Easy way to update your AdSense ads coming soon. Before it was hassle, if you had your ads placed on multiple pages across your website, and you wanted to make a change to the ad unit (dimension, adding image ads, or any of the other variables) you had to run through the ad wizard, grab the newly generated code and update every page.

Previously, the best implementation was to put your AdSense code in a PHP include, that way if you needed to make any changes, all you had to do is update the single file and the change would be site wide. Once the new feature goes live - you will probably have to generate new code and update your site one last time. When you do this you may want to place the code in an include anyways. Even though updates will be automatic (through your account - very nice) it will save you time in the future if you ever need to make additional changes.

For example adding text like “click on these ads or hot magma will cover the earth” (Dr. Evil style - the plot of Austin Powers 4 ?)” above your ad unit will improve your click through rate. With the ad unit in an include you can easily experiment with other phrases to motivate your visitors. How about “clicking on these ads will prevent a meteor from smashing into the earth” - and find which one these gets the most clicks from your visitors. Obviously the last few sentences were a joke, but placing your ads in an include may continue to save you time in the future. Include or no include the up date should be nice for all.

I recently read an article about Google partnering with Nielsen. Google will incorporate Nielsen’s demographic information into its current TV ad metrics. Currently, to place a TV ad through Google, it looks like you select the network (the channel the ad is placed on) and the daypart (day and time the ad is run) for the targeting of your ad. You then gauge performance with impressions, % view to end, most common view out time, and average viewing time.

Historic Nielsen demographic information should be tied to the network and the dayparting selections. You could then select certain demographic segments, such as age and gender, and be shown the networks and times to run your ads, that will allow you to reach the highest percentage of your desired audience (this will be a forecast) - based on the data from Nielsen.

In the press release, the Nielsen demographic information (derived from the representative television ratings panels) is said to be available 24 hours post ad impression. This makes me question if you will be able to use historic demographic data to forecast the network and daypart that will most likely reach your desired audience.

For the current Google TV ad performance metrics, I wonder if the % view to end metric is longest during the dinner hour, as people use commercial breaks to make dinner and run around the house. You may have solid impression info, but your viewers may not be in front of the TV - they are trying to decide which wine goes with their roasted duck (never had roasted duck before - I should try it).

Impression information is helpful but it never tells you user engagement. It’s like those thousand internet banner ad impressions I gave while being online this week. Was I actually looking at the ads - it is almost impossible to tell based on impression data. So be careful when assessing ad success based only on impressions.

I have never used Google TV ads, but it seems to be a step in the right direction for determining your TV ad success, and this partnership will probably add to it.

I am going to write a few posts about the work I have done in online media.

So here is the first one. For six months I was a Google Quality Rater. I did this part time working from home - in addition to my full time job. What is this quality you may ask - I found out and its #@%&ing awesome (that was a joke rating quality is really not that great).

*all posts are true (as is this one)

Google allows an AdSense advertiser to block specific ads from being displayed on their websites (usually you would block a competitor). So at one point Google decided preventing certain ads from showing on your website is good.

So why does Google allow Microsoft to run ads on their web properties? I am always seeing ads for Live.com on Youtube. I think Microsoft may be the biggest advertiser on YouTube (I may have just answered my question). The Google mind set on this one may be, we believe in our Google search product and we will take Microsoft ad dollars because we think anyone that sees the Microsoft ads and tries Live.com is coming back to Google (if the person typically uses Google search). Microsoft is probably thinking we want more search share and we want it from Google. Lets advertise on Google web properties (they let us) and try to gain some search share. Google users may like the fact that they allow Microsoft to advertise on their sites and remain loyal to Google and think less of Microsoft and Live.com (Microsoft’s strategy has then backfired). However, inevitably some people that see the ads visit Live.com and they are coming from a Google web property.

Who is winning with this one? We will watch search share stats and ad spends by the search engines and see. I would like to see how many advertising dollars Microsoft gives to Google and if it is worth while.

As of May 2007 Live.com has seen a lift in search share. Danny Sullivan states this is probably resulting from the Live Search Club.

To answer the search question in the ad - the weather in Chicago is warm and windy (at one point in my life I moved to California for the endless summer, in a few years it may be everywhere - that sounds good I will burn some extra coal tonight - joking).

This ad (see below) was placed on Yahoo’s homepage - so unless it’s behaviorally targeted to me, it is a general ad placement without any pre-determined relevance to me (classic push ad). These generally placed push ads are often ignored, and have low click through rates and even lower conversion rates (if that metric is applicable). Lets say I want information on keyboards and type the word ‘keyboard’ in the search form, I am now seeing ads that are relevant to my information pull and more likely to match my online intent compared to the generally placed ad for degrees.info on the Yahoo homepage.

Push versus Pull Advertising - Matching Interest and Intent

Pull - Best at Matching Interest and Intent

One of the great aspects of search engine advertising is the ability to provide relevant ads to someone when they are pulling specific information. If I search for the term ‘keyboard’ and see relevant ads about keyboards - I will want to review these ads and possibly click on one. These ads are being displayed right when I am pulling keyboard related information and there is a good chance an ad will also match the intent of my search (purchase, research, or anything else). These search ads usually have good click through rates and conversion rates. Keep in mind buying the correct keywords is required to maximize the chance of matching user interest and intent.

Some Pull - Okay at matching Interest and Intent

Examples of serving ads based on some type of pull are behaviorally and contextually targeted ads. Say I am looking for information on keyboards (searching on an engine) and I click on a few ads, hit some landing pages and than go on to something else. If days or weeks later a keyboard ad is served to me when visiting any type of web page (based on my previous search for keyboards) this newly displayed keyboard ad may still be relevant and useful to me. However, I may have already purchased a keyboard or found the information I was looking for and ignore these newly served ads based on my previous online information pulls.

Contextually placed ads have relevance as well. If I am reading articles on keyboards - seeing ads related to keyboards may be helpful to me and I may click and convert. However my interest and intent in less clear than well typing keywords into a search engine. Ads that are contextually targeted will have more relevance than those that are not, see example below.

When I am on the interstate driving through South Dakota (lets say I am on my way to Montana for some Fly Fishing) the millions of billboard signs for Wall Drug have some relevance. I may already be planning on stopping and if not one of the billboard signs may draw my attention and make me interested in visiting (I am in the state – relevance). Seeing a Wall Drug billboard sign in Wisconsin has much less relevance to me. It is unlikely my intent while driving in Wisconsin is to visit Wall Drug or that seeing this billboard will result in a visit (but it is possible). A billboard sign for Wall Drug in Wisconsin is push (better for branding) - as my interest and intent is unknown and I am unlikely to take immediate action. Whereas the relevancy of the billboard in South Dakota may impact my immediate behavior and it is more likely I already have an interest.

This analogy is the same with contextual based advertising. Serving me an ad about keyboards while reading an article on keyboards at PC Magazine is much more likely to garner a click on the ad and ultimately a conversion (if applicable). Serving me a keyboard ad while reading an article on a sports site about the Wisconsin Badgers upcoming football game is much less relevant and not likely to impact my immediate behavior. Even if I am interested in keyboards while visiting the sports site, the intent of my current action - reading about sports does not match the keyboard ad (this timing intent change can be a problem with behaviorally targeted ads served post pull).

Push - Probably Will Not Match Interest and Intent

Serving me an ad without direct relevance to my interests, intent, or behavior at the time of impression will probably only work for branding (like the Wall Drug sign in Wisconsin). If I am reading a news article on a news site and an ad for something unrelated to the article is served I will likely not be interested in the ad and there will be no intentional clicking, viewing, etc. even if it is flying across my screen. However if this type of push advertising can introduce me to something new or increase my awareness, but the possibilities of me clicking on an online push ad are low (maybe a 0.000001% click through rate). There is a very small chance the interest and intent of an online user will be met with a push ad - so save this type for branding.

When I tell people I work in online advertising I often hear you don’t make the pop ups do you - I hate those. What you hate is push advertising that interferes with your online interest and intent. Pull based advertising has likely helped you fulfill your online interest and intent - and you may even be a fan of online advertising.

The point is search engine advertising works so well because it the easiest and most efficient way to match ads with a person’s pull - their interest and intent. These principles are applicable to SEO as well. When optimizing your pages, optimize with keywords that increase the chance of matching the interest and intent of the searcher to the information and the actions for intent on your page (research, purchase, etc). This will give the searcher a great experience based on their information pull and increase the conversion rate on your website.

It appears China has been redirecting U.S. based search engines to Baidu.

If redirecting is in fact occurring because the Dalai Lama is getting the Congressional Gold Medal for peace from the U.S. - pretty weak move by China.

Friday evening, time for a drink.

The purpose of this post is to show an example of a country banning (redirecting) another country’s web properties to show dislike for the other nation’s actions. It could be any county, but it seems communist countries are more prone for such actions.

P.S. I wonder if they are using 301s or 302s (joking).

Appending &loop=1 to the embed code of a YouTube URL no longer gets the desired effect - looping. Appending &autoplay=1 will still auto start your video on page load, why not the looping - same implementation method.

Did YouTube take the URL loop append functionality away from the player? (See looping post)

If so here are my guesses as to why:

1.) Ads - if people embed looping videos on their pages it may prevent ads from showing pre or post video roll. (If YouTube starts serving pre or post roll ads maybe they will not get the same number of ad impressions on an embedded video with a looped URL - for the number of times the video is watched).

Perhaps YouTube really wants you to see links to more video options post roll (as currently happens) so you watch additional videos - this does not happen when looping a video.

2.) Server call issues. If someone loops a YouTube video does it make continuous calls to the server and take more server resources? Once the movie loads (YouTube videos are Flash) does it need to make server calls after it has been loaded and you play the video again - it should not right? Google requires you to cache any Flash resources with Google Gadget Ads so maybe they could be sure to cache any elements of a YouTube video that require additional server calls and make looping a strain on the server (if there are any).

Yahoo featured a video news story on their home page yesterday about a 108 year old blogger (note - the woman speaks and someone types her posts - regardless if you consider this blogging she is creating content for the web).

In 50 years I imagine this news will not be feature worthy, as the generations that have had the internet for a good portion of their life will think of such activities as necessity regardless of age (living to an old age will still be impressive but not the blogging and internet use - which is impressive now for that age).

Here is the headline 50 years from now “108 Year Old Runs Chicago Marathon in Record Heat. Read the Runners Story on His Blog.” (In 50 years the blogging part is expected).

3 Necessities For This Headline To Happen:

• Medicine / health conscious behavior continues to prolong life span (should happen)
• The Earth keeps getting warmer (should happen but not a good thing - try to stop this one)
• The internet is still being used (I believe this one to be more certain than the others)

For the modern day - blogging (or being affiliated with a blog) at 108 is an impressive story both for age and involvement with a form of online media that has only been around for less than 10 years (blogging as we now know it).

This is a song by Talib Kweli - video is directed by Bernard Gourley. If you are a fan of animated effects check it. I am guessing its done with After Effects, maybe I can learn to do some similar effects in Flash.

The other day at work as I momentarily watched ice cubs melting in my cup of hot water for tea (what’s the point of having water so hot you have to wait fifteen minutes to take a sip) I thought about how the melting ice was cooling off the hot water and ever so slightly the room around me. So in actuality I am cooling the earth. We did the experiment in 9th grade, cup of hot water and cup of ice water in closed container - eventually the temperatures balance out to the same (the hot water to a cooler temp and the ice water to a warmer). So by adding the ice cubes I am technically cooling the temperature of the hot water in the cup, the room, and the earth, thereby slowing global warming. Then I thought about the amount of energy needed to make the ice and keep the ice frozen until I took it from the ice machine and added it to the hot water. Some oil, coal, wood, or other resource for generating electricity was needed to freeze my ice and keep it ready (unless a wind farm, solar energy, or a hydroelectric dam produced the electricity). This brings up an interesting question - if we made mass amounts of ice with wind energy and threw it on the ground would we cool the earth?

I am a big fan of ice (we have crushed ice at work which is the best kind) and I eat a couple cups of it a day - mixed with pop, tea, or water. So the next time I see melting ice cubes in my cup I will pause and think of the melting ice sheet in the poles - and hopefully I will walk to the store instead of drive to offset the effect. (I realize its a little amount of electricity needed for the ice and the fact that the hot water heating takes energy too - just an ironic observation).

So the true irony is the next time you add ice to a beverage to cool it down - you are actually contributing to global warming (unless the ice is from a clean electricity source).

If anyone from work is reading this I was on a 2 minute - tea getting break during my earth cooling thoughts.

This post is one day past Blog Action Day but fairly close. The science and logic of this post would be more accurate if it was room temp water for the tea.

When I am on YouTube I often watch the short clips that I like a few times in a row. Most (actually about 99%) of YouTube videos are 10 minutes or less - they even set a cap. I imagine many other people want to watch a funny comedy clip or a music video more than one time. So why not have a looping option on the YouTube player? If I watch a 30 second comedy sketch and get a laugh - I will watch it a few times. Its great that there is a replay button in the viewing area after the video finishes, but how about a looping button as well - we are talking about clips. I use a looping button on my ipod, all digital music players on my cpu, my cd player and on Windows Media Player. Hopefully YouTube will add this feature as well.

There are a few people sharing the method of adding &loop=1 to the video url when embedding the YouTube video for the desired looping. How nice would it be as a button on the player.

Looped YouTube Embed Code - Addition to URL in Bold
<object width=”425″ height=”350″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/2rqTQP-l5Cs”></param><param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/2rqTQP-l5Cs&loop=1” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” width=”425″ height=”350″></embed></object>

See it in action below. Press play and watch the barrel action again and again without clicking. Update: this video does not loop anymore read possible reasons.

Rand Fishkin has a great article about Ron Paul’s internet strategy and use of online media over at seomoz.org. Below is a pic of some offline campaigning for Ron Paul in action. If they follow Fishkin’s advice in his article “What if the Ron Paul Fans Became SEO Savvy?” - they might be able to walk around with the sign “Google: 2008 Election Issues” and others. It might be nice to have addition signage options.

If someone saw the sign “Search Google For: 2008 Election Issues”- did the search and found the title “2008 Election Issues: Ron Paul is Your Candidate” for the first ranking in the serp - it is an additional way to draw interest to a candidate with general terms. You would have to bid on those new keywords too. You won’t want other candidates running paid on your SEO optimized keywords without you doing the same.

I took this pic because it is a great example of offline campaigning driving people to online media. This pic was taken at the 2007 Chicago Air and Water Show August 18th. I generally vote democratic and I am not endorsing Ron Paul with this post (I did google Ron Paul to learn about the candidate option).