Kerstin Baker-Ash

Is Google's Traffic Estimator Accurate?

No.

Google Traffic Estimator accuracy seems to have been lost in the sands of time, updates and shinier tools. It is woefully underestimating traffic for top search trends in the UK. Consider the recent Swine Flu outbreak (which the British media is making into an I am Legend epidemic). On Google Insights for Search, you can clearly see two distinct uplifts in traffic volume; one when it broke in April, and another since we started seeing more and more rates of infection and media attention:

Now take a look at Google Traffic Estimator's traffic predictions for the term "swine flu" - 0 clicks a day? £1 per day? Never mind the mathematics of dividing by zero, but how often is this updated? How can Google suggest using the traffic estimator with results as inaccurate as these:

When projecting costs and clicks for your internal stakeholders or for clients, make a point of querying the accuracy of the Traffic Estimator. Use your own judgement and search engine marketing know-how - remember that it's perhaps in Google's best interests to underestimate so that you will have to feed more money to keep up a seemingly impossibly great traffic level. Never rely on a sole source of information when building a campaign from scratch, or even expanding it.

If there wasn't a case for research before - here's your clear justification to invest in a proper keyword prediction tool or extra resource for human research.

Happy 10th Birthday, MSN Messenger!

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since MSN launched what has become the platform for instant communication on the internet (yes, I do know about Yahoo! Messenger, but it's MSN's day, okay?). In those ten years, we've seen it evolve from a rather basic instant messaging service to a place where you can draw rude photos in paint and send them to your friends, make your friends' screens buzz and use any number of combinations of emoticons to accurately express your delight or despair through the medium of instant messaging. 

Some things don't necessarily look better ten years later - my hairdos included:

 

And ten years later:

 

But massive kudos to MSN for going from this:

To this snazzy piece of kit:

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Sports and Search

Google, in their infinite wisdom, has given us a very easy way to obsessively check scores in a non-work threatening way. Since moving to the UK and marrying into a family of Cricket fans, I've found myself very interested in the Ashes, a marathon of tests and days of Cricket every two years between England and Australia. Naturally, I like to keep up to date with the boys' progress, but don't want it to take up too much time (wicket gone? Great. Back to work). Unfortunately, Google doesn't make it easy to search for one or two simple words (Ashes or Ashes Test):

Instead, you're forced to hunt and peck around until you come to the conclusion that you should be typing in "England Australia":

While I'm pleased at the current score (which would mean an historic English win at Lord's), I would be an even happier camper if Google didn't make it so hard to type out nearly twice the number of characters necessary to get an up to date score.

Checking on the BBC site now - England have just won their first test match against Australia at Lord's since 1934. Yippee!

AdSense in Local Currencies

Although AdSense has been available in local currencies from the 15th of June, they've sent a reminder e-mail around to make sure you feel worse about your earnings than you already did.

Nine European countries, all but one with currencies (okay, one big Eurozone) valued above the US dollar, will be able to pull earnings reports in their own currency. Although we'll be able to save on conversion costs at the end of the month, you do have to accept a new set of terms and conditions in order to zap your bank account with Euros, Pounds and Francs. The semi-glaring change in the new terms and conditions is the shift from jurisdiction in California to English or "local" law (in all of the countries now served with local AdSense currency reports.

I won't be able to retire just yet on my AdSense earnings, but I can feel worse about my pittance by changing currencies into a stronger British Pound:

Currency Distinction

I've just noticed this in the MCC today - going from a simple pound sign (£) to the distinction between countries who also use their own "pounds" (Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and Malta come to mind). What I'm finding confusing is that the international standard (when it comes to making currency distinctions) is not UK£ but GBP, harkening perhaps to the days before the Euro (EUR) when Ireland also used a currency called a "Punt" (or a pound, if you're an English-speaker).

In the accounts where US Dollars (USD) are the currency of choice, we're sadly left without an indication of whether or not it's a Canadian, Taiwanese or Cook Islands Dollar. Why the sudden singular distinction for the UK Pound?

It seems a bit buggy or a CMS update (like the peering eye of the AdWords Yellow Dot from a week ago). Anyone got any ideas on why the sudden switch happened?

Shoddy Results on the Content Network

I'm for matchmaking as much as the next person - the world definitely needs more happy people. I'm even for advertising dating sites on the content network, just possibly looking at the context of where you're targeting before you let loose on an unsuspecting population.

I was looking for an iCrossing report on paid and natural search synergy (very interesting, if you're looking - the report from 2007 is here). This is where Scribd's AdSense gets a bit interesting:

How the first ad passed through editorial is que$tionable, but how a search report on paid and natural search synergy manages to trigger a Tamil LifePartner ad is a big headscratcher. Perhaps somewhere in the myriad keywords there's a "partner" or "synergy" insertion, but this is the big reason why people don't trust the content network fully for a professional marketing campaign.

Sure, it's up to the individual site owner and the person targeting the content network to make site exceptions, but you can't guarantee anything because the content network is blind. Site targeting has improved the way you can make sure you're targeting the right audience, but Google's content network as it stands is pretty shoddy.

To the folks at BharatMatrimony.com, maybe map out your ideal audience and switch to site targeting - free advice to get a much better return on investment. To the people at Visman, please try to hire a copywriter who speaks English.

Call Google - They Can Fix It!

If you can't fix it, Google can. As cynical as I'd like to be (and I'm pretty cynical when it comes to Google offering to "maximize" an account for you), it might be a helpful service (which has, I know, been provided for years) to create a brand new account with the search giant.

What seasoned search veterans need to know is that the service Google provides is on a basic level. Increase spend. Change match types to broad match. Increase maximum CPC. Some of the basics that search marketers would recommend; building out keywords, changing ad copy, dayparting to save money - they don't seemed to be mentioned in an initial chat. I'm all for Google sharing information, but hopefully people can understand that it's in Google's best interests to share the information which sees you spending more money.

Happy Birthday!

My baby brother turns 26 today. Figure it out yourselves how old that makes me...

Happy birthday, bro.

Day Off in Wales

I love having meetings in Wales - an excuse to take an extra day and enjoy my in-laws' company in Cardiff. I get to look at this most of the weekend, and celebrate their wedding anniversary Welsh-style: