Google AdWords Archives

Tax time is just around the corner and people are preparing their U.S. tax returns. Part of that, for some, is to document how much they spent on their Google AdWords campaigns. To do that, they typically want to know Google's tax ID number, to put on the IRS forms.

Google has an FAQ on how to locate Google's tax ID number. It goes as follows:

(1) Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.
(2) Click the Billing tab and select Billing summary.
(3) Click Print invoice, which appears in the shaded area on top of the Billing Summary table.

Google's tax ID appears below the Google address on the invoice.

The issue is, I don't see it there and others also don't see it there. A Google AdWords Help thread has one person complaining it is not there. That person got a canned response from a Google rep.

Maybe I am missing it, but I click on the print invoice link as I point to here:

Up comes the invoice, but it is missing the tax ID, which should be "below the Google address on the invoice."

Do you see it? I don't. It must be a bug?

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Some Google AdWords advertisers are reporting that their ads are being disapproved due to what is called "Artificial Ad Traffic." There are two thread at Google AdWords Help on the topic.

At this point, no one really fully understands the issue behind those warnings. An advertising policy guideline on Inflating Ad Clicks or Impressions was hyperlinked to by one AdWords helper. Then a Google representative, AdWordsPro, said that this was the correct answer to such a warning.

It says:

Don't promote inflating ad clicks or impressions.

Advertising is not permitted for the promotion of inflating clicks or impressions on ads, such as pay-to-click, pay-to-view, auto-surfing, automated ad clicking, and other guaranteed traffic programs.

An "Artificial Ad Traffic" disapproval has to do with the Inflating Ad Clicks or Impressions guideline.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

An email has started going out to Google AdWords advertisers about a change to privilege access in AdWords. The email basically says that the "report-only" access is changing to "read-only" access.

Here is a block of the email that went out to advertisers.

We're going to replace reports-only access with a new read-only access. In your account, all reports-only users will become read-only users automatically. This change will allow your reports-only users to have a more complete view of your account's performance. Read-only users will have access to advanced reporting tools, available in the Campaigns tab -- for example filters and data segmentation, and this will make it easier to notice performance trends and find areas for improvement.

Read-only access will still be limited to browsing and viewing reports. These read-only users will not be able to make edits to campaigns, but they won't be restricted only to using the Reports tab. They'll be able to view statistics anywhere in your account, including the Campaigns tab.

These changes will be made in the next few weeks. No action is required on your part, if you're comfortable with the changes. If you don't want your reports-only users to see the Campaigns tab, you can update your account access preferences...

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

This may be common knowledge to some, but I really had no idea the Google AdWords Professional exam was timed. You have two hours to complete about one hundred questions. You cannot pause the test or stop it and pick it up later.

Personally, I am an extremely fast test taker. I was the one in class that always finished first. Didn't mean I got all the questions right, but I was fast. But there are many people out there that are extremely slow at test taking. Do you think two hours for 100 questions is enough time?

A Google AdWords Help thread has AdWordsPro, an official Google representative, saying that he/she wanted to pause the test him/herself but was unable to. Let me quote:

When I took it again recently I, too, wished I could have paused it for a quick trip to the restroom. Too much coffee during the final pre-test studying!

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Back in December 2008, over a year ago, Google began testing AdWords in Google Suggest on the Google.com home page. Since then, I rarely saw anyone report seeing ads as you type your query in the Google search box.

A new WebmasterWorld thread has one user reporting seeing it. Maybe Google is finally moving forward with these ads? I personally cannot trigger an ad to show up for my sample queries, but maybe I am not on that data center or in the new test group?

The webmaster said:

I noticed when doing a search, that at the top of the 'search suggestions', box, a clickable adwords ad appeared. (for the company whose name I was typing). This might not be new, but I never saw this before...

I only saw this when using the google.com/ home page for the first time.

Here is how it may look:

Do you see them? Have you seen them? Do you like or hate them?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

An Google AdWords Help thread has one company who feels he was scammed by a Google "subcontractor." His first mistake is not being knowledgeable enough about who he hired. Google does not have "subcontractors" but they do have certified AdWords professionals.

So if you do feel you were done wrong by a certified AdWords professional, you can report them. That is, if they are really an AdWords professional. First make sure they are a a certified professional. If they are, there is a "Report a complaint about this partner" link on their hosted Google page.

Side note: Interesting they call them "partners" here.

Once you click on that link, you are taken to this form, which you can fill out. Google should then review the complaint and take any necessary action they deem appropriate.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Over the past week, Google has released new client libraries for the AdWords API. The new libraries are available in Java, PHP, Python, .NET, and Ruby. They contain bug fixes, unit tests, and enhancements.

Here are links to the new libraries:

• Java: code.google.com/p/google-api-adwords-java/
• PHP: code.google.com/p/google-api-adwords-php/"
• Python: code.google.com/p/google-api-adwords-python-lib/
• .NET: code.google.com/p/google-api-adwords-dotnet/
• Ruby: code.google.com/p/google-api-adwords-ruby/

If you run into any issues or have questions, you can submit them over here.

Forum discussion at AdWords API Forum.

If you go to the Google AdWords Certification Program Learning Center you will now see that Google is offering 4 exams, not one exam - to take and to earn your certification with Google AdWords. The exams include:

• Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam
• Search Advertising Advanced Exam
• Display Advertising Advanced Exam
• Reporting & Analysis Advanced Exam

There is actually a whole grid of courses you can review before taking the exams. I am not sure if you can actually take all four exams yet, but it seems like you will be able to do so soon.

We actually expected the tests to get harder over time, plus Google told us to expect this as well.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A new, and logical, Google AdWords display URL policy was announced this week. In summary, if you are on a public, hosted domain, you must show the subdomain that you are using in your display URL. For example:

Incorrect:

Destination URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com
Display URL: blogspot.com

Correct:

Destination URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com
Display URL: adwords.blogspot.com

Incorrect:

Destination URL: http://subdomain.wordpress.com
Display URL: wordpress.com

Correct:

Destination URL: http://subdomain.wordpress.com
Display URL: subdomain.wordpress.com

There is discussion, not much discussion, but some, at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums. As expected, the WebmasterWorld feedback, so far, is positive to this change, saying "this is how it should be." As expected, the DigitalPoint Forums feedback, so far, is negative to this change, saying "thats bad for adwords users."

Personally, it makes sense to have this policy and I agree with it in most cases.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

You are an Google AdWords professional that sets up campaigns and manages those search ad campaigns for your clients. This is a pretty big business these days. But what if your client doesn't pay you for your work? You stop maintaining his account, right?

Yea, I know, you spent all that time setting up the campaigns, doing all the keyword research, testing various ad types and such. You spent countless hours, never to be repaid. But at least the client won't get this hard earned work, since it is under your account, right?

Wrong!

A Google AdWords Help thread has one report of Google confirming that they will often transfer the account to the client, if the client is the one who holds the payment information (credit card) in the account. So in this case, not only did the client get away without paying this AdWords consultant, they also took all the work by the consultant.

The consultant wrote in the thread:

I was hired by a business to do marketing for them so I decided to run a Google AdWords campaign and set it up under my Google account. I had a dispute with them and they then demanded that I hand over this AdWords account to them even though I set it up under my Google account name and that I had spent many hours beyond what they paid me to develop an effective strategy and had information was proprietary to how I marketed this business.

I just got an email stating that Google handed the AdWords account over to them. What are the rules that allow this to happen without Google contacting me first?

AdWordsPro Sarah, an official Google rep, responded:

Im not sure exactly what the rules and regulations are on this because it doesn't happen often. That said, if you were using your client's billing information in the account, we will almost always side with them. As long as they are paying for the clicks, we need to make sure they are protected.

Lesson learned? Protect yourself with contracts and other means before doing all that work.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

I don't believe you often see Google AdWords representatives talking about click-through rates. But in a Google AdWords Help thread, I spotted AdWordsPro, an official Google representative, taling about averages.

In short, he said that a good average to aim for in an ads click through rate (CTR) would be 2%. But he/she has seen CTRs in the double digits for campaigns that are constantly tuned and tweaked by advertisers. Let me quote AdWordsPro:

On the other hand, to give you a point of reference to shoot for, an average CTR is probably in the neighborhood of 2% - meaning that for every 100 impressions, you would have received 2 clicks. I personally don't think that a CTR statistic is particularly meaningful or even valid until about 1000 impressions have been received, however.

Advertisers who have really taken the time to learn how AdWords works, and who spend lots of time managing their account and tuning things up often 'earn' a CTR in the double digits.

Then, once you become a little more comfortable with AdWords, then it is time to stop focusing mostly on CTR, and instead focus on ROI or your Return On Investment.

I have heard of incredibly high CTRs, especially for Google ads with thongs in them. But outside of that, you know what to generally aim for.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

There are always complaints from Google AdWords advertisers about not being able to be refunded for one reason or another. A new Google AdWords Help thread reports the issue in detail, with the use of a video.

Google said there is a bug with refunding advertisers who have used pre-paid account. AdWordsPro Sarah said:

The reason you are unable to cancel your account is because there is a bug affecting some prepay advertisers that prevents us from issuing a full refund when you cancel your account. We are aware of the issue and should have it fixed shortly- at which time you can close your account and get your money back.

About 1 minute and 15 seconds into the video it shows the issue with getting a refund:

Again, this is a Google bug they acknowledge. They said they will fix it soon, but there is currently no ETA for that.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

I think Google Ad Planner is pretty amazing and chock full of information. But to some webmasters, the information they have is either so accurate it is scary or totally off and worthless.

In a WebmasterWorld thread, Google AdSense representative, AdSenseAdvisor, replied to questions about where they source the data, how to opt out and what to do if the data is off. Let me quote what Google said:

To estimate website traffic we use a combination of two approaches: 1.) We extrapolate website traffic from sample data we collect from a variety of sources. For our sample data Google Ad Planner combines information from sources such as aggregated Google search data, opt-in anonymous Google Analytics data, opt-in external consumer panel data, and other third-party market research. The data is aggregated over millions of users and powered by computer algorithms; it doesn't contain personally-identifiable information.

2.) Individual websites can opt-in their Google Analytics data to improve the accuracy of data displayed about their site in Ad Planner.

This methodology is similar to that of other 3rd party online measurement tools, which also use hybrid approaches that blend server side measured numbers with sample/panel based estimates.

Google Analytics Opt-in Data
@Cancellara - Did you opt-in your Analytics data into Ad Planner? We don't use your Analytics data in Ad Planner unless you explicitly choose to share it. So unless you've chosen to opt-in your Google Analytics data to Ad Planner, it's possible that the Ad Planner estimates are different than your Analytics statistics.

@Oxydada - When looking at your Analytics reports compared to Ad Planner, are you comparing US to US figures? Ad Planner by default shows US numbers while Analytics shows worldwide figures, so this could be the cause of the discrepancy.

@rashidjaved11 - Please file a ticket with our support teams and we'll try to help diagnose your issue. http://www.google.com/support/adplanner/bin/request.py

@aish1108 - If you've checked everything and you're sure your tags are on all your pages, then you should opt-in your data. The "low tag coverage" message is just a warning to tell people to check their tag coverage. It's possible that our check is making an error since we're basing it on Google crawl data and trying to detect your Analytics tags from the crawl. The data you see in your Analytics reports is what we'll display in Ad Planner

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

The PPC Hero blog discovered a new beta by Google AdWords named contact form extensions. It basically lets AdWords advertisers have the chance to show a lead capture form in the Google ads shown in the search results. Here is a picture, because a picture will explain this in a second:

As you can see, the ad has a plus box, clicking it, opens a lead capture form.

The interesting parts are that:

(1) Google is charging the maximum cost-per-click on each lead captured. So they are charging a CPC based price for a CPA-like lead.

(2) Google is handling the leads much like any lead management company. They make you go through them to contact the lead. In short, Google gives you a lead ID number, you call the Google 800 number and enter the lead ID number into the Google prompt. Then Google connects you to that lead.

PPC Hero has a lot more detail on how this all works. So check it out at PPCHero.com.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

About a week ago, I ran a poll asking AdWords Advertiser: Do You Feel Paralyzed? It is based on a WebmasterWorld thread of Google AdWords advertisers complaining that they are afraid to make changes to their account, in fear of being banned from AdWords.

So I decided to see how wide spread those feelings were amongst advertisers, at large. I ran a poll and asked do you feel paralyzed? Here are the responses:

:: No, I am constantly making changes said 63 respondents or 42%
:: So So, I make changes but am concerned about consequences said 44 respondents or 29%
:: Yes, I am afraid to make changes said 39 respondents or 26%
:: Other answer... said 4 respondents or 3%

So there you have it, most advertisers are making changes to their campaigns and many are not afraid to do so.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google sent out an email to most of their advertisers a few days ago, explaining that they are launching click-to-call on mobile devices with full HTML browsers (e.g. iPhone, Android, Palm WebOS). It appears that this will be started automatically and as soon as Google launches this, I and other advertisers will have their phone numbers show up on mobile devices and be charged a cost-per-call when used.

In fact, the cost-per-call will be the same price as you would pay for a cost-per-click.

What if you do not want to participate? Easy, "remove the phone number from the business listings included in your campaigns targeting mobile devices," said Google.

Here is a picture of the email Google sent their advertisers:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A month ago we reported on the first Google AdWords MCC phishing attempts. Now, it appears those attempts have started back up again.

An updated WebmasterWorld thread has new reports of such scams. MCC is the higher level AdWords accounts for those who manage campaigns for clients. It is called the My Client Center, and if broken into, more than just one account can be affected.

One person reported:

I got one today. It said that Google's servers had crashed and that I should check to see if my ads were running and click on the link to confirm they were working 100%.

It had me fooled for about 2 seconds. Funny to imagine that Google wouldn't know their own ads were showing and that you would manually need to confirm by clicking a link.

But the email starts with the the phrase "Your account has stopped showing ads." so I can imagine it sending some people into a panic.

Just beware and do not fall for these phishing attempts.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

I was searching for a logo of a company, I searched Google Images for [compucall logo] and I was presented with an AdWords ad, but one of those product image ads. Google began allowing these ads a few months back, they are called product image ads in AdWords.

But what stood out was that this image was of a woman in thong underwear. Here is a picture:

I wonder what type of click through rate this ad gets?

I wonder if Google has a policy against these types of images on their search pages? I don't really see anything in the Google FAQs on these product extensions, but I can be missing it.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Five years after launching the Google Advertising Professional program, Google is giving users a way to search and find these professionals.

Tim Cohn first spotted this, a new page Google launched named Google Advertising Professionals Search beta. You can basically plug in some variables, such as monthly spend, location and type of AdWords related help you are looking for and hit search.

Here is a screen capture:

I covered this yesterday at Search Engine Land and one person found the search to be poor, an advertiser said he already got a lead from this feature.

Note: Google has not really publicized the feature yet - so hopefully Google will place this feature in the for front of where customers would look for it.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

I've been holding on this topic for after the holiday break. A new and long WebmasterWorld thread has great discussion over the topic of AdWords advertisers being afraid to make change to their accounts. Why are they afraid? Well, they are afraid of being banned or their Quality Score dropping where they cannot compete and so on.

So what do they do? They slowly die out. As one advertiser explained:

We are afraid to do anything. We are not adding ads. We are not taking advantage of the new stuff google is offering. We just delete ads as they drop in QS. We are paralyzed and slowly dying.

The thread moved into the discussion of how Google treats affiliates in the AdWords space. Now, we discussed that often and maybe only affiliates feel paralyzed in AdWords, I am not sure. But I wanted to get a good feel from the AdWords advertiser base, if you feel this way also.

Please take my poll: AdWords Advertiser: Do You Feel Paralyzed?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

The Google support representatives posted several threads in the various categories of forums. Each of the forum categories have their own frequently asked questions. So the FAQs are broken down by Can't See My Ad, Ad Position & Performance, Campaign Management, Ad Approvals & Policy, Billing & Payments, Analytics & Conversion Tracking and miscellaneous.

I figured it would be nice to document them all in one place, so here they are:

Can't See My Ad:

1. I see that my ad is accruing clicks and impressions. But when I search for it , I can't find it! What should I do?

Such situations are due to the dynamic nature of our ad serving system. For this reason, what you see may, sometimes, not be representative of what most other users see. Try searching for your ad using our ad preview page. This page will show your ads the way most users see them, without accruing any additional impressions for your ads.

2. I want to know about first page bids.

On your Keyword Analysis page, you'll see a metric labeled 'Estimated bid to show on the first page' or displayed in your keyword table's 'Status' column. This metric, also called the 'first page bid estimate,' approximates the cost-per-click (CPC) bid needed for your ad to reach the first page of Google search results when a search query exactly matches your keyword. However, meeting your first page bid is not a guarantee of placement. Ad placement will still depend on Quality Score, your cost-per-click (CPC) bid, your budget and account settings, and user and advertiser behavior.

3. My keywords show ‘Active: Ads show rarely due to low Quality Score’ in the status column. What does this mean?

This means that your keyword is rarely triggering ads due to its low Quality Score. In this instance, we recommend visiting your Keyword Analysis page for more insight into the keyword's performance. Then, follow our optimization tips to improve the keyword's Quality Score. This will help the keyword's ad position and allow it to accrue more traffic.

4. Is there a tool that can help me identify the reason why my ad may not be showing?

The Ads Diagnostic Tool can identify why a particular ad or group of ads may not be showing. In those cases where an ad isn't shown, this tool recommends steps to help you get your ads up and running. In some cases, you may see more than one reason why your ad isn't appearing.

5. I've just started on my AdWords account, and my ads are not running. Why?

If your ads have been reviewed and approved to run, it is most probable that your account is going through a periodic review. Account reviews are designed for your protection and to maintain the quality of AdWords. To confirm, please contact AdWords support.

Ad Approvals & Policy:

1. My ad has been disapproved for Inaccurate Display URL. What does that mean?

This means that you have violated our policy on inaccurate display URLs. If your destination URL is too long for your ad, use a shortened version - such as your homepage - that meets the character limit for this field. Edit your display URL to match your destination URL and save your ad which will automatically submit your ad back to us for review.

2. How will I know about my ads approval status?

When you submit a new ad or edit an existing ad, the ad will be immediately queued for review by AdWords Specialists and will be reviewed shortly. If your ad is disapproved, you will receive an email from us. You can opt out of receiving these emails by updating your email preferences in the 'Account Preferences' section of the 'My Account' tab.

3. What are the display URL guidelines?

The display URL for each AdWords ad is limited to 35 characters. If this character limit prevents you from displaying the actual URL of your site in your ad, consider using a shortened version of your URL, such as your homepage. Also, your display URL must be an actual web address, appearing in the form of a valid URL. It must include the extension (such as .com, .net, .org, etc.). It doesn't need to include the prefix (such as http:// or www). You can review our guidelines at http://adwords.google.com/select/guidelines.html.

4. What is one domain per ad group policy?

Per this policy, we no longer allow multiple display URL domains within a single ad group. All display URLs within an ad group must have the same top-level domain. This policy applies to all advertisers, regardless of previous acceptability of any ad groups. While we understand there are legitimate use-cases for multiple display URL domains within one ad group, advertisers must use separate ad groups for each domain.
5. What does unacceptable content mean?

Google believes strongly in freedom of expression and therefore offers broad access to content across the web without censoring search results. At the same time, Google may refuse any ads or terminate any of your ad campaigns at any time, for any reason, as noted in our program Terms and Conditions. Google AdWords reserves the right to refuse to run certain ads or categories of ads on a case-by-case basis. Ads disapproved for Unacceptable Content need to remove this content from the ad text and site. Once done, an AdWords Specialist can review ads again.
For more information on our Content Policies, do visit: https://adwords.google.com/select/contentpolicy.html.

Campaign Management:

1. I have a technical issue with my account while I attempt to perform an action. What should I do?

As a first step of troubleshooting, please try clearing your cache and cookies. If you are still facing difficulty after clearing cache and cookies, please write in to AdWords support with a screenshot of the error page or the screen and the detailed steps that you have taken.

2. How do I edit, pause, delete, or resume my ads?

You can edit, pause, delete, or resume one ad at a time, or you can change many ads at once. Changing the actual ad (such as editing text or uploading a new image) is the same as deleting the original ad and creating a new one, so after editing the ad, its statistics will be reset to zero. The same is true when you move an ad to another ad group.

3. How many campaigns/ads/keywords I can upload in my account? (or) Why am I unable to add more campaigns/ads in my account?

You may not be able to upload more campaigns/ads in your account if you have exceeded your account limits. Follow the tips to structure your account so that you will not exceed your limits.

4. I am an AdWords customer, however, why is my website not appearing in the left hand side(organic) search results in Google? It used to be there earlier, but now I do not see my website indexed. Please help.

Google's advertising programs are independent of our search results. Participation in AdWords and AdSense doesn't affect inclusion or ranking in the Google search index.

5. How do I add, edit, or delete keywords?

You can update your keyword list at any time. Be aware that changing the keyword itself or the keyword match type is the same as deleting the original keyword and creating a new one, so after editing the keyword, its statistics will be reset to zero. The same is true when you move a keyword to another ad group. You can make bulk edits or inline edits.

Analytics & Conversion Tracking:

1. How can I link my Analytics account with AdWords account?

First, make sure that you're using the same Google Account email address for both your Analytics and AdWords accounts, and that the AdWords login email address has Admin access for the Analytics account. Then follow these steps to link your Analytics and AdWords accounts. You're finished! Your two accounts should now be linked. If you opted to keep auto-tagging turned on, Analytics will start automatically tagging your AdWords links.

2. How can I unlink my AdWords with Analytics account?

If you are an Administrator of the Analytics account to be unlinked, you can do so from within the 'Edit Account Settings' page. Select ‘Google Analytics’ from the 'Reporting' tab of your AdWords account. Navigate to your ‘Edit Account Settings’ page where you can click on 'Unlink AdWords account from Analytics' to finish. If you do not have Administrator access on the account, please contact the account administrator of the account in order to get the account unlinked.

3. How do I log into my Analytics account?

Try logging in from the Google Analytics home page at www.google.com/analytics with your corresponding login email address for your account. If you've forgotten your password, you can retrieve it from the Password Assistance page at https://www.google.com/accounts/ForgotPasswd.

4. How can I recover a deleted profile in my Analytics account?

It is not possible to recover historical data once a profile has been deleted. Creating a new profile based on a previously existing domain will not re-create the original profile with the historical data.

5. How can I add users to reports in my Analytics account?

You can add any number of users to your Google Analytics account as well as grant varying levels of access to each user. To add a new user or administrator, sign in to your Analytics account. Click 'User Manager.' From the Existing Access table, click 'Add User.' Enter the user's email address, last name, and first name. Select the Access type for this user. If you selected 'View reports only,' select the profiles to which this user should have access and click 'Add.' Click 'Finish.'
To modify access for an existing user, sign in to your Analytics account. Click 'User Manager.' Find the user in the Existing Access list and click 'Edit.' From the Available Website Profiles, select the profiles to which this user should have access and click 'Add.' Click 'Save Changes.

Billing & Payments:

1.Why have I been billed after I canceled my account or paused/deleted my campaigns?

Check for the date when your campaign(s) was paused/deleted or when account was canceled - be assured that you would not have accrued additional costs after the date when any of the above happened. If your account currently has no outstanding balance, it will cause no further charges. It is important that you know more about the billing cycle, as well as how to verify that you had unpaid costs in your account when you were charged.

2. I can't seem to apply a promotional code to redeem it though I have updated my billing information.

Only new accounts are eligible for promotional credit. You can apply a promotional code to your account within 14 days of account creation. If you created your account more than 14 days ago, the promotional code you received will no longer work. In cases where you have not redeemed the credit within the time frame, Google will not be able to offer you another credit.

3. Can you explain the Billing Report?

Your Billing Summary page provides a snapshot view of all your account billing activity. From this page, you can get detailed information about payments, advertising costs, and adjustments over a specified date range. You can go through the detailed explanation of how to navigate your 'Billing Summary' page from the references listed below.

4. How can I redeem my promotional code?

To use an AdWords promotional credit, you have to first enter your billing information. If you haven't yet, then first enter your billing details to enter your promotional code. If you've already entered your billing information, then enter your promotional code. Your promotional credit will appear as a line item labeled 'Service adjustment' for the current month on your 'Billing Summary' page.

5. What are my payment options?

Payment options available depend on your location and currency, which you can find on our Payment Options page. You may have the option to pay for your advertising after accruing costs which is called 'Postpay' or before your ads accrue costs which is called 'Prepay'.

Ad Position & Performance:

1. What is quality score? How is it calculated?

Quality Score is a dynamic variable calculated for each of your keywords. It combines a variety of factors and measures how relevant your keyword is to your ad text and to a user's search query. A keyword's Quality Score updates frequently and is closely related to its performance.

2. I am getting clicks but only a few people are converting. What should I do?

If you find that a large percentage of visitors click on your ad but don't make purchases, it means that you need to improve the return on investment(ROI) which will increase your conversion rate.

3. My landing page says poor quality but I have made some changes to my website. How frequently is the landing page quality evaluated?

The AdWords system evaluates landing pages on a regular basis. There is no guaranteed timeline of any improvement to your Quality Scores should you make any changes to your landing pages. AdWords retrieves and evaluates advertiser landing pages on a regular basis, but it may take weeks or months for the system to re-evaluate your pages.

4. How does the ranking of ads appear in the Google search results?

A maximum of 8 unique AdWords text ads appear on the right-hand side of a Google search results page. In some cases, ads may also appear in one or more of the three positions above the Google search results. Your ad's position on Google and the search network varies per keyword and is determined by your matched keyword's cost-per-click bid and Quality Score on Google in relation to other advertisers' CPC bids and Quality Scores.

5. What do I do if my ads have a low ad rank?

If your ad has consistently experienced a decrease in ranking, this is likely due to our ad system's focus on promoting more relevant, targeted ads. It is recommended that you optimize your account so that you can take advantage of our keyword evaluation improvements and increase your Quality Score.

Miscellaneous:

1. How do I make money through AdWords?

The AdWords program allows advertisers to reach users on Google and our growing network of search and content sites and products in the Google Network. You may be interested in the Google AdSense program for web publishers. Google AdSense delivers text-based Google AdWords ads that are relevant to what appears on your website. When relevant ads appear on content pages, people click on them. Google will pay you for clicks on ads, so more clicks means more money for you.
Please visit https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35872 to know more about earning using AdSense.

2. I am an affiliate advertiser. Does Google have any policies around that?

We currently don't accept ads for data entry affiliate programs. If you're another type of affiliate, your AdWords account is completely distinct from your affiliate program. Please familiarize yourself with Google's advertising policies which affects many affiliates.

3. I suspect my account has been hijacked.

If you suspect that your adwords account has been hijacked, delete the compromised campaign and recreate your original ads in a new campaign. Be careful not to reactivate the compromised campaign, ad groups and/or ads. Remove any unwanted software in all of your computers and change your Google Account password. Be sure to clean your system first, and then change your password, as malware could capture your password if it's still present within your computer.
Do contact support via:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/request.py?contact_type=hacked

4. What is the difference between search and content network where ads are shown?

On the search network your ads will appear alongside or above the results on our partners' search result pages, as well as on other relevant search pages. Search sites are those which provide AdWords ads along with search results after a user searches for a particular keyword.
The Google Content Network is a collection of websites and other products, such as email programs and blogs, who have partnered with Google to display AdWords ads that are targeted based on content themes rather than specific keywords. Content sites display AdWords ads alongside related content; Google scans the content of a Web page every time it is viewed, and automatically selects ads to display when they have keywords matching the page content.

5. No clicks attributed to any keywords, but i see some clicks reported at the end of the table and am being charged.

The reason you are not able to see any clicks attributed to any of your keywords is because individual keywords don't trigger your ads on content pages. Keywords from your entire keyword list, along with several other factors, determine which content pages show your ads. Your campaign is automatically opted into the search and content network, unless you specifically opt out of any of the networks.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Continue reading "Daily Search Forum Recap: December 22, 2009"

A WebmasterWorld thread reports that Google has cut a few the personalized AdWords representatives from big spend advertisers. The recent report comes from a long time WebmasterWorld member, cline. Cline said he lost his representative because he stopped taking on new clients and Google said they will only provide him a rep if he brings in new clients.

However, others have reported they lost their reps, and soon after, they were banned from AdWords. Some suspect that it is only a matter of time until Cline gets banned, because they feel it is a sign that he will. People in the thread said they know other advertisers who spend over $100,000 per month, lost their Google representative and a month later were banned.

I am not sure if Cline is in the same boat here. Let me quote him:

My agency has had a dedicated Adwords support team since about 2004. I just got notified that we're losing dedicated support. The reason is that even though we're managing ever-increasing spend levels from our existing clients, we're too busy with our existing clients to accept new clients. Adwords only wants to give dedicated support to agencies bringing in new clients and who need help with strategy. We only have technical issues.

In any event, the AdWords bans continue. You can read all about that over here.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Developers who code for the AdWords API do not want to miss the upcoming AdWords API v2009 Hack Days. There is one in San Francisco on January 7, 2010 and on in New York on January 14, 2010. The event is free and runs most the day, plus you get a free Google lunch. Keep in mind, the event is only for developers.

Eric Koleda from the Google AdWords API Team extended the invite in the AdWords API Forum. Eric said:

Have you been putting off migrating to v2009? Not sure where to start? Been way too busy? Well it's time to jump start your v2009 development with some in-person help from Google. Join us in Mountain View or New York for a full day of non-stop v2009 hacking.

To keep things interesting throughout the day, we'll do some coding demos of the cool things you can do with v2009 that weren't possible in v13, like asynchronous calls, dynamic ad parameters, and more. Non-engineers beware! This is a developer-only event, and there will be no content or activities for attendees who don't plan to write code.

Space is limited, and signups are on a first come, first serve basis. We ask that you limit attendees to two people per company. If you are based in Europe please don't register yet, as a similar EMEA event is in the works and will be announced shortly.

More information and the signup form are available here: http://sites.google.com/site/v2009hackdays/

Event Details include:

Dates: San Francisco - January 7th or New York - January 14th
Time: 10am until 5pm
Locations: 345 Spear St, San Francisco, CA 94105 or 75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011
Topics: Migrating a sample application to v2009, Using AdParameters to bring your text ads to life, Asynchronous Jobs: massive changes made fast and easy, Effective local advertising with Local Ad Extensions, And more!

Sign up over here.

Forum discussion at AdWords API Forum.

Google AdWords account phishing attempts is nothing new. We numerous times in the past, and then stopped reporting all the cases. Even Yahoo Search Marketing has their share of this issue.

A new type of AdWords phishing attempt has been reported at WebmasterWorld. This one is targeting My Client Center accounts, which are accounts that have control and access to multiple AdWords accounts. So if someone gains access to a My Client Center account, they can potential damage a multitude of accounts.

The domain they are taking unsuspecting users to is google-ob.com. So please Beware!

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

This is not new, I have been seeing them for several months now, but I never saw a discussion thread on the topic until now. A WebmasterWorld thread has one advertiser who said he got his first "adwords account performance" email. In short, the email gives you a monthly summary of your account, including your ad clicks, impressions, CTR, average CPC, total costs, best performing ads and keywords - and so on.

Here is a picture of a recent email I received from Google, the "AdWords Nov 2009 Account Performance" email.

The email goes on to talk about more generic tips and facts. Mine said:

Keywords: which ones are working for your business?

In this report you can see your keywords with the most clicks. This shows you which of the keywords in your account received the most clicks when searched for on Google or the Search Network.

Looking at the volume of keyword clicks you recieve is one way to see which keywords your potential customers find most appealing. But this is only one measure of success. Your keyword clickthrough rate (CTR) is another important measure of your keyword performance and can be seen by logging into your account and clicking on the 'Keywords' tab. CTR is often seen as a measure of relevance as it shows you the proportion of users who clicked on your ad after they saw it when searching on your keywords. A low CTR (less than 1%) on the Search Network may indicate an opportunity to optimize your keywords. Improved keyword relevance and a higher CTR help increase your ad's position and performance.

As you review your top performing keywords, you can expand on those that are working well by adding other relevant variations. Read on for details of the keyword tool that will help you do just that.

N.B. If you don't have keywords in the list above this means your ads didn't recieve any clicks from the Search Network in November.

Expand your keywords using the AdWords keyword tool

The Keyword Tool can be used to help you find new keyword ideas, and you can search for variations based on your top performing keywords. Simply enter your top keywords into the tool and it will generate new keyword ideas that you may want to add to your account.

If you would like to learn more about how to improve your keywords, take a look at these keyword optimization suggestions in the Optimization Center.

We welcome any feedback you may have regarding this email, so please let us know what you think.

Yours Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team

Please note: these statistics are for the month of November only and so may not reflect your billing period or your bill amount. Please log in to your account to view your billing summary.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google has announced they are now legally going after those companies who have been scamming unsuspecting people since March of this year. We first wrote about the Google Money Scams in March, then in June the scams got worse. In July, Google warned the public about these scams but still many fell for it. Some scammers took to the phone to scam more and more people. They even began banning scammers from AdWords in July and continued that bans throughout. In fact, they recently stepped up the bans and made them permanent, even this month there was a big ban event.

Google said they filed suit against Pacific WebWorks (here is PDF of complaint). Google said, "To fight back, we're working to stop various fraudulent "Google Money" schemes, and this week filed suit against Pacific WebWorks and several other unnamed defendants."

It is sad to see it got this bad where this had to happen, but I am glad Google is taking serious action.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

As you know, Google promised to ban AdWords advertisers at a higher rate and began doing so in late September and throughout November but promised to really step it up later last month.

I spotted a new thread at Google AdWords Help which has what appears to be dozens of advertisers who started getting banned yesterday, December 3rd, at the stroke of midnight. So when it turned into December 3rd, it seems like a bunch of automatic bans just went out and impacted tons of advertisers. There are also ongoing discussion about these bans at WebmasterWorld.

So it looks like a new Google strike on AdWords advertisers has come down.

Here is a copy of a ban email from Google these days:

Dear advertiser,

We are writing to let you know that your Google AdWords account has been disabled due to one or more serious violations of our advertising policies related to Landing Page and Site Quality. As a result, your ads will no longer run through the Google AdWords system and we are unable to accept advertising from you in the future. Please note that future accounts you open will also be disabled.

As part of our commitment to making the AdWords experience safe and effective for our users and our advertisers, we routinely review the landing pages that our advertisers promote through our search and content networks. If we find that an advertiser has submitted a landing page that egregiously violates our policies, we reserve the right to take immediate account-level action.

Landing pages advertised via AdWords must have relevant, original content, and must be transparent about the nature of the business being promoted. Further, advertising certain types of sites will lead to immediate account disabling. These types of sites include, but are not limited to:

* Sites that charge users or collect personal information in exchange for a product that is never delivered
* Sites that charge for "free" software
* Sites that trick users into paying for fake or poor-quality content
* Sites that charge users for information that makes unrealistic promises of financial or personal gain
* Sites that install malware software on a visitor's computer

Please note that this action is related to sites that have recently been advertised through your account. In a review of your account history, we found that your account had submitted a least one site that egregiously violated our advertising policies. Although you may have removed these sites since our latest review, advertisers that have a history of promoting these types of sites are still subject to account-level disabling.

You can review our Advertising Policies, including our Landing Page and Site Quality guidelines, by visiting: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guidelines.cs
You may also review the complete AdWords Terms & Conditions here: https://adwords.google.com/select/tsandcsfinder
In addition, our FAQ about Account Disablings can be found here: https://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164786

If you have additional questions or concerns not addressed by our policies or help center, you can contact support by replying to this email.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords team

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help & WebmasterWorld.

An interesting WebmasterWorld thread where e-commerce owners are claiming that even if they pull their PPC spend, their e-commerce earnings remain the same. Let me quote you some of the posts in the thread:

That quote is from another poster on another thread but we've done about the same thing in recent months and have seen only INCREASED revenue and profits. We do get bought traffic from G (at great expense) but very, very few orders.

We start PPC, stop it, start again, time after time and I never see much difference except in the buckets of ad cash we save whenever we stop.

We have reduced our PPC by about 50%, and have seen no discernable difference, our sales are about the same or better. We cut it down back in September and checked the stats today, and could see no real difference either way that I could attribute to PPC or lack of.

Over the next couple weeks I am going to reduce it a LOT more. Giving up on the "big" keywords, and anything that we show up in search results for. Going to target a bunch of the "down in the mud" keywords - those that usually sell for about 10-20 cents - for specific brand items and part numbers.

I am never a fan of relying solely on SEO or PPC alone. One day, your site can be hit by a Google update and drop in the rankings and with no PPC, you can suffer big time. Same on the reverse side - you just don't want to have all your eggs in one basket.

Curious, have you increased or decreased your spend in the past six years? Take our poll and use the comments to explain if you saw any change in revenue due to those PPC changes.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Recently, Google opened product AdWords ads all U.S. based advertisers and merchants. So now, if you use Google Merchant Center (aka Google Base), you can tie your AdWords account to it and show those fancy product images, pricing and so on, in your AdWords ads.

A WebmasterWorld thread has some advertisers a bit upset with the matching of the query, ad and the products actually displayed. Some are saying that the products being displayed for the query used is not showing the most relevant products.

Senior member, netmeg said, "Some of the products aren't matched properly (and I looked at some of my competitors, and theirs are even worse - lucky for me!)" A moderator, Buckworks, said "My AdWords rep said the system chooses which product to display based on parameters in the product's description but didn't say what those were and couldn't tell me how they could be tweaked."

Google did mention in their FAQs that you should use the new product extensions attributes to help Google better match the products in your feed to the query and your ads. Google said on that page:

To help us better match your Google Merchant products to search queries, you may attach one or more optional attributes to your Google Merchant Center offers.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

As you know, Google has stepped up disabling and banning AdWords advertisers. The bans result in the advertiser not being able to set up new accounts and Google is stricter about who they ban. In fact, I am getting phone calls and emails from people complaining to me that their accounts are banned (I cannot get accounts unbanned, so please do not call me).

There should be an appeals process, but does it work? I doubt it.

An old Google AdWords Help thread has been updated by AdWordsPro Bindu. Bindu said, in black and white, plus bolded a sentence:

My answer to that would be almost never will account be unsuspended. Once an account is suspended, its hard to get details on the exact violation (I, for example, have no insight as to why accounts are terminated). That said, it almost doesn't matter, because once an account is suspended, Google reserves the right to terminate all future advertising with AdWords.

Got that? It seems like the appeals process won't make much of a difference. As Bindu said earlier in that thread, "though I would not want to raise your hopes, I recommend you write in to support for a re-evaluation of your account. They will be able to follow through with a final word on your account status." Good luck.

Again, I feel bad for those being banned - but I personally cannot do anything for you, so please do not call or email me.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

The Google blog is coming clean on the various ad formats they have, outside the standard text ads. Like I did over at Search Engine Land, I will post the various ad formats below.

Google Video AdWords Ads:

Google AdWords Sitelinks:

Google AdWords Local Ads:

Google AdWords Local Ads:

Google AdWords Product Ads:

Google AdWords Comparison Ads:

Forum discussion at Sphinn and WebmasterWorld.

The day has come where Google has opened the product ads product to all U.S. advertisers.

I believe Google is running two types of product ads, although I am not 100% sure. I believe one is commission based product AdWords ads and the other is normal PPC based product ads. Here is some history:

Back in January 2008, Google began testing product (base) results in ads. They continued the test in October 2008 with expandable links to these ads. Then in February 2009, the ads became very well seen by many searchers. In May they tested one line product links and in August they tested open product ads. In April, I wrote how to get product images in AdWords ads. Keep in mind, some of these campaigns were not CPA driven, like the one I mention above.

Here is a picture of some product ads in the search results:

Forum discussion at Google Merchant Help.

A Google AdWords Help thread asks what do you need to score in order to pass the Google AdWords Professional exam?

There are two exams:

(1) Google Advertising Professionals Exam
(2) Fundamentals and Search Exam

The first one, the Google Advertising Professionals exam needs an 85% score to pass. Whereas the second one, the Fundamentals and Search exam needs an 80% to pass.

AdWordsPro Sarah explained in the thread:

I checked with the people in charge of the Google Advertising Professionals Exam and it looks as if the passing score for the Fundamentals and Search exams are 85% and 80% respectively.

She then added that Google will adding more practice quizzes about the April or May time.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

A Google AdWords API Help thread estimated position or average CPC being returned by the AdWords API differs from that of the Google Keyword Tool.

Eric Koleda from the Google AdWords API Team replied basically pointing fault at the tool.

I think the problem here lies in the Keyword Tool's web interface.

You'll notice that changing the match type drop down from Broad to Phrase or Exact does not change the estimated position or average CPC. It is unlikely that the match type has no effect on these parameters, and in the API changing the match type does change the returned position and CPC values. My guess is that the web tool is always using the Broad match type for getting estimates, and that the numbers returned by the API are accurate.

I validated that the Google keyword tool does not change the estimated position or average CPC when you change the match type from broad, exact, or phrase types. Logically, it would make sense that this means the keyword tool is off when reporting on those factors and narrowing the results by match type.

It seems if you want to get more accurate numbers for estimated position or average CPC you would have to use the AdWords API.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords API Help.

A DigitalPoint Forums thread reports seeing a new type of Google AdWords result. This AdWords result seems to be combined with a Google Maps result, where it shows a blue pin, and address information on the right hand side of the search results, where the AdWords results are. Here is a picture from the thread:

Mike recently spotted this as well, and believes this has to do with the local extensions feature Google Maps released.

Personally, I cannot replicate this at all. I tried dozens of queries and non took.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

First spotted by Kim at AdWords Help Experts Blog, a Google AdWords Help thread has reports that Google is now enforcing the 35 character display URL limit set on AdWords ads.

One advertiser asked for an exception, which Google did allow advertisers to do in the past, and received a reply that read:

Initially for URLs exceeding character limit we used to give exception on a case-by-case basis. However, please note we've revised our guideline on short display URL exception and sorry to inform you that we no longer provide exceptions to the display URL policy for domains that exceed the character space, which is limited to 35 characters for text ads and 20 characters for mobile ads.

There also use to be a way to use dynamic keyword inserting techniques to trick Google into giving you a longer title, but that no longer seems to work for the keywords I have tested. Yes, display URL and ad title are different, I just noticed this as well, when looking back at the history on this topic.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

This site rarely ever has guest posts, but I wanted to make an exception for a long time reader and SEO who often sends me tips and advice. Kasia Bauer, a search marketer from Poland, author of Magiczne SEO & SEM blog and co-owner of Divbi.com has written a guest post on Google AdWords scams in Poland. We hear about Google AdWords scams in the U.S. often enough, to the point where Google took action. In fact, just yesterday we reported how Google is getting stricter, but does this apply to outside the U.S.? What type of scams are occurring on Google there? So we have this guest post just on that topic.

Scam Ads in Polish AdWords

Recently, scam ads gained noticeable presence in Google AdWords across Central and Eastern Europe. Polish AdWords is currently experiencing a wave of campaigns that are preying on naive users. It has been at least 11 months since we have noticed first suspicious ads appearing on Google Network. It looks like Google is doing very little, or even nothing, to prevent them from showing.

How Do These Scams Work?

All the scams are based on premium SMS service. A user is lured to fill up a test and, in order to see it's results, has to send a text message to number provided on the landing page. After getting the verification code the website will allow him or her to see test results with the "service". Everything would be OK if only:

1. The ads would appear only with searches regarding related keywords
2. The landing pages weren't misleading
3. The service would provide some real value
4. The service would not violate Google AdWords TOS

The AdWords advertising policies states:

Don't use phishing or other scamming tactics.

Advertising is not permitted for sites collecting sensitive personal information or money with fake forms, false claims, or unauthorized use of Google Trademarks. Examples of personal information include email addresses, user names, passwords, and/or payment information. In addition, advertising is not permitted for 'run your car on water' programs or content.

The most popular “service” is the ”find out when will you die” test.

The ads are showing up both on search and content network. Here are screen captures:

After clicking on one of the ads, user will find himself on a landing page, which asks to fill up a test in order to find out date of his death. It consists of about 20 ridiculous or often very personal questions.

After finishing the test, user finds out that results are not free. He or she is presented with a prompt to pay for “the date of your death”. Sometimes the end pagesshow the information to send the money via SMS only. The cost of 1 text message is stated with very small font in the footer and is about 23 PLN (~$8.34).

Some landing pages are formatted in a misleading way. The price for paying via credit card is enlarged and bolded, and so is the information “pay via SMS”. Such design suggests that the price of the SMS is the enlarged one. However, the real price is stated further below, again with small font.

Polish Google representatives in Warsaw do not comment on the situation officially with anything else than “it is a really big problem”. This is hard to believe, since majority of those ads have similarities in their ad texts which could be flagged by a simple keyword filter. It is really disappointing to see how the leading ad network is not only being polluted this way, but also artificially increases CPC for legitimate advertisers. Whole situation makes one think that having 97%+ of local search market made Google less likely to act.

You can find more on this topic in my Polish blog post: Scam Ads in Poland.

In classic Search Engine Roundtable style... Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help, Golden Line and Gazeta.pl Forum.

The mass AdWords banning that has continued on since late September of this year is just going to get worse. Google told me last night that they are stepping up the account level bans and making them permanent on the account level.

Nick Fox of Google told me Google is now better at enforcement and able to offer more comprehensive enforcement of their existing policies. This is why they have decided to step up these efforts by banning not just sites from advertising, but complete accounts and permanently stopping them from signing up for new accounts (they have ways).

In the past, I complained that Google replied to AdWords advertisers with lame responses. Fox promised me that the communication process with these account bans have been improved. All accounts that are being banned will get an email from Google telling them they have been banned and instructing them how to appeal the ban. All appeals will get a response from Google, no matter what.

I am some more details at Search Engine Land about this and AdWordsAdvisor posted a note at WebmasterWorld about this as well, the message read:

In keeping with our mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful, we spend a tremendous amount of time and effort monitoring the quality of our search and ad results. As we've stated many times before, Google's primary focus is on delivering the best possible search experience to our end users. To help further this goal, we work with our advertisers in a number of different ways to help them design and run the best ads possible.

Unfortunately, some online advertisers continue to promote services and websites that do not help, and in some cases could harm, our users. For instance, these advertisers may offer free services that bait users into accepting hidden fees. Or these advertisers may attempt to deliver malware to unsuspecting web citizens. Regardless of the practice, these types of campaigns do not benefit our users and we therefore take steps to enforce our policies and prevent such advertisers from running ads through our systems.

Over the last decade Google has implemented a number of systems and processes to identify and disable ads that direct users to these offending websites. However, the ad disabling procedures have resulted in ongoingback and forth between us and these questionable advertisers as they try to outsmart our systems and processes. Therefore, we're being stricter with advertisers who deliver a bad user experience by permanently disabling AdWords accounts that engage in prohibited behavior.

Recently we began implementing this new account disabling. As a result, many advertisers who provide a poor user experience and have previously had their ads disabled will now have their accounts disabled.

We take our user, advertiser and publisher experiences very seriously, and remain dedicated to delivering only the highest quality advertising results to our users. We believe this new process of permanently disabling accounts will markedly improve the overall experience of our users, advertisers and publishers.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Google announced last week that they will be expanding their test of the commission based product ads they started testing in June. Over the weekend, many started noticing the new type of ads in the Google search results.

A WebmasterWorld thread has some people taking notice.

Back in January 2008, Google began testing product (base) results in ads. They continued the test in October 2008 with expandable links to these ads. Then in February 2009, the ads became very well seen by many searchers. In May they tested one line product links and in August they tested open product ads. In April, I wrote how to get product images in AdWords ads. Keep in mind, some of these campaigns were not CPA driven, like the one I mention above.

Here are some live examples of searches that trigger these ads:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google has confirmed a bug with region targeting in the AdWords advertiser console at WebmasterWorld. The bug appears to be an issue with when you set the regions you want your ads to be targeted towards and when you hit the save button, it shows you an error.

AdSenseAdvisor, an official Google representative, confirmed the issue on October 29th:

Yep, I can confirm that, C7Mike.

Assuming that I am in the office at the time it occurs, I'll post again once I've heard this is resolved.

To set reasonable expectations I typically wait at least four hours after I have heard from engineering that an issue is resolved before I am willing to say it's fixed in front of thousands of folks. ;) So, quite often, someone in this forum will notice that an issue has been resolved before I ever post to say so.

There has been no update from Google since that post and the one who reported the issue said it is half fixed. He explained that the changes seem to go through, but it does popup an error, which makes it confusing. In addition, he is not confident the targeting is correct and is concerned to use the feature:

He said:

From what I'm seeing on my end, I believe the issue to be partially corrected. I can define an area to advertise in, but when I save I get the error. I then refresh, like it says for me to do, and then it seems to act like the changes made it through.

Based on the numbers I'm seeing, something is still wrong, even though it shows that we're advertising in the defined area. The numbers act as if the changes to the broadcast area haven't been enacted even though the account shows the broadcast area as being enabled.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

The Google AdWords team posted a photo help session, specifically to give tips on how to use the Google Content Network to the best of your ability.

AdWordsPro Sarah, the woman in the middle of the photo above, posted the details of the photo tips:

To help wish the AdWords Help Forum happy birthday, the Online Help team collected Googler's favorite tips and created several photo albums (so you can put a face to the tip!). Its our little way of saying "thank you" for a great first year on the forum.

Tip photo album: http://cli.gs/20RB5g

The first album in the series has tips for advertisers looking to place ads on the Content Network. If you look through the pictures and find a tip that looks interesting, some of the photos have URLs in the caption that will give you more information on how to implement this tip in your own account (it may be easier than reading our messy hand writing). And, as always, if you have questions about any of the tips, please feel free to leave them in this thread.

Happy Birthday Everyone!
AdWordsPro Sarah

There is a lot to say about giving online help for this product, but to show a smile when doing it - well, that adds a lot. To see all the tips, go to the Picasa album.

Very creative AdWords team!

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

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.