May 2009 Release Notes

This release continues to expand the range and power of ClickEquations paid search reporting and management features for high volume advertisers and agencies. (Live Monday May 4th, 2009)

The new features in this release are:

• Multiple Conversion Events
• Negative Keyword Support
• Bulk Editing Capabilities
• Multiple Item Editing
• Google Checkout Support
• Multiple Revenue Allocation Methods
• Bid Rule ‘Intensity’ Control
• Bid Rule New Options
• Cost-Per-Acquisition (Lead) Bid Algorithm
• Simplified Product Margin and Naming
• Performance Improvements

Each of these new features are introduced and explained below.

Multiple Conversion Events

ClickEquations now supports tracking of up to six different conversion events within your account. This includes one primary conversion event and up to five user configurable optional events. These five new conversion events can be used to track newsletter sign-ups, downloads, video starts, add-to-cart actions, or other user activities on your website.

You can configure custom labels for the five additional conversion events in on the Conversion Settings page. Any of these five conversion event counters can be added to any report that currently displays the primary conversion event. All conversion events are also accessible in ClickEquations Analyst.

Utilization of the multiple conversion events requires additional customization of ClickEquations page tags and use of our new ‘Transaction Type’ variable. For details contact support@clickequations.com for a copy of our current Tagging Guide.

Negative Keyword Support

ClickEquations now includes full support for negative keywords. You can view and manage negative keywords at both the Campaign and Ad Group levels.

Negative keyword counts are displayed in the information headers throughout ClickEquations Manager, and the new Negatives tab within each Ad Group allows you to view and edit negative keywords. There is also complete bulk-editing support for negative keywords, as described below.

Bulk Editing Capabilities

ClickEquations now offers bulk editing capabilities. There are several several ways to quickly add, edit, or move keywords/negatives between Campaigns, Ad Groups, and even Search Engines.

These include the ability to:

• Export keywords/negatives to .CSV format
• Add or edit keywords and options in Excel
• Import new or modified keywords/negatives into ClickEquations Manager
• Type multiple new keywords/negatives
• Paste-in multiple new or modified keywords/negatives

After bulk changes or additions are entered, you preview and approve the final changes. Approved bulk changes are submitted to the search engines immediately.

Multiple Item Editing

ClickEquations now supports simultaneous editing of multiple items within the ClickEquations Manager Interface. You can select multiple keywords, for example, and then apply one bid rule to all of them, or change them all to the same new Max CPC, using the Edit Keyword Palette.

Google Checkout Support

ClickEquations now supports Google Checkout. If your website shopping cart offers a Google Checkout option, sales and revenue transactions can be included in all ClickEquations reports.

Support for Google Checkout requires additional customization of ClickEquations page tags. For details contact support@clickequations.com and request a copy of our current Tagging Guide.

Multiple Revenue Allocation Methods

ClickEquations now supports four different revenue allocation methods to determine how conversion events and revenue are assigned to the different keywords that user visited prior to purchase.

Many visitors come to your website multiple times prior to conversion. We call this sequence of visits a click-chain.

Frequently people will click on multiple paid ads to visit your site before they finally complete a conversion event. The revenue allocation method determines which keyword or keywords get revenue ‘credit’ for their conversion.

The four supported methods are:

• Last-Click: The default method. All revenue is credited to the last paid search keyword in the click-chain.
• First-Click: All revenue is credited to the first paid search keyword in the click-chain.
• Linear: Revenue is equally divided among each paid search keyword in the click-chain.
• Weighted: Revenue is divided across each paid search keyword in the click-chain based on the frequency at which words occur at certain positions in the click-chains. This method over-weights keywords which have the highest impact on overall conversions and reduces allocation to keywords which appear less frequently.

Your currently selected allocation method drives the Revenue and related columns in ClickEquations. You can access all four allocation methods in ClickEquations Analyst. This allows you to compare the methods for any keyword.

Cost-Per-Acquisition (Lead) Bid Algorithm

ClickEquations now offers a Cost-Per-Acquisition bid algorithm that you can use to define new bid rules. You define a target CPA (or Cost-Per-Lead CPL) and the algorithm adjusts your bids to seek your target.

CPA rules support any of the six conversion events, so you can have one bid rule for the keywords that seek to drive newsletter signups, for example, and a different bid rule for the keywords that seek to drive product downloads.

Bid Rule ‘Intensity’ Control

ClickEquations now allows you to define how ‘aggressive’ your bid rules are in seeking their defined goals. The new control appears in the options section of each bid rule in the Bid Rule Settings page.

Higher intensity settings will spend money more liberally to seek the goal faster (raising the bid more dramatically to try and hit a target position, for example) and cut spending more slowly when trying to find the optimal bid. Lower intensity settings will slow bid increases but perhaps hit targets more slowly, or drop bids more quickly at the risk of sometimes over-shooting the target.

Bid Rule Options

ClickEquations now offers three options which may over-ride the results of defined bid rules.

• Maximum Bid: Sets a maximum bid to ensure rule-generated bids never exceed a specified level.
• Minimum Bid Change: Defines the smallest allowable rule-based bid change. This limits the number of bid changes that will be made or that you’ll have to review.
• Position Bid Limit: Prevents bid increases when keyword average position already exceeds a specified level. This helps when you’ve determined that for certain keywords there is little or no marginal return above a certain position.

Simplified Product Margin and Naming

ClickEquations now enables you to directly update product name and margin information at any time.

In the new Product Margins Settings page, you can manually edit any SKU, or simply upload an Excel or .CSV file to define or modify the product name associated with each SKU and the product margin used to calculate Net Profit and ROI for Campaigns, Ad Groups, Keywords, and Text Ads.

Performance Improvements

ClickEquations reporting has always been fast, but now it’s even faster. Both in our Reports tab and via ClickEquations Analyst, data access and page refresh times are noticeably improved.