Official Google Canada Blog: July 2013

YouTube geeks out with first-ever Geek Week: August 4-10, 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

YouTube.com/GeekWeekNerdistChannel Flip

Blockbuster Sunday: A celebration of the iconic characters, movies and shows that define geek culture--plus a spotlight on the best original YouTube sci-fi, fantasy and animation. Hosted by FreddieW in the U.S., with new content from Tomska in the U.K.

Global Geekery Monday: Anime from Tokyo, comic book heroes from Delhi, and a celebration of "Doctor Who." Explore geek culture from around the world. Hosted byYOMYOMF in the U.S., and including a special new episode of the British cult children's TV show “Knightmare.”

Brainiac Tuesday: Science, education and knowledge channels that make YouTube the world's biggest platform for learning. Hosted by Veritasium and The Spangler Effect in the U.S., with an epic stunt from Head Squeeze and Flow from the U.K.

Super Wednesday: From hilarious parodies to real-life superpowers, explore superheroes, the supernatural and the super-weird. Plus, released exclusively for Geek Week, the trailer for Marvel's “Thor: The Dark World.” Hosted by Stan Lee’s World of Heroes in the U.S., and you won’t believe what Fast Furious & Funny have done with an old Nissan in the U.K.

Gaming Thursday: A gamers’ paradise, with live play-throughs, video games in real life, game-inspired original series and much more. Hosted by Machinima and Maker Studios' Polaris in the U.S., with a Guinness World Records gaming attempt live stream from the U.K.

Fan Friday: Sci-fi-themed cooking, incredible cosplay and impassioned nerd debates as YouTube's biggest fans take center stage. Hosted by Felicia Day of Geek & Sundry in the U.S., with an ultimate geeky quiz by Crabstickz from the U.K.

YouTube.com/GeekWeekThe YouTube #GeekWeek Team recently watched the trailer for “Video Game High School Season 2 Trailer.”

Stepping into the future together

Monday, July 22, 2013

Our two most important goals for AdWords are to make ads more relevant and useful for users, and more effective and simple to manage for advertisers. That's why I was so excited to announce enhanced campaigns this past February. With enhanced campaigns, we're making it easier to reach people in the moments that matter with ads that are more relevant to their intent and context.

We’ve written a lot about enhanced campaigns in the past four months. In addition to our help center articles and dedicated website, you can see lots of best practices, customer stories, webinar recordings and details about new features in the “enhanced campaigns” label on our blog.

Since we introduced enhanced campaigns, advertisers have upgraded over 6 million legacy campaigns, representing almost 75% of active campaigns. And starting today, we will begin upgrading all remaining campaigns automatically, bringing everyone onto the new AdWords platform. As with many product launches, the rollout will be gradually completed over several weeks.

Results with enhanced campaigns
Many advertisers who've upgraded and optimized their enhanced campaigns have already reported positive results and time savings. Here are a few recent examples:

Pizza Hut reported that mobile ROI increased by 20% since upgrading to enhanced campaigns. They've also found that mobile CTR has increased by more than 60% while their cost per order on smartphones has dropped by 17%.
Autobytel, a site for car buyers and owners, grew conversions by 10% at the same CPA after upgrading and optimizing their enhanced campaigns. They now manage 30% fewer campaigns, leaving the marketing team with more time to focus on optimizing the user experience. “We are getting the right conversions at the right price, while marketing efforts are more focused on user experience rather than managing the account,” said Billy Ferriolo, Senior Vice President, Consumer Acquisition and Product Development. (download .pdf)
Miller's Bakery, a thriving family-run business in New Jersey, generated more custom cake orders using features like location and mobile bid adjustments, upgraded sitelinks, and upgraded call extensions. After upgrading, the bakery’s in-store visits increased by 10-20%, business during peak hours nearly doubled, and web clicks from nearby cities climbed 20-35%. “Our customers interact with our business using multiple screens,” said owner Dwight Miller. "If we didn’t advertise on both desktop and mobile, we’d miss out on a lot of customer touch points.” (download .pdf)

Tips for success after upgrading
All AdWords campaigns benefit from good set-up and regular optimization. So whether you upgraded your campaigns yourself or let it happen automatically, we encourage you to review and optimize all newly transitioned enhanced campaigns. Here are a few tips (details are in this Help Center article):

Review your mobile bid adjustments. For most campaign types, the auto-upgrade default is based on bids from similar advertisers. Visit the campaign ‘Settings’ tab to optimize for your business.
Identify unwanted keyword duplication in overlapping campaigns. If you previously had similar legacy campaigns for each device type, we suggest identifying matching campaigns and eliminating unwanted duplicate keywords in your enhanced campaigns.
Review Display Network campaigns. Verify that your display ads are reaching users on desired devices and that you're using your desired bidding strategies.
Start taking advantage of the powerful enhanced campaign features. We recommend trying out upgraded sitelinks and upgraded call extensions to start. Then you can further boost results by creating mobile preferred ads and setting bid adjustments for location and time.

You can visit our enhanced campaigns website for more success stories and best practices, including a guide on how to bid like a pro with enhanced campaigns. And please contact us if you have questions or need help.

Stepping into the future together
Consumers will continue to have access to more screens and be able to switch between them as they shop, play and communicate. Enhanced campaigns are an important step towards helping advertisers connect with consumers more simply and smartly in this multi-screen world. We've been inspired by advertisers and partners around the world who are already embracing this new opportunity. Thank you for joining us on the journey and stepping into the future together.

(Cross posted from the Inside AdWords blog)

Posted by Sridhar Ramaswamy, Senior Vice President, Ads and Commerce

Happy Nunavut Day! Snowy Iqaluit comes to Street View

Monday, July 8, 2013

Nunavut, in the Inuktitut language, means “our land”. When Google Maps teamed up with the nonprofit Nunavut Tunngavik Inc to improve the maps of Canada’s Arctic, our aim was to help the people of Canada’s most northern territory build a map that accurately reflects the land they know so well.
Today, as we celebrate Nunavut Day, we’re thrilled to share these new maps and Street View imagery from the snowy streets, snowmobile trails and dog sled runs of Nunavut’s capital, Iqaluit.

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Looking out over the city of Iqaluit with Google Maps
“You should see this place in the winter!” The Google Maps team heard that a lot last summer when we were first invited north of the Arctic circle to help build the map of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Considering that average temperatures remain below freezing for eight months of the year, we made sure that for our next trip we would bundle up and head north to experience Canada’s Arctic winter.

View Larger Map A Street View ride behind a dog sled across Frobisher Bay
If you’re up for a wintery tour of Iqaluit, start at the “Four Corners,” Iqaluit’s business intersection down the road from Canada’s northernmost Tim Horton’s. Walk down the street towards the Visitor’s Center and the museum, duck into an igloo built by locals, and then take a dogsledding trip out onto the frozen Frobisher Bay.

View Larger Map Abandoned Hudson’s Bay Co. cabins near Apex
Go for a hike past the cemetery towards the Hudson Bay Co. cabins, or check out the Road to Nowhere. Or perhaps take a walk along the Road to Apex, which also happens to be the best place to view the northern lights at night.
View Larger Map Nunavut Legislative Assembly
Visit the Nunavut Legislative Assembly or take in the sites of the Middle School and St. Jude’s Church (which is shaped like an igloo!)
Nunavut’s Citizen CartographersTo make sure the map of Iqaluit is as accurate as possible, we conducted a Community Map Up at the Iqaluit Centennial Library. Small business owners, elders, high school students and interested citizens gathered around computers and used Map Maker to add roads, trails and several points of interest to the Google Map of Iqaluit and Canada's north. Because Map Maker supports Inuktitut, residents could use one of Nunavut’s official languages while making edits to the map.
Iqaluit residents participate in a MapUp at the local library
When it came to collecting Street View imagery from the frozen streets of Iqaluit, the Trekker backpack was worn by members of the Google Maps team and Chris Kalluk, a Nunavut resident and mapping expert with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Chris Kalluk, Nunavut resident, hikes the streets of Iqaluit wearing the Trekker Street View backpack.
From the addition of new roads and buildings to the collection of Street View imagery, the Google Map of Iqaluit is very much a map built by the community. In Nunavut, the map user is now the map maker. “Nunavut is a place with a vast amount of local knowledge and a rich history,” as Eva Aariak, the Premier of Nunavut, puts it. “By putting modern day cartography tools into the hands of our people, we can improve the digital map of our home and effectively share Nunavut’s story with a global audience.”
ᓄᓇᕗᑦ ᐅᓪᓗᖓᓂᒃ ᓇᓪᓕᐅᓂᕐᓯᐅᑦᓯᐊᕆᑦ! Happy Nunavut Day!
Posted by Aaron Brindle, Arctic Project Manager, Google Canada

Celebrate Canada Day on Parliament Hill with Google Street View

Monday, July 1, 2013

There’s nothing like a visit to the nation’s capital on Canada Day... the fireworks, the festivities and of course, the fantastic opportunity to tour Parliament Hill. But if you can’t be in Ottawa this July 1st, why not celebrate our nation’s birthday with a virtual visit to the heart of Canada’s democracy?

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The House of Commons in Street View

Today we are thrilled to give Canadians a first glimpse of Parliament Hill in Google Maps, showcasing some of the most spectacular features of Centre Block that serve as the iconic backdrop for Canadian politics.

Celebrate Canada Day with a Street View tour of Parliament Hill

From the foyer of Confederation Hall, use the Street View navigation tools to walk down the Hall of Honour to the majestic Library of Parliament which maintains much of its original 1876 character.

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Library of Parliament

Enter the main doors of the House of Commons and walk right up to the Speaker’s chair, or head to the east wing to take in the magnificent paintings that have adorned the walls of the Senate’s Red Chamber for over 80 years.

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The Red Chamber of the Senate

Stay tuned as additional Parliament Hill imagery is added in the months to come, including historic sites like the Prime Minister’s Office, the Peace Tower, the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, and more.

This Canada Day, take some time to explore a true landmark of Canadian politics, culture and history. Parliament Hill is an incredible place and we’re honoured to share it with Canada and the world.

Posted by Chris O’Neill, Managing Director of Google Canada

Official Canada Blog

YouTube geeks out with first-ever Geek Week: August 4-10, 2013

Stepping into the future together

Happy Nunavut Day! Snowy Iqaluit comes to Street View

Celebrate Canada Day on Parliament Hill with Google Street View

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