As the technology advances, we are all going to have to face more threats from people who want to use it for the wrong reasons. Computer malware is nothing new. It has been around since the very first version of Windows. Hackers and crackers are taking advantage of these type of software to pull off nasty things on our desktop and mobile devices. Google understands the true threat of malware, which is why it now alerts users when their searches are being intercepted.

recently, we found some unusual search traffic while performing routine maintenance on one of our data centers. After collaborating with security engineers at several companies that were sending this modified traffic, we determined that the computers exhibiting this behavior were infected with a particular strain of malicious software, or “malware.” (more…)

Most Adsense publishers have already created mobile friendly versions of their websites to monetize their work even more effectively. By underestimating the potential of mobile Adsense ads, you will be leaving a lot of money on table. Google, for its part, is now improving its reporting features, giving Adsense publishers the chance to find out where their revenue is coming from.

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Video marketing is a powerful way for businesses to reach out to their customers online. Sites such as YouTube have provided vloggers with the opportunity to make some money from ads too. If you are just getting started on YouTube and do not have a huge following, it never hurts to invest some money to promote your videos. Promoted videos show up on the top of YouTube as people search for keywords. Till now, Promoted Videos were priced on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis Google is now planning to change that starting today.

Promoted Videos will now be priced on cost-per-view basis. This should be good news for those who have not success getting people to actually view their video ads in the past. Now you will be charged everytime someone watches your video. Google made the announcement on its blog: (more…)

Google is always making changes to the way ads are displayed to help its partners gather more leads and of course make more money in the process. When you create an ad using Google Adwords, your URL usually shows up at the bottom. A lot of folks may miss that. Google has just started adding your display URL domain to your headlines too.

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I know many publishers who are constantly checking their Adsense reports to see whether their sites are performing as they should on a daily basis. Google understands this, which is why it has developed a mobile friendly version of Adsense interface to make it easier for people logging in from mobile devices to keep up with their stats.

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There was a time when small businesses could set up a Google Adwords account and get started with buying ads on Google and its network right away. The game has become much more complicated these days. Google Adwords has a ton of options for advertisers to take advantage of. That is not necessarily a bad thing for companies who have the funds to hire experts to setup their campaigns and ads for them. (more…)

For months, I have had the suspicion that Bing results were almost too close to those of Google’s. In some cases, they were identical for our web properties. Of course, making such accusations without bulletproof evidence is not such a smart idea. Apparently, Google engineers have realized this too. Google is not too shy about making its take on this known:

As we see it, this experiment confirms our suspicion that Bing is using some combination of:

• Internet Explorer 8, which can send data to Microsoft via its Suggested Sites feature
• the Bing Toolbar, which can send data via Microsoft’s Customer Experience Improvement Program

or possibly some other means to send data to Bing on what people search for on Google and the Google search results they click. Those results from Google are then more likely to show up on Bing. Put another way, some Bing results increasingly look like an incomplete, stale version of Google results—a cheap imitation.

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There is more to online advertising than just Google Adwords or Microsoft’s AdCenter service. There are plenty of other sites that can provide businesses with the traffic they need. Social advertising platforms are certainly worth a look if you have hit a plateau with your Adwords efforts. Here are 3 sites that can offer your business a boost in traffic:

Facebook Ads: one of the fastest growing social advertising platforms around. As more companies join this service, you are going to have to spend more time testing and optimizing your Facebook campaigns. But the service is not yet as competitive or sophisticated as Google Adwords. (more…)

Google has been dabbling in image ads for quite some time. Image Search Ads provide advertisers with the chance to push their businesses to people who are using Google Image search to find what they are looking for. The conversion rates for these ads may differ from regular campaigns, but they are still worth testing. Google has just expanded this program by allowing advertisers to test their ads in form of rich media leader-boards at the top of image search results (see below):

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Those of you who have been around Adwords for quite some time probably know the challenges of keeping your CTRs high to avoid Google slapping your campaigns. Google Adwords may be expensive for a lot of business, but Google does reward campaigns that have more relevant ads and get more clicks. I have seen many creative ways used by marketers to increase their CTR (the guys behind Rich Jerk have pulled off some amazing lines0. It turns out Google SiteLinks already provide advertisers with a chance to get better results using Adwords.

If you are unlucky, you Sitelinks show up at the top with your sharing the top spots with 2 other ads. The best case scenario is to have the top spot all to yourself (which is most likely the case with branded terms so it’s not about luck after all).

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