superlucky75's Blog

In our past content network posts, we've discussed how search and content network performance can differ. In particular, clickthrough and conversion rates aren't always comparable between the content network and the search network, since users browsing content commonly approach ads differently than users searching actively for a particular topic. As a result, we use smart pricing to protect advertiser ROI by automatically adjusting the cost of a contextually-targeted content network click based on its effectiveness compared to a search click.

Because search and content network statistics can differ greatly, viewing aggregate statistics for a campaign running on both networks may not give you granular insight into your performance. For example, a high number of impressions and a low clickthrough rate on the search network may be signals that you should optimize, but similar statistics on the content network are unlikely to indicate poor performance.

To provide better insight, we've made a small change to the campaign and ad group summary pages that allows you to easily evaluate search and content network statistics separately. The new "Statistics" drop-down menu lets you change your view to see search and content network statistics in individual rows for each of your campaigns and/or ad groups. You can also filter to see only the statistics for the network you choose. By separating the statistics by network on your summary pages, you can not only see which campaigns or ad groups need your attention, but you can also identify which network you need to optimize for. Optimization strategies for the search network are often different from strategies for the content network.

When comparing your performance on search and content networks, look at your cost/conversion (measurable through AdWords conversion tracking). This metric is very useful since your target cost/conversion is likely to be the same for both networks and can be used as an accurate measurement of your overall ROI.

To learn more about the new display options for your statistics, please visit our Help Center.

Posted by Christian Yee, Inside AdWords crew Thursday, September 04, 2008 at 12:48 PM

Wednesday, September 03, 2008 at 3:20 PM

Today, we announced the beta version of a new open source web browser: Google Chrome. Google Chrome features a simple and intuitive user interface and an entirely new architecture designed for speed, security, and stability while browsing the Internet. For more information on why we built Google Chrome, please take a look at the Official Google Blog.
  Tuesday, September 02, 2008 at 11:54 AM

We'd like to give you a heads-up that on September 2nd, all reports in your AdWords Report Center created over six months ago (before March 2nd, 2008) will be deleted. We're clearing out old reports to make room for new ones. But, don't worry! All of your account data will be retained and unaffected by any report deletions.

Please plan accordingly before September 1st if you have reports in your AdWords Report Center that are more than six months old. If you'd like to save older reports, you can export them into Google Spreadsheets, .CSV files, Excel, HTML or another format with the click of a button.

And remember, you can always run a report again for any date range. As we mentioned, no account data is being removed. Moving forward, we will periodically delete reports older than six months.

Posted by Heather Lane, Inside AdWords crew Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 9:42 AM

In July 2005, AdWords introduced minimum bids for keywords based on Quality Score. This system allows us to show very high quality ads to Google users, while also giving advertisers control over their keywords. Since 2005, we've improved Quality Score in many ways, such as the inclusion of landing page quality and landing page load time as factors. Along the way, we've also received much helpful feedback from both users and advertisers.

Today, we'd like to let you know of further improvements we'll introduce in the coming weeks -- based, in part, on this feedback. First we'll outline the key points, and then dive into the details:
 

• Quality Score will now be more accurate because it will be calculated at the time of each search query
   
• Keywords will no longer be marked 'inactive for search'
   
• 'First page bid' will replace 'minimum bid' in your account

A more accurate Quality Score

Most importantly, we are replacing our static per-keyword Quality Scores with a system that will evaluate an ad's quality each time it matches a search query. This way, AdWords will use the most accurate, specific, and up-to-date performance information when determining whether an ad should be displayed. Your ads will be more likely to show when they're relevant and less likely to show when they're not. This means that Google users are apt to see better ads while you, as an advertiser, should receive leads which are more highly qualified.

Keywords no longer marked 'inactive for search'

The new per-query evaluation of Quality Score affects you in that keywords will no longer appear as 'inactive for search' in your account. Instead, all keywords will have the chance to show ads on Google web search and the search network (unless you've paused or deleted them). Keep in mind, however, that keywords previously marked 'inactive for search' are not likely to accrue a great deal of traffic following this change. This is because their combined per-query Quality Score and bid probably isn't high enough to gain competitive placement.

'First page bid' will replace 'minimum bid'

As a result of migrating to per-query Quality Score, we are no longer showing minimum bids in your account. Instead, we're replacing minimum bids with a new, more meaningful metric: first page bids. First page bids are an estimate of the bid it would take for your ad to reach the first page of search results on Google web search. They're based on the exact match version of the keyword, the ad's Quality Score, and current advertiser competition on that keyword. Based on your feedback, we learned that knowing your minimum bid wasn't always helpful in getting the ad placement you wanted, so we hope that first page bids will give you better guidance on how to achieve your advertising goals.

It's worth mentioning that the impact of these changes will vary from advertiser to advertiser; some might see no changes to their ad serving, while others may see a noticeable difference. As always, we recommend optimizing ads to prevent them from receiving a low Quality Score.

Putting it all together

Here's an example to illustrate how per-query Quality Score works:

Nancy's Dairy advertises on the keyword 'milk.' Nancy's ads perform better on the keyword 'milk' in the U.S. than in Canada. Her ads also perform better on the query 'milk delivery' than on 'milk,' and better on certain search network sites than on others. Instead of one static Quality Score and minimum bid that determines whether the keyword 'milk' is eligible to trigger an ad for all search queries, we will now determine eligibility dynamically, based on factors such as location, the specific query, and other relevance factors. For that reason, Nancy's keyword 'milk' will be able to trigger an ad for search queries where it's likely to perform better, i.e., in the U.S., on 'milk delivery' and on certain search network sites.

We're working to update the AdWords API and AdWords Editor so that, in the future, they will support first page bids. Until then, both the AdWords API and AdWords Editor will continue to show the minimum bid field. However, the information shown in this field will be based on the new per-query Quality Score. You may keep current with upcoming API releases on the API Blog and learn about upcoming AdWords Editor releases via the AdWords Editor Forum.

Finally, please note that we'll release these Quality Score changes to a very small segment of advertisers within the next day or two, so that we can gather feedback before launching to all our advertisers. We will, of course, post again in advance of the time that these changes go live for everyone.

In the meantime, please see this comprehensive list of frequently asked questions for more information.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 5:22 PM