I changed the display URL from .co.uk to .com

I changed the display URL from .co.uk to .com and now the CTR is way DOWN

[sunroomguy]

I had a "successful" Google Adwords Ad running (call it Advert A)- last week it a CTR of 6% - with 1066 clicks at £0.99 each
It worked well for us - had an average position of 3.2 over the week. Been running this AD for months - consistently displayed at 2 - 4 position.

I had an email from Google - as they had disabled another AD (call it Advert B) - because the Display URL in the AD said .co.uk in the URL - rather than .com (which is what it was) Been like that for months - and in fact the .co.uk pointed to the .com

Anyway - when reviewing several of the ADS - I noticed I had made the same mistake on some others ADS - including ADVERT A above - so I changed the AD copy to show a Display URL: of .com

Didn't change anything else - the Destination URL and copy remained the same.

Now ADVERT A and some other ADS that I also changed the DISPLAY URL from .co.uk to .com are being displayed at positions 13 - 18

Bid amount has not changed - nor has budget (actually increased budget today) - and really I cannot believe I have suddenly been over taken by a huge number of competitors bidding more than me

I really like the better position for better CTR on Google and had worked hard to build up this "position"

I expect this question may have been asked before - but I cannot find it - but do you think this has all happened because of changing DISPLAY URL from .co.uk to .com? Does GOOGLE see this as a NEW AD - and do I have to start from "scratch" so to speak in building up the CTR again? (I think the answer must be yes?)

Is it worth emailing Google about this - do I just hope the CTR and position will recover - or do I have to increase my bids substantially.

any help or pointers greatly appreciated

[PCInk]

> Does GOOGLE see this as a NEW AD

Yes. Even if you only change the destination page (so the user sees an identical advert) your advert is reset back to a 0% clickthrough history. (That is the advert CTR, not the keywords CTR).

[eWhisper]

In respect to the domain, we often use a .co.uk for a UK campaign and .com for a non-UK and it has a big impact. The domain itself we've not found to be massively influential, but certainly the TLD has.

From hypothetical formula [webmasterworld.com] thread.

If you ever make any change to an ad, any at all, it's considered a new ad by the system.

[sunroomguy]

thank you eWhisper and PCInk for your replies

I suppose I already knew what the answer was - just needed it confirmed. :-(

I will be more careful with my high CTR and converting ADS in future

best wishes

sunroomguy