September 3, 2010

Google Keyword Tool has Real Numbers!

Google Keyword Tool

After years of using the Google Keyword tool and trying to interpret what those stupid green bars meant, Google has finally come around and is showing real numbers in the search volume estimator. Hallelujah! Check it out:

Google Keyword Tool

First I would like to point out that this feature was a long time coming. With all the data Google has, all the users of their AdWords platform and all the money being spent, this seems like it should have been available (at least for AdWords customer) for a long time. However, I am elated to finally be able to have an idea of how many impressions I might get. This will allow meĀ to put together much more accurate budgets for ad spend in the future.

Google Pay-Per-Action Beta is Ending

As I logged into my Google AdWords account this morning I was greeted by a new messageĀ  from Google. The message read,

“The pay-per-action beta will be discontinued the last week of August 2008. After this date, your pay-per-action campaigns and ads will no longer be active.”

This comes right after Google announced its new Google Affiliates program (which is just a rebranding of Performics) and seems to confirm the rumors that Google would be shutting down their PPA beta in favor of a single solution through Google Affiliates. I personally think that the PPA program was underwhelming for most advertisers and publishers. It really seemed like they hacked the AdWords platform to offer a watered down affiliate system for AdWords users, so in the end this will probably be for the better. However, they’ll have to link it into AdWords if they really want it to take off.