Google Expands Beta for Pay per Action Ads - PPA for Advertisers
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The first thing to remember is that these ads appear on Google’s publisher network, not as sponsored links on Google’s own search engine results pages. It wouldn’t be surprising if Google eventually expanded the model in that direction, though. Anyway, according to Google’s FAQ about pay per action, advertisers do get a certain amount of control. They specify what action(s) they’re willing to pay for, and how much they’re willing to pay for each action.
Advertisers also decide how much they are willing to spend on a daily basis for their PPA advertising. Google lets them set a daily budget, much as it permits them to set budgets for PPC advertising. However, it should be noted that advertisers are responsible for “conversions that occur up to 30 days after a per-per-action ad was clicked.”
Advertisers can also choose several different formats for their ads: text, image, or the new text link ad format. Let me explain text link ads before I go any further. Google launched this ad style quietly, almost as if it were seeking to hide the announcement behind bigger news. Google describes them as “hyperlinked brief text descriptions that take on the characteristics of a publisher’s page. Publishers can place them in line with other text to better blend the ad and promote your product.” The only thing that specifically shows that it is an ad is that, when a web surfer mouses over the link, it will display the phrase “Ads by Google.” I’ll explain why this kind of advertising is controversial in a bit.
What you can’t do, apparently, is choose the kinds of sites on which your ad appears. That’s left up to the publishers. You can make sure they can see your product name, product description, logo, each of your defined actions and how much you’re willing to pay for each action. They’ll also be able to see your complete PPA ad. Additionally, you can provide a URL to give the publisher more details about your product to help them make up their minds.
Personally, if I were advertising with Google using PPA, I’d want to use that link to help sell myself to the right publishers. Let me give you an example from a company that’s been severely hurt by the Internet revolution: Encyclopedia Britannica. Back when they still sold the dead tree version, EB did remarkably well at medical conventions; a friend of mine who made his living as an EB salesman for three years noted that his pitch at those conventions was literally “Doctor, have you bought your Britannica yet?” and it worked. Given that, if Google’s PPA service were available in EB’s heyday, one would assume that a medical site aimed at doctors would be a good place for their ads to appear – but the site’s publisher wouldn’t necessarily know that. So a savvy EB marketer would use the URL to link to a landing page that made his case.
You do have to meet a few requirements before you can participate in Google’s pay per action advertising beta. Currently Google is only accepting US participants. You also need to have conversion tracking set up on your website. But you can apparently choose to have your ad displayed to publishers in other countries.
Next: PPA for Publishers >>
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