Trip to Google office in Sydney - just cool.
February 29th, 2008 by Dan Roberts This is not really that special but last week I mentioned it and have been too busy this week with so much going on to make the promised post.
Visiting Google is Sydney is something anyone can do and there are great people there like Jasper Vallance who are more than happy to talk to you about the ins and outs of search advertising and some of the Google products that suit NZ and Australian travel companies. But your real reason for visiting should just be to see how cool a place it is - it is kind of what you expect. Reception is pretty much all white with splashes of the Google colours in carpet occasionally around the room in sharp contrast. You sign in as a visitor and it is all done on the computer via a digital pen which you then sign on and its prints out your name tag. It is not really that special either, and there are probably millions of companies that have this - but somehow the Google process just seemed cooler. I noticed they had framed pictures on the walls of all the logo variations they do for special events etc over time - but did not really want to nose around too much - they looked cool though.
And then of course there is the famous Google food. Jasper showed us around the on-site cafeteria which was just cool. Pool table, a massive fridge full of drinks (beer with your meeting anyone) and another fridge full of snacks. He explained that they are all treated with full lunches. No wonder everyone looked so “cool”.
That’s about it really. We talked for a good hour about cost-per-click campaigns and apparently a click through rate of 2% on your keywords in good in the travel industry (I think I floored him when I said we are getting 17% on one ad group and 26% on another for the campaign we are running for The Park Lodge at the moment) and he also told us some really staggering figure about the increased conversion from search engine listings if both and organic and a paid ad appear on the same page - really interesting stuff.
Tags: Cost-per-click, Google
March 5th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hey mate - those CTR rates seem a bit high? I suppose as long as they still convert well and are targeted - then it’s all good
Did they mention the new Auto Beta Matching?
It’s been all over the boards for the last week or so (http://www.webmasterworld.com/google_adwords/3583381.htm)
The idea of it just extends the notion of Google being very greedy with our adWords $$
Be good to know what they said in Sydney.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Keen to know more about “increased conversion from search engine listings if both and organic and a paid ad appear on the same page”.
There has been a lot of talk how Google is trying to claw back it’s SME adwords customers, who they are losing to SEO companies.
These customers are now spending more to optomise their websites in the natural listing - and as their rankings get better - they are decreasing their adwords spend.
Be great to know the source of the figures they use.
March 11th, 2008 at 10:26 am
I have not received any notification that we have been invited to the Auto Matching - but then again - I don’t have much problem spending the budget