One thing though, although the Google techs in this forum have always said "we'll look into the problem", they've never said it's routine maintenance. If it was routine maintenance then they could display maintenance schedules so we can plan around it. If it isn't maintenance then why does it keep breaking?
... isn't it in the best interests of Google to keep the keyword tool working properly? If it fails to give out keywords (i.e. "Sorry, no matches .." but when if you search a couple of hours later there are) then they miss out on possible revenue for that keyword. Right?
The keyword tool is down again.
Ah, come on! Surely you Yanks are up for work by now ....isn't it in the best interests of Google to keep the keyword tool working properly?
Yep, up for many hours already, internetheaven. ;) Just getting to WebmasterWorld now, though. And yes, of course, it is to everyone's benefit to have things working properly.
Anyway, after seeing your posts, I tested the keyword tool in two different accounts - in my own, and with another advertiser I was working with. Seemed to be performing fine, with no unexpected behavior.
I've also pinged the tech folks, who will usually be the first to hear of an issue, and yours is the first and only such problem reported - so far at any rate. Please know that I take your report very seriously, however, as you all on WebmasterWorld has proven to be a very accurate and valuable 'early warning system', many times in the past.
So. Anyone else having problems with the keywords tool? If so, please post, and I'll pass the info on to the techsters.
As an aside, the problem you mention does not leap to mind as one that might be caused by a caching issue, but it may be worth clearing cache and cookies to see if it makes a difference.
AWA
Logged in and not logged in via [adwords.google.com...]
C'mon AWA, I'm hungry and want to go to lunch.
It just keeps saying
Sorry, no results found.
No, I can confirm it's broke for me as well.
Logged in and not logged in via [adwords.google.com...]OK - So, I'm curious to know how you both are getting to the tool. Are you using:
* Campaign Summary > Tools > Keyword Tool?
* Campaign Summary > Campaign #x > Ad Group #x > Add Keywords > Keyword Tool?
* Or some other path?
And a couple of other questions/things to try:
* And are you logging in from a bookmarked page? If so, then please log using fresh browser, and go from adwords.google.com
* Were you able to use the tool successfully many times, and then it stopped working?
* And again, you may want to clear cache and cookies.
AWA
It's never been an issue before accessing it that way. I plugged in a keyword ("dentist" to be exact), and got the
Sorry, no results found.When I kept getting that response, I logged into my account from a fresh browser session, clicked on a campaign then ad group, then clicked "Keyword Tool". I plugged in a keyword ("airline" to be exact), and kept getting the
Sorry, no results found.Of course, just to make me look like an idiot, it started working 5 minutes after I posted. ;-) But it was down.
.... anyone?
It just went down again.
So, would someone who is having this problem please let me know how many times you're using the tool when you have the trouble, say, in an hour's time? Or per 30 minutes?
I'm guessing that this is related to frequency of use.
AWA
Or per 30 minutes?
AWA, I'm using it about 10 times in 30 minutes. But the weird thing is that it'll go for 5-6 hours and be fine, then stop working.
I don't think it's frequency of use.
I don't think it's frequency of use.
Agreed, it can be my second search of the day it crashes on, or I can go a whole days research without it crashing once.
The problem has become more and more frequent over the past month though. I started a thread last week when it was quite a long blackout and loads of people in different countries were experiencing it. It think you posted in that one AWA ...
I started a thread last week when it was quite a long blackout and loads of people in different countries were experiencing it. It think you posted in that one AWA ...
I recall the thread internetheaven, and indeed I did post - but this is not really a similar case. In the previous instance, when I pinged the tech team, they already were aware of an issue, and work was underway to resolve it.
In this case, however, the tech team is still not aware of any issues at work - nor do we appear to be getting email or phone calls about it. (I've taken a quick scan through several hundred emails since early this morning, and have seen nothing.) And in the 10 or so hours this thread has been active, we've only seen two folks with the issue. So I feel pretty confident that it's not widespread.
I'll keep my ear to the ground, though, and post again if I learn more.
AWA
So I feel pretty confident that it's not widespread.
That's an oxymoron right? How can you be "confident" that's its only a small problem? Surely the fact that it is not actually something you are aware of is concern enough?
If it was a bug and your tech guys knew about it then it could be fixed. But your tech guys don't know what it is and therefore you're in deep trouble as it is getting worse.
And in the 10 or so hours this thread has been active, we've only seen two folks with the issue.
If we take "2" and make it a percentage of the "Google Adword" forum on Webmasterworld - times that percentage against the number of webmasters on this site that use adwords but don't visit this part of the forum. Then times that by the number of webmasters who use adwords and don't visit webmasterworld at all. Add all that together and chances are this problem is pretty big.
Rule of thumb I use, if one person complains there's probably 100 others who didn't bother telling you about it - they just went somewhere else. If you wait for a hundred complaints before fixing something then you end up with a bad name that can't be fixed. (That was a generalisation, not a threat so get off the phone to the FBI ... ;)
Is there anyway that this could be a problem from my side?
This is sort of what I as getting at earlier, internetheaven. It seems a lot like something from your side, or at least something particular to the interaction of your system and ours. As I mentioned, I am just not hearing about this from other advertisers. And I assure you, when something is up, we hear about it dozens of times in very short order.
One thing just occurred to me, though. When you say the 'keyword tool' what, exactly, are you referring to?
I have so far been assuming that you're referring to the actual keyword tool, that you'll find by following this path:
Campaign Summary > Tools > Keyword Tool
Is it possible that you are instead referring to the Traffic Estimator?
And when you have the trouble, are you using the tool while logged in, or not logged in?
AWA
Campaign Summary > Tools > Keyword ToolIs it possible that you are instead referring to the Traffic Estimator?
And when you have the trouble, are you using the tool while logged in, or not logged in?
Yes, it's the Keyword Tool I'm talking about.
Whether logged in or not seems to make no difference. Clearing out my cache, changing ISP's etc. makes no difference either. When it's not working, it's not working ... which is why my first assumption was that it had to be at your end.
It only ever hung up for me when I used phrase-match keywords - you might want to try removing the ""s from your keyword, and then adding it to the responses you want to use and think might need it. I never tried it on exact matches, I kind of figured it was silly to try to find other forms of an exact keyword.
The term "computer" gives no results for English, All Countries nor does the word "hello" or "test" (not using quotes in the tool).
Confirmed from FireFox 1.0 and IE 6 on three machines here at the office, as of 5:30 PDT.
The keyword tool is down for me again...
Well, honestly, I wish I knew what was going on here. But I don't - and pinging the tech folks has told me that we're still not hearing about this from others.
Are you logged into your account, while using the tool cyhcto?
Or have you gone to the tool using the URL, or from a bookmarked page, while not logged in? (If you're having the trouble while not logged in, then by all means log in. That may do the trick.)
I guess the best suggestion I have is to ask those who are having the issue to write in from within the accounts that they are logged in to when this occurs, and give as many details as possible about when it happens, frequency of use of tool immediately before it happens, etc. In the email, ask that it be forwarded to the tech team, per their request - via AdWordsAdvisor - on WebmasterWorld.
One other thought: are there others on the same local network also using the tool at the same time?
AWA
No, I was logged in as I always due - a bookmark to [adwords.google.com....] I had done a number of other things before using it. After I'd read some of the posts here, I had an idea of the steps you'd like taken so I had already logged out, logged back in, closed browser, cleared cache and cookies, and tried IE and FireFox - all those steps on three different machines.
The only thing I -didn't- mention because the second time I tried it I couldn't reproduce it was to type 'test' in for All Countries -> All Languages (I use All Languages to eliminate false positives I wouldn't otherwise see) and I got two German words back for "Expanded Broad Matches" (testellern, or bestellern or something), but no other keyword data - and the div for that section filled 100% of the screen area, like the rest wasn't even supposed to show.
And no, there wasn't even anyone else in the office at the time, so no one on the LAN. By the time I got home, it was working perfectly.
Just trying to offer up some experience, I actually don't use the keyword tool all that much, since all the words I need to use are apparently slowed somehow. Someday I'll figure that one out - "Keyword Status" shows good, but the Ad Diagnostics Tool tells me my ads searched on important keywords (well, critical, unless I'm going to keyword spam) don't show because they're slowed for falling below the CTR. This "trial and error" Diagnostics Tool method is the only way I can tell, and apparently these keywords are permanently denied to me.
and pinging the tech folks has told me that we're still not hearing about this from others.
Considering the limited number of webmasters in this particular forum on webmasterworld I think three people complaining about it is a significant number. What number would you consider to count as "from others"?
You keep asking about whether being logged in or not etc. - but you've never said why? Which way is the "perfect" way to be using the Keyword Suggestion Tool?
...... oh, and by the way, the tool has been spitting out nonsense since 12pm today, I haven't been able to research anything. New Weird Thing - Today Google showed me a whole list of phrases that didn't have my keyword in it. They were related, but they didn't match what I'd typed in the slightest. I searched the phrase again and it did the usual "Sorry, no blah blah ...", haven't been able to recreate it since.
Considering the limited number of webmasters in this particular forum on webmasterworld I think three people complaining about it is a significant number. What number would you consider to count as "from others"?
Good question, internetheaven, and I'd be happy to provide some details on how I evaluate this. Keeping an overview of what is happening with AdWords is a big piece of my job, and there are several things that I pay close attention to:
* First off, WebmasterWorld is a very valuable 'early warning' system for AdWords issues. I've read WebmasterWorld daily for nearly two years, and almost always in the past, when there has been a system issue, someone on WebmasterWorld will have picked it up within minutes & posted about it. Then there'll be many more posts within the next few minutes or hours saying "Yes, that is happening for me - I'm in the UK" or "No, its working fine for me, here in US."
In this context, three people reporting a similar issue over the space of 5 or 6 days tells me that the issue is probably not widespread.
* Secondly, starting early in the morning and continuing into the evening, I am scanning emails. In the course of the day, although I've never actually counted, I probably scan thousands of subject lines, and actually read hundreds of emails. This gives me a very fresh view of issues concerning our advertisers. If we are experiencing system issues, I'll see it reflected in the emails - and develop a pretty good idea of the time frame involved too.
* I also talk with advertisers every day, and keep on top of issues that the phone team is hearing about over the course of the day.
* Finally, the tech team alerts me when they are hearing of anything out of the ordinary.
When all is said and done, I honestly feel that I have a good idea if a particular problem is widespread or not.
BTW, everything I learn by doing all of the above is reported to a great many people within Google, on a scheduled basis. And, day-by-day, where appropriate, the right folks are alerted to potential problems within minutes.
I also know that none of this is particularly meaningful when one is having a problem. When that happens, what is important, of course, is a solution - which is why I suggest contacting AdWords support, who can look at the actual account in which the problem is occurring.
AWA
