Google AdWords Update To Google Ads

The time has come where AdWords is becoming Google Ads, this involves a new dashboard, tools, logo and name. There’s been noise in the PPC world about this change for over a year now, so we can hope Google have tried & tested everything to be perfect for newcomers and the experienced marketer. 

The change is in progress as this post is being written & you can find out right here the main differences, changes & additions we have noticed the most.

Obviously with change coming we all got a bit nervous when Google Ads was being implemented, so I thought we should compare the two in the main sections of our jobs and decide on a winner in each section, plus make recommendations for any changes I’d like to see.

Interface/layout

Obviously, this is an important factor when it comes to Google Ads, considering we all spend most of our day on Google Ads.

I have to say, at first, I wasn’t much of a fan with all the buttons being moved to the left side of the screen rather than sitting above the data. After a while this layout has grown on me mainly due to the ability to full screen the data I am looking at, allowing me to see far more columns than the previous structure.

Two things I am not a fan of in the new structure is the constant need to change the columns for every level of the account & the new timeline graph, although this is an easily fixable: on all levels of the account Google requires us to update the columns to include conversions, which can be saved as a saved column but will require you to do this at every level, including splitting out shopping, search and display.

The graph used to be my go to feature when I needed a top line review of accounts; with even the smallest change showing a drastic change in the line on the graph, it could help you see any small & major changes In the account. This isn’t the case any more with the new graph, this one will only show a dip in major changes and a constant reduction over several days will only be noticed after it’s run for a long time.

Whilst I am quite dismissive of the graph’s abilities to capture changes in accounts, I have to say the addition of notes to the graph is a nice touch allowing me and fellow PPC Experts to tweak the same account by adding notes to give each other a ‘heads up’ on anything we might have done, fir example Analytics annotations.

Winner – Google Ads

Nobody 100% likes change on this kind of level, I can tell the new layout will grow and become 10 times better than the previous AdWords, and we must remember the update happened for a reason. A mix up of the layout has left space free to have new additions to certain sections of Google Ads, suggesting that things can only get better.

Campaign building

This whole section of Google advertising has been fully rejigged to follow a direct approach to getting campaigns running within seconds & at 100% rather than the previous way of creating a campaign shell and working to fill that up.

I do like this new way of campaign creation, and we have seen Google adopt a Facebook-style approach, allowing us to decide on a goal the campaign will want, such as Sales, Leads, Traffic etc. This will lead users down slightly different paths which Google has designed to work the best for your chosen goal.

Want sales? Well give us a CPA target and we can do all the bidding for you.

Want traffic? Give us a budget and we will get you as much traffic as possible.

See a trend there? This new style is pushing for the adoption of more automation on Google's part. This is great for people who understand Google advertising and know what they are looking at. I fear for new businesses coming into PPC marketing, having to test the waters & giving Google full control of how their money is spent with little input from an expert.

I do like the idea of utilising Google Ads to its full potential and here at Statuo we have been trialing and vigorously testing these different campaign styles and automated systems. We have seen some accounts increase ROAS by 50% just by running an A/B test across two campaigns, one original style and one Target ROAS.

Winner – Google Ads

I do believe in the right hands these new campaigns could blow any old AdWords campaign out of the water, although I wouldn’t advise anyone to give Google CPA numbers you want to hit and leave it running without effective optimisation, as you might not see a profitable return for a long time due to the automation ‘learning phase’

Audiences

Finally, we have one of the best additions to the new Google Ads, new audience types and the introduction of in-market audiences and Affinity Audiences.

These see the introduction of a more open style of audience targeting. Rather than requiring the customers to visit your website first and working off the back of that we now see, a Facebook style approach where you can select your target audience by researching products across a wide range of industries.

If you understand how to utilise this kind of data it can be used to the full advantage in a new way we have never seen in Google advertising.

Winner – Google Ads

There isn’t much of a comparison as all which was on the previous AdWords can be found on the new Google Ads with a major new introduction of In-Market Advertising.

Summary

Overall Google Advertising hasn’t been this exciting in a long time, with a constant supply of Betas being unveiled across Search, Shopping & Display, and the whole new Google Ads to play around with there hasn’t been a better time to jump into Google advertising.

If you are reading this and it seems all too much feel free to get in contact with us for some guidance on getting started.

Look forward to the future, it’s only going to get better.