Okay, I get it. You’re frustrated, lost, confused and maybe even a little emotional about all the recent changes with AdWords, now known as Google Ads. Most notably, the new interface has been causing quite a stir among even the most seasoned PPCers. Now, before you throw your dual monitors out’ the window because you can’t find where the shared library is in the new Google Ads (AdWords) interface, read this article! Also, for the rest of the article, in honor of the Google gods, I will refer to AdWords as Google Ads, as recently announced.
Hold on to your butts because we’re not just going to give you 5 or 10 reasons to be excited about Google Ads, but 25! Like a millennial and their cold brew, you won’t be able to put the new AdWords interface down after reading this. Let’s goooooo!
1. Keyboard Shortcuts
Google helps you navigate all the highways and byways of the new interface with a plethora of keyboard shortcuts. My personal favorite being the search function which can be done by simply pressing ‘G and T’. This shortcut takes you to a search bar to help direct you to any particular part of the Google Ads interface. To get the shortcut cheat sheet, simply press ‘?’. This shows you all the different keyboard shortcuts available. Start memorizing some of these to help zip from optimization to optimization.
2. Change History Summary Bar
When managing an account, it can be difficult to keep track of all the changes made in any given week or month. With the new History Summary Bar, you can quickly identify all the different changes made over a selected date range. Quickly access the change history at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
3. Notes
Help give context to the data with Notes. You can insert custom notes by clicking on any point on the performance chart. Quickly explain the peaks and valleys of any given account, campaign, ad group. This has been a long-awaited feature and is now finally here. Read here for more details on how to use notes from Bethany Bay.
4. Landing Page Performance
What if you could see the performance of all the different landing pages in one place? Now you can! On the new left-hand menu after Ads and Extensions you will find the new Landing Pages section. Similar to the ads and keywords pages, you can organize and analyze the data for each landing page any way you want with your selected columns. This will help speed up any user experience analysis.
5. New & Improved Overview Section
I’ll be honest, seldom did I ever really use the home section insights and what not from the old interface. But in the new interface there have been some substantial changes that make it much more appealing. This new page shows various cards(we’ll cover some below) with performance insights and stats on different aspects of the account.
6. N-Grams Keyword Suggestions
As part of the overview section, the new interface provides an n-gram view of what terms are triggering your ads as well as the performance data associated with the terms. In this view you can quickly add negatives right from the overview section. Another thing to note is the darker the blue ring around the term the more impression volume it received. Lastly, as you hover a word you can see various search terms the word was involved in. This allows for a quicker analysis over a large set of search queries instead of one at a time. All about that working smarter.
7. Recent Filters
You know when you are sifting through heaps of data and you create this super boss filter that lets you see exactly what you want and you forget to save it? AGGGHHHHH!!! Worry no more, Google to rescue again. With the new interface your 3 most recent filters used are saved every time. Simply click on the filter icon and hover over any “Recent filters” listed to see the details of each. You can then click on it and have your beautiful filter once again.
8. Ad Version History
Sometimes when making edits to ads you forget to check the box to keep originals and overwrite the original ad. Again, worthy cause for throwing something out the window. But a new feature when editing existing ads lets you see previous versions of them. When clicking on the little pencil icon to edit there is now an option to “see version history.” This takes you to a list of all the different versions of the ad, what changed, when it was changed, and how long it ran. Small little feature but another point for Google nonetheless.
9. Label Descriptions
Previously you were not able to add a description within the same screen you created one. Now you can! Once the desired ad(s) is selected, click on Label drop down arrow and then New Label.
10. Promotion Extensions
These have been out a while but still a new feature that did not exist in the old interface. You are now able to place extensions promoting either a percentage or monetary discount for your products and services.
This is how it looks below your ad:
11. Household Income Targeting
You are now able to make bid adjustments based on household income. Just when you thought you couldn’t get any more granular.
12. Audience Page
This is a new page which allows you to oversee targeting and optimizations from one location.
13. New Expanded Text Ads
Expanded Text Ads just got a whole lot bigger! You are now able to show 3 headlines and 2 descriptions at a time with the new Expanded Text Ads.
14. New Responsive Search Ads
This new feature has been in beta for some time now. It allows you to test up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions! Once set up, Google will test combinations dynamically to best accomplish the goal stated by you.
15. New & Improved Dynamic Search Ads
Out with the old, in with the new. And as for DSA , it will now organize your website into recommended categories, based on the services and products you offer. And on top of that you can preview and edit how ads are shown and get examples of what searches will trigger the ads. See this article from WordStream for more detail.
16. Parallel Tracking
In a nutshell Parallel Tracking allows for a faster and more seamless experience for those who click on your ads. And starting Nov. 1 all Google Ad Accounts will have to make the switch. Again, this is a good thing! For more info and to know what you may need to do read here.
17. Ad Variations
This is a new feature which allows for more seamless a/b testing when it comes to ad copy. Once you create a variation you can then set up an a/b test by setting the dates and experimental split.
18. Custom Intent Audiences
This new targeting option is rather nifty. Using machine learning, Google crawls your existing campaigns and auto-creates “custom intent audiences” based on the most common keywords and URLs found in what people are browsing while researching a given product or service. These audiences can be found among your other Display network audiences. You can also create your own using specific keywords and URLs.
19. Display Ad Preview Link
While on the topic of Display, another little upgrade is the ability to quickly generate a preview link for your display ads. Simply click on the display ad you wish to preview, and a preview link will be generated.
20. Call Bid Adjustments
You can now make bid adjustments to show call extensions more or less frequently in mobile search ads.
21. Easier to Find Tools & Features
Before Shared Library, Keyword Planner, and Billing Settings were in 3 different spots. Now you can find them in one centralized location under Tools.
Before
New Google Ads (AdWords) Interface
22. Keyword Planner 2.0
Speaking of the kw planner Google has beefed up the capabilities of this most useful tool. The new planner allows you to now see organic impression share data and does a much better job at presenting the forecast data for device, locations, and keywords. Learn more about the kw planner here.
23. New & Improved Recommendations
The once named Opportunities tab has been changed to Recommendations. This new section has added many more types of recommendations including: ad suggestions, adding audiences, pausing poor performing keywords, and removing non-serving keywords. For full list of new recommendations go here.
24. New Ad Extension View
Manage your ad extensions with ease with the new ad extensions views(Association and Extensions). These allow you to easily see all the different extensions and at what level they are working.
25. New Column Options
There are all sorts of goodies in the columns sections that didn’t exist before. From the ad strength column, custom columns for keywords, and message details, I guarantee there is a column just for you.
Alright now you can catch your breath, go for a walk, and think about how you’re going to impress your boss with all these new ways to use Google Ads.
Now if you’re not all hot and bothered about Google Ads after reading this don’t worry. Only us PPC nerds would be excited about this stuff. If you’re not one of those and you just want some help with taking your PPC to greater heights, contact the PPC experts at Megethos. In fact, if you don’t have time to chat we won’t be offended. Just sign up here for a free 50 point audit, where we take look under the hood and point out quick wins and major opportunities you’ve been missing out on. Now get out there and PPC your little heart out!
