By Rosemary Dempsey, Senior Storyteller

Plan to target tablet users better than ever with your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns.

Tablet targeting is now available to all Google AdWords advertisers. So, now you can better control how you reach the growing number of tablet users. (165 million tablets are expected to ship over the next two years!)

In your AdWords account, find the “Tablets with full browsers” option under the “Networks and devices” section of the Settings tab. In the past, advertisers found the Apple iPad option under “Mobile devices,” but now tablets have their own category with additional options. For example, to reach iPad users, you’d choose “Tablets with full browsers” and then select “iOS.” Other OS options include Android and webOS.

Be aware that with the launch, your ads will automatically start running on tablets. If you don’t want your ads to appear on tablets, you must change your settings.

Insider tip: our Google rep has recommended replicating campaigns to target tablets and manage budgets separately. We can expect to see higher click-through rates (CTRs) and generally lower cost-per-clicks (CPCs) from implementing this type of campaign.

We’ll be watching analytics accounts to note any rises in traffic percentages from tablet users!

Learn more from this Google blog.

By Rosemary Dempsey, Senior Storyteller

ICANN approves a historic change to the Internet Domain Name System.

ICANN (or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has approved a plan to make a major change to the Internet’s Domain Name System. Its Board of Directors is raising the number of Internet domain name endings, also called generic top-level domains (gTLDs) from 22 to a virtually limitless number. (You’re probably most familiar with ones like .com, .org, .net, .edu and .gov.)

New gTLDs will change the way people find information online, as Internet address names will now be able to end with almost any word in any language. The presents a great opportunity for brands to increase control over their online presence and send visitors directly to specific areas of their sites.

Applications for new gTLDs will be accepted from January 12-April 12, 2012. The application cost? $185,000.

We’ve been keeping an eye on this change. Check out a 90news story, called “gTLDs: Why We’re Taking Notice,” from our archives to learn more.

Posted by: Rosemary Dempsey, Senior Storyteller

As of November 24^th, admins of Facebook Pages for smaller businesses are able to view new Insights analytics data for content items added after June 25, 2010. Previously, only brands with more than 10,000 “likes” had that privilege. So, this is good news for companies like 90octane who have a slightly smaller, though no less loyal, following on the social site.

Newly available data includes the number of impressions a post generates and a percentage related to Feedback – or the number of fans that either “liked” or responded to a post. All unique users that see a brand’s posts will be counted among a Page’s monthly Active Users, whereas before users had to “like” the brand or comment on its wall to be included. As a result, we expect to see an increase in our Active User count. That’s always nice to see!

This new analytics information will help online marketers decipher what type of content their audiences are most interested in and help direct their ongoing Page updates.

Learn more on the Facebook blog.

Posted by: Rosemary Dempsey, Senior Storyteller

Having a hard time keeping up with Google’s changes to its search results pages? That’s why we’re here.

The latest innovation, called Google Instant Previews, unveiled just this week gives users a sneak peek of web pages before they click through. (To try it out, click the magnifying glass next to page titles within search results when Instant is activated.)

From the user’s perspective, that’s a handy feature. One can decide to take a pass on sites before actually visiting. It also allows users to quickly compare their options. From the marketer’s perspective, we’re keeping an eye on what this means for paid search ads. The instant previews cover up the sponsored results on the right-hand side of the page, which could impact click-through. These previews also place more importance on website design. First impressions can make or break whether a user decides to click.

Google is still refining this new feature, but our best guess is that it’s here to stay. Learn more from The Official Google Blog.

Posted by: Rosemary Dempsey, Senior Storyteller

Quality Score. Everybody knows it’s an important part of paid search programs run through Google AdWords and the content network. But how does Google calculate these scores, and why are they so important to our pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns?

According to Google, “A Quality Score is calculated every time your keyword matches a search query – that is, every time your keyword has the potential to trigger an ad.” It’s important because it influences your keywords’ actual cost-per-clicks, determines if your keyword is a potential result for a user’s search query and even affects how high your ad ranks.

What’s the best way to improve your quality scores? Optimize your account! As Google recommends, your ad groups should have descriptive ad text relevant to each keyword in the group.

Visit Google’s AdWords Help section for more information about quality score and tips for optimizing your paid search programs.