Monday, September 12, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Ten years later

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Ten years later


The events of September 11, 2001 changed the lives of so many people around the world. In the years since that day, thoughtful online efforts have provided an outlet for grief, for learning and a means for healing. Virtual spaces have helped us to remember the victims and honor the courage of those who risked their lives to save others.

On this 10th anniversary, we wanted to note a few of these virtual places:

9/11 Memorial
  • On Monday September 12, the 9/11 Memorial will open to the public within the original footprint of the twin towers. Our relationship with the 9/11 Memorial team dates back to 2009, when we collaborated to build their Make History site. This web archive lets people place and share their photos and videos in geographical context, collectively piecing together the history that was witnessed, one photo or video at a time.
  • The 9/11 Memorial has also produced a commemorative album called Ten Years On, a musical tribute featuring well-known musicians and performers. The album has inspired a video archive project on YouTube of the same name which encourages people to submit video tributes to those affected by the events of 9/11.
The New York Times
  • YouTube also worked with The New York Times on a YouTube Channel featuring archived news broadcasts and personal stories and reflections from the public.
Mountain Lakes (NJ) Volunteer Fire Department
  • John Reilly, a software executive and Deputy Chief of the Mountain Lakes (NJ) Volunteer Fire Department, built First-Responder to help community organizations like fire departments and EMS corps increase their emergency preparedness and respond more effectively to crises. This open source application uses freely available web tools to map critical resources and contingency plans, dispatch and track first responders, and interoperate with mutual aid organizations during emergencies.
It's been an honor to see these tools being built using our platforms and products—and humbling to see them come to life.

Posted by Andy Berndt, Creative Lab, New York City
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/ten-years-later.html

[G] Remembering September 11, 10 years later

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Remembering September 11, 10 years later

Today marks 10 years since the September 11 attacks. While YouTube did not exist in 2001, people from around the world have used the site over the last few years not only to share their stories and commemorate those lost that day, but also to reflect on the last ten years and look forward to the future.

As we shared last week, in collaboration with the New York Times, we created a dedicated YouTube channel -- youtube.com/September11 -- where we're highlighting powerful stories from the community, archival news footage from 2001, and special New York Times content.

You can watch a New York Times portrait of J.A. Reynolds, who lost his son, Bruce, on 9/11.



Or listen to the story of two brothers -- Joe and John, a firefighter and a policeman -- who died at Ground Zero.



You can visit youtube.com/September11 to watch more reflections and upload your own. You'll also see more of these stories on the YouTube homepage today.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Always a Family".


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/L-NA2BwyvZA/remembering-september-11-10-years-later.html

[G] What Happened to Google Docs on Wednesday

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: What Happened to Google Docs on Wednesday

Posted by Alan Warren, Engineering Director

(Cross-posted from the Google Docs Blog.)

Not our best week. On Wednesday we had an outage that lasted one hour and meant that document lists, documents, drawings and Apps Scripts were inaccessible for the majority of our users. We use Google Docs ourselves every day, so we feel your pain and are very sorry.

So what happened? The outage was caused by a change designed to improve real time collaboration within the document list. Unfortunately this change exposed a memory management bug which was only evident under heavy usage.

Every time a Google Doc is modified, a machine looks up the servers that need to be updated. Due to the memory management bug, the lookup machines didn't recycle their memory properly after each lookup, causing them to eventually run out of memory and restart. While they restarted, their load was picked up by the remaining lookup machines - making them run out of memory even faster. This meant that eventually the servers couldn't properly process a large fraction of the requests to access document lists, documents, drawings, and scripts which led to the outage you saw on Wednesday.

Our automated monitoring noticed that attempts to access documents were failing at an increased rate, and alerted us 60 seconds later after the failure rate increased sharply. The engineering teams diagnosed the problem, determined that it was correlated with the feature change, and started rolling it back 23 minutes after the first alert. In parallel, we doubled the capacity of the lookup service to mitigate the impact of the memory management bug. The rollback completed 24 minutes later, and 5 minutes after that the outage was effectively over as the additional capacity restored normal function.

Since resolution, we have been assembling and scrutinizing the timeline of this event, and have assembled a list of steps which will both reduce the chance of a future event, decrease the time required to notice and resolve a problem, and limit the scope which any single problem can affect. We intend to take all these steps; some are not easy, but we're committed to keeping Google's services exceptionally reliable. In the meantime, rest assured that we take every outage very very seriously, and as always we'll post a full incident report of what happened to the Apps Dashboard once our investigation is complete. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and frustration which the outage has caused.
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-happened-wednesday.html

[G] Introducing the Google Affiliate Network Partner Marketplace

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Google Affiliate Network: Introducing the Google Affiliate Network Partner Marketplace


Earlier this month, we launched the Google Affiliate Network Partner Marketplace, which features companies who can help our advertisers and publishers achieve affiliate marketing goals and grow the affiliate channel.

Today we'd like to highlight the two types of partner offerings that can help advertisers and publishers make the most of their affiliate marketing:
  • Tools to help Google Affiliate Network advertisers and publishers manage and grow their program. These partner tools can help you with things like data feeds, coupon feeds, pay-per-call, affiliate in store coupons, link monetization and tracking videos.
  • Agencies (also referred to as Outsourced Program Managers) to provide program management services for Google Affiliate Network advertisers.
Partners are selected based on their working relationship with the Google Affiliate Network and the value they can provide to our advertisers and publishers. Many of the companies in the Partner Marketplace demonstrate expertise in the pay-per-performance channel, help their customers develop innovative and creative solutions at scale, and provide training and support resources.

Please check out the Partner Marketplace if you are interested in working with any of these partners!

Posted by Jamie Ross, Affiliate Network Strategist
URL: http://googleaffiliatenetwork-blog.blogspot.com/2011/09/introducing-google-affiliate-network.html

[G] August Penguin 10th annual meeting in Israel

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: August Penguin 10th annual meeting in Israel

Last month, 300 open source developers gathered in Tel Aviv for the 10th anniversary of August Penguin, the annual open source event in Israel. The event started with a review of activities of Hamakor, an Israeli open source organization that strives to drive open source software in every aspect of our life - in the government, with small-medium business and on the web. The day continued with other open source initiatives, and with prizes for local open source development and innovation, and ended with technical tracks.

Developers from all ages attended the event:

Google provided the event organizers with HTML5 shaped cupcakes, it was a blast!
Speaking of HTML5, there was a very interesting session in the event that talked about cross browser incompatibilities of many of the government websites. It was mentioned that the open source community together with Google will further engage top sites in Israel and promote an open and standardized web.

By Amir Shevat, Google Developer Relations
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2011/09/august-penguin-10th-annual-meeting-in.html

[G] This week's Trends: fire, flash, and dubstep

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: This week's Trends: fire, flash, and dubstep

Each weekday, we at YouTube Trends take a look at the most interesting videos and cultural phenomena on YouTube as they develop. We want take a moment to highlight some of what we've come across this week:







Check back every day for the latest about what's trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends



Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "Back for the Future."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/3U1WxxR7-as/this-weeks-trends-fire-flash-and.html

[G] Non-Brand Terms Drive More New Visitors to Your Site

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Official Google CPG Blog: Non-Brand Terms Drive More New Visitors to Your Site

A great guest piece from Dan Schock, Google Retail Team Director

Search as a means of driving sales has evolved in the past few years. As recently as three years ago, most retailers and brands still viewed their "Internet" plan as a means of driving e-commerce. The Internet was a distribution and sales channel measured by its ability to drive online revenues.

Then, as the Internet evolved into a broader media platform where consumers researched, watched videos and compared products/prices, and then often made their purchases in a physical store, many advanced companies began to include offline sales as an additional factor in measuring their overall Search ROI.

In 2011, the most forward-thinking retailers and brands have started looking at a new measurement to calculate the success of their online campaigns: new customer acquisition and the lifetime value of those new customers.

Think about your own search strategy: most likely you bid on as many of your brand terms as possible. And you should: here are customers that know you, who are raising their hands (via "queries") and asking for information, then converting at a high ROI.

But what about "non-brand" terms: queries higher up the purchase funnel like "makeup", "detergent" or "paper towels"? These shoppers are still browsing and researching but they're not converting at the same rate as those searching for your brand terms, so you may either not be buying non-brand terms them or buying very few. Why? – Most likely because you're hooked on those brand ROIs. Why pay a higher CPC for a lower conversion rate?




I'll tell you why: because those non-brand terms drive a higher percentage of new customers to your site – and when you consider the lifetime value of those customers they will pay off! Here are people looking for products and services you offer, but did not think to type your brand into the search box. You are not (yet) part of their top consideration set. And look at the advertisers who are on that search results page: it's your competition! You are not even putting yourself in the game.

So what do we recommend? Only you know your relative new customer acquisition costs and lifetime customer value payouts. Every retailer has different metrics, but here's the general thinking: your brand terms ($.50 CPC) payout at an ROI of 10:1 while your non-brand terms ($1.00 CPC) payout at 5:1. But your non-brand terms bring in more new customers who will eventually payout. In year 2, they buy enough to amortize that initial ROI up to 8:1. Then in year 3 they're loyal customers who are paying out at 10:1 (or higher). So that initial $1.00 CPC is now paying out – and that new customer you bought three years ago is now a lifetime customer (and you didn't let the competition get them either).




So don't relegate those non-brand terms to the "too low ROI" bin. Give them a chance. There is value in there beyond immediate ROI. All it takes is a little forward-thinking strategic discussion, some help from your quant team and the ability to see value beyond today's sales report. Think about turning new customers into lifetime customers.
URL: http://google-cpg.blogspot.com/2011/09/non-brand-terms-drive-more-new-visitors.html

[G] Gmail account security in Iran

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Gmail account security in Iran

Posted by Eric Grosse, VP Security Engineering

Cross posted from the Google Security Blog

We learned last week that the compromise of a Dutch company involved with verifying the authenticity of websites could have put the Internet communications of many Iranians at risk, including their Gmail. While Google's internal systems were not compromised, we are directly contacting possibly affected users and providing similar information below because our top priority is to protect the privacy and security of our users.

While users of the Chrome browser were protected from this threat, we advise all users in Iran to take concrete steps to secure their accounts:
  1. Change your password. You may have already been asked to change your password when you signed in to your Google Account. If not, you can change it here.
  2. Verify your account recovery options. Secondary email addresses, phone numbers, and other information can help you regain access to your account if you lose your password. Check to be sure your recovery options are correct and up to date here.
  3. Check the websites and applications that are allowed to access your account, and revoke any that are unfamiliar here.
  4. Check your Gmail settings for suspicious forwarding addresses or delegated accounts.
  5. Pay careful attention to warnings that appear in your web browser and don't click past them.
For more ways to secure your account, you can visit http://www.google.com/help/security. If you believe your account has been compromised, you can start the recovery process here.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/gmail-account-security-in-iran.html

[G] It’s kickoff time for U.S. football searches

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: It's kickoff time for U.S. football searches

Fall means lots of things in the United States: leaves changing colors, apple picking, back to school and...football. This weekend, the National Football League (NFL) starts its season with a bang, with 15 games on Sunday and Monday. College and high school football are already underway and fans all across the country are tuning in, getting excited and rooting for their teams—in person, on television and online. As a Notre Dame alum (class of '87), the ups (and the recent downs) of Fighting Irish football are always a big part of my fall weekends. Regardless of your alma mater or hometown team, one thing is certain: American football is a big deal across the United States. Ahead of most of this week's kickoffs, we thought it would be fun to take a peek at some of the football search trends from around the country.

There's some debate as to what is more popular: professional (NFL) football or college football. Search queries make it clear that in spite of the [nfl lockout], the pro game and [nfl] is consistently more popular for U.S. searchers than all of [college football].


That doesn't mean that the college game isn't extraordinarily popular. Right now, we're seeing the highest level of search queries for [college football] since 2004. In certain regions, college football appears to be king over even the NFL. The states with the most searches for [college football] are mostly in the southern part of the country, with the notable exception of the rabid fans of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. That's no wonder—on Saturdays, when the Huskers are playing at home, their Memorial Stadium becomes the third largest "city" in the state.


We can also conduct a little popularity contest among players in college football. The Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the top college player, is usually correlated to spikes in search query volume. This year, the early favorites for the Heisman are beginning to take shape. Stanford's quarterback [andrew luck], who opted to play his senior year in college instead of heading to the pros, is out front in terms of searches, but fans should also watch out for Robert Griffin III from the Baylor Bears program. [rg3], as he's known, had the game of his career in week one and might be the national breakout star of the first few weeks of the season.


Over on the NFL side, it appears that winning the big game has little relation to how often people search for their favorite player. In the past month, the most searched for player in the NFL is [peyton manning] of the Indianapolis Colts, who last won the Super Bowl in 2007. He's currently sidelined with a neck injury, so his status is likely driving much of the current search queries. Meanwhile, the quarterbacks from the past two Super Bowl winners, [drew brees] from the New Orleans Saints and [aaron rodgers] of the Green Bay Packers, come in behind a player who isn't even his team's starter: Denver Broncos QB and former Florida Gators star [tim tebow].


The old saying goes, "on any given Sunday," meaning that every team has a chance to win each time they hit the field. The adage manifests itself in typically balanced standings that last throughout the season and into the playoffs. But when it comes to search, we're not quite so fair and balanced. In fact, there's a clear favorite, and by this measure they really are "America's Team": the [dallas cowboys]. In the U.S., the Cowboys lead all other teams in search query volume, followed by the [chicago bears] and the [green bay packers].


No examination of football search trends would be complete without mentioning Fantasy Football. Millions of fans participate in their own drafts and watch their league's waiver wires as they serve as coach and general manager for their own fantasy team. The enthusiasm is so fevered that, in the U.S. right now, more people are interested in [fantasy football] than President [obama].


Finally, for spectators, football isn't just about teams and players. It's also about the game day food. [Tailgating] searches peak every fall as folks turn to the web to discover new recipes and ideas for pre-game parking lot cookouts. The Super Bowl in February really drives gameday recipe searches, but tailgating staples like [guacamole], [wings] and [brats] all rank high in terms of search quantity every fall, with the king of all tailgating recipe-related searches being [dip].


Whether you're an NFL fan, an NCAA nut or just someone who likes hot wings, here's to a great season. And go Irish!

Posted by Jim Lecinski, vice president U.S. sales and Notre Dame class of '87
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-kickoff-time-for-us-football.html

[G] Seeking a Sustainable Society: A discussion with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Inside Google Books: Seeking a Sustainable Society: A discussion with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich

Posted by Ariel Levine, Google Books Associate

Last week, Google had the pleasure of having Robert Reich come to speak about his latest book, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, as part of the Authors@Google speaker series. Reich is currently the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, and has served under three US administrations. He has written 13 books, including The Work of Nations, The Future of Success, and Supercapitalism. In the short session, included below, Reich discusses where our economy is today, how it got there, and where it's headed. He argues that America's economic problems can be attributed to how its wealth is currently being distributed and makes several recommendations, focusing on how Silicon Valley and technology have formed and influenced the economy, in particular.

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich speaking as part of the Authors@Google series 

With grace and humor, Reich spoke for a half-hour about the many reasons we slid into the "great recession of 2008," and then took several questions. Reich stressed that one cannot separate the economy from the rest of national experience. "Economics," he stated, "is an offshoot of a field called Political Economy. [It was] not until Alfred Marshall wrote his Principles [of Economics] that it became a separate science. People [used to understand] that you can't talk about politics separate from economics."

Reich stated that his argument -- that redistribution is a prerequisite for growth -- is not grounded in morality. That said, Adam Smith, widely considered the father of modern economics and capitalism, called himself a "Moral philosopher." Smith even considered his most important work to be The Theory of Moral Sentiment, despite having written what is now considered the most influential work on economics,  The Wealth of Nations. Though Reich says the question used to be, "What is a good society, and how do we recognize it and achieve it?" it seems that his talk and book ask an adjacent question, "What is a sustainable society?"

Reich reiterated that workers are consumers, and although they once were able to manage stagnant wages and continue spending, they are now exhausted. After World War II, "the means have not kept up with what a growing economy should have provided them with," and while before they were willing to adjust, sending women into the workforce, taking longer shifts, and taking on debt, the collapse of 2008 forced the middle class to pay their balances, and to "face a necessity they have managed to avoid for decades: they have to make do with less" (138).

This means that there is belt-tightening going on across the country and money is not moving fluidly into the market. Companies won't hire until they see consumer demand, and consumers won't spend until they have jobs and steady sources of income. "Businesses are sitting on almost two trillion dollars of cash." This is a negative cycle in which no one wins.

Most worrisome to Reich is that while Americans continue to be unable to find jobs, the financial sector is operating as normal, large bonuses have returned, and inequality is the status quo. He says this is fertile ground for political confrontation, and is worried that individuals will rally around demagogues, who "will channel anger at easy targets like foreigners, the poor, the rich, [etc.]" He calls for reforms that would change the income tax, create wage insurance, and invest in infrastructure, health, and education. He says we must pay attention to how widening inequality and economic insecurity affect our social and political landscape, and the inevitable consequences.

Reich holding the Google eBook version
 of Aftershock on the Story HD from iriver 

To find more titles by Robert Reich, please visit our Google eBookstore.
URL: http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2011/09/seeking-sustainable-society-discussion.html

[G] Getting to know you at AdSense In Your City events

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Inside AdSense: Getting to know you at AdSense In Your City events


During this summer, a few of us on the North America AdSense team had the pleasure of meeting publishers in person during AdSense in Your City events. First, we stopped by our office in Boulder, Colorado to provide publishers with AdSense updates and tips (and we fell in love with the city as well!). We then headed to our offices in Toronto and New York to host a series of similar events for local publishers. It was a busy week, but we thoroughly enjoyed the valuable face-to-face time with you.

While our goal during these events is to provide information to you, we also learn a lot from our attendees. We asked a few participants some questions about AdSense and the event, and here's what they had to say:

What is your favorite thing about AdSense?
"Depth of advertisers. Allows me to do what I do best." Darren O.
"AdSense was the easiest and most effective way to monetize my site." Andrew D.

What did you learn from the AdSense in Your City event?
"I'm very interested in DoubleClick for Publishers Small Business. Right now I use a more limited ad server and I can likely increase CPM with better technology." Darren O.
"It always amazes me how you can learn more about optimizing your revenue when attending Google sessions like this. It helped me focus on AdSense issues I have neglected over time. I will definitely implement and test some changes that were suggested. Also, I have met other publishers and learned from them." Max L.

What tip do you have for other publishers?
"Jump in and try it [AdSense] - it's super easy." Darren O.
"Simple changes such as color and ad position have increased my CTR by over 30%." Andrew D.

Thanks for providing candid feedback and we hope to continue hearing from you. We'll be visiting other cities through our AdSense in Your City program, so make sure you're opted in to our mailings so we can inform you about upcoming events!

Posted by Jamie Firkus - Inside AdSense Team
URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2011/09/getting-to-know-you-at-adsense-in-your.html

[G] What Happened Wednesday

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Docs Blog: What Happened Wednesday

Not our best week. On Wednesday we had an outage that lasted one hour and meant that document lists, documents, drawings and Apps Scripts were inaccessible for the majority of our users. We use Google Docs ourselves every day, so we feel your pain and are very sorry.

So what happened? The outage was caused by a change designed to improve real time collaboration within the document list. Unfortunately this change exposed a memory management bug which was only evident under heavy usage.

Every time a Google Doc is modified, a machine looks up the servers that need to be updated. Due to the memory management bug, the lookup machines didn't recycle their memory properly after each lookup, causing them to eventually run out of memory and restart. While they restarted, their load was picked up by the remaining lookup machines - making them run out of memory even faster. This meant that eventually the servers couldn't properly process a large fraction of the requests to access document lists, documents, drawings, and scripts which led to the outage you saw on Wednesday.

Our automated monitoring noticed that attempts to access documents were failing at an increased rate, and alerted us 60 seconds later after the failure rate increased sharply. The engineering teams diagnosed the problem, determined that it was correlated with the feature change, and started rolling it back 23 minutes after the first alert. In parallel, we doubled the capacity of the lookup service to mitigate the impact of the memory management bug. The rollback completed 24 minutes later, and 5 minutes after that the outage was effectively over as the additional capacity restored normal function.

Since resolution, we have been assembling and scrutinizing the timeline of this event, and have assembled a list of steps which will both reduce the chance of a future event, decrease the time required to notice and resolve a problem, and limit the scope which any single problem can affect. We intend to take all these steps; some are not easy, but we're committed to keeping Google's services exceptionally reliable. In the meantime, rest assured that we take every outage very very seriously, and as always we'll post a full incident report of what happened to the Apps Dashboard once our investigation is complete. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and frustration which the outage has caused.

Posted by: Alan Warren, Engineering Director
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-happened-wednesday.html

[G] Display creative checklist: building direct response ads

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: Display creative checklist: building direct response ads

If you're designing display ads and have direct response goals, your ads need to catch the user's eye, convey key information, and encourage them to click and explore your website. To get you started, we've put together the top ten tips learned through the collective experience of hundreds of Google AdWords account teams. These ten tips will help drive effective direct response marketing campaigns.


1. Call-to-Action
A call-to-action phrase or button encourages users to click on your ad and clearly lets them know what is coming next. While direct call-to-actions such as "Buy Now!" may be common, they can also be too insistent. Using indirect call-to-actions like "Explore Now" or short phrases such as "Travel Your Dream" help encourage action without demanding a strong commitment.



2. Call-to-Action in Every Frame

Include a call-to-action & key message in every frame of your ad – especially the final frame. This ensures that you get across these two very important points no matter when the user's attention is drawn to your ad. When your animation stops, your ad will continue to compel action from users.



3. Company or Brand logo
Keep your brand or product logo in front of users in all frames. This will highlight your brand and can heighten credibility and increase your click-through rate. If this isn't possible, include your logo in the final frame of animated ads to ensure your brand shows after animation has ended.



4. Pricing and Promotion
The more information on pricing that a user can gain from your display ad, the better. Consider providing promotional pricing to the audiences your ad is reaching. Discount offers supported by discount codes can help attract attention. If users don't like the price or terms of your offer, they won't click on your ad. Pre-qualifying users can save you the cost of that click.


5. Clear Value Proposition
Include a clear, compelling message highlighting the benefit of your product or service. If your ad is animated,

consider presenting a value proposition in each frame. Users should feel as though they are missing out on something by not clicking.



6. Sense of Urgency
Create a sense of urgency in your ad. Referring to deadlines or limits in quantity and availability can persuade users to give your message consideration right away.



7. Coordinate Colors & Images
Customize the color scheme of your ad to match your image or logo, and use easy-to-view colors for backgrounds and fonts. Extremely bright colors can be unpleasant and difficult to read. Using transparent PNG-format images can greatly improve aesthetics within your ad.



8. Balance Text & Images
Take advantage of both text and images to convey your message. Text and images are processed by different parts of the brain. Integrating both into your ad – harmoniously – can help you influence viewers cognitively and emotionally. Complementary text and images may help viewers remember your ad long after they have seen it.



9. Relevant Landing Page
Direct users to the most relevant landing page where the product or service is described in detail. The message on the page should match the message or promotion in your ad. This can have a positive impact on your users, conversion rate, and quality score. Remember to match the look & feel of your ad to the landing page.


Display Ad

Landing Page


10. Cast a Wide Net

Create your ad in every standard size or format to ensure that it reaches all of the highest performing corners of the Google Display Network. Some sites only accommodate specific formats and ad sizes. A full suite of ad sizes will improve your ad's chances of appearing on those sites.




You can find these ten tips on the Display Creative Checklist website here.


Posted by Lauren Barbato, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/09/display-creative-checklist-building.html

[G] Gmail account security in Iran

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Google Online Security Blog: Gmail account security in Iran

Posted by Eric Grosse, VP Security Engineering

We learned last week that the compromise of a Dutch company involved with verifying the authenticity of websites could have put the Internet communications of many Iranians at risk, including their Gmail. While Google's internal systems were not compromised, we are directly contacting possibly affected users and providing similar information below because our top priority is to protect the privacy and security of our users.

While users of the Chrome browser were protected from this threat, we advise all users in Iran to take concrete steps to secure their accounts:
  1. Change your password. You may have already been asked to change your password when you signed in to your Google Account. If not, you can change it here.
  2. Verify your account recovery options. Secondary email addresses, phone numbers, and other information can help you regain access to your account if you lose your password. Check to be sure your recovery options are correct and up to date here.
  3. Check the websites and applications that are allowed to access your account, and revoke any that are unfamiliar here.
  4. Check your Gmail settings for suspicious forwarding addresses or delegated accounts.
  5. Pay careful attention to warnings that appear in your web browser and don't click past them.
For more ways to secure your account, you can visit http://www.google.com/help/security. If you believe your account has been compromised, you can start the recovery process here.
URL: http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2011/09/gmail-account-security-in-iran.html

[G] A different approach to patch management

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: A different approach to patch management

Posted by Eran Feigenbaum, Director of Security, Google Enterprise

Editors note:This post is part of a series that explores the top ten reasons why customers trust Google with their business data. A complete top ten list can be found here.

In the previous post in this series, we described how Google's cloud data centers are designed and built to protect the data that customers store in Google Apps. One of the benefits of this architecture is that our customers don't have to maintain the systems that run Google Apps, we do it for them. This reduces both costs and risks for our customers.

One of the risks organizations face comes from malicious software (a.k.a. "malware") that attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in operating systems and applications. As vulnerabilities are exposed, technology vendors issue patches to fix them in what has become a seemingly never-ending routine. This can be costly and time consuming as it becomes a race to patch vulnerabilities before they're exploited. When organizations support multiple versions and types of operating systems and applications, the challenges increase rapidly. Using Google Apps eliminates servers and reduces the number applications that need to be patched, which helps reduce risk.

Customers such as Brian Hobbs, IT Director for Hunter Douglas have this to say about patch management in Google Apps: "The company saves money but even more importantly, I save time in administering licenses, installations, security patches, and training."

Many organizations that I talk to describe how they have developed a proficiency in deploying patches in their legacy environments. They've done so out of necessity - there really was no choice. But these proficiencies carry high costs in terms of human resources and 3rd party patch management systems. Google Apps allows organizations to change this mindset and reduce the number of IT resources and 3rd party systems dedicated to the patch management process.

Andrew Murrey, Vice President of IT Infrastructure at Cinram North America, had this comment: "we calculated that we could be saving 60% on email alone by moving to Google Apps for Business – a clear winner when it came to price per user – but we also knew we'd save serious time on IT management, freeing my team up to do more strategic work."

IT security professionals often ask me how we address patching. In our data centers we take a different approach to patch management. Rather than many different types of systems, we have a very homogeneous architecture that allows us to be highly efficient in deploying patches. The data center machines are specifically designed and identically configured in ways that reduce the potential number of vulnerabilities within our systems compared to traditional on-premise, so called "private cloud" and hybrid technologies. When a patch is required, our architecture allows us to deploy it very quickly across all our systems. And it's seamless and invisible to our customers, which allows them to take a different approach to patch management as well: one that reduces risk and cost.

In the next post in the series we'll look deeper into strong authentication. In the meantime, for more information about the data protections in place for Google Apps, please visit our Google Apps Trust page.
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/09/different-approach-to-patch-management.html

[G] Announcing the Blogger app for iOS

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: Announcing the Blogger app for iOS

(Cross-posted from the Blogger Buzz blog)

Today we're excited to announce the new Blogger app for iOS. With the Blogger app, you can write a new blog post and publish it immediately or save it as a draft right from your iOS device. You can also open a blog post you've been working on from your computer and continue editing it while you're on-the-go. Your blog posts are automatically synced across devices, so you'll always have access to the latest version.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and the Blogger app makes it easy to add photos either by choosing from the gallery or taking a new photo right within the app. You can also add labels and location to provide more details about the post.




Download the Blogger app today for iOS versions 3.2 and above in the App Store. Although the user interface is only available in English at this time, the app supports blog posts written in all languages. If you're using an Android-powered device, you can download the Blogger app for Android from the Android Market.


Posted by Chang Kim, Product Manager
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/09/announcing-blogger-app-for-ios.html

[G] Site Speed gets an upgrade. Hello Performance tab

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Site Speed gets an upgrade. Hello Performance tab

This is part of our series of posts highlighting the new Google Analytics. The new version of Google Analytics is currently available in beta to all Analytics users. And follow Google Analytics on Twitter for the latest updates. This week, we share an update to the Site Speed report to help you better understand your site's performance.

In May, we made it easier to compare your site's business performance with your site's actual performance with the introduction of the Site Speed report in the new version of Google Analytics. Today we want to share an update.

We've heard the need to get into more detail about the reporting of your page load times. We've introduced a new performance tab in the SIte Speed report that will allow you to see a breakdown of the samples. This allows you to move beyond the averages and better understand your site's performance.

For example, I'm looking at the Site Speed report for the Google Analytics blog. I can see that my average page load time is 7 seconds (we have some room to improve here). Now, we know that averages can hide what's happening underneath the surface.


With the Performance tab in the Site Speed report, I can now dig in and find those details.


Ah ha! I can now see that, almost half of my visitors (46%) are actually seeing decent load times of under 3 seconds. And another 32% are getting the page in under 7 seconds. But there's definitely still room to improve with a full 20% seeing 7+ second load times.

Taking this a step further, I can apply an advanced segment, in this case Visits with Conversions. I have set up the blog with engagement goals. So I'm trying to see if there's a relationship between page load time and engaging with the content here.


And looking at this data, it looks like there is. The distribution of visits with conversions is skewed towards fast-loading pages. As page load time increases, I am seeing a drop in conversions. I can actually see the business impact of a slow loading page.

Another type of segmentation to try would be by geography. To start off, try segmenting visits from your country versus visits not from your country. From there you may want to dig into specific countries and look at page load times.

You'll find the Site Speed report in the Content section of the new Google Analytics. To get site speed data, you need to make a small change to your Google Analytics tracking code. Setup instructions and more details about the Site Speed report are in the Help Center. We hope you enjoy the new Performance tab, and you can expect more updates for Site Speed coming soon.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Google Analytics Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/09/site-speed-gets-upgrade-hello.html

[G] 7th Year of Google Summer of Code comes to an end

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: 7th Year of Google Summer of Code comes to an end


We are pleased to announce the end of another successful Google Summer of Code, our program designed to introduce university students from around the world to open source development.

Back in late May, 1,115 university students from 68 countries began writing code for 175 open source organizations with the help of over 2000 mentors from 55 countries. We are excited to announce that just over 88% of the students passed their final evaluations, this was just shy of 2010's record success rate of 89%. We'll be posting more tasty stats about the 2011 program here soon. Meanwhile you can view a variety of statistics on the previous six years of the program. Mentoring organizations will also be posting wrap up reports over the coming weeks so stay tuned!

Now that the program has ended for the summer, the students are busy preparing their code samples for all eyes to see. Soon you will be able to go to the program site where organizations will have links to the student's code repository on code.google.com.

Thank you to all of the students, mentors and organization administrators that have helped to make this 7th year of the Google Summer of Code a roaring success!

By Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2011/09/7th-year-of-google-summer-of-code-comes.html

[G] How our cloud does more with less

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: How our cloud does more with less

We've worked hard to reduce the amount of energy our services use. In fact, to provide you with Google products for a month—not just search, but Google+, Gmail, YouTube and everything else we have to offer—our servers use less energy per user than a light left on for three hours. And, because we've been a carbon-neutral company since 2007, even that small amount of energy is offset completely, so the carbon footprint of your life on Google is zero.

We've learned a lot in the process of reducing our environmental impact, so we've added a new section called "The Big Picture" to our Google Green site with numbers on our annual energy use and carbon footprint.


We started the process of getting to zero by making sure our operations use as little energy as possible. For the last decade, energy use has been an obsession. We've designed and built some of the most efficient servers and data centers in the world—using half the electricity of a typical data center. Our newest facility in Hamina, Finland, opening this weekend, uses a unique seawater cooling system that requires very little electricity.

Whenever possible, we use renewable energy. We have a large solar panel installation at our Mountain View campus, and we've purchased the output of two wind farms to power our data centers. For the greenhouse gas emissions we can't eliminate, we purchase high-quality carbon offsets.

But we're not stopping there. By investing hundreds of millions of dollars in renewable energy projects and companies, we're helping to create 1.7 GW of renewable power. That's the same amount of energy used to power over 350,000 homes, and far more than what our operations consume.

Finally, our products can help people reduce their own carbon footprints. The study (PDF) we released yesterday on Gmail is just one example of how cloud-based services can be much more energy efficient than locally hosted services helping businesses cut their electricity bills.

Visit our Google Green site to find out more.

Posted by Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Technical Infrastructure

(Cross-posted on the European Public Policy and Green Blogs)
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-our-cloud-does-more-with-less.html

[G] Gold Star Partner Showcase

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 12:22 AM PDT

Inside AdSense: Gold Star Partner Showcase

Last week, we highlighted homebuyinginstitute.com as the first publisher in the Gold Star Partnership Showcase.  The showcase is an opportunity for us to publicly recognize some of our amazing AdSense partners.

Out of hundreds of submissions, we selected three publishers who clearly demonstrate the following:
Today we'd like to highlight Todd Sarouhan, founder of GoVisitCostaRica.com:
 Name: Todd Sarouhan
 Site: GoVisitCostaRica.com
 Vertical: Travel
 AdSense Partner for: 5+ years

Tell us about your site:
"GoVisitCostaRica.com is a very informative travel website dedicated to traveling to and within Costa Rica. You can plan your perfect Costa Rica vacation; on the beach, in the forest or next to the volcanoes. See why Costa Rica is one of the best countries to vacation in."

What makes govisitcostarica.com a great AdSense partner?
"We have a great use of AdSense within our large amount of content."

Why do you love AdSense?
"AdSense has been a great add on to our monthly income for our very popular travel website."
In the next couple of weeks, we'll highlight our final Gold Star Partner so be sure to keep an eye on the blog!

Posted by Julia Riley, AdSense Strategic Partnerships
URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2011/09/gold-star-partner-showcase_08.html
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