AdWords Gets ZIP Code Targeting, Location Insertion, Other Tweaks

Google this week introduced the ability to target more than 30,000 ZIP codes in AdWords, giving advertisers the ability to find potential customers in a familiar, granular way. Another new feature, Location Insertion, is aimed at letting advertisers with multiple locations create one ad, and have information dynamically inserted depending on the user’s query or location. Both features are part of location extensions. which are also getting some other tweaks in response to feedback.

For ZIP code targeting, advertisers will be able to add up to 1,000 postal codes at a time. They’ll also be able to view campaign performance stats by ZIP code.

A new way to access quality content online

Whether we’re getting the latest election news, making sense of the day’s stock market activity or looking for an update on our favorite celebrities, we rely on publishers to inform and entertain us. Online publishers often fund the creation of this content through ads; sometimes they ask you to pay for content directly, by buying a subscription or purchasing a particular article.

Now, you may see a new option: the ability to access some of this content by responding to microsurveys, without having to pull out your wallet or sign in. When a site has implemented this option, you’ll see a prompt that offers you a choice between answering a market research question or completing another action specified by the publisher (such as signing up for an account or purchasing access). All responses are completely anonymous -- they aren’t tied to your identity or later used to target ads. The prompts look like this:

Google Expands AdWords Bid Simulator To The Campaign Level

Advertisers have long been able to simulate the results of bid changes at the keyword and ad group level, and, now, they can do so at the campaign level, as well, Google has announced.

The change will allow advertisers to model changes even when there’s not enough data to do so at the keyword or ad group level. They can also see what would happen if they raised or lowered all of their bids within the campaign by a certain percentage — say, 5%. Advertisers can see what would result if you changed all campaign bids to the same fixed value.

If a change looks promising, the system will be able to say whether an advertiser would need to increase the campaign budget to avoid being limited at the new bid value.

There’s also the opportunity to download the bid simulation data at the account or campaign level, and users can also download an AdWords Editor-compatible file with bid amounts at the simulated level, along with the ad groups and keywords to which they should be applied.

Campaign bid simulator can be found in the Opportunities tab within the left navigation tree.

Source:  Pamela Parker/ Searchengineland

Amid Advertiser Complaints, Google Makes Changes To New AdWords Rotation Feature

It looks like the powers-that-be at Google are listening to thoughtful feedback like Matt Van Wagner presented just a few days ago in these pages. The company is making changes to recently-implemented AdWords rotation settings, and also allowing advertisers to opt-out of the auto-optimization altogether.

As a reminder, in late April, Google said that a week later, the company would eliminate the option advertisers once had to evenly rotate creatives in their AdWords ads. All ads would be automatically optimized after 30 days.

Some of the feedback on our news coverage included: “This may be the worst change to Google AdWords … ever!” and “The fork in the back feels great. Thanks G!” Tell us what you really think, marketers. The concerns are sparked by advertisers and agencies who used the rotate evenly setting to test different creatives, and resented Google removing one of the tools at marketers’ disposal.

Now, the automatic optimization won’t start until 90 days, and advertisers who want ads to rotate evenly in perpetuity can get what they want — by contacting their account rep or filling out this form. If enough advertisers choose to opt out, the company says it will add the option back to the AdWords interface. Both of the changes will take place on June 11.

The tension here seems to be between Google’s efforts to serve a class of advertisers with a “set it and forget it” mentality, who would prefer that the company auto-optimize on their behalf, and the company’s need to serve more sophisticated marketers who are making full use of all of the options available to them.

“We’re confident that the changes we’ve made to ad rotation enable us to show higher quality ads to our users and better performing ads for our advertisers,” wrote Nick Fox, VP of product management at Google, in a blog post. “However, we also realize that it is important to provide you with the freedom and time to decide what works best for you and that’s why we’re announcing these changes today.”

Source: searchengineland