kksite123 - 12:04 am on Jan 31, 2009 (gmt 0)

I have to agree with both of jecasc and MadeWillis here.

Perhaps too early for a 3rd message in a thread where dozens of people will be sharing their thoughts about every single Adwords function available (which is probably what this thread is for, partly) but similar to other situations we have encountered lately Google starts to annoy me.

Google is not keeping it simple anymore in AdWords. Most of the folks here on WW use more than the basic functionality in Adwords, if they use Adwords at all, like MadeWillis. Of course you're happy with all the options, because you're probably a seasoned PPC user and the ROI is probably positive for you if you take the effort of reading and implementing a new function that comes available in Adwords. Good for you, everytime the Adwords functionality becomes more complicated you're losing a certain percentage (promillage?) of competitors who are either tired of it or don't understand it, whatever.

On the other hand, there are SO many people who JUST want to use the 2002 version of Adwords: perhaps they are in a niche with no competition, do not have time to care about ad tuning, all the keyword research blah blah blah, basically everything an ADWORDS amateur would not really be using.

So shouldn't it be possible for this group to not be confronted with all the new functions, if people do not care or are even bothered by this? Perhaps design another new function: don't show me any new stuff anymore, I'll search for it when I need more.

Although I really don't want to sound negative about everything Google is offering that its competitors don't, sometimes it seems that Google is losing some of its core values to approach its new primary goal: shareholder wealth.

When I was happy in 1999 with MS Word 1999 to write a letter, right now I am sort of forced using some XP, 2008, 2010 or whatever version while I am using the EXACT same functionality as 10 years ago. I want .doc, not .docx since many other pcs don't understand it (and no 3D Clippy things with 60 different sounds),etc.

So I suggest Google keep things simple and create a possibility to enter a PRO-section in Adwords with all the sophisticated new functions.

Not sure if you agree with my M$-G comparison here but had to let it out :-)