Are you active with social media marketing? A recent announcement by Google and Microsoft now makes social media marketing all the more important to marketing in general, and specifically search engine marketing.

Google and Microsoft have both secured deals with Twitter, and Microsoft has also inked one with Facebook to include updates into Bing search results.  For now, Google will be focusing solely on including tweets in their search results, but rumor has it they will be looking into Facebook soon.

This announcement bodes well for marketers who are active with these two social media venues, meaning more opportunity to be found in real-time searches.

Both Google and Microsoft are still working out just how these results will be included among their other conventional search results.  Bing is working on a beta tool for people to try out, while Google has now gone live with the Google Social Search service.

Bing features a “Best Match” option, which prioritizes certain tweets over others.  Bing has stated that credence will be given to Tweeters that have the most followers.  Google Social Search, meanwhile, is designed to return traditional results along with updates and tweets that users’ friends and other contacts they follow on various social networks have posted.

Are you active with social media? If so, how are you using it, and has it been successful?  If you haven’t tried your hand at Facebook or Twitter, will this recent announcement by Google and Microsoft change your mind?  We want to know!

Last week we featured Part 4 of our 7-part series on PPC Budgeting Secrets, called Dividing your Campaign Budget Across Markets. We looked at how to best divide your PPC campaign budget across different markets according to (1) the markets you are targeting, (2) the search engines that permit PPC in those markets, and (3) the respective market share of each of those search engines.

This week we’re exploring PPC policies. Google’s market predominance means that Google’s policies are particularly pertinent to any iGaming PPC campaign, as these policies directly govern how traffic can be purchased from the largest search engine. Google’s policy has separate policies for operators and affiliates. So let’s explore them together.

Most noticeable iGaming operator policies:

• Google only permits the advertising of sites that are licensed to advertise gambling in their jurisdiction. For example, any UK operator that wants to advertise through Adwords needs to be registered with the Gambling Commission and must provide Google with a valid operating license number and a copy of their license.
• Licensed operators in the following countries are deemed eligible to run Adwords campaigns:
• United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland)
• Ireland
• Austria
• Italy

In Australia, only state licensed sportsbook operators can run Adwords campaigns. iGaming operators can only target new player acquisitions in their licensed jurisdiction.

• If you want to promote online gambling through Adwords, then you need to first set up a new Adwords account by filling out an application and the legal declaration. During this process, you will need to provide details on your gambling license – e.g. license number, regulatory authority, etc.
• This process can also take several weeks, but can be fast-tracked by working with an established, third-party SEM agency such as Income Access. Because of their relationship with Google, such third-parties are able to fast-track the application process because Google trusts them to ensure that advertisers meet the quality guidelines that Google enforces for iGaming advertisers.

Most noticeable aggregator / affiliate policies:

• Google requires that affiliates apply for separate Adwords accounts for their gambling campaigns.
• Affiliates/ aggregators do not need a license to apply for an Adwords account. However, they must be promoting licensed operators in the jurisdiction that they are applying for an Adwords account.
• If affiliates / aggregators own several websites and want to run multiple PPC campaigns to these sites, they will need to apply for a separate Adwords account for each of the websites where they want to run PPC campaigns.

Whether you master these policies on your own, or you need some expert advice from our SEM Agency to help get you started in the right direction, understanding and applying these regulations is a must-have for the success of any iGaming PPC campaign.

Next Thursday, in Part 6 of PPC Budgeting Secrets, we’ll look at ensuring that your budget is properly allotted among various keyword sets, by examining search volumes and keywords trends.

Q: Which is more time intensive: PPC campaigns or optimizing my site’s structure? Which would be a better focus for my time investment?
– Joshua

In terms of optimizing your site structure, PPC and SEO are equally important. Where you should invest more of your resources will depend on what your long-term goals are. Regardless of your choice, it’s important that you have the right tools to monitor and analyze both your PPC campaigns and structural SEO efforts.

The reason that PPC and SEO are equally important is because they are both great ways to identify keywords that are relevant to your business and convert traffic into players. As for which channel to focus on, it will depend on your business goals and resources.

PPC is designed to generate an influx of traffic very quickly, it requires a greater initial investment and is good for quickly identifying which keywords perform the best. SEO, on the other hand, offers a longer-term strategy of growing your traffic and revenues – and over a longer period of time helps you identify what keywords work for your website. Some affiliates work with PPC and SEO ‘hand in hand’ by using PPC as a way to determine what keywords they should optimize on their site.

Regardless of your goals, it’s imperative that you have tools that can help you meet them. If you focus on PPC, such tools are invaluable in optimizing your campaigns and maximizing their returns, because the tools are what help keep your PPC spend in check and still see results.

Read More…

Update: This post has been edited since first being published. A paragraph has since been stricken. The stricken text was an error in wording which was brought to our attention.

Q: I’ve heard that by including a no-follow tag in some internal links, you can increase the page rank of your site. Is this true? If so, what is the best way to proceed?
– Collin

Until about a year ago, the nofollow tag was often used to actually build page rank. Although it can no longer be used to the same extent, it can still be used to prevent the loss of page rank.

At a recent Search Marketing Expo, the head of Google’s Webspam Team, Matt Cutts, announced that nofollow tags can no longer be used to sculpt Page Rank (PR) anymore. Although this change has been in effect for over a year, this announcement was the first clear indication that the nofollow tag could no longer be used this way.

It still, however, plays a very important role in SEO, at least in terms of not being penalized by Google for a violation of their Webmaster Guidelines. There are still a variety of links that webmasters are required to include the nofollow tag on, and failing to do so can get their website penalized by Google, or even outright banned.

Read More…

Q: I understand that SEO is a science. But are there any SEO basics an affiliate should know to help them rank better?
– Samuel

In addition to getting backlinks from other sites, there are three sets of “on-page” SEO basics that every webmaster should know to help their sites perform better on search engines. First, there is the “meta info” of your web pages; secondly, there is actual page content; and finally, there should be consistency between the two.

Meta Info
Meta information is used to categorize and label web pages, and is very important because it determines how site listings appear on the search engine result pages (SERPs). When your affiliate pages have the proper meta information attached to them, you are likely to get more organic traffic because your pages (1) show up in relevant search results, (2) have the appropriate listing information when they do, and as a result (3) experience higher click-through-rates (CTR).

Title Tag
This piece of information is simply the title of a webpage. The title tag should be used to describe the page it is actually for and should not exceed 65 characters. It appears in two places that can affect how well users convert into player sign-ups:

1. As the title of a search engine result.
2. At the top of a browser window.

There are two negative implications when your title doesn’t actually reflect the page that it is for: (1) you rank less effectively in the SERPs, and (2) users can become suspicious when they land on a page that does not meet their expectations.

Meta Description
The meta description is what generates the description in the SERPs and should not exceed 200 characters. However, search engines only display the first 150 characters, so it’s important to include the punchiest, most relevant description of a page in only 150 characters. Think of it as a sales pitch: there should be descriptive information, product highlights, and anything else to encourage users to click through.

Meta Keywords
This set of meta info pertains to keywords that are pertinent to the page. Traditionally, here you would’ve included the search queries that you believe are most common for users that might be looking for the page you’re tagging. However, the major search engines stopped indexing this field several years ago, so there is no benefit to filling in this field. In fact, many SEOers regard it as doing keyword research for your competition.

Content
On-page content is the most important part of on-page SEO. After all, this is what search engines assume your users are looking for. It’s important, then, that all you pages have actual content for both search engines and users to consume, and that that content contains the keywords you’re trying to rank for.

You should never, however, compromise the usability/readability of page content for a higher keywords density. To avoid doing so, try focusing on one keyword per page.

Consistent SEO
Since search engines are using your meta-info and page content to index and rank your affiliate pages, it’s imperative that there is consistency between the two. So make sure that the keywords you’re targeting appear in the title, page description, and on the page.

Organic traffic should comprise the majority of your traffic. So your on-page SEO is integral to the success of your affiliate site. Although advanced SEO is a delicate science, basic SEO is fairly straight forward and is often sufficient to generate relevant traffic.

Olland, SEM Specialist

Q: Is it true that I need a license to use Google Adwords for gambling ads? If so, how do I get one?
– Jason

It is not true that you need a license to use Google Adwords for gambling ads, because Google sees affiliates as aggregators of content rather than gambling portals. However, there are some stipulations. First, you can only use Google Adwords to promote operators in certain jurisdictions. Secondly, you can only use Adwords to promote operators who are licensed to advertise in those jurisdictions. Finally, as an affiliate, you have to get white-listed by Google to run gambling ads on Adwords.

Google only permits Adwords for online gambling in three jurisdictions: the UK, Ireland, and Austria. Consequently, such ads won’t be displayed in other countries. What this means is that unless a user is in the one of these jurisdictions and has an IP address from that country, they won’t see gambling-related ads on their search engine results pages (SERPs).

The stipulations don’t stop at jurisdictions. Google will also only let you promote sites that have a license to advertise in those jurisdictions. So you can only promote to certain pre-approved, white-listed sites.

Google enforces these caveats through their application process. If you want to promote online gambling through Adwords, you have to set up a new and separate Adwords account just for your gambling ads. Once you have done that, you have to fill out an application and legal declaration.

Getting approved by Google can take time, but you can fast-track the process by working with a recognized partner such as Income Access. Essentially, by applying through certain recognized third-parties, you can fast-track the white-listing process because Google knows that the third-party has already made sure that the applicant meets certain guidelines.

So while it is not necessary to have a license to use Adwords as an affiliate, you can only promote operators in certain jurisdictions, and who have licenses to advertise in those jurisdictions. You also have to undergo a screening process to make sure that your affiliate site meets certain guidelines. And while that screening process can take weeks or months, you can also fast-track it down to mere days by working with a recognized third-party.

Jamie, SEM Manager

In addition to bidding as high as I can on keywords in my Adwords campaign, is there anything else I can do to get better placement?
– Jason

There are a few steps you can take to maximize your place on Google Adwords. Of course, how much you bid on a keyword affects how well that ad will be placed — i.e. whether that ad is first, second, or tenth place in the sponsored results. However, there is a little more nuance to your ads ranking well.

Like other affiliate marketing strategies, the performance of your Adwords campaigns depends largely on how well you target your promotions. To measure how targeted your ads are, Google gives every PPC ad a “Quality Score”. The higher the Quality Score of your ad, the less you have to spend to have it rank well.

So, in addition to the cost-per-click (CPC) that you bid on (i.e. are willing to pay) there are several other factors to consider. These include: (1) relevance of the ad to the keyword search, (2) relevance of the landing page to the ad, and (3) the click-through-rate (CTR) that the ad receives.

Ad Content
The more relevant that you’re ad is to the keyword you bid on, the higher placement it will receive for the amount you bid. When you place an ad through Adwords, it contains several elements: title, text, and URL. The more relevant the title, text, and display URL are relevant to the search query, the better Quality Score your ad will receive.

For instance, let’s say you bid on the keyword “betting website,” and the title of your ad is “Betting Website,” your ad text is “Use our website for all your betting needs,” and the URL is “www/bettingwebsite.com.” You will receive a higher quality score because all elements (title, text, and URL) of your PPC ad feature the keywords that you bid on.

Conversely, if you try to reduce your average CPC by bidding on a less competitive words such as “Dog Walking,” but the title of your ad is “Betting Website,” the text reads “Place wager on anything,” and the URL is “www.bettingwebsite.com,” then your ad will receive a much lower quality score. This is because it is a less relevant search result for Google’s users.

Landing Page
Google will also gage the relevancy of you ads landing page. Again, Google want its users to find the most relevant page, even if you are paying to have those users come visit your site.

It is important, then, that the landing page for an ad is relevant to both to the keywords you’re bidding on, and the content of the ad itself. You can increase your quality score here by featuring relevant text content on the landing page and making sure your meta info (such as page title and description) are also relevant.

Click Through Rate (CTR)
One of the ways that Google gages the relevancy of page is by monitoring how many people click-through to from the search results. The more frequently that users click t your ads, then, the higher quality score they will receive. This is not only better for their bottom line, but it provides a kind of crowd-sourced quality assurance of their search results. After all, if no one clicks on a search result (paid or otherwise), it is probably not very relevant to the keyword/search-term.

But Google will also give your Adwords account a quality score, here, but taking into a consideration your CTR history. The CTR of all your ads and keywords in your account, will be considered, as well as the historical CTR of the display URL in your ad’s particular ad group.

It’s important, then, that you monitor CTR across all your campaigns very closely because every campaign can affect the Quality Score of every other campaign. Google does this to reward the more efficient and skilled Adwords advertisers because those advertisers show their users more relevant search results.

Quality and Reputation
Ranking well in Adwords is about more than bidding high. It’s about delivering relevant ads that perform well. The better your Quality Score, moreover, the less you will have to bid for any given spot in the sponsored results section.

Basically, Google has built a reputation as the premier search engine because of their quality control standards. These standards, however, apply to both their organic and paid (PPC) results. So the more you respect their reputation and quality standards (i.e. are honest about your ads), the better your PPC ads will rank in their search results.

Daryl, SEM Manager