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I would advise my client to obviously focus and improve its html links and to invest in its informatic system, firstly he could choose to focus his page optimization and to have control over the access of his websites. He would have to select the best H1 and H2 tags in order to know and have a control over who visits and how long, etc, and have all the information needed concerning his website. He could facilitate for the visitor the visual of his website by creating cases and boxes which could be classified by domain. Obviously, there needs to be a proper and involved SEO of the company to monitor all of this and to see if everything is always at its best.

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Always adhere to Googles regulations, as to not would negatively affect your score. Be upto date with consumer trends and how your customer searches! Ensure all your search the and key words are relevant to your product or service. Being innovative and simple at the same time is the way to connect with your users.

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18309016

Identify Your Target Keywords

As the Internet is worldwide, anyone who has access to the internet can find sites from all around the world. Therefore, as a business, you want to attract visitors to your site rather than other websites around the world. In my opinion, identifying the right keywords will determine whether or not the search optimization efforts will succeed or not. The keywords need to rrlate directly to your business. Many businesses make the mistake of spending too much money on keywords that aren’t “buyer” keywords, which results in useless traffic to the site.

It is optimal to target keywords that your target customers are likely to use when searching for the product or service that you offer. For example, if you have an optician business based in Dublin, I would not recommend that you target general keywords such as “optician”. This is because it will be attract visitors from all over the world. Instead, you should target a more precise keywords such as “Dublin opticians” or “Opticians in Dublin”.

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I would advise a client to view the most searched words or phrases in their market or for similar products and integrate these words/ phrases onto their website to list higher up on the search results and be more relevant. I would also advise the client to pay close attention to using html and use it properly and effectively.

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One takeaway from Advise the customer to invest heavily in an effective approach to introducing HTML by focusing primarily on and select the most distinctive H1 tags (most important content placed on top of the page) and H2 headings (subheading containing keywords about the product / company) these two headings are which initially gauge a websites visitors to move pass the first steps of visitation on a website, e.g. clicking on pages within the site - engaging, which leads to a boost in insights and reach due to a coherent and up-to-date website which will lead to a higher google ranking, thus in turn will result in a sufficient increase in organic search rankings. The client should opt to think locally to prevent the bother of disavowing of bad links.

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I would advise my client to focus on correct use of html tags and to use links wisely by using descriptive link text, indicating when links open in a new window and indicating when linking to a big image/file or .pdf and to focus on negative as well as positive SEO by disavowing poor links. I would also advise my client to avoid content duplication, avoid outbound links to other sites. Finally, I would stress the importance of mobile accessibility and page speed.

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From the discussion in class,
Using long-tail search ranking will improve their search rankings, don’t just go with the most popular keywords in your market. By targeting long-tail keywords instead of head keywords, you’re more likely to bring in visitors who are interested in your site, product, or service. Use Keywords that are More specific to your product or service. In time, Google and other search engines will identify your website or blog as a destination for that particular subject, which in turn will boost your content in search rankings and help your ideal customers find you. If you have pictures use a tag to indicate what the picture is because the ‘Robots’ that choose the search rankings wont see your image.

To make sure you use the best long-tail search rankings they will need to find keywords that pay off for you, start by thinking about their business. That will help you reach searchers who need what you’re selling.

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18367023
I would advise my client to focus on a few different factors to improve their organic search rankings. Identifying your target keywords is a key factor in improving it while also developing your content strategy allows you to constantly add new content to your website. Also another way is to monitor performance and continue to optimize your SEO efforts this can be done by using several highly effective SEO tools to help you audit and monitor your website’s performance. This would without doubt help the client in improving its organic search rankings.

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firstly what surprised me the most is how to optimise search effectively you initially have to have your page layout properly, i.e the most important content at the top secondly I was surprised with the use of tags, which can have a major impact on your ranking . Interesting to get the right traffic towards your website you need to get the basic right such applying local search. Lastly I was intrigued by the up coming use of search in terms of implicating all of senses such as voice search i.e siri and visual search

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Simone
18509299
A key element in terms of improving organic search rankings is optimizing SEO efforts. Among this it would be crucial for a client to focus on on-page optimisation. This essentially refers to the factors you can control on your own website for example, optimizing page content & internal links. It would improve the client’s ranking within search engines; therefore, it helps in improving the overall visibility of your website for users

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From the discussion in class, I would advise my client to focus on the quality of links as to improve their organic search ranking. In todays online world paying for links can be harmful and some of the content surrounding your own links are becoming increasingly more important. In addition to this, I would advise my client when looking at the quality of links to focus in on the authority of domain linking to their website as this is a critical part of improving ones organic search ranking.

However when looking at quality of links, I would tell my client to be weary of link farms (set of web pages created with the sole aim of linking to a target page, to improve that pages search engine ranking) which are a negative impact of quality of links.

Sean Lundberg (18434076)

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In my opinion a key way in which I would advise a client to execute SEO optimization is by ensuring that they are getting the upmost benefit from incorporating hyperlinks into their site. By elaborating on links with keywords rather than just writing ‘Click for more’ a broader range of keywords can be picked up upon by the search engine ranking system. As well as this links should open in a new tab to ensure clarity and keep everything clean. Furthermore, linking to other websites and individuals may encourage those parties to link back and reference your site. This in turn would generate more traffic and increase awareness of the website. Individuals should also be aware of links that can be perceived as harmful and use a ‘nofollow’ when necessary to prevent any damage occurring to the overall perceived quality of their website.

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I would advise a client to focus on organic keywords to improve their organic search rankings. I would advise the client to engage in some keyword research in order for them to identify their most valuable words which their customers use to find their business. I think it is important to consider that the client looks at their social media platforms e.g. Instagram, as a way to use some hashtags customers use about the business as keywords to develop their SEO strategy. An important thing to note is the use of long-tail keywords, which could prove to improve rankings outside of the competitive keywords.

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I would advise firstly focusing on the periodic table of SEO factors. Things such as structure, headings, security are all essential elements that would bring up their organic ranking. They should focus on optimising as many of these success factors as possible. Designing for people and not machines must be central. On page optimisation which includes matching of web pages, key phrases and links into the page using backlinks, as well placing a focus on the quality of their links must be applied. Their onsite and offsite factors must also prove to be of relevance, controlling as many on site factors as possible in order to fully maximise their position. Key phrase research is essential to see what as well as copies also - 18316951

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What surprised me was the ranking system for Google ad bid and how it can affect profit within the business. What is strange is the fact that there’s still some spelling errors in ads, it would seem a company such as Google would have a simple error like this eradicated. Furthermore, what I found interesting was Amazon’s growth with searches, and how it is clearly something to focus on in the future for further growth.

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I found it interesting that, more clicks doesn't necessarily mean more profit, and search engine advertising needs to be justified in order to be rolled out. Also that different countries use different search engines, especially in relation to China, and if companies are considering entering these markets, they need to be mindful of the browsers they use, and advertise content on them.

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I was surprised to learn about how Google operates its ranking system in relation to ad bids and that even in today's world of auto correct and other grammar checkers, that there are still many spelling errors in these ads. Companies must invest large sums of money in SEOs in order to compete. This is the case with Amazon, as they plan to prioritize increasing searches in the future to expand their business.

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I entered the lecture with an extremely limited knowledge of the topic and therefore was surprised by the ranking system of Google AdWords SEA and the effect that these ranking system have on profit and popularity of each business.
It also shocked me that there are still many spelling errors in ads today despite the effort and man power that are behind the decisions of each ad. The amount of money that is invested into this should also mean that mistakes like this do not happen.
I was surprised to find that the majority of google’s income comes from SEA and SEO purchasing by companies. This sector has become one which can have a huge influence on searchers if places in the right area but can be a huge waste of time, money and effort if you are not in the top few

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What surprised me was the ranking system for Google ad bid and the fact that there’s still some spelling errors in ads. Furthermore, what I found interesting was Amazon’s growth with searches, and how it is clearly something to focus on in the future for further growth.

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What surprised me about search engines?

Due to not knowing a whole lot about search engines many things surprised me at today’s lecture.

One of the biggest things was the time lag in search optimisation. Given how fast google is I was extremely surprised that there is a time lag after optimising your website.

I think that many difficulties can arise because of this and a lot of time needs to be invested into the ad campaign.

More than that there is no guarantee that your optimisation works. I think that sometimes if the time lag is too long even though the  search optimization might have actually worked, people running the campaign had no knowledge of it. Therefore, changing the website again. Which can then lead to a fall in rankings. This can cause a lot of confusion during the campaign.

Another surprising thing is that you can't just pay to be the first ad in the search results. I was surprised at the google algorithm and even though it's quite unpredictable I like that it is set up in a way to boost user experience instead of handing the first spot to the highest bidder.

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What really surprised me the most was the complexity of Google's algorithm for calculating the cost per click rate of different advertiser's and how certain industries such as legal advice had a much higher cost per click rate than others

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(Mine failed to post, so I screenshot it)

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I’m surprised with the amount of money companies invest into SEO and SEA. There is such a slim margin of ads on the first page before results become organic, the amount of companies that bid to be listed is probably more than what is shown so companies might not even appear on the page.

Also the amount of money that is involved in this aspect of marketing is immense and could really make a difference to a company. I didn’t realise that most of Google’s revenue is surrounding SEO and SEA, billions of dollars is allocated to this type of marketing and the figure is a lot higher than I thought.

17450392

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I found it interesting that when bidding for keywords, the cost ends up being lower than the price you are willing to pay for the word due to the way the bidding system is set up. I feel this is smart because this way bidding isn’t about the competition, like eBay, but more realistic and practical. I found it surprising that click rate is actually much more important for Google than for the company, what the company really cares about is the conversion rate i.e. how many people of those who clicked through ended up purchasing. I will also remember forever that you shouldn’t ever write “Click here” in your ads.

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As SEA is constantly evolving, it is expected that what is true today is often not true tomorrow. However, there were a number of items during the lecture which were surprising.

Pinterest generating higher sales volumes than any other social networking site. I had previously assumed that this site was in decline

The eye tracking data showing the change in eye movements on page sides and views below the fold

The significance of plurals with regard to keyword planning

The importance of including Amazon in a search campaign, articularly for tech products

The impact of fragmented search and the decline in user tolerance for retargeting

That Yahoo and Bing are good value for money when launching US campaigns

The re-emergence of misspellings

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What surprised me about SEA?

The biggest thing that surprised me about search engine advertising is that users are 80% less likely to click paid advertising links than organic content. This adds doubt to what seemed like an obvious investment in search engine advertising for businesses.

Given its costliness, I would have assumed SEA was a more reliable form of advertising but today’s discussion has showed us how much work it really does require. However, reviewing my own search use now I do agree that I am more likely to click organic listings. In fact, in further review I have began to recognise that a lot of ads try to make themselves look like organic content to indeed avoid this off putting aspect. However, I believe in the next few years as Google decides to make more and more revenue from advertising, we may become more tolerant to SEA as the majority of businesses begin to optimise it.

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Having already completed the Search Ad Words Cert, most was not surprising, but I hadn’t completely understood ALL of the components of the Quality Score Metrics.

I think that the combination of all of the Quality Score metrics (although it is up in the air about how the ultimately decide the QS) is good overall because it means that a poor site with deep pockets won’t clutter up the search engine homepage.

It does give smaller sites a better chance if they are well designed and great looking and optimized for SEO.

I wasn’t really surprised that google as default, optimizes for clicks as that’s how they make their money, but I was under the impression you can set your goal for the campaign as conversions.

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Brian winters 17464772

The thing I found most interesting about SEA was the variety of cost per click rates and their effects on profit. The top five most expensive keywords in google advertising are business services at $58.64 per click, bail bonds, casino, lawyer and asset management at $49.86 per click. The average cost per click across all industries is $2.32 on the search network and $0.58 on the display network. The highest average is for legal and the lowest is for dating and personals.
For the most expensive ones such as business services if there was a 10% conversion rate then it would be necessary to make over $580 profit in order to make up for the $58 cost per click rate. Overall the average cost per click is €5.9 for keyphrases  in Google UK.

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MG329 Digital Marketing

What I found most interesting about Search Engine Advertisements is how different advertiser will use many different ways to try and get the most customers, this includes the use of keywords and how small things such as making a word plural can affect the number of visits your web page gets.

The volume of different search engines and how the top can be different in other countries also surprised me and how not using the top search engine such as google, can still be a great way to get clicks per view, as it may be better value.
Having less click but more sales is a key factor for most search engines.

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What surprised me most regarding SEA is basically when considering search as a marketplace for companies to sell their product. I am surprised at how unbelievably competitive and while there are many techniques to ensure that your product makes it to the desired target market, success regarding SEA ultimately comes down to one thing; capital. To be successful, it seems to me that paid for listings are necessary for success. While organic listings are cheap and are perceived as a mark of quality, it does not really matter if the consumer cannot find the site.

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What I found to be most surprising about Search Engine Advertising is the cost that can be incurred by businesses who wish to advertise at a high position in the google search. There is huge competition to be in the top 3 or 4 results on a google search as it has been proven that consumers are most likely to click on the first couple of results that appear on the page. Businesses with a high level of clicks per minute and have a lower cost per click generate most revenue for search engines as they are clicked on most frequently.
Successful search engine advertising boils down to a firms ability to employ the capital in order to list it at the highest point possible within a google search and generate the most amount of site visits possible

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What surprised me most about SEA is how complicated the process is. I had always presumed that SEA was a process of bidding the highest and getting the top search spot. however it has come to my realization that there are complicated and dynamic algorithms in place to make SEA a bit of a delicate ecosystem for marketers to promote their websites. The costing of the SEA also surprised me as to how expensive certain key words were and how competitive certain keywords and phrases were in the search engine market.

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17100178

Our discussion today allowed me to learn much more about SEA, as I did not realize the way google ads worked. I knew google made money from clicks but I did not realize companies made money with conversions. I was very surprised with Amazon and would never have thought of the company with searches and a high volume of searches or organic searches. Amazon is a company that I believe has taken over and become very successful, now with the high volume of searches Amazon will thrive with their ads now.

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Something I was surprised about was the position of your online advertisement doesn’t primarily depend on the bidding. The quality of various aspects of what your advertisement such as the landing page is what I found out to be crucial for success online. Website maintenance must be maintained consistently so that your ads are seen to your target market.

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What interested me most was the significant interest in bids based on misspellings. Adwords already implements systems to include close variations and misspellings to the keywords you submit but there still seems to be a substantial interest in bidding on misspellings for firms. Clearly more severe misspellings are very common and firms can benefit from misspellings of their targeted keywords. Could this be a indication of urgency, carelessness or knowledge from the user that means they know their search will still lead to relevant sources. Hurried typing is increasingly common as users want the information instantly and it is only natural to recognise typos as they affect your impressions and conversions.

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I was surprised to hear that one: paid-for listings are becoming a trend. Often, in video games, when developers start taking the pay-to-win route, fans and customers complain and abandon the product. So this is interesting that the trend only keeps gathering momentum
Second thing that surprised me was that there is no way for advertisers to know IF the consumer purchased the product or not. Hence making the retargeting marketing a nuisance. Although the ethics of this have to be discussed, i think it would be beneficial to both consumer and marketer if tools to track the journey of the consumer were made.

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17324033
The amount some people are willing to pay for specific keywords on google ads. I never would have expected that people would be willing to pay $935 to us a specific word in an advertisement and still make a large enough return for this to be a profitable marketing move.
I was also unaware that companies specifically set up landing pages for their website when you click through an advertisement on their search engine. I had assumed that any advertisement that I clicked into brought me directly to an already existing portion of the companiy’s website. In theory it makes sense to have a specific page which people come to first containing the specific information which their search criteria have highlighted they are interested in, however it never came to mind for me.

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The thing that most surprised me about SEA is the need for constant upkeep of the advertisements. This surprised me as in traditional advertising once a campaign is launched it is monitored but not changed. In SEA you are constantly updating and changing your advertisement to optimise clicks and more importantly conversions. I feel that this is a much more beneficial way to advertise as you are more likely to be successful and achieve more conversions. I feel the constant monitoring of these campaigns (a couple of times a day in the first few days ) is a lot but will be a great benefit to the SEA campaign

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I found the manner of googles ranking of ads interesting and the extent to which they influence how, when and where advertisements are seen by search engine users. I found it interesting that the cost per click and click through rates were the main factors behind the ranking of advertisements rather than the price the advertisers are paying alone and how different industries and sectors pay higher or lower prices for the key words of their advertisements such as the legal industry paying a higher price.

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What I was surprised most about with SEA was the cost per click (CPC) that businesses must pay. The quality score and bidding process was something I never considered when using google ads. Another aspect which surprised me was the keywords in search for example by using singular amounts in your promotion such as using ‘hotel in Dublin’ instead of ‘hotels in Dublin’. The statistics shocked me for this as there was double the amount of clicks on the singular search.
Split testing was also another aspect which made me think such as using your most productive ad as the control and using an alternative ad to compete against that ad for clicks making your advertising more competitive

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Having only a minimal knowledge of the inner workings of SEA prior to this lecture, what surprised me was the alternative auction system that Google uses to bid on keywords.

Having initially thought that Google used a simple highest bidder system for key words it interested me as to the reason why Google use this alternative bidding system. The reasoning for this system and the benefits associated with it differ for each stakeholder but in general create possible win-win scenarios for all involved.

In Google’s opinion it improves the user experience and avoids spamming of the search ads fields. It also has the hidden benefit of keeping bidders honest and encouraging them to set their ‘actual’ max bid rather than a strategic bid to disrupt competitors. Google’s priority when it comes to algorithms is consistency and stability and with this 2nd bid +1 cent system it creates a system where it would be unwise to bid more than you’re capable of, creating a highly stable market.

In advertisers eyes their opinion differs whether you are a large or small user. This is due entirely to the quality score system which can create a sense of inertia based off historical spend. Large super advertisers can aid poor relevance scores with high historical spend, while small advertisers may be very relevant but struggle with their historical trend scores dragging on their quality scores.

Overall I think what surprised me the most was the fact that some Google have created a bidding system that in theory can benefit each stakeholder and improve the user experience. However, in practice this system only guarantees the interest of Google completely by keeping both user experience and search revenues as the key goals.

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What really surprised me the most was the complexity of Google's algorithm for calculating the cost per clicks in different searches and how different industries, such as legal advice have much higher rates than average. I also found the criteria that digitaladvertiser's have to conform to and how it affects the price of their cost per click rate really interesting too.

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What surprised me about this discussion is the fact I was only aware of the basics of search. Google has a great influence of over how ads are portrayed on your site. It is fascinating to know that with an instant click, live action happens and it decides what ads are going to display for you. Its also not the ad with the highest bid but it all relates to quality score. It was interesting to see the statistics in relation to google terms how we tend mot to pluralize terms.

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I have always thought that the goal of SEA was to get as many clicks and site visits as possible to get the most exposure for your product or service. I was surprised to learn that the ad getting the most clicks is not always the ad that is the most beneficial. It is important to think of the conversion of cost per click versus how many clicks are needed to make a sale. The number of clicks to make a sale does not always justify the cost of each click. It is possible that an ad that is perhaps getting fewer clicks could link directly to the site or service that better meets the criteria of the what is being commonly searched. 

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I have always thought that the goal of SEA was to get as many clicks and site visits as possible to get the most exposure for your product or service. I was surprised to learn that the ad getting the most clicks is not always the ad that is the most beneficial. It is important to think of the conversion of cost per click versus how many clicks are needed to make a sale. The number of clicks to make a sale does not always justify the cost of each click. It is possible that an ad that is perhaps getting fewer clicks could link directly to the site or service that better meets the criteria of the what is being commonly searched. 

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What surprised me most was googles algorithm in ranking ads relative to bids positioned below your cost per click. Googles cost per click also intrigued me as some are up to prices as high as $900 dollars for a single click resulting in a competitive AdWord strategy’s.

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What surprised me most about SEA was how high a click can range up to in cost, the highest being $935.71. This being for the search of best mesothelioma lawyer. The price that advertisers can bid up to is extensive and the top key words surprised me greatly.

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Search Engine Advertising was interesting. Businesspeople can use this type of advertising just use particular words to attract people to websites. These words are expensive. For instance, the terms, "best mesothelioma lawyer," are expensive, amounting $935.71. Moreover, you need to get a large number of clicks in order for your business to promote its goods ad services. The quality score is another aspect of the search engine advertising. I had learnt that if a business were to have a high quality score online, there would be a positive outcome. Your online business could have a better position.

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The thing that suprised me most about Search engine results page was the cost google charges to the company per click. I never knew that cost could go so high for a click regardless of wether or not this was comverted to a purchase, in essence the company could run up high costs without generating sales in conjunction. One cancer research company had a $970 click cost which is astonighing. The range of cost per click charge is also apportioned by quality score so essentially the better quality the company provides they can slightly lower their click charge.
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Very interesting the link between SEO and SEA in relation to SEM. I didn't realise there as strong a correlation between the two and how both must work hand in hand to optimise your website and landing page.
The bidding system is very interesting, seems very fair but still proves how costly it can be to advertise in areas like fitness in January for gyms etc.

The factors affecting Q. S are really interesting, definitely something I will look into further.

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What surprised me most about search engine advertising was how the click through rate on adverts didn't correlate exactly to the purchasing from clicking into an ad. Sometimes lower clicks meant higher engagements and follow through purchasing. I found this contradictive.

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Something I found very surprising about search engine advertising was how advertisers pays the publisher by click per click with some clicks costing hundreds to the company. While consumers may often click on a companies advert multiple times before actually purchasing/using the advertisements intended service. With the companies often paying out thousands per customer's click. An example that was most surprising to me was the cancerous lawyers search in the United States where cost per click was 937.5 per click.

I was also surprised by Google use an alternative bidding system to a higher bidder system. Google have created this system to benefit companies and improve customer experiences. Where the highest bidder will not always appear first on the search engine.

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Based on today’s discussion, I was surprised to learn that the criteria for SEA isn’t specified to improve their search ranking.  Google don’t provide a clear brief or details on how to approach this process.  This in turn could mean lower ranking websites could blatantly copy elements of higher ranking websites just to improve their own ranking.  The user experience will gradually improve as this ranking system becomes more competitive for websites. As cost per clicks increase, websites may demand for more specific details on how users search.

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I was surprised at the huge costs associated with certain keywords, particularly in relation to legal companies. Companies advertising lawyers, attorneys, etc. for particular incidents are willing to pay upwards of $400 per click for keywords associated with their service. One particular lawyer - a mesothelioma lawyer pays $935 per click from customers. This means if 1 out of 10 clicks turns out to be an actual customer, the company will have to make over $9,000 in the transaction just to break even. I found this extremely surprising.

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Something I was surprised about was the position of your online advertisement doesn’t primarily depend on the bidding. The quality of various aspects of what your advertisement such as the landing page is what I found out to be crucial for success online. Website maintenance must be maintained consistently so that your ads are seen to your target market.

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What surprised me most about SEA was what actually happens behind the scenes in terms of advertising when a user goes onto a search engine.
The complexity of combining the advertisers budget with their quality score was something in which I was completely unaware of and also surprised by. Previously, I believed that whoever paid the most gained the top advertising spot on Google. Therefore, it was surprising to find that the relevance of your keyword and landing page plays a significant part in how much you pay and where your advertisement ends up on the search page.

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I was very surprised to see the differences between the Search Engine Results Page from before Google added ads to the right side of the page to after. I would have presumed that the standard F pattern would still be dominant and that browsing would still usually stop at the fold. But now from analysing the eyeball hotspots from more recently I have been shown that they are more spread out across the page and the F pattern is no longer the standard. This provides more of a chance for the sites that lie lower down on the Search Engine Results Page.

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Search Engine

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What surprised me most about SEA was how undefined the criteria is for companies to improve their search ranking on google. Google only gives a vague guideline with which to follow. This could have the effect of a lower ranking website copying some elements of a higher ranking one just to possibly improve their ranking. Another side effect of googles vague criteria is that the average user experience for many websites will improve as rankings get more competitive. As time passes I question whether companies will demand more specifications from google if cost per click rises

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What really surprised me the most was the complexity of Google's algorithm for calculating 

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What really surprised me the most was the complexity of Google's algorithm for calculating 

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Given what we discussed today, something that particularly
peaked my interest is the almost monopolistic power
that Google has over the standards, rules, and regulations
of what makes a "good" advert.

I find this surprising because the idea that a single company
has such a commanding influence on what we consider a succinct
and digestible piece of content is curious in one sense,
and intimidating in another. While I respect that there
are certainly reasons for the parameters that Google uses,
by not publishing (at least explicitly) all of these guidelines,
it lends into this idea of marketers and advertisers almost
blindly following guidelines, ceasing to question the logic
behind it simply because it's Google.

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I found it interesting that advertisers can bid on keywords they would like to show their ads on. Bids can rack up a massive cost. There is an example of bids on a keyword, Mesothelioma Lawyer which the price goes up to 935.91 dollars. I found that price staggering and am amazed at how this Lawyer makes a profit. It would require the price of his services to be very high and also require him to have a great turnover rate.
I also found it interesting that te highest keyword bid doesn't always get top ad position. That is determined by "quality score" between 1-10. A quality score determines the relevance of a keyword. I found this to be slightly unfair.
I also found it interesting that an auction takes place every time a search is entered. It seems to be a very competitive and active system.

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What surprised me most about SEA was how expensive it is for certain keywords per click onto the website. For example, the cost of over 900 dollars per click onto websites for legal advice on certain types of cancer caused by asbestos. The search engines take advantage of specific competitive industries such as legal advisors who deal with certain issues such as specific cancers such as mesothelioma, which will be paid out with big claims. These very specific keywords are essential for the companies to be found in the search engine thus enabling them to charge very high prices per click for paid advertisements.

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What surprised me the most about SEA was when we discussed Emerging Market Trends regarding Amazon Marketing Services only reaching 10 Billion in Revenue. I would have assumed that this number would be far greater than this, due to Amazon's sheer reach across the globe. I myself use Amazon.co.uk to sell via E commerce and am very familiar with the Platform. With use of Auto and Manual Campaigns I would have assumed global revenue to far exceed 10 Billion.

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I am surprised that despite the fact that users are 80% more likely to click on organic listings than paid for listings Google have now increased the space offered to paid advertising on screens. Also the fact that users are dropping out at the fold this leave significant importance on the content that is placed here as I do believe the concern for the user is more importantly focused on the content that it is tailored to the individual.

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I was surprised about how Google organises its ads and structures their ads according to the user's interests. I was unaware that there would be so much revenue behind it. Furthermore, I did not expect such high costs per click for specific fields because I found it very difficult to believe that it is worth it for the company.

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I was surprised at the level of detail (in terms of spelling) that can affect the level of results that a company or website may have. The difference in the way companies use and aim to get costs and conversions in the right ratio was interesting for when trying to reach a target market and how to make the most profit. The quality score was, interesting in terms of the score system as it seems to be an easy way to judge how well a keyword is applicable to a company and its website.

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From our discussion today something that surprised me about SEA was how expensive a click on an advertisement can be e.g. $935.71 for the best mesothelioma lawyer.  In addition to this, another surprising factor was how much goes on behind the scenes in a matter of seconds, i.e. the fact that every time a search query is entered, an auction is taking place to sell the position for paid ads on the SERP.
However, the most surprising aspect of SEA to me is the fact that the highest bid will not always gain the top Ad position and that it is actually determined by a 'Quality Score' for each of your keywords, and if you've a high quality score your keywords will trigger ads in a higher position at a lower cost per click.

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In relation to the Google Ads auction model, I was surprised to find out that the highest keyword bid does not get the top Ad position. The  top Ad position is determined by 'quality score' for each of our keywords. Previous, I was unaware that Google had such a strict system in place for ads. In addition, I was also surprised to find that spelling errors are returning on our screens in adverts. Although Google may have an auto-correct system in place for advertisers, there seems to be spelling errors slipping through. I'm interested to know if some of these might be intended in order to satisfy certain trends, if so I would find this very surprising for an official mode such as advertising.

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Something that really suprised me today is how google places adds on their search engine and how CPC is calculated. I was unaware of how important the ratings they give website are in relation to when they appear. I was also unaware about how the how they bid they places and the formula they use and the website below is generally paying only 1 cent less. It is very intresting how they do not automatically use the highest amount a company is will to pay for a place but have a continuos auction. Not only do they take into account this payment but they divide by the qualities that google judges the website. This means just because you bid a high amount for a place it does not always mean you will place higher than your competitors They also do not tell what these qualities are which makes it even more difficult for companies to be in the top three website appearing. I was unaware of the amount of control Google had on the placements of these websites.

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What I found very surprising was that by selecting optimise for clicks, google decides which one of your 2 ads will serve, i also found it interesting that it is more beneficial to choose the option to rotate your advertisements in the beginning in order for the ads to be served equally, rather than relying on the one ad which initially has more clicks.

It was also interesting that the clicks do not often represent the conversion and in many cases the conversion can be greater than the amount of clicks that have been received.

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I was suprised that there are so many aspects that need to be considered when creating an ad. For example, that simlpe things like choosing the singular instead of the plural can make a huge difference and can decide over the success of your ad. Also I was suprised of  the way Google decides which ad would be at the top, because  first sight it seems to be a untransparent process, but when you further think about it it makes a lot of sense.

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I'm surprised by how much logarithm Google uses to track their users. I'm also interested by how a lot of Google's data is available to be looked at by anyone and can be analyzed for different reasons. Along with the process of Google's tracking, I am surprised by how much thought goes into making advertisements interesting to a user without the ad interacting with the person (clicking or watching a video). Lastly, it surprised me how much math and prediction goes into making an advertisement. It didn't occur to me how marketing employees factor in the cost per click and how they make revenue by people going through Google. I didn't think my click was so expensive.

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I was surprised by how the click-through rates for different industries have changed. The online dating industry has seen a particular increase over the last 2 years, with it almost doubling from 3.4 in 2016 to 6.05 in 2018. I also was surprised by how the effectiveness of organic and paid-for listings are evolving. It used to be the case that users were 80% more likely to click an organic listing than a paid-for one. I find this to be particularly interesting as I personally do not often click on paid-for listings. I was shocked at how complex the formula Google uses to calculate Cost-Per-Click. The idea that one pay the bid of the bidder below you plus 1 cent was intriguing to me as I have never seen a similar system before. I was also surprised how big a part 'Quality Score' played in CPC

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The thing that I found most surprising about SEA was the amount of ongoing attention that is required when running an advertising campaigns and how Google has a huge level of control. Elements such as click rates and ad ranking play a much more important role than I first imagine. Click through rates can be deceiving to an inexperienced advertiser such as myself due to the fact that an advert that generates a lot of clicks isn't necessarily the advert that will in your best interests. This hence means that advertisers cannot solely trust Google to run the campaign for them which the company tends to advertise. I was also surprised by how ranking works with regards to the undisclosed algorithms that isn't linked to the highest bidder. This surprised me as it is contradictory to what traditional auctions and business deals involve.

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What surprised me most about Search Engine Advertising is that it requires significant ongoing investment in content marketing and as a result of intense competition, complexity and changes to ranking algorithm. Investment won’t necessarily guarantee returns and top three position in results needed for volume. Advertisers can place bids on keywords they would like to show their Ads for, bids can be set to a maximum. Bidding on high amounts won’t necessarily mean that you are likely to show up in googles top searches in their organic listings. They use an algorithm that is not disclosed to anyone else due to the fact that it could ruin and alter the current user experience. Companies are paying as high as $935.71 per click. Google uses a random algorithm which doesn’t necessarily mean that this company will come up in people’s organic listings. This shocked me because this is such a large amount of money to paid out for a random selection process to show up in someone’s search.

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It was very interesting to see how Clicks per Cost is calculated and how to read the grid that displays the calculations.  I also was intrigued by how 'business services' hold the most expensive keyword title.

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From our discussion today there were many elements of SEA that surprised me, most significantly however was how ad positioning is determined and also how much is spent on key words appearing on search pages. Before our discussion, I believed that positioning of adverts was determined by who pays the highest bid for the positioning of the advertisement. I found it very intriguing and surprising that the means in which the keyword positioning is actually determined is by the quality score of the keywords. If this wasn't the case keywords that were not of high quality could land a high position on webpages for more people to see. This discussion was also very insightful and surprising as I didn't realise how much money is spent on keywords appearing on web pages. I thought the figure would be very minuscule when in reality in some cases hundreds are spent on keywords appearing on webpages. This exemplifies the importance for clients and firms to carefully select the right keyword to use on webpages in order to receive a positive return on investment.

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I felt the importance of selective wording was really interesting. I'd like to see data regarding the intersection of colloquial language and SEA and how this may impact the future/emerging trend of voice search may be impacted by colloquialisms in every language. It seems remarkable that marketers and programmers etc. could develop and utilise tech which fully understands the complexities of language.

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What I find most surprising about Search Engine Advertising is that companies can bid on words and phrases to gain ranking on the search that they are targeting. More interesting than that is that the highest bidder or the person willing to pay the most money is not necessarily the one who will get highest ranking on the search page. It is based on a website/companies Quality Score which is reliant upon factors like relevance of ad to the search, historical performance, keyword relevancy and click through rate.