The New AdWords Experience

PPC industry had a range of opinions and analysis of the new tools and features as it was met with mixed emotions (and some toggling back to the prior version). While we’re certain you’ve seen several blog articles on this topic, we’ve decided to list some.

Let’s get started 

If you want to know all there is to know from Google, have a look at this Help page about the new experience. It shows all of the differences between the previous AdWords interface and the new one as well as the exclusive features that are offered in the new AdWords experience.

Showcase Shopping Ads

Released back in July, this new ad format allows advertisers to group related products and display them together. These ads appear in the same place that product ads appear at the top of the SERPs. The interesting thing about these ads is that the first click on your ad is free, you only pay if someone clicks through and arrives on your landing page. Learn more about setting up these ads from Wordstream or AdWords Help.

Audience Manager

In the new Audience Manager, you’re able to see the data sources available for your AdWords tag-based remarketing lists and YouTube remarketing lists. The new audience list table allows you to search, sort and download your remarketing lists. You can also access Audience Insights from the Audience Manager as well.

This feature is accessed through the wrench dropdown in the top right navigation under “Shared Library.” More information about this portion of the UI is available here.

Import third party app analytics Platform Data

If you or your client use third-party app analytics providers to track mobile app conversions, this will allow you to import data from your account by linking it to your AdWords account. To get started, check out these instructions from AdWords.

Keyboard shortcuts

As someone who uses shortcuts on my Mac all of the time, this is one of the features I am most excited about. You can easily glide from one report to another with ease.

There are a few basic shortcuts you should know about to get started. Here’s what they are:

• Key 1 + Key 2 – Similar to other shortcuts you have likely used, make sure to hold down the second key while still pressing the first key in the shortcut and then release both keys.
• Key 1, then Key 2 – Press the first key and release, then press the second key and release.
• Key – Just pressing 1 key in some instances will be a shortcut in the new UI.

Here is a list of shortcuts that you should try out:

• ? – Show or hide shortcuts list
• G then T – Search for a page
• Shift + N – Create new item – useable anywhere you see the plus sign button.
• Shift + W – Show or hide the navigation panel on the left.
• Ctrl or ⌘ + C – Copy
• Ctrl or ⌘ + V – Paste

To move between areas of AdWords:

• G then O – Go to Overview page
• G then Y – Go to Opportunities page
• G then C – Go to the Campaigns page
• Shift + A –  Go to All Campaigns view (after you’ve clicked into a campaign)
• G then K – Go to Ad groups page
• G then A – Go to Ads page
• G then X – Go to Extensions page
• G then K – Go to Keywords page
• G then S – Go to Settings page
• G then U – Only useable if you have a Manager account. This will take you to the Managed Accounts page.

Landing pages

Google first announced their new landing pages mobile-friendly test tool, which allows advertisers to check their mobile-friendliness, at Google Marketing Next. If you haven’t tried that tool out, you can utilize its features in the Landing Pages page on the new UI. This feature allows you to see how all of your landing pages are performing in one interface for search, display and video campaigns.

Content exclusions changes

In the previous interface, there were “site category options” for Display Network campaigns. Those are now called “content exlcusions” in the campaign settings. Some of the settings are also being phased out. If you run remarketing and display campaigns, make sure you’re up on all of the changes.