Google Advertising Tools

Google Advertising Tools

by Harold Davis
Released January 2006
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9780596101084

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Book description

When it comes to advertising on the web, you just can't argue with the numbers. A $7 billion market today is expected to grow to $18.9 billion by 2010. Jupiter Research also estimates that search advertising will be a larger share of the market than display advertising by 2010. These phenomenal numbers are due largely to Google, which has changed the way the world publishes content - and advertises.

Google Advertising Tools from O'Reilly examines the business and technology behind making money with content and advertising on the web. This focused, easy-to-read guide shows you how to use Google's advertising services to make it happen. You'll find all the background information you need to work with Google AdSense, which automatically delivers text and image ads that are precisely targeted to your site, and Google AdWords, which lets you generate text ads that accompany specific search term results.

This book has specific and detailed sections on:

  • Turning your web site into a profit center with AdSense
  • Making sense of AdSense metrics
  • Driving traffic to your site
  • Optimizing sites for search engine placement
  • Working with AdWords campaigns, auctions, and reports
  • Managing campaigns dynamically using the AdWords APIs

Once you've read all four parts, you'll have a comprehensive picture of how advertising works on the web and how you can use the Google advertising programs to your advantage.

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Table of contents

  1. Preface
    1. Organization
    2. Assumptions
    3. About the Examples
    4. Conventions Used in This Book
    5. Using Code Examples
    6. How to Contact Us
    7. Safari Enabled
    8. Acknowledgments
  2. I. Making Money with Your Web Site
    1. 1. Build It and They Will Come: Creating Popular Web Sites
      1. 1.1. The Taxonomy of Success
        1. 1.1.1. Funny Web Destinations
        2. 1.1.2. Useful Free Services and Software
        3. 1.1.3. Magazines and Newspapers
        4. 1.1.4. The Blogosphere
        5. 1.1.5. Practical Information: Content Sites and Niches
        6. 1.1.6. E-Commerce Sites
        7. 1.1.7. Great Communities
      2. 1.2. Popular Sites: Using Alexa
      3. 1.3. How Much Content Is Enough?
      4. 1.4. Presenting Content
        1. 1.4.1. Page and Site Design
        2. 1.4.2. Page Size
        3. 1.4.3. Separating Content from Design
        4. 1.4.4. Keeping Content Fresh
        5. 1.4.5. Positioning Ads
      5. 1.5. Content Architecture
        1. 1.5.1. Server-Side Includes
        2. 1.5.2. PHP Includes
        3. 1.5.3. Optimal Include Layout
      6. 1.6. Action Items
    2. 2. Driving Traffic to Your Site
      1. 2.1. Creating a Plan and a Story
        1. 2.1.1. The Elevator Pitch
        2. 2.1.2. Creating a Checklist
        3. 2.1.3. Naming Your Site
      2. 2.2. Submitting Your Sites to Search Engines
        1. 2.2.1. Important Search Engines for Submission
        2. 2.2.2. Submission Tools
      3. 2.3. Working with Directories
        1. 2.3.1. Understanding Taxonomies
        2. 2.3.2. Getting Open Directory Project Listings
        3. 2.3.3. Getting Yahoo! Directory Listings
      4. 2.4. Becoming Popular
        1. 2.4.1. The Best Inbound Links
        2. 2.4.2. Finding Sites to Make a Link Request
        3. 2.4.3. Making the Link Request
          1. 2.4.3.1. Finding email addresses
          2. 2.4.3.2. Emails should not spam
      5. 2.5. Publishing Press Releases
      6. 2.6. Syndication Feeds
        1. 2.6.1. Creating Feeds
        2. 2.6.2. Telling the World About Your Feed
        3. 2.6.3. Submitting Feeds
      7. 2.7. Using Email Lists
        1. 2.7.1. Newsletters
        2. 2.7.2. List Administration
      8. 2.8. Action Items
    3. 3. Optimizing Sites for Search Engine Placement
      1. 3.1. How Your Site Appears to a Bot
        1. 3.1.1. Images
        2. 3.1.2. Links
        3. 3.1.3. File Formats
        4. 3.1.4. Viewing Your Site with an All-Text Browser
      2. 3.2. Excluding the Bot
        1. 3.2.1. The robots.txt File
        2. 3.2.2. Meta Robot Tags
      3. 3.3. Meta Information
      4. 3.4. Creating a Site with SEO in Mind
        1. 3.4.1. Site Design Principles
        2. 3.4.2. Linking
          1. 3.4.2.1. Inbound links
          2. 3.4.2.2. Outbound links
          3. 3.4.2.3. Cross links
        3. 3.4.3. Pages and Keywords
          1. 3.4.3.1. Page size
          2. 3.4.3.2. Choosing keywords
          3. 3.4.3.3. Keyword placement
      5. 3.5. Avoiding Overly Aggressive SEO Practices
        1. 3.5.1. Google’s Prohibitions
        2. 3.5.2. Why Not to Be Overly Aggressive
      6. 3.6. Action Items
    4. 4. Making Money with Affiliate Programs
      1. 4.1. Kinds of Ad Programs
      2. 4.2. Understanding Affiliate Programs
        1. 4.2.1. Mechanics of the Process
        2. 4.2.2. Creatives
        3. 4.2.3. Areas of Concern
          1. 4.2.3.1. Amount of the commission
          2. 4.2.3.2. Sales and commission tracking
          3. 4.2.3.3. Merchant support of affiliate programs
          4. 4.2.3.4. Matching affiliates with content
      3. 4.3. Working with an Affiliate Program
        1. 4.3.1. Affiliate Aggregators
          1. 4.3.1.1. Commission Junction
          2. 4.3.1.2. LinkShare
        2. 4.3.2. The Amazon.com Associate Program
      4. 4.4. Action Items
    5. 5. CPC Advertising
      1. 5.1. CPC Terminology
      2. 5.2. Understanding Contextual Relevance
        1. 5.2.1. Serving Ads
        2. 5.2.2. Dollars and Cents
      3. 5.3. CPC Program Vendors
      4. 5.4. Placing CPC Ads on Your Site
        1. 5.4.1. Signing Up
        2. 5.4.2. Selecting Ad Formats
        3. 5.4.3. Adding Code to Your Pages
      5. 5.5. Action Items
    6. 6. Profiting from Adult Sites
      1. 6.1. Creating Adult Sites
        1. 6.1.1. Legal Issues
          1. 6.1.1.1. Adult web traffic and obscenity
          2. 6.1.1.2. Children in pornography
          3. 6.1.1.3. Celebrities
        2. 6.1.2. Protecting the Children
        3. 6.1.3. Adult Web Hosting
        4. 6.1.4. Converting Traffic
          1. 6.1.4.1. Instant gratification
          2. 6.1.4.2. Product credibility
          3. 6.1.4.3. Targeting content to traffic
        5. 6.1.5. The Taxonomy of Desire
      2. 6.2. Making Money with Advertising
        1. 6.2.1. Types of Programs
        2. 6.2.2. Payment Plans
        3. 6.2.3. Webmaster Programs
        4. 6.2.4. Finding Sponsors
      3. 6.3. Publicizing Your Site
        1. 6.3.1. Adult Directories
        2. 6.3.2. Advertising Your Site
        3. 6.3.3. Syndication
        4. 6.3.4. Adult Press Releases
      4. 6.4. Action Items
  3. II. Getting the Most from AdSense
    1. 7. Understanding Google, AdSense, and AdWords
      1. 7.1. The Syntax of a Google Query
        1. 7.1.1. Google Syntax and Operators
        2. 7.1.2. The Rules of Simple Search
        3. 7.1.3. Effective Searching
        4. 7.1.4. The Google Results Page
      2. 7.2. Google’s Parts
        1. 7.2.1. Advanced Search
        2. 7.2.2. Blogger
        3. 7.2.3. Catalogs
        4. 7.2.4. Code
        5. 7.2.5. Directory
        6. 7.2.6. Froogle
        7. 7.2.7. Local
        8. 7.2.8. Personalize Your Home Page
        9. 7.2.9. Print
        10. 7.2.10. Scholar
      3. 7.3. Automated Ad Brokering: AdSense and AdWords
      4. 7.4. Action Items
    2. 8. Working with AdSense
      1. 8.1. Applying for an AdSense Account
      2. 8.2. Setting Account Options
        1. 8.2.1. Ad Type Preference
        2. 8.2.2. Filing Tax Information
        3. 8.2.3. Reviewing Payment History
      3. 8.3. AdSense Content and AdSense Search
      4. 8.4. AdSense Ad Settings
        1. 8.4.1. Getting Ad Layout Code
          1. 8.4.1.1. Ad type
          2. 8.4.1.2. Ad layout
          3. 8.4.1.3. Color palettes
          4. 8.4.1.4. Alternate URL or color
          5. 8.4.1.5. Selecting a channel
          6. 8.4.1.6. Putting the ad on a frame
        2. 8.4.2. Grabbing the Code
          1. 8.4.2.1. Ad unit example
          2. 8.4.2.2. Link unit example
        3. 8.4.3. Custom Ad Colors
        4. 8.4.4. Using Channels
        5. 8.4.5. Applying Competitive Filters
      5. 8.5. AdSense Search Settings
        1. 8.5.1. Web Search Boxes
        2. 8.5.2. Site Search Boxes
        3. 8.5.3. Getting Simple Search Code
        4. 8.5.4. Working with Search Styles
      6. 8.6. Action Items
    3. 9. Making Sense of AdSense
      1. 9.1. Ad Performance
        1. 9.1.1. Running Reports
          1. 9.1.1.1. Choosing a date range
          2. 9.1.1.2. Page or unit impressions
          3. 9.1.1.3. Aggregate versus channel data
        2. 9.1.2. Statistics
        3. 9.1.3. Downloading a CSV File
      2. 9.2. Search Performance
      3. 9.3. Your Earnings
      4. 9.4. Tools Beyond AdSense for Tracking
        1. 9.4.1. Listening to Web Logs
        2. 9.4.2. Web Analytic Software
      5. 9.5. Action Items
  4. III. Working with AdWords
    1. 10. Using AdWords
      1. 10.1. Signing up for an Account
        1. 10.1.1. Targeting Customers
          1. 10.1.1.1. Global and national targeting
          2. 10.1.1.2. Regional and city targeting
          3. 10.1.1.3. Custom geographic targeting
        2. 10.1.2. Creating an Ad
        3. 10.1.3. Crafting an Ad
        4. 10.1.4. Choosing Keywords
        5. 10.1.5. Setting Pricing
        6. 10.1.6. Reviewing Your Account
        7. 10.1.7. Signing Up
        8. 10.1.8. Providing Payment Information and Activating Your Account
      2. 10.2. Creating and Editing Ad Campaigns
        1. 10.2.1. Creating a New Campaign
        2. 10.2.2. Editing Campaign Settings
          1. 10.2.2.1. Pausing, resuming, and deleting an ad campaign
          2. 10.2.2.2. The campaign summary
      3. 10.3. Ad Groups
        1. 10.3.1. Creating a New Ad Group
        2. 10.3.2. Editing an Ad Group
        3. 10.3.3. Creating an Image Ad
      4. 10.4. Site Targeting
        1. 10.4.1. Enabling Site Targeting
        2. 10.4.2. Creating a Site-Targeted Campaign
      5. 10.5. Getting a Client Manager Account
      6. 10.6. Action Items
    2. 11. Improving Campaign and Ad Group Performance
      1. 11.1. Monitoring Your AdWords Activity
        1. 11.1.1. Understanding Your Campaign Summary
        2. 11.1.2. Drilling Down into a Campaign
        3. 11.1.3. Understanding Ad Group Performance
          1. 11.1.3.1. Search and content results
          2. 11.1.3.2. Individual keyword results
          3. 11.1.3.3. Keyword status
        4. 11.1.4. Using the Ads Diagnostic Tool
      2. 11.2. Optimizing Your Ads
        1. 11.2.1. Keyword Tool
        2. 11.2.2. Estimating Traffic
      3. 11.3. Modifying Your Campaigns
        1. 11.3.1. Editing Maximum CPC
        2. 11.3.2. Changing Keyword Matching Options
        3. 11.3.3. Editing Ad Text
        4. 11.3.4. Changing Keywords
      4. 11.4. Action Items
    3. 12. AdWords Reporting and Conversion Tracking
      1. 12.1. Using AdWords Reports
        1. 12.1.1. Kinds of Reports
        2. 12.1.2. Creating a Site / Keyword Report
        3. 12.1.3. Downloading Reports
        4. 12.1.4. Scheduling a Report
        5. 12.1.5. Creating a Custom Report
      2. 12.2. Working with Conversion Tracking
        1. 12.2.1. Understanding Conversion Tracking
        2. 12.2.2. Tracking PayPal Purchases
          1. 12.2.2.1. Setting up a new PayPal button
          2. 12.2.2.2. Modifying an existing PayPal button
        3. 12.2.3. Tracking Visitors to a Crucial Page
        4. 12.2.4. Cross-Channel Conversion Tracking
      3. 12.3. Action Items
  5. IV. Using the AdWords APIs
    1. 13. Understanding the AdWords API
      1. 13.1. Introducing the AdWords API
        1. 13.1.1. The Ecosystem of Google APIs
        2. 13.1.2. Who Can Best Benefit from the AdWords API?
      2. 13.2. Working with the AdWords API Web Service
        1. 13.2.1. The AdWords API WSDL Files
        2. 13.2.2. SOAP
        3. 13.2.3. Choosing a Programming Language
      3. 13.3. The AdWords API Services
      4. 13.4. Signing up for a Developer Token
        1. 13.4.1. Accessing Your Own My Client Center
        2. 13.4.2. Getting Your AdWords API Developer Token
        3. 13.4.3. AdWords API Quotas and Usage
      5. 13.5. Action Items
    2. 14. Programming the AdWords API
      1. 14.1. Using the AdWords API with PHP
        1. 14.1.1. SOAP Libraries for PHP
        2. 14.1.2. Downloading and Installing NuSOAP
      2. 14.2. Creating the Campaign Web Service Client
        1. 14.2.1. The General Pattern
        2. 14.2.2. Creating the Authentication Headers
        3. 14.2.3. Connecting to the WSDL File and Creating a Client Object
        4. 14.2.4. Setting the Authentication Headers for the Clients
      3. 14.3. Creating a Campaign
        1. 14.3.1. Campaign Settings
        2. 14.3.2. Adding the Campaign
        3. 14.3.3. Handling Errors
        4. 14.3.4. Getting the Campaign ID
      4. 14.4. Creating an AdGroup
        1. 14.4.1. Creating a Client Object and Setting Headers
        2. 14.4.2. Creating the AdGroup
        3. 14.4.3. Getting the AdGroup ID
      5. 14.5. Adding an Ad
        1. 14.5.1. Creating a Client Object and Setting Headers
        2. 14.5.2. Generating the Creative and Making the Request
      6. 14.6. Adding Keywords
        1. 14.6.1. Creating a Client Object and Setting Headers
        2. 14.6.2. Stringing Together the Keywords
        3. 14.6.3. Making the Request
      7. 14.7. Verifying Your Creation
      8. 14.8. Action Items
    3. 15. Navigating the AdWords Objects Hierarchy
      1. 15.1. Working with the AdWords API Web Services
        1. 15.1.1. Drilling Down
        2. 15.1.2. Adding Web References
        3. 15.1.3. Creating Objects Using the Proxy Classes
      2. 15.2. Creating Authentication Information
      3. 15.3. Iterating Through the AdWords Hierarchy
        1. 15.3.1. Displaying Campaign Information
        2. 15.3.2. Displaying AdGroup Information
        3. 15.3.3. Showing Keywords Associated with an Ad
        4. 15.3.4. Displaying Results
      4. 15.4. Action Items
    4. 16. Keyword Estimation
      1. 16.1. KeywordEstimatorService Messages and Responses
      2. 16.2. Keyword Requests and Estimates
        1. 16.2.1. The Request Object
        2. 16.2.2. The Response Object
      3. 16.3. Getting User Information
        1. 16.3.1. Obtaining Authentication Headers
        2. 16.3.2. Getting a Keyword and Maximum CPC
      4. 16.4. Returning the Keyword Estimate
        1. 16.4.1. Creating a Service Object
        2. 16.4.2. Using the Header Information for Authentication
        3. 16.4.3. Constructing the Keyword Request
        4. 16.4.4. Send a Request Message
        5. 16.4.5. Displaying Information Using the Keyword Estimate
      5. 16.5. Action Items
  6. Glossary
  7. Index
  8. Index
  9. About the Author
  10. Colophon
  11. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Google Advertising Tools
  • Author(s): Harold Davis
  • Release date: January 2006
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596101084