AdWords account management :
All AdWords ads are eligible to be
shown on www.google.com.
Advertisers also have the option of enabling their ads to show on Google's
partner networks. The "search network" includes AOL
search,Ask.com, and Netscape. Like www.google.com,
these search engines show AdWords ads in response to user searches, but do not
affect quality score.
The "Google Display Network"
(formerly referred to as the "content network") shows AdWords ads on
sites that are not search engines. These content network sites are those that
use AdSense and DoubleClick, the other side of the Google
advertising model. AdSense is used by website owners who wish to make money by
displaying ads on their websites. Click through rates on the display network
are typically much lower than those on the search network and are therefore
ignored when calculating an advertiser's quality score.
Google automatically determines the
subject of pages and displays relevant ads based on the advertisers' keyword
lists. AdSense publishers may select channels to help direct Google's ad
placements on their pages, to increase performance of their ad units. There are
many different types of ads that can run across Google's network, including
text ads, image ads (banner ads), mobile text ads, and in-page video ads.
Google AdWords' main competitors are Yahoo! Search
Marketing and Microsoft adCenter.
In 2010, Yahoo formed a partnership
with Microsoft, giving Microsoft the control over powering the Yahoo search
marketing ads. Both accounts are now run through Microsoft AdCenter. When ads
are displayed on Yahoo now, it is powered by Microsoft AdCenter and is run
through the Microsoft software interface.
To help clients with the complexity of
building and managing AdWords accounts search engine
marketing agencies and consultants offer account management as
a business service. This has allowed organizations without advertising
expertise to reach a global, online audience. Google has started the Google Advertising
Professionals program to certify agencies and consultants who
have met specific qualifications and passed an exam. Google
also provides account management software, called AdWords
Editor.
Correct choice of keywords is very
important because the targeting of ads by Google is totally dependent upon the
keyword selection. Keyword choice is also a very large factor in determining
the level of exposure the Google ad receives, and to a large extent, who sees
the ad.
Another useful feature is the My Client
Center available to Google Professionals (even if not yet passed the exam or
budget parameters) whereby a Google professional has access and a dashboard
summary of several accounts and can move between those accounts without logging
in to each account.
The Google Adwords Keyword Tool
provides a list of related keywords for a specific website or keyword.
Google has also come under fire for allowing AdWords advertisers
to bid on trademarked keywords. In 2004, Google started allowing
advertisers to bid on a wide variety of search terms in the US and Canada,
including the trademarks of their competitors and in May 2008 expanded this policy
to the UK and Ireland. Advertisers are restricted from using other companies'
trademarks in their advertisement text if the trademark has been registered
with Advertising Legal Support team. Google does, however, require certification
to run regulated keywords, such as those related to pharmaceuticals keywords,
and some keywords, such as those related to hacking,
are not allowed at all. These restrictions may vary by location. From
June 2007, Google banned AdWords adverts for student essay writing services, a
move which was welcomed by universities.
Google has other
restrictions, for example the advertising of a book related to Facebook was restricted from advertising on
AdWords because it contained the word "Facebook" in its title —
the rationale being that it was prohibited from advertising a book which used a
trademarked name in its title.
