Google Ads (AdWords) History – A Timeline of Events

New improvements have been made to image extensions – December 7th 2021

Several new improvements have been made to image extensions so they can be easier to use and help advertisers attract even more potential customers. This includes being available on desktop instead of just mobile, as well as being available in all languages for dynamic image extensions. Advertisers will even have an easier image selection process as Google has provided a searchable library of stock images that are free to use in Google Ads.


https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11430278

Performance Max campaigns launch to all advertisers – 2nd November 2021

After strong beta results reported by Google, Performance Max campaigns will roll out to all advertisers around the world starting today. Performance Max is a new goal-based campaign type that allows performance advertisers to access all of their Google Ads inventory from a single campaign. It’s designed to complement your keyword-based Search campaigns to help you find more converting customers across all of Google’s channels like YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.

As well as this, it was also announced that Performance Max campaigns will also become the next generation of Smart Shopping and Local campaigns, which will both upgrade to Performance Max next year.


https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/performance-max/

A new way to understand your campaigns spend – September 30th 2021

Google has launched a new budget report which will help advertisers visualise their monthly spend behaviour. They will be able to see their campaigns expected end of months cost, as well as how their changes to average daily budget will affect their performance and spend limits. In addition, this new report will highlight the daily spend, monthly spending limit, monthly spend forecast, cost to date and any budget changes made in between.


https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11202082

Expanded Text Ads to be retired – 31st August 2021

Starting June 30, 2022, Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) will be the only Search ad type that can be created or edited in standard Search campaigns. This announcement comes off the back of RSAs being made the default ad back in February. After June 30, 2022, you’ll no longer be able to create or edit expanded text ads. However, your existing expanded text ads will continue to serve alongside responsive search ads, and you’ll still see reports on their performance going forward.


https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11031467

Introducing a strike based system for repeated ad policy violations – July 20th 2021

Starting September 2021, all repeat offenders will be either issued a warning or 1 of 3 strike variations for violating any of the following policies: Enabling Dishonest Behaviour, Unapproved Substances & Dangerous Products or Services.

This is so all ads shown on Google’s platform are safe and are of no harm. Each strike’s penalty will also become more detrimental the more strikes an advertiser gets. However, there are ways around these penalties to get their ads up and running & Google gives advertisers the option to make an appeal should they disagree with a decision.


https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10957124

Responsive Search Ads become default – 18th February 2021

RSAs have been made the new default Ad within the Google Ads interface. This new(er) type of Ad provides advertisers with the option to add 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, allowing Google to utilise machine learning in order to improve performance, better adapt to consumer behaviour and streamline account management through more informed recommendations. This doesn’t mean that Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) are completely going away or that your ETAs are all of a sudden going to stop, as two ETAs and 1 RSAs remains best practice.


https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10434300

Search ads have the option to always be open to a lead form – 16th February 2021

Advertisers now have the option to show a lead form every time someone selects the headline in their Search ad (which will suit a primary goal to only collect leads). However, this feature is only available for expanded text ads and responsive search ads. In addition, advertisers will have to follow additional requirements to use this feature, which includes: A good history of policy compliance, an eligible vertical or sub-vertical and a privacy policy for their business.


https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10091318

Changes to phrase match and broad match modifier – 4th February 2021

Google will be rolling out changes to phrase match and broad match modifier to increase relevant searches and give advertisers more control. As a result, phrase match will expand to cover additional broad match modifier traffic, while continuing to respect word order when it is important to the meaning.

In addition, support for broad match modifier will be phased out over a period of several months, as starting mid-February, both phrase match and broad match modifier keywords will begin to transition to the new matching behaviour. Advertisers will no longer be able to create new broad match modifier keywords come July, as the new behaviour will be rolled out globally. However, existing broad match modifier keywords will continue to serve under the new behaviour.


https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10346549

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

New access level and account ownership for your Google Ads account – 19th August 2020

A new billing-only role and update to account ownership has been introduced to help manage accounts and keep them more secure. You can now grant billing permissions to individuals such as stakeholders in your finance departments, so they can view and manage billing however not have any access to edit campaigns.

In addition to this, account ownership which was previously labelled as administrative ownership now only allows one manager account to have ownership of a Google Ads account, whereas previously you could have multiple owners.


https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10029043

Maximise Conversions Bidding In App Campaigns – 4th August 2020

As of today, you can use maximise conversions bidding for App campaigns. In a push to help grow your audience quickly, you can now better understand and benchmark for your bids with the automated strategy. Once you have gone through the learning period that comes with implementing smart bidding strategies, you will land on an effective CPI based on the budget set and the installs generated. Depending on the results, a transition from maximise conversions to tCPI bidding may be considered.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10004851

Simplifying Image Requirements for App Campaigns – 4th August 2020

Later this year, Google Ads have announced they will shift from size-based to ratio-based image specifications to make the creative process simpler and more efficient for App campaigns. As part of this update, Google Ads will also be looking to increase the image file size limit allowing you to upload higher quality assets. App campaigns will therefore turn your assets into ads that are visually engaging on screens of all sizes.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10012391

Grow online sales with new features for Smart Shopping campaigns – 15th July 2020

The way in which consumers are shopping is ever-changing, especially recently with the impact of COVID-19 as shops were forced to close and people relied on online shopping to fulfil their needs. To ensure products are shown to the right customers at the right time as consumer demand continues to fluctuate unpredictably, Google are now offering a new goal as well as more visual ways to make an impact and stand out from competition with Smart Shopping campaigns.

In addition to optimising for sales, Smart Shopping campaigns can now focus solely on new customer acquisition by allowing you to add a conversion value for sales from new customers.

Alongside the new conversion goal, the announcement also touches upon new visual features to help customers discover more retailers easily, explore increased options and decide who to ultimately make a purchase with.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9970717

A new look for responsive display ads – 15th July 2020

With people working from home still very much an overriding majority and online shopping surging, what better time for Google to announce that they are rolling out three new responsive display ad layouts that use automated image enhancements of which includes smart image cropping and text overlays to name a couple.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9975738

Introducing new features for responsive search ads – 15th July 2020

Google have just announced some new features for improving the relevancy and engagement of responsive search ads. You can now insert aspects such as location and countdown customisers to dynamically add where your product/service is offered and promote sales and events across your ad copy. Not only have they announced these two new additions, in an attempt to improve RSAs further they are now offering headline and description suggestions segmented by categories such as online availability and shipping/returns when creating an ad.

To make sure your RSAs are resonating with your customers, they have also introduced cross-campaign asset reporting where you can review more assets at once (which includes descriptions) to help pick out those top-performers.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9970276

Local Service Ads Enable Booking Directly from Google – 17th June 2020

Google have launched Local Services Ads in the U.S. today, enabling users to find and book services such as cleaning and plumbing without having to leave the Google ecosystem at all. Advertisers become a Google Guaranteed Provider once Google runs some background checks, and they only pay once someone calls or messages the provider from the ad.

https://blog.google/products/ads/helping-businesses-and-nonprofits-recover/

Requiring Advertiser Identity Verification to Improve Transparency – April 23rd 2020

In an effort to increase trust in the ads ecosystem, Google have launched a new advertiser identity verification policy that requires advertisers to provide increased information for ads that are served through Google Ads. New information such as an advertiser’s name and country are now disclosed, as part of an ongoing effort to increase transparency, control and choice for users. The policy will initially be launched in the United States before expanding globally over the next few years.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9843535

Free Listings on Google Shopping – 21st April 2020

Google have brought forward their plans to provide free listings on Google Shopping in the U.S. due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Beginning next week, searches from the Google Shopping tab on Google will result in primarily free listings. This should rapidly expand the number of retailers (and results) for Shopping items. Existing advertisers through Merchant Center shouldn’t need to do anything to take advantage of free listings, and Google are looking to roll this out worldwide by the end of the year.

https://blog.google/products/shopping/its-now-free-to-sell-on-google/

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Responsive Search Ads now Available to All Advertisers – October 22nd 2019

As of today, responsive search ads are available to all advertisers in all languages, as well as in Google Ads Editor, the API, and the mobile app. Responsive search ads use machine learning to deliver relevant messages to users, giving the option to combine up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions into just one ad.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9569689

More Control for Smart Bidding With Seasonality Adjustments – 28th August 2019

Additional flexibility has been built into the Smart Bidding system for Search and Display networks from today, with “seasonality adjustments” designed to tell the machine-learning that advertisers are expecting a change in the level of conversion rate (positive or negative), for example during a flash sale. They can be scheduled in advance to run between certain dates and are not designed to be used for more than 14 days, or during normal seasonal periods the algorithm already allows for.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9461281

New Smart Bidding Strategy – 21st August 2019

It perhaps seems likes an obvious choice, but at long last, for advertisers who want to spend all their budget and maximise their revenue (not just conversion numbers), there is a new smart bidding strategy: Maximise conversion value. Make sure the conversion values are being pulled into Google Ads correctly to begin with, and once confirmed the new smart bidding strategy requires no further settings to attempt to maximise the return.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9448546

Broad Match Modifier and Phrase Match Expanded with Close Variants – 31st July 2019

It’s been almost a year since exact match included close variants, and now broad match modifier and phrase match have gained them too. Thus ends the strange period when phrase match keywords were “more exact” than exact match keywords.

The relentless progression towards fewer and fewer keywords continues, and the long-heralded days of keyword-less accounts draw ever near.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9426627

Removal of Portfolio eCPC Strategies – 19th June 2019

The relentless drive away from manual and enhanced CPC (eCPC) bidding strategies continues today with the announcement that portfolio eCPC strategies will no longer be possible from July. Individual eCPC strategies will replace any portfolio eCPC strategies going forward. Additionally, target spend is being removed, instead relying on average daily budgets to manage spend.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9372151

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Exact Match now Includes Close Variants – 6th September 2018

The need to add every relevant search term to exact match ad groups is now at an end, with the introduction of close variant matching for exact match terms. Using Google’s machine-learning, exact match keywords can now show for terms that have the same intent, including implied words, paraphrases and other terms with the same meaning.

The example Google use is quite a departure from existing exact match rules, matching the keyword [yosemite camping] to “yosemite campground”, “campsites in yosemite” and even “yosemite national park ca camping”. Google estimates 3% more traffic on average could come from existing keywords.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9131274

AdWords becomes Google Ads – 24th July 2018

After almost 18 years as AdWords, Google’s “self-service advertising program” becomes Google Ads. AdWords has come a long way over the years, and it’s of no surprise that Google are going through a brand refresh. They’re making other changes too, combining DoubleClick and Analytics 360 to become Google Marketing Platform and Google Ad Manager is born from DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange.

https://www.blog.google/technology/ads/new-advertising-brands/

New AdWords Interface Becomes Fully Functional – 7th May 2018

For those of you who have been managing AdWords campaigns for a long time, the impending switch to another new AdWords interface is likely to be met with some trepidation. This latest incarnation has been talked about for a long time, and we’ve had the option to play with it for some time, before being forced back to the tried and tested interface because of missing functionality. Google now assure us that all the features are now in the new interface, including RLSA campaigns, analytics columns and the keyword planner.

For now the ability to switch back and forth is still available, although this is scheduled to stop before the end of 2018, and likely to be before the busy holiday season starts in November. If you’ve been avoiding the new interface for a while, it’s time to start familiarising yourself!

https://www.blog.google/products/ads/adwords-transition-new-experience/

New Video Format – Outstream Ads – 17th April 2018

From today, outstream video ads can be shown on Google view partners, publisher sites that can show TrueView in-stream and Bumper ads. By default, outstream video ads are muted, and the user can select to turn on the sound and restart the video. Outstream video ads are charged on a viewable CPM basis.

https://www.blog.google/products/ads/a-new-video-format-to-reach-people/

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Product Ratings on Shopping Ads – 5th December 2017

Product ratings were first introduced more than 3 years ago, but today they are now available globally, wherever Shopping ads are present (currently more than 30 countries). You can use the approved third-party aggregators to automate the display of these ratings feeds, or you can manually upload a feed via Merchant Center.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/12/product-ratings-on-shopping-ads-now.html

Ad Variations – 16th November 2017

In the new user interface, you may have noticed a new tab under drafts and experiments for Ad Variations. This allows for a very quick rollout of an ad testing change for headline text or a change in a call to action for example. Start and End dates for the ad testing can be set, and much like other experiments, you can choose what percentage of budget you would like to allocate to the new variations. Reporting is similar to the familiar experiment reporting as well, allowing comparison of performance for old ads and variations with a 95% confidence asterisk for statistical significance.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/11/new-adwords-innovations.html
https://searchengineland.com/google-rolls-promotion-extensions-custom-intent-audiences-ad-variations-testing-286942

Custom Intent Audiences – 16th November 2017

Starting today, Google will leverage their machine learning technology to auto-create custom intent audiences based on its assessment of your account and landing pages. For now, these audiences are in English only.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/11/new-adwords-innovations.html

Promotion Extensions Rollout – 16th November 2017

Promotion Extensions have been in beta in one form or another for over a year, and today they roll out for everyone in the new interface only*. Promotion extensions allow you to push a promotion message without having to change ad copy, allowing quality scores, historical data and ad testing to continue, and avoiding any downtime for ad reviews. Promotion extensions include pre-formatted special occasion text, 2 lines of specific text, percentage or monetary value discounts, and scheduling of promotion dates.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/11/new-adwords-innovations.html
https://searchengineland.com/google-rolls-promotion-extensions-custom-intent-audiences-ad-variations-testing-286942

*For users who aren’t fans of the new UI yet, Google are releasing most new features in the new UI only, forcing the adoption of the new interface for features, if not merit.

New Shopping Engagement Metric Available – 9th November 2017

Google has recently released the Absolute Top Impression Share (ATIS) metric. According to Google, shoppers (particularly on mobile) have 3x greater engagement if your ad is at the top of the listings, and the ATIS metric allows us to see the percentage of eligible impressions where the ad was in the most prominent position. ATIS is available at campaign, ad group and product group level.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/11/new-efficiency-tools.html

Remarketing and Dynamic Remarketing extended to Gmail – 9th November 2017

Just in time for the peak shopping period of 2017, Google have extended Dynamic Remarketing ads to Gmail. Now, after browsing products on your site, not only can users be targeted across the rest of the display network, but also whilst checking their email. A dynamic remarketing ad will allow 4 products to be shown within the Gmail interface, even on mobile.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/11/new-efficiency-tools.html

Historical Quality Score Available – 15th May 2017

A long-awaited improvement to visible quality score reporting has launched today with the introduction of 3 new columns. The key components of expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience now have their own columns for both current and historical data, allowing reporting and analysis at scale much easier – no api calls or scripts now needed. Historical data goes back to January 22nd 2016, and can be segmented by day, if necessary.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/05/gain-deeper-insights-with-improved.html
http://searchengineland.com/google-adwords-quality-score-reporting-improvements-275010

Close Variants Get (Slightly) Further Apart – 17th March 2017

The concept of close variants was introduced almost 7 years ago, and applied to exact match terms almost 5 years ago. Today the concept has been tweaked based on Google’s more advanced understanding of intent to ignore “function words” if they don’t change the meaning of the query. Function words include prepositions (in,to), conjunctions (for,but) articles (a,the) and other words we often find ourselves listing in vast number and differing orders based on the search query data. Examples can be seen in the link below and only apply to exact match queries. Google state an uplift on clicks of 3% can be expected and accounts which contain the more accurate exact match keywords will still see clicks attributed to them.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/03/close-variants-now-connects-more-people.html

Price Extension Update – 28th February 2017

Price extensions, which were launched just over 6 months ago, have now been updated to appear on all devices. No additional work needs to be done unless specific mobile URLs need to be updated.

https://www.en.advertisercommunity.com/t5/AdWords-Announcements/Price-extensions-can-now-show-on-all-devices/td-p/1087319
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-adwords-price-extensions-desktop-23483.html

Ad Testing: Green Outline Label widespread – 22nd February 2017

We all know Google like to run tests on text ads from time to time, and they’ve been testing at least a couple of changes in the ad label over the last 30 days. One of those tests, a change from the current green-filled box with the word Ad in white, to the reverse – a green outline white filled box with the word Ad in green is being reported as the default view for many people, signifying an increase in the testing parameters. The black-filled box test seems to have been dropped, whilst we at SF HQ have also noticed a new test today with a much brighter green hyperlink text, a return to emboldened words within the URL and solid-green ad label.

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-test-green-outlined-adwords-ad-label-23298.html
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-adwords-black-adwords-ad-label-23304.html
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-green-outlined-adwords-ad-label-23446.html
https://twitter.com/matthopson/status/834369030135873536/photo/1

Automatic Call Extensions – 6th February 2017

Google is steadily automating many ad extensions, and now it’s the turn of call extensions.  If Google detects a phone number on the landing page of ads in a campaign that isn’t using call extensions, then it will automatically display them if it believes it will improve performance.  This will apply to ads on the search network shown on mobile devices only, and you can choose to opt out from the automated extension options link on the ad extensions page.  This is especially important for any advertisers who use specific tracking numbers to monitor calls driven from AdWords.

https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/7175034?hl=en-GB

Last day to create standard text ads – 31st January 2017

After today, it will no longer possible to create standard text ads. A date that’s been revised a few times since ETAs were first introduced, today is the last day to get new standard text ads in the account. They will continue to serve for the foreseeable future. For those accounts that continue to see better results from standard text ads, this will be a nervous day, and a reminder to continue ad testing with new ETAs.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/01/reminder-transition-to-expanded-text.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Apply Audience Lists at Campaign Level – 8th December 2016

Running RLSA and remarketing campaigns has just got a whole lot easier, as it’s now possible to apply audience lists at the campaign level. Bid adjustments are also at a campaign level, so individual ad group adjustments are no longer necessary.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/12/save-time-by-applying-audience-lists-at.html

New ad extension: Click to message ads – 17th October 2016

Launching in the next couple of weeks is a new ad extension, aimed at allowing a user to message an advertiser without visiting their site, or call them on the phone. Message Extensions open the user’s phone SMS app with a customised pre-written message, the potential customer can then edit it if applicable and then send the text. For certain industries, this could massively increase conversions.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/10/click-to-message-ads-bring-new-and-easy.html

Reported Quality Score Update (null instead of default 6) – 12th September 2016

The default value for visible Quality Score is to change from 6, to – (null). New keywords, or keywords with very little data will now be given this null indicator instead of 6 and will be excluded by default from reports. Google recommends advertisers check any scripts that use Quality Score to ensure they work as expected.

https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/7050591

New Ad Extension: Price Extensions for mobile ads – 18th July 2016

Price Extensions are a new Ad Extension exclusive to mobile devices that display prices of highlighted products or services in separate rows with a short description. They can be used in combination with other ad extensions with the exception of sitelinks. Exclusive to the English language to start with, and ad position 1, you can enter from 3 to 8 separate items, and can even schedule them to keep the pricing accurate. [edit] Price extensions have now been updated to show on all devices – 28th February 2017

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/07/showcase-products-and-services-with-price-extensions.html

The Biggest Changes to Ads for 15 years: Expanded Text Ads – 24th May 2016

Following on from February, when right-hand column ads were removed to make mobile and desktop SERPs look the same, Google is now set to expand text ad limits for the first time since their launch. Called expanded text ads, there will soon be 2 headlines, of 30 characters each, 1 description line of 80 characters and an automatically generated domain in the display URL (you can still customise the path). This increases the number of characters in the headline and description fields from 95 to 140 and will roll out in the coming months.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/05/ads-and-analytics-innovations-for-a-mobile-first-world.html

Shopping ads in image search – 16th May 2016

Having been trialled since Q4 2015, Shopping ads in image search is finally rolled out today. It seems a logical step to display related product shopping ads within Google image search, for some niches it should work quite well. Nothing new is needed to run these ads, your current shopping ads will already be eligible as part of the Google Search Network.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/05/ways-to-be-useful-for-mobile-shoppers.html

Major AdWords redesign announced – rolling out over 18 months. – 28th March 2016

Based on the developments over the last 15 years, the AdWords of 2030 will be radically different from the AdWords we have today. To make the interface “fit for purpose” for the foreseeable future, the AdWords team have announced an estimated 18-month long program designed to radically redesign AdWords, fundamentally changing the UI, simplifying tools, making data more relevant and the workflow more accommodating.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/03/redesigning-adwords-for-the-mobile-first-marketer.html

Removal of Right Hand Side Ads – 19th February 2016

Google has made a dramatic change to the search results pages for desktop devices today and being rolled out globally and in all languages over the next few days. The ads on the right-hand side of the page are being removed, and so up to 4 ads will now show above the natural results and 3 below. PLAs will continue to appear in the right-hand column. This change brings the results much more in line with the mobile results and will have wide-reaching implications for CPCs, CTRs and bid strategies.

http://searchengineland.com/google-no-ads-right-side-of-desktop-search-results-242997
https://moz.com/blog/four-ads-on-top-the-wait-is-over

Google no longer powering AOL search (to Bing) – 1st January 2016

As of January 1st 2016, Google no longer power AOL search results. In a 10 year deal, Microsoft are now powering both the natural, and paid results for desktop, mobile and tablets. If you notice your search partners’ results changing as of this date, this could be the reason why!

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-loses-long-term-search-partnership-with-aol-to-microsofts-bing/135779/

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Share data between Analytics and AdWords MCC – 12th November 2015

It is now possible to link Google Analytics directly to your AdWords manager account (MCC), eliminating the need to link each individual AdWords account. New accounts added to MCCs automatically get linked, and goals, metrics and remarketing lists only need to be imported once. In addition to this, you can now create remarketing lists directly in the MCC, and share tags and lists across AdWords accounts.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2015/11/share-google-analytics-data-and.html

Gmail ads launch for all advertisers – 1st September 2015

Starting today, Gmail ads are now available for all advertisers. All that’s needed is to simply select the new Gmail ads format from the Ad gallery in a new or existing Display Network campaign. The ads mimic the inbox look and feel by default, and the expanded ad is a full page, visually rich experience. There are several customisable templates to choose from, or a custom HTML format, and all the normal display targeting options are available such as keywords (including domains), affinity audiences, demographics and topics.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2015/09/native-gmail-ads-arrive-in-adwords.html

New ad extension: Structured Snippets – 27 August 2015

Following the success of dynamic structured snippets, structured snippet extensions starts to roll out today. Simply choose a predefined “header” such as Amenities or Brands and input a select list of examples. Limited to 25 characters per value.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2015/08/highlight-specific-aspect-of-your.html

New Report Editor for AdWords – 5th August 2015

A new Report Editor will be rolling out over the next few months. Adding more powerful functionality to the AdWords interface, Report Editor allows the advertiser to produce tables, graphs and charts by simply dragging and dropping dimensions and metrics. Reports can then be saved, scheduled and exported for ease of use.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2015/08/view-and-analyze-your-data-instantly.html

Quality Score default now 6, not 7 – 27th July 2015

The default Visible Quality Score being applied to new keywords, and keywords with very low impressions is changing from the normal “7” to “6”. Google are keen to stress that this is a visible, reported Quality Score change only, and the actual Quality Score is unaffected. Any scripts or rules that are using Quality Score as a factor should be checked.

http://searchengineland.com/google-adwords-keyword-quality-score-reporting-update-226355

Cross account campaign management – 4th June 2015

It’s now possible to view campaigns and make top level edits at MCC level. This makes reporting much easier for some large advertisers as well as agencies who handle a lot of accounts. In addition editing budgets and pausing or starting campaigns can easily be carried out. In addition data freshness at MCC is now also the same as within individual accounts. Previously there has always been a data lag with MCC data being older than at account level. There’s also been one final update – sub-MCCs can be cross-navigated from within the account chooser dropdown by expanding the lists using the arrow next to each MCC.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2015/06/introducing-cross-account-campaign.html

Call only campaigns – 20th February 2015

A new campaign type is launched today: Call only campaigns. Specifically designed to show only on mobile phones, the ads prominently show your phone number, description and call button. They can be used in conjunction with call extensions, or replace them altogether.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2015/02/charge-up-your-phones-with-call-only.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Tools for the Power User: Bulk editing within AdWords – 3rd November 2014

Following on from the ad customisers announced a few months ago, the next raft of updates in the coming month aimed at the power users are for management at scale. Ad rotation, location targeting and ad extension updates can be edited across campaigns. In addition, bulk uploads of spreadsheet data will be improved to be more intuitive and preview functions to check for errors should improve confidence. This comes after AdWords Scripts at MCC level were also recently introduced making edits on a large scale considerably easier for many large advertisers and agencies.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2014/11/managing-your-accounts-at-scale-made.html

Automatic updates comes to PLAs – 30th September 2014

From today, automatic item updates can be enabled within Merchant Center which will automatically product prices and availability shown on PLAs if there’s a difference between the feed data and what Google detects on your website’s microdata. Google are quick to point out this doesn’t replace the need for accurate feed data, and whilst it should reduce the number of disapprovals that advertisers might currently experience, it’s always best to ensure the feed data is current and accurate.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2014/09/keep-price-and-availability-fresh-with.html

Tools for the Power User: Ad customizers launched – 25th September 2014

For advertisers with large product inventories or time-specific messaging managing ads can be difficult and time-consuming. Ad customisers allow ads to become more relevant, inserting real-time variables such as pricing, products and count down timings on promotions. There’s a new area within the AdWords interface under shared library called Business Data, where you can link a spreadsheet containing the data to be accessed. You can then create ads with customisers which pull through the variables from the spreadsheet. Now the only limit on ad customisation is your imagination.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2014/09/customized-creatives-at-scale.html

Product ratings now appear on Product Listing Ads – 29th July 2014

Product ratings will soon appear on Product Listing Ads in the United States. Similar to seller ratings, the products ratings represent an aggregated rating based on multiple merchants, aggregators and sites. Product ratings are available to merchants who in turn share their review data with Google. A grace period between July and October is available during which the data is available to all.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2014/07/helping-shoppers-decide-with-product.html

Link AdWords and Google My Business for easier location extensions – 14th July 2014

Upgraded location extensions are available by linking Google My Business to your AdWords account. Currently campaign-level location extensions contact business information. Now, by linking at an account level all business location information is show across all relevant campaigns.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2014/07/a-simpler-way-to-manage-your-business.html

Shopping campaigns now available globally – 18th February 2014

Although Product Listing Ads have been around for more than 3 years, today Shopping campaigns roll out globally, as a new way to manage products and inventory directly from AdWords. New features such as benchmark CPCs and CTRs make optimising easier.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2014/02/shopping-campaigns-available-globally.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

New Campaign type launched: Search and Display Select – 4th November 2013

It’s long been recognised that search and display targeting should be done in separate campaigns. As a result, many advertisers ignore the GDN altogether, and today Google are trying to change this behaviour by introducing a new campaign type: Search and Display select. Intended to be an option for first time advertisers, advertisers who’d like more reach from their existing search only campaign, or advertisers who currently target both networks from 1 campaign who’d like better performance, Search and Display Select tries to predict the best sites and times on the display network and will limit their ad serving to gain the best performance. Whilst it doesn’t offer much flexibility for advanced advertisers, it could be a good option for many who find themselves in one of the situations above.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/11/select-new-better-performing-campaign.html

Improvements to Ad Rank with Ad extensions – 22nd October 2013

A fundamental change to how ads are ranked in the search results pages is rolling out today. What used to involve just Max CPC and Quality Score, now considers a third component: Expected impact from ad extensions and formats. In addition to this update, Ad Rank is now more influential in determining whether the ad is eligible to be displayed with extensions and formats. The end result of this is that ad extensions are more important than ever to optimise, and if an extension has a low CTR, it needs to be swapped out and new ones trialled. Low-performing ad extensions will directly result in higher actual CPCs.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/10/improving-ad-rank.html

“Improvements” to geo-targeting – 18th October 2013

Google believes the world is getting smaller. Because of this, in just over 3 weeks’ time advertisers with the default or “location of interest” targeting in their accounts will notice an increase in impressions from people in other countries that weren’t previously being targeted. Google believes from their testing that this increases the reach of the ads and maintains relevancy. What’s clear is that advertisers should carefully monitor their geographical data from that week onwards and use the “people in my targeted location” setting, or introduce country-level exclusions if relevant.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/10/improvements-to-location-targeting-for.html

Estimated Total Conversions: what are they? – 1st October 2013

From today, reporting on search ads on Google.com will include “Estimated Total Conversions” which reflects the normal conversions you’re familiar with as well as an estimate of cross-device conversions. Estimated cross-device conversions start as a click on a search ad on Google.com on one device, and finish as a conversion in a different session (on a different device, or a different browser on the same device). This estimate is based on sample data by signed-in users and is useful to take into consideration, but remember it’s only an estimate, and not specific to your website.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/10/estimated-total-conversions.html

Compare dates options comes to AdWords reporting – 5th August 2013

Users of the recently released top movers report in the Dimensions tab will be pleased to learn that it’s now possible to compare dates within the adWords interface for all reporting pages. Simply select the “compare dates” option in the date selector, and a plus symbol (+) will appear in most of the table column headers, allowing you to see, for example, week on week changes to Avg CPC, Clicks and conversions at a glance. No more scribbling down numbers in a pad for quick comparisons, or multiple windows open at the same time!

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/08/easily-compare-your-ad-performance-over.html

Update to visible Quality Score – 26th July 2013

Over the next few days, there will be an update to how the keyword level Visible Quality Score of 1-10 is reported. It is being made to more-closely reflect the 3 sub categories of expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience and Google are keen to stress that the reporting change does not affect how the actual real-time quality score is calculated.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/07/improving-quality-score-reporting.html

New ad extension in beta: Review extensions – 27th June 2013

A new ad extension is in beta for the English language – review extensions. If an advertiser knows of a third-party review of their product or service elsewhere on their web, they’re able to quote or paraphrase the review and include it as a citation to be shown at the bottom of their advert. It makes sense that this will help instill trust in the advertiser and hence increase CTR and conversion rates.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/06/review-extensions-new-dont-take-our.html

RLSA – 25th June 2013

In beta for almost a year, Remarketing Lists for Search Ads is to be rolled out over the next few days. RLSA can be seen as an extension to remarketing capabilities, applying audience targeting to search ads on the search network. They can be used in a number of ways, such as increasing your position (bids) on more generic terms that normally don’t convert as well for people who have already visited your site, or changing your ad text for people who have viewed certain pages on your site, enticing them back to transact with you.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/06/bringing-intent-context-and-audience.html

Top Movers report added to Dimensions tab – 24th June 2013

Ever wondered why performance has changed within your account recently, but find no difference in the top line numbers? Now there’s a new report in the Dimensions tab which clearly shows top-level significant changes in both clicks and cost at either campaign or ad group level for 7, 14 or 28 day comparison periods. It even tries to explain why these changes may have occurred, such as a decrease in campaign budget, or additional keywords added.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/06/new-top-movers-report-to-track-how-your.html

Google Display Network views now attributed in analytics reports – 19th June 2013

Google Analytics can now report on (unclicked) views of an advert on the Google Display Network within the Multi-Channel Funnels (MCF) reports. Currently a limited trial it will enable advertisers to see if people converting on their site had previously seen (and perhaps been influenced by) adverts elsewhere within the GDN. The data is reported as “Impression Assisted Conversions” or “Rich Media Assisted Conversions”, and also show up in the top conversion path report.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/06/see-full-impact-of-unclicked-display.html

Enhanced Campaigns come to AdWords – 6th February 2013

Enhanced campaigns are starting to be rolled out today ad over the coming weeks as a response by Google to people’s ever changing use of devices. Instead of having the same user targeted across separate devices by different campaigns, Google believes it will be easier to manage going forward by targeting different devices from within the same campaign. A few key concepts are: bid adjustments – percentage adjustments of bids based on device, location and time/day all within the same campaign. Multiple ad types with more intelligent ad serving enables different ad text, sitelinks and different extensions to be served in different scenarios from a single campaign. Upgrades to conversion types including phone calls only over a certain length and app downloads.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2013/02/introducing-enhanced-campaigns.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Bulk editing in AdWords – 4th December 2012

Making large-scale changes within the AdWords interface has just got easier from today for all users. Initially released in a limited capacity a month ago, the edit button has now become a drop down and changes at keyword, ad, ad group and campaign level can now be made in bulk. Previewing results is essential when make these kind of changes, and will be especially useful for advertisers who don’t have access to AdWords Editor on the computer they’re on.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2012/11/making-large-scale-changes-faster-and.html

Pull analytics metrics into the AdWords interface – 2nd October 2012

Additional metrics are now able to be imported into the AdWords interface meaning less need to analyse certain aspects of your campaigns within Google Analytics. Important indicators of user relevancy such as bounce rate and average visitor duration are now available, and mean that ads and landing pages can be adjusted easily, based on more than just conversion rate.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2012/10/make-better-decisions-in-adwords-with.html

AdWords scripts limited beta – 14th June 2012

Starting today, a scripts can be used to make changes to an AdWords account or run automated reporting procedures. Using JavaScript, external data can be used by integrating with Google Spreadsheets the URL fetch service. Results can also be emailed directly from the script. Found under the campaigns tab and within Automation, scripts are a powerful new feature that add a new dimension to account management that lie in between the standard interface and third party tools that use the API.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2012/06/customize-account-management-with.html

Find out how you compare with the Auction Insights report – 22nd May 2012

Additional data will soon become available over the next few days which give further insight to competition against keywords in your account. In addition to the impression share columns already available the auction insights report enables you to compare impression share, average position, overlap rate position above rate and top of page percentage against other advertisers who appeared in the same auction (not necessarily the same keyword). This will help advertisers work out who their competition is without having to repeatedly run searches, and how they compare against them over time.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2012/05/make-smarter-decisions-with-new-auction.html

More visibility to Quality score in AdWords – 24th April 2012

Additional data is now available to help quantify the 1-10 numeric visible quality score in the keywords tab of the AdWords interface. A hover box will now appear which give a relative performance for key components of Quality Score; expected-clickthrough rate, Ad relevance and Landing page experience. This is aimed to help give more guidance on what needs to be focussed on to improve account performance.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2012/04/increasing-transparency-in-quality.html

Change in how exact and phrase match keywords are matched – 17th April 2012

Close variant matching, introduced with modified broad match almost two years ago will soon be applied to phrase and exact match keywords. With this change, huge numbers of misspellings and pluralised forms will no longer need to be included. Remember, stemmings and abbreviations are also categorised as close variants, but synonyms are not. For full control, users will be able to opt out of close variants under keyword matching options in campaign settings in the coming weeks.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2012/04/new-matching-behavior-for-phrase-and.html

Enhanced Sitelinks – 14th February 2012

Google state that ads with sitelinks on average have a 30% higher clickthrough rate than ads without sitelinks. Starting today, enhanced sitelinks (sitelinks with 2 description lines below each link) will start showing automatically under certain criteria. To be eligible, your account must contain ads which are closely related to the sitelinks in use.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2012/02/introducing-enhanced-ad-sitelinks.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

New Ad Placement: ads showing below the search results – 2nd November 2011

Starting today, ads which were previously shown in the right-hand column will instead be displayed below the search results at the bottom of the page in some cases. Early tests indicated to Google higher click through rates for ads at the bottom of the page, and results can be seen by advertisers by segmenting the data for Top vs Other.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2011/11/new-ad-placements-on-search.html

How to advertise ever-changing inventory: Dynamic Search Ads – 20th October 2011

Google are making it easier for advertisers with ever-changing product and availability on their websites to keep their AdWords campaigns up-to-date and relevant for searchers. Using Google’s knowledge of your website inventory from its web-crawling technology, advertisers can choose to target their whole website, or only parts of it, and Google automatically generates the ad and destination url based on the query and the content on your page. Negative keywords and CPCs can be used to optimise the results.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2011/10/introducing-dynamic-search-ads-beta.html

Tablet targeting now an option – 12th July 2011

Subtle changes to the targeting of tablets has now come into effect in AdWords. Before it was possible to specifically target iPad devices under mobiles, and this has now been moved into its own category. The categories for targeting are now Desktop and laptops, Mobile devices with full browsers, and Tablets with full browsers. Advanced targeting includes operating systems and carriers. Default settings will target all tablets. For those who want to keep targeting only iPads, you’d need to target Tablets and select iOS.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2011/07/new-tablet-targeting-options-now.html

Targeting by physical location or location of interest – 22nd March 2011

Starting today, targeting options are changing based on physical user location, or their location of interest.
This gives advertisers more control over the precise targeting of where the ads will appear, but special planning and attention needs to be given to its use, as it could produce unexpected results. For example if you’re using geographically based keywords in your campaign but targeting a different physical location, the ads for those keywords won’t show even if you’d expect them too.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2011/03/location-targeting-on-adwords-now-with.html

Longer headlines for sentences – 3rd February 2011

Over the next few days, ads at the top of the search results can start to show description line one on the end of the headline separated by a hyphen, in an effort to create a longer headline. In order for this to happen, each description line needs to appear to be a distinct sentence, with proper punctuation. For ads where description line 1 and 2 follow on from each other, this won’t happen. Google tells us the resulting longer headline increases CTR, and you can aid the chances of this happening to your ads by introducing appropriate punctuation at the end of description line 1.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2011/02/longer-headlines-for-select-ads-on.html

Negative keywords can now be added in lists – 10th January 2011

We all know how useful negative keywords are. That’s why they’ve been in the ecosystem since its inception. Today, in its first radical overhaul in more than 10 years, negative keywords can be kept in lists, and applied across multiple campaigns. For those who keep a core list of negatives that are applicable to almost all clients and campaigns, this is a welcome relief, and will dramatically simplify the management of negative keywords.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2011/01/positive-news-for-negative-keywords.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

New automated bidding feature: Enhanced CPC – 16th August 2010

For advertisers using conversion tracking, a new feature called enhanced CPC is available from today. Enhanced CPC enables the AdWords system to increase your bid by up to 30% if it believes that the chances for a conversion are high in that auction. Similarly if the statistics are low for a particular auction then it can decrease the Max CPC bid. The data it uses to determine these probabilities include a particular search or display partner site, specific words used in the search query as well as a user’s location, language, browsers and operating system.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/08/increase-roi-conversions-with-enhanced.html

New ad extension released: introducing seller rating extensions – 28th June 2010

Starting today, Seller Rating Extensions have been released. There will be a visible 1-5 star rating in the ads on Google.com. The star ratings are fed from Google Product Search which aggregate the results from various review sites around the web. In order for the ratings to show, you need to have an aggregate score of more than 4 out of 5 and more than 30 reviews. You don’t need to do anything for the ratings to show and they will begin rolling out in the English language today. Clicks on the ratings are free.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/06/introducing-seller-rating-extensions-on.html

New keyword targeting feature – Broad Match Modifier in beta – 11th May 2010

A new match-type is available for UK and Canadian advertisers from today. Modified broad match sits somewhere between broad match and phrase match and is a powerful new way of making broad match more relevant, but not being as restricted as phrase match. For most advertisers, phrase match keywords might become a thing of the past depending on the close variant matching. By adding a plus symbol (+) immediately in front of a keyword indicates to Google that that word (and its close variants) must appear in the search query. “Close variants” is described as misspellings, singular/plurals, abbreviations and acronyms as well as stemmings. Close variants do not include synonyms and related searches. You can include the plus symbol (+) before as many words in the keyword as is relevant to make the “broadness” as refined as necessary.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/05/new-keyword-targeting-feature-for.html

Retiring Google Advertising Professionals (GAP) program – 26th April 2010

GAP is Dead. Long-live GACp. The long-standing (over 5 years) Google Advertising Professionals programme is getting a make-over in an effort to raise the bar, with harder exams aimed at best-practice knowledge instead of recalling facts learnt by rote. The exams are becoming specific to different areas of AdWords knowledge such as search, display and reporting & analysis. There is also a new portal for advertisers to find qualified agencies, and a badge that will click through to real-time verified status. Along with the new Google AdWords Certified Partners status comes preferential API pricing whereby qualified agencies receive an amount of API data inline with their managed spend for free.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/04/new-approach-to-how-we-work-with.html

iPad device targeting now possible – 15 April 2010

The long-awaited ability to target iPad devices specifically (or exclude them) is now available in the campaign settings. This naturally extends the ability to link directly to iOS/Android apps from within the ad.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/04/go-mobile-series-ipad-device-targeting.html

Remarketing comes to AdWords – 25th March 2010

This week, a brand new way to target users is being rolled out to AdWords. Following on from last year’s interest-based advertising beta, remarketing is about to be released. By placing a small piece of code on your site, you can create different lists of people (“audiences”) that you can then target with relevant ads throughout the content network. You can also reach users who have visited your YouTube channel. The more you think about how powerful re-targeting people who have viewed certain parts of your site with tailored ads, the more exciting the prospect is.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/03/now-available-reach-right-audience.html

AdWords attribution reporting beta – 23rd March 2010

Anyone who has run paid search campaigns for a while knows that last-click conversion reporting is only really showing the tip of the iceberg. Depending on the sector, and the strength of the advertisers brand, last-click reporting only ever shows a very small part of the user journey, and by optimising purely against conversions, can quickly lead an account to stagnation. The top-of-the-funnel searches are now able to be reported in AdWords using a new report called “Search Funnels”. These will detail the keywords that were responsible for “assisted clicks” and even “assisted impressions” which later resulted in a conversion. With this data, path length and time lag reports are also available, and mean that if you’re tempted to turn off generics and only bid on brand or specific long-tail terms, extra data is available to make these decisions. Search funnels are rolling out over the next few weeks and will only show data from search ads on Google.com.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/03/new-reports-adwords-search-funnels.html

New ad extension released: phone extensions – 2nd March 2010

Recently click-to-call phone numbers were made available on local ads using the merchant center feed. This week phone extensions are released to extend this functionality to national campaigns. To view the calls made from these extensions, you can segment the data by click type.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/03/go-mobile-series-enhanced-click-to-call.html

Click to call for local ads – 28th January 2010

Google have just made it much easier to drive phone calls to individual locations straight from the ads in the serps. Starting today, if you have a phone number for each of the locations within your location extensions, and the ads are set to show on mobile phones with full internet browsers, then the phone numbers will appear in the ads. You can check how many calls are received by clicking the filter and views dropdown and viewing the “click type”.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2010/01/introducing-click-to-call-phone-numbers.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

AdWords Product Listing Ads – 11th November 2009

From today, users in the US will notice a dramatic difference in the ads being served against certain product searches. Product Listing Ads work directly with data from advertisers’ Google Merchant Center accounts and display ads without the use of keywords on a risk free basis – paying only when a transaction has occurred. With this new type of ad, it’s possible to create ads featuring images, prices and the merchant name on thousands of products in a very short space of time.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/11/announcing-product-listing-ads.html

Ad Sitelinks – 3rd November 2009

Ad Sitelinks is a new feature aimed at providing deep links into relevant parts of your site directly from the ad. The headline will continue to point to your destination URL, however, 4 additional URLs will be able to target relevant pages for ads which are of a high-quality.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/11/increasing-choice-and-relevancy-in.html

Updated MCC interface – 23rd October 2009

Management of multiple client accounts has just got easier with the new MCC interface rolling out. It’s now possible to edit account descriptions inline, as well as being able to select accounts and remove with the click of a button without needing to drill down into each account.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/10/new-my-client-center-interface.html

Content network tracking: introducing View-through conversions – 30th September 2009

How can you justify a content network campaign you know has had an uplift on conversions, but none are being reported in AdWords? Introducing View-through conversions, which measure the number of conversions that occurred within 30 days of your ad being seen, but without obtaining any clicks

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/09/announcing-view-through-conversion.html

Opportunities Tab beta – 8th September 2009

Starting today, the Opportunities tab is being expanded to UK, Australia and all English language accounts in the next few days. The opportunities tab gives (helpful) suggestions towards keyword and budget ideas. The AdWords Tools are now also included in this tab, so if you can’t find them in your account anymore, it means you’re part of the beta!

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/09/opportunities-tab-beta-now-available-to.html

New Bid Simulator Tool – 3rd August 2009

The new bid simulator tool will use data from the last 7 days to show you how many more (/less) impressions and how much more (/less) the clicks would have cost if you had a set different max CPC. of course, past performance doesn’t necessarily reflect future performance!

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/08/bid-like-pro-with-bid-simulator.html

More data in Search Query Reports – 19th May 2009

Starting today, every query which received a click and where the user hasn’t blocked their referral URL will show in search query reports. For those of us frustrated by “1400 other unique queries” being grouped at the bottom of SQRs which contained all the conversion data, this is welcome news!

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/05/enhanced-search-query-performance.html

Update to US trademark policy – 14th May 2009

From the 15th of June 2009, advertisers in the US under certain criteria, will be able to use trademarks in their ads even if they don’t own them or have explicit approval for use. For example, if the advertiser legitimately sells products on their website, then running an ad for those specific products which includes the brand name is going to be allowed. The search based keyword tool can be used to identify which brands Google believes are relevant to the landing pages which should give an indication as to the approval outcome. This will massively impact the ad landscape as we know it, so everyone will need to keep a close(r) eye on performance.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/05/update-to-us-ad-text-trademark-policy.html

New AdWords Interface trials – 26th March 2009

A beta for the new AdWords interface is being expanded to more countries and languages. Some of the highlights include:
– new performance graphs on every page, tabs for each level of campaign structure, allowing all ad groups or all keywords on one page for example.
– In-line editing, just want to change a quick max cpc? Adjust a budget? You can now do that without having to keep loading new pages.
– a new networks tab to provide more detail on the content network placements.
Whilst the new interface is in beta, advertisers have the ability to switch between old and new interfaces, so don’t get too worried!

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/03/beta-expansion-try-new-adwords.html

New targeting comes to the Content Network – 11th March 2009

A new beta has been launched allowing advertisers to target users based on their interests, rather than the topics or content they’re currently reading. Following on from the demographic targeting brought to the content network this time last year, this is Google’s attempt at targeting advertising based on the individual, not what they’re currently searching for or happen to be reading at the time.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/03/new-ways-to-reach-right-audience-on.html

Local Business Ads get new features – 13th January 2009

Up until now, clicks within the local business ad would go through to your website. From today, additional links will be present giving users different options such as “Get Directions”, “Street View” and “Save to My Maps”. Additionally a local business ad report will be available in a few weeks showing their interaction with your ad.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2009/01/new-features-for-your-local-business.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Extending AdWords Ads to the iPhone – 8th December 2008

There is now a new campaign level option extending the reach of text ads to mobile devices with full internet browsers, such as the T-Mobile G1 and the iPhone. No specific formatting is necessary, and campaigns are automatically opted-in. You can choose to create campaigns only targeting these devices, or not target them at all.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/12/extending-your-adwords-campaigns-to-g1.html

Search Keyword Tool beta – 18th November 2008

Ever wondered what keywords Google thinks are relevant for your website? Now you can find out. Instead of trying to discover keywords through guesswork and association with other keywords, you can type in your website address and let Google suggest keywords.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/11/announcing-search-based-keyword-tool.html

Quality Score improvements – 30th October 2008

The first adjustment will better account for positioning of the ad when considering the relevancy of the CTR.
The second adjustment will change the way the quality threshold for top position slots are applied. Up until now, if the ad with the highest Ad Rank did not meet the threshold, there would be no ads in the top positions. Now, every ad is evaluated against this threshold and ads with lower Ad rank can leapfrog ads that don’t meet the threshold into the much-coveted top ad slots.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/10/improvements-to-ads-quality.html

Display Ad Builder now launched – 15th October 2008

There are no longer any excuses not to be able to run ads on the Google content network. Google’s display ad builder allows advertisers to adjust images, text, colours and backgrounds easily via a web interface. Currently limited to the US and Canada.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/10/build-your-own-display-ads-in-minutes.html

Conversion Optimizer update – 13th October 2008

The conversion Optimizer has now lowered the threshold for running campaigns with CPA bidding to just 50 conversions in 30 days (down from 200 and originally 300)

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/10/adwords-conversion-optimizer-expands.html

Google Site Stats update – 17th September 2008

The Google AdWords conversion tracking snippet is being given the option to stop displaying the text “Google Site Stats” from the visible webpage, if the site owner has updated their privacy policy to inform visitors about what is being tracked.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/09/conversion-tracking-site-stats-logo-is.html

Real-time updates to Quality Score – 21st August 2008

Quality Score will soon be calculated every time a search query is performed – leading to more accurate results. This “real-time” Quality Score means ads will no longer be marked as “Inactive for search”, as that status is constantly being evaluated. The Quality Score for ads currently “inactive for search” are likely to remain low however. Lastly, minimum bids are to be replaced with “first-page bids” giving an indication of a bid amount to reach the first page in recent search results.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/08/quality-score-improvements.html

Pay Per Action beta being retired – 30th June 2008

The former Doubleclick performics affiliate network has now become the Google Affiliate Network, and with that the retirement of the 17-month long pay-per-action beta in AdWords. The Conversion Optimiser still allows CPA bidding on the search and content networks through AdWords whilst the GAN has CPA and custom bid models for specific publishers.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/06/we-are-retiring-pay-per-action-beta.html

Ad Planner launched – 24th June 2008

Google Ad Planner, available by invitation only, enables ad planners to type in demographics and websites associated with a particular audience to view associated websites with useful information about sites both on the content network, and those not on it.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/06/introducing-google-ad-planner.html

Google TV Ads out of beta – 30th April 2008

Google TV ads has been in private beta since June 2007, but is now released to all advertisers in the US. Target by network and dayparting, search for tv programme content and set a maximum CPM to let the Google TV ad auction decide who should get airtime.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/04/place-ads-on-television-with-google-tv.html

Website Optimizer out of beta – 16th April 2008

Website Optimizer, Google’s content testing and optimisation tool has come out of beta. Now available to users who aren’t using AdWords, everyone will be able to perform multivariate testing and improve their website’s conversion rate.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/04/website-optimizer-now-out-of-beta.html

Audio Ads now included in AdWords and Analytics reports 7th March 2008

Google Audio ad data from AdWords now appears in Google Analytics, showing important Audio ad data broadcast on over 1,600 radio stations integrated with (possibly) relevant site data such as increases in website traffic.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/03/google-audio-ads-meet-google-analytics.html

Landing page load time to be a factor in Quality Score – 6th March 2008

Long landing page load times are a bad user experience, and Google soon be factoring this metric into Quality Score in order to “encourage” slow websites to speed up, and to reward fast loading websites with lower minimum bids. A 1 month review period will begin in the next few weeks and go live by mid-June.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/03/landing-page-load-time-will-soon-be.html

Demographic targeting on the content network beta – 23rd January 2008

Demographic targeting on the content network beta has launched. You’re now able to amend bids, or even stop ads showing for demographic profiles on certain websites who know their audience profiles. Update: Released from beta 21st March 2008

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/01/demographic-bidding-beta-test.html

Conversion Optimiser released – 10th January 2008

First released in September 2007, Conversion Optimizer now comes out of beta and with it, the threshold lowers to 200 conversions a month being tracked through AdWords conversion tracking. Just set a max CPA bid per ad group, and let Google adjust the bids to reach your CPA goals.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2008/01/conversion-optimizer-increase-profits.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Conversion Optimizer beta – 24th September 2007

Another way to use CPA bidding is now available in AdWords by using the conversion optimizer tool. Conversion Optimizer can be used on both the Search and Content network however, in contrast to the Pay Per Action beta launched in March. The website needs to be using AdWords conversion tracking, and 300 conversions in the last 30 days must have been tracked. You set a maximum CPA bid and AdWords then automatically adjusts your keyword bids to try and hit your maximum CPA goal. There is no guarantee of hitting your target CPA however, if your conversion rate drops, then your CPA may be higher than you’d like.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2007/09/new-cpa-bidding-product-available.html

Pay Per Action beta launched – 29th March 2007

Pay Per Action is a new pricing model that allows the advertiser to only pay once actions such as sales, leads or pageviews have been completed after clicking on an ad. The pricing model is restricted to the content network, and advertisers purely have to choose an action, set up conversion tracking, create the ad and set their desired CPA. Currently limited to the US.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2007/03/pay-per-action-beta-test.html

Quality Score column introduced – 16th February 2007

Further updates to the Quality Score this week. First of all, minimum bids for brand new keywords which don’t have much history in the ecosystem shouldn’t be prohibitively high like we’ve all seen in the past. Secondly, more accurate prediction of ad quality should further benefit everyone if it’s supposed to do what it’s meant to.


QS https://adwords.googleblog.com/2007/02/quality-score-updates-are-live.html

Site Exclusion tool unlimited – 22nd January 2007

You can now exclude an unlimited number of sites in the Site Exclusion tool on the content network. Previously you were limited to just 500 exclusions, so this is a massive improvement in flexibility towards increasing the ROI of this network.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2007/01/site-exclusion-is-now-unlimited.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

New Ad Format: Local Business Listings – 31st March 2006

From today there is now a new ad format available: local business ad. You can create these in your existing ad groups and are associated with business listings in the local business centre.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2006/03/get-your-ad-on-mapliterally.html

Demographic site selection brought to the content network in the US – 9th March 2006

Google have integrated data from comscore to profile sites on the content network in the US. You can now choose 22 different demographics to tailor which sites you want to run ads on. These demographics include age, gender, ethnicity and household income so should help to focus the targeting on the content network to make your ads more relevant.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2006/03/new-demographic-site-selection.html

Backup credit cards introduced to AdWords – 9th February 2006

Ever had an account go offline due to a billing issue? Chances are you have, and today Google have addressed this issue by allowing a backup credit card to be added to an account. Although this doesn’t guarantee your account won’t go offline again, it will certainly help for a large number of cases.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2006/02/introducing-backup-credit-cards.html

Google trial printed ads auctions in AdWords – 08th February 2006

Google are experimenting with auctioning space in well-known magazines. You can view which magazines are in the trial, and bid on full, half and quarter page ad units. Similar principles to AdWords bidding are involved – you set a max bid amount, and you may get to pay less than this figure. After the auction closes, there’s a manual intervention. Hurry though, as the bid closes on February 20th.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2006/02/going-once-going-twice-your-ad-in.html

AdWords Editor beta soft launch – 24th January 2006

For those of you who haven’t heard, the AdWords Editor is a desktop application which allows you to download AdWords accounts and work on them offline. Currently a closed beta, we hope the testing goes well and this long-awaited piece of software is released to everyone soon!


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2006/02/bit-about-adwords-editor-beta.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Separate Bids for the Content Network – 21st November 2005

It is now possible to apply bids for the search network and the content network separately. Eligibility for each network has also been separated, so it’s now possible to see the status “inactive for search” against keywords. Being forced to run search-level bids on the content network was obviously a bad idea for Google, and it hopes to re-engage disillusioned users with the content network.


https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/11/introducing-content-bids.html

Google Analytics integrated with AdWords – 15th November 2005

Google AdWords is now integrated with the recently released Google Analytics. There’s now an “analytics” tab within the AdWords interface so you never have to leave AdWords to view the useful analytics reports. That’s as far as the integration goes – for now.
https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/11/web-analytics-in-adwords.html

AdWords login updated to Google Accounts – 18 October 2005

AdWords logins are going to be a thing of the past. By January 15th, all AdWords logins will have to be done via a Google Account.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/10/google-accounts-for-adwords.html

Site Sections allows more targeted site targeting – 11 October 2005

Some websites on the content network are massive, and performance can vary accordingly. Site sections now allow more granularity on sections or specific pages of a particular site.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/10/target-with-even-more-precision.html

My Change History Tool launched – 08 September 2005

Ever looked back in your AdWords account and wondered why certain keyword performance changed 4 months’ ago? Do you currently manually keep a change history? Google have just made your life much easier! The AdWords Tools page now contains a link to the My Change History tool to see what changed, when and by whom!

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/09/my-change-history.html

Introduction of Quality Score – 16 August 2005

Quality Score introduced as part of the update to minimum bids. Quality score now determines minimum-bids, and if your maximum CPC is above this level, your keyword will become active. Gone are the old keyword states of ‘normal’, ‘in trial’, ‘on hold’ and ‘disabled’.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/08/about-new-simplified-keyword-states.html

Link My Client Center (MCC) accounts – 21 July 2005

For agencies managing large numbers of accounts, the MCC was a great addition, but you can still find yourself logging in and out of accounts all day long. Now, a hierarchical AdWords system can be created linking multiple MCC accounts together.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/07/adwords-update-72105.html

Google advertising professionals promotional credits available outside US – 29 June 2005

AdWords promotional credits comes to Google Advertising Professionals in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands and the UK.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/06/adwords-update-62905.html

Create a new account directly from My Client Center – 29 June 2005

Gone are the days of having to create individual AdWords accounts with individual email addresses. Starting today, advertisers can create brand new accounts directly from the MCC.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/06/adwords-update-62905.html

Site Targeting introduced – 16 June 2005

From today, keywords are no longer the only way of targeting on the content network. Site targeting now allows the advertiser to choose specific sites to appear on.

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2005/06/targeting-in-whole-new-way_16.html

AdWords Policy update for Affiliates – 14th January 2005

If you run a search for most competitive commercial term on Google, you will find many paid ads all pointing to the same page. Google thinks this is a bad result for the end user, and so today it’s updated its AdWords policy to only “display one ad for affiliates and parent companies sharing the same display URL per search query”. This will be a major concern for affiliates who don’t have their own sites to send traffic to and must compete to be the affiliate with the highest ad rank from now on. Additionally, affiliates will no longer have to identify themselves as affiliates by way of an “aff” text identifier at the end of the ad.

https://www.webmasterworld.com/forum81/4212.htm

https://www.webmasterworld.com/forum81/4310.htm

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Content network launched – May 2003

Google launches the Adsense program, enabling individual publishers to display targeted AdWords ads on their own websites reaching more than 100,000 advertisers. Currently only available in English.

http://googlepress.blogspot.co.uk/2003/06/google-expands-advertising-monetization.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset

Launch of AdWords – 23rd October 2000

Google launch their “self-service advertising program” as an extension to the premium sponsorship program. Originally in beta featuring 350 businesses, AdWords(TM) launches immediately offering instant ads (to appear on the right-hand side only), advanced keyword targeting and web-based reporting. Prices start at $10 CPM for the bottom unit and rise to $12 for the medium and $15 for the top unit.

http://googlepress.blogspot.co.uk/2000/10/google-launches-self-service.html

Nothing to show here under the current filters. Reset