It's happened—the moment many SEM advertisers have been waiting for (or absolutely dreading).
Google is beginning to roll out the new AdWords platform that was announced at the Google Performance Summit earlier in 2016.
First impressions: It’s awfully pretty and feels like Google Tag Manager’s interface (boxy, colorful, and simplistic). And it seems like just the right timing for the release, coinciding with a fresh Google Analytics update just a few months prior.
In detail, the update is meant to give advertisers primary data faster while also streamlining the optimization process. It really is just years of platform use and feedback from advertisers that has allowed Google to take the time to make everything function in such a manner.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the updated features and layout:
The Overview Tab, as Google mentioned at the summit, was built to give advertisers the information they should care about as soon as they access an account. Here is the look and feel of what our alpha version of the platform had prepackaged:
So if I’m looking for a visual chart on front-end metrics such as impressions, clicks or total cost, I’ll get that immediately when logging in. Furthermore, keyword data and device traffic is also prominent upon your first few seconds in the account.
Based on the square layout for the Overview menu, we can assume it will probably be a drag-and-drop feature that advertisers can customize based on their needs, which is pretty nifty considering no account is the same.
Another time-saving update is the addition of Locations, Ad Schedule, and Devices to the top-level navigation. Recently, these features lived a few clicks deep within the Campaigns/Settings tab or within the Segment feature at the campaign level. It’s nice to see the Google team bring these features up to higher navigation because they are becoming more prominent optimization tactics as the paid search landscape evolves.
The Settings Tab got a rather large face-lift and feels supremely quick for selecting, updating, and setting up new changes at the campaign level. Previously, this section was a few mouse-wheel scrolls for most. Now it’s a single, above-the-fold view.
The Ads & Extensions Tab is now a migration of both the Ads and Ad Extensions tabs from previous AdWords versions, still offering the same creation features, but keeping things simple by merging the two.
Extensions:
Ads:
The Ad Groups Tab looks much better, but functions just about the same as it did before.
And lastly, the Keywords Tab—much the same as before, but with a more streamlined experience. Advertisers will still be able to see active keywords, negatives, and search terms within a single area. Additionally, all of the same keyword optimization features still apply, such as bid changes, eligibility reasons and keyword match type visibility.
In summary, the new platform is legitimately more efficient and aesthetically awesome, and it’s probably going to save incremental time over the course of an advertiser’s workday. All of that combined means we’re ecstatic to see it roll out this year.