The Google pay-per-click (PPC) advertising model as we know it is changing. Google has started working on a number of new ad models that are designed to offer inventive ways for advertisers to connect with Google users. The three new ad models aim to make it easier and more effective for businesses to communicate with potential customers.  All three models are currently in a limited release stage, but will debut for a wider audience soon. Watch more about the ads here and read on for a brief overview of the new models.

Comparison Ad
The AdWords Comparison Ads model lets users easily compare multiple relevant offers at once.  For businesses, it provides a new, sophisticated cost-per-lead format that is designed to deliver higher quality leads by allowing users to sort and compare a variety of offers. Mortgage loan and credit card industries in certain countries are the only sectors currently involved, but more viewers and advertisers will gain access as the program is developed.

Product Listing Ad
The new Product Listing Ads are search ads that include product and merchant information without needing extra keywords or ad text, allowing businesses to easily promote their entire product line.  Items relevant to the user’s search will be shown along with price, image and name, all pulled from the associated Google Merchant Center account. The fee will be on a cost-per-action (CPA) basis, which requires payment only when a user clicks on an ad and completes a purchase and involves a much lower risk than PPC payment options. Watch more here.

Media Ad
Finally, Media Ads are a truly unique way for a business to target and pay for video ads on Google. Targeting is entirely automated, eliminating the need to select keywords. Google’s algorithms determine when to display the ad when someone starts a search, at which point they will automatically display the most relevant Media Ad at the top of the page. When clicked on, the ad will expand and the rest of the screen will dim, ensuring the user’s full attention is on the video. Bidding is not required as payment is based on a flat rate, simplifying the budgeting process for businesses.

90octane Account Supervisor Shannon Anderson will share her paid search knowledge as part of an advanced, black-diamond session at SMX East, held September 13-15 in New York City.

On Wednesday,  September 14th, Anderson joins fellow SMX East panelists Siddharth Shah, PhD, Director of Business Analytics at Efficient Frontier, and Chris Goward, Co-Founder & CEO of WiderFunnel, in a discussion around the process of designing, implementing and measuring the results of paid search tests. The panel will be moderated by Matt Van Wagner, President of Find Me Faster.

Key topics will include what can and cannot be tested, how to design robust tests and identifying all the biases and underlying problems of testing PPC campaigns. Panelists will talk about process; they’ll also illustrate with case studies how to design a test for most effective bid levels, messaging, landing pages and other higher-level business questions that must be addressed to successfully implement paid search.

Check out the full SMX East agenda.

By Elyse Jarvis, Account Coordinator

As users become more aware of the nature of the “search,” it is important for marketing and advertising programs to implement strategy accordingly.

As marketers, we distinctly understand the benefits of SEO practices, but, as a U.S. survey by Performics concluded, user search behavior and awareness of search tactics are changing.

According to the survey:

More than 75 percent of respondents use search to further research a product or service after seeing an ad. And, contrary to common understanding of search users as only willing to delve so far to find information they are looking for, Performics found:

•    If a searcher doesn’t find what he or she is looking for on the first try, he/she will try, try again.
- 89 percent will modify their search query and try again.
- 89 percent will visit a different search engine.
- 79 percent will sift through multiple results pages to find the inf

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.

Atlas Copco Construction Mining Technique USA was looking for a new channel to sell pre-owned water well drill rigs. They turned to us, 90octane, a Denver-based, conversion-driven marketing agency, for help.

90octane built a custom lead generation microsite to showcase the rigs, which typically carry six-figure price tags, and crafted an associated paid search marketing campaign to drive visitors to the site.

Joanna Canton, Atlas Copco marketing communications director, is pleased with the hundreds of highly qualified leads generated. For the paid search program, “The average cost-per-lead is $28, compared with hundreds of dollars apiece for leads from trade shows and print ads,” she noted.

Because the program has resulted in high-dollar sales, Atlas Copco CMT USA already has plans to expand it.

Read the full Atlas Copco paid search story from a February issue of BtoB Magazine.