Google AdWords Archives

Back in late September, Google began mass banning AdWords advertisers. A couple days later, after pushing Google for a response, they offered somewhat of a lame response. I was hoping to see Google come back to the thread and answer more questions, but they did not and it sat. That is until now.

A new thread at WebmasterWorld did spark a comment from AdWordsAdvisor. This was about a "one million dollar advertiser" who was banned. So Google replied saying:

I know the comments in the previous thread have been taken seriously and that your comments here will be taken seriously as well - and we are exploring what changes can be made to the way this is handled.

Okay, so Google is taking this issue "seriously." Additionally, Google is "exploring what changes can be made to the way this is handled." Interesting... So it appears Google will continue to ban, but possibly better handle how they ban advertisers? I am of the understanding that Google is looking to better communicate how and why the bans are happening? But I am not sure.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Are you getting a message from the Google AdWords console that reads, "The keyword phrase doesn't currently trigger any of your ads"? If so, that might be a sign that your account is under review and you may be banned soon or currently.

A Google AdWords Help thread has an advertiser reporting this issue, where AdWordsPro Sarah said:

If this message does not clear up in a few hours, it may be that your account is under review. If this is the case, the best thing to do is to contact support using the process outlined below. If you go through the 'Cant see ad' category, you should get to someone on our support team who can help you sort things out.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

The Google AdWords Help thread has an advertising asking why the Ads Diagnostic tool within the AdWords console is giving off this message:

To test this keyword, your campaign must be opted in to the search network.

AdWordsPro Sarah, from the Google AdWords team had an interesting response. Let me quote the whole response:

I think you are getting this messaging because some of our Tools only work for keywords that are targeted to the Search Network. From what you are describing, it sounds like you moused over the Ads Diagnostic Tool (one of our Tools that only can pull signals for ads on Search) and so you got a message basically saying, the Ads Diagnostic Tool won't work for your keywords. This is not to say that your ads are not working, it just means the tool can not tell you if your ads are working.

To determine if your ads are running, all you need to do is check your 'Content Network total' row on your ad group page. If you are accruing impressions- good news, your ad is up and running. If not, you can post again here with a few more details on the type of ad you are running and the targeting you are using and people here may be able to help you sort things out.

I still don't understand why you would need to turn on the content network to see this data on the keyword level. Maybe I am misunderstanding the issue here. Maybe this advertiser is trying to look for the content network stats on a keyword and doesn't know it?

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Back in August, Google began testing Sitelinks for AdWords, now it is official. The Google AdWords blog announced it last night, telling us this is a feature specifically designed to provide "users with more options, you can create richer, more relevant ads that improve the value of your brand terms and other targeted keywords." The feature will show up to four additional links under the main ad for ads that "meet a certain high quality threshold."

Of course, this is a lot like Google Sitelinks, the ones you see in the organic listings.

Again, not all advertisers get this option. To see if you have it, go to Campaign Settings tab -- it would appear as "Show additional links to my site" under the "Ad extensions" section. For more details, see the FAQs on Ad Sitelinks.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google is launching a new ad type that they have been testing for a while, comparison ads within the mortgage and refinance industry. You can actually see it in action, with real data atgoogle.com/comparisonads.

Here are some screen captures:

Danny has a much more involved write up at Search Engine Land. Note, Google has also began showing more real estate in Google Maps today.

If you don't see it, that is normal because it is only available in "select U.S. states and is only available to a limited number of advertisers in the mortgage/refinance space." Also, advertisers pay on a cost per lead basis.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Google has released new updates to the AdWords API v2009. The biggest addition is that it now supports asynchronous calls, which allows you to make multiple requests (calls) to the API even before your first call is not complete. This helps speed things up and make the API more efficient for developers.

In addition, Google announced the date that as to when the previous API, version 13, will no longer be supported. Version 13 of the AdWords API will sunset on April 22, 2010.

Other major additions to v2009 include:

• Location extension support: Use CampaignAdExtensionService to augment your text ads with information about your business's physical location. You can also override location extensions on a per-ad basis using AdExtensionOverrideService For more information about how ad extensions work, read the AdWords Help Center overview.
• Keyword and placement ideas: Use TargetingIdeaService to generate new keyword and placement ideas for your campaign ads.
• API usage retrieval: Use InfoService to get information about your API usage, such as the amount spent on an operation in the past month or the number of API units available.

For the full release notes, see this page.

Some API users are upset that Google has not released more API features yet. There is chatter about this in the Google AdWords API Forum.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords API Forum.

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion around Google AdWords showing product ads in a plus box (or not) in the search results. This has been going on for a while and we have several posts here on this topic. It is now, not uncommon to see this in the search results. I explained how to get these special ads over here.

In any event, last night I was doing some searches and noticed that the Google Base (not Merchant) results were not working. Here is a picture:

Yes, the plus box which should show product pictures, titles and prices showed an error that read:

Error: The server could not complete your request. Try again in 30 seconds.

I've never seen this error before in this area, nor have I ever seen it reported, so I grabbed a quick screen capture.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

In early August, Google moved the ads closer to the free listings. We had some initial SEO/SEM back observations that this resulted in higher click through rates on the ads.

In Google's 3rd Q 2009 earnings release conference call, Jonathan Rosenberg confirmed these findings. The transcript read:

Imran Khan - JP Morgan

How much of your sequential growth was driven by Ad Auality improvement?

Jonathan Rosenberg

Again, we don't tend to break that out. We had a very good quarter from Ad Quality's perspective. I can tell you the significant things that we did. The biggest things, probably in order, or close to order, were the UI tweaks that we did for results pages. We changed the maximum width, decreasing the spacing between the search results and the right hand side ads on wide screen. With that it increased the click-through rate on the right hand side ads and I think we did that some time around the second week in August.

We also had some significant ad improvements like site links that basically allow additional links to categorize and deeper advertisers of a site, which you can see if you run a query on something like Chevy, you'll see the Silverado, the Malibu, you will see more information there, which increased click-through rates.

We also did some more work on showing more goods at good ads and expanded match. But we don't give a specific sense of exactly the percentage that that resulted in. The more significant of the changes occurred in mid-August.

There is confirmation that CTR has improved on the ad size with that move.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

Ever wonder what the top ten questions asked in the Google AdWords Help forum was? Well, finally, Google has put together a FAQ list of those top questions.

Here they are:

• Why can't see my ad when I search for it on Google?
• Why isn't my ad getting impressions?
• How can I see the Quality Score for my keyword?
• I need to contact support. What should I do?
• Google keeps declining all of my credit cards. What should I do?
• What is the difference between the Search Network and the Content Network?
• Why did my Quality Score suddenly drop to 1/10?
• How long does it take for my ads to be reviewed?
• What should I do if I think my ad has been incorrectly disapproved?
• What should I do if I see an ad that is violating AdWords policy?

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

I am seeing several reports from two forum threads, including Google AdWords Help and WebmasterWorld that some users are having time out or session issues with using the Google Keyword Tool within the AdWords interface.

One person said that the new beta keyword tool is fine, while the other one said only the new keyword tool is having issues. It seems to me to be a cookie or caching issue with these folks browsers. Maybe Google did make a slight change that is impacting older browsers or maybe something went wrong on these user's browsers. I am not sure, but I know it is working for me.

Google AdWords representative, Bindu said:

I'd strongly recommend you upgrade to the latest version of your browser and/or clear cache and cookies.

The error some of these users are getting is:

Your session has expired. Please return to the AdWords homepage and login again.

Here are instructions on clearing cookies and instructions.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

The Google AdWords API Help forum notifies us that the AdWords API is undergoing unscheduled maintenance since late last night.

This impacts users of v2009 of the AdWords API only.

Eric Koleda from the AdWords API Team team said:

We are currently performing some unscheduled maintenance on the AdWords API servers. You won't be able to access the API, but your ads will continue to run as normal. I'll update this thread when the servers are available again.

Stan Grinberg from the AdWords API Team added that this is "only affecting v2009 of AdWords API."

Currently, there has been no update on the status of this unscheduled maintenance.

So if you have issues with the API, you now know why.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords API Help.

On Sunday we reported that Google was banning AdWords advertisers in the masses for "poor quality landing pages." In some cases, Google was sending out stern warnings to advertisers that they will be banned and in other cases, they just banned these advertisers outright.

After a few days, Google finally responded. The response, to most advertisers, is not satisfactory. Here is the official response in its entirety:

The suspensions and final warnings that are referenced in this thread are due to account level actions taken against advertisers who've submitted multiple sites that violate our landing page quality guidelines. This is an existing policy to discourage repeat offenders by taking account level action. These final warnings and suspensions were only applied to sites with multiple violations which were manually reviewed to ensure that our policies were being applied correctly.

Certain kinds of websites (ref1) are not allowed per our policies because the user experience is of low quality or we consistently receive negative feedback from our users about these kinds of pages. These sites include:

* Data collection sites that offer the false promise of free items, etc., in order to collect private information.
* Arbitrage sites that are designed for the purpose of showing ads
* Affiliates who provide limited value by being a bridge page with the intent of solely driving traffic to another site or who are framing an affiliate site
* Malware sites that knowingly or unknowingly install software on a visitor's computer

You can find more information on this topic in the AdWords help center, under Landing Page Quality (ref2)

Landing page checks happen continuously, even after an ad has been approved, through both manual and automated methods. You can evaluate whether or not your site is in line with our landing page quality guidelines (ref3) If not, you can make the appropriate changes to your site or delete all ads that point to the low quality sites. Paused ads will still accrue violations against them.

We apply the same standards to all the sites that we check so violations are evaluated regardless of spend, keywords bids or history of the account.

Also note, some accounts have both allowed sites and not allowed sites. For these accounts, if you received a warning please remove the low quality sites from your account by deleting the ads pointing to these sites.

We constantly try to improve the quality of the ad experience which we believe helps both the consumer and advertiser when users can trust the quality of the site they reach when they click on an ad.

----------------------------

Referenced pages as noted above:

1) Are there any types of websites that merit low landing page quality scores?
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?answer=66238 (NOTE: this was also posted earlier in the the thread)

2) Landing Page Quality
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?topic=16348

3) Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?answer=46675

Got all of that? Happy with it? I personally was not banned or warned, but I am still not happy with that response. Neither are many advertisers. Just scanning through the really long WebmasterWorld thread, you will find many angry and upset responses to AdWordsAdvisor's reply.

Personally, I think some automated penalty score algorithm was tweaked and got a bit stronger. I think something is just wrong or needs to be looked into.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

About a week ago, we reported that Google AdWords accounts were hit with "Low Share of Voice" notices from Google. These notices appeared in their reports and it shocked and upset many advertisers who have been optimally running their campaigns for years.

After about a week or so of investigation by Google AdWords reps and engineers, Google has confirmed it was a reporting bug.

AdWordsPro Stephen told us yesterday:

I've asked for more information that I can share on this issue, but I wanted to update you immediately that the problem has been resolved. I want to reiterate that the labels had no effect on your performance, but you may have seen them if your campaign was experiencing a different issue that caused problems.

'Share of Voice' is still a part of AdWords, and these labels may appear in your account, but they should not be as common as they were during this period.

If you are still having issues, I would ask Stephen or the other Google reps in the Google AdWords Help thread.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Last week, we discovered a new beta Google keyword tool that was way more advanced than the current one and which will ultimately replace the current one.

Besides for all the nice new reports and cooler interface, with advanced filters and segmentation. Advertisers seem to be really excited about Google breaking out the mobile search volume from standard search volume.

Here is a screen shot of the mobile filter:

Yes, mobile searches is growing and growing each day. Advertisers having the tools to differentiate between desktop and mobile searches, plus have the keyword data to anticipate such search volume, is key to a successful mobile search strategy.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports "in the coming weeks Google will put logos for fast food chains, coffee shops, hotels and travel agents on its popular maps site." A WebmasterWorld thread has one member asking if this is just going to be tested in Australia or in the US also. He said:

It appears that this is going to expand out the icons use in Austrialia on Google Maps, but it's not clear that they necessarily intend to do this in the United States. The've already had really extensive sponsor icons in Japan maps, but fewer sponsor icons appearing on U.S. maps.

Perhaps they're trying to master it in a foreign market before expanding it out in the U.S.?

Google currently allows special icons in maps for advertisers. Here is a picture of my company's paid map listing:

It seems as if this move would dramatically add more of these ads on the maps. The main question is, will they be relevant or distracting?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Threads at both WebmasterWorld and Google AdWords Help report that many advertisers are getting automated emails from Google with notifications or warnings that they have submitted too many "poor quality landing pages" and will be or have been permanently banned from using Google AdWords as an advertisers.

The email notification looks like this:

Your Google AdWords account has been suspended due to multiple submissions of poor quality landing pages. We are unable to revoke your account suspension, and we will not accept advertisements from you in the future.

Some are just getting harsh warnings, while others are being banned out right.

In the WebmasterWorld an Google customer of four years had issue with this. He said:

The email also mentions that it is a final warning. It tells me if they find any ad in the future that is in violation with the site quality guidelines (the product itself is not the problem) they will immediately disqualify me from participating in the AdWords program. Now, that is a problem.

A bit strange? Also because I’m using Adwords more then 4 years and then I receive an automated email in English while I have a Dutch account.

Is this some type of Google bug or is Google serious about this?

Currently, there are many angry advertisers and since this happened over the weekend, a Google AdWords representative has not had a chance to chime in on what is happening here.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google AdWords Help.

Google is apparently testing a new AdWords keyword Tool. You have to be logged into your AdWords account and click on the keyword tool feature to see it. Then when you get there, you will see the old keyword tool with a link to the beta tool.

Here is a picture of the old keyword tool:

When you click on that link towards the top, you get the new keyword tool which is way more advanced. It is broken into two parts, top and bottom. Here is a screen shot of the top:

Then when you add words and filters, you can then get reports that not just show traffic and click estimates but brings in Google other various tools to give deeper insight into those keywords. I could have taken a screen shot myself, but "searchengineman" in Search Engine Watch Forums did a great screen shots with overlays to explain the various components of the tool. Here it is:

You can click on the image to zoom into a larger version (it goes to click and click on "all sizes" above the image).

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Yesterday, many advertisers have been complaining in the Google AdWords Help forums that many of their keywords and campaigns now have the warnings, "Low Share of Voice." Here is a screen capture of the warning:

We have many threads on the topic and many complaints from Google AdWords advertisers. A Google AdWords representative chimed in, but he/she really did not have much to say, outside of we hear you, we are listening and good luck. Here is what the AdWords rep said:

That said, my apology for not getting to this thread earlier. Long story short, I have been looking into this since I first saw this thread a couple of hours ago - and am trying to get to the bottom of things. At this point, though, I am sorry to say that I don't have any definitive information.

However, a tech contact with whom I have been working had an interesting comment that I'll pass along. He has been able to check the accounts of a few folks who have written us, and he is seeing no drop in traffic as has been reported here. His thought is that those in this thread who have reported such a drop may have been looking at their stats mid-day, rather than for a complete day - thus the apparent drop in stats. And, looking at the time stamps of these posts, I think that is a real possibility.

In any case, my colleague Stephen who has posted here in the past as 'AdWordsPro Stephen' (and whom Sarah and I are actively be trying to lure back into the forum) will continue to look into this, and update the thread when he has a clearer picture of what's up.

In the meantime, my apology for the confusion and discomfort. Not fun, I know.

I am not sure if they released a new update that impacted many accounts or if this is a bug. I guess time will tell.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Big ad news today from Google, they have officially made a big push into display ads through DoubleClick ad network they acquired a two years or so. The DoubleClick ad network will be directly integrated into AdWords. This expands the content network, which means AdSense publishers should see more ads, hopefully higher paying ads.

I am about to get on a plane, so let me give you all the relevant links that I can find. We have the main Google Blog discussing the integration and the AdWords blog talking about how this impacts search advertisers and finally the AdSense blog discussing how to get these ads in your mix. Greg Sterling covers more of the business angle at Search Engine Land and plus we have tons more commentary at Techmeme.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

On Friday we ran a poll asking Would You Allow Google to Manage Your AdWords Account? I am honestly not surprised by the answer, where an overwhelming majority of the responses were basically, "no way!" In short, people feel that the Google AdWords representatives who manage accounts in Google for advertisers cannot do as good as a job as an SEM company or someone who manages it themselves.

Just take a look at the pie chart, 87% said no, they would not allow Google to manage their AdWords campaigns. That is out of about 150 responses from our readers.

The other responses said that they would allow Google do the set up of the initial campaign but then take it over from that point going forward. In my mind, that means, no, they won't allow Google to manage their campaign.

What does this say for Google? But what I find interesting is that I would have to guess that a nice percentage of Google AdWords campaigns are managed with Google employees. What does that say for those who pay for those campaigns?

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

There is some confusion in a WebmasterWorld thread, where advertisers are asking where the Tools tab in the AdWords management console went.

If your tool tab is missing, it is likely because you have been included into the new beta "opportunities" tab. This does not mean you don't have access to those tools, they are just moved.

To find the tools, click on "opportunities" and on the left side bar, you will see a box for "tools." The tools can be found in that box. Here is a picture:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A WebmasterWorld thread asks if anyone has experience with allowing Google to manage their AdWords accounts. There are many stories in the thread, all not too positive about their experience with having Google manage their account.

To take a step back, Google has a whole fleet of staff ready to help you set up and continue to maintain your Google AdWords account. And they do it for free. The issue is, at least according to the stories in the thread, they don't manage the accounts as effectively or as smart as you would yourself or as a professional PPC management company. At least, those are the overwhelming opinions in the thread.

I wanted to ask you, would you allow Google to manage your typical account? Here is a poll:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A Google AdWords representative posted a thread at the Google AdWords Help forum. In that thread, Bindu, the Google rep, said that the recent marketing blitz from VistaPrint had the wrong coupon codes on them.

If you received a VistaPrint AdWords offer code, the code was misprinted. Specifically, the code was "accidentally abridged" so the code won't work. To get them to work, you will need to contact AdWords support - according to Bindu. Bindu said:

Recent VistaPrint Coupon Codes seem to be invalid because they were accidentally abridged. If you have received a VistaPrint code and it does not seem to work, you will have to write in to AdWords support and request the correct version of the code.

For more information on how to contact Google AdWords support, click here.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A Google AdWords Help thread has an advertiser from India who is threatening to kill himself, if Google doesn't respond to him in the next few hours. Now, suicide is no joking matter, but in this case, this advertiser did not kill himself after a few hours of Google not responding.

Google did indeed reply, a day or so later, explaining that it is the Labor Day weekend and any response will have to really wait until today, Tuesday. The threat from the advertiser came in broken English, here it is:

If I don't hear from the Google Ad words Team in the next few hours I will have no options but the only option to do Suicide as I have stake all my 10 years of my career and my funds into the business and now I have no options to wait each day to see whether my Ad Words are active or not which I am doing for the last 20 days.

About a day later, an official Google representative spotted the thread and replied.

First off, I am sorry that AdWords has been such a difficult road to tread for you. While I am not aware of the particulars of your situation (because I do not have access to your account) I do apologize for that difficulty, and the frustration that has resulted.

To set reasonable expectations, please note that this thread spans Saturday and Sunday here in the US - a time period during which the AdWordsPro team (and the AdWords support team as well) are not in the office. In addition, tomorrow, Monday, is a national holiday here in the US - and the US based members of the team will be out of the office.

That said, I have written to the AdWordsPro team to ask that they take a look into your situation - and to see if they can determine how it might be resolved.

Again, to set reasonable expectations, please know that the teams to which the AdWordsPro team would normally escalate your issue are not available today, Sunday, nor tomorrow, Monday - due to the national holiday I previously mentioned.

Soon after, the Indian advertiser came back in to once again threaten to kill himself if he does not get a response by early Tuesday. He said, "If I do not have a Solution by Tuesday than what I have stated in this forum is my ultimate choice as I have no other options with me left."

Is this what it has come to? I know Google representatives often reply to threads, but they cannot reply to every thread. So if you really need a response, do you have to go to these extremes?

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Recently, some Google AdWords advertisers have been complaining in a WebmasterWorld thread that they were (1) being forced to upgrade to the MCC (My Client Center) section of the AdWords console and (2) after being upgraded, they lost their promotional credits in their accounts. That was reported late August.

On August 31st, in the afternoon, Google apparently emailed those affected by this with the promotional credit codes. One advertiser said, "I just got an email with the aforementioned credit codes." Some others also confirmed receiving such an email. The issue is, one advertiser said he tried the code and Google said they were not valid.

Google has yet to confirm or deny this possible bug.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

On August 6th, we reported how Google was pushing the AdWords ads nearer to the organic listings in some browsers. I illustrated the change in a short movie, so that it is crystal clear how much of an impact it makes.

A couple days ago, SearchViews.com released a report that said this change has resulted in a 15% increase in the click-through rate on their ads. 14.47% over the 11 day period, to be exact. That number seems huge to me and I am wondering if there are other variables at play here.

There is a new debate about those numbers at WebmasterWorld but there is an even newer debate on the topic of how this impacts clicks on the organic/free listings.

A WebmasterWorld thread asks if this has decreased the click-through rate on the organic side. Right now, there have been no reports that this had any impact on the organic search results, but the test is new and the thread is new.

Here is a poll, please check all that apply:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

I hate it when I read threads of Google AdWords API users who found out too late that the API they have integrated their software with no longer works and that they either lose money or time due to not having the right data (or any data) sent back from the API. This is why Google and blogs like this, give you guys fair notice that you should start coding and testing the new AdWords API with your software.

The new beta AdWords API v2009 is out and now finally available to all advertisers. This was announced a couple months ago but was a very limited beta, now it is open to all to use. It is a major upgrade from version 13, so expect major changes between the two.

So begin reading up on this new API at code.google.com/apis/adwords/v2009/ today.

Forum discussion at AdWords API Help.

A week ago, we asked you if Google should use mouse overs to show more ad details. I made a screen shot of the concept, which I will repost below. The poll results are in and some of you want it and some of you don't. It is really split - with a 56% response rate of people wanting this feature and a 42% response rate of people not wanting this feature.

Question: Do You Want Advertiser's Info In AdWords Mouse Overs?

:: Yes said 65 respondents or 56%
:: No said 49 respondents or 42%
:: Other answer... said 3 respondents or 3%

The other answers were basically one no, one yes and one undecided.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

Google continues to try out new ad formats for integrating Google Product data from Google Base into the AdWords results. Recently a reader sent Search Engine Land a screen capture of a new form of Google displaying these product results. In short, the new part is that you do not need to click on anything to display the site's product images and or pricing. Here is a picture:

As you can see, this single ad takes up a significant amount of screen real estate. What I see myself for this search result is the typical AdWords product plus box:

The default view is that the images and products are hidden.

Google sent me a statement on this finding, saying:

Google is constantly experimenting with new features, tools and visual representations to improve the user experience and usefulness of our ads. As part of that effort, we’re currently running a test in which images of specific products offered by an advertiser may appear within some text ads on Google search results pages. This experiment helps users quickly find the products they’re looking for, and offers advertisers a new way to engage potential customers. This feature is currently in a limited beta and only visible to a small number of users on shopping-related queries.

In any event, here is some history on Google testing the ad formats. Recently, Google started testing Sitelinks in ads and earlier this month we saw a single product image opened. Back in November 2007, we first spotted reports of this and then again in January 2008. Then in October 2008 we had pictures of products in AdWords ads, which became the real-deal in February 2009. The feature was powered by Google Base linkage with AdWords.

Forum discussion at the Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

My old time buddy, Darrin Ward (founder of SEOChat back in the day), blogged about noticing Sitelinks in the Google AdWords ads. Here is a picture, which I can see myself, for a search on staples.com.

Notice the four links directly under the ad, those are commonly known as Sitelinks in the Google organic search world. They kind of look like the one line product links but these are category specific.

I am pretty sure I saw a form of this a long time ago, but I cannot find my blog post on that find.

In any event, it seems like Sitelinks are here for Google AdWords ads.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Update: Here is the official Google statement on this test:

As part of our ongoing commitment to help users find the information they're looking for online, we are testing a feature in which links to various pages of an advertiser’s website may appear within the text ads on Google.com. Presenting multiple landing page options is intended to make specific website information such as gift registries, special deals, store locators and the like more easily accessible to users. It also offers brand marketers a new way to quickly engage potential customers. This feature is currently in a limited beta with a small number of advertisers.

The Google Advertising Professional program which launched in 2004 had one major flaw. They were assigned to companies and the scores and professional status could not be transferred with the individual who took the test, to the new company he or she went to.

I am happy to say, that is no longer the case. A new program site for this certification, allows you to migrate your accounts from your old company to a new company. To access this feature, go to adwords.google.com/professionals/migrate. The site reads:

With this new site, each Professional has an individual Profile, which can be associated with a Company account, or moved from one Company account to another. (Please note that, to become or remain a Qualified program member, you must be associated with a Company account; individuals may create Company accounts on this site if they are unaffiliated).

This feature is welcomed by many AdWords professionals.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A WebmasterWorld member thinks it would be a wise idea if Google added a new level of detail to the AdWords listings. I believe his idea is to display a mouse over control which would open up a more detailed box that shows advertiser details. This would allow the searcher to better know if he should click or not.

I decided to draw up a proof of concept, using Bing's search preview option and adding that to Google AdWords ads, here it is:

Do you think this is a good idea or bad idea? Take my quick poll:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A few weeks ago, we reported about the issue Indian advertisers were having with Google being able to charge their Reserve Bank of India RBI credit cards. Google was forced to require these advertisers to fax over their credit card authorizations, which slowed the process down to getting campaigns live.

On August 17th, an AdWords representative updated the Google AdWords Help thread saying they are now able to take these cards electronically. Bindu from Google said:

We are now able to charge all such accounts without further declines from the Citibank end. Any credit card that has been declined post August 13, 2009 is a normal decline (the steps outlined over here should assist you with troubleshooting this issue.)

If your credit card is still declined, you may want to re-enter your billing information (outlined over here)

If you have not sent the standing instructions form yet please do so as soon as it is possible.

For all other queries, you will have to contact support.

This was a huge thread with dozens, if not, hundreds of complaints. I hope this is resolved for the most part.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Two months ago or so, we reported that some advertisers were being forced into the new AdWords interface. Well, yesterday, I and many other advertisers received the email that we were being forced into the new AdWords interface.

A WebmasterWorld thread has both old and new reports of advertisers being forced into the interface. One advertiser expressed his dissatisfaction with this move, saying:

Ug I was just forced into the new interface. I hate being forced. I do not have time to relearn the whole stupid thing. Please please awa give it back to us. This is so unfair to force something so unpopular.

An other complaint read:

I just got forced into the new-interface-only bin, not best pleased! Why can't old UI be linked since reports, adwords tools, account management and client centre still on old UI?

We ran a poll a while back, where we saw that 56% disliked the new interface. Now, I wonder if more people dislike it or more people are becoming more vocal about it, since being forced into the new interface?

Note, tomorrow is the last day to take part in the new interface webinar offered by Google. A Google AdWords Help thread has a post from AdWordsPro that contains the details, which I will repeat here:

I know I have pinned any number of threads to the top of the page letting you all know about the live and free 'New AdWords Interface Webinars' that have been available for quite some time now.

Today, however, I am posting about what is planned to be the final webinar. So, if you have thought about participating in a live session of the webinar, please make it this one, as it is almost certainly the last chance.

This final webinar is occuring on Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 9:30 AM PDT

As has been mentioned previously in the other threads on the subject, you may register for this free webinar, and/or watch an archived webinar, and/or access a number of userful 'new UI' resources on this page:

New AdWords Interface Webinars
https://sites.google.com/site/newinterfacewebinars

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & Google AdWords Help.

A few weeks ago, the Apple App store for the iPhone gained its first app to manage Google AdWords campaigns. The app was developed by Webdevs.com and enables AdWords advertiser to manage their campaigns on the go. The application can be downloaded in the iTunes store for $16.99 and is named "PPC Editor." If you like to buy it, here is a link which passes through my affiliate account.

This is not an app created by Google. This app uses Google's API to pull data from your AdWords campaign and it was created by a third-party. In my opinion, Google is working on a mobile AdWords interface that will run over the iPhone, Android, Pre, etc but not be application specific. I.e. I think it will be a web based mobile version, to run off the smart phone's web browser.

It seems like the bulk of the features are reporting, but there is management features like changing daily budgets. Here are some of the screen captures from the iTunes store:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

A Google AdWords Help thread reports from several advertisers that even though they have completed and passed the Google AdWords Professional exam, they are not able to retrieve the logo to place on their web sites.

This is not a wide spread issue, as far as I can tell. It seems like there might be a bug with certain accounts. Only some are reporting the issue as taking longer than 2 weeks. Typically, you pass the exam and two weeks later you should be able to place the logo or seal on your web site. But some seem to have been in the queue for months.

One advertiser said he finally got through to a Googler who confirmed his issue and hopes to resolve it for him in the upcoming days. He said:

So I finally made contact with a real person at Google via the Live Chat in the Help Section. She agreed that 4 weeks was too long and took my exam information and has promised to look into the problem and email me as soon as she has an answer.

I was actually amazed that the chat connected to someone in less than 30 seconds! Some of my faith has been restored...

Like I said, I am not sure how widespread the issue is, but it does seem to be an issue for some.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A short WebmasterWorld thread has a post from a member that I know, knows his stuff. In short, Google's display ads, the images ads you see typically through the AdSense product on content sites, have a much higher mouse over rate, when compared to the click through rate (CTR).

This advertiser said:

But I've noticed something interesting. The Mouseover Rate is 10X or even 20X my CTR. So, folks are mousing over my ads like crazy, but of course getting no action.

The advertiser wants clickable mouseover actions to help increase the click through rate. I doubt that will happen, but it is interesting to know that people are hovering their mouse over the ads and not often clicking.

Of course this is just one case.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

As expected the Google AdWords Professionals who have profiles in the Google AdWords Help forums, now have labels that show they are certified professionals.

The easiest place to see the various profiles with that special label is in this Google AdWords Help thread. It is the thread where AdWordsPro Sarah specifically requested pros to let her know that they are pros, so she can apply the label to their accounts.

Here is an example of one profile with the special label that reads, "Google Advertising Professional."

Clearly this makes these profiles stand out and look more authoritative than others. Now, if only Google certified SEOs. ;-)

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A WebmasterWorld thread has one searcher noticing a new form of Google ads that shows a product image at the top right area, right above the AdWords ads. Here is a picture the reader sent me:

I asked Google about this and they told me:

At Google, we're constantly experimenting with new features, tools and visual representations to improve the user experience and usefulness of our ads. In accordance with that philosophy, we're planning a beta test to show richer product information in the ads for shopping-related queries. This test will only be visible to a small number of U.S. users.

Let me give you perspective and some history on how these ads work. Back in November 2007, we first spotted reports of this and then again in January 2008. Then in October 2008 we had pictures of products in AdWords ads, which became the real-deal in February 2009. The feature was powered by Google Base linkage with AdWords.

More recently, we saw one line text versions of this in action, and now a more graphical version, as shown in the image above. Google confirmed these ads are all from the same source and they are testing various ways to display and deliver them.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A Search Engine Watch Forums thread has a member stating he noticed Google began testing moving the AdWords ads (search ads) nearer to the free/organic listings. It is hard to describe, so I created a video below.

I illustrated how in Firefox, if you expand the width of your browser, Google will stop moving the ads to the right. However, in Safari, you can see how Google handled it in the past, by keeping the ads right aligned and shifting them over. Here is the video that explains it:

The first browser is Firefox, showing how it is more left aligned. The second browser is Safari, showing how they right align the ads.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Over the past month or so, there have been wide-spread complaints from advertisers in India with issues on their credit cards not being processed. I am not sure exactly what the issue is, but it seems to be related to some type of verification process.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seems to be requiring Google to have these advertisers fill out a special authorization form (PDF) and email or fax it to Google India Pvt. Ltd.

A Google AdWords Help thread has a Googler detailing these instructions:

1. Please download the authorization form here: http://www.google.com/adwords/newsletters/pdf/authorization_form_in.pdf
2. Print and fill out this form in its entirety
3. Attach a copy of the front and back of your credit card
4. Courier the original form and the copy of your credit card to the following address:

ATTN: Billing & Payments team Google India Pvt. Ltd. Block 1, DivyaSree Omega Survey No. 13, Kondapur Village, Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh, India

That is a lot of work to become an advertiser with Google. Clearly, some advertisers are not happy and want a way to do this electronically, via the AdWords billing system.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Google has taken the new AdWords interface out of beta and now advertisers are being forced into the new interface, even though some don't want it.

A WebmasterWorld thread has one member who seems to not have the option to go back to the old interface after receiving an email from Google that says he will be switched any day now. The email read:

We're writing to let you know that your AdWords account (Customer Id: xx) will be upgraded to the new AdWords interface within the next few business days. After that time, you'll no longer be able to switch back to the previous AdWords interface to manage your campaigns. The new interface doesn't change how ads run, so bidding, ranking, Quality Score, and the rest of ad serving will remain the same after the upgrade...

One forum member suggested that this user try to force Google to give him the old interface by trying this URL and if that doesn't work, then go complain to your AdWords representative. There is actually a long and old thread that is an open plea to keep the old interface available, simply because some people like it better. When we polled our readers, 56% disliked the new interface.

Google has been testing this new interface since November 2008, then expanded the test in March 2009, then again in early April and late April and a bigger push in June. So this has been out there for a while, but many simply don't want it.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Seems like in the past 24 hours, more Google AdWords advertisers are seeing the bid simulator tool that Google has been testing for a few months now.

I am personally seeing it in my account, but not in some of my client accounts. Here is how they are handling it now, in the new interface.

You click on the bid price or the little icon near it:

And it opens up a window with more bid options, a simulation of how the bids might impact cost, clicks and so on. This picture is taken from E-Commerce Circle:

It seems like this is now being rolled out to more and more advertisers. Google confirmed this is a feature they are testing, but have not confirmed when all advertisers will see it. For more details on bid estimator, see this help document.

Forum discussion continued at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Update: Google confirmed it is live for all. Here is a video demo of it:

WebmasterWorld moderator, eWhisper, created a thread at WebmasterWorld on something he spotted recently with the Google AdWords quality score. He believes that AdWords has adjusted hows they handle proper names.

eWhisper said:

I'm seeing some odd results for names in AdWords. Many proper names have much lower QS in many accounts than a couple weeks ago.
In fact, my own name, in my account, going to my website, is running a QS of 3 right now and the ad isn't even showing very often due to low QS. That's one of those situations where you know something is wrong as usually this is a 9-10 (and should be).

Are you advertising for names? If so, do let us know if Google smacked your quality score on those ads or not.

I am not sure why such ads would receive a lower quality score. I don't see the logic in such a decision or maybe it is something else.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

AdWordsPro Sarah, an official Google representative, announced in the Google AdWords Help forums that they want to give Google AdWords Professionals, those that are certified by Google, special logos or labels under their profile names in the forums.

Sarah said:

To help people identify our Google Advertising Professional forum members, we are going to try and label users with current certification (it will show up right below your user name when you post- much like 'Top Contributor' shows up now).

The only trick is, you are all anonymous posters, so for us to figure out who is who, I need all GAP certified individuals to give me a shout out in this thread. If you signed up for the forum using the same login information as your MCC, I should be able to verify your certification and label you! Doesn't need to be anything facy, a simple 'Add me to your list' will do fine (or clever jokes are always appreciated :) ). I will then lable people on an ongoing, weekly basis.

I cannot help but wonder if my post about Google certified SEOs and top contributors in the forums had something to do with this idea?

So if you are a GAP, then go to the forums and let Sarah know, so you can get the special logo by your name.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

The Google scams have been an issue since early this year. They got a lot worse last month and finally Google began banning advertisers who are promoting these Google scams.

Google has taken this to the next level by blogging about it on the official Google Blog. Google outed the scam finally and clearly, by saying:

We're seeing disturbing cases in which websites, emails and advertisements claim that you can make large amounts of money from home with very little effort using Google products and services. They're designed to look like they were written by a regular person, just like you, who stumbled across an amazing opportunity to make their monetary dreams come true. What they don't tell you clearly is that Google is not affiliated with these sites and that they may add extra charges to your credit card or misuse your personal information.

So don't fall for it, too many people have already and I hope you don't. Google offered ways to detect these scams as well as ways to report them, here is how to report them:

• If you've been ripped off, or suspect others are, report the site and file a complaint with the appropriate agency.

• If you come across many sites with duplicate content or common templates intended to direct users to the same product or scheme, please let us know with a spam report.

• If you've been contacted to place suspicious links on your site for money, let us know with the paid link report form. If you have your own website or are in charge of advertising on a site, think carefully before accepting ads or entering into affiliate programs that will lead your users to schemes like those mentioned above.

• If your site's forums or comment sections have been spammed with fake offers of fabulous financial gain, you may need to take steps to fight comment spam. Spammers will take advantage of any user-generated content sections of your site, and will even generate thousands of fake user profiles to try to slip under the radar.

• If you receive suspicious messages that claim to be from Google, these may be phishing attempts. Please report them to phishing@google.com.

Forum discussion continued at Google AdWords Help.

On June 29th we reported that the Google scams were getting worse. In short, people have been promoting fake Google payout systems, such as Google Money Kit or Money System, along with dozens of other names, to convince people that Google is giving people a way to earn quick bucks. Google does have publisher programs like AdSense and other programs, but not these get rich quick scams.

It has been going on for a long time and I was kind of getting sick of it recently. Now, I am seeing reports that Google is taking action against not just the Google scams but other potential scams advertised through the Google AdWords system.

A Google AdWords Help thread has several advertisers complaining they have been banned from AdWords. The email being sent to advertisers is:

It's come to our attention that you have submitted ads that promote Google Money Tree or ads that promote a misrepresented affiliation with Google. Due to multiple complaints from our users and publishers, we've made the decision not to accept these ads.

This is a notification that your account has been suspended due to the submission of these ads and your ads will no longer run on Google. Please note that future accounts you open will also be suspended.

These don't seem to be fake emails, so this seems like Google is finally enforcing their terms of service. Kim said Google began enforcing the policy on July 1st. About time!

I just hope that some innocent advertisers didn't get hit by friendly fire.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

On June 30th, Mozilla released Firefox 3.5. On June 30th, we had the first complaints at Google AdWords Help that the Google AdWords interface was not supported in Firefox 3.5.

The error message being displayed to AdWords advertisers was:

Support for Firefox 3.5 is coming soon. Until then, please use an earlier version of Firefox when viewing the new interface.

Google fixed it a day later, and we have confirmed reports in that thread that the new AdWords interface is fully operational in Firefox 3.5. Oh, and by the way, it is also now working in Safari 4.0.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help .

We knew Google was going to discontinue the 800# call tracking feature "shortly after May 5, 2009." Well, it seemed to have continued to work, until yesterday.

A WebmasterWorld thread reports from one advertiser who religiously used these free 800#s that they no longer seem to work. He said:

At this moment it looks like the numbers are dead. If you were waiting to swap them out, do it right now. I am trying to confirm when they turned off. It has to be within the last 3 or 4 days.

It is a shame but maybe Google Voice will come up with 800# support soon. The call tracking was a nice feature, but there are plenty of companies that offer that as a paid service, if you really love it.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Yesterday Google announced the latest version of the AdWords API, version v2009. This is an upgrade from AdWords API 13 which was released in October 2008. There are major changes between v2009 and version 13 and Google wants you to be well prepared for the changes.

To get ready for the new version, you need to apply for the beta of v2009. You can however begin playing with the v2009 sandbox at any time.

You can read about the changes in the AdWords API upgrade over here. Version 13 will not sunset until early 2010.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords API Group.

Some AdWords professionals who manage their customer campaigns via the My Client Center (MCC) are having technical issues with the AdWords console. A WebmasterWorld thread is reporting that these advertisers are being booted out of the individual campaigns and back to the MCC front page, making it extremely difficult for them to manage these accounts.

This has been happening on and off since late May. The first report said:

I keep getting kicked back to the MCC level when working in our individual accounts. Sometimes it happens just seconds after entering the accounts, sometimes after just a couple minutes. Very annoying... anyone else experiencing this?

Even eWhisper, a WebmasterWorld moderator, experienced the issue the other day. AdWordsAdvisor said he/she has not heard of reports of this on a major scale but promised to try to look into the issue.

Hopefully this is not impacting most advertisers and more importantly, hopefully this is not impacting you when you need to make an important change.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google recently launched Google Export Advisor a tool that uses "Google translation and search data to provide an estimate of market opportunities across the world." Search Laboratory has an excellent post looking at how it works, but I'll do something similar here.

This tool combines three Google tools:

• Keyword Tool: Use this to get new keyword ideas. Just enter a few descriptive words or phrases, and it will generate a list of keyword ideas.
• Google Translator: Enter a search phrase in your own language to find information in other languages.
• Traffic Estimator: Enter your keywords, select the relevant language and geographic targets and this tool will estimate the traffic available for each keyword.

Here are screen captures of what the tool does:

And then it determines profitability:

Forum discussion at Sphinn and WebmasterWorld.

Google is offering a free webinar to educate advertiser on the new AdWords interface. The webinar takes place tomorrow, Friday, June 26th at 11am (PST). To register, go to this URL and sign up.

This webinar will teach you how to use the new interface. Ariel Bardin, Product Management Director for the new AdWords interface, will guide you through the new interface. You'll learn how to manage your account using the new interface and make use of the new features.

You can even submit questions prior to the webinar for Google to answer. To submit your question, go over here.

The previous webinar was successful, so if you missed it, try not to miss this one.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Update: This is not something Google is testing. The WebmasterWorld member sent me a screen shot and it has been that way since at least 2004. So ignore this post.

A WebmasterWorld thread reports one person seeing the display URL of an AdWords ad showing up above the ad's title and description. In fact, this person is noticing this ad behavior just for the premium ads, not the ads on the right hand side of the page, only the ads at the top of the page.

I personally cannot replicate this on a Mac or PC, using IE, Firefox or Safari. So I emailed this person, asking for a screen shot. This, of course, can be some form of malware infecting the user's browser or it can be some type of test Google is running.

I decided to "photoshop" what this might look like:

Clearly, this looks a bit weird, so I am anxious to see how it looks like on the forum member's screen.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Blogoscoped and Wall Street Journal are reporting on a new beta advertising product from Google named "Google Product Ads Beta." The new beta is invite only and seems to be a new way of advertisers paying for their ads, this time, based on conversions and commissions.

The ads are priced not based on click but on commission set by the advertiser for a conversion. Here is the FAQ emailed and captured by Google Blogosoped:

You specify the commission rate for conversions that take place via clicks on Google product ads. Minimum pricing is your standard publisher rate, plus the network fee. To maximize your competitiveness among advertisers participating in product ads, we recommend a higher commission with the Google product ads relationship.

These product ads will run independently of AdWords, but seem like they will show up in the AdWords location, as far as I understand. To be included, you must have a Google Base product feed. The ad rank technology is similar to AdWords, but differs based on the commission. Ad Rank = Commission × Quality Score.

Some believe the product ads on this commission are in form of what we reported earlier with product from AdWords ads and even the one line product links, here are screen captures:

Having products show up in the AdWords listings is extreme enough, having them prices based on an affiliate model is way more extreme.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Blogoscoped Forums.

A WebmasterWorld thread complains that the AdWords management interface at adwords.google.com does not rendered on the iPhone (and possible Android). In fact, I tried it and it booted me out after several seconds. I managed to take a screen shot of the page trying to load.

In addition, if you try to use the AdWords interface with Safari 4.0, Apple's latest release of their browser, you get the following message:

Support for Safari 4 is coming soon. Until then, please use an earlier version of Safari when viewing the new interface.

AdWordsAdvisor did comment specifically about a mobile AdWords interface. Let me quote what the Google representative said:

This is understood to be very important, Kobayashi, and though I can not predict a timeline (mainly since I don't know it) I do know this is being worked on.

So it seems like a mobile version of the AdWords interface is coming in the future. When exactly is the million dollar question.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

We know that Google is forcing AdWords advertisers into the new AdWords interface sooner then later. Besides for all the complaints about the interface, some are complaining that Google is encouraging advertisers to sign up for courses on how to use the new interface.

A HighRankings Forum thread has discussion around why Google is first of all forcing advertisers into an interface they don't like and then encouraging them to pay to learn how to use it.

Google organizes what are called Seminars for Success, which are actually mostly run by third-party agencies that specialize in training AdWords customers. The day long seminar costs $249 for AdWords classes.

The advertiser is steamed about paying for this. He said:

I received an email from Google saying in effect their teaching their adwords training sessions in the new interface..translation...pay us and we will teach you the new interface!!!

The cost for the seminar seems relatively small. It seems like Google is subsidizing the costs for the most part. I am not sure I agree with giving these seminars for nothing.

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum.

This Saturday, on June 13th, between 10am to 2pm (PST), Google will be performing system wide maintenance on the AdWords platform.

The Inside AdWords Blog wrote:

On Saturday, June 13th, 2009, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to sign in to your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience.

This is typical monthly maintenance, so no need for concern.

If you have any questions or concerns you can post them in either Google AdWords Help or WebmasterWorld Forums.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help or WebmasterWorld.

In April at Search Engine Land I reported Google agreed to settle on an AdWords case for $20 million. The case was over the daily budget feature and how many advertisers may have exceeded that budget by 120% on occasions.

Google said then, "Google believes the claims are without merit, but we are pleased to have the litigation behind us and to move forward with our business objectives."

Now, I am seeing reports via DigitalPoint Forums that dozens, if not thousands, of advertisers have received a notification, via email, about this settlement.

I have a copy of the settlement as a PDF document for those interested in the extreme legal details.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion around why the display URL differs in the "More Sponsored Links" section, when compared to the normal ads on the search results page.

WebmasterWorld's Preferred Member, Rehan said:

The first thing to realize is that the Sponsored Links search is unrelated to the keywords chosen by the advertiser to display the ad. Instead, the results shown are the ads that include the query words in the ad text. That's why you'll see only one or two ads at google.com/search?q=raccoon+squirrel (because it's not a great keyword to advertise for) but lots of them at google.com/sponsoredlinks?q=raccoon+squirrel (all of the ads shown contain those two words).

So if the Sponsored Links search is unrelated to the keywords and shows just the ads that have the query words, that's why it uses the default destination URL for the ad rather than the specific ones for the keywords.

The more link came to AdWords ads sometime in late 2004. Google then updated the design of that page in July 2008. Which is actually when the above changes happened.

You can read more about the more sponsored link at this Google help page.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Some advertisers are noticing a new feature in Google AdWords. The feature is named "bid simulator" and it shows you what number of impressions and position you can expect if you increase or decrease your bid.

A Search Engine Watch Forums thread has a picture of the feature from one advertiser. Here is a screen shot taken from the PDF linked to below:

This seems to have been released on May 20th to some advertisers. Someone posted a PDF document of the reference guide to Google AdWords Bid Simulator. Here is the PDF and below is an embed of it:

Google Adwords Bid Simulator Reference Guide

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Update: Google sent me a statement about this, saying:

As part of our ongoing commitment to innovation, Google constantly tests new tools to improve our AdWords product offering and provide additional benefit to our advertisers. We are currently testing a feature called "bid simulator," which helps advertisers make informed and efficient bid management decisions by estimating the results they would have achieved using hypothetical bid values. This feature is currently in a limited beta with a small number of advertisers. We have no additional news to announce at this time regarding developments for Google AdWords.

In April Google began pushing advertisers to test the new AdWords interface. As it turns out, most advertisers dislike the new interface but that is not stopping Google from now forcing the new interface on some advertisers within 30 days.

Here is the email I received from Google a couple days ago:

In the coming weeks, we'll upgrade your AdWords account (Customer ID: 000-000-0000) to a new web interface designed to make campaign management faster and easier. You can try it now; log into your account to use the new interface immediately.

You'll have at least 30 days from the date of this email before you'll be required to use the new interface to manage your campaigns. During this time we'll continue to release additional features and make adjustments to the new interface based on advertiser feedback.

A WebmasterWorld thread is now discussing the topic of being forced into the new interface. The main issue that I see that advertisers are upset about is the requirement to scroll horizontally (left to right) to use the new interface. There are other quirks advertisers are upset about.

Ready or not, here it is coming and you better be ready for it. You can always use the AdWords Editor to bypass the web interface as much as possible. In fact, Google released a new AdWords Editor last night.

To prepare you for the new interface, Google created the following resources:

• Review the new interface microsite to get a quick overview of the changes and watch videos demonstrating the improvements: google.com/adwords/newinterface/
• Our "Getting Started Guide" will give you an overview of major new features and their benefits. You can download a PDF at: google.com/adwords/newinterface/new_interface_guide.pdf
• Wondering how to complete common AdWords tasks in the new interface? Visit our "How to" guide at: google.com/adwords/newinterface/standard/ads-and-keywords.html

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

The other day, we polled our readers asking if you trust Google's keyword suggestion tool. We received a lot of responses, well over 200 and I wanted to share them with you.

The majority, 76% said they do not fully trust the keyword tool. While 23% said they do trust the keyword tool. Trusting Google is not something most people do these days.

Let me break down the results for you.

Question: Do You Trust Google's Keyword Tool?

:: Not Fully said 147 respondents or 62%
:: Yes said 55 respondents or 23%
:: No said 33 respondents or 14%
:: Other answer... said 4 respondents or 2%

But I bet most of you still use the tool. :-)

Forum discussion continued at HighRankings Forums.

This story was pre-written and scheduled to go live on May 29th.

About a week ago, we asked our readers if they like or dislike the new AdWords trademark policy. The new policy gives some advertisers the ability to use trademarked terms in the ad copy.

We asked our readers if they like the new policy and the majority do like it.

Question:Do You Like Google's New AdWords Trademark Policy?

:: Yes, About Time said 38 respondents or 64
:: No, This Is Bad said 20 respondents or 34%
:: Other answer... said 1 respondents or 2%

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.

Google has quietly announced in a Google Groups thread that they have finally added the impression share columns to the AdWords API. The new columns, currently visible in the API documents are:

• exactMatchImpShare which is the Exact Match IS (measure)
• impShare which is the Impression Share (IS) (measure)
• lostImpShareBudget which is the Lost IS (Budget) (measure)
• lostImpShareRank which is the Lost IS (Rank) (measure)

Jeff Posnick from the Google AdWords API Team said they will likely post on this at the AdWords API blog in the next few weeks.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

Google provides a very popular Keyword Suggestion Tool that many SEMs rely on. But a HighRankings Forum thread questions how trustworthy the tool is.

Many SEMs use the tool because it is convenient and Google provides the estimated search volumes. At the same time, many SEMs know how to take Google's estimates and apply them to their campaigns. Experience and campaign history helps SEMs learn this trade.

In fact, did you know that the keyword tool allows you to adjust the type of query based on match type? After you run the tool, you can then click on a drop down menu to select the match type, broad, phrase, exact or negative match.

But the big question is, do you trust the keyword tool? Take our poll:

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum.

Google AdSense has an ad unit named "link units." The link unit ads look like links and if you click on them, they take you a landing page of Google ads. In the past, those ads were only text ads. Now, Google is showing image ads on the bottom of the page.

Here is a screen capture:

Google explained more about how and when they are triggered:

These image ads are contextually targeted, based on the link unit topic users clicked to reach the ads. If no image ads are available for the given topic, we'll only show the original text ads -- in other words, we won't show a PSA or insert a blank space in place of the image ad in this case. Advertisers can bid on these image ads on a cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-impression (CPM) basis, so you'll generate earnings for valid clicks and impressions. You can review the performance of image ads on your link unit pages by generating a link unit report on your Advanced Reports page.

Here is a sample of a real link unit Google ad:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A WebmasterWorld thread has several AdWords advertisers complaining about the site exclusion feature in AdWords. With the new user interface to manage campaigns, advertisers are confused how the exclusions work.

Does the exclusion block domains in the search network or content network, or maybe both? I personally tried it myself and it is not clear if you can block your ads from showing up on specific sites by search or content network. It would appear that you can block sites globally from both search and content network, but I am not sure if that is true.

No wonder 56% of AdWords users dislike the new interface.

Try it yourself, go to AdWords, click on a campaign and then click on the "network" tab. You should then see an "Exclusions" plus sign, click it and it will show you the campaigns you can apply the exclusions to. But it doesn't seem to specify content versus search networks:

AdWordsAdvisor chimed in on the thread, saying:

I am 99.8% sure that this is simply a new UI on top of the exact same functionality as before.

I have pinged a colleague on the new UI team to confirm this (since I do hate to be wrong in public) but discover that she is traveling and not reachable.

I'll post again after I've had the chance to speak with her.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A couple days ago, Google announced that they will now show all queries that resulted in an AdWords click as opposed to grouping some of the less popular keywords in a category called "other unique queries."

This clearly provides more transparency for advertisers to know how each and every click is being spent.

This is really a great thing that I know advertisers have been asking from Google for a while.

But I have yet to see any threads or discussion on this feature outside of a single post at WebmasterWorld. Do advertisers not care or did they miss the announcement?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

While my wife was giving birth to our baby, Google sent me an email telling me they have made a serious change to their AdWords trademark policy. The AdWords blog explains that now, in the US, advertisers can use the trademark term(s) in the ad text, in certain conditions. Here is Google's language:

That is why, in an effort to improve ad quality and user experience, we are adjusting our trademark policy in the U.S. to allow some ads to use trademarks in the ad text. This change will bring Google's policy on trademark use in ad text more in line with the industry standard. Under certain criteria, you can use trademark terms in your ad text in the U.S. even if you don't own that trademark or have explicit approval from the trademark owner to use it. This change will help you to create more narrowly targeted ad text that highlights your specific inventory.

For example, under our old policy, a site that sells several brands of athletic shoes may not have been able to highlight the actual brands that they sell in their ad text. However, under our new policy, that advertiser can create specific ads for each of the brands that they sell. We believe that this change will help both our users and advertisers by reducing the number of overly generic ads that appear across our networks in the U.S.

Advertisers can begin submitting new ads to Google AdWords with that meet these trademark criteria on 11am PDT on May 15th. And those ads that meet the criteria will not begin showing until June 15th.

Scanning the forum threads, specifically at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums, you see that people are either in love with this change or hate it. Trademark holders are mostly against it, while those that sell the trademarked items are very for the policy change. In addition, many people feel that Google is doing this to make an extra buck, while some aren't so sure - suggesting that Google may get hit with more lawsuits that might cost more money then allowing the ads in the first place.

What do you think? Take our poll:

Here are some good quotes from the forums:

somebody needs more cash :_)

It makes sense though. We've run into problems with it in the past. I should be able to promote products that I'm authorized to sell by the manufacturer in my ads. If I'm not allowed to sell them, I can't use the term. Seems pretty fair.

I think it's about time. Are the big brands pissed off at all the grocery circulars that use their trademark?

Don't mean to sound like an ass but honestly, why is PPC any different from print, yellow pages, etc.?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.

We know Google allows products in AdWords now and we even know a way to make it happen for your ads.

An anonymous reader just sent me screen captures of Google testing a new way of displaying those products. Here is a cropped version of his screen capture:

Here is a blow up of the AdWords ad:

Versus the current way:

Hitting the plus sign:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: Kurt Krake spotted this on a top premium ad position and sent us this screen capture. Notice, this is for a different advertiser:

Google began aggressively testing the new AdWords interface the other week. I heard many complaints from advertisers on the new AdWords interface, so I figured I would poll our readers to see what their thoughts were. The 144 responses are back and the majority of advertisers prefer the old user interface to the new one.

Here is the breakdown of what advertisers prefer:

:: Old (Current) AdWords Interface said 80 respondents or 56%
:: New (Beta) AdWords Interface said 51 respondents or 35%
:: Neither said 13 respondents or 9%

Like my mother says: You can't always make everyone happy.

Forum discussion continued at Search Engine Watch Forums.

eWhisper, WebmasterWorld moderator said that he sees a new feature in his AdWords account. The new feature allows him to link up his AdWords account with his Analytics account and bring in the tracking conversion data from AdWords directly into Analytics.

eWhisper said:

This feature seems to be about a week old. If you go to Google conversion tracking, there is an option for linking Google analytics goals to count as conversion types.

I personally tried to replicate this, but was unable to. I assume I am having issues linking up my accounts. In any event, here is the help document that explains how to link my Analytics goals and transactions to AdWords Conversion Tracking. I'll repeat those instructions here:

1. Sign into your Google Analytics account.
2. Click "Edit Account and Data Sharing Settings."
3. Make sure you've selected at least the "With other Google products only" options under "Share my Google Analytics data..."
4. Click "Save Changes" to finish.
5. Navigate to the Conversion Tracking page from within your AdWords account. The Conversion Tracking page will show a message alerting you that your goals and tractionsactions are ready to be linked. Please note that it may take up to two weeks for your Analytics data to be imported into AdWords.
6. Click "Link your Analytics goals and transactions" from the Conversion Tracking table.
7. Select the goals or transactions you want from the list. Each listed item will have the Analytics profile name, the type of action (goal or transaction), an editable field for the action name, and pull-down menu for the action's tracking purpose. Edit the action name and tracking purpose here so that you can identify the goals once they show up in your AdWords conversion reports.
8. Select "Link" from the bottom of the table to finish.

AdWords Conversion Tracking will then start importing the data from your Analytics account starting from the day you clicked "Link." Historical data from before this date will not be added to conversion tracking. You will begin to see your goals appear alongside your conversion data in your Conversion Tracking page and AdWords reports after approximately two weeks.

This is an obvious connection Google has made and hopefully this will make the tracking of ROI just a bit easier for AdWords advertisers.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Jeffrey Posnick, AdWords API Team posted an announcement in a Google Groups thread about budget optimizer changes that AdWords API users might need to know about. If you are an AdWords API user and you use Budget Optimizer, then you should read this message from Jeff.

Each Campaign object has a budgetOptimizerSettings property, which in turn has a takeOnOptimizedBids setting. Currently, if takeOnOptimizedBids is set to false and you turn off the Budget Optimizer in a campaign, the original bids that were manually set for the ad groups and criteria contained in the campaign will be estored. In other words, the AdWords API will save your old bids from before the Budget Optimizer was turned on, and restore them when it is turned off. If takeOnOptimizedBids is set to true, however, the old bids will not be restored when the Budget Optimizer is turned off. Instead, the last bids that were automatically set by the Budget Optimizer will persist for the ad groups and criteria in your campaign. You can, if you wish, use the AdWords API to manually update the bids for ad groups and criteria once the Budget Optimizer is turned off in either scenario.

The upcoming change will effectively treat takeOnOptimizedBids as if it were set to true (regardless of what it is actually set to) for all campaigns using the Budget Optimizer. Once the Budget Optimizer is turned off, all bids will be set to the last bid used by the Budget Optimizer. This change will match the behavior currently in place when the Budget Optimizer is turned off via the AdWords web interface.

We're planning on making this change to AdWords API behavior on May 19. It is not likely that you will have to make any substantial changes to your code in advance of this change, but please take the new behavior into account when you write code that turns the Budget Optimizer off.

I quoted Jeff's words exactly so that nothing gets lost in the translation.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

Google has been testing click to call features for a while, but the true value to having Google Audio Ads, which was discontinued recently, was to get the toll free and trackable free phone feature. In fact, many AdWords customers used it to track their campaigns, even without using audio ads.

Since Audio Ads was discontinued, the phone tracking was discontinued as well. As of May 5th, Google has discontinued the service. If you read the Google help page, it reads:

Important news about Google Audio Ads: On February 12, 2009, we announced that Google will discontinue the Audio Ads platform. All audio ads will stop running on May 31, 2009.

Also on this page, it says:

Call reporting numbers are being discontinued in AdWords Business Pages on or shortly after May 5, 2009.

So if you have been using these toll-free numbers, make sure to swap them out to new numbers.

Forum discussion continued at Google AdWords Help and a hat tip to Sam at Oh Nuts.

When Google Ad Planner launched I was really in shock and awe. Google has added a new feature to Google Ad Planner named the Google Ad Planner Publisher Center. It basically gives publishers a way to add more details about their site, so that advertisers can find their sites and better judge the traffic and demographics data of your web site.

To gain access to this, you need to be a publisher and you need to verify your site with Google Ad Planner. There are two ways to verify your site, the details on that is over here, but since I am already verified under Google Webmaster Tools, I can easily add them to Google Ad Planner.

When I logged in, I had no sites in my profile, but since I had sites verified with Google Webmaster Tools, I was able to add them easily to the publisher center:

I clicked on "select sites to include" and was presented with a list of sites I can include:

Then I am presented with an overview and a way to "edit" the information about these sites:

I clicked on edit on one of the sites and the screen looks like this:

Here is also a screen capture of the categories I can add my site to:

For more information about this Google Ad Planner Publisher Center, see the Inside AdSense Blog.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A Google AdWords Help thread has a sad story from a new Google advertiser who seemed to have accidently run up a bill from Google that got out of control. On day one, the advertiser set up his/her campaign and came back the next day to check in. What did this advertiser find? A cost of almost $30,000 accured on the campaign over the past 24 hours.

As you can see from this person's post, the person is 100% a newbie when it comes to AdWords/AdSense. Here is the post:

I am very new to this google adsense and posting ads. Last night I wanted to do a “TEST RUN ONLY” for Google to monitor before I could run any ad for my blogger.com. This morning 04/27/2009 I see a cost bill of almost $30,000.00? Oh my GOD, how could this happen? PLEASE HELP! This is a mistake! Please fix this problem and remove this cost of almost $30,000.00 from my account. I don’t have that kind of money. I’m a single mom and I’m not even working. Please help. I look forward to your response to my request.

I wonder how Google will handle this. It seems like this was the mistake of the advertiser and Google technically is not to blame here. But will Google show mercy?

You just have to assume this new advertiser did not set up a budget. How sad.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Since March, we have been reporting about some Google AdWords ads that appear to be displaying above the 25 character title limit. Back in March, I was told by Google that this is a bug, but Google was wrong. At the end of March, I probed Google about this again and Google confirmed, that in some cases, the AdWords title may exceed the 25 title character limit.

A new WebmasterWorld thread brings this topic back to life, where we now have AdWords representatives actually telling advertisers how they can realize longer titles in the AdWords ads. For example, this advertiser wanted to have the title "Virtual Assistant Training," but it is 26 characters. So to get around this, he/she uses dynamic keyword insertion to get there. If you search for Virtual Assistant Training you may see an ad with the full 26 character title. I attached a picture, to prove it.

There are many issues with using dynamic keyword insertion. Specifically the ad simply might not work all the time, plus the title might not always match the ad description, amongst other issues. But it is worth testing this out to see if it leads to any increase in your click through rate and, ultimately, quality score.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google is currently running a survey asking AdWords advertisers if Google show make the Google Advertising Professional exam and certification harder. A Google AdWords Help thread has a post from AdWordsPro Sarah asking AdWords advertisers to take a survey on the Google Advertising Professional certification process.

The survey can be found over here and it asks questions such as:

• Do you think the Google Advertising Professionals exam should be more difficult?
• If you had the option to take a test in these elective subjects, is this something you would be interested in?
• Should the Google Advertising Professionals exam be given in a proctored environment to help control cheating?

There are other questions, but these are the most interesting questions in my opinion.

Should Google have these tests in controlled and proctored class rooms? Are you kidding me?

Anyway, it is important for Google advertisers to take this survey, this way Google knows how to take the future of the Google Advertising Professional program.

Personally, I love the idea of making tests harder, but I am weird.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A week ago, Google started to seriously push the new AdWords interface onto AdWords advertiser's screens. Many folks have already activated the new user interface, but not all are happy.

I was hoping to poll our audience to see if you like the new or old interface. Please take 10 seconds to complete the anonymous poll and I will post the results in the near future.

Search Engine Watch Forums moderator, Discovery, posted a thread at Search Engine Watch Forums asking if he can switch back to the old interface. His issue with the new user interface?

Today I needed to jump in and make a few quick changes, for whatever reason I didnt fire up AE and logged in instead. The wait between each screenload and for data to appear is painful. Same issue that Yahoo has.

Anyhow, I jumped back to the old interface and felt a warm sense of calm. made the quick changes in a few graceful strokes and clicks... ahhhh. Now I think I'm pretty much decided, I will likely never use the web interface once it has been changed and opt for AE as my primary tool.

Speed is the issue for this advertiser. Again, please take the poll above and ask your advertiser friends to take it as well.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Google released a whitepaper titled "CPA Performance Trends on the Google Content Network." The whitepaper has the following findings, all very positive about how Google AdSense performs:

1. Ads on the Google Content Network are likely to be as cost-effective - or even more cost-effective - than ads on the search network.
   • The median advertiser has a content CPA that's about 2% lower than their search CPA.
2. The Content Network drives a significant share of total conversions.
   • The Content Network drives nearly 20% of total conversions for the median advertiser.
3. Conversion rates are higher for advertisers who used either of two AdWords campaign management controls: the Conversion Optimizer and site exclusion.

Thing is, no one believes the report. A WebmasterWorld thread has real advertisers saying they don't see this in their daily use of Google's content network and this seems to be a Google backed study that would bias the results.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A reader, Brad from Set Solid, sent me new information about Google showing products in AdWords ads. We covered this topic a few times, reporting on seeing such ads in Google several times in the past. Here is a screen shot of the ad:

Well, a reader sent me an email with an image of the Google Base administrative console. In the admin panel, it shows a new link to "Share with AdWords." Here is a screen capture of that section:

If you enter in your AdWords customer ID, it will link up your products with your ads. There is actually a new WebmasterWorld.

Starting yesterday, many Google AdWords advertisers began noticing a message in the AdWords console asking them to give the new user interface a try. Google began beta testing the new AdWords UI in November 2008 and expanded the beta in March 2009. More recently, they asked advertisers to experiment with the new UI early because it will be here soon.

Well, now it is here and most advertisers can switch over to it. When you login to your AdWords account, you should see a bubble notification that looks like this:

Note, when I upgraded, I was told my browser (Safari 3.2) may not be fully supported and I should use Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, or Chrome to manage my campaigns. In any event, you likely can upgrade but before doing so, if you want to learn more about the UI, see this resource for more information.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A Google AdWords Help thread reports that an AdWords advertiser has been notified that using the word "gay" in his search ads are seen as offensive. This advertiser was offended that Google would consider the word "gay" as offensive. Here is what he said:

I found it very offensive when my ad was flagged for review for having the term "gay" in it. It surprises me that this a part of Google's policy as it is very offensive and homophobic.

Just to clarify: Google's policy is offensive, the term "gay" should NOT be.

With the recent Amazon FAIL over a similar topic, does google also want to be lumped into this mess?

It is well known that Google is very supportive of gay rights, so I was a little skeptical. I tried to create a search ad in Google AdWords myself, and used the word "gay" in the title and description and it worked without an issue. In the case above, it seems like after the ad was already live, Google made a decision to review the ad later. Maybe someone felt his ad was offensive and Google pulled it until it can be manually reviewed? I am not sure, we don't have the official word from Google yet.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Update: Via Twitter @AccuraCast notified me that he has screen shots proving this. Plus @GrosenFriis has a post on this as well.

A couple weeks ago, we polled our audience asking if Google should add time zone preferences to their AdWords feature list.

Yahoo recently launched day parting, but gave advertisers the option to day part based on either the advertiser's time zone or the searcher's time zone. Google AdWords time zone setting is only based on your account's time zone, i.e. the advertiser's time zone. So if you have some one looking for your services and you want to target them based on their time zone and not yours, you are somewhat out of luck in Google AdWords.

I ran a poll asking if advertisers want Google to add this feature and the overwhelming majority of the responses said yes. 88% of advertisers want the feature, 6% said they don't want it and another 6% said they don't care.

Forum discussion continued at Google AdWords Help.

This article was written earlier this week and scheduled to go live April 10th.

ShoeMoney Sues Google Employee For AdWords Violations from TechCrunch shows how Jeremy Schoemaker (aka ShoeMoney) has filed suit against a Google AdWords employee for allegedly bidding on his trademark and possibly for stealing his keywords.

TechCrunch explains that Jeremy found signs that the person who was bidding on his trademark was very friendly with Google employees. In addition, he found that on his LinkedIn profile it said he worked at Google in the AdWords department. TechCrunch said:

At this point it’s still unclear if the violator used his position at Google to bypass its trademarked words filters or to access Schoemaker’s own list of keywords, but at the very least it’s hard to believe the Google employee was unaware that his actions were in violation of Google’s Terms of Service.

I believe this is the first time we are hearing about a case of an SEM (I know Jeremy, you don't like to be called that, but in this case, you are) suing a Google employee for these allegations. It should be interesting following this case.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

A few weeks ago, we reported Google was testing fav icons in AdWords results. The fav icons was a confirmed test by Google, that is still running to this day. In Japan, they seem to be really pumping up this test, by displaying much larger images near the ads.

A WebmasterWorld thread has a member reporting seeing 70x70 images. In fact, I contacted that member, and he posted the details, with screen captures at his blog, which is in Japanese. Here is a screen shot taken from his site:

Compare this with what we are seeing on Google.com, with just fav icons:

Huge difference here, a 16x16 vs a 70x70 image.

Let's not forget Google was also testing favicons in search results, the free, organic results.

For more pictures, check out his blog and you can try to use Google Translate to translate the Japanese to English.

Googler, AdWords Pro, confirmed the fav icon test recently in an Google AdWords Help thread, saying:

Google is always experimenting, and based on the limited information in your post, I believe you may be seeing one such experiment. If so, it is not a test that is generally available to advertisers.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

About a week ago, many Google Analytics users and Google AdWords advertisers began noticing that the AdWords cost data was no longer being sent to the Google Analytics reports. We said that Google sent a warning that this may happen, if you don't link the two accounts.

Googler, AnalyticsPro.Chris, created a new "sticky" thread at Google Analytics Help discussions that talks about this issue.

Chris said:

Going forward, you'll have to tag your URLs and enable cost data to see AdWords data in your Analytics account.

If your accounts stopped receiving AdWords CPC/PPC data around March 23/24, It is possible that it is affected by the cost data changes implemented then. If you are an admin on such an account, you should have received a message, in February, with the subject line: Action required: Important change to AdWords/Analytics cost data

Here's an article explaining the different scenarios: http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=57167

So if you have this issue, hopefully this will help you going forward.

Forum discussion at Google Analytics Help.

AdWords API users out there, you may have noticed that Google is returning errors for some of your operations and calls. Reports came in on April 1st at a Google Groups thread, which has been confirmed by Google.

Googler, Jeff Posnick from the AdWords API Team said:

I'm sorry that you're running into this. Our core engineering team has noticed a recent spate of 502 errors in our Production services, and are taking steps to isolate and resolve the problem.

502 "Bad Gateway" errors are most common in our environment when one of our backend servers has trouble communicating with another internal server, and is normally not something that you as an end user can do to avoid. There shouldn't be any connection to whether you're running your code in the debugger or not, though if you code hits a different set of backend servers in between calls you may or may not see the errors.

There have not been many complaints. That can be because of three possible reasons:

1. This is not a major issue and is only impacting a few people.
2. Few people use this feature
3. People have not yet looked at their automated reports to see these errors yet.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

There is a thread at WebmasterWorld and several in the Google Analytics Help forum with complaints that Google Analytics is no longer tracking Google AdWords data properly.

The WebmasterWorld thread has this complaint:

In two of my analytics accounts for sites which I use adwords to drive traffic all of the data is being recorded as direct and not google(cpc)...and it not reporting any traffic from adwords (which my wallet tells my otherwise!)It is only for the past two days including today. Is anyone else seeing this? Is it a glitch?

The simple answer is that in February, Google notified us that we need to link our analytics account to our AdWords accounts to pass this information. So if you have not done so, and your Analytics data is looking a bit empty, go ahead and link up those accounts. Brad has a good post explaining how to link up your accounts.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Analytics Help.

Google began beta testing a new AdWords interface about 6 months ago. Recently Google expanded that beta test and is going as far to encourage AdWords advertisers to sign up for the beta, in order to get accustomed to it before it becomes the default.

AdWordsPro Sarah said in a Google AdWords Help thread, "everyone's account will migrate to the new interface, so, to make sure you are ready, I highly recommend signing up for the beta test." She also gave us a teaser of what new stuff we can expect:

• Performance graphs: Spot trends over time with custom graphs on every campaign management page.
• Insight across ad groups: Focus on the high-impact areas of your account with new roll-up tabs on every page. You can see and edit keywords, placements or ads from all ad groups on a single tab.
• In-line editing: Want to change a keyword or bid? Click on it and make changes in-line instead of loading a separate page.
• Easier content network management: Improve content network performance through a new Networks tab. Look at statistics for the placements where your ads have appeared, and then take action by setting unique bids or excluding placements directly from the report.

Sarah asked that if you are participating in the beta, you should provide feedback, of all kinds, in this Google AdWords Help thread.

Ready or not, here it comes.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A DigitalPoint Forum thread has a collection of "weird" or "funny" ads people spotted through Google AdSense or AdWords. I thought I share them in text format, but feel free to see the thread to see screen captures.

• AdSense shows ads on a skydiver accident for American Airline with the slogan, "we know why you fly."
• AdWords shows ads for Big Daddy and Big Juicy Butts
• AdWords ads for used toilet paper
• Hillary Clinton Naked ads?
• Amazon selling "human remains."
• A search for world of warcraft showing an ad for virgin males (I guess that makes sense)
• You can visit hell on ebay
• Or sell your kids on ebay

Feel free to add more to the forum.

Forum discussion and pictures at DigitalPoint Forum.

A Sphinn thread reports that in some cases, unpausing a campaigns in an AdWords account can even activate campaigns that have been deleted.

Gab Goldberg summarized the story, saying:

Google AdWords ripped off this firm for $3200! When they restarted paused campaigns by clicking 'resume all,' Google also resumed deleted campaigns, with all adgroups and ads deleted too!

Several AdWords advertisers said they have seen this happen to them in the past. It just sounds like a major bug to me and I don't see how this can go unnoticed for too long. As AdWords accounts age, some campaigns must be deleted. Often campaigns are paused for one reason or another and when they are unpaused, you can risk being charged for deleted campaigns as well.

This seems like a serious concern to me.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Last week, Yahoo announced enhancements to their search marketing platform. Part of that announcement was that they added the day parting option, giving advertisers the ability to say they want to show their ads on specific days and different times or even increase their bids at different times.

The one option Yahoo has added that the other engines do not have, is that they give you the ability to specify if you would like the day parting settings to be based on your time zone or the searcher's time zone. I was fairly confident that Google set it based on you (the advertiser's) time zone.

I confirmed that today by asking that question in a Google AdWords Help thread. The response lead me to a answer at Google help that read:

Ad scheduling for your AdWords campaigns is based on the time zone you have set for your account. Your ad will appear during the hours shown in your account -- not in the time zone of the regions you have targeted.

For example: Assume your account time zone is set for Amsterdam, but your ads are targeted to Bangkok, six hours ahead. When you schedule your ads to run from 1:00 until 3:00 pm, the ads will run from 1:00 until 3:00 pm Amsterdam time. That means that in Bangkok, six hours ahead, they will be running from 7:00 until 9:00 pm.

So there you have it. Even features such as day parting can get very granular in its targeting options. Google doesn't give you the detailed level of control Yahoo gives you, but do advertisers need it?

Here is a poll, let us know what you think:

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Yesterday we reported that there was an Google AdWords API Usage Reporting Glitch. In short, Google wasn't telling AdWords API users how many API calls they were making, and since Google charges some advertisers for API calls, it can become an issue.

Google confirmed the issue in a Google Groups thread. Jeff Posnick from AdWords API Team said the issue is now resolved but there was an hour of API call usage Google seemed to have lost. Due to the data loss, Google cannot charge for that usage. Here is what Jeff said:

To update the thread: there was an issue that prevented AdWords API usage information from being updated following the scheduled downtime on March 14. For a few days after there was a backlog of usage info, and both the display in the AdWords web interface and the count returned via the InfoService was out of date. The engineering team believes that this issue is resolved now, and that the underlying circumstances leading to it should not recur.

They did identify a window of about an hour on March 14 for which they were not able to retrieve usage information, and any calls made during that window of time will not incur any charges (nor will they be reflected in the InfoService or the web interface's usage count). However, this window took place during the scheduled downtime, so there should have been only a small amount of traffic that got through during that time.

This likely only impacts a smaller percentage of our readers, but this seemed interesting enough to post about.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

There are two different threads at WebmasterWorld that show publishers, advertisers and affiliate's concern over a new proposed tax law in California.

The law, as understood in the thread, would potentially tax any seller who using AdWords to market their product or service. Moderator, incrediBILL, explained:

The conclusion I drew after reading the law is that since AdSense directly refers customers via links, as do the AdWords ads showing in the SERPs, it's therefore theoretically possible that anyone using Google as an advertising vehicle could be subject to CA tax.

If people advertising in Google are suddenly subject to collecting and paying CA tax then people will most likely stop advertising on Google.

You can see the details about this tax proposal named AB178 and the hearing won't be until April 13, 2009.

Some are very skeptical over the bill and they are not worried too much about how it might impact them.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: 5 Star Affiliate Blog has very good coverage of this concern. Well worth a read.

There are reports in the Google AdWords API Google Groups that the Google AdWords API is reporting inaccurate data from the usage tool.

First reports came in on March 19th, where an AdWords API user said:

We have just rolled out an application using API and the Unit Usage from 3 days ago is not showing up. It says on the page where this is viewed that it is updated daily. Anyone know whats going on there? Have we not been charged?

In short, Google charges for certain level of usage for the API. AdWords API users keep track of their usage reporting to stay on top of costs. The usage reporting seems to not be updating correctly and costs are hard to control without that reporting.

Jeff Posnick from the Google AdWords API Team said:

I have a bug open with the engineering team to determine whether there was some underlying problem that prevented the display in the web interface from being updated. Hopefully if there is a problem we can get it resolved so that no further confusion ensues.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

Yesterday, for the second time this month, we reported that Google's Keyword Tool Getting To Broad. I guess it is the time of the month where SEMs do their keyword research because many more threads popped up on this issue over the passed few days.

The official Google AdWords representative updated several threads complaining about the issue saying it is a bug. The representative said:

A bit of asking around tells me that what is being reported here is a technical issues known to the engineering folks, and not an intentional change.

As you will probably imagine, Engineering aims to resolve things as quickly as possible.

I am sorry to say that I don't have an estimated time-to-resolution - and I will exercise my better judgment and not even guess. I will, however, happily update this thread a couple of hours after I've heard that it is resolved.

In the meantime, please accept both my apology for the inconvenience, and my thanks in advance for your patience.

Forum discussion continued at Google AdWords Help, WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.

Update: Hours later, some are reporting seeing the keyword tool looking better. AdWords representative updated the thread saying:

To set reasonable expectations, though, I hear some finishing touches will take through early-to-mid next week. So if anyone sees anything thing odd, hang in there.

Threads at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums have webmasters complaining about Google's keyword tool. The complaint is that the keyword suggestions are too broad.

Here is one of the reports:

Anyone notice more broad terms being included in their adwords keyword tool searches? It used to group related keywords at the top of the results and list more broad/related terms below. I just noticed them all mixed together...not sure if it's a glitch or one of their tweaks.

For example, I did a lookup on the keyword [ipods] and Google gave me suggestions such as [wholesale], [deals], [free], [best price] and so on.

Webmasters and advertisers are hoping that this is some type of bug or glitch that will go away soon.

I'm really hoping this is a bug, not a change. The tool is pretty much worthless in its current state. I think it might be a bug since some keyword phrases still get divided into two lists the way it should be.

I have a feeling this might be related to what the API users were seeing a couple weeks ago.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.

Update: Google Confirms Keyword Tool Issue is a Bug.

A DigitalPoint Forums thread has discussion over a new trademarked term that made it into Google's trademark policy list. The word is "MySQL" and is the name of one of the more popular open source database systems.

Yesterday, I received an email that one of my demo ads (wasn't live anyway) was disapproved due to trademark violations. I read it, thought to myself, no big deal and trashed the email. But some are upset. Showing an ad for MySQL does help promote the brand in many ways. For example, if you are a developer that specializes in MySQL, then putting ads out there for that term, might benefit both parties. If you are a development company looking to hire MySQL engineers (like we are), then that also promotes and helps the MySQL company.

That being said, the easy way around it is to just drop of the "My" from the "SQL" in the ad copy and you would be set. Clearly, it won't help brand the database company, but that is their call.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Friday, we reported at Search Engine Land that Google is testing favicons (the icons you see in the URL bar) in Google AdWords ads. The test seems to be limited to the European market. Here is a screen shot taken from one of our members at Search Engine Roundtable Forums:

Notice the bottom two ads on the right have little icons on the left of the display URL. Those icons seem to be from the favicon.ico file on those respective sites. For example, eBay's is at ebay.com/favicon.ico.

There are several members reporting seeing this at WebmasterWorld and one at Search Engine Roundtable Forums. In fact, one received confirmation from his AdWords representative that this is something Google is testing on a very limited closed beta. Kerstin, who posted this, said:

Spoke to our AM at Google this morning, they've confirmed that they're testing. It's limited (for both advertisers and searchers) and closed.

What was interesting was just a few months ago, Google was testing favorite icons in the search results, the free listings.

It seems like if you are in the UK area, you may stumble across this test every now and then.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Just a heads up to you Google AdWords API users. If you are running development tests off Google's sandbox environment, do not that it is having technical issues for the past day or two.

A Google Groups thread has confirmation of the issue by Google's Jeff Posnick.

Jeff Posnick said:

The engineering team is working to resolve what is believed to be the cause of this Sandbox issue. Without getting into too many details, they'll be addressing a database-related issue that seems to have cropped up in a recent deployment of the Sandbox servers. I don't have an ETA for when this will be completed, but will update the group with any additional information as it becomes available.

It does not seem to be fixed yet, so just hang tight and keep watching the thread.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

Update: It should have been back up as of 2:30pm today. Jeff updated the thread saying:

Yes, there was just an update made a few minutes ago that will hopefully restore functionality for most of our users. However, my understanding is that there is another change that the engineering team still needs to push out a bit later today, so I don't want to say that things are completely stable until that's complete.

Over the weekend, I heard some reports of issues with Google's keyword tool. I received a Twitter from @dalka, I spotted a Google Groups thread from the AdWords API forum and a Google AdWords Help forum thread with complaints.

They all surround the keyword tool, both via the API and via the external web based tool. Jeff Posnick from the AdWords API Team said:

Fresh search volume data is currently being pushed out and replicated globally, and the engineering team believes that the sporadic -1 results you were seeing is a side-effect of that process. Once it is complete there should be up to date data available globally. They mentioned that you should check again on Monday to confirm this.

AdWordsPro Stephen, an official Google representative said:

It sounds like the AdWords system is reacting to receiving many requests from you in a very short time. Using scripts or 'screenscrapers' to gather data from AdWords is a violation of the AdWords terms and conditions, and there are some automated monitors that enforce this.

There does seem to be minor issues with the tool, so be on the look out if you are using any of these tools today.

Forum discussion at Google Groups and Google AdWords Help.

Rimm-Kaufman posted data that shows how their are less people searching for products and services to buy, leading to less sales, which impacts the overall PPC budgets. Yes, all related to this global recession.

I laid out the key points in my Search Engine Land brief:

• Approximately 20% reduction in sales from search ads from last year
• Approximately 20% reduction in his costs from search ads from last year
• The average order value from search ads dropped 10% from last year
• The conversion rate from search ads seemed to remain stable from last year
• There may be more competition in the space, but hard to prove

One advertiser noticed this himself and posted a question at Google AdWords Help asking if others noticed this. The only response we have so far is from a Google representative, AdWordsPro, who wouldn't comment about what Google has seen.

Advertisers, take the anonymous poll and let us know if less people are searching and clicking on your ads.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

There is an interesting thread at WebmasterWorld forums on the topic of saving Google AdWords accounts. You know how Google has this quality score component to AdWords? ;-) Well, sometimes an ad or ad group or account has a very low quality score, making your cost per click prices soar. Some call this the Google Slap.

That being said, if the quality score gets really bad, is it ever worth ditching the account and starting fresh?

eWhisper, WebmasterWorld moderator, said that in "almost every case, an account can be 'saved'." Saving your account might be time consuming, but it seems like the general consensus is that it is almost always worth saving the account, as opposed to starting new.

How exactly can you save a 'lost' AdWords account? Well, I'll leave those details to the thread.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Over the past couple months, I have been seeing thread after thread from AdWords advertisers with complaints that their competitors are showing over the 25 character limit in the Google AdWords title of the ad.

Google says there is a max 25 character limit for the title, including spaces. But advertiser after advertiser have been posting in the forums, with complaints that advertisers are using more than that 25 character limit.

A month or so ago, I sent this information to Google asking if there was a policy change. Google told me, no, this must have been a bug of some sort. A Google spokeswoman told me, "We haven't changed our AdWords policy regarding the number of characters allowed in the title line."

So why is it still happening? I know, when I upload my SEO videos to YouTube sometimes they enforce their title word limit and sometimes they don't.

I am not sure what is wrong with Google AdWords, but something is for sure up. Maybe these are getting by through AdWords Editor, maybe through the API, maybe through the standard interface or maybe through dynamic keyword insertion - I am not sure.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google AdWords Help.

Update: This appears to not be a bug, I have more details at Get Longer Google AdWords Titles Through Dynamic Keyword Insertion.

There is an important change coming up for those Google AdWords users who use Google Analytics to track their campaigns. Brad posted this information yesterday, but just in case you missed it, here it is again.

This is the email being sent to those that are impacted by this change. But I am concerned that not everyone who would be impacted by the change received the email, so here it is:

On March 4th, we will be updating how Google Analytics imports AdWords data to improve security and provide greater control and convenience. This update will require that your AdWords and Analytics accounts are linked and that you have "Apply Cost Data" selected. We are proactively notifying Administrators of Analytics accounts that will be affected by this change (you either have auto-tagging enabled and/or have a linked account without cost data applied to some or all of your profiles).

If you are receiving AdWords traffic (e.g. Visits), but the AdWords reports in Google Analytics do not contain impression or click data (e.g. CPC, Impressions, ROI), then it is likely that AdWords and Analytics are not linked or the cost data option is turned off for that profile. The cost data import option is selected by default when linking your accounts; however, new profiles created after the linking process may not have cost data implemented.

There is a Google AdWords Help thread with additional instructions on how to link your accounts, if you need to take this action.

AdWordsPro Stephen explained that this change is being done for security reasons.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Outstanding news for marketers of all kinds, Google has quietly opened up Google Ad Planner to everyone, or at least, that is what it seems. Go to google.com/adplanner and give it a try, you should be able to sign in with your Google Account and agree to the terms of service and then start using this incredibly robust and powerful tool.

Google launched Ad Planner in June 2008 as an invite only program. I was privileged to be included in this release and I provided detailed screen captures of Ad Planner in action. Take a quick look, the data is amazing.

Like I said above, all marketers, including search marketers, print marketers, water marketers :) need to check this out.

Again, go to google.com/adplanner now and give it a try.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: It has been open since November. I am sorry, I should have known this, we blogged it at Search Engine Land.

We reported earlier that Google AdWords is sunsetting the AdWords API version 12 on February 23, 2009. Google has been forced to extend that deadline to March 9th, due to the Perl library not being updated until recently.

The Perl library is managed by a third-party, outside of Google and it just took him extra time (of his free time) to get this done. So, Google decided to push off the deadline to March 9th, to give people a chance to update their applications. The Perl library is now updated and can be read about at this thread.

Jeff Posnick of the Google AdWords API Team warns that version 14 will "contain numerous fundamental changes. All of the client libraries will need significant updates to support the next release." So be prepared.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

By nature, people are often more likely to write a complaint about something than to write a positive letter of encouragement for a job well done. I recently spotted a positive note left by a Google advertiser in the Google AdWords Help forum and I thought it would be nice of us to highlight this thread.

The advertiser was basically commenting on the topic of click fraud and how he/she feels Google is doing a great job on quality of the ads and the quality of the leads generated through the ads. Let me quote that post here:

Amidst all of the angst on the forum, I want to give them their props for keeping the fraudulent clicks to a minimum. I've been very impressed with my latest round of ads, even exploring their content network--which I was reluctant to do after trying it with a different provider-- and so far I have no complaints about the quality of the clicks.

A 2 minute post like that can really brighten up the day for some of the people who work so hard at Google to make a good product for advertisers.

Kudos to Google and to their advertisers!

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

I often see a post here or there, on a daily basis, of an AdWords advertiser complaining their quality score has significantly dropped and they have been "Google Slapped." But in the past few days, I have seen an influx of these types of posts. So I suspect a new quality score algorithm was pushed through that Google did not deem significant enough to mention on their blog, but which did have significant impact on many advertisers.

We have two new threads that have complaints from advertisers. One is at DigitalPoint Forums and the other is at WebmasterWorld. Here are some isolated posts from those threads:

I have woken up today to find 2 very profitable campaigns with no sales. So after checking google adwords it looks like someone has done some sort of manual review of my site or something as all my major campaigns have either got:

9/10 quality scores click through rate of around 2% but getting hit with £2 bids on a niche that has been operating fine for the past few months.

On the other main campaign I have quality scores of 1/10 for almost all keywords dispite prior to this 4-5%ctr ads and landing page optimised for the terms I am targeting.

A lot of our keywords have dropped QS from 8ish down to 1/10.

The diagnostics say that the ads and ad text are fine but landing page needs improving. Google have told me lots of times before that the site is great so a bit confused.

Hopefully you were not hit by this latest slap.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

A search in Google News for santa cruz storm brough up a fake Google News item via the Google AdWords ads for some searchers. Here is a picture sent to me by a reader:

Google started showing ads in news results a while back. One advertiser tried to use this as a way to scare people around the world, by saying the new United States President, Barack Obama, was killed. Clearly, that is not true. Here is the ad copy, if you cannot make it out from the image above:

Latest NEWS President OBAMA was KILLED Potential killer is Russian Spy www.lolnews.usnewnews.com

I personally did not see this ad and I am glad it was removed. But clearly, this leaves Google open to a whole new level of spam and hate ads.

Why now? Maybe because it is President's Day?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

According to a DigitalPoint Forums thread, Google has updated their AdWords policy to require that all ringtone ads contain pricing details directly in the ad copy.

I tried to find any official updated documentation from Google on this new policy, but was unable to do so. Thus, this is not confirmed yet by Google but honestly, it would not surprise me, if this was indeed a new policy.

The email received by this advertiser was:

"...we will require text and image ads for these services to display the price and billing interval (such as per week or per month) in the ad text, e.g., '$5.99/month.' We will no longer accept text or image ads that don't contain the price and billing interval when promoting mobile content services..."

As you can imagine, some ringtone advertisers are upset about this policy change. Supposedly, all ads without this that advertise for ringtones, will be rejected.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Over the weekend, there were hundreds of posts and dozens of threads with complaints from both Google AdWords advertisers and Google AdSense publishers. The complaints were that the reports were not being updated. Google has confirmed the issue in Google AdWords Help discussions area saying:

• There was a stats issue in the Ads system that affected stats related to Adwords and AdSense.
• The issue started at roughly 4AM PST on Sat 2/14/09 and lasted several hours.
• The issue only affected stats and reporting. AdServing was not affected and all ads continued to run as normal.
• Account access was normal during this time.
• AdWords engineers are working to get all stats back online/up-to-date ASAP. The update process has started.
• No stats have been lost
• It is anticipated that by the end of today all basic stats at the Adgroup, Campaign, and Account level will be current.
• Advanced stats such as Product Placement Reports and Query reports for Friday, Saturday, Sunday are anticipated to be available by Tuesday 2/17/09

Like I said, there is a lot of discussion around this issue. Here are the threads:

• Alert: Account stats were delayed Saturday, February 14, 2009, Google AdWords Help
• Adsense on Valentines Day, DigitalPoint Forums
• Adwords Drop. Is anyone else seeing this?, Search Engine Watch Forums
• Are everyone's stats really lagged right now?, WebmasterWorld
• Saturday Feb 14th stats stuck, WebmasterWorld
• Stats stuck?, DigitalPoint Forums

I am shocked to see this! Google seems to be testing part of SearchWiki, Google's way of promoting and removing results, to be spotted in the AdWords or sponsored ads section of the Google search results. Some people are noticing the X icon, which allows searchers to delete results from Google, in the sponsored listings.

Here is a picture from Rehan via WebmasterWorld:

Why am I surprised to see this on the AdWords results? Well, one, I was surprised to see them on the main results for all Google users. Second reason, these are paid ads. But I guess they can use the feedback as part of the overall quality score.

Got that? Quality score metric. A new way to perform competitive sabotage on the Google ads. Well, not yet at least.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: Here is a statement I received from a Google spokesperson:

As part of our ongoing commitment to innovation, we are currently running an experiment in which users can customize the ads that appear in the "Sponsored Links" section of the search results page by deleting ad results. This experimental feature is only visible to a small number of users, and we have no news to announce at this time regarding developments in our AdWords product offering.

I spotted an interesting exchange of words in a Google AdWords Help forum thread. An AdWords advertiser who had his account suspended due to terms of service violations asked if there was a way to reverse that.

Google's AdWordsPro Sarah had a pretty strong response. Let me quote her:

To be honest, its really hard to reactivate an account that is suspended because Google reserves the right to permanently terminate all AdWords activity if you ever violate the Terms and Conditions. If I were you, I would pursue other advertising channels.

Now, I don't know the details of this specific suspension, but in general, don't you think Google should be more open to this? I mean, don't most people deserve a second chance?

This advertiser was told to "pursue other advertising channels," now that is a bold comment. Personally, I find it a bit cool that Google would say that, but that is me.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Google started testing audio ads back in December 2006. In May 2007, they launched it to the masses and we saw some early feedback on those ads.

But yesterday, we got news that Google will discontinue those ads and will likely fire the team of 40 people in that group.

Since the announcement, we saw at least two sad advertisers. In two Google AdWords Help Threads we saw complaints that Google dropped the program.

In fact, one person noticed something was wrong before the announcement when he said that he wasn't receiving any estimates from stations anymore. A Google representative was just as surprised to hear the news, saying:

Yes - I just learned of this today, myself. I would want Kathy to note, though, that ads will continue to run through the end of May.

It is sad to see things fail, but Google should focus on what they do best.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help Threads.

A HighRankings Forum thread has discussion around a topic I have never seen before. Should you ever consider using abbreviations in a title or description of your search ads? Here is the question from the advertiser:

I'm writing a PPC headline and would like to know about abbreviating a word in the title instead of spelling it out completely.

For example; 'flr' instead of 'floor'...Reason is to save space in order to fit copy all on one line.

I would say that this would be a no no, in this case. But in some cases, you might be able to pull it off. Stock symbols work in many cases, some abbreviations are really well known, such as FYI.

The issue isn't with Google not allowing it but your CTR dropping due to people not understanding your ad. If your CTR drops, your quality score may drop and it may result in paying more for a ad position you would have otherwise paid less for. Plus, often, a lower CTR leads to less sales.

But as nethy said, it is something you can experiment with and see if it works for your campaigns. Just watch it carefully and be ready to pull the plug if you notice a drop in your metrics.

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum.

Disgruntled Google AdWords advertisers noticed a few days ago that Google automatically turned on "automatic matching" on their campaigns. The first reports seem to have come in at WebmasterWorld on Thursday.

Here is one post showing their distaste for such a finding:

I just noticed Automatic matching total/Enabled/no clicks or impressions at the bottom of my keyword stats and I am not happy.

It turned out to be a bug that Google fixed a couple of days later. Google issued this statement to concerned advertisers:

Due to a bug in our AdWords interface which surfaced early this morning Pacific Time, you may have seen a message indicating that Automatic Matching was enabled in your account even though you had not turned it on. This message was added to some accounts by mistake and the error will be corrected today. No charges to any advertiser will result. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

This was handled very well by Google, even though they seem to be spewing bugs out all over the place these days.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

In the Google AdWords forum, Google posts various tips every couple weeks or so. The latest tip, I found to be very interesting and thought some of our readers would benefit from it. It is on the topic of how to maximize your visibility on low traffic keywords.

AdWordsPro Sarah who posted the tip first recommended trying to utilize the content network. She said the content network saying, you "have an understanding of the type of people you are targeting, and like all of the types of advertising, you find a place they are bound to visit and place an ad there."

But what about tips for those low traffic keywords in the search network? She offers three useful and important tips. Let me quote them:

1. Start Small. The knee jerk reaction is to throw a million keywords at the wall and see what sticks. The problem with this is that it is hard to manage this many keywords. A keyword may have terrible performance, but it gets lost in the crowd and you may never notice. Its fine to use the 'throw and stick' method, but I like to throw small batches of keywords at the wall so I can carefully monitor their performance.
2. Delete Delete Delete. If you test a large number of keywords and they don't perform well, they start to drag down your account Quality Score. And, to make matter worse, having a low account Quality Score, makes it harder to introduce new keywords (they tend to start with a lower Quality Score in a low Quality account). To avoid this, I recommend that low performing keywords be deleted immediately. If you have 100-200 impressions and no clicks, its time to think about deleting. If you have 200-300, it really is time. Advertisers tend to think if they wait just a little longer, a click will come. However, while they wait, the keyword drags down the account. If you want to test a lot of keywords, you have to be willing to give the non performers the ax.
3. Go Local. If you think your product might appeal to a local audience (a new umbrella hat- why not target Seattle), you can use location targeting to help get your ad in front of the right people. If you can't rely on the search as heavily, you need to think about all of the other tools that are available for targeting. Who would want this product? Where do they live? When are they online? If you think your target audience is suburban moms, you might want to stay out of the city and try scheduling your ads during the day when the are at home.

The discussion around these tips is just getting started.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

This is a warning to anyone still using version 12 of the Google AdWords API. Google has announced in a Google Groups thread, amongst other places, that they will stop supporting it on February 23, 2009.

AdWords API version 13 has been available since October and if you have not yet upgraded, it is time to do so now.

Jeff Posnick from the Google API team said, "the latest versions of the publicly available official Google client libraries all support version 13 of the API, so if you're using one of those, please check the relevant README file for information on how to switch from version 12 to 13." However, the Perl version is not maintained by Google and the third party developer has not yet upgraded it. Google has confirmed that it will be upgraded before the sunset date.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

Conduct a Google search for mens or luggage or hard drives and you might see, like I see, in the AdWords are a plus sign for "show products from [site name]." Here is one of the examples:

When you click the plus sign, you get this:

The same shows up on the right hand side of the search results for many other keywords. I believe the requirement is that you be an advertiser at Google and have product in Google Base/Shopping.

Now, Google has been testing this since November 2007 and continued the tests again in January 2008 but now it seems to be showing up for many searches and for many searchers. So this might not be a test anymore, this might be the new standard to make the ads more interactive and possibly more useful.

I am not sure if clicking on a product link will cost the advertiser money, I would assume it would, but I have not confirmed this.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and thank you Nick for pinging me on this.

Google sent me a comment on this matter:

As part of our ongoing commitment to innovation and helping users find the information they're looking for online, we are testing a feature called the AdWords Product PlusBox, intended to help make information about specific products more easily accessible. For ads associated with products in Google Base, a plusbox can be expanded to display relevant products from that advertiser. The plusbox provides users with more information about an advertiser's offering even before clicking on the ad, and offers advertisers a new way to engage potential customers. This feature is currently in a limited beta with a small number of advertisers.

A Google AdWords Help thread has a short question and short answer on how to deal with slanderous or negative Google ads about an individual or company.

The question was, "How do you remove a false statement posted about an individual?" AdWordsPro Sarah explained that in these cases, you need to fill out a Google AdWords feedback form. Once you submit the form, Google will have someone manually review the ad and take action, if necessary.

Sarah explained, Google's "policy team will manually review the ad and pull it down if it is not meeting any of our guidelines."

Now, negative or slanderous search results that are not ads are harder to deal with.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A reader, Kasia Bauer, informed me that Google AdWords is testing out a new tool to expand the Google diagnoses or analysis tool. Typically, if you want to see the quality factors of a keyword, you hover your mouse over each keyword and it will show you some details, where you can then click to drill down into more details. This is a keyword, by keyword activity.

The way this is currently done, is by hovering your mouse over the magnifying glass. Here is a picture:

But what if you wanted a report for all the keywords in your campaign? Google seems to be testing that now. Here are screen captures from our reader that demonstrate this new feature (that I currently do not see):

I can see this being useful for larger campaigns that you want a snap shot review of.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

On Sunday, we reported that Google will now be requiring one domain per ad group as part of their new display URL policy in the AdWords program. In short, what this means is that you cannot advertiser for rustybrick.com and seroundtable.com in the same AdWords ad group.

We were unable to confirm that this change is indeed going to happen until today. AdWordsAdvisor in that WebmasterWorld thread confirmed the change by saying:

I can confirm that there is a change coming up, the intent of which is to make sure users are sent to the site to which they expect to be sent.

That said, I am so far behind in general (which, by the way, also accounts for my less than sterling attendence in the forum the past week and more) that I am not yet up-to-speed on the details.

I will look into it and post again later. To set reasonable expectations, it is not likely to be earlier than late in the day tomorrow (Friday) - just looking at what I've got to get done before I can even start digging into it.

My apology for not having a concise answer, right now.

So if you are very interested in these details, I would visit WebmasterWorld again later today.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: On February 20, 2009, Google posted a blog post once again confirming this change and sharing that this will be going into affect the week of February 24, 2009.

Confirmed reports at a Google AdWords Help thread show that if you use the XML format for Google AdWords reports, you will be missing decimal values in the report.

The advertiser who reported this noticed the discrepancy when he generate duplicate reports, one in Excel format and one is XML format. The advertiser said:

When I generate reports in excel format, I get the right number for avg cpc with decimasl, and when I generate an xml format it gives me a different one without the decimal. e.g. In Excel it is avgcpc = 1.50 while in XML avgcpc= 1478393. I think there is a bug in the reports when converted to XML format.

AdWordsPro Stephen confirmed the issue and said he will follow up on why this is the case and let us know if it is a bug or a 'feature.'

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Back in November 2008, we reported Google was testing a new AdWords interface. It seems like we are getting more reports from blogs and WebmasterWorld that more advertisers are now able to see this new interface.

It is an opt in feature, where Google is asking some of their advertisers if they would like to participate in the new interface.

Tim Cohn posted some additional screen captures at his blog, taking you through some of the new features and sleeker designs and reports.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

An advertiser notes in a WebmasterWorld thread that Google's Learning Center module has an interesting piece of content, under the section 3D, Targeting/Keyword Targeting. It said:

Note: Partner sites don't recognize keyword matching options. Therefore, all keywords on these sites are treated as broad-matched keywords.

This means, that when AOL displays Google AdWords ads on AOL Search, they might not listen to if you want to only show an ad for blue shoes, as opposed to red shoes. As you can imagine, this really got many advertisers worried.

The original poster brought this to the attention of his Google representative, who told him, that note needs to be clarified. He basically said, match types do apply to the search network, including search partners, but does not include the content network.

So match type controls do not make a difference on the content network, but they do make a difference on the search network and search partners.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

In October, we reported that both InsideAdWords & Microsoft adCenter are Twittering. But it now seems like more Google AdWords representatives have joined the Twitter bandwagon.

Both AdWordsPro Sarah & AdWordsPro Stephen are now on Twitter. You can follow them at:

• http://twitter.com/AdWordsProSarah
• http://twitter.com/AdWordsHelper

Sarah is Sarah and AdWordsHelper is Stephen. Welcome to Twitter guys!

Why should you care? Well, if you are an advertiser, you may be able to ask direct questions to these Googlers and you may be able to pick up new tricks and tips for your campaigns.

Oh and don't forget, this blog is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/seroundtable and I am personally at Twitter at http://twitter.com/rustybrick, so follow us as well.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A Google AdWords Help thread is a myth busting thread on the topic of blacklisting AdWords campaigns. Two Google representations confirm that Google will not blacklist or ban AdWords campaigns due to have a low or poor quality score.

One advertiser asked, "Can your account be "blacklisted" in regards to the Quality Score of the Landing Page?"

This might be considered a popular myth. Why? Well, if a campaign or keyword has a low quality score, it may feel like you have been blacklisted. But your ads won't show or your bids will skyrocket not due to being blacklisted but more due to having a poor quality score.

Both AdWords representatives gives more advice on how to improve your quality score in the thread.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A pulled WebmasterWorld thread has reports from some advertisers that Google is sending out notifications to them that they have changed their display URL policy again. This change is that you can have only one display URL domain in an ad group. So you can not have a display URL for www.seroundtable.com and www.rustybrick.com in the same ad group, according to this policy.

I have not seen confirmed reports of this email, but they are floating around the forums and blogs. Here is a copy of the email text:

In an effort to provide more relevant results and a higher quality experience for our users, we have made the decision to no longer allow multiple domains within a single ad group. Going forward, all display URLs within an ad group must be for the same top-level domain. Please note that this amendment to our policy applies to all advertisers, regardless of previous exceptions or acceptability of any campaigns. While we understand there are legitimate use-cases for multiple domains within one ad group, we ask that separate ad groups are created for any given domain.

For instructions on editing your display URL, please see https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6272&hl=en_US

Please know that we will not be retroactively disapproving ads until the end of February. Please aim to make the changes before then.

The WebmasterWorld is on hold, likely due to a copy and paste of an email. But it might be activated soon and we can get more of an idea on the legitimacy of these reports.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: We received confirmation that this will indeed be happening.

Update 2: On February 20, 2009, Google posted a blog post once again confirming this change and sharing that this will be going into affect the week of February 24, 2009.

We have been covering the consequences of a site getting hacked from the SEO perspective, time and time again. See our hack tag for more articles on that. But it also may impact your Google AdWords campaign.

A AdWords Help thread has discussion that an advertiser noticed his campaigns were stopped and his account looked to be suspended.

An official Google representative, AdWordsPro Sarah, said the account was not suspended but rather "under review." Soon after the webmaster cleaned up the hack, Google reinstated the site both in the organic listings and the paid listings.

But between the time the hack hurt both the paid and free listings, it was a very helpless feeling for the site owner.

Forum discussion at AdWords Help.

Since 2005, we have reported signs of Google placing ads on their image search service. In May 2008, Google said they would run ads on image search and then signs of text ads on image search back in December. But it has really not stuck and people saw the ads on and off.

I think for the first time, we are now seeing ads for many queries in image search. Here are some examples of Google showing text ads in image search. I believe you can reproduce this yourself:

+ ipods:

+ computers:

+ ford mustang:

Many other keywords all seem to work, such as blood pressure, gloves, baskets and even seo or buy text ads.

The big question is, can advertisers opt out of showing their ads on Google images?

So it looks like they are now here to stay.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

There is an interesting paid search thread over at WebmasterWorld on the topic of using match types. For newbies, match types basically give you the ability to tell how specific or broad you want Google to match your keywords. So if you want Google to show your ad for the keyword phrase blue widget, and variations of it, like big widget that is blue, you use a specific match type. For more on how match types work, see this help document.

That being said, Google is now recommending that you do not list out multiple match types for keyword phrases. Typically, an advertiser might target several keywords, but be very specific on those keywords. So what Google seems to not want you to do these days is add all of the following to your keyword list, but instead decide to go all broad or all narrow.

Example:
'blue widget'
[blue widget]
[widget blue]
[big blue widgets]
and so on

Senior member, bcc1234, said he got word from Google that "they discourage the use of the same keyword with multiple match types." He explained, that "instead of triples of all keywords, they want advertisers to go from "broad" to "narrow" (in their words)." He thinks this makes sense, why?

It actually makes sense to some degree. But I'm guessing they are trying to cut down on the total number of keywords in their system. I imagine with millions of advertisers, and lots of them uploading hundreds of thousands of keywords in dozens of accounts, it really becomes a saleability issue.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Advertisers sometimes fret about each and every click they get on their search ads. Some clicks cost a few pennies, while others can go well over $10 or more per click. In these recessionary times, each click really matters. It shows, I have been seeing more threads about how is each click calculated more often now, then ever.

For example, one advertiser was worried that Google or their bots were clicking on his/her ads. He/She was worried that those clicks would deplete the budget and cost them more money to advertise.

To calm the anxiety, AdWordsPro replied to the AdWords Help thread and said:

To set your mind, you will not be charged for any click that comes from a Google IP address. This includes clicks from Google employees who manually review ads and site, etc.

Now, what about all those Googlers who work from home? I guess they are in the VPN.

Forum discussion at AdWords Help.

About a week ago, we broke the news that Google AdWords has a voting tool to allow advertisers vote on the most important features they want added to Google AdWords. It has been a week and now that many votes are in. AdWordsPro Sarah posted the top two requests:

1. To be able to set different bids on Search Partners for my adwords campaigns!
2. Give advertisers more control over broad matches. Specifically, give them the option to turn off expanded broad matches. This could be a campaign level setting.

These two requests are great ideas, but if you want your idea to be on the list, head over to the AdWords Wish List and add or vote for your ideas.

This is a great way for Google to organize what they think advertisers really want and thus prioritize feature requests.

Forum discussion at