PPC News Roundup: New AdWords Interface Rolls Out

Rachel Poole and Sarah Kemp share the latest in paid search industry news trends and advice, including the latest changes to the AdWords interface, a change to Keyword Planner data for low spending advertisers, and the latest on Quality Score.

New AdWords Interface Rolls Out To More Users

Google has announced that it will roll out its new AdWords interface to more users.

The search engine giant stated:

“We will continue to build out the new AdWords experience and invite advertisers to try out the new Interface through 2016 and 2017. Not all advertisers will be able to test the new interface right away; it will depend on a number of factors.”

This change to AdWords is purely based on the design of the interface; it will not change the core functionality of AdWords.

Google Limits Keyword Planner Data for Low Spending AdWords Accounts

Earlier this week some marketers noticed that Keyword Planner was displaying ranged data instead of precise search volumes.

Last month a Google spokesperson confirmed that users do not have to have an active campaign to use Keyword Planner.

However, just 13 days later, it now appears that you do need to have an active campaign for full data, and also that advertisers who currently have a ‘lower monthly spend’ will not be able to access specific search volume data.

Instead the search volume data will be provided in ranges as seen below:

• 0
• 1-100
• 100-1K
• 1K-10K
• 10K-100K
• 100K-1M
• 1M+

RLSAs Now Available To Google Search Partners

Google’s remarketing lists for search ads (RLSAs) have been made available to Google Search Partners.

RLSAs allow advertisers to specifically target users who have already visited their site but not yet converted. This type of re-targeting helps advertisers to take advantage of non-traditional keywords. Instead they can target a more specific audience that is already familiar with their brand.

To use the feature, go to the campaign settings tab in your AdWords account and click ‘Include search partners’:

Once this option is switched on you will be able to reach more users via RLSAs, with the potential of reaching out to the entire search network.

Google Will Report Null Quality Scores

From 12 September 2016, new keywords and keywords that haven’t received any impressions or clicks will see a Quality Score being reported as ‘null’. They will be seen as (“--“) within the AdWords account.

Any keywords that have a null Quality S
core will be excluded from reports by default. If you want to see this data in reports you will need to tick a box that will appear when creating reports.

This update follows on from the change made in July 2015 when Google decided to allocate new keywords a default Quality Score of 6. However, this most recent change will not affect the ad auction. It will instead be a clearer way of reporting on Quality Score.

More Paid Search News and Advice

Check out our previous PPC News Roundup: Google Expanded Text Ads Are Live

Need support managing your AdWords account? Our PPC management team are experts in their field and can provide you with the additional support required to run a streamlined and efficient account.