The Lowdown

So what is Google Boost all about? Is it the answer to the SME prayers?
Google Boost ads are basically paid search listings linked to a Google Places with management automated and simplified. These ads appear, as normal paid search listings, on Google.com (and variations) and Google maps in the sponsored links sections.

Google Boost Example

The SME provides a description of their business, which is used as the ad copy, selects the category and sub category their business falls in to, picks a budget, and away they go! The business location is pulled from the Google Places information and Google takes care of the rest. Google selects the most appropriate keywords for your advert to appear on, manage your bid prices, your daily settings and the SME sits back and waits for the business to roll in.

What problem is this solving?

Google is making serious in roads into local search at present and Google Boost forms part of this attack. It appears from the outside that there is a clear focus on local search internally at Google, so to them, this provides the ideal solution for further monetising both local search, and Google Maps.

But what about the SME?

Google Boost is a stripped back, simplified version of Adwords with a local twist, so Google is obviously hoping its simplicity and local targeting will make it appeal to the SME.

Does this fit the SME need?

In my opinion, no. I’ve worked extensively in the SME search market in the UK and simplicity and leaving it all to somebody else, are on the whole, way down the list when it comes to priorities around paid search. Most SMEs want to know where and when their ads are going to be appearing, and are less than pleased if they can’t see them. With Google Boost they are reliant on software to choose their keywords and on Google for their ad-scheduling, a significant lack of control from the SME perspective.

They are also not going to get the support they need should something go wrong with Google Boost or if they just have a question. It is a core SME need to know they can pick up the phone, or send in an email, and they will receive response and support for the service they have purchased and with Google Boost they won’t get this.

So what is it good for?

I’ve no doubt that in the US, where local search is more prevalent, and Boost is currently in beta, they will get some level of take up. High ticket value services with local appeal such as solicitors, dentists and vets ill probably see quite high take up (solicitors is one of the key markets in US SME search) but it isn’t going to be any sort of magic bullet and will probably just take up some slack from their cancelled reseller programme. Many, more developed markets will see Boost as unnecessary and too basic for their needs. And in the UK (despite recent attempts to force maps into the results) local results are not as relevant and generally accurate enough to be useful. Where they are, the advertisers available will be limited to the point it won’t reach the penetration Google will need to keep it running.

So what next?

I predict Google Boost will make it out of beta n the US, with reasonable success, but fail to reach penetration in the UK and Europe without a major SERP shake up. Then Google will be back to the drawing board trying to find their next product to take over the SME world.

Whats Good about Google Wave?

I have only played around with it a little, but here is what I would say are the good points:

• Collaborative Group Communication:  Very useful for collaborative group work.  The ability to invite people to conversations, drop in files, links, maps and gadgets, all make for a useful conversation tool.
• More flexible than messenger: Remains available once you close your browser, can easily drag and drop files, links and users.
• More Real Time Than Email: Pretty cool to be able to see people typing in a conversation in real time.  But more than cool it is actually useful.  Also in comparison to group emails this is a much more efficient way of communication as you have a real time dialogue and aren’t waiting for responses.
• More Privacy Than Twitter: Only those invited see the conversation, therefore has the conversational feel without the mass broadcast of information.

Why Won’t Google Wave Take Off?

• Who’s Using It?: OK so a short term one until uptake and invites grow, but not everyone has access to Google Wave, which limits its usage.
• Do We Need Another Tool?: Ive noticed already that very few people who I have a connection with who are on wave are ever logged in.  Twitter, Messenger, Facebook, Email, Yammer, do we need, or have we got time for, another tool?
• What Do We Use It For?: Nobody I have spoken to seems to have a solid use for it.  Yes, collaborative working, but not everyone had an invite, or stays logged in enough to collaborate!
• Its Not Different Enough: This is going to be the key.  It doesn’t do anything I cant get done through another tool.  OK so it might be smoother and cooler, but it doesn’t have a significant advantage which would want to make me change.

What do you think of Google Wave?  Will it take off or wipe out?

Heres oneof the better videos I have seen about its uses, one which covers the main features and one where somebody got a bit creative with it, enjoy.

But if there is one company you would expect to be able to understand and control their matching system, it would be Google themselves. But apparently not! A search I performed on Google recently for the phrase “marketing jobs” brought up a PPCad for Google Adwords. At first I didn’t realise what had happened, but then it clicked, and a search on the single word phrase “marketing” brought up the Google ad also. Google are broad matching and haven’t included the term jobs as a negative keyword!

Now you argue that they don’t really need to as they wont be paying for the clicks anyway, but surely they should be practicing what they preach!?!

And while I am at it, the ad text isn’t to impressive either. Disappointing effort Google, shame on you!

• Aesthetics – It could be a purely aesthetic change.  Anybody involved in web design (or any other form of design for that matter) knows how picky designers can be.  So it could just be that Google’s design team got together and decided that it looked a lot better a font size up.
• The Bing effect - Lets face it the Google homepage (unless you are using iGoogle) is pretty bland.  This has been made even more apparent by the Bing design and the user love for the daily background image.  Is this the start of a Google move to combat this?
• Search Suggestion Focus – Although Google have increase the size of the whole box, and search font and the search suggestions font, it could be the latter which is the driving force behind the move.  Google could be looking to place more emphasis, and promote the use of, its suggested search queries.  In theory the more these are used, the more accurate they should become (if Google is doing the smart thing and tracking their usage).  The more accurate they become the more useful for Google users, so perhaps this move is aimed at emphasising them more.

Before and after image below (click for larger image), any other reasons they could be doing this?

Car Insurance is one of Google’s biggest markets with the number 1 PPC position commanding CPC’s in excess of £10 and thousands of searches each month.  So you would think that these comparison sites, who at the time of writing hold 2 of the top 3 PPC positions, would be adding to, not taking away from, Google’s revenue growth targets.  But when you look at the trend for car insurance searches on Google over the past few years you will see a steady decline since mid 2006.

And if you plot that against searches for the brand names of the major insurance comparison sites you can see that the growth in their search volume could be the cause of this.

Prior to the emergence of comparison sites, if you wanted a quick an easy list of insurers online, what did you do?  You searched for car insurance on Google.  But with the amount of branding activity these sites do offline and the awareness it has generated, people are fully aware of the places they need ot go to compare car insurance offers and providers.  So they are now going direct to their site of choice, or performing a brand search for that site instead.  Therefore whilst the comparison sites are spending a large amount on Google Adwords, they are taking away a large chunk of its revenues from this market through their very presence.  And you have to say, as people look to save every penny in difficult times, this trend is only going to continue, and car insurance will become a less and less lucrative market for Google and they will have to find a replacement cash cow for the future.

Maybe this trend was a contributing factor to the decision to allow gambling advertiser on Adwords?  And this is their replacement revenue source, that is of course until someone finds an effective way of comparing odds on the leading gambling sites and we are back where we started!

Of course Google just aren’t that stupid.  They will have made sure every possible permutation was considered before launching Google Latitude to the public and I am sure it is all covered in their terms and conditions.

The fact of the matter is that for somebody to be able to follow your location on Google Latitude they have to:
1.    Know your log in email address
2.    Ask to know your location and be accepted by you!
So if you are stupid enough to share your location with someone who you shouldn’t, is this Googles fault?

I do have one question for Mr.Google though on their latest product.  Where would they stand if the police (or some higher authority) suspected me of doing naughty things and wanted access to my Google Latitude account?  Would they hand it over? I suspect they would.  So whilst I find the new toy from Google interesting and will continue to use it for the time being, I would be shying away from doing so if I had anything to hide.

Homepage takeovers and sponsorships are going to be the last thing on brand advertisers minds in times when return on advertising spend is more critical than ever.  Surely a more innovative and flexible advertising solution would have been a better option and attracted a broader range of advertisers rather than the few who are willing to fork out £35,000 for a days advertising.

The success of the latest Facebook and MySpace solutions is built on the fact they are flexible and accessible to all.  There are thousands of businesses out there who are dying to tap into the social media masses and they now can, through the latest Facebook and MySpace platforms.  This will keep the two networks going in a time when large budget advertisers are tightening the purse strings.  Who is going to be buying a £35,000 homepage takeover on YouTube when times are tight?

Unfortunately Google have dropped the ball with this one for me, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were heading back to the drawing board in 6 months time due to a lack of uptake on their latest proposition.

Early reports indicate that, when selected, Google timeframe will automatically increase your Adwords daily budget if you are under spending against a budget allocate for a set timeframe.  How nice of Google!  They have invented an option to make sure you spend every last penny possible with them!  Doubtless this idea came from some senior member of the Google team looking at the total unspent budget allocations within the Adwords system.  Initial indications are unclear but I think you can be sure the system does not work the other way, reducing daily budgets when you are overspending against a monthly budget.  After all, if you budget runs out sooner, there’s a chance you will add more!

This new option will make little difference to the educated search marketer who should be using CPCs and not daily budgets to manage their campaigns (other than in exceptional circumstances) but it could mean that a lot of direct advertisers find very little left in their Google pot at the end of each month if they enable this new option.

The affiliates will have to agree to Google’s terms and conditions which will mean that the affiliate is responsible for ensuring the gambling sites they advertise are legitimate, therefore removing all liability from Google themselves!  Another requirement is that the affiliate is “adding to the user experience” and not simply showing details of a single gambling site or regurgitating website copy available elsewhere.  The word “comparison” came up on more than one occasion int he call and so affiliates comparing gambling programmes is clearly an area Google is thinking for the new sites they allow on board.

All campaigns will be manually approved by Google by a specialist gambling tema they have set up.

Who will qualify?

• affiliates comparing programmes or “adding value” to the user journey

Who wont qualify?

• Affiliates direct linking to gambling providers
• Affiliates copying or mirroring gambling sites or copy from gambling sites

So its open season for affiliates who meet the criteria and a potentially expensive time for gambling companies who’s own CPCs will rise and they will begin to see their affiliate commission payouts on the increase at the same time, double whammy!