A Quick Overview of the New AdWords Experience

Back in January 2017, Google started slowly rolling out what they dubbed “the new AdWords experience.” Sounds fancy, but what does it actually mean?

Basically, it’s an overhaul of the AdWords interface that focused on three main objectives. Google wants to put a more specific focus on the business, make the data advertisers care about more easily accessible, and ensure the tools are simple yet powerful.

The new interface is still in its beta stage and doesn’t have all the features promised in the announcement yet. It will likely be fully functional around the end of 2017 and everyone will have access.

Since we’re Premier Google Partners and have access to the beta (#humblebrag, #sorrynotsorry), we’ll fill you in. Here are some of the highlights from the new AdWords Experience.

 

1) Overview cards

Overview cards are a nifty way to get a high-level overview of your accounts. Advertisers can customize these cards to include the most relevant data that will appear front and center in the dashboard.

 

 

  

2) Reporting & visual improvements

While AdWords still has a ton of historical data at your fingertips, it has bulked up its visuals. These visualizations help support the metrics.

Ideally, these visuals could replace custom reports in Excel. Just check out these sweet visualizations below.  

 

                                                                                                                     

 

 

3) Demographics

 Demographic search data is now housed in its own sub-navigation page. This makes it super simple to quickly pull age, gender, and other demographic info. Demographic bid adjustments have never been easier.

 

 

 

 

4) Advanced bid adjustments

 The new AdWords allows for call extension bid adjustments within the interface as well. This gives you more control over whether you want to drive phone calls.

  

5) Promotion extensions

 AdWords recently rolled out a new ad extension, promotion extensions, for advertisers, but this is only accessible through the new interface. These extensions allow you to highlight sales, deals, and other promos within your ad—without taking up precious character count.

  

 

 

Some features still missing

Unfortunately, since the new AdWords Experience is still in beta, there are three features we’re still waiting on.

 

1) Filtered totals

 The new AdWords interface doesn’t give you a quick “filtered total” row at the bottom of your data. This is a glaring omission for those needing to make quick optimizations within campaigns.

  

2) Automated rules, bulk scripts & edits

 Don’t fret. You can still use these features—but they’re still in the old interface. If you want to use this functionality, the new AdWords kicks you into a new tab and pulls up the old interface.

 

3) Landing page reports

This is a brand-new feature…that we’re still eagerly waiting for. The new landing page reports will provide granular feedback on landing pages and include mobile-friendliness tests that will help advertisers diagnose page speed issues with ease.

 

 

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While the new AdWords interface has plenty of new features worth celebrating, it’s not perfect yet. In the meantime, Google makes it easy to switch back and forth between the old and new experiences.

We’re currently bouncing between the two interfaces—but we’re happy to see Google’s commitment to improving AdWords and we’re excited to see what’s next.