Webmaster level: All

At Google we’re obsessed with speed. We’ve long known that even seemingly minor speed increases can have surprisingly large impacts on user engagement and happiness. About a year ago we rolled out Instant Pages in pursuit of that goal. Instant Pages makes use of prerendering technology in Chrome to make your site appear to load instantly in some cases, with no need for any extra work on your part. Here’s a video of it in action:

We’ve been closely watching performance and listening to webmaster feedback. Since Instant Pages rolled out we’ve saved more than a thousand years of ours users’ time. We’re very happy with the results so far, and we’ll be gradually increasing how often we trigger the feature.

In the vast majority of cases, webmasters don’t have to do anything for their sites to work correctly with prerendering. As we mentioned in our initial announcement of Instant Pages, search traffic will be measured in Webmaster Tools just like before this feature: only results the user visits will be counted. If your site keeps track of pageviews on its own, you might be interested in the Page Visibility API, which allows you to detect when prerendering is occurring and factor those out of your statistics. If you use an ads or analytics package, check with them to see if their solution is already prerender-aware; if it is, in many cases you won’t need to make any changes at all. If you’re interested in triggering Chrome’s prerendering within your own site, see the Prerendering in Chrome article.

Instant Pages means that users arrive at your site happier and more engaged, which is great for everyone.

Posted by Ziga Mahkovec – Software Engineer, Instant Pages

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/amDG/~3/src541jBU3Q/making-more-pages-load-instantly.html

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/3XjDqF44khE/join-google-analytics-on-google.html

This week I have watched the “Ways to Boost your AdWords Performance” webinar by Google and I would like to share the information and tips that were discussed -

The Importance of Optimisation

Optimisation is the process of carrying out tests and applying changes within your AdWords account that will improve its quality and performance. Optimisation should help you to achieve your desired results. When optimising an account, it is important to have a clear advertising goal.
These are some mentioned examples of optimisation actions that could increase account performance and result in a higher conversion rate, whether this involves a purchase, a sign-up, a user viewing a page or even a sales lead-

• Setting an effective account and campaign structure
• Revising and improving keyword lists and match types
• Changing specific campaigns settings and bids
• Reviewing and refining ad text and landing pages

A Good Account and Campaign Structure will have a positive impact on your performance, including quality score, click through rates, minimum bids etc. It is important that your account structure ‘mirrors’ your site.  Account/campaign optimisations will help to gain control of your budget and costs whilst still gaining traffic. Ultimately we all want to achieve a good ROI, with a high level of relevant traffic and visibility. For this, optimisation is the key.

Keyword optimisation is important! Think of ways to improve your keyword targeting through use of match types, negative keywords etc. Analyse your list, is it too general, too specific?
You can use the keyword tool to find new keywords or variations of keywords, you can use it to refine your keyword list. Also the advertiser competition as well as global and local monthly search volume.

Google’s top tips for keywords-

• Be sure to add all relevant keyword variations including singular and plural variations, you can try using combinations of keywords and also use synonyms and accent marks as appropriate etc
• You should try to include terms that are specific to your business type/sector so that your ad will appear as a relevant response to a user’s specific query
• Use keyword match types as appropriate
• Beware! depending on your business specifics, using general keywords can result in a low click through rate and quality score
• Don’t use duplicate keywords as this will just cause them to compete with each other, this can cause your bids to increase
• Remember, keywords are not case sensitive
• You cannot use most punctuation symbols with the exception of and accent marks. There is also a list of invalid symbols that cannot be used too such as ! @ { } ^ $ % ( ) etc.
• Try to be as thorough as possible when building a negative keyword list as they do not work the same as broad match, list as many variations as you can think of

Ad text optimisation is essential, as your ad text is what the users will see first. They will use this very important ‘first impression’ to make a decision as to whether they decide to click through to your site, or go elsewhere. The ad must relate to the user’s search query as closely as possible and don’t be afraid to get specific with your information. Try to include the unique benefits and any current offers that users will get as a result of selecting your products or services, as your ad could be one of many; it is important to make yourself ‘stand out from the crowd’. Another best practice mentioned is to include keywords that are performing well as part of your ad text. A strong call to action in ad text is a powerful way to encourage your users to click your ad. Finally, it is also important to have multiple ads in your ad group to test which advertising message works best.

And finally! your landing page must match the content of the ad. Take your users to the most relevant page of your site that is dedicated to the product or service that they became interested in. Don’t make your users navigate your site searching for what they want, this will just decrease the likelihood that they will purchase or complete the action that you desire.

Good luck!

Article source: http://www.ipassexam.com/blog/index.php/ways-to-boost-your-adwords-performance-webinar/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ways-to-boost-your-adwords-performance-webinar

Getting Started with Google Analytics
Level of content: Beginner
Covers the basics you need to get started with Analytics. Highlights the most helpful reports for ecommerce, bloggers/publishers, and lead generation businesses. Learn how to tag your campaigns and set up goals to measure if your marketing is a success.

Presenter: Justin Cutroni, Analytics Advocate
Date: Wednesday May 23rd, 2012
Time: 12 pm PT / 3pm ET / 8pm GMT

Building Blocks of Digital Attribution
Level of content: Intermediate/Advanced
Learn what marketing attribution is and what it can do for your business. This webinar will cover the basics of how attribution works, and we’ll show you how to set up your Google AdWords and Google Analytics accounts to enable important attribution tools–Search Funnels and Multi-Channel Funnels.

Presenter: Bill Kee, Product Manager, Google Analytics
Date: Thursday May 24th, 2012
Time: 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm GMT

These are free webinars, so be sure to register now and take a look here for more great webinars from other Google teams.

Posted by Ian Myszenski, Google Analytics team

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/CL4V-a-wG_M/two-new-analytics-webinars-for-advanced.html