Doing rounds in client accounts today and noticed one of the accounts has been updated with newly styled charts.

The colors are different, the legend is moved to the top vs the right side and on chart mouseover a popup that is also newly formatted including the color codes.

New Look:

Old Look:

New look is a hands down winner in my opinion!

Do you see this in your accounts?  Comments welcome!

Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service a Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter

At first I was skeptical (I usually am) about the Automated Rules feature in AdWords.  Call me a control freak, really I don’t mind, I am admittedly one.   However, in the spirit of curiosity I checked out automated rules back in December 2010 when it was announced and was not at all unhappy about what I found in the feature.

Automated Rules are a time saver and decent optimization feature for advertisers who just don’t have the resources for professional AdWords account management or the time to self manage effectively.   The major drawback was that the rules were limited at 10 rules per user and advertisers who found the feature helpful were left frustrated by the limitation.  Google announced yesterday (1/17/2012) that the limit for automated rules is now increased to 100.

Also announced yesterday is the addition of a very welcome “undo” changes feature.  Who can’t love an undo button, right?  Google added this undo feature to give advertisers more comfort when experimenting with the Automate Rules feature, now they simply ‘undo’ a rule that did not work out. Google’s Help Center explains in more details that only the most recent rule can be undone.  If you set a rule on Friday and another on Saturday you would have to undo Saturdays rule to have Fridays available for undoing.  If Saturdays Rule was set, but did not results in any account changes, it will not have to be undone to get to Fridays rule(s) – read more.

Some of the popular things that can be accomplished with Automated Rules are:

• Scheduling ads
• Pausing low-performing ads or keywords
• Bids and bid scheduling
• Controlling budgets and cost

Full post from Google on Inside AdWords.

Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service a Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter

Announced today in the Inside AdWords Blog is the soon to be added, and long awaited, ad Adgroup Level impression share metrics.

In addition to the mention of this upcoming addition Google also announced an upcoming change related to reporting on Campaign level impression share metrics.

we are also planning to update our algorithms to provide more accurate campaign impression share metrics. As a result, there are some important changes you should be aware of:

1. Refined campaign-level statistics: Since we are improving our algorithms, we will update all campaign-level impression share metrics back to May 2011. As a result, you will no longer be able to see campaign-level historical impression share metrics before May 2011. If you wish to preserve a record of the pre-May 2011 campaign impression share data, you will need to download a report before January 30, 2012.
2. Once-a-day updates: In order to calculate your impression share metrics with a greater degree of accuracy, we will update all impression share metrics once per day (approximately noon Pacific Time [GTM-8]). As a result, the impression share data that you see will not reflect impression share for the current day, and may not include the previous day’s impression share as well (depending on what time of the day you run your report).

These changes will begin to roll out to all advertisers globally on January 30, 2012, so look out for them in your account soon. Once these changes are live, you’ll be able to find more detailed information in the AdWords Help Center.

Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service a Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter

Yesterday the Official Google AdWords Community Forum mentioned that a new help forum platform will be coming soon.

This is a very welcome event as the old platform was limited in features, did not allow for much in customization for individual Google help forums, and in my opinion did not deliver the best platform for helping advertisers.

I don’t fully know what we are to expect from this new platform but I am sure it will be a vast improvement for Forum visitors as well as those of us who spend time in the forum regularly helping advertisers.

We here at AdWords Help Experts will be sure to make a formal announcement  when the new forum is live.  We will cover the features on the new platform so everyone can check it out!

Exciting Times!

Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service a Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter

It appears that Google is testing out a new AdWords Location Targeting Tool.  Spied this in one of my client accounts today.

The tool has an easier process for selecting and excluding locations, and there is more clear messaging.  It is good to see the Reach of each location also.

The Radius feature was a little confusing IMO.  After selecting the location and defining the radius you need to click the ‘map’ link (highlighted in yellow below).  Then the map will appear defining the radius and you click the ‘add’ link on the left and then Done at the bottom of the window.  I was not aware that I needed to click that ‘map’ link and it took me a couple of tries to get that straightened out.

As you can see in the shot above I can target a 40mi radius of Chicago and have the ability to easily Add, Exclude or See Nearby locations.

Hope to see it in my other client accounts soon.

Do you see this is any of your accounts?  Comments welcome.

……….

Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service  a  Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter