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On July 12th at 10 AM PDT, Annie Hsu and Ernesto Soriano from the AdWords Editor product team will present a free, one-hour webinar on AdWords Editor. A webinar is an online seminar where you can view a presentation and interact with the speakers online. The agenda for this webinar includes demonstrations of some of the most popular AdWords Editor tips during the first half, and the second half of the webinar will be dedicated to answering your questions. To make the most of your webinar experience, we encourage you to include your AdWords Editor questions when you register. To attend, register here.

AdWords Editor is a free, downloadable application for managing your AdWords advertising campaigns. If you'd like to learn more about AdWords Editor, check out our Help Center, AdWords Editor features page, or our text lessons in the Learning Center.

Posted by Trevor, Inside AdWords crew

In March, we launched the pay-per-action (PPA) beta in the United States. Today, we're pleased to announce the worldwide expansion of the PPA beta. Here's a note from Rob Kniaz, the product manager for PPA:

Starting today, advertisers who use AdWords conversion tracking and receive more than 500 conversions from their cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) campaigns in the most recent 30-day period will be invited to join this beta test, on a rolling basis. Eligible advertisers will see an alert in their AdWords account informing them that they can now try the PPA beta.

As a refresher, pay-per-action advertising is a new pricing model that allows you to pay only for completed actions that you define (such as a lead, a sale, or a page view), after a visitor has clicked on your ad on a publisher's site. With CPC and CPM campaigns, advertisers need to continuously monitor and tune their campaigns to meet their target CPA (cost-per-action). With pay-per-action campaigns, advertisers only need to set their desired cost-per-action and pay for completed actions to hit their CPA targets.

PPA ads will appear on publisher sites in the Google content network. Publishers are free to choose the PPA ads most relevant to their site and run them in new ad units.

If you would like to learn more about PPA, please visit the PPA section of the AdWords Help Center.

Update: Corrected PPC to CPC and PPM to CPM.

Posted by Trevor, Inside AdWords crew

We'd like to ask anyone still using AdWords Editor 2.0, 2.5, or 3.0 to upgrade to the latest version (3.5) before July 10, 2007. After July 10, versions 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 will no longer be supported. To upgrade, just follow the automatic download prompt that appears whenever you start AdWords Editor. You can find instructions on how to preserve any comments or unposted changes when you upgrade here.

Also, in order to optimize our resources and provide the best experience for you, we've implemented a new versioning policy. Each time we release a new version of AdWords Editor, the older version will be supported for 60 days to allow time for you to upgrade.

For a complete list of version-specific changes, please see our release notes. To see what version you're using, go to the Help menu > About AdWords Editor.

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

Today, we're beginning a phased launch of the Placement Performance report, a new type of AdWords report that gives advertisers increased transparency into their performance on the Google content network. The Placement Performance report provides site-by-site performance metrics -- including clicks, impressions, cost, and conversion data -- for domains or URLs in the content network where your ads have appeared. The report also provides a new level of transparency for traffic you accrued from sites in our network that are participating in the AdSense for domains program. Currently, AdSense for domains statistics are collectively reported, but we are working to give you site-by-site level statistics soon.

When coupled with conversion analysis tools like Google's conversion tracking feature or Google Analytics, the Placement Performance report is a powerful resource that can show you the sites and placements where you're meeting your objectives. For example, you can identify well-performing sites and target them more aggressively by utilizing our site targeting feature. Conversely, you can use this report as a guide to take action on the sites that aren't meeting your ROI goals. For poorly performing sites, we recommend optimizing your ad groups by refining the keyword lists in your campaigns or using our site exclusion tool.

We're releasing this feature in response to popular demand, and this is part of our ongoing efforts to provide our advertisers with increased transparency, control, and value to meet their marketing objectives on the content network. The Placement Performance report is launching to a subset of US advertisers today and will become available to all advertisers within the next few weeks.

If you're interested in this new report type, you can read helpful tips on how to read and interpret as well as create Place Performance reports. You can also read about Placement Performance report best practices.

Posted by Feng, Inside AdWords crew

A few months back, we told you about an opportunity to request a complimentary campaign optimization from our team of optimization specialists. Many of you took us up on this offer, and we've been pretty busy between then and now. We've since worked through your requests, and are ready for more.

If you're interested in having an expert optimizer work on one of your campaigns, simply fill out this request form telling us about your business and advertising goals, and we'll send you our suggestions within 10 business days. As we mentioned in April, our team will review your website, campaign structure, ad text, and keywords -- then contact you with customized recommendations to help you reach your goals. Once you receive these recommendations, you'll have complete control over which ones to implement.

And, as we also said back in April, our Optimization team thrives on challenge -- so don't hesitate to give us your most problematic campaigns!

By the way, if you had us work on an optimization for one of your campaigns as a result of our previous post, you may certainly submit a different campaign now. To set reasonable expectations, however, please note that (depending on the volume of requests we receive) we may move our 'repeat customers' towards the end of the queue. Also, this service is currently available for advertisers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

To those who have wondered why we are doing this, it's pretty straightforward: we often get requests via email and phone for help with keywords and ad text, so we've decided to take the hint and be more proactive. And, of course, it is to everyone's advantage to have AdWords ads performing well.

Bonus Tip: Is your business seasonal? If so, let us know and we can help provide suggestions for summer barbecues, back-to-school, or whatever occasion is most important to your business - although it may now be a bit too late for Father's Day campaigns. Sorry dad!

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

June is a month of weddings, graduations, and, of course, Father's Day (June 17th!). Jennie Cohen from the AdWords team is here to share how you can make the most out of this summer gift-giving:

Here come the brides
According to a 2006 Questus research study, 97% of brides now use the Internet to plan their weddings, and 93% find new ideas and brands online. Google's content network includes wedding planning sites like eWedding.com, which engaged couples visit frequently as their big day approaches. These sites offer a fantastic opportunity for caterers, photographers, DJs, formal wear retailers, and florists to market their products and services. But they're not the only ones who stand to benefit. Many couples are already anticipating post-nuptial purchases such as honeymoon travel, a new home, and household items like furniture and cooking supplies – especially if they find that their wedding gifts include more cash than kitchen appliances.

• Make sure your keywords are targeting wedding guests rather than brides- and grooms-to-be. Use keywords like 'wedding day gift ideas' and 'unique wedding gifts' to reach undecided shoppers. Include these terms in your ad text and experiment with calls to action like 'Find the Perfect Wedding Gift' and 'Save on Gifts for Newlyweds.'
  
  
• Try creating a separate landing page on your website that features all your wedding-appropriate products. That way, wedding attendees will have an easier time finding the perfect gifts and adding them to their shopping carts.
  
  
• Don't forget that wedding party members are often looking for finery of their own!

School's out
Young adults are notoriously hard to shop for. According to the National Retail Federation's Graduation Survey, 31% of proud parents and other shoppers plan to give gift cards for graduation. The survey also found that the average graduation gift shopper plans to give gifts to two graduates this year, spending about $50 on each. In light of these two findings, consider the following tips:

• If you offer gift cards on your website, try mentioning them in your ad text.
  
  
• If you offer any special discounts like 'buy one, get one half off' or 'free shipping on orders over $50,' you can use your ad text to let potential customers know. These will attract shoppers looking for gifts for more than one graduate.
  

World's Greatest Dad
Designated as a holiday a full 51 years after Mother's Day, Father's Day has always lagged behind its more prominent counterpart. In recent years, however, it seems to be catching up. According to a survey done by the National Retail Federation in 2007, U.S. consumers will spend nearly $10 billion on dads this year, with the average person spending $98.34 (up from $88.80 in 2006) on dear old dad. Roughly 19% of respondents plan to buy Father's Day gifts online., and with a little work, you can use AdWords to connect with these gift-givers.

• Set up a separate AdWords campaign for all Father's Day-related keywords and ads to gain better control over your daily budget and maximum cost-per-click. You can then delete this campaign after June 17 or pause it and use it again next year.
  
  
• Within your Father's Day campaign, create distinct ad groups for each product category, and direct visitors who click on your ads to the most relevant pages on your website.
  
  
• The fewer clicks it takes to find the perfect gift and complete the transaction, the more likely it is that consumers will complete a purchase. You may want to consider using Google Checkout, a convenient checkout process that can save your customers time, while saving you money.

We hope you'll use Google AdWords to reach out to gift-givers this month, helping them share the joy with the brides, dads, and grads in their lives.

Posted by Trevor, Inside AdWords crew

Last July, we started beta testing a new feature within AdWords called the Account Snapshot page. After months of refinement based on beta tester feedback, the Account Snapshot page is now available to all AdWords advertisers.

As you can see from the screenshot below, this new page provides an easy-to-read account overview in one place. The page also offers something completely new to AdWords – SMS (or mobile phone) alerts about important account events related to billing, disapproved ads, and campaign maintenance. In addition to SMS, you can choose to be alerted online or via e-mail.



You can access this new page whenever you want by clicking the "Account Snapshot" link on the top navigation bar. You can also set it to be the first thing you see when you log in (instead of the Campaign Summary page) by simply clicking the link at the bottom of either your Campaign Summary or Account Snapshot page. If you change your mind, you can always switch back to Campaign Summary by clicking the same link.

To find out more about the Account Snapshot page, check out the AdWords Help Center. You can also find instructions on how to set up account alerts here.

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

Here's a quick heads up from our tech team:

On Saturday, June 9th, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual.

In addition, we thought we'd point out that our system maintenance typically occurs on the second Saturday of each month, during the same hours noted above. We'll continue to update you via the Inside AdWords blog as we always have, but you may want to take note of our intended dates and times to help you plan for any scheduled downtimes further down the road.

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

We've completed our Google Audio Ads Beta test and are in the process of rolling out access to Audio Ads to all U.S. AdWords accounts. Today, over half of all U.S. AdWords accounts have been given access to Google Audio Ads. And at the end of June, it'll be available to all AdWords advertisers across the country. As part of this roll-out, we've prepared a new resource as well as a special offer to help interested AdWords advertisers get started with radio advertising:

Beginner's Guide to Radio Advertising
AM and FM radio advertising may be new for many of our advertisers, so we've put together a Beginner's Guide that cover tips for launching a successful radio campaign. The guide offers information on the types of audiences you can reach, tips on what makes an effective ad, ways you can reach your target customer, as well as budget, tracking and optimization best practices. We'll be adding to this resource over time, so if you have questions about radio advertising not answered in our guide, please let us know.

Special Offer for your First Radio Campaign
To help kick-start your radio advertisements, we're excited to offer $400 in Audio Ads credits towards your first radio campaign. To take advantage of this offer, you must use the Google Ad Creation Marketplace, a directory of professional ad creation specialists who can help you create your 30 second ads, and launch your campaign by June 30, 2007. You can learn more about this offer here.

We hope you will take advantage of some of these resources to help you get started with radio advertising.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew