Switching to the New AdWords Interface

Get ready for the new AdWords interface, it’s coming sooner than you think – literally within the next few days! There may be the fear of a permanent change that comes with a new interface, but we have a few insights for you to use within the new experience, which should help you optimise yourselves in no time!

Here are our top 3 features to start using straight away:

1. New and Improved A/B Test with ad variations

This upgraded feature is simpler, faster and makes it much easier to experiment for A/B testing, even for mass scale.

For example, if you wanted to alternate a landing page or test specific new copy, this can be applied to thousands of ads within a matter of minutes.

It’s located within in the light grey left-hand menu under “Drafts & Experiments” and on the tab titled “Ad Variation”.

You can then either select all campaigns or select the campaigns you want to test.

N.B. There cannot be multiple overlapping tests for the same campaigns during the same time frame.

The first filter allows you to select ads based on the main components of the ad text – within the headlines or descriptions or both.

The next filtering option is to select specific ads based on what they contain. These can be combined within several filters until you get the exact selection you desire, see the options below:

How to create the ad variations

The three types of ad variations you can choose from:

1. Find and Replace

This option allows you to find a word or phrase within the ads and exchange it, as well as giving you the option to match case.

e.g.“Enquire now” vs. “Enquire today”

2. Update Text

The “Update Text” ad variant is a larger scale change compared to “Find and Replace,” but it’s still reliant on the filters selected.

For example, in the image below, changing both the Headline 1 and 2 but leaving the rest of the ad with no changes.

3. Swap Headlines

The third and final option is “Swap Headlines”. This allows you to switch your Headline 1 and Headline 2.

The perfect test to see whether the CTA headline is more effective than the brand headline, this is the chance to see the impact it has on CTR and overall type of conversions.

Set the Ad Variations Details

Setting your ad variation details should be done by using a name that explains what you’re specifically testing. That way you know what to refer back to when tracking the results.

Assigning a start date and an end date – there should be room for at least a couple of weeks to give the variations some time to gather some metrics (e.g. impressions) to compare against.

The next section is the “Experiment Split”. This means “the percentage of your campaign’s budget that’s allocated to your variation, and the percentage of auctions your variation is eligible to participate in.”

Tracking the results

Within the new AdWords interface, you can easily track the clicks, CTR, cost, average CPC and impressions from your variations. These insights allow the decision on whether the new copy is worth implementing.

Whether the results of your ad variation tests were worthwhile, they can replace your existing ads.

The options you can select to implement your ads are:

Do not choose the second one is because it will remove all of your data from the original ad. Instead, select option 1, as it will keep your original ads and easily upload your new variations.

So there you have it – the full breakdown of running the new ad variation tests!

2. Promotion Extensions

A nice new feature in the Google Search Network ads is Promotion Extensions! These allow you to highlight a special sale or offer, which are available on your website, allowing you to save valuable characters within the ad text. The tag icon and snippet of information alongside it makes the offer stand out from the rest of the advert.

As with most ad extensions, they are quick and easy to implement, whilst giving you the added benefits of more prominence, additional information, increased chance of engagement, as well as boosting your overall quality score.

These new additions would be great for highlighting further price drops, as well as new or last-minute sales.

3. New Overview Interface

A fantastic customisable metric snapshot! Gathering quick metrics has never been easier at first glance.

Whether it’s understanding how well your ad schedule is performing – depending on if your campaign goal is to get the most traffic to the site or the most conversions – this new interface allows you to gather information quickly and in a simple visual manner.

Or whether you are seeing the top performing keywords or most used device, and gathering some metrics on clicks, cost and conversions, this new Adwords interface has you covered.

A nifty new feature within the “Searches” box is on the “Words” tab that provides a snapshot view of the words in the search terms that triggered the ads in your campaign. The border around a word implies the number of impressions it has received. The darker the border, the more impressions it has acquired.

To expose the impressions, clicks and conversions of a word, highlight a selected word to reveal a pop-up. This makes it easier to analyse the performance of words across a broad set of queries.

This is only a small insight into some of the new hidden gems within the new Adwords experience, but there is no doubt a lot more to be discovered when it becomes the permanent interface. Until then, we’ll keep a lookout to keep you informed for the future!

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