Product Extensions – Google AdWords Feature

Google has launched a new feature of AdWords, product extensions.

Product extensions will enhance and enrich your AdWords Ads with relevant information. The new feature allows you to use the existing Google Merchant Center account to highlight products directly in your search ads.

How It Works?

Whenever, the user types in the search query and if it happens to trigger your AdWords text ad; then text ad along with the products that are relevant to the searcher’s query, if any, from the Google Merchant Center account will be displayed.

Ad Format:

Below the AdWords text ad, the product extensions show the images, titles and prices in a plus box.

The advertiser will be charged the same cost-per-click (CPC), even when the user clicks the text ad or any of the offers in the product extensions plusbox. On the other hand, if the user just expands the plusbox without clicking, then the advertiser will not be charged.

Google has launched this new feature to improve the relevancy of the AdWords text ads.

This feature is more advantageous for companies looking forward to advertise specific, new products.

Images always catch the attention of the user, when it comes to the decision of purchase.

Therefore, this aspect of displaying specific and relevant products will enrich the text ads for better performance.


How to Get Started?

1. Log in to Google Merchant Center & add your Adwords customer ID to your account.

2. In the AdWords account, visit the campaign settings tab and check out for 'Ad extensions' heading and select "Use product images and information from my Google Merchant Center account”.

3. There is no requirement for any new campaigns or ad groups. Just update the keywords or change your text ads.

Product extensions are available to U.S. advertisers, but available in a limited beta outside the U.S.

AdWords Editor

AdWords Editor is a free and flexible Google application that helps in managing the ad campaigns in the accounts. The advertisers need to download the account, update campaigns with powerful in-built editing tools, and then upload the changes to AdWords.

Check out the following features of AdWords Editor:

1. Work Offline: It enables advertisers to download the campaigns and work offline, then upload the changes, as and when required to Adwords.

2. Visibility: It allows the advertiser/user to view the account, campaigns, ad groups, ads and keywords at various levels with clarity.

3. Saves Time: It reduces the time in managing the campaigns in a dynamic way; by its various options like: bulk changes etc.

4. Bulk Changes: It allows bulk changes in bidding, adding keywords, etc.

5. Copy / Move: It provides various ways to copy / move keywords, ads and ad groups. Also, allows the user to copy / move, campaigns between accounts.

6. Navigation: It allows very quick and easy navigation through the account. The tree view at the top level makes it easier to view the account, campaign and ad groups, to edit for desirable changes.

7. Proposed Changes: It facilitates proposed changes to be shared with other AdWords Editor users, prior to posting the changes to account for feedback.

Users can access to AdWords Editor Version 7.6.1, now available for Windows and Mac.

The version 7.6.1 supports ad scheduling, advanced location targeting, YouTube Promoted Video ads, and other features.

For more details, can visit: http://www.google.com/support/adwordseditor/bin/static.py?page=release_notes.html

An existing user of AdWords Editor will be asked for an automatic upgrade of the new version. The new users can download the same at: http://www.google.com/intl/en/adwordseditor/index.html

New Adwords Interface – Free Keyboard Shortcuts Stickers

Most of the advertisers, caught up with managing and maintaining more clients and adding more of them, would find it difficult to go about with the work.

Google has always added new enhancements and features to the AdWords accounts, to make the work more effective.

The primary objective and goal of the new AdWords interface is to help and manage the accounts both efficiently and effectively. Therefore, Google is offering free keyboard shortcuts, just like in Gmail. One needn’t use the mouse and instead, make the best usage of the shortcuts. In the new AdWords interface, advertisers have access to a number of keyboard shortcuts at the fingertips:

Take a look at the following:

1)Global Navigation

g then o - Leads to All Online Campaigns

g then c - Leads to Campaigns tab

g then r - Leads to Ad groups tab

g then k - Leads to Keywords tab

g then n - Leads to Networks tab

g then a - Leads to Ads tab

g then s - Leads to Settings tab

2)Table Navigation & Actions

j / k - Leads to next/previous row in the primary data table

x - Used to select the current row (For multiple rows, use Shift + x)

e - To Edit

p - To Pause

n - To Enable

d - To Delete

l - To Download


3)Editing Ad groups & Keywords:

e - To edit selected rows

Ctrl + Arrows -To move between editable fields

Ctrl + s - To save changes

Esc - To cancel edit mode

Google is giving away, keyboard shortcuts stickers, to help advertisers learn shortcuts faster.

If you live in the U.S., Canada, or other select countries, you can send your name and mailing address, and Google will mail you a set of stickers within a few weeks.

My Client Center (MCC) – New Interface

Google has thought about saving the time and effort of all those advertisers, who are managing more clients and aiming for more.

As part of the process, starting this week, users/advertisers can view a link on My Client Center (MCC) Dashboard that leads to the new interface that Google is testing.

The new interface has the new look and feel, also enhancements to make the advertisers work and effort more effective.

The same enhancements can be viewed as follows:

1) In-line editing Of Account Descriptions: This particular enhancement, saves time of advertisers in making changes to account names. It enables the changes to be done right away by clicking on the account description on the dashboard, instead of waiting for a new page to load.

2) Remove/Unlink Accounts: In order to unlink the client account from MCC, one had to creep into the client account and make the changes. Whereas, with the new interface, the client account can easily be unlinked from MCC, by removing the client account directly from MCC dashboard.
The new MCC interface provides the same functionality as before, along with the above mentioned enhancements.

However, Google is looking forward to introduce few more additional enhancements, to make the work more easy and effective.

As the interface is still in the development phase, few features can be viewed, one of which could be the “find client” search box.

Meanwhile, the advertisers can switch back and forth between new and old interface, for their convenience, in the phase of testing.

Therefore, test the new interface and watch out for more new upcoming features.

“Ads by Google” – “i” Icon

The common message, viewed by most of us near the ads of Google is “Ads by Google”.

The motive and purpose behind the display of the label by Google, is to create an awareness and understanding among the users/advertisers about the ads and their origin (where they come from).

As the advertising, online is becoming more sophisticated with improved technology and advertisers are geared to use more and more rich media ad formats like: Flash, interactive ads; Google, want to provide the same benefit to advertisers for those ad formats.

Due to the above decision taken, Google already started adding the message “Ads by Google” to the rich media ads too, and it wouldn’t affect the performance of ad creative and publisher’s site.

Further, you'll notice a small "i" (for "information") icon at the bottom right-hand corner of these ads, the same will expand when the user hovers over it. The message format was specifically designed for rich media ads. The new message of small icon “i” for information appears on your AdWords rich media ads, and shows up on standard AdSense ads as well.

Whenever, the users’ clicks on the icon, they will be taken to a page that helps the users to learn more about online advertising.

Google has tested the new message format on rich media ads and the same showed that it doesn't affect ad performance.

The New DoubleClick Ad Exchange Announced

The new DoubleClick Ad Exchange has been announced by Google, which is a real-time marketplace to sell and buy display advertising space.

The sellers in this Ad Exchange are large publishers, whereas, the buyers are ad networks and agency-run networks with their own technologies for ad serving and optimization. This would be a great opportunity for advertisers to advertise.

This would be more than an excitement for all the AdWords advertisers, as these Ad Exchange sites are now available to advertise as part of the Google content network in the AdWords accounts. These sites are made available in the AdWords accounts only when the Ad Exchange publishers choose to allow AdWords advertisers to compete for their inventory, and as long as the same inventory meets all AdSense policy requirements.

In addition, to the hundreds and thousands of placements that your ad can run in the Google content network, they will now as well, run on the high-quality placements on the Ad Exchange sites.

The advertisers’ ad’s placements will appear and function like any other placement in the content network. Same features can be observed as follows:

1. Appearance of the placements
2. Placement Performance Report to check the performance etc.

All the features still remain the same like: AdWords targeting, bidding, formats, reporting, and controls for the content network, only that high-quality sites are added to access for the advertisers.

Along with the above all the requirements need to be taken care in the Google content network.

If you haven’t used content network yet, then its time for you to venture and get more out of the Google AdWords for better performance and benefits.

For more information, for new DoubleClick Ad Exchange, you can learn from AdWords Help Center.

Google Adwords New Interface

Google AdWords new interface got with it, many changes in the way of working and managing accounts by the webmasters. AdWords campaign management has been redesigned to get your work done faster and more effectively and efficiently.

The following are few points that add value to the AdWords campaign management:

• Quicker Account Navigation

• Efficient Campaign Management

• Reduced Time & Effort

• Optimization Opportunities for Improvement

The new interface has changed, the way of managing the AdWords accounts by the webmasters.

HENCE IT'S WORTH A TRY