Sometimes it's the little things.

Did you notice?

[eWhisper]

It's easy to notice the big changes in AdWords, such as Local Business ads [webmasterworld.com], Ad Scheduling [webmasterworld.com], and the AdWords Editor [webmasterworld.com].

However, the small changes are often overlooked. It's pretty common to try and do something, realize the functionality isn't there, and then not realize it's been quietly added as it's not something you were looking for. Other times, you just didn't know Google snuck in a new feature when you weren't looking.

There are days I think Google ads at least one new thing a week - sometimes it might be an AdWords algo change, and therefore difficult to see, but there always seems to be something.

Here's a small list of some changes (some happened months ago) which didn't make the headlines:

Local time zone added to MCC reports.

Bug fixed where the 'account' box didn't show on sub mcc reports.

Add your GAP business to Google Local (although, not sure why this wasn't attached to base so the pin was unnecessary)

HTTPs errors fixed on internal help pages (note, the only place I can tell the error now occurs is on the help home page).

Possible negative keywords under the AdWords keyword tool.

Ability to add keywords to an AdGroup when accessing the keyword tool from the tools menu.

'add custom text' under the site spidering section of the keyword tool.

That's the quick list I can think of.

What small changes have you noticed?

[AdWordsAdvisor]

Thanks a ton for noticing, eWhisper.

As someone who loves AdWords (and who also knows first-hand that the various teams that work on it are doing their best to build a world-class product that will lead to advertiser success) it's nice to hear the occasional positive comment. ;)

I know it was appreciated elsewhere, too, as at least one engineering manager has emailed me to say how nice it was to see your post.

AWA

[Cladson]

One new feature that I noticed is the ability to test a link during the ad group creation process while writing the ad. It used to be that you would first have to continue to the next step or even a few steps down before being able to ensure that the link works properly.

Also, the ads are now prefilled with the last ad created for that campaign (when creating a new ad group) instead of the first one or the example.com ad from Mars. This feature was on for some time now, although there was a period when it was turned off or not working properly.

[Israel]

The pre-filled ad feature has been a two edged sword for me.

Yes, it's a convenience, since often I'm creating a second similar ad and often the display URL will remain consistent too.

However on the other hand, sometimes I've failed to amend a line and ended up with a 'mixed' ad that was sometimes most inappropriate.

Sometimes when those errors make it all the way to review, I receive a disapproval with helpful suggestions that my ad should be touting 'wadgets' instead of 'widgets'.

The suggested changes are always phrased in such a deadpan manner that they border on humorous! I wonder if they're human generated or automated.

It would be nice if that was a tuneable preference to prevent dolts like me from creating some strange ads. Not suggesting that I mess up that often, BTW.

Israel

[humblebeginnings]

Thanks for the summary eWhisper! Some of the points you mentioned I hadn't even noticed yet!
It should be mentioned that the folks of Google are working very hard backstage to give their advertisers the very best of contextual advertising. Sometimes we are so busy with (complaining about) the more visible changes and updates that we forget there is a lot more to it. So Google, thanks for your continuing efforts to improve Adwords!

[shor]

Great stuff eWhisper. Didn't even notice the possible negative keywords feature. Handy.

AWA, you guys need to find a way to more effectively communicate these great features to clients. We have a MNDA with Google, dedicated account rep/maximizer, are one of the largest spenders in Australia etc etc, but half the time all the latest AdWords news comes via 3rd-party forums & blogs.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

AWA, you guys need to find a way to more effectively communicate these great features to clients.

I'm working on that shor. ;) I will say, though, that sometimes new features are launched in a quiet way to allow them to grow 'organically'.

AWA

[rohitj]

I thought the time zone thing made sense. It seems only logical they adapt more support for time zones with Adsense as well, in the reporting and functionality.

[hdpt00]

How about an auto ad generator, I'm getting pretty lazy.

[Draconian]

I find the position preference tool runs more smoothly for me now then it did upon first release, must have tweaked that a bit AWA?

[sailorjwd]

And sometimes it is the big things.

The ability to easily set bids by day of week and time of day has saved my business - at least for the moment.

Now I can sleep at night and not have to get up at 2am to lower my bids.

[LiquidWebTravis]

Thanks for the info!

[deepestblue]

I totally love the pre-filled ad feature. Please don't change it! It saves so much time. Makes it really easy to just sub in the appropriate keywords without having to re-type all of the redundant information (URL, etc) each and every time.