Searchmetrics Now Shows Where Your App Appears In App Packs

Also new: rankings for app ads, unique keywords on a page, and the release of the Visibility Guard to protect against errors affecting ranking

SEO and content marketing analytics service Searchmetrics has announced several new features, including the ability to see where your mobile apps — or those of competitors — appear in the Google App Packs or where your paid app ads show up on a mobile search results page.

The San Mateo, California-based company said this kind of analysis in its Mobile App Rankings is the first of its kind. The new features were made available in Europe in March and are now being rolled out to the US.

For example, Director of Product Helen Shaughnessy told me, if you search for “free music downloads” on a smartphone, you’re “highly likely to find Spotify and SoundCloud apps in the accompanying App Pack.”

A Google App Pack is a group of up to six suggested apps that might be returned in a Google mobile search, appearing as colorful tiles with app names, icons, prices and ratings. They link to the app download pages in the Google or Apple app stores. Searchmetrics reports that about 10 percent of Google mobile searches return an App Pack.

Searchmetrics now shows where the App Pack appears in the results, and where specific apps appear in the Pack. Previously, she pointed out, Searchmetrics did not show App Pack results. Here’s a sample App Pack results screen:

And here’s an App Pack:

There is also a new capability to see where paid ads for your or your competitors’ apps appear in the results. “You may be paying for app ads but your competitor may not be,” she pointed out, so the tool can help a marketer assess whether the cost is worth it. Paid App Rankings are similar to Organic App Rankings, in that it shows the position of the app ad in the cluster of ads in a mobile search results page.

The company is also announcing two other new features. While previously, its Competitive Keyword Discovery tool showed all and shared competitive keywords for a specific web page, now it shows which page-level keywords are unique to you and which to your competitor’s page. For example, if you wanted to know the unique keywords for a page that features a pair of Nike shoes, now you can.

Additionally, the Visibility Guard that Searchmetrics had earlier made available in its beta phase is now out in an updated release version. It sends email or chat alerts about problems affecting ranking that a search engine crawl might encounter. Shaughnessy suggested this might include a “do not index” that was mistakenly left on a site update after it was moved from a staging server to a public location, as well as common errors like 404 “not found.”

Source: http://searchengineland.com/searchmetrics-now-shows-app-appears-app-packs-246824

Google Makes Adwords Products Tab More Useful For Shopping Campaigns

In addition to new product-level columns, inventory data comes to the Products group tab, and Reports Editor gets Shopping attributes.

Google is finally bringing some functional heft to the Products tab. Managers will now find “Product status” and “Effective max CPC” columns in the Products tab in AdWords.

The Products status column (You can add it from the Columns drop-down) will let you know if a specific product is ready to serve, disapproved, excluded or out of stock.

With the new Effective max CPC column, you can make bid adjustments right from the Products tab on individual products within your product groups.

Speaking of product groups, in the Products groups tab, new inventory status columns are now available. See percentages and totals for products ready to serve, active, approved and total submitted products. This will save you some time, since you won’t have to dig into Merchant Center.

And in another bit of a bonus for Shopping campaigns managers, Google has also added more Shopping info in AdWords Report Editor. You can now see attributes like brand or product type for Shopping campaigns and build charts and tables for reporting.

Source:
http://searchengineland.com/google-adwords-products-tab-update-reports-editor-246753

Google Tests Displaying Review Snippets In The Local 3-Pack

Google now may show a single review in the 3-pack. This was caught being tested in the wild.

Google is testing adding an additional line of text on some of the local packs you see in the web search results. When Google shows local results in the main search results, they often now come in a 3-pack. Sometimes Google shows review stars, but now, Google is testing pulling out a single quote from one of the reviews to show in the local pack snippet.

Peter Meyers from Moz spotted it in one of his tests and posted a screen shot of it on Twitter. He called them “mini-reviews in local pack.” Here is a picture from Peter Meyers, as I cannot personally replicate it.

Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-tests-displaying-review-snippets-local-3-pack-246629

Step by Step Starter Guide to Get your Business Online

Basically monitor these 7 steps to get started with your online advertising with AdWords.

For the duration of the process, you will need to provide a valid email address and billing information.

Step 1: Create a login

This step takes: 1-2 min

To create your AdWords account, you just need to provide a valid email address and create your password.You can then sign in to your AdWords account any time to change your settings or see how your ads are performing.

Step-by-step instructions

• Click on Start now.
• Follow the instructions to enter your email address and choose a password.
• If you're creating a new Google Account, you'll be asked to verify your email address. You'll receive an email from our system with a link to confirm your address. Just click on that link and you'll be ready to go!
• Sign in to your AdWords account at adwords.google.com.

Step 2: Target a geographic region

This step takes: 1-2 min

Do you have a local business? Don't want to advertise globally or nationwide? Simply choose the geographic area where you'd like your ads to appear.

Step-by-step instructions

• Click on the Create your first campaign button.
• Go to Campaign Settings and Audience if you want to change the language settings.
• If you want to advertise in a specific location only, go to Campaign Settings and Audience to change your targeted location.
• Simply select the countries, regions or cities where you would like your ad to appear – or just exclude specific regions.

Step 3: Set your daily budget

This step takes: 1-2 min

With Google AdWords, you decide how much you're willing to pay per day. You then only pay when someone clicks on your ad. In other words, you only pay when your advertising works. This approach has allowed AdWords to establish itself as a cost-effective advertising platform for businesses of all shapes and sizes. You set your budget under the Bidding and budget section of your campaign settings. Your budget should be the amount you're comfortable spending on AdWords advertising each day.

Tips

How high should I go?

If you're not sure how much you want to spend, try starting off with a budget of US$5 to US$10 per day. Increase your budget if you're happy with the initial results or once you've optimized your campaign.

Step 4: Control how much you spend per click on your ad

This step takes: 1 min

Under Bidding and Budget select the Automatic bidding option. AdWords will then automatically adjust your bids to try to bring you the most clicks possible within your budget.

Tips

If you want to control how much you spend per click on your ad, you can set a CPC (cost-per-click) bid limit. We recommend starting out with an amount you're comfortable spending per click on your ad (many advertisers start out with about $1.00) and then continuing to adjust as you monitor your ad's performance. If you enter a CPC bid limit that's too low, your budget may not be used up completely or your ad may not show at all. If this happens, increase your CPC bid limit or add more keywords.

You can change your CPC bid at any time. The best thing is to get started and begin experimenting.

When determining how much to bid for a click on your ad, try to estimate how valuable a click is for your business. Think of "a click" as a person that searches for one of your keywords, sees your ad, chooses to click on it and lands on your website - in other words, think of a click as "a potential customer". How much you are willing to pay for a click will largely depend on how much profit you make from a new customer.

Step 5: Create ad(s)

This step takes: 2-3 min

Creating good ads is important but not difficult. What's more, it's not like creating a newspaper advertisement. A key advantage of AdWords is that you can adjust and improve your ads at any time.

Tips

• Say how you're different.
  Use terms such as "excellent service, good value, professional, competent, quick", etc. Tell the user what they can expect from your website and your company.
• Incorporate a call to action in your ad.
  It's better to say "Buy flowers" rather than "Flowers for sale".
• Use the most important keywords in the ad text.
  If search terms appear in the ad, they will appear in bold. This means that the ad has a better chance of being noticed and will be clicked on more often.
• Don't know which ad text is better? Use ad variations.
  If you aren't sure what text to use in your ad, just let your audience decide. You can create multiple versions of your ad and then compare them to find out which ones receive the most clicks or lead to the most conversions. Remember: You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Step 6: Select keywords

This step takes: 5-10 min

Keywords are the words or phrases for which your ad will appear when a user searches for them. It's important to select keywords carefully, as they'll determine the audience that will see your ads -- but don't worry about getting it exactly right the first time. You can always add new keywords or edit or delete existing ones after you've created your first campaign.

Tips

• Put yourself in the shoes of your customers
  Your keywords should be the words or phrases your customers would use when searching for your product or service.
• Relevance is key
  If you're selling roses, use specific keywords such as "Buy red roses" rather than generic keywords like "Flowers." Generic keywords may get more searches, but the people searching for them aren't necessarily interested in your specific product. You're likely to receive better results with keywords such as "Red rose’s delivery" or "Long-stemmed roses."
  
  
  To determine the position that your ad appears in, AdWords takes into account how relevant your ad and your website are to each search query. If your keywords aren't relevant, your ad may appear at the bottom of the page or not at all.
• How many keywords should I select?
  Start off with just 10-20 keywords. You can always add more once you see how your ads perform. It's a good idea to select more keywords in order to attract a larger audience. This means that you don't always have to be in position 1 to receive the same number of clicks and save costs. Remember that the keywords must always be relevant. Quality is more important than quantity.
• Use the Keyword Tool
  Use the Keyword Tool at any time to find relevant keyword ideas.
• Refine your keywords after first results:
  Check your AdWords account after your ads have been running for a few days. Find out which keywords are receiving the most clicks at the lowest price, then add other keywords like them.

Step 7: Enter billing information

This step takes: 2-3 min

To take the final step and activate your account, enter your billing information. Choose between one of the following payment methods available in the US:

• Postpay (automatic payments): American Express, JCB, MasterCard, Visa, Bank account payments (US bank accounts only), and debit cards with a MasterCard or Visa logo
• Prepay (manual payments): American Express, JCB, MasterCard, Visa, and debit cards with a MasterCard or Visa logo More about these options

The payment options available to you may vary according to the currency you use and the location of your billing address.

Voucher

If you have a voucher, you can redeem it as a new customer when entering your billing information. Remember that you must enter your billing information before your ads can start running. Once the voucher has been used up, you may incur costs depending on the success of your ad. However, you can pause your ads at any time in order to prevent costs from accruing.

Step-by-step instructions

• Click on the Billing tab and then on Billing preferences.
• Select a payment method and enter your billing information.
• Accept the AdWords Terms and Conditions and click on Save and Activate.
• If you have a voucher, you can redeem it after entering billing information. If you have already entered your billing information, click on the Billing tab and then on Billing preferences. Enter your code in the field under Promotional Codes.
• Congratulations! You have successfully created your first campaign!

Done! Now your ad should be running

For more information on how to fine tune your account, visit the AdWords Small Business Center. 

Chai Runs Our Nation! 6 Places That Serve The Best Tea In India

LAHAUL AND SPITI

Rupa from Noida shares, “A tea break at Chhatru on the way to Kunzum La is worth it. We loved the Spitian tea served with Tsampa." HolidayIQ travellers ranked Sakya Abode the 6th best hotel in Lahaul and Spiti. Biswas stayed here and he says, "I was on my biking trip to this place. Remote, extremely beautiful, arid and enigmatic are the words I would use to describe this place. This hotel offers extremely good sitting area which also acts as the socialising point for tourists. Food is without doubt the best one can ever get in such a remote location."Check out how to check in. - 91 Ratings, 78 Reviews, 15 Sightseeings, 238 Photos

KASHMIR

Sowjanya from Hyderabad suggests, "When in Kashmir, you must try the different types of traditional biscuits, which are usually consumed with the 'kahwa', which is pink in colour. This tea keeps you warm during winter. There are different types of 'kahwa'. Do try all varieties."HolidayIQ travellers have ranked Hotel Grand Kashmir the best hotel in Kashmir. Divyash shares his experience of staying here, "I enjoyed it very much view was good. If you want to see snow fall and nature at its best go ahead. Hotel service was very good and staff was also very good they give a familiar environment. Food was also good tasty and hygienic. I was very much satisfied with the hotel and will stay there whenever I will go to Kashmir."Check out how to check in. - 1247 Ratings, 824 Reviews, 18 Sightseeings, 768 Photos

OOTY

HolidayIQ traveller Dr Mansoor recommends, "A must-visit is the Bharath Tea Company at the local market for its awesome tea powder and tea."Marina Gomes adds, I wanted a relaxing holiday with my family and opted for Kluneys Mystique Ville Hotel. Am glad we made the choice as the Mystic ville is a nature lover's paradise! Nestled in the lap of nature the place is quiet and romantic. Beautiful rooms, tasty food and friendly staff made our stay very pleasant. We took the vintage rooms which overlook the valley. Heritage rooms are inside so opt for the vintage if you want to enjoy nature."Check out how to check in. - 38370 Ratings, 23620 Reviews, 47 Sightseeings, 2185 Photos

DALHOUSIE

Deepak from Raipur shares, "Do try the tea made at Subhash Chowk. It is yummy!"Pankaj stayed at Dalhousie Heights on his visit here. He says, "I like the stay with hotel, view was fantastic. Great destination, a must visit, services and food provided by the hotel was great. Had a fabulous experience, will be visiting again soon. All the places are very near to the hotel and things were very accessible from the hotel."Check out how to check in. - 6950 Ratings, 3866 Reviews, 23 Sightseeings, 383 Photos.

MUNNAR

HolidayIQ traveller Parinitharan on his visit, "Do not miss trying tea from the Kolukkumalai Tea Estate. Do try their green tea. You can shop for tea at the main market in Munnar."Subhasis Panda on his stay at a tea estate, "Firstly I wanted a house to stay at Munnar at nominal price, but the owner of the house gave me a Palace and incredible beauty. No one can offer best Cottage with surrounding tea garden and forest park with natural beauty. The memory of Munnar is unforgettable with this cottage. The property owner has invested more in the house than advertising with a view that satisfied customer is best advertiser. So my request to all customer that if anyone want much higher value of their money then go for Rain Forest Homestay."Check out how to check in. - 32086 Ratings, 19802 Reviews, 55 Sightseeings, 2210 Photos

DARJEELING

HolidayIQ traveller Manish shares, "Being a great tea lover, I went to this place called Nathmulls Tea opposite the General Post Office. The atmosphere of the place was real cool, the hostesses were very polite, welcoming and the teas served were awesome. Had no choice but to buy several kinds."Prosenjit stayed at Sonar Bangla Hotel. He says, "Hospitality was nice at the hotel. I had visited this hotel with my family. The reception people were very nice. The basic amenities were provided in the room with good condition. The provided room was comfortable with clean and neat. Complimentary breakfast was provided. I would recommend this hotel for other travellers.Check out how to check in. - 13229 Ratings, 8207 Reviews, 68 Sightseeings, 1405 Photos.

resource: http://www.msn.com/en-in/foodanddrink/foodnews/chai-runs-our-nation-6-places-that-serve-the-best-tea-in-india/ss-BBr54HL#image=1