Google as a CSE

Google Product Search is the users interface of the Google CSE. If you are new to CSE';s Google Product Search is probably the best place to get your feet wet. There is no risk in testing this platform because currently there is no cost associated with listing or clicks on your products via Google Product Search. To the right is a screenshot of Google Product Search and below that is a search results page for the query "Asolo FSN 95". As you can see there are many vendors listed with images, prices and reviews all reverent to the above query. There are also highly relevent paid search results on top and to the right.

To get started you need to visit the Google Base Site (Screen Shot Below) when there you see three different options for getting your products listed. I have never tried the "One at a time" method because of the sheer number of products that get uploaded on behalf of the company I work for. This is why we use the "Data feed" method and an updated feed gets sent out every morning. The third option is "API" and I can only assume that it is also a great way to get products listed. For some strange reason there is two different names, Google Base is the backend interface for listing your products on Google Product Search. Confusing I know especially for a Google product, but remember it is still in Beta so that could all change.

Revised CSE Relationship Chart

Since the rebrand of MSN's Search, Shopping and Affiliate properties to Bing, and some new information from a couple of the Shopping Engines. It seemed like a perfect time to revise the CSE Relationship Chart and add all this new information. Below is the revised CSE Relationship Chart. The additions include the MSN restructure and change to Bing as well as adding a new child under Become.com and Shopping.com.

Amazon as a CSE

Alright let's get back at it with the Comparison Shopping Engines. The first Tier 1 Shopping Engine listed in the CSE Relationship Chart from my last post was Amazon.com with the child site of BrowseGoods.com. BroweGoods is a visual shopping aid and eventually links directly to Amazon.com for the final sale. Amazon also has associates (affiliates) that help move their product and your product if you have it listed with them. However, as far as them being a Comparison Shopping Engine I don't think I would classify them as that since for a lot of products, especially shoes and apparel, no actual comparisons are made. For the products that do have comparisons they are less obvious than most CSE's and one click deeper. I think Amazon.com would be better classified as an affiliate. As a merchant you can put your products on Amazon.com but there is little to no competition like on other CSE's. Amazon will just display the product and price with a note that the order will be filled by Merchant X, and to compare you have to dig deeper with the link to the right "More Buying Choices." I don't have any personal experience with Amazon because when I came to work for my current employer they had already ceased the relationship with Amazon due to too many technical issues with data feeds and implementation. However I would assume that most of the time the rewards for having your product on Amazon would be worth the implementation and data feed hassles due to the sheer ammount of traffic that they drive. If your business aligns with Amazon's core market of books, movies, music and games it would most likely be a strong partnership. The partnership would also benifit from Amazon's other web properties such as IMDB.com and CDnow.com which should get your products even more exposure. To list your products on Amazon you use the Amazon Marketplace. Next time I will cover Google Product Search and Shopzilla.

CSE Relationship Chart

Comparison Shopping Engines (CSE's) have a similarity to Search Engines in the fact that there are relationships between engines. With Search Engines there is a well know source for visualizing the relationships which is Bruce Clay's Search Engine Relationship Chart, and it shows how paid and organic results populate other search engines. I have looked for a similar chart that shows how data feeds trickle down from one CSE to their affiliates or other web properties, and have had no luck. So I did a little research and created an initial draft of something similar. This may change over the next month or two because I need to verify the these conclusion with each CSE, but it's a start. Over the next couple of weeks I will take a closer look at each of the Parent Shopping Engines starting with Tier 1 and working my way through Tier 2 posting any interesting details that I come across.

There is a Revised CSE Relationship Chart available.

Keyword Level Destination URL's

Before I get to some information on CSE's I thought I would go into a bit more detail of how keyword level destination URL's are set on the top tier Search Engines, and why they are important. The importance of using destination URL's is three fold. First you get more granular data when you use any analytics package to track at the keyword level and this results in better insight. With increased insight you have more actionable data which if used correctly should result in better ROAS. Secondly you should gain a higher conversion rate from correctly using keyword level URL's. If you direct traffic from search results to the most appropriate page or most appropriate sorting for the products on that page it improves conversion and quality score. Thirdly with improved quality score you will save money by having a higher quality score you can pay less for the same placement or pay the same for a higher placement on the SERP. Below are examples of how to set up and use keyword level URL's in Google AdWords, Yahoo Sponsored Search, and Microsoft adCenter.

Google AdWords:

Google says it pretty subtly and logically they will use the most granular destination URL available. When you edit keyword settings below is exactly what is displayed.

Edit Keyword Settings
“This optional feature helps you track individual keywords and their costs. You may enter individual CPC bids or destination URLs for any keyword. (These bids will apply only to search clicks and not to the content network.) Fields left blank will take the default ad group CPC or URL. To enter an entire list of keywords, URLs, and bids all at once, try the Edit Keywords and CPC page.”

Yahoo Sponsored Search:

Yahoo makes it pretty easy as well in the screen shot to the right you can see that there is a check box that has to be set that allows the use the keyword level destination URLs. That box gets checked as soon as you start typing in the field, and is unchecked if there is nothing in the text field. This makes it fairly idiot proof but gives you the option to do A/B tests on ad copy without losing the keyword level destination URL settings and tracking parameters.

Microsoft adCenter:

MSN has a good setup once you understand it and know how everything is linked together. However, it is not well documented and hard to understand if you only look at one piece of the puzzle. When you set a keyword level destination URL it is under the heading "Destination URL {param1}" that is only 1/2 of the puzzle.If you just set that and think that it will work like either of the above search engines you will not be collecting the data you desire.

The other half of the puzzle is in the ad level destination URL. You have to set the ad level URL to keyword destination URL and below that will appear {param1}. This is shown in the screen shot below. Now that you know both sides of {param1} this should make tracking a bit easier.

MSN AdCenter Nuances

Last week I learned a very valuable lesson for anyone who thinks they can learn the in's and out's of Google AdWords and apply that knowledge to other Paid Search campaigns.  At Sierra Trading Post we use a third party tracking and bid management system from Channel Advisor.  With that redirect tracking system and setting internal  tracking tags as well as Google Analytics tracking parameters you really need to know what you are doing.  Needless to say that day I assumed I did, but I didn't.

Google AdWords and as far as I know Yahoo Sponsored Search there is a hierarchy of destination URL's. Shown to the Right. This shows that it will use the most specific destination URL possible (usually keyword level destination URL) and if that is not available then use the next most specific and so on.  This way you can put all the tracking and redirect parameters at the keyword level and have very granular data to observe later, and ad level destination URL's are just a backup. With time constraints always lurking I usually leave those without proper tracking.  This is a bad practice and you should always place tracking on all destination URL's that way it is easier to find and solve problems if they do arise.

Well getting to the point Microsoft AdCenter does not function this way.  It uses the ad level destination URL unless other wise specified in the ad by using {param1}.  {param1} in layman's terms means use the destination URL at the keyword level.  Well therein lies the problem for me.  I made ad copy changes to Microsoft AdCenter ads to reflect our new branding just like I would have done in Google or Yahoo interfaces and didn't append tracking to the ad level destination URl. Without any tracking all the revenue that was generated by those ads went directly to SEO revenue and Paid Search ROAS went down the tubes.  Trust me on this one it is a hard thing to explain when the higher-ups ask "So why is the Paid Search revenue down this month?"  Your only response is "Well, because I'm an idiot."

More on the differences of the major search engines and a comparison shopping engine relationship chart to come in the next couple of weeks.

Introduction

First things first, I am by no means a marketing expert nor will I claim to be.  This blog is only to share the lessons that I have had learn the hard way.  Hopefully along the way it will reduce the hardship for at least a few.  

My Background:

I have a bachelors degree in Computer Engineering from Montana State University (Bozeman) and graduated just after the dot-com bubble burst and there were still layoffs happening in the technology sector, so I took a job building and maintaining websites.  After building websites for two companies over the course of 4 years the natural progression led me into marketing.  I got my first marketing job with Sierra Trading Post as an Affiliate Marketing Specialist or otherwise known in the marketing community as an in house AM (Affiliate Manager).  I worked with our affiliate network team from LinkShare for about 6 months in which time found a couple of ways to save the company significant operating costs.  Turnover in the company opened both Paid Search Marketing and Comparison Shopping Engine Management, so with proven detail oriented success in the AM position the company bestowed upon me the responsibilities of both open positions.  That is still where I am now 6 months later.  So take this blog with a grain of salt I have only been in the marketing industry for about 1 year.