Changed my URL and got Burned

If you change your destination URL, Adwords resets your CTR

[cagey1]

I had (emphasis on past tense) several ads with great click-through rates (some over four percent), but I wanted to track my ROI, so I changed the Destination URL in the ads to include some tracking info (the Display URLs stayed the same). Bam! Adwords reset the click-through rates on all these ads to zero. Some of my ads went from the top of the first page of results to the bottom of the second page in the blink of an eye.

I think my ads will eventually recover, but why can't Adwords be smart enough to know that changing the Destination URL does not change the visuals of ad, and just keep the click-through rate?

[ThatAdamGuy]

It's an unfortunate turn of events for ya, to be sure, but it does highlight what is, IMHO, a smart tactic:

Create AdWords / Overture / etc. links in the form of yoursite.com/overture/widget.htm or yoursite.com/adwords/widget.htm?source=foophrase

Then, on your own Web server, simply do a redirect (NOT a meta refresh!) that will practically instanteously sweep your visitors to the right page.

BENEFIT: You can immediately make changes to your destination URL's without having to mess with your items at Google or Overture :)

Very handy!