Addresses on PPC Ads?

I'm not as involved with day-to-day PPC administration anymore, but noticed something different when conducting a search on Google for "car insurance". A local agent's PPC ad - Mark Nacht Insurance -included the agency's physical location below the display URL.

Is this something new in AdWords or did I catch Google testing using an address instead of geographic location for geo-targeting? I can't get it to replicate but took a screenshot so the example is above.

Interesting direction for local. And gives new meaning to location, location, location. If your company's street address is going to be on display it could heavily influence consumers who are more likely to click on ads they trust, from familiar sources. Having a recognizable street in your ad could be the key to getting more site traffic.

Lead Paint PPC Influencing Holiday Shopping Trends

The lead paint impact on Pay-Per-Click ads during holiday shopping has been interesting to watch. When the recalls was initially announced in early September, there was little or no competition on keywords such as "lead paint in toys". Even Fisher-Price, the largest toy manufacturer with a recall, did not get into the PPC game until a few months after the initial announcement.

But now try doing a query on "lead paint in toys" on Google, Yahoo, MSN or Ask.com. You'll see there's a minimum of 10 advertisers on each search engine. And for the most part, these advertisers "get it". They are manufacturers and distributors of lead paint testing tools, or companies who are selling safe (aka lead paint free) toys this holiday season.

However this wasn't always the case, at the start of the holiday season major retailers ramping-up their toy-related Pay-Per-Click spend seemed to have forgotten to include "lead" as a negative keyword in their accounts. Which might not be a problem, if they weren't using dynamic insertion in their ad text. I wish I'd taken a screen shot because Toys R Us had a great ad, something like - 10% off all the best lead paint toys this holiday season!

Now the instances of advertiser missteps are few and far between. Shopzilla is still struggling a bit on Yahoo! Their "lead paint" ad takes you to a page on the Shopzilla site touting "toy lead in dog supplies" and "toy lead in outdoor games and fun". Can't wait to buy some of those for Fido & the kids this Christmas!

Targeted Ads Gone Awry

We've all gotten the email from Mr. Kwesi Adams, regional bank manager of the International Commercial Bank of Ghana, who only needs access to your bank account info to transfer his deceased father's money into the US (because the value of the dollar is so strong right now?!). Well now Google is enabling all of us to go visit Mr. Kwesi Adams, before giving him access to our account information, through targeted ads in Gmail. Right above my Gmail email from Mr. Adams in Ghana, is an advertisement for roundtrip airfares to Ghana from only $695. Oh happy day!

TheLimited.com Limiting Store's Success

Yikes, was just attempting to do some online holiday shopping at TheLimited.com. Good luck trying to buy anything from the site. The only thing for sale is gift certificates and all the clothing photography is black & white. Compare their site to BananaRepublic.com, which has great functionality including the ability to zoom in on the fabric, change colors and view an item as part of a complete outfit. It will be interesting to see how both retailers report on fourth quarter earnings. Does The Limited's almost complete lack of a website hurt its bottom line, or are consumers brand loyal?

Local Rented My Condo

Over the last month or so I've been actively trying to rent out my condo. I've tried a variety of online advertising sources - local, national, free, paid. You name it, I posted my condo on it. But nothing was really returning results. Until I posted my condo (listed as an "apartment" for keyword popularity purposes) on Google's local business search. I got a call about a week ago from my now new renter (yippee!), who left me a voicemail stating - "Your apartment came up in a map on a Google search I did for apartments in Shaker Hts." Go local search!