Google AdWords: It Just Keeps Getting Better

Over the past few months, Google has announced a number of new features in the AdWords interface. Some are relatively minor and simply affect the interface; some offer new functionality and a lot of value to the advertiser. Either way, they can help you run your AdWords campaigns more effectively, so it’s important to be aware of them. Three recent improvements worthy of investigation are:

IP Exclusion – Google has finally added the ability to exclude certain people from viewing your ads, thus giving you an opportunity to put those third-party click fraud reports to good use. Simply login into your AdWords interface, go to Tools and select IP Exclusion. At that point, you can enter up to 20 IP addresses that you’d like to block. Just be careful and don’t go too overboard, as you may block off legitimate traffic as well.

Placement Performance Report – a terrific new feature that provides you with a wealth of information regarding the performance of your ads within Google’s Content Network. You can discover how specific sites perform and use that information to take further action. Additional information and tips on this feature can be found at: http://Adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=52762.

Account Snapshot Page – this page provides a simple, but very useful, overview of your entire account in one place. You can customize the page with whatever data you want displayed ⎯ very useful, since different advertisers often care about different metrics. And most importantly, it allows you to set up email or SMS alerts to be dispatched when important events occur within your account. The Account Snapshot link is available at the top of your AdWords interface right when you login.

Keep in mind that all new features are announced through the New Features link at the top of your AdWords control panel when they are released. They also are usually discussed in greater detail on the AdWords blog at http://adwords.blogspot.com/. It certainly pays to stay on top of announcements of new features ⎯ most provide added control over your AdWords account and quick adoption can give you an edge over competitors who may take longer to learn about and adopt new features.