New Interface Thursdays: Looking back and a chance to meet the team

With more AdWords advertisers using the new interface each week, we'd like to take a moment to recap the topics we've covered on New Interface Thursdays these past two months.

We started the series with a list of learning resources including the new AdWords interface website. The next week we showed you how you could use keyboard shortcuts to manage your campaigns more efficiently. We then wrote about how you can use filters and customize columns to help you focus on the data that's most important to you. Most recently, we took close looks at both the Keywords tab and Networks tab.

If you want to take the next step in mastering the new interface, and if you plan to attend SMX Advanced in Seattle, Washington next week, you can learn about the new interface from the people who built it. The new AdWords interface team will be doing a deep dive into the new interface and demonstrating some of the latest tools we're adding to AdWords:

Deep Dive into the New AdWords Interface

When: Tuesday, June 2, 11 AM to 12:15 PM

Where: Sound Conference Room, Bell Harbor Convention Center, Seattle, WA

If you'd like to attend our session, you'll need to register for a free expo hall pass. We hope to see you at the session, and please visit us at booth #32 and tell us your thoughts about the new interface.

Posted by Austin Rachlin, Inside AdWords crew

New Interface Thursdays: Managing keywords and the Search Query Report

In this week's post, we'll take a deeper look into the Keywords tab in the new AdWords interface.

The Keywords tab lists the keywords within your account. Just like in the previous AdWords interface, you can add, edit, and create new keywords on the Keywords tab in your account. However, the new interface takes keyword management a step further with a feature called roll-up tabs. A Keywords tab is available at every level of your account, allowing you to see the keywords for a whole campaign, or even across all campaigns in a single list. This is helpful for tasks like identifying your top-performing keywords across your account.

You can also make changes to your keywords directly from any Keywords tab. For example, you can change a keyword's match type by clicking on the keyword and then selecting the desired match type from the drop-down.

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Additionally, you can pause and resume keywords, change your bid, or change the keyword itself on any Keywords tab across your account. If you want to make changes to multiple keywords at once, you'll want to use bulk editing. Select the keywords you want to change and then click the Edit button at the top of the table.

A nice feature of bulk editing is the Copy down button, which allows you to change bids across a number of keywords. For example, if you want to change your bids across multiple keywords rather than entering the bid manually for each one, you can click on the Copy down button next to the bid you're editing. Your bid will then be copied to all of the selected keywords. You can also copy down changes to keyword status or destination URLs.

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You can also find many of the features that we posted about in the past few weeks in the Keywords tab. If you want to quickly edit your keywords, remember that you have keyboard shortcuts at your disposal. You can also use customizable columns to look at the date in which you're interested. And, of course, you can filter your keywords, which can be especially helpful if you're looking at all the keywords in your account.

Another feature you can try on the Keywords tab is segmentation. By clicking the Filter and views button and then selecting Segment by Query Match Type, you can see the performance for each of your keywords broken out into broad, phrase, and exact match.

Using the Search Query Report

Earlier this week, we posted about the enhancements to the Search Query Report, which you can access directly from the Keywords tab in the new interface.

As a reminder, this report shows you the search terms that triggered your ads. To see the report, select the keywords of your choice and click See search terms, then Selected. You'll be presented with a list of search terms that triggered your ads for those keywords as well as metrics like CTR and conversion rate.

You can then make changes to your account directly from the report. For example, if you a see a search term that looks like a good fit, you can add it to your campaign. Just select the term and click Add as keyword. You'll also have the opportunity to set a specific bid and set the match type for the keyword. Likewise, if you see a search term that isn't a fit for your campaigns, you can add it as a negative keyword. When adding negative keywords, it's best to wait for data. You don't want to exclude a keyword too soon as you might miss out on relevant traffic. Also, you might try using a lower bid or using more targeted ad text before you exclude it completely.

When using this report, it can be tempting to tweak keywords that only have one or two clicks. If you want to get the most out of the Search Query Report, we recommend you focus on keywords with the most impressions and clicks. That's where you'll get the most value out of the changes you make.

Your feedback on the new interface

You've already given us lots of helpful feedback on what you like about the new interface, such as easier Content Network management and faster account navigation, and feedback on what needs improvement.

You can learn more about some of the top issues we're working to address by reading this article. We continue to work on changes to the new AdWords interface based on your feedback. Please continue to send us your feedback on the new interface using the Send Feedback link in the top corner of your account. Your feedback is very valuable to us as we continue to improve the new AdWords interface.

Posted by Austin Rachlin, Inside AdWords crew

New Interface Thursdays: Tailor your account with customizable columns

Today on New Interface Thursdays we'll be taking a look at customizable columns. Customizable columns are one of the ways that new AdWords interface helps you manage your campaigns more effectively. With customizable columns, you can select which metrics are most important to your business, and then quickly view those metrics in your campaigns.

To get started, click on the Filter and views button in your account and select Customize columns.

From there you'll see a variety of columns that you can add or remove from your account.

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On the left hand side you'll see that the metrics are broken into two groups: Performance and Conv., which is short for Conversions. Keep in mind that you'll only see conversion columns if you've enabled AdWords Conversion Tracking in your AdWords account. You can select all the columns in a category by checking the box next to the category name.

While on the topic of conversion columns, let's go over the new conversion metrics. Last month, we announced an update to how AdWords reports conversions. Now, you can choose to see columns for many-per-click, 1-per-click conversions, or both. To get a better understanding of the new metrics you can read this article.

Getting back to the Customized Columns panel, let's take a look at the right side of the box, the Preview section. You'll notice some columns are gray and others are green. The gray columns are fixed, so they're always shown. The green columns are metrics you've selected to be shown. You can rearrange the order of these metrics by clicking and dragging them. This is great for setting up a side-by-side comparison for metrics like average cost-per-click and average position, for example.

One last thing to keep in mind is that columns vary across the different tabs in AdWords, depending on the metrics presented within each tab. For instance, you'll find a Quality Score column in the Keywords tab, but not in the Campaigns tab.

That's it for customizable columns. We hope you'll give this feature a try so that you can tailor your account and see only the information you want.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

New Interface Thursdays: Meet the Networks tab

In this edition of New Interface Thursdays we'll be talking about the Networks tab. The Networks tab replaces the Placements tab from the previous interface, and gives you more insight into where your ads are running. In the Networks tab, you can see your ads' performance across different networks like Google search, Search partners, and the Content Network.

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When looking at how your Content Network ads perform, you'll see that the new interface divides Content Network statistics into two groups: automatic placements and managed placements.

Automatic placements are pages in the Content Network where your ads have been contextually targeted. Contextual targeting matches the themes in your keyword list to relevant page content on the sites in our network. For instance, if you have 'ski equipment' as a keyword in your ad group, Google might contextually target your ads to a page talking about the best online ski equipment deals.

Managed placements are sites or specific URLs that you've singled out. With managed placements you can set a specific bid for a site. If a site is performing very well for you and you want to increase your exposure, you might bid higher for that placement. On the other hand, if a site isn't very relevant to your offer, you might lower your bid or exclude the site.

When you add a site to your managed placements, we still use your keywords to find contextually matching pages. You can think of it like a Venn diagram:

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Automatic Placements

Jumping back into the account, we can take a closer look at automatic placements. By clicking show details you'll see a table showing the sites on which your ads are running. If you've used the Placement Performance report in the previous interface this should look familiar to you. With the new interface you have this report right in your account.

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You can see that each site's performance is broken out. The green "Added" badges appear next to the sites which you've already added to your managed placements.

From this table, you have a few actions you can take. You can add a site to your managed placements with a separate bid for that site. If you want to see a breakdown of your performance on individual URLs where your ads were shown, you can select a site and click Show URL report. Also if a site doesn't meet your advertising goals, you can exclude it from your ad group or campaign.

Managed Placements

Your managed placements are shown in a similar table:

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Since you set specific bids for managed placements, this table has a Max CPC column. Like the rest of the new interface, you can make changes directly in the table. For example, if you want to change your bid for a placement, just click on the bid and enter a new one. As with your automatic placements, you can view a URL report to take a deeper look at where your ads are showing.

At the bottom of the Networks tab you'll find Exclusions. This area lists any placements that you've excluded to prevent your ads from running on them. You can exclude a placement at the ad group level or at the campaign level.

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That's it for our tour of the Networks tab. You can always find more information in the Help Center and at the New Interface site. 

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

New Interface Thursdays: All about filters

Have you used filters in the new AdWords interface yet? Filters allow you to look at just the data you want within your account. You can use filters throughout your account and save them for later use.

Let's take a look at some of the cool things you can do with filters. First, no matter what tab you're in, you'll find filters under Filter and views.

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Setting up a filter is the same whether you're working with ad groups, keywords, or placement; though, the criteria you can filter by does depend on what you're trying to filter. For example, you can filter keywords by match type, but you can't filter ad groups by match type.

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To set up a filter, just specify the criteria you want. You can add additional rules to make your filter more specific. For example, you can set filters for clickthrough rate (CTR) and average position at the same time to see keywords with a high CTR appearing on the second page of search results. If you want to re-use the same filter repeatedly, you can save it by checking the Save Filter box.

Let's say we'd like to find high performing keywords across our account. Rather than hunting down all the keywords from ad group to ad group, we can just filter for high performance. Let's look for keywords with a CTR greater than 2% and conversion rate of at least 5%.

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Then, after we've filtered the list, we can make changes to our high performing keywords directly in the results table instead of having to click through to each ad group one by one.

Another place you might find filters very handy is in the Ads tab, which displays all your ads across your account, campaign, or ad group. Here's a way you could use filters to get better insight into your campaigns:

The Google Store has campaigns with two types of landing pages: product pages for a specific product like this t-shirt, and category pages for entire groups like all wearables. We'd like to know which type of page generates more sales. Since the URLs for our product pages are formatted differently than the URLs for our category pages, we can create a filter to show only ads that have category landing pages by filtering for destination URLs that start with http://www.googlestore.com/category.asp?

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With this filter, it's easy to see performance across all ads that drive traffic to our category pages. We can compare this to the performance we see on product pages. For the Google Store, we found that the category pages generate more sales than the product pages-- information that will help us improve our campaigns.

With filters on the Ads tab, you can also quickly identify ads with a specific approval status. This is a quick way to identify all pending or disapproved ads across your account.

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As you can see, filters have a lot of possible uses. We encourage you to try looking at your campaigns in different ways. You might be surprised at what you find. Happy filtering.

Posted by Austin Rachlin, Inside AdWords crew

New Interface Thursday: Using keyboard shortcuts

One of the primary goals of the new interface is to help you manage your campaigns more efficiently. We also wanted to offer some of the conveniences you'll find in other Google products, like keyboard shortcuts. Just like in Gmail, you can quickly navigate around your account without having to use the mouse. In the new AdWords interface you have a number of keyboard shortcuts at your fingertips:

Global navigation

g then o: Go to All Online Campaigns

g then c: Go to Campaigns tab

g then r: Go to Ad groups tab

g then k: Go to Keywords tab

g then n: Go to Networks tab

g then a: Go to Ads tab

g then s: Go to Settings tab

Table navigation and actions

j/k: Next/previous row in the primary data table

x: Select current row (Use Shift + x for multiple rows)

e: Edit

p: Pause

n: Enable

d: Delete

l: Download

Editing ad groups and keywords:

e: Edit selected rows

Ctrl + Arrows: Move between editable fields

Ctrl + s: Save changes

Esc: Cancel edit mode

If you ever forget a shortcut, you can always find them in the help widget in the bottom left of your account.

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And we also have a handy reference guide that you can print out and keep at your desk.

Posted by Austin Rachlin, Inside AdWords crew

Starting up New Interface Thursdays

You may have heard that we're testing a new interface for AdWords. Many of you are starting to use the new interface, and we want to take time to tell you more about it. So we're starting a series, New Interface Thursdays.

Each week we'll cover some aspect of the new interface, whether it's an in-depth look at some of the new features, tips and tricks, product updates, or announcements.

For this week, we'd like to point you to the new AdWords interface website and highlight what you'll find there. The site has two sections. First, there's a section for videos abut the new interface, including a handful of videos about new features and how these features can help you more effectively manage your account. There's also a video from the AdWords product managers and engineers telling the story behind the new interface:

The other section is the beta resources page. If you're currently using the new interface, you'll find lots of helpful materials like the How to Guide. The interface is still a work in progress so we also have a Known Issues page. The Known Issues pages can suggest possible workarounds and also lets you tell us if you're having a problem.

If you want to try the new interface, but don't have access yet, you can sign up from the new interface website. During the beta, you can switch between old and new interfaces, so you'll still have access to the full range of AdWords tools and reports, if needed.

Finally, if you use Twitter, you can follow @newadwordsui to keep up with the latest news and updates as well as tips and tricks on using the new interface.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew