance
20.) Testing with SEO graders
21.) Conversion rate optimization
22.) Next steps for an SEO campaign
23.) Conclusion
Download the Drupal SEO videos here.
Let us know how you are using Drupal or if you need help optimizing your website for search engines.
Contact the Schipul SEM Team in Houston for more information.













