Robert Brady - Practical Ecommerce

Articles by: Robert Brady

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Robert Brady

Robert Brady

Robert Brady is founder of Righteous Marketing, a digital marketing agency. He started in pay-per-click marketing during a class project in college and hasn’t stopped learning since. He has worked with a variety of companies, ranging from a small grass-fed beef grower in Idaho to a large B2B data storage provider.

Robert resides in Idaho Falls, Idaho and can often be found skiing, mountain biking, or playing ultimate Frisbee. The best way to reach him is through Twitter: @robert_brady.

Google Ads
How to Show Product Ratings in Google Ads

May 30, 2021 • Robert Brady

I've been looking for a set of adjustable dumbbells for my home-based gym. I searched on Google and couldn’t help but notice the yellow rating stars for two of the advertisers. The stars are a strong visual contrast from the other search results.
Google Ads
Big Changes from Google Ads in 2020

December 23, 2020 • Robert Brady

The year 2020 witnessed raging Australian wildfires, a presidential impeachment, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Google Ads had some big changes this year, too.
Google Ads
Understanding ‘Explanations’ in Google Ads

July 26, 2020 • Robert Brady

You may have noticed blue, hyperlinked performance stats recently in your Google Ads interface. This is a new feature called "explanations." In this post, I’ll explain explanations and how they can improve results.
Google Ads
How to Use Competitors’ Names in Google Ads

April 20, 2020 • Robert Brady

A hotly debated topic in paid search marketing is bidding on competitors' names and phrases. The considerations go beyond legalities. Whether to do it, and how, is what I'll address in this post.
Google Ads
Google to Show Shopping Ads in Gmail

February 12, 2020 • Robert Brady

I received an email a few days ago from Google, stating that Shopping ads would appear in Gmail starting the week of March 4. What will this look like? What action(s) should merchants take? I'll dig deeper in this post.
Google Ads
My 3 Favorite Google Ads’ Filters

January 22, 2020 • Robert Brady

Filters in Google Ads save time. They can be applied to virtually any reporting column. Instead of scrolling through row after row of data, we could apply filters to show only the most important info.
Google Ads
Google Ads Now Includes Location Extensions Automatically

December 8, 2019 • Robert Brady

If you have not connected your Google Ads account to a Google My Business location, Google will now link them if it detects a shared domain and country. Once linked, Google will show location extensions in your Google Ads unless you opt out.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Why Is Amazon Sending a Holiday Catalog?

November 13, 2019 • Robert Brady

A few days back I received a surprise in the mail courtesy of Amazon: a 2019 gift catalog titled “Holiday Together.” I recognized the Amazon smile logo at the bottom of the cover, which piqued my curiosity. I opened the catalog and turned the pages.
Google Ads
Learning from Google’s Responsive Ad Units

October 8, 2019 • Robert Brady

Google's responsive ads are among the easiest ways to leverage machine learning to improve performance. So let’s look at what we can learn from the machines.
Google Ads
Google Ads Expands Keyword Variant Matching, Again

September 9, 2019 • Robert Brady

Over the past couple of years, Google Ads has expanded the use of close keyword variants from misspellings and plurals to implied words and paraphrases. Now, Google has again expanded the use of close variants.
Google Ads
How Google Collects Data to Personalize Ads

May 23, 2019 • Robert Brady

Google does most of its tracking through a user's account. If you’re logged in on your phone or browser, Google is accumulating a lot of data. And it's willing to show you. To see what Google believes you’re interested in, navigate to Ad Settings.
Google Ads
Google Ads Keyword Planner Gets an Upgrade

April 11, 2019 • Robert Brady

The other day I went to the Keyword Planner in Google Ads. I was greeted by a lightbox message that stated, “A Better Keyword Planner.” The box said six "key features" were improved. Here's my take on the changes.
Google Ads
Google Shopping Campaigns Could See 10 Percent More Impressions

March 12, 2019 • Robert Brady

A recent change by Google Ads could increase impressions by 3 to 10 percent for advertisers that use Shopping campaigns but opt out of the Search Partners network. Here’s what you need to know.
Google Ads
Say Goodbye to ‘Average Position’ Metric in Google Ads

February 27, 2019 • Robert Brady

Last year Google Ads finally transitioned all advertisers to its new interface. There were many changes. One was that "Average Position" no longer appeared in a column by default. And now Google has made it official.
Google Ads
Setting Up ‘Promotions’ in Google Shopping

January 2, 2019 • Robert Brady

The new promotion feature in Google Shopping can help an ad stand out with a blue “Special offer” link. Once clicked, the offer appears as a popup. It's a good way to move past the typical components of a Shopping ad: product name, price, brand, and image.
Google Ads
Google Ads: ‘Exact Match’ Keeps Getting Less Exact

December 6, 2018 • Robert Brady

Google recently announced another change in “exact match” keywords to include close variations with the same meaning as the keyword. I was not a fan when Google first altered the “exact match” policy in 2017. And I’m not a fan of the latest change because keywords are no longer an “exact match.”
Google Ads
Google Ads Expands Headlines, Descriptions, Characters

September 5, 2018 • Robert Brady

For many years Google AdWords allowed 25 characters for a single headline and 35 characters per line for two lines of description text. But Google Ads (formerly AdWords) has made a couple of changes that advertisers should know about. You can now add more text to your existing text ads and utilize a new type of text ad.
Google Ads
3 Mistakes to Avoid on the Google Display Network

August 7, 2018 • Robert Brady

The Google Display Network has the potential to generate massive traffic. It’s a powerful opportunity for any advertiser. But it can cause powerful harm when mistakes occur. Here are three dangers of advertising on the GDN and how you can avoid them.
Social Media
See Competitors’ Ads on Facebook and Twitter

July 4, 2018 • Robert Brady

Anyone can now see what ads are being run by a Facebook page and what tweets are being promoted by a Twitter account. This is hugely helpful competitive intelligence for ...
Google Ads
Report: Internet Trends Favor Amazon, Mobile, Social

June 5, 2018 • Robert Brady

On May 30, Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture capital firm, delivered her “Internet Trends 2018” report at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
Google Ads
AdWords Smart Bidding: Dos and Don’ts

May 1, 2018 • Robert Brady

"Smart Bidding" is the umbrella term in AdWords for automated bid strategies. Smart bids can vary — from targeting page placement to outranking a competitor. There are seven Smart Bidding options. In this post, I'll address each one.
Analytics & Data
Facebook’s Data Scandal Affects Ecommerce Companies

April 3, 2018 • Robert Brady

Facebook is facing a public relations nightmare surrounding its collecting and sharing of user data. Here is the short version. A Cambridge professor used a Facebook survey app to obtain profile ...
Google Ads
Step-by-step PPC Testing Strategy for Any Advertiser

February 28, 2018 • Robert Brady

Ad copy is often the first interaction a consumer has with a business. For AdWords and Bing Ads, advertisers have 30 characters in Headline 1, 30 characters in Headline 2,
Google Ads
Creating Dynamic Ads on Facebook

February 7, 2018 • Robert Brady

In "Using AdWords’ New ‘Responsive Ads’ Format," my article from February 2017, I explained how AdWords allows advertisers to insert ad content on the fly, such as a logo, images, text, and the business name. It's a cool feature for advertisers short on time and design resources. In keeping with the theme, in this post I'll address Facebook, the other player in the online advertising duopoly
Google Ads
Testing Pay-per-click Ad Copy Requires Human Intuition

January 12, 2018 • Robert Brady

My first step in setting up a new AdWords campaign is to test the ad copy. AdWords has long recommended running three or more ads in each ad group. It’s an industry practice to test new messaging. The most common protocol for testing ad copy in a single ad group uses the following pattern.
Google Ads
AdWords: 3 Ways to Find Negative Keywords

December 12, 2017 • Robert Brady

Inside every AdWords account there is a report that shows the exact words (a “query”) that searchers typed into Google before clicking on a specific ad. It’s called the Search ...
Google Ads
AdWords: Navigating the New ‘Opportunities’ Tab

November 21, 2017 • Robert Brady

If you’re an AdWords advertiser, you likely know about the new AdWords’ experience. Google sent emails to all users and has posted reminders throughout the legacy interface. Google will discontinue ...
Google Ads
Don’t Forget Bing for 2017 Holiday Advertising

October 3, 2017 • Robert Brady

New pay-per-click advertisers invariably start with AdWords. Google holds a dominant share of search volume in the U.S. and even the name Google is synonymous with online searching. However, savvy advertisers ...
Google Ads
AdWords Changes Coming Fall 2017

September 13, 2017 • Robert Brady

There has been a flurry of activity from AdWords during the past couple of weeks. If you’re an advertiser, you’ve likely noticed the emails from AdWords, coming fast. In this ...
Google Ads
4 New Features for AdWords Ecommerce Advertisers

June 2, 2017 • Robert Brady

Google recently held its Marketing Next event and announced several changes to its suite of advertising-related products. In this article, I’ll address four of the changes that are important to ...