In the latest round of updates at the end of last week, Google announced that they would (finally!) be adding more detail about where your clicks are coming from:

“Previously, these pages divided statistics into two categories: search, which included Google and search partners, and the content network.
Now, we show one set of statistics for Google and another set aggregating search partner performance. Search partners include AOL, Ask.com, and many other search sites around the web. ”

This is a major change, comparable to when Google started showing where exactly your ads where coming from in the Content network.

That was a huge step forward, and one that made sense for Google. Previously advertisers were skeptical about throwing money down a black hole which included some very, um, shady Made For AdSense sites alongside the high quality sites they may have wanted to target.

However, these latest changes don’t go far enough. Yet.

We can now see how Google stacks up against the other search partners, but not how the individual partners (Ask, AOL, etc) are performing individually. Rich, over at Destilled is asking the question, “Have Google Shot Themselves in the Foot?”, and it’s a valid point.

Here’s the data for one of the accounts we manage:

(I removed the campaign names for anonymity for my client)

As you can see, in each case the cost per click for the search partners is higher, up to 25% higher, than it is on Google, but even more importantly, the number of conversions (final column) are way down. So I’m paying more, and getting less. That is why all the Search partner ads are now set to ‘Off’. I’d rather spend where it is working.

So, what happens now?

Well I suspect that that many others will follow suit and shut off the complete search network, for example, see this thread at Webmaster World:

“At first glance it looks like 90% of my conversions are from google search only not the network.”

“Wow, just split stats on an account. Bye bye Search Network!”

“We totally disabled Partners in a few campaigns after seeing 100 to 200% higher conversion costs.
No wonder they didn’t show this data for so long.”

And if that happens, I’d have to assume that Google will be forced to show the search network in greater details, if only due to pressure from their partners. If AOL is performing well, for instance, they’re unlikely to be happy about being cut out due to the deficiencies of other sites.

However, for now we have to deal with what we have, and I’m at least glad that I’ve been able to learn this much.

How about you? How do your stats measure up across the different sites?

Catching up on some RSS feeds (it’s been a busy week!), I came across this Tech Crunch attack on the ‘Team Cyprus Video’ - and I’m so annoyed.

If you haven’t seen it yet, the video (below) was created in Cyprus by some techies on vacation.  Those involved work for some of the biggest names in the industry - Google, Facebook, Blip.tv, etc - and that’s the problem that Techcrunch has with it,

“The video was released just as Silicon Valley really began falling apart and the UnParty began in earnest - eBay’s 10% layoffs, Google’s stock nosedive, Yahoo’s self destruction, VC’s bunkering down, etc. And more than a few people thought the ostentatious partying was a little, ahem, tasteless in light of the meltdown back home.”

Ok, so here’s the video:

I’m not quite sure why Michael Arrington thinks it’s so ‘tasteless’ (he may have said, “more than a few people thought it was tasteless”, but let’s be honest, he’s projecting his own feeling here) - All I’m seeing is a bunch of young people having a good time on vacation. In fact I wish I had been there myself. They’re not bathing in champagne or lighting cigars with $100 bills. Just singing, drinking beer and having fun.

Sure the markets are in meltdown, but are we all supposed to be donning the hairshirts and sitting around watching the talking heads on CNBC tell us how the world is going to end any minute? I’ve already posted this week about optimism, but I think this article goes even beyond that. This isn’t simply being pessimistic, it’s an attack on fun, and includes this ridiculous hyperbole:

“fair or not the video video will always be associated with the end of Web 2.0″

What does that even mean?! If Web 2.0 means the social web, how does a funny Youtube video which has spread virally through blogs prove the end of that?

I’m not sticking my head in the sand over the current financial crisis - I got my daughter’s Future Scholar statement this morning, I know how things are - but can’t we allow a little room for having a good time?

I think if you have to say something about this video, it should be to praise the production values - I mean, really, it’s a single cam tracking shot right up there with the club scene in Goodfellas, the pool party in Boogie Nights or this from Soy Cuba:

Who’d have thought that, from a bunch of tech geeks?

We’ve seen the first hiring via Twitter, the first house sold on Twitter, and now an engagement:

Ah, the power of love!

Congratulations to both Sean and Tara - hope you’ll both have a wonderful life together.

Google, always looking out for us, has a new feature available for Gmail. Mail Goggles - love the name! - asks you a series of math problems before sending your email, so that those who have maybe had a little too much to drink won’t send anything they’ll regret later.

A great idea, you’ll no doubt agree.

We gave some thought to 5 more features our Internet Overlords should take a look at, in order to save us from ourselves:

Facebook Heartbreak Timecapsule - When your Relationship Status changes from ‘In a Relationship’ to ‘Single’, Facebook stores all your wall posts, messages, pokes, etc for a period of 9 months, and then allows you to decide whether or not you really want to tell her that she’ll regret it and you’ll never stop loving her.

Ebay ELIZA - turned on automatically after you look at two or more kitsch items costing over $5. The software will nag you with AI intelligence , “Do you really need that? Where will you put it? Shouldn’t we fix the ____ first?” until you finally give up and go to bed.

iTunes Rock Snob - Interrupts your playlists with sarcastic comments about your music choices, “More Air Supply?! Great”, and suggests obscure German bands of the 70s from the iTunes store instead.

MySpace for Dads - let’s you design and play with your page as much as you like, but blocks your kid’s friends from seeing it so they don’t have to live a life of shame at school.

Yahoo Happy News - filters out any news items with mentions of the economy, mortgages, Iraq, or Paris Hilton. Currently a blank page.

Can you think of any more you’d like to see?

One of my regular reads is Jacob Morgan’s blog - I’ve mentioned him before on here - as he usually has something interesting to say, and he’s very prolific too. Most of his posts take a inquisitive tone, he asks for opinions or thoughts from his audience (which is a great way to interact), and he appears to be generally optimistic.

Which is why I was pretty surprised by the apparent anger and ‘doom+gloom-ery’ in this post.

Don’t get me wrong, I think everyone is pretty angry at having to bail out private companies, and then see them blow $400,000 on a spa retreat. I doubt many felt a great deal of sympathy for the Lehman Bros CEO after he was punched by an employee on Sunday (not that we condone violence, obviously!). Right now anger is perfectly understandable.

But anger, as John Lydon used to sing, is an energy, and that is where I think I differ from Jacob on this one.

His blog was a response to this post on O’Reilly.com, suggesting that the recession will be good for innovation. So to some degree it looks like they are talking at cross-purposes. Saying that a recession is good for tech+innovation isn’t the same as saying that a recession is a good thing.

For example, I think I can safely assume that most people think the Second World War was a ‘Bad Thing’ - the Holocaust, 100s of millions of lives lost, the beginning of the Cold War, etc, etc. The closet we have seen to Hell on Earth.

And yet it is also undeniable that those tragic circumstances were good for technology and innovation - the birth of the modern computer, jets, nuclear technology, medical advances in skin grafts, antibiotics, the birth of the Space Age and so on. People can debate whether or not those things would have happened anyway, but it is true that the war speeded up the process due to necessity, and the same can be true of a recession.

The last recession wiped out jobs too, but (just in the Internet industry) some of those talented people working behind the scenes at Pets.com, Flooz.com and other sites which seem like jokes now, have gone on to create much greater value at Google, Yahoo, Ebay and other success stories. Who knows what great things will be invented by a programmer who gets laid off by AOL, for example?

Nobody wants a recession. I feel enormous sympathy for anyone who is suffering at this time because of things that are beyond their control. But I am (naively?) an optimist. I like to believe that when people are pushed to find new ways of doing things they will. I think that history has shown that this country is better equipped than most to allow new ideas to become great. Yes, many will be hurt be the coming financial problems, but some of those people will use that as a springboard to achieve something wonderful, and that will help to lift us all out of the recession.

After all, this is a country where even bank robbers are finding innovative uses for Internet services. I’ll continue to have faith in the power of people to overcome adversity through technology.

I don’t think many people realize exactly how hard it is to market for a charity. Years ago I worked on a website which raised money for a South African park project, and it was far, far tougher trying to get noticed there than on most of the commercial sites I’ve worked with.
So I was extremely impressed with the approach this Belgian company took to getting their message across

(tip of the hat to Donor Power Blog, where I came across this):

Unlike the ‘edgy’ Truth stunts and videos, which appear to be trying way too hard, this campaign actually worked, not only in raising awareness of the issue, but (more importantly?) dollars too. Well, Euros.

Join the Lowcountry Twitter List

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Twitter. It’s currently both my favorite waste of time and my most productive outlet. For fun, making contacts, publicity, research and much more, Twitter is simply the best right now.

But…

While it’s easy to make contact with those in your field, or with similar interests, it can be kind of tricky to find those geographically close to you. You can try TwitterLocal, or search for mentions of you city, but it’s still a bit hit or miss.

So, inspired by the Official Nashville Twitter List, we decided to start the Official Lowcountry Twitter List. If you’re looking to make local contacts, we’re here. If you want to make yourself known, please send us your info via the form or contact @simonashton on Twitter . Feel free to copy or share the page, the more the merrier, and any suggestions or comments are more than welcome.

Hope to hear from you soon.