As 2005 comes to an end, businesses close out their books, people start making New Year’s resolutions, and AdWords advertisers like yourselves start planning for 2006. To help you review this past year’s campaign performance, we’d like to remind you of the handy tools available in the Report Center. To drill down on specific metrics, try generating a ...Read More

As 2005 comes to an end, businesses close out their books, people start making New Year’s resolutions, and AdWords advertisers like yourselves start planning for 2006. To help you review this past year’s campaign performance, we’d like to remind you of the handy tools available in the Report Center. To drill down on specific metrics, try generating a custom report for the past year, 6 months, or whatever date range you specify.

Here at Inside AdWords, we’re also doing our own annual review of sorts – reading over your emails and the topics we’ve covered in our inaugural year in order to plan for 2006. We’re taking a bit of a break for the holidays (and hope that you’ll do the same), but we’ll be back after the New Year with more tips, insights and otherwise interesting AdWords tidbits to share.

Happy Holidays and see you in ’06!

Posted by Arielle & Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

There's a long history at Google of creating a variety of logos, or Google doodles, to commemorate holidays and special events. Now, publishers of sites in the content network have the option to display themed ad units for various celebrations as well.Read More

There's a long history at Google of creating a variety of logos, or Google doodles, to commemorate holidays and special events. Now, publishers of sites in the content network have the option to display themed ad units for various celebrations as well.

And with the holiday season officially upon us, AdSense publishers who've opted into this feature will begin showing ad units adorned with holiday packages and polar bears like the ones below.


Just like the Google homepage logos, these themed ad units are temporary -- this particular version will only appear today through December 26 -- but the AdSense team is already planning designs that celebrate more holidays and events around the world for next year.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Especially around the last minute holiday crunch, advertisers are often looking to maximize their ads' exposure to targeted audiences. To that end, they often contact our friends over in AdWords support to ask how their ads can appear on other Google properties, like ...Read More

Especially around the last minute holiday crunch, advertisers are often looking to maximize their ads' exposure to targeted audiences. To that end, they often contact our friends over in AdWords support to ask how their ads can appear on other Google properties, like Froogle and Groups.

Well, it's simple: the Google search network not only includes partner sites, but many of Google's own properties as well. And as long as your campaigns' distribution preferences includes our search network, they're eligible to appear for searches on Froogle, Local, Book Search, and Groups.

In addition to these Google sites showing keyword-targeted search ads, your ads can also appear alongside the content of books on Google Book Search and related to discussions in Groups and Gmail as long as your campaigns are opted into appearing on the content network. These contextually targeted ads work the same way as ads on content pages across the web -- the keywords you provide in your campaigns are automatically matched with the content of books, postings, or emails on Google's pages, and the ads which most closely match the subject at hand are eligible to show.

As always, the goal is to provide users with useful, relevant ads, whether they're browsing books, looking for the local dry cleaners, shopping for holiday gifts, or checking their email with Google.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

It's been a big year for the Google content network. In the past few months, we've written about site targeting, site exclusion, and, most recently, content bids. Now we'd like to introduce a new ...Read More

It's been a big year for the Google content network. In the past few months, we've written about site targeting, site exclusion, and, most recently, content bids. Now we'd like to introduce a new resource page that gives you additional information about the network and its features. Here, you can learn how many unique users you'll reach through the content network or check out a selection of our partners.

Intrigued? Take our content network quiz below. If you don't know the answers, you can find them on the site (though we'll also point you in the right direction).

1) In how many different ad formats can you show your ads across the content network?

2) If you target the United States, how many unique internet users will you reach through the content network?

3) Name two of our partner sites who specialize in news.

Once you've found the answers to the questions above, try our new Optimization Demo, which is also located on the site. It will give you tips for setting up your content campaigns and help you maximize your ad's potential.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

The story so far: back in October we invited our readers to summarize AdWords success in 25 words or less. We got quite a number of responses and published a few ...Read More

The story so far: back in October we invited our readers to summarize AdWords success in 25 words or less. We got quite a number of responses and published a few of them later that same month.

Today we have our latest installment, which starts out with a witty observation from Richard R., who writes:

Just realized that the whole notion of writing ads that are 25-35 characters is a new form of Haiku! Dare I say it?: Google-ku!

Here are 25 words from James F.:

Understanding what the searcher is looking for and giving it to them in the most efficient way from keyword selection through to landing page content.

And an efficient 20 words, submitted by Randy M.:

Focus on converting clicks into sales via a great landing page. Track your conversion rate by ad copy and keyword.

And lastly (for today at least), six key points in 24 words, sent to us by Lisa H.:

1. Relative keywords for your site
2. Specific keywords -- not general ones
3. Landing page with keyword item
4. Good positioning of ads
5. Relevant negative keywords
6. Measure results

Feeling inspired? Send us your 25 words or less, and we may publish your tips for success in a future post.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Have you ever found yourself browsing content on a particular site and realized that it would be the perfect place to promote your product? Perhaps you even logged in to your AdWords account to add this site to your ...Read More

Have you ever found yourself browsing content on a particular site and realized that it would be the perfect place to promote your product? Perhaps you even logged in to your AdWords account to add this site to your site-targeted campaign. Now, with Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up, we've made this process even easier.

The next time you see AdWords ads on a site that you'd like to target, look for the 'Advertise on this site' link in the ad unit. After clicking that link, you'll be taken to a page that provides additional information about the site and allows you to log in to your existing AdWords account. Upon logging in, you'll simply complete the three step site-targeted campaign creation wizard, and your ads will be eligible to run on that site. Easy, right?

So, remember to keep your eyes open when you're surfing the web, you might just find another great advertising opportunity.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

This past summer we introduced Google Sitemaps and explained how you can use this feature to submit all of your URLs to the Google index and help improve your visibility in the Google search results. In August, we ...Read More

This past summer we introduced Google Sitemaps and explained how you can use this feature to submit all of your URLs to the Google index and help improve your visibility in the Google search results. In August, we let you know that we expanded the product to include mobile web pages. And now there's more.

Here's Shaluinn from the Sitemaps team to tell you about the latest release:

Google Sitemaps now offers detailed statistics on your top Google search queries, crawl status, and more. These reports show you how Google search is driving free traffic to your site and can help you make your pages more crawler-friendly.

The best part: you can start getting these new stats today. Just create a Sitemaps account and add your site to it. Once you verify site ownership we'll start showing you these detailed reports. You can always add your Sitemap later and, in the meantime, you'll be getting useful feedback on your Google traffic and crawl status for pages already in the index.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

The folks on the AdWords support team often hear the question "why can't I see my ad?" If you've ever had this question yourself, you'll probably know that there are a number of reasons why an ad may not be appearing.Read More

The folks on the AdWords support team often hear the question "why can't I see my ad?" If you've ever had this question yourself, you'll probably know that there are a number of reasons why an ad may not be appearing.

To assist advertisers in getting to bottom of 'can't see my ad' mysteries, there are some excellent resources available. One of these, the new "Can't see your ad?" troubleshooting wizard, will walk you through an ordered list of possible reasons why your ad is not showing.

And, of course, the already popular Ads Diagnostic Tool can help you to identify why a particular ad, or group of ads, may not be appearing -- as well as provide tips to get things up and running again.

If you ever find that one of your ads is not running as expected, give these a try.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

In August, we introduced the Quality Score along with the launch of quality-based minimum bids, letting you know that we evaluate many factors, such as your ad text and clickthrough rate (CTR) to determine the minimum bid for your keyword. Today, we started incorporating a new factor into the Quality Score -- the ...Read More

In August, we introduced the Quality Score along with the launch of quality-based minimum bids, letting you know that we evaluate many factors, such as your ad text and clickthrough rate (CTR) to determine the minimum bid for your keyword. Today, we started incorporating a new factor into the Quality Score -- the landing page -- which will look at the content and layout of the pages linked from your ads.

Why are we doing this? Simply stated, we always aim to improve our users' experience so that these users (your potential customers) will continue to trust and value AdWords ads. Have you ever searched on a keyword, found an ad that seemed to be exactly what you wanted, and then clicked on it only to find a site that had little to do with what you were searching for? It's not a great experience.

Incorporating landing page assessment into the Quality Score will help us improve the overall advertising experience for users, advertisers and partners by increasing the quality of the sites we present in our ad results.

Advertisers who are providing robust and relevant content will see little change. However, for those who are providing a less positive user experience, the Quality Score may decrease and in turn increase the minimum bid required for the keyword to run. To help define site quality, we've created a general set of website design tips and guidelines that should help you evaluate and optimize your site.

So, take a look at these guidelines and remember that the more valuable and relevant your site is to your user, the more effective your advertising will be -- and the better your chance of converting a click to a customer.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

As the year comes to a close and you're starting to plan for 2006, perhaps you're thinking about ways to re-organize your AdWords campaigns. Or maybe you're like many of the advertisers we've heard from who've been requesting more efficient ways to make account-wide changes. Well, you're in luck ...Read More

As the year comes to a close and you're starting to plan for 2006, perhaps you're thinking about ways to re-organize your AdWords campaigns. Or maybe you're like many of the advertisers we've heard from who've been requesting more efficient ways to make account-wide changes. Well, you're in luck!

This week, we're giving you another time-saving tool with the newest of our suite of account management tools. This latest addition, Move or copy keywords and ad text, can be found on the Tools page of your account.

Now, on top of making account-wide changes to maximum CPCs, ad text, keywords, and destination URLs, you can search for, select, and move or copy keywords and ad text from one Ad Group to another. It's worth mentioning that when you move components, your account will treat relocated keywords or ad text as new -- so any statistics your keywords or ad text have accrued will not transfer across Ad Groups.

If you've been meaning to move keywords and ad text into a separate promotional campaign, separate your high-traffic keywords to better control campaign budgets, or copy keywords and ad text into separate content Ad Groups, you now have fast and easy way to do this and more.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

One of the most frequently discussed topics over in the AdWords Help group revolves around getting top placement. Specifically, lots of advertisers wonder how they can have their ad appear "in the blue" above the search results.Read More

One of the most frequently discussed topics over in the AdWords Help group revolves around getting top placement. Specifically, lots of advertisers wonder how they can have their ad appear "in the blue" above the search results.

Since the evidence suggests that many Inside AdWords readers also participate in the AdWords Help group, our blog seemed like the ideal place to answer the questions for lots of folks at once. So here goes:

Long ago, there did exist a program that allowed advertisers to guarantee the top spots on Google. But in the interest of leveling the playing field, AdWords stopped offering a way to buy these top placements. Today, all ads on Google.com are ranked based on their maximum cost-per-click (CPC) and Quality Score.

While there isn't a way to ensure top placement, there are certainly some best practices that may well help your ads rise to the top. Really, there are no secrets: these are the same best practices that affect the positioning (or ranking) of your AdWords ads wherever they appear, and they also happen to be the same best practices we wrote about just a few days ago.

At the bottom line, highly relevant keywords and ad text, a high CPC, and a strong CTR will result in a higher position for your ad and help you rise "into the blue."

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

One of my favorite categories on Jeopardy! is “Potpourri” because you never know what you’re going to get. Our inbox also resembles the potpourri category since we get such a wide range of questions from all of you. Today, a few more answers to your questions ...Read More

One of my favorite categories on Jeopardy! is “Potpourri” because you never know what you’re going to get. Our inbox also resembles the potpourri category since we get such a wide range of questions from all of you. Today, a few more answers to your questions…

Can I have the same list of keywords for different campaigns? Both of the campaigns contain different ads. I would like to know if both the ads will get listed for the same keyword. –Uma

Dear Uma: While it's technically possible to have the same list of keywords in different campaigns, the two campaigns will end up competing with one another in the auction for the same keyword search. For example, if you have the keyword "potpourri" in two campaigns in your account (with different ad text), the AdWords system will use a combination of CPC, CTR, and other relevance factors to pick the best ad to show. The bottom line is that only one ad per account can be displayed for any given keyword search.

One of your past posts mentioned creating a blog as a means to communicate with my customers. How do I create a blog? I am not sure how that works. –An Inside AdWords reader

Dear Reader: We have just the solution for you. Our friends down the hall on the Blogger team have made it super easy to create your own free blog in just three steps. All you have to do is create a Blogger account, name your blog, choose a template, and off you go. We’ll let them give you the details here.

Can you please tell me what a negative keyword is? Can you give some examples of them? --Prakash

Dear Prakash: We discussed negative keywords a while ago in a post, but as a quick recap, they are essentially keywords for which you do not want your ads to show. For example, let’s say your store sells flowers, but you do not carry wreaths or plants. You would probably want to choose '-wreaths' and '-plants' as negative keywords so that ads for your store do not show when a user types in these search terms. (The hyphen in front of the word indicates that you want to choose it as a negative keyword.)

Thanks for all your great questions! Keep them coming and we’ll keep answering them here on Inside AdWords.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

A week ago, we let you know that we'd launched content bids, giving you the control to set one bid for ads running on search sites and a separate bid for ads running on content sites. Now, we'd like to share a few tips to help you get the most out of your content-targeted campaigns.Read More

A week ago, we let you know that we'd launched content bids, giving you the control to set one bid for ads running on search sites and a separate bid for ads running on content sites. Now, we'd like to share a few tips to help you get the most out of your content-targeted campaigns.

1) Group Your Ads by Theme - The AdWords system looks at the overall theme of this Ad Groups to determine if your ad relates to a particular content site. That's why each Ad Group should focus on a specific theme and a specific audience.

2) Match Keywords to Ads - Each Ad Group should contain a cluster of keywords which are related to one another but which provide variations within the theme. For example, if you're advertising soccer cleats, you may also want to include soccer shoes, but you wouldn't want to include soccer jerseys. The closer the relationship, and the more precise the variations, the more likely it is that your ad will find the right audience.

3) Stay on Message - Write sharp, compelling ad text that reflects your keyword list.

4) Know Thy Customer - Different advertisers have different audiences. Use negative keywords or site exclusion to ensure that your ads reach the users you want.

5) Embrace the Data - Track your performance with our free conversion tracking tool or by adding URL parameters to your keywords.

6) Test. Test. Test Again - Performance improves when you test and make changes based on your ads' results. Use data to drive your decisions and get the most out of the content network.

By the way, if some of these tips seem strangely familiar it may be because you recall our Google turns 7 post from back in September. While today we've mentioned these as tips for effective content targeting, in truth all of these tips could be called "best practices" for targeting your ads for search as well. Give them a try and see if they'll help your ads deliver better results.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Here in the U.S., we're about to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. (Or, if you're Inside AdWords crew member Vivian, you're 16 hours ahead already enjoying goose in Hong Kong rather than turkey in California! ...Read More

Here in the U.S., we're about to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. (Or, if you're Inside AdWords crew member Vivian, you're 16 hours ahead already enjoying goose in Hong Kong rather than turkey in California!)

But before we embark on a four day weekend, involving turkey, friends, and family (although not necessarily in that order), we wanted to say thanks to our ever-growing family of loyal Inside AdWords readers. The fact is, we have a great time with this blog, but it wouldn't mean a thing without all of you. We truly appreciate your interest.

Thanks for being a part of Inside AdWords!

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Two and a half years ago, we launched content targeting -- a product that enables you to reach your customers on high-quality news pages, topic-specific websites, and blogs that they visit each day. Today, Google's content network reaches over 64% of unique Internet users (according to comScore's machine-based panel) in over 100 countries and 20 different languages.Read More

Two and a half years ago, we launched content targeting -- a product that enables you to reach your customers on high-quality news pages, topic-specific websites, and blogs that they visit each day. Today, Google's content network reaches over 64% of unique Internet users (according to comScore's machine-based panel) in over 100 countries and 20 different languages.

We've made multiple tweaks and enhancements to the product – releasing image ad support, site targeting, and smart pricing -- and are happy to announce another enhancement to the program. Yesterday, we released content bids. This feature will allow you to place one bid (or maximum CPC) for ads that run on search sites and an entirely separate bid for ads running on content sites within the Google Network. In addition, we'll now evaluate your keywords for content targeting separately, ensuring that we're able to target your ads as accurately as possible on the content network. You'll notice that your 'inactive' keywords now read 'inactive for search' and that the minimum bid for content targeting is a static $0.01.

We hope you find the added flexibility and control that content bidding provides useful. If you've tried the Google content network once and decided that it wasn't working for you, this is a great time to give it another try.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Here at 37° 25' 22", -122° 5' 6", we wanted to make it easier for you to set up customized location targeting. So last week, we put Google Maps into AdWords, allowing you to visualize cryptic coordinates or just pick a specific location on the map to determine the location you'd like to target.Read More

Here at 37° 25' 22", -122° 5' 6", we wanted to make it easier for you to set up customized location targeting. So last week, we put Google Maps into AdWords, allowing you to visualize cryptic coordinates or just pick a specific location on the map to determine the location you'd like to target.

Is this new feature for you? That depends on your advertising goals. Customized targeting is great for advertisers who want to market their products or services to a very specific location. For example, if you're selling flowers to people who live near the Four Corners, but you don't service all of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, customized targeting allows you to precisely target only your audience. And, as you can see below, Google Maps makes it easy to choose this location.

How does it work? After selecting customized targeting when editing or creating a new campaign, you can now define your location with just a few clicks of the mouse. First, click-and-drag the map and zoom in to find your location or desired target area. Then submit a distance (we recommend at least 20 miles) around your location target. A circle will appear on the map to confirm the region – so you can be sure your ads appear to potential customers in the exact neighborhoods you want to reach.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

By now you may have noticed that the Report Center has gotten a face lift and that it takes fewer clicks to run a report. Not only that, there are more ways to access and customize your data. Ann-Lee, from the Report Center team, tells us more ...Read More

By now you may have noticed that the Report Center has gotten a face lift and that it takes fewer clicks to run a report. Not only that, there are more ways to access and customize your data. Ann-Lee, from the Report Center team, tells us more:

Ever wish you could get a report to see which ads are falling under average position four, or to see which keywords are averaging a higher cost-per-click (CPC) than you'd like to spend?

With the new campaign performance filters, you can see data not only by keyword status, match type and specific keywords, but also by impressions, clicks, average CPC, cost, and average position. Also in the Advanced Options, you can even add or delete columns such as 'daily budget' or 'conversion rate' to further customize every report.

And due to popular demand, you'll now have the ability to designate a different recipient or groups of recipients for every emailed report. Check out the new Report Center from the Reports tab in your account or from the Client Reports tab in your My Client Center.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

From time to time, we like to have members of the product team tell you about new AdWords features they've worked on. This time, Andrew and Brett, from the Google Analytics team, have something to introduce ...Read More

From time to time, we like to have members of the product team tell you about new AdWords features they've worked on. This time, Andrew and Brett, from the Google Analytics team, have something to introduce:

Good news for advertisers, we've recently released a sophisticated web analytics service called Google Analytics -- it's free and built right into AdWords.

Sweet, huh? Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. It will track all of your online campaigns, from emails to keywords, regardless of search engine or referral source.

To start using Google Analytics, log into AdWords and you will notice a new 'Analytics' tab. Click that tab and you can then sign up for your free Google Analytics service.

Once you sign up, you'll add a few lines of tracking code to each page of your site, select your goal and funnel paths (path through your site to conversion), and click the "enable tracking codes" button within AdWords. Then you're all set to view your web analytics reports.

Give Google Analytics a try and see what you've been missing.

In the coming weeks, we'll spotlight features of Google Analytics and tell you more about the types of information you can get using the various reports available, so check back for more info soon!

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Think your boss might be interested in yesterday's post about industry specific AdWords information? Did you love our seven tips post and want to share it with a friend? Well, Blogger makes it easy for ...Read More

Think your boss might be interested in yesterday's post about industry specific AdWords information? Did you love our seven tips post and want to share it with a friend? Well, Blogger makes it easy for Inside AdWords readers to send specific posts of interest to others via email.

To send along what you've read here, just click on the little envelope icon which can be found at the bottom of each post. Spread some knowledge. Who knows, you might just get in good with the boss.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Have you ever wanted to know just how many Tech BtoB users are searching for products online? Need tips to optimize your retail campaign for the holidays? Or, maybe you just want to read a ...Read More

Have you ever wanted to know just how many Tech BtoB users are searching for products online? Need tips to optimize your retail campaign for the holidays? Or, maybe you just want to read a case study to find out how AdWords has worked for others in your line of business?

You can find the answers to all of these questions and information on additional industries in our recently updated "For Your Industry" page located in the AdWords Help Center. This resource provides you with valuable industry-specific content and points out customer behavior and campaign tips that vary by industry.

Ready to check it out? First, take a spin through the vertical overview where you'll learn more about your customer base, and how they use the internet and Google to search for your service or product. Then, read the case study to find out how AdWords has worked for an advertiser in your industry. Finally, curl up with your laptop and scroll through the optimization tips for your industry, implementing along the way.

Once you've finished, drop us a line and let us know what additional information you'd like to see. We'll be adding to and updating these pages over the coming months, so check back in the future.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Earlier this week we invited Hannah, a member of the AdWords Help Center team, to let us know what her team has been up to. Here's what she had to say ...Read More

Earlier this week we invited Hannah, a member of the AdWords Help Center team, to let us know what her team has been up to. Here's what she had to say:

Lots of advertisers use the Help Center to browse for answers to their AdWords questions, but although they may search on Google.com everyday, many haven't tried to search for answers to their questions in our online help content.

Recently, one of the readers of Inside AdWords wrote in asking for an explanation of negative keywords. So, to answer that question, we could go to the Help Center and check out the results of a search for "negative keyword." Yep, lots of good info there.

By the way, sharp eyed readers will probably notice that the Help Center has a new design. I hope you'll take a look.

Do you have any comments on the Help Center? Please send them along and we'll make certain that Hannah sees them.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Several weeks ago, we posted about the new AdWords Help user-to-user support forum on Google Groups, where advertisers may search or browse for answers, ask questions, and assist others with AdWords. At the time we posted, we'd just earned our 126th member.Read More

Several weeks ago, we posted about the new AdWords Help user-to-user support forum on Google Groups, where advertisers may search or browse for answers, ask questions, and assist others with AdWords. At the time we posted, we'd just earned our 126th member.

Today, I'm posting with some exciting news. Thanks in large part to readers of this blog, I'm delighted to report that the membership of AdWords Help has now quadrupled.

And while a 400% increase in membership is pretty great, even better is the fact that AdWords advertisers are actively helping each other every day -- and doing it well. It's truly a pleasure to see. Thanks to all who have taken a look at this user-to-user forum, with a very special nod to those of you who have become active participants of AdWords Help.

If you're hearing about this resource for the very first time, then maybe you'll want to take a look now. You'll find a growing, friendly, and helpful community which offers valuable advertising insight and advice.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Everyone knows about the importance of creating effective keyword lists, and now there's an improved Keyword Tool to help you do so. Ann-Lee, from the Keyword Tool team, tells us a little more ...Read More

Everyone knows about the importance of creating effective keyword lists, and now there's an improved Keyword Tool to help you do so. Ann-Lee, from the Keyword Tool team, tells us a little more:

Selecting new keywords to meet your campaign goals can be challenging -- that's why we've improved our Keyword Tool to give you more data alongside keyword results. You can see the general popularity of a keyword -- green bars will show you if other advertisers are competing for a particular keyword you're considering or if users are searching on that keyword. Also, you can look at the cost and ad position estimates for a list of keywords prior to adding them to your Ad Group.

We're also excited about a new feature that allows you to generate keywords based on the content of any webpage, such as your landing page (currently only available to advertisers who access their accounts in English).

While we can't guarantee that selected keywords will hit your campaign goals, we hope that this additional guidance will help you make smarter keyword selections. And as always, remember to shop for negative keywords in the results that are returned.

To try these and other new features, access the Keyword Tool from the Ad Group page or the Tools page of your account.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Remember when we explained how to create seasonal AdWords campaigns in advance of holidays?

Well, if you didn't set an end date for your Halloween campaign yet, here's a quick reminder to log in to your account and pause it. (You can always use it again next year. ...Read More

Remember when we explained how to create seasonal AdWords campaigns in advance of holidays?

Well, if you didn't set an end date for your Halloween campaign yet, here's a quick reminder to log in to your account and pause it. (You can always use it again next year.)

Oh, and happy Halloween from the Inside AdWords crew!



Posted by Vivian and Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Not long ago, we invited Inside AdWords readers to take their best shot at summarizing how to be successful with AdWords in 25 words or less.

We've received so many great responses that we can't fit them all in one post. Below you'll find a few of our favorites, listed in no particular order, with more to follow in the near future. Thanks to everyone who responded ...Read More

Not long ago, we invited Inside AdWords readers to take their best shot at summarizing how to be successful with AdWords in 25 words or less.

We've received so many great responses that we can't fit them all in one post. Below you'll find a few of our favorites, listed in no particular order, with more to follow in the near future. Thanks to everyone who responded!

(And in case you're wondering, Brad G.'s entry coming first has nothing at all to do with the fact that he mentions Inside AdWords within his first three words!)

Brad G. writes:

Here's my quick (writing on the train) 25 word list:

• Read Inside AdWords
• Map Campaigns
• Tightly Worded Ad Groups
• Compelling Ads Related to Keywords
• Use Negative Keywords
• Focused Landing Page
• Split Test Everything
• Measure All Results

Claudio L. writes:

Here's my shot at it...17 words.

• Your Keywords Equal Your Product, Your Service
• Your Keywords Hit Home!
• Your Customers Hit Your Order Pages!

Sean E. writes:

In 25 words or less...

• Keywords in Title
• Targeted Ad Groups
• Negative Keywords
• Exact and Phrase Matches
• Don't over tweak it! Wait for results

Stay tuned for part three! And, by the way, it's not too late to submit your own version either.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

The Inside AdWords inbox has been getting a steady stream of emails, and this week, we answer a couple more.

Is the Inside AdWords email the proper channel for sending inquiries? –Nick A.

Read More

The Inside AdWords inbox has been getting a steady stream of emails, and this week, we answer a couple more.

Is the Inside AdWords email the proper channel for sending inquiries? –Nick A.

Nick, I’m glad you asked. Ever since we started Inside AdWords, we’ve received all sorts of different inquiries and requests in our email inbox—some AdWords related, some not. Basically, the rule of thumb is: email us at Inside AdWords if you have comments or feedback about the blog, or if you have general AdWords questions that we may be able to answer for the benefit of all Inside AdWords readers. For questions that relate specifically to your account, it's best to send them to the AdWords Support Team; they’re able to review your actual account details and give you the specific advice that you need.

What is the difference between Google Search & “I'm Feeling Lucky”? How does “I’m Feeling Lucky” affect how my ads are displayed? –Mark S.

Dear Mark: The “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on the Google homepage takes you directly to the most relevant website that Google found for your query. You won't see the search results page at all, but if you did, the "I'm Feeling Lucky" site would be listed on top. For example, if you're looking for the AdWords homepage, just type in “AdWords” and click "I'm Feeling Lucky" instead of the Google Search button. Google will take you directly to adwords.google.com. Since no search results are shown when the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button is pressed, no ads are displayed with this feature.

Do you have more AdWords questions? You know where to find us. Send them our way and we'll try our best to answer them in a future post.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

Read More

*Please note updated information at the bottom of this post as of 5/17/2013

Last week, we let you know that image ads could be a valuable addition to your online advertising repertoire. Now, we'll answer some of the most frequently asked questions on the topic:

How do image ads compete with text ads?

Because an image ad takes up the entire ad unit on a site in our content network, instead of being one of four text ads on a page, we use an effective CPM, or eCPM, model to rank all ads in the auction. This ensures that both CPC and CPM targeted text and image ads are evaluated in the same manner. As always, the highest ranking ad(s) will be served to our users. If this happens to be an image ad, this means that the ad has an eCPM that is greater than the sum of the next four ads that it out ranks.

I've heard that smart pricing can reduce the price of clicks on content. Does this also apply to image ads?

Yes. Smart pricing applies to image as well as text ads that are served on the content network. For those who aren't familiar with this feature, smart pricing automatically discount the cost of keyword-targeted content clicks if our data shows that a click is less likely to convert on that site. This helps you meet your ROI goals on the content network.

I'd like to use flash ads, but how do I upload them?

You can upload Flash ads in the same manner that you upload all image ads, but make sure you're aware of the following requirements. Flash ads must be 50K or smaller in size and utilize Flash versions 4 - 6. All Flash creatives should also support the clickTAG variable. The clickTAG is the tracking code assigned by Google to an individual ad. It allows Google to register where the ad was displayed when it was clicked, and helps advertisers determine the effectiveness of their campaign. On any click, Flash creatives should redirect to the URL specified in the clickTAG argument; there should be no other redirection in between.

The variable name must be spelled "clickTAG" (upper-case TAG; no space between click and TAG) and not "click tag," "Click Tag," or any other form. This is the proper code for the clickTAG parameter.

on (release) {
if (clickTAG.substr(0,5) == "http:") {
getURL(clickTAG, "_top");
}
}

Remember, Flash ads must follow the same Editorial Guidelines that apply to all image ads, with one exception: Flash ads may not be resized before submission.

So now that you have some more facts about image ads, have some fun outside of the text box ;)

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew


*UPDATE: In the above post, it reads:

For those who aren't familiar with this feature, smart pricing automatically discounts the cost of keyword-targeted content clicks if our data shows that a click is less likely to convert on that site.

This statement should read:

For those who aren't familiar with this feature, smart pricing may discount the cost of certain keyword-targeted content clicks if our data shows that a click is less likely to convert on that site.

After our post about how we're updating the AdWords login system to Google Accounts, we received a few more questions from our readers. We want to ensure that you make it through the update process smoothly, so we're back to answer your questions and provide some best practices.Read More

After our post about how we're updating the AdWords login system to Google Accounts, we received a few more questions from our readers. We want to ensure that you make it through the update process smoothly, so we're back to answer your questions and provide some best practices.

I tried logging into AdWords with the email and password I use for Sitemaps, but it doesn't work. What should I do?

In order for your Google Accounts login to work for AdWords, you first need to go through the Google Accounts wizard. We'll be asking advertisers to do this over the next couple of weeks. You'll know you're being asked to update when instead of going to your account upon login to AdWords, you see the first step of the Google Accounts updating wizard.

If I already have an account set up for Google Sitemaps, do I need to create a new Google Account to be able to access AdWords, Sitemaps, and all the other fun Google stuff?

If you have an account for Google Sitemaps, Google Groups, or Gmail, you already have a Google Account. When you update your AdWords login to Google Accounts, you can opt to use this same login email and password to access AdWords, so that you can move from AdWords to these other services without having to log in and out. You don't have to create a new Google Account to be able to access AdWords and other Google products; however, if you want to keep these two accounts separate, you can opt to create a new login email and password to access AdWords separately.

How will this impact people who are using My Client Center to manage multiple accounts? Are we going to have to update each account or just the Client Center login?

If you are a Client Manager and only use your My Client Center login to access your accounts, you just need to update your My Client Center login; you don't have to worry about updating the login to each individual account.

If, however, you work with a Bid Manager or other partner who accesses one of the accounts directly, then they will need to separately update their login to Google Accounts, and you would use your own updated Google Accounts login to access all accounts.

Do you have tips on updating my login if I work with API developers or Bid Managers to help manage my account?

If you are an AdWords API user, or your AdWords account is accessed via the API or managed by a Bid Manager, check out these detailed tips and best practices.

So, do you have a step-by-step guide or additional tips on how best to update my AdWords login to a Google Account?

Yes! Whether you are the only person who accesses your account, manage a team of users that access the same account, or use My Client Center to manage multiple accounts, you'll find the scenario that relates to you right here.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

We've heard from several of you that the Inside AdWords blog has come to serve as an important source of up-to-date information, communicated directly from the team behind AdWords. Similarly, the blog has provided an effective (and even fun) means for us to reach you, our valued customers. In fact, we've come to think of it as an online AdWords newsletter, and it functions rather nicely in that capacity.Read More

We've heard from several of you that the Inside AdWords blog has come to serve as an important source of up-to-date information, communicated directly from the team behind AdWords. Similarly, the blog has provided an effective (and even fun) means for us to reach you, our valued customers. In fact, we've come to think of it as an online AdWords newsletter, and it functions rather nicely in that capacity.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That, just maybe, a blog might prove to be an effective newsletter for your customers as well?

Imagine it: A place where you could easily tell your customers what's new and interesting about your business, and where you could even show them photos of your latest collection of high fashion widgets from Paris. Perhaps you'd also like to get some useful feedback from your customers? Yep, you can do that too.

A blog is surprisingly easy to create and maintain - and we just happen to know a great place for you to start. In case you're wondering, you'll find lots of ready-made blog templates, so you don't have to be a designer to create a pleasing blog. And, to make it even more interesting, you'll find that it's entirely free.

AdWords advertisers and Blogger. A perfect match? Give it a try, and see what you think.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Once again, straight from our tech team:

We'll be performing routine maintenance on the AdWords system from 9pm to 11pm PDT [?] today, Friday, October 21, 2005. While your ads will continue to run as normal, you won't be able to log into your accounts during this maintenance period.

Read More

Once again, straight from our tech team:

We'll be performing routine maintenance on the AdWords system from 9pm to 11pm PDT [?] today, Friday, October 21, 2005. While your ads will continue to run as normal, you won't be able to log into your accounts during this maintenance period.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

You may have seen a message in your account recently about how we're updating the AdWords login system to Google Accounts. To give you more information straight from the source, we asked Ann-Lee, from the Google Accounts team, to answer several questions we thought our advertisers might have.Read More

You may have seen a message in your account recently about how we're updating the AdWords login system to Google Accounts. To give you more information straight from the source, we asked Ann-Lee, from the Google Accounts team, to answer several questions we thought our advertisers might have.

What is a Google Account?

A Google Account is a single email and password that gives you a simple and secure way to sign in to multiple Google services, without having to log in and out each time. Your login information is the only thing that will change. All your account information -- such as billing and campaign details -- will remain the same.

Do you have to have a Gmail account to update to Google Accounts?

No, you can use any of your email addresses as your Google Accounts login.

What if advertisers prefer to keep personal and business accounts separate?

You can opt to create multiple Google Accounts, and in this way, separate your personal from your business accounts.

So, what should advertisers do now?

Over the next few weeks, we'll be asking you to update your AdWords login to a Google Account when you first login to AdWords.

Though updating to Google Accounts will remain optional from October 19, 2005 until January 15, 2006, we advise you to complete the process and begin using your new Google Accounts login as soon as possible. After January 15, 2006, you'll need to update before you can access your account.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

A lot of advertisers – everyone from realtors to dog walkers, florists to dentists – take advantage of local targeting to specify the cities or regions (or even latitude and longitude coordinates ...Read More

A lot of advertisers – everyone from realtors to dog walkers, florists to dentists – take advantage of local targeting to specify the cities or regions (or even latitude and longitude coordinates!) where their ads should show.

For businesses which serve particular states, cities, or regions, this is an effective way of focusing your AdWords campaign on your target audience. So how does it work? If a San Francisco dog walking company creates a campaign targeted to the San Francisco area with keywords such as ‘dog walking’ and ‘dog walkers,’ their ad will show when a user, whose Internet Protocol (IP) address identifies her as being located in San Francisco, searches for those keywords.

Google can usually identify the IP address of the searcher to determine their location, then show ads targeted to the relevant area. However, some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use a relatively small number of shared IP addresses for a large number of users. In these cases, since we can’t always determine the user’s regional location, we show national and global ads only.

But don’t despair! There’s a way to help ensure that your ads reach as many people as possible in your target area, including users whose location can’t be identified from their IP addresses. Here’s how: in addition to your locally targeted campaign, create another nationally targeted campaign with region-specific ad text and keywords. Our San Francisco dog walkers would target the entire United States, but use keywords like “san francisco dog walker” and “sf dog walking company.” Their ad text for this campaign would make it clear that their business was located in San Francisco as well.

For more information about creating local and national campaigns, check out this quick guide.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Long ago, in the misty past, someone challenged me to sum up how to be successful with AdWords in 25 words or less. My best effort at the time is shown below, and I think it still serves as a pretty good summary.Read More

Long ago, in the misty past, someone challenged me to sum up how to be successful with AdWords in 25 words or less. My best effort at the time is shown below, and I think it still serves as a pretty good summary.

However, I'm betting that one of our readers might do an even better job, so I invite you to put my version to shame. Send us your best effort, and sometime soon we'll publish the top results.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with! In the meantime, here's mine:

• Targeted Ad Groups!
• Specific keywords describing your products
• Ads about same thing as the keywords
• Send user to a highly related page on your site

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

All AdWords advertisers are familiar with the text ads that show alongside the Google search results and across the Google Network. After all, each one of you has created at least one. However, not everyone is aware of the power of ...Read More

All AdWords advertisers are familiar with the text ads that show alongside the Google search results and across the Google Network. After all, each one of you has created at least one. However, not everyone is aware of the power of image ads. These graphical AdWords ads are served on content sites in the Google Network and allow you to reach your customers in a whole new way.

You can create image ads in both keyword and site-targeted campaigns, so you have control over the reach and placement of your ads. Creating a keyword-targeted campaign will allow your image ad to be placed on relevant content sites across our network, while you are able to choose the specific sites where you'd like your ad to show with a site-targeted campaign.

Whatever you decide, and we do suggest that you test and track your results, you can take advantage of both static and animated image ads. We accept image ads (.JPEG, .PNG, .GIF), as well as Flash (.SWF), which is a new addition.

Before you add a little image ad flair to your advertising campaign, make sure you review our Editorial Guidelines for this type of ad. These specify the do's and don'ts of image ad creation and steer you down the path to image ad success. Once you're comfortable with these guideliens, you can create an image ad using one of the five ad sizes accepted. Remember, you can create multiple image ads per Ad Group, and it's always best to test until you find what works best for you. Questions? Let us know, and we'll help clear them up.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

As we've mentioned, site targeting allows you to hand pick sites from our content network where you'd like to show your ads. Now, we're taking it to the next level. Last week, we introduced ...Read More

As we've mentioned, site targeting allows you to hand pick sites from our content network where you'd like to show your ads. Now, we're taking it to the next level. Last week, we introduced site sections, a feature that allows you to target a specific section or page of a site.

So, why are site sections useful? Many sites contain diverse content including only a limited number of pages that are relevant to your business interests. With site sections, you can choose to show your ads only on those pages. For example, imagine that an advertiser is selling soccer cleats and would like to target the site www.SportsExample.com, which contains a large volume of information about different sports. However, this advertiser doesn't want her ads for soccer cleats to show up next to articles about ice hockey or football. Instead of showing her ads across the entire 'SportsExample.com' site, she can limit them to 'SportsExample.com/soccer', the section of the site that contains relevant content.

If this sounds like something you'd like to try, you can add a site section when creating a new site-targeted campaign, or by clicking on the 'Edit Sites and CPMs' link in your existing site targeted campaign. Once you've added your site section and clicked 'Save,' your ads will be eligible to start showing on the pages that you listed.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

In case you’re wondering why we’ve been a bit quiet in the first half of this week, our team was taking some time to sit down and review our blog statistics and set new goals for this quarter. In the graph below, we’ve plotted out the number of ...Read More

In case you’re wondering why we’ve been a bit quiet in the first half of this week, our team was taking some time to sit down and review our blog statistics and set new goals for this quarter. In the graph below, we’ve plotted out the number of Inside AdWords readers since we launched in May. As you can see, the graph is a nice “up and to the right”, as they say, but we’re still a bit short of our goal of having lots of Inside AdWords readers (see the shaded yellow region for more information). We’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that even if you don’t want to come visit the blog everyday, you can still take advantage of our site feed, or our posts-by-email in order to keep up with all the AdWords tips and updates we have to offer.

[Figure 1. Graph of Inside AdWords readership (October 2005)]

As we approach the busy holiday season, be sure to take a step back and think about your own goals as well. Whether you want to promote sales of your seasonal merchandise or to continue your trend of “up and to the right” performance, we hope that AdWords can help you attain your goals—in Q4 and beyond.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

In my personal opinion, the best part of 'Dear Inside AdWords...' is having the opportunity to engage readers and advertisers to share their AdWords tips and to let us know when we’re not providing enough information. In the past, we've provided some solutions to your questions, and today, I've gathered a couple of follow-up emails that we've received in response to our posts.Read More

In my personal opinion, the best part of 'Dear Inside AdWords...' is having the opportunity to engage readers and advertisers to share their AdWords tips and to let us know when we’re not providing enough information. In the past, we've provided some solutions to your questions, and today, I've gathered a couple of follow-up emails that we've received in response to our posts.

Regarding your answer to Brandon H.'s question on searching for URLs that did not contain specific terms: you actually can do this, using the Find and Edit Ad Text Tool. If you go to Tools > Find and Edit Ad Text, check "Destination URL", choose "does not contain" in the drop-down menu, input in the box the tracking code, and then choose "Just show me these ads", you'll get all the ads that do not contain that term. -- Assaf G.

Nice catch, Assaf. Thanks for sharing that tip!

One of your posts mentioned that the 'served percentage' is located under the ad statistics in each Ad Group. I can't seem to find it. Can you point me in the right direction? -- Nelson W.

With pleasure! There are two potential places where the served percentage will be displayed. Log in to your AdWords account, and go to the Ad Group of your choice. If your Ad Group contains only one ad, the served percentage will be shown to the right of the ad text as "Served - X %" under the number of clicks, CTR, and CPC information. If you have more than one ad in your Ad Group, click the "View all below" link to the right of the first ad (see first screenshot below), and you'll be taken to the bottom of the same page. Under each of the ads, you'll see the same "Served - X %" figure (see second screenshot below).

(Clicking on the "View all below" link, takes you to the bottom of the page where you'll see stats for all of your ads.)

Thanks again to Assaf and Nelson for writing in to share their insight and ask for clarification. We'd love to be all-knowing, but sometimes we need a little prodding from you in order to provide all the information you may need.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

In June, we launched site targeting, a feature that allows you to select specific sites in our content network where you'd like your ads to show. Now, we're lowering the minimum ...Read More

In June, we launched site targeting, a feature that allows you to select specific sites in our content network where you'd like your ads to show. Now, we're lowering the minimum CPM bid required to target these sites to $0.25. You don't have to make any changes to your currently running site-targeted campaigns, but if you'd like to adjust your bids or create a new campaign, you can now bid as low as $0.25.

Remember, with site-targeted campaigns, you'll still compete with keyword-targeted ads for placement on the content network. Therefore, make sure you experiment to find the CPM that works for you. If you're looking to show up consistently on a highly popular website, you'll still need to bid competitively; however, the lower minimum bid will allow you to more accurately price your ad placements on a wider variety of sites.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

It's hard to believe, but the beginning of the holiday season is right around the corner, and you don't want to get caught without ads for your spooky ghost candles or turkey basters. So, we're encouraging you to plan ahead. Yes, it's early, but now's the time to come up with a schedule for your seasonal advertisements and to start putting it into place.Read More

It's hard to believe, but the beginning of the holiday season is right around the corner, and you don't want to get caught without ads for your spooky ghost candles or turkey basters. So, we're encouraging you to plan ahead. Yes, it's early, but now's the time to come up with a schedule for your seasonal advertisements and to start putting it into place.

As part of the process of creating a new campaign, you can set the campaign start date for a time in the future. It's located in the 'Set pricing' section, right under your daily budget setting. Setting your start date ensures that if your shipment of pilgrim plates doesn't arrive until October 15, you can start your campaign on that date.

As we mentioned in our blog way back in July, you can also set a specific end date for each of your campaigns on the Edit Campaign Settings page. This allows you to stop your ads for spooky ghost candles from running at midnight on the day of your choice, without your having to remember to do it. If your campaigns work out so well this year that you'd like to implement them again next year, you can easily resume your campaign when you're ready, and then simply set a new end date in the future.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords Crew

Seven years ago, Google first opened its door in Menlo Park, California. The door came with a remote control -- because it was a garage door. Thanks to all of our users, we don’t have to work in a garage anymore.Read More

Seven years ago, Google first opened its door in Menlo Park, California. The door came with a remote control -- because it was a garage door. Thanks to all of our users, we don’t have to work in a garage anymore.

To celebrate our birthday, here’s our gift to you: 7 AdWords tips -- tried, tested, and true:

1) Identify your goals
Decide what you want to achieve so that you can build effective campaigns for your business. For example, a party supply store might decide to drive sales of their birthday candles.

2) Build a relevant, targeted keyword list
Choose specific keywords, like ‘dripless birthday candles,’ rather than broad ones such as 'candles.'

3) Use the right keyword matching
Take advantage of our various matching options to choose the ones that make sense for you. Use negative keywords like ‘wholesale’ to filter out unwanted party store traffic.

4) Organize your campaign
Create separate Ad Groups based on theme. Put all of your party hat keywords in one Ad Group and all of your birthday candles keywords in another.

5) Write clear, compelling ad text
Write separate ads with targeted text for each product line. Emphasize unique aspects of your product or service and include a strong call-to-action such as “Check out our wide selection” or “Buy party supplies today.”

6) Choose useful destination pages
Send users to landing pages that relate directly to your ad text to help turn prospects into customers. Make it easy for someone looking for purple crepe streamers to find them.

7) Track results frequently and modify your campaign
Assess your stats; measure your successes. Use Google’s tools to help you.

Posted by Arielle & Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

We’ve received a few emails recently from Inside AdWords subscribers requesting to be unsubscribed from our mailing list because they were receiving too many emails from us. While we have and will continue to honor your requests, we wanted to tell you a little bit more about how our mailing list is set up, and how you can change your subscription options to suit your own preferences.Read More

We’ve received a few emails recently from Inside AdWords subscribers requesting to be unsubscribed from our mailing list because they were receiving too many emails from us. While we have and will continue to honor your requests, we wanted to tell you a little bit more about how our mailing list is set up, and how you can change your subscription options to suit your own preferences.

Our mailing list is powered by Google Groups. By entering your email address into the subscription box on the right side of our blog, you become a member of the “Inside AdWords” Group on Google Groups. While the mailing list functionality eliminates the need to sign up for the Groups services itself (we wanted to make it simple and straightforward for you to join our mailing list), you can sign up for Google Groups in order to harness the power of everything Groups has to offer, such as the ability to change your email preferences or subscription options for a particular Group.

To sign up (it takes less than a minute), go to http://groups.google.com/ and click the “Join” link. You’ll then be asked to create a Google Account. In order to manage your mailing list preferences, use the same email address that you used to sign up for Inside AdWords. You’ll then receive a verification email at your email address, and once it’s verified, you’ll be automatically logged into Google Groups. You’ll see that “Inside AdWords” is already listed in your list of Groups. Click on that link, and you’ll see the “Unsubscribe or change membership” link at the top (see screenshot below). You can then choose if you want to receive full text emails, digest emails, abridged emails, or no emails at all.

Of course, you can now join the various Groups available out there – including one of our favorites, AdWords Help (as mentioned in our recent post).

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

We’ve written about using data to automatically show your better performing ads more often and using Urchin to make data driven decisions about your site itself. Now, for a little bit about metrics that can show which of your keywords are actually driving sales ...Read More

We’ve written about using data to automatically show your better performing ads more often and using Urchin to make data driven decisions about your site itself. Now, for a little bit about metrics that can show which of your keywords are actually driving sales:

Although clickthrough rate (CTR) is a great measure of the relevancy of your keywords (a keyword with a high CTR indicates that users searching for that word are interested enough in your ad to want to visit your site), it doesn’t tell you what happens after the user gets to your site. That's where tracking your conversions comes in. Using Google's free conversion tracking, you can see which clicks lead to purchases and thus more intelligently decide which of your keywords are worth investing in. So how does it work?

After placing a snippet of code on your site’s confirmation page (usually the “Thank you for your order” page that users see after they purchase something), when a user clicks on your ad, a cookie is placed on their computer. If, when they visit your site, they end up on this confirmation page, the cookie is recognized and a conversion is reported. In your account, you’ll be able to view conversion data all the way down to the keyword level or run custom reports to view additional conversion statistics.

With the more advanced conversion tracking, you can not only learn which keywords are generating sales but also understand the revenue generated by each of your keywords. If you're spending more on clicks for the word “granny smith apples” than you are selling as a result of that spend, you’ll want to consider refining that keyword or adjusting your maximum CPC accordingly. Similarly, if you find that “mail order apples” is bringing in more revenue than it’s costing you in clicks, you might want to consider expanding your keyword list with similar words (“mail order fujis,” “mail order granny smiths”) or possibly increasing your bid on that keyword. By spending less on poorly converting keywords and increasing your spend on high conversion ones, you’ll optimize your overall ROI.

And if this all sounds a bit complicated, check out the conversion tracking setup guide (.pdf) or ask your webmaster to help you add the snippet of code to your site to get you started.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

In the spring, we launched the Site Exclusion tool to give you more control to determine where your ads will show on the content network. This tool allows you to prevent your ads from showing on specific sites in the content network in the same way that you can add ...Read More

In the spring, we launched the Site Exclusion tool to give you more control to determine where your ads will show on the content network. This tool allows you to prevent your ads from showing on specific sites in the content network in the same way that you can add negative keywords to stop your ads from showing for specific keyword searches.

Recently, we increased the number of sites that you can exclude using this tool to 500. This gives you the ability to further tailor your AdWords account to the needs of your business. Remember, excluding a site in the content network will prevent you from showing on all of the pages that fall under that site's domain. We suggest that you review these sites carefully before you decide to exclude them. After all, the content network allows you to reach a targeted audience across a broad range of sites, and we wouldn't want you to miss any customers!

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

This just in, straight from our tech team:

On Friday, September 23rd, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. PDT [?] due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this short downtime, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Read More

This just in, straight from our tech team:

On Friday, September 23rd, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. PDT [?] due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this short downtime, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

From time to time, we love to get a group of advertisers together and ask them to talk about their experiences with AdWords. It's a great way for us to learn, right from the source, what's working with our program and what could use some improvement.Read More

From time to time, we love to get a group of advertisers together and ask them to talk about their experiences with AdWords. It's a great way for us to learn, right from the source, what's working with our program and what could use some improvement.

One thing we've noticed during these forums is that when you get a bunch of advertisers together, they often begin to bond -- and they just naturally start helping each other. It's a real pleasure to see advertisers begin to swap tips and tricks and to share their hard-won knowledge in order to help each other advertise more successfully with AdWords. I think more than a few of our advertisers are natural born teachers.

Just thinking about this puts a smile on my face. And, if you find yourself feeling the same way, then I've got good news for you!

Recently, the AdWords team built an online forum in which AdWords advertisers may search or browse for answers, ask questions, and assist others with AdWords -- 24/7. It is our fondest hope that a strong and vibrant community of AdWords advertisers will grow there and enjoy each other's company while sharing their knowledge and skill.

This new forum, called AdWords Help, may be found on Google Groups. And if the idea of helping others -- while also learning from them -- excites you at all, you're cordially invited to join. We've quietly grown to just over 125 members now, and we thought it was time to mention AdWords Help to a wider audience. You'll be getting in right at the start of something good, should you decide to join us.

We hope that you'll stop by and take a look. Maybe during your visit, you'll even decide to ask a question. Or exercise your inner-teacher, and answer one or two. ;)

Have fun!

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

To give you the chance to review and activate previously disabled keywords after the launch of our new keyword evaluation system, disabled keywords have remained in your account for the past several weeks. Next week, they'll be deleted.Read More

To give you the chance to review and activate previously disabled keywords after the launch of our new keyword evaluation system, disabled keywords have remained in your account for the past several weeks. Next week, they'll be deleted.

So, what should you do? You don't have to make any changes to prepare for this --- your previously disabled keywords will show up as deleted in your account, and you can still choose to re-enable them. However, if you'd like to keep a list of your previously disabled keywords on hand, you can create and save a custom keyword report.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Want to test out different ads, but not sure how to compare their performance? Here’s a tip from Emel M., an AdWords specialist:

First, create two or more ads within the same Ad Group. Try out different headlines or highlight different offers—the sky’s the limit. Our automatic ad optimization will then show ads with a higher clickthrough rate (CTR) more frequently. The served percentage number, located under your other ad statistics in each Ad Group, will show you how often each ad is being shown. You can then refine the text of ads which are being shown less often, or delete them from the Ad Group entirely. To make sure you have this feature enabled, follow the instructions here.

Read More

Want to test out different ads, but not sure how to compare their performance? Here’s a tip from Emel M., an AdWords specialist:

First, create two or more ads within the same Ad Group. Try out different headlines or highlight different offers—the sky’s the limit. Our automatic ad optimization will then show ads with a higher clickthrough rate (CTR) more frequently. The served percentage number, located under your other ad statistics in each Ad Group, will show you how often each ad is being shown. You can then refine the text of ads which are being shown less often, or delete them from the Ad Group entirely. To make sure you have this feature enabled, follow the instructions here.

Posted by Arielle & Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

Some of the emails that we receive from Inside AdWords readers contain straightforward questions that have short and sweet answers. I’ve gone through some of these to pull out the “quickies” that may of interest to the rest of our readers.Read More

Some of the emails that we receive from Inside AdWords readers contain straightforward questions that have short and sweet answers. I’ve gone through some of these to pull out the “quickies” that may of interest to the rest of our readers.

“Is there an API that I can use to somehow add and delete my ads dynamically as I need to rather than continually having to do it manually?” – Clint W.

Absolutely. The AdWords API is available for all of our advertisers who want to manage their campaigns programmatically. You can read more about it in our earlier post, or go straight to the AdWords API home page to sign up.

“Is there an easy way to change all the URL's in my ads at once for any given campaign? I have 1-5 ads running for any given campaign and find that I have to update each ad URL individually. How can I do this more quickly?” – Paula B.

Yes, ma’am. The Find/Edit Ad Text tool on the Tools page will allow you to make bulk changes to any portion of your ad texts, including the display or destination URLs. You can read more about the details here.

“It would be nice to search for campaigns by URL. For example, I want to see all ads that have tracking code 'x', or all ads that don't have tracking code 'x' in the URL.” – Brandon H.

Well, we can help you do one of the two things that you mentioned. The handy dandy search box in the upper right corner of your AdWords account allows you to search within your campaigns. For example, if your tracking code is “X834s-11”, simply type that into the search box and it will locate all the relevant campaigns, Ad Groups, keywords, and ads that contain that term. As for searching for ads that don’t contain a certain term, that’s a good suggestion that I’ll pass on to the product team. :-)

Whether you have a quick question or a lengthy problem, send them to us and we’ll try our best to share the answers with all of our readers.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

Ever tried to remember the date you changed that keyword's max CPC, created that new campaign, or started to target ads to Canada? Now you can find out.

The My Change History ...Read More

Ever tried to remember the date you changed that keyword's max CPC, created that new campaign, or started to target ads to Canada? Now you can find out.

The My Change History tool, a new feature you'll find located on the Tools page of your AdWords account, allows you to see a log of the changes you've made to your account over the past three months. Some advertisers who helped us test this tool used it to understand what account modifications led to a bump in their sales. Other advertisers, whose accounts are managed by multiple people with different logins (an MCC login and the account login), used the tool to see who made certain changes.

Have another cool use for the tool? Let us know! Who knows, your idea might very well appear in lights right here on Inside AdWords.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

We knew this blogging thing was going to be huge, and sure enough, when our AdSense friends found out about Inside AdWords they decided to create their own AdSense counterpart ...Read More

We knew this blogging thing was going to be huge, and sure enough, when our AdSense friends found out about Inside AdWords they decided to create their own AdSense counterpart, Inside AdSense.

So if you're also an AdSense publisher, or you're interested in staying up to date on the information the Inside AdSense team is sharing with our publishers, we hope you'll take a look.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Many newer advertisers wonder how they should structure their account to maximize success. Often unaware of the powerful options that AdWords offers to create a range of very targeted ads, new advertisers sometimes just create a single ad to promote all of the products or services they offer. Here's an example of an "all-purpose" ad ...Read More

Many newer advertisers wonder how they should structure their account to maximize success. Often unaware of the powerful options that AdWords offers to create a range of very targeted ads, new advertisers sometimes just create a single ad to promote all of the products or services they offer. Here's an example of an "all-purpose" ad:

Joe Smith's Footwear
All kinds of footwear on sale
Specials for the whole family!
www.example.com

This tends to provide moderate results at best. By creating separate (and very focused) ads for each product or service, though, advertisers generally enjoy much better results. So, Joe might break up his product offerings into more targeted ads like this:

Women's Leather Sandals
Super comfy sandals for summer
Find a huge variety at Joe Smith's
www. example.com

Men's Clogs
Enjoy the comfort of clogs
Now on sale at Joe Smith's!
www.example.com

Kid's Tennis Shoe Sale
Just in time for back to school!
The styles they want at Joe Smith's
www.example.com

Baby Booties Sale
Shoes & booties for the little one
Great fall colors at Joe Smith's!
www.example.com

While creating multiple Ad Groups with targeted keywords relevant to each is a bit more time consuming, the improved results are more than worth it. It's also quite simple to do once you have an understanding of how an AdWords account is structured.

Yep, you guessed it. We've finally gotten to this week's hidden gem, entitled "How is an AdWords account structured?" It'll give you the basics you need to build an account structured for success, complete with targeted Ad Groups like Joe's.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Back in June, we had Shaluinn from the Product Team tell you a bit about Google Sitemaps, which allows webmasters to directly inform Google about changes and additions to their websites. As you may remember, Sitemaps informs our "spiders," which go out and crawl the web, thus speeding up the discovery and addition of pages to our index.Read More

Back in June, we had Shaluinn from the Product Team tell you a bit about Google Sitemaps, which allows webmasters to directly inform Google about changes and additions to their websites. As you may remember, Sitemaps informs our "spiders," which go out and crawl the web, thus speeding up the discovery and addition of pages to our index.

Many businesses want their sites to be found in Google's search results, but did you know that potential customers may be looking for your product or service from their cell phones? Google Mobile Web Search allows people to search, from their phones, through sites that have been specifically designed for mobile devices.

We add new sites to our mobile web index every time we crawl the mobile web. And just as Sitemaps can help Google crawl your site effectively, webmasters can now use Google Mobile Sitemaps to tell us about their mobile web pages. If you have URLs that serve mobile content, help us add them to our mobile web index. More content for us, more potential traffic for you!

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Four score and thousands of advertisers ago, Google engineers brought forth on this continent a new form of advertising, conceived in relevance and dedicated to the proposition that all advertisers should have access to an effective marketing channel.Read More

Four score and thousands of advertisers ago, Google engineers brought forth on this continent a new form of advertising, conceived in relevance and dedicated to the proposition that all advertisers should have access to an effective marketing channel.

We recently sat down with Ross K., one of the original AdWords engineers, and got a little history lesson...

Before the fall of 2000, Google offered advertising through Premium Sponsorships, but there was no way for advertisers to set up campaigns for themselves. As we're often prone to do, we ran a limited test, showing a little link that said "see your ad here" to a small percentage of Google users.

After the link went live, we eagerly waited for the first advertiser to sign up. A few engineers kept checking the system, and within minutes, our first AdWords customer had created the very first ad through online sign up. They were a small business that sold live mail order lobsters. Less than half an hour from the time the link went up, their ad was live on Google! These guys had never considered using online marketing before, but saw our test link and signed up when they realized they could just do it themselves right then and there.

Today, of course, you can still find mail-order lobsters on Google, in addition to tarragon, garlic, and black peppercorn. And if we've made you hungry, the rest of the lobster bisque recipe is here.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

Thanks for sending us all your great questions. This week, we've got two more to share with you:

I know that you can now target your ads to show on specific content sites. I would like to know how I can find sites that display Google ads so I can target my ads on them. – Wesley R.

Read More

Thanks for sending us all your great questions. This week, we've got two more to share with you:

I know that you can now target your ads to show on specific content sites. I would like to know how I can find sites that display Google ads so I can target my ads on them. – Wesley R.

Dear Wesley: Yes, as part of our site targeting feature, you can specify URLs for sites on which to target your ads. (The sites, of course, must be part of the Google content network.) While there's not a way to get the entire list of sites available, you can generate a list of eligible sites based on a combination of URLs and/or topics and keywords that you specify.

For example, let's say that you don't have specific websites in mind, but you know that you want to advertise on sites with content about gardening, lawn care, and landscape architecture. You can enter these terms into the campaign wizard, which will show you a list of all relevant sites based on those topics. You can then choose the sites you'd like to include in your site targeted campaign.

I've noticed new people blogging on Inside AdWords. What's the deal? – "Ima Plant" ;-)

Dear Ima: Good observation! I suppose this would be a good time to make formal introductions. The Inside AdWords crew is excited to have Arielle and Sarah join the team. Arielle and Sarah bring with them many years of AdWords experience and they pretty much know the system inside and out. Look for some of their tips and insights in future blog posts.

P.S. In addition to being talented bloggers, they are also proficient artists—as demonstrated by their self-portraits below:

That's all for today! More answers to your AdWords questions next time.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew