Aug 02
e-consultancy has just published an interview with Brian Clifton, the European Head of Web Analytics at Google. In it, Brian talks about the importance of the relationship between Google Analytics and Google AdWords, and how improving the effectiveness of AdWords campaigns is the driving force behind the free availability of Google Analytics. He also addresses the privacy concerns that keep appearing about Google’s access to your web analytics data, how Google as a whole views GA, and talks about the Google support network – drawing attention to the network of Google Analytics Authorised Consultants (of which GA Experts is one) and the other resources Google provides for support. Read the article at e-consultancy.com
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:19 am
I appreciate that in the interview Brian says
“What’s also important to realise is that our auction model prevents us from interfering with the pricing of your ads — the bottom line is that we will never artificially adjust bid prices.”
but I have a client who remains concerned that by using GA and linking it to the relevant Adwords account they will open themselves to an increase in cost on their cheap niche keywords.
Tales of this happening may well be apocryphal, but the recent increases in minimum bids have spread alarm. Those increases may have been triggered by the issue of landing page quality, but if that can be included as a factor in setting minimum bids, is it any wonder that people fear that the knowledge that a cheap keyword happens to provide spectacular ROI could also come into play?
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:37 am
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your comments and I quite understand what your client is saying, although I totally disagree with him. The problem is that Google used to be the darling of the internet and could do no wrong, then it went public and became “one of the enemy” – i.e. a large corporation with shareholders and a board to answer to. Since then, the online community has been looking in every nook and cranny for signs of “evil”.
When guys like Brian speak, they are speaking with the voice of Google and you can’t have it said clearer than this:
“we will never artificially adjust bid prices”
The AdWords system works really well for Google and they have no real online competitors (YSM isn’t really in the same league), so why would they jeopardise it for the sake of your client’s extra pounds?
The key motivation for most of Google’s updates is to improve the user experience – for example, the new landing page algorithm is designed to remove affiliate spam from the results. If you’re getting great ROI from a cheap keyword, then this is *exactly* what Google Analytics is designed to show – Google are more likely to make a Case Study out of the situation than try and screw a few more pence out of it.
Hope this helps to put your clients mind at rest.