Google advertisers are not happy. Right on the heels of the latest Panda update + the Penguin update, Google announced on Monday that there are big changes coming to ad rotation options.

 

Here it is straight from Google: “In a few weeks, the ‘Rotate’ option of the ‘Ad rotation’ setting will change to rotate ads evenly for 30 days after an ad is enabled or edited, and then optimize for clicks.” You can see details of how the new rotation will work here.

 

Search Engine Watch has some entertaining commentary on this new development: “A collective slapping sound could be heard all across the PPC industry yesterday. You might have heard it.. It was quite loud. It was the sound of thousands of AdWords account managers doing a massive *facepalm*….” The main reason advertisers are unhappy with this change is that it makes it harder to test ads 1:1. Search Engine Watch gives some good tips about how to maintain ad rotations using AdWords Campaign Experiments at the link above.

 

Improve CTR by appealing to users

 

Driving conversions is our shared raison d’etre, so here’ s an interesting concept. Incorporating user behavior/reviews into web copy is a proven way to increase online conversions, but have you ever thought about using it in your PPC ad copy? An article over at Search Engine Land this week, PPC Ads: Testing User Reviews to Increase CTR, shows that swapping out ad copy to include user-centric words boosts CTR significantly.

 

The author suggests using terms like “Highest reviewed,” “5-Star Reviewed,” “Customer favorites,” and more to test this tactic on your own ads. Her own experiment yielded a 202% increase in CTR! Try this in some of your own ads and share any of your own results in our comments section.

 

Nurturing b2b relationships through LinkedIn ads

 

Search Engine Land also gives us 6 Targeting Methods To Reach Your Business Audience Via LinkedIn this week. Our own experience shows that LinkedIn ads are a great way for b2b marketers to reach target audiences. This article lays out the steps you need to take to set up and optimize a LinkedIn ad campaign, including creating your ad, determine audience targeting, and optional retargeting.

 

The author gives a great rundown of the various ways you can target campaigns: geo-targeting, industry targeting, company targeting, role/title targeting, group targeting, and demographic targeting. The level of depth you can get with LinkedIn ads is pretty amazing. She also makes a good point in that people aren’t really on LinkedIn to purchase; they are there to learn and make connections. This is why it’s a good idea to have an “offer” behind your ad like a whitepaper, a conference or webinar alert, a consult, etc.

 

Some more great links:

 

Every ecomm site has product pages, right? Here’s a great post from SEOMoz to make sure you’ve got your bases covered.

 

Design to Convert over at Search Engine Journal discusses the intersection of SEO and CRO from a leading designer’s point of view.

 

Search Engine Land’s DataPop CEO: Mobile Paid Search Traffic Is 50 Percent Or More In Some Categories says “Between 15 percent and 25 percent of paid search traffic is now coming from mobile devices” and “In local-heavy categories, such as dining, auto services and entertainment this number jumps to 50 percent or more.”

 

The author of How Device Specific SEM Can Lead To More Valuable Traffic - also at SEL – says that “the traffic from iPads is more valuable than traffic from desktops for many in the eCommerce sector.”  Have you seen this in your own traffic?

 

Finally, check out Matt Cutts’ recent video on the human touch involved in Google’s algorithm here. It’s pretty cool!

 

Have a great weekend, everyone!