EQUTE — Researchers say the benefit of good organic SEO rankings may also contribute to people clicking on paid ads.

Researchers Sha Yang and Anindya Ghose at the New York University — Leonard N. Stern School of Business wrote up their findings in a really long paper, luckily WebProNews distilled the juicy bits for everyone.

Basically, the research shows that when both organic results and paid ad results appear on a search results page, the paid ads perform better.

It’s almost surprising how synergy the study suggests.

Positive interdependence leads to an increase in expected profits for the firm ranging from 4.2 % to 6.15 % when compared to profits in the absence of this interdependence.

The study showed that the he positive association is strongest when advertiser-specific keywords are used and weakest when brand-specific and generic keywords are used. When the two combine, click-through rates are 5.1 percent higher than when only organic listings are present and 11.7 percent higher when both are shown together.

Overall, the researchers said that profit from the paid search can shoot up by as much as 54 percent.

So those SEM marketers that completely ignore organic search should take note to spread their efforts around. Whether the search listing adds credibility to the ads or vice versa, it’s an interesting synchronicity

So all you SEM marketers should work on those organic rankings, and those SEO experts should work to get their ads displayed alongside their high-ranking search results.

EQUTE — Montreal-based PPC management tool Acquisio released a whitepaper dubbedAdvanced PPC Bidding Strategies which gives 10 good best practices for a PPC marketing campaign.

The first strategy is logical, but it’s not how most people run a PPC campaign. Instead of bidding on a hundreds of thousands of keywords in an ad group, find logical keywords. Do some research on Google trends and see the real keywords people are using.

It seems obvious, but going through any auto generated list of 500 keywords will have a lot of really bad keywords. Cut them out, they only lower the quality score and make things tougher to track.

Another of the strategies is a good rule of thumb for the current state of the economy. It’s pretty obvious to most people running a PPC campaign, but focusing on savings is key these days. Traffic to coupon sights is way up and people are looking for just about any way to save. So advertise to that, emphasize coupons, discounts, sales and bonuses.

The Acquisio list also goes into the pros and cons of the array of Google AdSense options, it’s a pretty good resource for people trying to figure out what kind of advertising model they want for their online ads but are stuck trying to decide which would be best.

Another strategy only comes into play for some advertisers, but it emphasizes that advertisers shouldn’t neglect trademarked keywords, if ad dollars need to be cut, they should ferret out unnecessary keywords but keep control of your brand. Cutting back on your own brand keywords opens the door to competition or affiliates to take control. Letting others take control of a brand’s advertising will increase competitors’ quality scores, making it more expensive to battle them when you start bidding on trademarks again.

The inverse strategy says something similar for affiliates and competitors, if most any marketer can bid on brand names now. Spotting a big brand that bows out of their own keywords should strike while the iron is hot. Keeping a good quality score for a big brand will make money in the long run.

The white paper went on to say to bid by true customer value; which is a pretty wise thing to do that people don’t see when looking only at direct-response keyword ROI. Companies should take note of how customers use the site after their first visit. Calculate how even a low-performing keyword drives customers to loyalty programs or repeat business.

Looking at only percentages will also make some keywords look ill performing to others with a higher conversion rate, but looking at the efficiency is key:

For example, a company driving strictly for ROI using PPC advertising as a cash machine will now be driving by dollars, not just percentages. Aiming for a 50 percent cost-to-margin ratio may generate less net revenue (margin minus ad costs) than aiming for a 75 percent cost-to-margin ratio. But would you rather keep 50 percent of $1,000 or 25 percent of $5,000?

The final strategy on the list was targeted toward SEM marketers.

According to SEM expert Jeremy Schoemaker (a.k.a. ShoeMoney), bid the minimum for each of your campaign keywords. When setting up campaigns, have strict budget and performance requirements. If your campaign has 300 to more than 500 visitors without any sales, consider making modifications or perhaps killing it and starting over.

Acquisio said search engine marketers should also take care to get all the misspellings they can to get all the missed keywords in their niche. These misspellings come into play when marketing in Europe too, where non-native English speakers are searching in English — misspellings abound.

EQUTE — The guys over at Adotas uncovered a note from the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

In the note, AAAA says the merger is a good thing and must be completed as quick as possible.

“We believe that Yahoo! and Microsoft’s proposal to combine their technologies and search platforms is good for advertisers, marketing services agencies, website publishers and consumers.
These benefits are too important to wait for. As leading members of the advertising and marketing services industry, we urge the Department of Justice to bring its antitrust review to a speedy conclusion. This pro¬posal enhances competition, and should be allowed to take effect as soon as possible.”

The open arms the AAAA has for the Yahoo-Microsoft deal is in stark contrast to their view of the proposed deal between Yahoo and Google; which the association saw as an even bigger monopoly for Google. Google gave up on the deal when the Department of Justice threatened suit.

Once the merger is complete, there may really be an alternative ad space to Google, and one that is finally an actual competitor.

EQUTE — An adviser to the European Union’s top court says Google does not infringe on trade marks by selling trademarked keywords.

Several brands have been in a legal battle with the search and advertising giant because their official ads were forced to compete with any rabble with a higher bid than them.

Louis Vuitton, for example, was fighting to boot manufactures of knockoff designer goods using their brand name out of search advertising.

“Advocate General Poiares Maduro considers that Google has not infringed trade mark rights by allowing advertisers to buy keywords corresponding to registered trademarks,” the European Court of Justice said in a statement.

Though the court has yet to make the ruling, the court’s decisions typically fall in line with their court advisers.

Google’s lawyers said the likely ruling came because consumers are smart enough to know the difference between real and fake ads.

“We believe that selecting a keyword to trigger the display of an ad does not amount to trademark infringement, and that consumers benefit from seeing more relevant information,” said Google lawyer Harjinder Obhi wrote in a statement. “Consumers are smart and are not confused when they see a variety of ads displayed in response to their search queries.”

The decision also hinges on the fact that Google doesn’t directly make money from the trademarked name.

Google argued that they make money by Internet users clicking on the keyword, and the decision to click or not belongs to the user.

The decision could end a seven-year fight — Google is appealing a unfavorable decision brought against it by a French court in 2006.

Google’s trademark policy varies across the world. In some countries, mainly in Europe, Google blocks names from being chosen as keywords once it’s received proof that they are protected trademarks — not so in the U.S.

The decision could mean that blocking trademarked keywords could soon end around the world.