“With CNN’s Web sites and ESPN.com, Overture built on existing search agreements. CNN and Overture partnered in December 2002 for Overture to display paid listings on CNN.com, CNNSI.com and CNNMoney.com. Beginning next month, it will display Content Match listings on those three sites. The sites used Google for Web search. Under terms of the new agreement, CNN will swap Google’s Web search technology for Yahoo’s.”

DM News Article Link
This is a good move for OV. We’ve seen some good results from CNN and ESPN in the past. However, you need to pay attention to the news using CNN as a developing story can blow your budget in a day with people just trying to figure out what a product or story really is.

I think lost in the article is that CNN is switching from G to Y for search. Interesting move.

It amazes me how many people have never changed their content based bids since the system went live.
I thought OV did a decent job of informing people of the system differences. Maybe if you don’t read your OV mail or belong to a board like this – you’d never know it happened.

The autobidders aren’t picking up on the search vs content difference, I’m guessing. I haven’t tested all of the software packages since the change went through.

We’ve have a multitude of content bids where we are in 3rd place with this type bidding structure:
1. $5.00
2. $4.99
3. $4.98
4. $0.11
5. $0.10

A rough estimate says 75% of content bids have not changed once since the changes went through – yet their regular bids have changed.

Its very obvious who’s using do it yourself ppc auto bidding software, and who has a competent individual monitoring their accounts.

Just a reminder, don’t forget content bids.

Very Short – One or Two Line Descriptions

The advantages of this description type is that it is quick and easy to read. The information you want to get across to the potential visitor is instantly read and not buried in a more verbose format. Another is that your title and URL are very close together, which makes it easy to quickly associate the two.
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If you have chosen CTR & branding titles for your pay per click search engine marketing, then you need a description that reinforces your title.

Since you have achieved both goals in your title, it’s time to continue that in the first line of your description.
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If you have chosen the advertising method of high CTR titles, then you will want your description to include your company name.

Descriptions get read by many people who never click on an ad or reach your site on their first exposure to your company name. However, if your company name is seen over and over again, people will start to remember and associate it with an ideal that it has a lot of internet visibility, and will be more likely to visit you in the future.
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If you have chosen the title branding method of advertising, then your company name is already prominent in your pay per click listings in the title. Therefore, the best keywords to lead off a description is the exact keyword that makes the ad appear.
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This type of description allows you to show a large amount of information to potential visitors. This gives you the room to easily add your company name, keyword, and a decent amount of information.
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If your company name is very short, then it may not be to difficult to add both the company name and the keyword to your pay per click title.

If your company name is not that short, then you need to find one or two words that are unique to your company name, and brand just those one or two words.
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If your websites goals include attracting a lot of visitors to your website, and from your website, remember your company name and website address, then you need to take a different approach to your pay per click titles. Include your keyword exactly as it is written in your title.
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Branding over Visitors – Higher Internet Visibility

If your main concern is branding, then you want to include your company name in the title. This will lead to an overall lower click through rate, but your company name will be seen by more people.
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