The format for Local Business Results in Google has changed. 10 businesses are now listed on page one in the local business results box. Prior to today, or at least until very recently, only 3 businesses were featured. You can see a screen shot from when I first noticed local business results in Google Australia. The screenshot below is what I’m seeing today. Google are obviously experimenting with local business results.

It might not seem like a big deal but a page one spot for a popular search query, in this case a search for accommodation, is valuable and now there are more slots available thus creating an opportunity.

On the other hand it’s putting even more choices on the first page which might not necessarily be a good thing for the searcher. More studies are being done into how people interact with the search pages including this excellent one by Gord Hotchkiss.

The numerous list posts you see on the most common mistakes made by adwords beginners don’t get to the root of the problem.

They focus on the use of adwords features like this:

1. Too many keywords in one ad group
2. Not opting out of content network
3. Only using broad match keywords
4. Not using negative keywords
5. Not split testing ads

Adwords beginners do generally make these mistakes but the lists miss the main point that beginners often have no clue what they are trying to achieve or how the whole process works. And by the whole process I don’t mean how to log into adwords and opt out of the content network, I mean the process that starts with someone searching for something.

A lot of beginners have no idea of the absolute basics of what they are trying to achieve. They don’t understand the fundamental building blocks of search queries, keywords and ads and the relationship between them. This lack of understanding makes discussion on things like keyword match types and split testing ads pretty redundant.

I know this to be true and I’ve seen numerous examples. A while ago I reviewed a campaign set up by the owner of an entertainment website. The business is an entertainment booking service with a wide range of categories from clowns to bands to motivational speakers.

The campaign had one ad group with about 20 keywords and one ad. I explained the need to create targeted ad groups. He made some changes and asked me to take another look at the campaign. He’d created an ad group called “bands” with the keywords “rock”, “country”, “blues”, “world music” etc.

I think Google are at fault for giving the impression that adwords is easy. As Andrew Goodman said in a SEM group I follow, “It sure ain’t “five minutes and a credit card” - as the seductive sales pitch suggests”.

Which adwords topics got the most attention in 2007? Here’s my top 5 list. What have I missed and what will be important in 2008?

1. Quality Score

This is always a favourite for discussion given that it has such an impact on campaign performance. It’s also complex and therefore susceptible to misinterpretation. Brad Geddes does a good job of explaining quality score.

2. New Adwords features - Top Ad Placement

The one that caused the biggest debate ahead of implementation would have to be the changes to the formula for top ad placement. Bloggers and forumites jumped on the idea that it would unfairly drive adwords costs up. Most commentators didn’t even bother to read the announcement properly or stop and think about it but jumped on the bandwagon once the consensus of opinion was reached. I’ve seen hardly any feedback since it was launched.

3. Most Maligned Adwords Feature - Expanded Broad Match

Expanded broad match would have to win the prize for the most hated feature. Here are a couple of “expanded match is EVIL” forum threads.

4. SEO versus PPC

The best posts on this were those describing how they work well together rather than one being better than the other but maybe I’m biased. Here’s a recent post from Dave Naylor with an example of organic and ppc working well together.

5. Pricing Models

How you charge for PPC services is always a favourite for debate. Alan Rimm-Kaufman shared his agency’s model and rates in a bid to open up the secrecy about pricing and structure.

Happy new year to all who read my blog.

I’ve been blogging for just over a year so it’s a good time to think about the achievements and the goals for the coming year.

Benefits

1. I’ve received a steady and growing number of website visitors that I wouldn’t have got without the blog. This is due to a number of reasons including the long tail of search, referrals from sites where my content is syndicated such as webpronews, and referrals from other blogs I comment on.
2. Blogging has enabled easier participation in social media including other blogs, forums and sites like sphinn.
3. I’ve formed valuable relationships and contacts both online and also offline at events like the bloggers conference.
4. I believe I’ve increased my knowledge substantially more than I would have done otherwise because of the need to keep up to date, research topics and articulate points of view.

The hard things

1. Finding the time and making blogging a priority when there‘s a list of other urgent tasks to complete.
2. Breaking through the psychological barriers during the times when you feel unmotivated to post, run out of ideas or feel you have nothing valuable to add to the conversation.
3. Keeping an eye on the goals and not getting sidetracked.

This year

I’m committed to blogging and to doing more in this area. After a couple of months of light posting I’m ready to re-assess the direction of my blog and start contributing again both here and in other places. On that note, a group of Australian bloggers, notably Meg, Andrew and Snoskred have formed an Australian Bloggers Community. It has a forum which has got off to a great start and a group blog which will launch on 21 January. I’m pleased to be part of the community as a forum moderator and a contributor to the group blog when it starts. Hope to see you there!