Bradd easily becomes obsessed with small details. He can barely make it through a conversation without drawing a graph of something. He lives in the woods on the side of a hill in Norway. Bradd doesn't willingly wear shoes. He makes maps of places that don't exist. He picks up small shiny things he finds on the ground. He devolves into violent shouting matches with himself. He takes things apart to find out how they work but then can't figure out how to put them back together again. He also writes at Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal and his personal blog.
Osama bin Laden said: "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse." But in sponsored search advertising, betting on the weak horse can sometimes bring a larger payout. [...more]
Machiavelli's writing holds useful advice for the modern digital marketer. In this post, Bradd shows how maximizing one's relative benefit, rather than absolute profit, might lead to better long-term results. [...more]
The 'Pareto Principle' (also called the '80/20 Rule') is often seen, in principle, in paid search marketing performance data. However, in practice, the story is not quite that simple. [...more]
In a recently released report, Google estimated their economic impact on the US in 2009 to be $54 Billion. But estimating Google's impact might not be as straightforward as it sounds. To find out more, check out my article at Search Engine Journal. [...more]
Another brilliant victory for Dr. David Pardoe of the University of Texas and a nail-biting finish for second place marked the second Ad Auction game at the Trading Agent Competition last week. [...more]
Several search marketing firms claim to have based their account management technology on Modern Portfolio Theory. But, there are problems with portfolio theory that could easily get online marketers into trouble if they take these companies at their word. [...more]
In the annual Trading Agent Competition, teams of computer science students spend months writing programs to compete against each other in a simulated marketplace. The 2009 competition was the first to include ad auctions of the sort which search marketers deal with on a daily basis. This year's field looks even stronger. [...more]
Unpredictable. Hyperactive. Irrational. And, potentially, very expensive. That's how a keyword's Quality Score (QS) can be like a teenager. Perhaps no single quantity in Google's AdWords system is more mysterious or misunderstood than Quality Score, and what you don't know about it can hurt your account. [...more]
Sometimes I hear pay-per-click advertising account managers say something like "My CPCs keep going up!" as if that's a bad thing. But one sign of the effectiveness of online marketing efforts is the degree to which they increase the observed Cost-per-Click. In this post, Bradd explains why. [...more]
Even for words that get many clicks and conversions, updating bids can be nerve-wracking. Google is offering a new feature called 'Keyword Bid Ideas' to help alleviate some of the fear, uncertainty and doubt. But a closer examination reveals that some of their recommendations might contribute to the very problems they are trying to relieve. [...more]
