In an effort to improve relevance on the web, Google is utilizing searcher’s relationships. A new button in search results enables signed-in searchers to get recommendations on search results pages and websites from the people they are connected to through their Google profiles. Google is saying it won’t affect how quality score is calculated. But, it does affect quality score because if the recommendations improve CTR, then your quality score improves.
+1 and Tracking Parameters
Apparently, every distinct URL gets its own +1 score, so if your ad destination URLs include tracking parameters, you probably won’t get much benefit from Google +1 because each visit to a single landing page will have a different URL and therefore a different score. This makes it impossible for a landing page to build a +1 score. If you use AdWords auto-tagging on the other hand, then you are not affected by this. But, there are a couple of ways around this…
Google AdWords Call Metrics Charging For Calls
If you display your phone number within your search ads, you will now be charged $1 for every call (reportedly as of mid-May). On mobile devices, the click-to-call will still only count as a click. This isn’t a bad thing. Phone numbers in ads has been shown to increase CTR and phone calls are factored into your ad rank. These two combined can lower your cost per click while increasing your ad’s positioning.
Smartphone User Study Shows Mobile Movement Under Way
Are you advertising on mobile yet? People would give up “high heels, cable TV, and even chocolate!” for a smartphone and they are becoming really important to an increasing number of people’s shopping habits. You would be surprised at just how integral they are to purchasing decisions.
New Contextual Targeting Option on the Google Display Network
To date, you’ve been able to specify keywords that work to show your ads on relevant webpages. Now, you can choose from over 1,750 topics and sub-topics to do the same thing. The AdWords system determines the topic of a page instead of looking for particular keywords. This targeting option fits well with reaching a large audience quickly and easily and can allow you more flexibility with matching specific ads with specific types of sites.