The Week in Review

How to Slim Down Your CPCs With 3 Compound Metrics

A points system help many people lose weight. Why not apply this principle to paid search? "Paid search is a lot like nutrition: there’s an excess of data, but a big shortage in optimization. And like dieting, the complexity of the data leads to slow or, worse, inaccurate decisions." Profit per impression, weight query relevance and impression share opportunity are three compound metrics to help you lose some of that excess CPC. (Search Engine Watch)

AdGenesis: Match.com for Video Advertising

With brands looking to get more bang for their online video advertising buck, and with viewers expecting more relevant video advertising, AdGenesis hopes to help bridge the gap. The New York-based startup wants to use "the dating, or match-making game, to make the serving of video advertising a more intelligent arrangement. It hopes that its service will bring consumers and brands together for a rewarding, lifetime relationship of loyalty and happiness — not just in a marriage of convenience. In other words, the startup is a white label video advertising platform that partners with publishers to match branded content to a large network of eager, opt-in customers." (TechCrunch)

Google’s Organic CTR

According to data collected by Optify, a marketing software vendor, the average CTR for the top three positions on the first page of search results are 36.4 percent, 12.5 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively. "All told, being above the fold on page one produces an average CTR of 19.5% and being on page one produces an average of 8.9%. The second page has value, but far less (a 1.5% CTR), although it is worth noting that the first position on page two produces a slightly higher click through rate than the last position on page one." (Econsultancy)

Profit per Impression

Ad split-testing is a core principle of PPC, but every impression shown on a poorly performing ad is losing the e-commerce client money. Educating clients on sample size and giving them updates might not be the right approach. This is where profit per impression (PPI) might come in handy. PPI = (Revenue-Cost)/Impressions*1,000. "Instead of relying on purely CTR, CR, or even Revenue alone to make ad decisions, PPI leverages the only constant in your basic ad split-test – equal impression amounts – and it factors in what your client cares about most: ROI." (PPC Hero)

Why Did Microsoft Buy Skype?

Microsoft made (and caused) some noise by acquiring Skype for $8.5 billion in an all-cash deal yesterday. While many people seemed to dislike the deal, there are a handful of reasons Microsoft probably saw — one of them related to advertising. (Reuters, GigaOM, ZDNet)

The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Marketing

This might be the only guide to Twitter marketing you’ll ever need. Here’s a huge roundup of links to posts like “Twitter in Plain English,” “Why You Need a Kick Ass Twitter Background,” “7 Tips for New Twitter Users,” “25 Social Media Buzzwords…Explained,” “How to Get More Retweet Action on Twitter” and “8 Reasons for Brand Failure on Social Media (Twitter).” Dive in and dive deep. (Copyblogger)

3 Signs That Your PPC Campaigns Need Spring Cleaning

It’s springtime, so here’s how you can tell if your PPC campaigns need a spring cleaning. The three signs are: 1) campaign and ad-group clutter, 2) keywords gathering dust and 3) ads that have passed their “freshness” date. (Search Engine Land)

The Impact of Display on Search

The strength of search marketing shouldn’t mean writing off other channels. “When marketing dollars are scrutinized, display advertising is one of those tactics that often gets the boot based on poor conversion rates and high cost-per-acquisition. But eliminating display advertising based on direct conversions alone may be shortsighted.” When taking into account view-through conversions, latent conversions and “search lift,” you can see the value of display advertising. (ClickZ)

An Analysis at Facebook Paying Users for Ad Views

Rewarding behavior that would otherwise be done for free can backfire – just ask professional athletes, who sometimes fall into nefarious activities such as cheating. So with Facebook set to pay users to watch online video ads, it’s worth wondering what’s at stake here. One potential dire consequence for Facebook would be drawing its users into a habitual dread of “the number of times they have to log in and watch ads to buy that new-fangled virtual product they’ve been eyeing.” On the other hand, this “reestablishes the quid pro quo relationship of free content.” No one has found the end-all, be-all solution to “the online advertising Rubik’s Cube,” but gripping users’ attention for cheap views is a dangerous way to go. (Fast Company)

Why Your Facebook Ads Should Send People Off-Platform

When a user clicks one of your ads, they’re basically saying, “I’ll go wherever you send me.” This means you need to craft your ad to benefit your company as much as possible, and this probably means sending them off-platform. (SocialTimes.com)

Why Half of All SEO/PPC Engagements Fail

Fifty percent of major B2B engagements fail to produce a positive ROI for four reasons: 1) the service offered wasn’t capable of producing value; 2) the client/customer/receiver of the service was unprepared or unable to implement; 3) the value the service provided was measured against an impossible standard set in the sales process; and 4) the value wasn’t measurable or easy to communicate. This applies to PPC and SEO engagements, too. “The biggest barrier to your success will be inaction. Focus your efforts on that to ensure you have something to measure and talk about in the first place.” (Search Engine Land)

Search: Bing, RIM, Google News Personalization and Osama bin Laden

This was an interesting week for the world of search. Bing partnered with RIM helps its distribution, which is key to its mobile search market share. However, it might not make much business sense. Google News is attempting to incorporate more personalization, which may lead to filter bubbles. Also, Osama bin Laden-related searches surged, obviously. The event also showed how much has changed since 9/11. (O’Reilly Radar)

Facebook Offers Credits for Watching Branded Videos

Facebook is expanding its partnership with TrialPlay and its DealSpot product that gives users Facebook Credits in exchange for watching branded videos. Now “Facebook will be presenting the option to earn Credits for video views around the site in its sidebar modules.” The social networking site says the aim is to help game developers monetize more of their users by educating them on how to earn and spend Credits, and getting them to carry a balance of the virtual currency. (Inside Facebook)

The Dangers of Online Advertising’s ‘Math State’: What About the Message?

No one in online advertising talks about the message anymore. “It’s all about the mechanics, how an ad is bought, served, delivered because that’s where the cool money is. Even though the supporting technology and platforms have never been more abundant, capable, efficient and smart, we remain a math state, which ultimately will backfire and dumb down the agency ranks.” The increasing prevalence of actuaries and other “smarty-pants” search-marketing pros has sapped much of the intellectual stimulation, imagination and visibility one used to experience when doing this work. (AdAge.com)

Mobile Advertising Heats up

Though mobile advertising is still a relatively insignificant piece of the online-advertising pie, it’s growing rapidly and is set to surge in the next few years. This is spurring lots of funding and deals in the arena. JiWire, Jumptap, Millennial Media, WHERE, ValueClick and Greystripe are some of the companies that have seen some action lately. This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. (GigaOM)

Email Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Here’s an interesting look at email – past, present and future – in infographic form. According to a survey commissioned by Microsoft, “a whopping 96% of respondents said their email load either increased (45%) or stayed the same (51%) over the last year. Ninety percent said that social media communication has increased (28%) or stayed the same (65%). The same is true for text messaging: 28% said texting has increased for them in the past year, while 65% said they have been texting at the same level over the past year.” (Mashable)

Delicious: The Next Discovery Engine?

On the heels of the purchase of Delicious by YouTube’s co-founders, it’s fitting to assess what Delicious can be. Socializing user behavior in search engines has proven a difficult nut to crack. “This is where Hurley and Chen, now at the helm of AVOS, might be onto something. In the company’s press release announcing the Delicious acquisition, they cite the scourge of information overload on the web as a driving force in the future development of Delicious.” (Search Engine Watch)

Search Retargeting: Where Search and Media Meet

“Search retargeting is about increasing the relevancy and, therefore, the performance of banner ads served to searchers.” Among the 10 ways to think of search retargeting in the context of your overall plan are that it allows you to target competitor terms/brands without bidding up click costs or starting a range war, it gives you the potential to optimize overall marketing spend by reducing and shifting marketing dollars from SEM or expensive keywords, and it leverages the notion of behavioral targeting by utilizing search intent as the actual qualifier. (ClickZ)

Fat Pandas, Thin Content

Many have spent so much time trying to get our content to be thin, and now Google is punishing you for it. “It’s confusing and it’s frustrating, especially if you have real money on the line. It doesn’t help that “thin” content has come to mean a lot of things, and not every definition has the same solution.” Here are seven definitions of “thin” content and solutions for each. These include true duplicates (internal and cross-site), low unique ratio and search within search. (SEOmoz)

Microsoft Using User Feedback to Assess Quality Search Results?

Microsoft received a patent this week for “Automated satisfaction measurement for web search.” It “describes how the quality of search results might be judged, and those results possibility changed, based upon user feedback.” Implicit and explicit feedback are involved. (SEO by the Sea)

Reasons Why You Don’t Need a Social Media Strategy

With great opportunities come great risks. Yeah, it’s not as catchy as Uncle Ben’s words of wisdom to Peter Parker, but it’s still true. “This post reviews four good reasons why you should pause for thought as you embark on your own social strategy.” The reasons are: ROI is difficult to quantify, the lack of control over where your brand is displayed, the handing over of customer data and relationships, and the inability to protect users’ privacy. (Econsultancy)

3 Approaches to Retargeting

“Retargeting allows marketers to follow up with consumers who have visited the marketer’s site or seen a marketer’s advertising, and to remind them of offers and opportunities.” What separates retargeting from gross ratings points is that retargeting doesn’t deliver the same follow-up message to everyone – it “can provide customized offers to consumers who have already shown intention or interest in the brand or message.” The three distinct areas of retargeting are: site retargeting, creative retargeting and search retargeting. It’s worth noting that Google AdWords remarketing has been getting some heat from users. (ClickZ, State of Search)

Facebook: Nearly a Third of All Online Display Ads in Q1 2011

According to the latest numbers from comScore, more than 1.1 trillion display ads were delivered to U.S. Internet users in the first quarter of 2011. Facebook accounted for 31.2 percent of these impressions. AOL, which ranked fourth with 3 percent of impressions, reports that its Project Devil display ads are performing better on “every single benchmark.” (comScore, TechCrunch)

Facebook: One Login to Rule Them All?

Facebook’s Send button helps Facebook take yet another step to winning the battle to be “the one true login.” This lengthy post is filled with graphs and dives deep into this topic. “I do wonder if we’re hitting a tipping point in the short term. In the long term, things always change.” (Search Engine Land)

12 Keyword Organization Tips and Tools

Among the dozen tips and tools to help you organize your keywords are RKG Duck, SpyFu Keyword Groupie, Rank Checker and Microsoft adCenter Plug-in for Excel. (SEO Book.com)