To get in with the new policy we have changed a couple of ads.. all we have changed is the display URL and destination url
What has then happened is that the all keywords in the adgroup have then lost all previous click through, that is cuasing our ad to drop from sponsored second to page 2 (thats about 14th).
Before i get the backlash that "ctr is based on keywords and that changing the ad makes no difference" in this circumstance changing JUST the diaplsy url has caused this result.
We have an adwords rep who has been trying to sort things....BUT tech team says nowt is wrong
This has happened on two seperate accounts..
We have changed the ad text etc on other adgroups and this has not affected ctr.
And.. the plot thickens! yesterday when we told our rep about this she came back and said that nothing was wrong and every advertiser had raised the price hence pushing us down. We told her that the chance of this was v v rare and infact not possible as we know the guy who is bidding below us and he has not touched his price.
Eventually she said that she would give us some compensation, that is until we told her how much it would cost to get our position back.... strangly about an hour later our ad started to get its old position back...from best keyword down to worst (speculation but it looked as though someone was going through our account and adding the keywords in there old spots)
AWA - i would love some feedback as i feel it has huge implications to every aff who is about to make the relevent changes.
[edited by: jamie_h at 10:43 am (utc) on Jan. 12, 2005]
CTR is attributed to keyword not ad.
P.S the policy goes live today at 12pm
ignore the low # of posts Jamie has made.
he is the "daddy" of ppc > merchant in the UK (imo)
Shak
P.S the policy goes live today at 12pm
This may seem like a goofy question, but what time zone?
AWA - i would love some feedback as i feel it has huge implications to every aff who is about to make the relevent changes.
As soon as I saw your subject line, jamie_h, I read the thread, and then pinged the techsters - and we're not (so far) hearing reports of what you've experienced - if I've understood you correctly. You mentioned that this started yesterday, and if it were affecting others, I would have expected to hear about it many times by now, since I am constantly reading the most recent AdWords support emails.
Nothing shak's comments, I assume you're UK based, so I've asked the US tech folks to consult with the UK tech folks as well.
What has then happened is that the all keywords in the adgroup have then lost all previous click through...
I am not really clear as to what happened though. When you say you have lost previous click through, do you mean that your CTR went to zero for all keywords in the Ad Group?
Or, do you mean that your stats for clicks went to zero? Or something else altogether.
Could you please clarify as to exactly what happened when you saved your URL changes, and when?
jamie_h, based on shak's comments, it sounds as if you are an old hand at AdWords, so forgive my next question. ;) However, you are looking at an appropriate date range, when you are viewing your stats, no?
In any case, tech has been alerted, and we're all keeping our ears to the ground. I'll let you know what I hear as the day goes on.
In the meantime, has anyone else out there seem something that has the same flavor?
Many thanks!
AWA
When we made changes to the display URL's on some of our accounts to meet the new affiliate guidelines, without dropping the price we lost position. When I say position we went from sponsored 2nd or 1st to as far back as the 5th page.
All the stats are still appearing but to give a clearer example:
- 1st position before change costs 0.20p
- 1st position after changing display URL costs £2
This represents a massive cost to us after we have worked for a long time on the principle that it is a keywords CTR that effects price and not that of the advert. In the past I have found this to be true, and at the same time on other campaigns I edited ad text (but not the display URL) which did not have the same effect on our position/price. This led me to believe there is a problem which has been confirmed here in the UK by our Google Rep, but yet there is no solution. The reason for the post here is to clear this up so we can bring the rest of our campaigns in line with the new policies.
And yes the date ranges are correct. :)
It would be great to hear any further thoughts.
What happened was actually- My CTR rose!
But my impressions are about 1/4 what they usually are.
I have had these campaigns running for about 8 or 9 months.
I switched half of my ads over last week to my own domain. And the other half of my ads over to my own domain lastnight.
Should i wait a couple more weeks until they set in?
I am wondering why (with a higher CTR) dont they at least get showed as much as they did in the past. (before i changed them over to the domain).---If not more.
Is google reviewing all my destination urls?
And, yeah, I kinda figured you had the date-range thing down. ;)
AWA
But my impressions are about 1/4 what they usually are.I have had these campaigns running for about 8 or 9 months...
I am wondering why (with a higher CTR) dont they at least get showed as much as they did in the past. (before i changed them over to the domain).---If not more.
IntegraGsrBalla, this sound like expected behavior, actually. When you make any changes at all to your ads, they can no longer be sent to partner sites until they have been reviewed and approved.
So, this means that your ads will be showing on Google alone - as opposed to Google, plus potentially many hundreds of other sites as well.
Once reviewed/approved you should see your traffic pick up, all other things being equal.
AWA
One more small question...
Once the change actually takes place, i want to go through and erase all of my -aff,(aff),aff (abbreviations) in my affiliate ads.
Will they have to be reviewed once again because i erased -aff?
If the display and landing URL is my own domain, can I just go ahead and change them now? Or should i just wait?
If they are going to be reviewed again i want to do everthing ASAP, to make things faster.
Thank you for your replies!
AWA, thanks for your time mate
Jamie, it's NOTmate. but darling, love, chuck, duck, flower or pet in AWAs case
Shak
disclaimer: brit humour, nothing offensive what so ever...
So, today, I jacked up the max CPC by 4x (and immediately took position 2.0) and have been ratcheting lower to regain my previous position. Time will tell what will happen to my actual CPC.
Hopefully this all fixed by the weekend and the bugs are shaken out. However, it is looking like it may be even longer. I've seen better rollouts of new technology, this seems sort of un-together, as an understatement.
Once the change actually takes place, i want to go through and erase all of my -aff,(aff),aff (abbreviations) in my affiliate ads.Will they have to be reviewed once again because i erased -aff?
Yes, IntegraGsrBalla, I'm afraid so. Any change at all to an ad, including the 'aff' or either of the URLs, will cause the ad to come down from partner sites until it has been reviewed and approved.
If the display and landing URL is my own domain, can I just go ahead and change them now? Or should i just wait?If they are going to be reviewed again i want to do everthing ASAP, to make things faster.
Makes sense. The official word is to wait until after the new policy has been implemented.
And on another, perhaps slightly less important, subject...
Jamie, it's NOTmate. but darling, love, chuck, duck, flower or pet in AWAs case
Shak, I have to know. Do you say this because I use smiley faces a lot in my posts? ;)
AWA
Can you indeed verify that the policy is in place now and if not exactly when?
patient2all
was just joking dude.
they are all terms of endearment used in the North of England rather than where Jamie is!
along with bit where WebmasterWorld members at 1 stage weren't sure whether you were a Male or a Female.
Shak
Can you indeed verify that the policy is in place now and if not exactly when?
Patient2all, please see my two posts from earlier this morning, in this thread:
[webmasterworld.com...]
AWA
was just joking dude.
shak, I figured as much - which is just one of the reasons why I enjoy your presence on this Forum so much.
:)
AWA
Have you heard anything back from the tech team regarding this problem yet? I know it's only been a day on this forum but it has been 3 days since we informed the UK tech support team.
I experienced this same effect... deleted "aff", while maintaining my CPC, position dropped from a range of 3.0 to 4.0 to a range of 11.0 to 13.0. I've made numerous edits in the past without nearly as dramatic a fall never beyond 6.0.So, today, I jacked up the max CPC by 4x (and immediately took position 2.0) and have been ratcheting lower to regain my previous position. Time will tell what will happen to my actual CPC.
An update since my post yesterday... on the same keywords, at (roughly) the same position, directing to the same destination page, I received 40x the impressions!, less clicks, 1/5th the conversion rate. At a 500% revenue share. Something is definately amiss. And, no - I wasn't opted-in for Content Targeting before or after...
Does Google automatically opt you into Content after making an editorial change (display, destination domain only)? It seems they did yesterday.
Have you heard anything back from the tech team regarding this problem yet? I know it's only been a day on this forum but it has been 3 days since we informed the UK tech support team.
Jamie_h, I haven't heard anything definitive yet, although I have certainly seen communication back and forth on this subject. So I know it is being looked into. ;)
As you may well be able to imagine, things are quite busy around here at present - and I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to this thread.
I'll certainly post when I've heard back from the tech folks with substantive news.
AWA
Does Google automatically opt you into Content after making an editorial change (display, destination domain only)? It seems they did yesterday.
Definitely not, poster_boy.
The 'where to show my ads' settings, when changed by the advertiser, stay just where the advertiser put them, regardless of what goes on in their account.
AWA
