An update to display URL policy

We'd like to give you advance notice of an update to our display URL policy, which will take effect on April 1st. While the majority of advertisers will not be affected at all, action will be required from those who are. Please take a few minutes to read this post thoroughly, as the information below should help you determine whether you will be affected by this change.

In response to advertiser and user feedback, and in an effort to provide more relevant advertising results and a higher quality experience for our users, we have made the decision to no longer allow certain exceptions with regards to our display URL policy. This includes, but is not limited to redirects and vanity URLs. This policy will be strictly enforced regardless of past approvals and will apply to all advertisers, beginning on April 1st.

In line with our existing policy, we will continue to require that your ad's display URL match its destination URL (the URL of your landing page).

For example, if your destination URL is www.google.com, your display URL must also be www.google.com. The following would not be acceptable display URLs for an ad for www.google.com:

• www.google.co.uk - because this URL leads to a different site
• www.gogle.com - even though this URL simply redirects to www.google.com it is still not acceptable
• www.gooogle.com - because this URL leads to a page showing content identical to www.google.com

What about tracking URLs?
We do understand that many advertisers utilize tracking URLs within the destination field of their ads. Therefore, if the URL of your landing page matches that of your display URL, your ads will be approved.

For example:

Display URL: www.google.com/adwords
Destination URL: www.trackingurl.com/google123
--> Landing page URL: www.google.com would be acceptable

Display URL: www.google.com/adwords
Destination URL: www.trackingurl.com/google123
--> Landing page URL: www.trackingurl.com would not be acceptable

Are sub-domains still acceptable?
Yes, the use of sub-domains and additional text within the display will continue to be acceptable provided the top-level domain matches the URL of your landing page.

For example, display URLs such as the following:

sub.google.com
google.com/extratext

www.google.com/extratext

would all be acceptable for the landing page URL below, as the top-level domain of google.com is matched:

http://sub.google.com/miscellaneous

In light of this update to display URL policy, we'd encourage you to make any necessary changes to your ads in advance of the April 1st date to ensure that they'll run without disruption by future disapprovals related to this policy.

Thanks for reading this far, and please note that more information will be provided before April 1st via alerts in all AdWords accounts.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Read More

Top Conversion Optimizer tips

The Conversion Optimizer is a bidding feature that allows you to set a maximum cost-per-acquisition (CPA) instead of a maximum cost-per-click (CPC), helping you save time and maximize profits. We recently held a series of Conversion Optimizer webinars, which you can watch on YouTube. To help you get more out of your Conversion Optimizer campaigns, we've compiled a list of top tips based on the most common questions we received from our webinar attendees.

1. A campaign must have 200 or more conversions per month as tracked by AdWords conversion tracking to be eligible for the Conversion Optimizer. If none of your campaigns reach this level, check out these tips to increase your conversion numbers.
   
   
2. Conversion Optimizer works on a campaign level, not at the account level. You can enable Conversion Optimizer for eligible campaigns by following these steps. Keep in mind that you can't use Conversion Optimizer with a brand new campaign -- it needs the conversion history to work correctly.
   
   
3. Once you activate the Conversion Optimizer, you should check its performance periodically to ensure that it's delivering what you expect. Keep in mind that normal variations in campaign performance can make it difficult to interpret short-term changes. You can change your bids as often as you like.
   
   
4. The Conversion Optimizer works on a maximum CPA, not an average CPA. While we aim to avoid any conversion that costs more than your maximum CPA bid, changes in your conversion rate may cause your average CPA to exceed your maximum CPA.
   
   
5. Keep in mind that if you choose a CPA lower than the recommended maximum CPA bid, you are likely to get less traffic than you did with your old CPC bids. It's a good idea to start with this recommendation and adjust based on the results you observe.
   
   
6. If you choose to opt out of the Conversion Optimizer, your campaign will revert to the previous CPC bids you were using. (So, there's nothing to stop you from giving it a try!)
   
   
7. Conversion Optimizer campaigns cannot yet be modified with the AdWords Editor, but we're aware that this is a common request from our advertisers.
   
   
8. The Conversion Optimizer does not work with Google Analytics conversion data, but it's fine to use AdWords conversion tracking and Analytics at the same time.
   
   
9. The tool does not impact your keywords' Quality Score, which is calculated in the usual way regardless of the bidding option you are using.
   
   
10. It's best not to turn on the Conversion Optimizer for the first time right after you've made major changes to a campaign, as your conversion rate may not have yet stabilized to reflect the updates. Similarly, while you are running the Conversion Optimizer, it's best to avoid major campaign changes that are likely to impact conversion rate (or to pay careful attention after making them to evaluate their impact).
    

We hope this information has piqued your interest about the Conversion Optimizer. Please visit the Conversion Optimizer website for more information, including FAQs and details for upcoming webinars.

Posted by Feng, Inside AdWords crew

Read More

Roses are red...

For Valentine's Day, we wanted to write you a sonnet but we've found that it isn't as easy as Shakespeare made it look. So instead, we took the traditional approach. Here's a Valentine's day poem from each of us...enjoy!

Roses are red

Violets are blue

We love our readers
...Yes, we mean you. :) (Vivian)

Roses are red
Violets are purple
Our readers are as sweet
As fine maple syrple. (Blake)

Roses are red
violets are mauve
Inside AdWords readers
Are pretty darn suave. (Trevor)

Roses are red
So are your lips
We're glad you read
our AdWords news and tips. (Feng)

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Sugar is sweet
Google offers a number of business solutions that help advertisers increase their ROI, most of which are free. Check them out here. (Christian)

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Happy Heart Day...
From the Inside AdWords crew. (Heather)

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

Read More

Introducing the Google Business YouTube channel

If you read the Inside AdWords blog to learn the latest features and tips relating to AdWords, you'll be interested in knowing about the new Google Business YouTube channel.

On this channel, you can watch Fred Vallaeys, our AdWords Evangelist, discuss conversion tracking and bid management, learn the basics of ad quality, receive tips on how to brainstorm negative keywords, or view a webinar on the AdWords Conversion Optimizer.

In addition to videos on AdWords, the channel also features videos of other Google business solutions like Google Analytics and Website Optimizer. The videos are currently organized into different playlists by product and by topic.

We hope you'll enjoy watching (and hearing) our very own product experts explain the different ways Google can help your business. We would love to know your suggestions and feedback as we continue to develop more content for this channel.

Posted by Feng, Inside AdWords crew

Read More

AdWords system maintenance on February 16th

On Saturday, February 16th, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PST due to scheduled maintenance. While you won't be able to sign in to your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual.

AdWords system maintenance typically occurs on the second Saturday of each month during the above times -- with this month being an exception to that rule, as previously noted in our January maintenance update.

We'll continue to update you via the blog as we always have, but you may want to take note of our intended dates and times to help you plan for any scheduled downtimes further down the road.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Read More

Audio Ads Webinars: sign up now

Later this month, specialists from the Audio Ads team will host three free online webinars. Join us for tips on how to set up an effective radio campaign and optimization ideas. A few members of the Audio Ads product team will also join us as guest speakers, offering ways to help you more easily track the impact of your Audio Ads campaigns.

The webinars will take place February 20-22. Registration closes 12:00pm PST on Thursday, February 14, so sign up now. The content of each webinar is the same -- please pick the date that works best for you. Once you sign up, we'll email you login information to access the webinar.

If you aren't familiar with Audio Ads, we encourage you to join us to learn more. You can also check out a collection of sample 30-second radio ads, played on AM and FM radio stations across the U.S. using Google Audio Ads. All of the ads listed were created by specialists in the Google Ad Creation Marketplace.

See you soon!

Posted by Heather, Inside AdWords crew

Read More

Google Analytics 101 (Part 2)

In Part 1 of Google Analytics 101, we talked about what Google Analytics is, how it helps site owners, and how to sign up. At the end of the sign-up process, we arrived at the Analytics Settings page, which is where you administer your account and make important changes. Let's take a closer look around it (we've numbered the screenshot to make it easier to follow).

(Click on the image for a full-size version)

(1) This picture is of an account that hasn't finished code installation. At the top you'll notice the box with the yellow exclamation mark that says the tracking code hasn't been detected. This box will go away once your code is installed. If you need to look at your code again, click the 'Check Status' button to get it.

(2) This grey-headlined box in the middle of the page contains your Website Profiles. Here's the first of some important Analytics definitions: a profile is a set of rules that determines what data shows up in your Analytics reports. The rules for a particular profile include user access levels, advanced configurations, and most importantly, the website being tracked. You can have as many profiles as you want, meaning that you can track multiple domains each with their own profile. Or, you can track one domain with multiple profiles to look at different sets of data. For now we'll stick with one domain and one profile. You have to have at least one profile per Google Analytics account at all times.

(3) To the right of the Website Profiles box are links to our Help Center. These common FAQs in the Help Center fill in a lot of details if you're having trouble setting up, or just feel like poking around.

(4) Underneath the Website Profiles box are links to add more profiles, manage user access, and create filters for your data. These tools, when properly set up, allow you to control what data shows up in your reports, making it easier to focus on certain segments of traffic. We'll give these options individual attention in the future.

That's it for this installment on Analytics Settings. In Part 3 we'll introduce the reports, as well as feature a certain statistic that web analytics experts often say is the one of the single most useful around.

Posted by Christian, Inside AdWords crew

Read More

Groundhogs, Seasonality, and Trends

Tomorrow, February 2nd, is Groundhog Day, and Punxsutawney Phil will soon emerge from his burrow and give his prediction for how much longer winter will last. While working with a prognosticating woodchuck to predict seasons is great, we have our own tool for determining seasonality: Google Trends.

Google Trends shows you what the world is searching for. Using Google Trends you can see when searches for a particular keyword are most popular as well as the top geographic regions and cities for that keyword. You can even perform comparisons between keywords.

(Click the image for a full-sized version)

Here we have a trends graph for the searches performed in the United States in 2007 for the keywords flowers, roses, and chocolate. We can see that flowers is more popular around Valentine's Day and most popular around Mother's Day. Roses, on the other hand, sees the biggest surge around Valentine's Day, and just a small bump for Mother's Day. And chocolate has jumps for Valentine's Day and Easter and then starts climbing around Halloween, peaking around Christmas. You can also look at a monthly view to see which days have the most traffic. Knowing this information can help you prepare your campaigns for the additional interest.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Posted by Trevor, Inside AdWords crew

Read More