View your Ad Group stats in tabs

Have you noticed that the Ad Group page looks a little different these days? Here's Jon D. from the Campaign Management team to give you more info on the new 'tabbed' look:

We've redesigned the Ad Group page to display more important account information and present it in a way that's easy to find and understand. None of your account statistics from the past or present will change because of this new feature, but we hope you'll find your stats easier to read.

So, what have we changed? Your account statistic tables are now presented on separate tabs, which can be found along the upper right edge of the table. You can now view your statistics on the following tabs:

Summary – Displays the performance totals for your Ad Group.

Keywords – Shows you how individual keywords are performing, and allows you to add new keywords or edit existing ones (appears only in campaigns with keyword-targeted ads).

Sites – Shows you how your ad is performing on individual sites you have selected. You can add new sites or change your bid for existing ones (appears only in campaigns with site-targeted ads; not shown above).

Ad Variations (New!) – Displays performance statistics for all of the ads that you have created. You can add, edit or delete ads here. (This very useful information has been added as a result of frequent advertiser requests. Keep that feedback coming!)

And if you’d rather see all of your stats at once, all you have to do is click the 'View all tabs at once' link below the display table.

As always, you'll find more information about the new tabs on the Ad Group page in the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Sarah & Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

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Introducing Google Checkout

We recently had the chance to catch up with Eric Lange, product manager, to learn more about Google Checkout, a new service that works with AdWords to help advertisers sell more online and process sales for free. Here's what we learned:

Give us some background on Google Checkout. Why this product at this time?

A growing number of people look to online search when they want to buy and we believe Google Checkout can help make the search and buy experience faster and easier. For shoppers, the goal of Google Checkout is to include more relevant information in search advertisements and make it easier to buy from sellers with a single login--that way, users don't have to re-enter their purchasing information every time they buy online. For advertisers, we want to make it easier to attract new customers and process their purchases for free.

So what exactly is Google Checkout and how would advertisers use it on their sites?

Basically, Google Checkout is a checkout process that advertisers integrate with their websites. Customers who visit their sites can use this checkout option to buy from them using a single username and password. And once they do, advertisers can use Google Checkout to charge their credit cards, process their orders, and deposit funds in their bank accounts. We have several integration options for advertisers to choose from.

How does Google Checkout help advertisers attract new customers?

That gets back to the motivation for the product – buyers often start the purchase process by searching online and they're looking for places to shop that are convenient and secure. Google Checkout makes it easier for shoppers to find these places by displaying the Google Checkout badge on the advertiser's AdWords ads. The badge is like a little sign on the AdWords ad that helps shoppers more easily find stores that accept Google Checkout.

You mentioned processing purchases for free. How does that work?

Put simply: for every $1 advertisers spend on AdWords, they can process $10 in sales for free through Google Checkout. For example, if an advertiser spent $1,000 on AdWords last month, this month the advertiser can process $10,000 in sales at no cost. If advertisers exceed their free transaction processing for the month, they'll only be charged 2% plus $.20 per transaction. The processing fees – or lack of them – reflect what we see as a natural relationship between generating leads through online advertising and processing online sales.

Sounds interesting. Where should advertisers go to learn more?

I'd recommend taking a closer look at http://checkout.google.com/sell and watching this video introduction. We hope this new service helps our advertisers grow their businesses.

Thanks for taking the time to chat about this new service.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

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Maximum? Average? Minimum?

Over the years, a specialized vocabulary has evolved around cost-per-click (CPC) advertising, and many newer advertisers find themselves a bit at sea until they've spent a good amount of time with their accounts -- and in the AdWords Help Center, where they'll find a helpful glossary of the most commonly used terms.

One particular area of confusion revolves around the three types of CPCs -- Maximum CPC, Average CPC, and Minimum CPC -- so let's take a closer look at these terms:

CPC is an abbreviation for cost-per-click, and refers to the cost that you will pay (per click) when a user clicks on your ad.

Maximum CPC is a maximum amount that is set by you, the advertiser, and defines the most you wish to pay for a click on a keyword. Keep in mind that you don't automatically pay this maximum amount because the AdWords Discounter will always reduce the amount you are charged to be just one cent more than the minimum necessary to keep your position on the page.

Average CPC (also seen as Avg. CPC in your account) is literally that: an average. Since each click you receive may have a different CPC depending on a variety of factors, we show you the Average CPC in your account to give you an effective overview. The Average CPC is determined by totalling the cost of all clicks and then dividing that total by the number of clicks.

Minimum CPC (more commonly known as the minimum bid) is an amount based on the keyword's Quality Score that is assigned to each keyword in your account. The minimum bid is the least amount you may pay per click in order for your keyword to show ads.

We hope this sheds some light on the subject - and invite you to do a little further exploring in the searchable Help Center, if you'd like a greater depth of detail.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

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System maintenance Saturday afternoon

This just in from our tech team:

On Saturday, June 24th, the AdWords system will be temporarily unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT due to system maintenance.

While you won't be able to log in or make any changes to your account during this time, your ads will continue to run as normal. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

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New Google Analytics blog

In the past, we've talked a lot about Google Analytics and how you can use it to track your account performance. Now, we're happy to let you know that you can find updates and tips on the recently launched Google Analytics blog. Here's Jeff, from the Google Analytics team, to tell you more:

As you may have found, Google Analytics can improve the performance of your account by helping you optimize your AdWords campaigns and showing you what aspects of your site are providing the most traffic and highest conversion rates.

Now, to help you reach your advertising goals with Google Analytics, we've started sharing information on feature enhancements and tips in our new blog.

So, if you already have a Google Analytics account, we hope you'll check it out. If you don't have an account and would like one, you can sign up here. As you may have heard, we're still in invitation mode, but it usually takes less than a week to send you an invitiation code.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

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Six weeks to set your time zone

Last night we released AdWords local time zone support to all advertisers. Now you can set the time zone that you prefer for your account. Doing so will enable your ad serving, reporting, and billing to be calculated and managed according to the time zone of your choice.

Here are two important reminders. First, please keep in mind that you have until July 30^th to set your account time zone. If you don't select a different time zone, your account will remain on Pacific Time. Second, your account time zone can be set only once, so please choose wisely!

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

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Introducing ad scheduling

Today we released ad scheduling, an advanced campaign management feature that allows you to determine when your ads run. Here's Jon D. from the Advanced Bidding team to tell you more:

Ad scheduling (also known as "dayparting") lets you tell Google exactly when you want your ads to run, and more importantly -- when you do not want them to run. In addition, more advanced users can automatically modify their bids based on time-of-day and day-of-week cycles in campaign performance.

Ad scheduling can also help you improve your ROI by ensuring that your ads run when it makes the most business sense. For instance, a local business may only want to run their ads during business hours, or an online retailer may want to boost their bids during their busier-than-normal lunchtime shopping period.

If you wish to try this new feature, you can enable it via the Edit Campaign Settings page.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

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Update: Google Video is even easier to use

Since Google Video and video ads have generated a lot of interest among advertisers lately, it seemed like a good time have Jon from the Google Video team provide a quick update:

A couple of weeks back, I let you know that you could use Google Video to add value to your products and offerings. Recently, we made this process even easier by introducing an html-based uploader, enabling your videos to go live within minutes. As before, you'll continue to have full reporting on all your videos, so if you have video content that you want to share with the world (and you'd like to track performance), Google Video can help you reach your audience.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

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Keyword tip: when soccer and football mean the same thing

Soccer. Football. Fútbol. Fussball.

In the US we refer to the game as "soccer", but remember, it has many different names around the world. This concept also applies to AdWords, where keywords in the same language can mean different things to different people. A good example of this is prominently highlighted during the World Cup, when millions of fans outside the US refer to their favorite sport as "football".

In such cases, you should carefully monitor your keyword traffic and consider modifying your regional targeting preferences so that the right audience sees your ads. For example, let's say you sell football jerseys in the US but are targeting your ads to a worldwide audience; you may want to change your ad text to specify that you are selling "jerseys for American football". Or, as an alternative, you may simply change your targeting preferences so that your ads with football-related keywords only appear to users in the US.

And with this quick tip, we're off to watch highlights from the many soccer (or football) matches this weekend.

Posted by Sarah & Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

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A letter from Eric Schmidt, CEO

As an AdWords advertiser, you're likely familiar with the ease of access you have to a wide variety of content while navigating the internet. Our CEO Eric Schmidt addressed how access to the internet could change, and how you can help, in his recent letter on the topic of net neutrality -- learn more below:

Dear AdWords Advertiser:

There's a debate heating up in Washington, DC on something called "net neutrality" – and the outcome of this debate may very well impact your business. Therefore, we are taking the unprecedented steps of calling your attention to this looming crisis and asking you to get involved.

Sometime in the next few days, the House of Representatives is going to vote on a bill that would fundamentally alter the Internet. That bill would give the big phone and cable companies the power to choose what you will be able to see and do on the Internet.

Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional – has equal access to everyone else. On the Internet, a business doesn't need the network's permission to communicate with a customer or deploy an innovative new service. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all broadband Internet access, want the power to choose who gets onto the high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build tollbooths to block the on-ramps for those whom they don't want to compete with and who can't pay this new Internet tax. Money and monopoly, not ideas and independence, will be the currency of their Internet.

Under the proposed "pay-to-play" system, small- and medium-sized businesses will be placed at an automatic disadvantage to their larger competitors. Those who cannot afford the new Internet tax – or who want to compete directly with the phone and cable companies – will be marginalized by slower Internet access that will inevitably make their sites less accessible, and therefore less appealing.

Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight. Imagine an Internet in which your access to customers is constrained by your ability to cut a deal with the carriers. Please call your representative in Congress at 202-224-3121. For more information on the issue, and more ways to make your voice be heard, visit http://www.itsournet.org/.

Thank you for your time, your concern and your support.

Eric Schmidt
CEO of Google, Inc.

P.S. – If you are unsure of who represents you in Congress, you can look them up by zip code at http://www.house.gov/. And if you would like to stay informed about this issue, and other policy issues affecting Google, you can opt-in to our policy mailing list at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/googlepolicy/subscribe (powered by Google Groups).

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

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Why zero impressions?

If there's one thing we like, it's the chance to answer a frequently asked question in front of a large and interested audience. Today, we'd like to clear up the seeming mystery of new or edited ads which receive no impressions, as typified by this message (slightly edited for length) from the AdWords Help group:

I recently had a site targeted campaign that was doing pretty well...I changed the wording of the ad and all of a sudden I got 0 clicks and 0 impressions. How is it possible that not a soul saw my ad? As I could not continue getting 0 results, I changed the ad back to what it said before...and it is still getting 0 clicks and 0 impressions. Am I doing something wrong?

The key thing to know is that all new or edited ads must be reviewed and approved before they can appear on sites in the Google Network. So, for new (or edited) ads which are shown only on the Google Network, including image ads and site-targeted ads, you won't receive any impressions until they have been reviewed and approved.

On a related subject, in some cases it's possible for new or edited keyword targeted ads to appear on Google before review -- but they will still need to be reviewed and approved before being shown on Google Network sites. In such cases, an advertiser who is opted-in to the Google Network may notice an increase in impressions once their ads have been reviewed and approved -- since at this point the ads have the potential to be shown on many sites in addition to Google.

Tip: When your advertising needs allow it, you may wish to submit your new or edited ads early to mid-week. Here's why: ads are reviewed on a more limited basis over the weekend, so ads submitted late Friday or over the weekend may take longer to review than those submitted earlier in the week. Also, be aware that review time may vary with the volume of ads being edited and created -- so ads tied to a major retail holiday or event ideally would be submitted a bit in advance to account for higher volumes.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

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Optional AdWords notifications

As an Inside AdWords blog reader, you’re likely looking for tips and updates about AdWords, but have you ever wished that this information was more tailored to your account? If so, you may want to consider signing up for a few of our AdWords Notifications located in the Account Preferences section of the My Account tab. The types of notifications available are:

• Disapproved Ads Notifications – emails to inform you whenever an ad has been disapproved
  
  
• Account Performance Suggestions – account optimization suggestions and tips
  
  
• Newsletters – periodic updates with industry-specific information
  
  
• Google Market Research – opportunities for you to provide feedback and participate in AdWords research programs
  
  
• Special Offers – other offers such as promotions and beta testing opportunities
  

Take a moment to think about which notifications are important to you, and remember that you can change your preferences at any time.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

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