Digital Marketing Blog

How will PPC Marketers Use Google Modified Broad Match?

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Google recently developed a new AdWords keyword match type called Modified Broad Match. It's triggered by using a "+" sign immediately next to a term: +marketing. Affectionately becoming known as BMM, or Broad Match Modifier, this new match type is being positioned "between" standard broad match and phrase match in terms of volume and performance. Search engine PPC marketers will need to quickly understand the ramifications and practical applications for this new match type. Here are some of our thoughts following Google's Webinar on this topic.

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What do you think? Please comment below. We'd love to read your opinions and especially hear about any real-world results you may have seen with BMM.

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Visualizing Modified Broad Match Type Volume

We always ask: Why? (Sure, it drove our parents and teachers crazy raising us but also serves us well as professionals.) So why did Google implement this new match type?

In looking at the surface area of this image from Google, you can see the answer. Modified Broad match greatly enhances the footprint volume of phrase match. This alternative helps bridge the two match types.

Why use Broad Match Modifier?

Google has noted three primary reasons for using this new modified broad match type:

1. If you want more volume from your phrase match terms
2. If you turned off poor performance broad match terms in the past and want to re-try those terms; this may be the push they need to gain positive ROI
3. If you turned off or never used certain broad match terms due to difficult negative match type management

We agree with those reasons for why you should try modified broad match. To us, #1 is probably the most important and the first area we'd attack. All of our PPC campaigns are hyper-targeted to meet strict performance metrics so we're always looking for ways to increase volume while maintaining those target cost per returns.

But perhaps the biggest reason we see for using BMM: The + modifier eliminates synonyms that are part of the standard broad match type. So if you sell only cowboy and work boots, under the standard broad match type boots would have triggered shoes, sandals, sneakers, and more. Under the new Modified Broad Match +boots will only trigger stemmed variations and mispellings, thus dramatically eliminating the -negative match guessing game you would have to play with Google under standard broad match.

What BMM Can't Do

While you can "combo" other keyword match types within Google AdWords, from what we saw in the webinar we attened modified broad match can't be mixed and matched with others. We could be wrong on this, so please share if you know otherwise. We captured some chat and moderator Q&A that seems to say combo match examples won't work with BMM:

• Incorrect BMM Use Example: +women's "formal shoes"
• Acceptable BMM Use Example: +women's +formal shoes

Final Thoughts on Modifed Broad Match Type

If the chasm between standard broad and phrase match is simply too large, it hurts the effectiveness of both match types. So to that extent modified broad match may help. It's PPC's answer to the gap wedge; for you golfers out there that get our primitive analogy. We can't wait to see more real-world numbers and we certainly welcome more options (more the merrier), so thanks Google! But at the end of the day the skeptic in us says: This is a way for Google to generate more CPC volume, or revenue, and its impact for PPC marketers is yet to be determined.

Read More: If you haven't already, we recommended checking out Google's blog post on Modified Broad Match Type; and sharing your commments below.

American Idol Finale: Can We Predict the Winner Once Again?

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On last night’s episode Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze competed for the final time for the coveted title of American Idol.  Each performed 3 songs, the first was their favorite song of the season, the second was chosen by executive producer Simon Fuller and the third is the first single they will release if they win tonight.

 
For his favorite song Lee chose “The Boxer.”  The judges were pleased, for the most part, with his performance.  Simon Fuller chose “Everybody Hurts” for his second song.  The judges again gave Lee some positive feedback but Ellen said she wished he would have let go a bit more and Simon said he seemed nervous.  For his final song, and possible single, Lee sang “Beautiful Day.” The judges were pleased with his final performance to which Simon said that the competition was designed for someone like him.

For her first song Crystal chose “Me and Bobby McGee” for which all of the judges gave Crystal positive feeback.  The song Fuller chose for Crystal was “Black Velvet,” the judges were again impressed. And finally she sang “Up To The Mountain” for her last song, and potential single.  The judges also praised her for this performance.  In fact Simon said “I thought that was by far the performance and the song of the night. And since this is going to be the final critique I’m ever going to give, that was outstanding.”

In order to determine who is most likely to be named the Season 9 American Idol; we looked at social media and search data. Who do you think will win tonight?

If you have been keeping up with Season 9 please share your thoughts by commenting below. But before you do, check out the facts from search and social media data that we have gathered below.
 

Chatter about Lee DeWyze is much stronger on Twitter and Google than it is for Crystal.  Tough Crystal has  stronger showing on Digg and YouTube.

Google Insights:
 

Google Insight data shows an overwhelming growth in popularity of searches for “American Idol Lee,” “Lee DeWyze” and “American Idol Hallelujah,” which is a song Lee performed on the show. 

Will Lee's sudden surge in online searches and social media mentions translate into more votes?  Tell us what you think.  And don’t forget to tune into tonight to find out who wins Season 9 of American Idol!

 **If you are a new reader to ymarketing's American Idol Prediction Project, check out our past blogs to understand how our Idol Prediction Project works, and how it led to the correct upset prediction of Kris Allen over Adam Lambert in 2009.

Moving at the Speed of Social Media...

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The folks at Socialnomics have outdone themselves again. Their popular video Social Media Revolution has recorded nearly 2 millon views since it was in July of 2009. They just released an update (view video below) packed with new information like:

• Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in U.S.
• 1 in 8 couples married in the U.S. met via Social Media
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 3rd largest
• 50% of mobile Internet trasffic in the UK is for Facebook

Have a look at the (updated) video and let us know where you think Social Media is headed next!

What do you think? Where is Social Media headed next?

Favorite FREE Social Media Tools for 2010

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It seems that there are more Social Media Tools on the market today than there are Starbucks, so it's more important now than ever to save time (and money) to find the tools that excite even most experienced Social Mediaphiles.

That's why ymarketing would like to share some of our favorite (and free!) Social Media Tools for 2010, in no particular order. Some of these tools have been out for some time, while others are brand spanking new. The purpose of this blog is to promote Social Media tools that will make your life easier and more fun, thus the categories will be somewhat random, but their effectiveness will not. Enjoy!

Great all-in-one comprehensive browser for real-time and social web. Tweetdeck allows users to open their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace accounts all in one directory.

  Productivity enhancement service for Social Media users. Hootsuite Helps organize, schedule, and deliver content through Facebook and Twitter.

  bit.ly is one of the first, and still our favorite, URL shortener for tracking and analytics.

  Voice interface technology that let's you instantly acces your Facebook and Twitter accounts simply by speaking into your phone. Vlingo is a great hands free option for mobile tweeting on the go.

Allows multiple people to communicate through corporate Twitter accounts and stay in sync while doing so. No dropped balls with CoTweet, no stepping on each other's toes.

flickr creative commons search is a great place to find free photos (under a creative commons license) that you can use in blog posts, presentations, etc.

Great competitive intelligence for twitter is what Topsy gives you. Keep your social media ear to the ground with this excellent tracking tool. 

Want to see how popular you are on twitter? Wefollow allows you to view categorical rankings of who's hot on Twitter. 

For those of you who are interested in everything social media tools, and want a few suggestions of some great paid tools, here you go:

  Flowtown is a super cool tool allows you to take a random person's email address and quickly determine what social networks that person is on, as well as name, age, gender, and occupation. (I believe it costs $15 a month)

Dashboard program for your Social Media account, Swix promote it as Google Analytics for Social Media. We love the scorecard aspect of it. ($10 a month)

American Idol Influentials: Adam Lambert Impacts Google News

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American Idol Season 9? February 2010? Sorry, we had to question that ourselves when we looked at the search and social media data following American Idol's Guys Top 12 show. Why?

Show contestant Todrick Hall is running neck and neck with pre-show favorite Andrew (don't call him Andy) Garcia in Google News results. Garcia earned that popularity with a bold, acoustic version of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" during the Hollywood Auditions. But Hall? We didn't see that coming.

That's the beauty of this American Idol Prediction Project, we never know what we'll find in the data. Turns out Adam Lambert tabbed Hall as his "favorite", on a day when the man that beat him out for American Idol Season 8, Kris Allen, headlines the performances on the results show.

Twitter & Blog Data Predict First Guys to Leave Show

If you read our prior post noting the American Idol Top 12 Girls we think are in trouble in tonight's elimination, you'll know that we wanted to use social media and news data early on this year while the search trend data builds. We narrowed down the list of the two girls that will leave tonight to the three most likely, with another two on the fence. With the guys, it's more difficult to discerne which two will leave American Idol this week.

We would assume that any Guy with both good Twitter mentions and news result lift (over baseline, lowest news results by Michael Lynche) would be safe. While any American Idol Top 12 Guy with low numbers on both would be in trouble. But what do you do with the Guys who have mixed data? Please, look at the chart below and tell us what you think. Here's what we see:

Safe: Andrew Garcia, John Park, Tim Urban, Alex Lambert, Casey James.

Bottom 3 Bound:  Jermaine Sellers and Lee Dewyze.

Mixed Data:  The rest of them, who knows. To us Tyler Grady and Joe Munoz seem most at risk, followed by Aaron Kelly and Michael Lynche (although their Twitter pull should keep them safe this week).

Our Prediction: Of the two Guys leaving, they'll come from the group of Sellers, Dewyze, Grady and Munoz. 

Lead Capture for just the Cost of a Click: Google Adwords Contact Form Extension

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The ymarketing Paid Search Team recently read an update to the beta for Google Lead Generation Forms in paid search ads at SEOroundtable.com. Have you ever wished you could easily increase leads for just the cost of a click? Google is testing it out with Google AdWords Contact Form Extensions to normal AdWords ads. The current leads are phone number based with three custom fields. Delivery of these ads is via email as a moment and clients are committed to contact the lead within 24 hours.

We have noticed the Mortgage and Entertainment Industries testing In the new Contact Form Extension. We have also seen other bloggers and paid search companies mention these ad format updates such as this blog post from DailyRadar.com

Things to know about the AdWords Contact Form

• It will only associate with ads in the #1 position.
• The Leads will be priced with the Max CPC Bid during beta test.
• About the form: Requires Phone Number Collection, up to three custom questions, questions shown will be determined by Google quality algorithm.

Get whitelisted into the Program through your AdWords Account Manager at Google and start getting your phone leads from Google AdWords!

Here are some sites that like the new Google Contact Form Adwords Feature: searchengineland.com, insideaffiliates.com, seroundtable.com

Here's a site that dislikes the new Google Contact Form AdWords Feature: blog.hubspot.com

SEO specialist ymarketing thinks:
This is worth testing. We want to see the results of the beta ASAP!
Do you have "real experience or results to share about your experience with this beta?"

What do you think?
Contact Us or Leave a Comment!

Make Google.com Your Lead Generation Page

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AdWords Contact Form Extension: Apply by Contacting Google AdWords Account Managers

ymarketing recently found news of a new AdWords Lead Form at SEOroundtable.com. If you have a Google AdWords Account Manager you can apply today to be whitelisted into the new AdWords Contact Form Extension beta.

What is the goal of this AdWords Beta?
1. Increase ROI from your Paid Search Ads on Google.
2. Pay for Leads. During the beta your price per lead will be priced at your regular CPC Bid.
3. Integrates into your current ads " Ad enhancement".

Paid Search Managers everywhere are seeking for all three of these things. We were definitely interested in news about the Contact Form Extension.

Here's what the ymarketing paid search team has to say:
"Google is definitely shortening the click-2-lead behavior funnel by offering to use the search engine ad as a call to action."

We will be watching to see:
• How much will CTR improve in various industries?
• What will be the cost of leads after the beta?
• During the test the leads are limited to phone leads, will Google provide integration into CRM applications at some point?

Connect With Us:
As new paid ad betas and extensions are released we hope to hear from those who try these new ad formats to see the results. Please feel free to post your results in the comment section of this blog.

Google Insights Predicts Kris Allen Will Become the Next American Idol | ymarketing

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DATELINE: Los Angeles, Wednesday 05/20/09 @ 11AM PT

Regular readers of this blog know that we've been using search and social media data to predict the next American Idol. Since we began the blog we've identified Adam Lambert's overwhelming popularity within this data. You could even argue he's become a "brand" in and of himself. But several weeks back we also identified the rising popularity of Kris Allen. After the two faced off Tuesday, May 19 on the American Idol Finals performance show we knew this project begged for one last blog.

Who will be crowned Wednesday Night's Winner?

Looking at the cumulative data and trying to make the argument against Adam Lambert is like trying to argue that Simon Cowell has nice hair--not an easy task. But as we discussed in last week's Idol Prediction blog, The Search for an Upset: Could a Perfect Storm Propel Kris Allen into the Next American Idol, Adam seems to also be facing a mounting backlash. This seemingly happens to any favorite in just about any competition; America just loves an underdog.

In order to try to zero in on this idea of "momentum" playing a role in predicting the next American Idol, we turned to Google Insights. The results of analyzing both "kris allen" and "adam lambert" related terms were surprising:

• Looking at the Top 10 rising searches over the past 30 days, "kris allen" related terms have outpaced "adam lambert" related terms by 2 to 1
• Breakout terms, terms rising faster than Google calculates the rate of increase, show Kris with a 3 to 1 edge

Google Insights Top 10 Rising Searches - Past 30 days

• Looking at the same data over the past 7 days, Kris' lead of the Top 10 rising searches grows to
  nearly 3 to 1
• Breakout terms show Kris again with a 3 to 1 edge
• Terms rising at a rate greater than 250% show Kris with a slightly better than 2 to 1 lead

Google Insights Top 10 Rising Searches - Past 7 days

Beyond the overall numbers favoring Kris, there's even more evidence of Adam Lambert's popularity erosion when you look at the data on a ‘per name' basis. For instance, looking at just "kris allen" related terms over both the past 30 and past 7 days we see ONLY searches related to his name and Idol in Rising Searches.

However, looking at just "adam lambert" related terms over both the past 30 and past 7 days we see Kris invading these Rising Searches. This includes Kris owning the Top 2 and 3 of the Top 4 risers over the past 7 days. It's this Adam-related Kris surge that for the first time shows Kris not just near even with Adam, but instead as the dominant force.

The Prediction
If you look at all the data, as we stated in last week's blog this race is going to be close. Too close for ymarketing to predict the winner. But if you ask Google Insights, Arkansas' own Kris Allen will shock the world in the Finals Result show tonight, Wednesday, May 20, 2009.

NOTE: If you are interested in seeing some of our past data you can download it here:

• http://blog.ymarketing.com/idol-global-appeal/

The Search for an Upset: Could a Perfect Storm Propel Kris Allen into the Next American Idol? | ymarketing

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If you're a regular Idol Prediction Project reader you know we've been using Search and Social Media data to predict winners on Idol using: iTunes (purchase intent), Facebook (wall posts), Twitter, Digg and Google Search data... all with pretty good accuracy.

On Saturday May 9, 2009, Aubry, one of our blog contributors made this prediction in response to last week's post on who will be the ‘Challenger to Idol favorite Adam': "If Kris Allen exits this week, Adam will pick up a majority of his votes... Adam seems to be the #2 [favorite] of Kris fans and the young girls are Kradams. If however Gokey goes out, Kris will win because Gokey fans out and out dislike Adam." Could Aubry be right?

It's a lot closer than many people believe

On the May 13 results show Ryan Seacrest said, "More than 88 million votes were cast ... and only 1 million votes separated 1st and 2nd." If it's that close on a three-way race, and you assume that dedicated voters make up the majority of the "voting bloc", then it really comes down to: I) a surging Kris tightening the race; II) Danny Gokey's Swing Voters; III) Adam Lambert backlash. (And of course how the two finalists perform; let's not discount that important element!)

Perfect Storm Part I: "Heartless" from Allen tops "One" from Lambert

Kris is surging. Multiple Social Media and Search data sources confirm that fact. And his performance of Kanye West's "Heartless" Tuesday night may be a big factor. Past strong performances by Allen like his version of Falling Slowly "propelled Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's 2-year-old original into the top 30 on iTunes' download chart," proving through purchase behavior that Allen does have market appeal. If only we could see the download figures for "Heartless"... anyone?

Facebook chatter (as measured by terms like ‘kris allen' and ‘adam lambert' appearing in wall posts) show Kris Allen taking a lead over Lambert for the first time this entire year. The chart below also showcases ‘kanye west' and ‘bono' for perspective on just how popular these two finalists have truly become.

Google Search data showed Adam with a nearly insurmountable lead (3X, 5X, 8X in some cases) up until this week, when tremendous acceleration for search terms featuring ‘Kris Allen' showed that lead severely diminished:

In fact, for the first time since we began measuring "breakout searches" on Google, Kris Allen posted MORE fast rising search terms than Adam (6 vs. 5):

USA Today blogs about how "If radio stations decided the American Idol winner this week, Kris Allen would have the edge. An early look at Mediabase numbers shows that Kris' version of Kanye West's Heartless has had 17 spins on 13 stations this week, barely beating out Adam's U2 cover, One, which 16 stations played once each." But if you total the Top 6 spins/stations, Kris has 22/17 to Adam's 18/18. Here's how the Mediabase numbers look for the week:

• 1. Kris Allen, Heartless: 17 spins/13 stations
• 2. Adam Lambert, One: 16 spins/16 stations
• 3. Kris Allen, Apologize: 5 spins/4 stations
• 4. Danny Gokey, You Are So Beautiful: 5 spins/4 stations
• 5. Danny Gokey, Dance Little Sister: 3 spins/3 stations
• 6. Adam Lambert, Cryin': 2 spins/2 stations

Other Indicators show the race tightening up as well. Globally Adam still maintains a lead over Kris, but the overwhelming distance that once separated them has evaporated:

On Digg, Adam's held a 4.5 to 1 advantage in the first week of May. That lead is down to 3-to-2 as of May 15, 2009 but Adam still holds the edge. Adam maintains leads on Twitter, YouTube and in the Blogosphere as well.

Perfect Storm Part II: Gokey Swing Votes

The conventional wisdom "around town", and our blog contributor Aubry, seems to be that Danny Gokey voters are more likely to cast their votes for Kris than they are for Adam. But we attempted to substantiate that hypothesis with Search and Social Media data and found out that's a pretty tough task - especially since the relevant data is just 2-3 days old. A search through the blogosphere (Google blog search) produced a split: a roughly equal number of "Danny Gokey fan" blogs say they'll vote Kris and Adam.

This original question appeared in the USA Today Blog on April 27^th when they speculated that Kris Allen could be a "game changer". "The flamboyant Lambert engenders devotion or distaste, the polar opposite of the more conservative Gokey. Allen's base could shift allegiance to Lambert, who shares his penchant for tinkering with arrangements, or they could align with Gokey, who like Allen serves as a church worship leader. Where those votes go might well determine the outcome."

Perfect Storm Part III: Adam Backlash

USA Today reported on their blog that a backlash may be brewing against Idol's Adam Lambert and cited several factors as to why this could be: 1) Idol producers gave Adam the final performance slot three straight weeks, 2) Simon Cowell's outright prediction of an Adam win on Oprah, and 3) Simon's heavy-handed "instructions" to the Idol audience about not forgetting to vote for the "favorite", Adam. USA Today even characterized the backlash as more of an "anti-judge backlash."

Search data we uncovered seems to underscore this same sentiment. VoteForTheWorst.com has a self-described mission to "support voting for the entertaining contestants who the producers would hate to see win on American Idol"). Sounds like a good place to track negative backlash; so we looked at search engine traffic ending up at the site. Adam Lambert appears as the #2 term, responsible for 87 times more traffic than the first Kris Allen term, which comes in at #273 for that site.

Final "American Idol" finale thoughts

The data shows it's too close to call; not a landslide for Adam as many predicted a few weeks back. In betting terms, Allen is what odds makers would call "a live dog".

Just the beginning?

We searched TweetVolume for clues on the Final Two this week and knew Gokey was in trouble. Then for fun we contrasted Idol with Britain's Got Talent 2009 sensation Susan Boyle. Looking at that data, we couldn't help but wonder when are we going to see the Idol World Cup? Susan Boyle vs. Adam Lambert (or Kris Allen?). Pay-Per-View numbers would be incredible! And TXT volume would probably crash cellular networks worldwide!! Hey Simon, when you use this great idea of ours please remember to make out our royalty checks to "ymarketing, LLC", OK?

American Idle: Is Detroit Stuck In Park? What Search Engine Data Tells Us | ymarketing

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Stuck in Park?

As a follow up to a highly successful series where the ymarketing team predicted winners on American Idol, we're now turning our attention to what could be called "Doom In Detroit".

This is the first in a series where we will look at what Search and Social Media data can tell us about the relative chance each Auto Manufacturer, and its brand lines, stand of surviving the current economy.

Background

The most popular post in the Idol Prediction Project series was when we looked at purchase intent. In that blog post we examined how search engine referrals leading to iTunes had a high correlation with each contestant's popularity. Week after week our data showed us the favorites, and identified those that were likely to be leaving early. Five weeks before the Final 3 Idol contestants were announced, our data correctly predicted it would be Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Danny Gokey. We utilized Search and Social Media popularity as a proxy for the popular vote that the TV show conducted each week, with great success.

Applying Learning to Detroit

When it comes to understanding the current automotive industry landscape and predicting its future shape--and with it each Auto Makers chance at survival--we believe the same logic holds. Although; this American Idle Prediction Project on Automotive OEMs will certainly present its challenges.  For example: An inquiry into the volume of searches for "General Motors" these days yields a wealth of information, but nearly all of it is related to GM's government bailout, it's impending dealership closures, negotiations with the UAW and the like. Interesting, but not very helpful for predicting popularity and sales. But could an examination of all queries on Google for the search term "GM Dealership Chicago" yield the kind of results we're interested in; purchase intent?

Week One: Car Buyers Take Action After Researching Online

We took a look at one prominent car buying research site that served 6.3 million unique visitors last month, Edmunds.com, which ranks in the top 200 of all sites in the U.S. After visiting Edmunds.com, prospective buyers and tire-kickers alike venture off to well over 5,200 different sites (as measured by our data sources). These post-site visits are called "referral traffic" in search engine speak.

A significant portion of these post-site visits from Edmunds.com end up at the Auto Makers' own sites (fordvehicles.com and chevrolet.com), and many more end up at individual dealership sites (siouxcityford.com and hamiltonchevrolet.com as examples).

We wanted to see WHICH American Auto Makers are benefitting the most from this Referral Traffic and, arguably as important if not more important, which ones are growing month to month. Here's what we found over the last two months:

Week 1 Results

Ford is clearly in the lead with buyers who do their research on Edmunds.com. They have 55 different sites in the top 5,000 and all but a half dozen are dealerships. Their most prominent site, fordvehicles.com, ranked #19 overall and grew more than 4% last month alone. Fordvehicles.com also has a 10% edge over their largest competitor, GM's top site. Since Ford is a top tier and consistent advertiser on American Idol, it does beg the question: Is Idol responsible for helping Ford get out of Idle?

GM's top site, Chevrolet.com, ranks #22 and is in 2^nd place. The site's traffic from Edmunds.com referrals actually grew at a faster rate than Ford's at 19.2%; so we look for a showdown in the coming months for the top Auto OEM slot. GM has 40 sites in the top 5,000, and 30 of them appear to be dealerships. It could be argued that GM overall gets more traffic from Edmunds.com. If you add up all the available data for the top 600 sites GM actually has an 8% edge in total referral traffic. But none of those top 600 sites are a dealership, so it bears further research and analysis before we can draw a conclusion.

Chrysler is hurting. If you read the news, you know that. This blog will certainly pay attention to the news cycle and see how it impacts purchase intent. But for now, we can quantify that Chrysler's top site, dodge.com, ranked #25 and is in 3^rd place. The problem: the site saw its Edmunds.com referral traffic drop more than 9% last month. Chrysler has 36 sites in the top 5,000.

Encouraging signs: Chrysler appears to have the top two dealership sites (dodgedealer.com ranking #630 and windwarddodgechryslerjeep.com coming in at #649) and their #2 web property, chrysler.com, ranked #39 and grew at a rate of more than 50% last month.

What do you think?

What do you think of the premise of this blog series? Can purchase intent be measured by proxy using search and social media data? In coming blogs we will examine other data sources and yes, take a look at the global automotive industry as well. If you'd like to have input into the next installment, please share your ideas and opinions here.