This is what Google says about the changes:
As AdWords has developed more features for advertisers, the Ad Group pages have begun to overflow with data. We've redesigned the page to display more information and present it in a way that's easy to grasp.
These changes do not affect the performance of your ads or of your account. The only change is in the way Ad Group details are displayed to you.
Your account statistic tables are now presented on separate tabs, which can be found along the upper right edge of the table. These are the available tabs:
* Summary displays the performance totals for your Ad Group.
* Keywords shows you how individual keywords are performing, and allows you to add new keywords or edit existing ones. This tab appears only in campaigns with keyword-targeted ads.
* Sites shows you how your ad is performing on individual sites you have selected. You can add new sites or change your bid for existing ones. This tab appears only in campaigns with site-targeted ads.
* Ad Variations displays all the ads you have created for this campaign. You can add, edit or delete ads here.
At any time, you can view the information from all your tabs on a single long page. To do so, click the View all tabs at once link below the display table. To return to the tab view, click Condense tables into tabs.
The date range selection tool for your statistics has also changed significantly. It previously was displayed along the right edge of the table. The date range is now shown along the top left of the table. Click the new Change range link to choose different dates.
You'll also notice changes to these other features on the page:
* The Create New Ad links have been moved to the Ad Variations tabs.
* The Edit Sites and CPMs feature has been renamed Edit Site Settings.
* The keyword tool links, formerly at the top of the table, have been moved to the Keywords tab.
* The Delete Ad Group function has been moved to the pull-down menu on the Summary tab.
* For clarity, the Filter keywords function has been renamed Search this list.
What do you think about it?
I'm not sure what the point of this "improvement" is. Putting the same information on more pages just makes it more frustrating. Yes, I know you can click the button to put it all back on one page. I think the only thing this adds is they want to highlight the fact that I have no clicks on the content network, and they really really really want us to use the content network.
I do like the fact that more stats and conversions by ad are pulled back into the interface. Before, one had to run a report to see this information, and this allows one to easily dig into conversion rates by ad copy by date range quite easily.
I do miss the content summary on the keywords page. While the keywords themselves don't have content numbers, knowing that baseline while looking at keywords would be useful.
Also, it is now easier to compare ads against each other as the stats are listed in columns as opposed to under the ads and they can be sorted by Clicks, CTR, Conversion Rate,... It is also now possible to delete multiple ads at once. Who knows, maybe a pause button will soon appear next to the delete button. One stat missing from this tab is the average position.
I'm not sure of the advantage or added functionality in splitting up the rest of the data into two tabs - Summary and Keywords. It would have been just the same to have it all on one tab in one table as it was before.
eWhisper - where is this check box that you talk about located? Maybe it is not yet available to all. I can view all tabs at once, but that is not much better than switching tabs.
It's either all tabs at once or a tabbed view.
Guess it's still some options.
Usually when Google makes a UI change it's for adding new features that their current system doesn't support. So, is this just a UI change, or is there a new feature in the pipeline that needs this UI?
I can't say I'm thrilled with the change. Soon it will take as many clicks to edit an ad as it does on MSN's AdCenter.I'm not sure what the point of this "improvement" is. Putting the same information on more pages just makes it more frustrating. Yes, I know you can click the button to put it all back on one page. I think the only thing this adds is they want to highlight the fact that I have no clicks on the content network, and they really really really want us to use the content network.
wrgvt, couldn't agree more.
Agreed.
With an already clunky interface adding more clicks to see the same things is just a pain in the rump. When you could just reset the date range to see prior days now you must click back and fourth reloading pages. Ease of use was probably decreased for many.
Send feedback via the link in AdWords if you are not happy with this change.
Have sent feedback to Adwords.
If you click on 'Change Range' in the adgroup (in the keyword tab) you can change the date range. It starts collapsed on the page.
I should have read what eWhisper wrote more carefully. If you do this your account should remember to display the date range change drop down menu every time you go into an AdGroup.
AGREED. My only issue so far.
Love the ad stats!
You can, click on the change range link...
I actually love the new system, and if you want to see everything at a glance just click on the "View all tabs at once" link.
Only thing missing now is content reporting so I can see which keywords im wasteing money on.
It would have been great if all the deleted ads were also shown on the create/edit ad page as this would help in avoiding copy that didn't work in the past.
Unless you just freaked out thinking all of your keywords had been deleted. Will never get that minute of my life back otherwise it looks ok.
This is the kind of quote I love to pass on, as in a very brief way it is extremely expressive of how an advertiser experiences new features, new UI, etc.
Sorry about that minute, toddb. ;)
Thanks for all the feedback, whether positive or negative. I'll be quoting a number of you in the Advertiser Feedback Report later this evening - and also linking to this thread. So feel free to leave more comments. The right folks will see them.
AWA
I finally found the "change range" link on the Summary tab. Whew, that works for me.
What I don't like is that once you have clicked "View all tabs at once", the "Condense tables into tabs" ends up at the bottom, which means you have to scroll all the way down to find it. It would be nice if it was also listed at the top where all that white space is now.
Unless this make the adwords system faster overall, I'd say it was pointless.
I'm not sure what the point of this "improvement" is. Putting the same information on more pages just makes it more frustrating. Yes, I know you can click the button to put it all back on one page. I think the only thing this adds is they want to highlight the fact that I have no clicks on the content network, and they really really really want us to use the content network.
This is clearly intended to "feature" the content network and is a major annoyance for anyone who has done the testing for their particular industry and found that Googles "content network" converts very poorly or not at all.
With that said, this wouldn't be a big deal if they allowed you to set the tab you want to show up first by default in the settings.
This will allow me to customize my account to work more efficiently while giving newbies an easier way to unsuspectingly unleash themselves on G$$G's "Content Network."
