New features to help you manage your Google AdWords Certification Program account

In 2010 we introduced a new Google AdWords Certification program to equip you and your companies with more up-to-date, comprehensive, strategy-focused training and certification on the latest tools and best practices for managing AdWords accounts. Along with the revised certification program, we launched Google Partner Search, an opt-in online, searchable directory that helps advertisers identify Certified Partners to help them manage their AdWords accounts.

Over the last few months, you’ve shared feedback with us that you’d like features which make it easier to associate your individual certification with a company and more intuitive to add users to your company profile. We’re pleased to share that we’ve now released features to address each of these points of feedback.

Request to link your individual qualification to a company
Historically, to join a company in the Google Certification Program, you would need to be invited by an Administrator on your company’s account, making it difficult to join if you do not know the Administrator. To fix this challenge, we now offer a feature enabling you to search for your company and request to join yourself. If you would like to contribute your individual qualification to a company account, you may now do so by clicking on the “My Company” link and searching for the company you wish to join. Be sure to type in at least one complete word that matches the company’s name.


Companies -- easily manage Professionals and Administrators
We’ve made it more intuitive for your company to manage the Professionals and Administrators within the Company account, as well as to review requests from users requesting to join the company, with the updated Account Access page.

On the “Users” tab, account administrators can change a user’s status to either Administrator or Professional, as well as revoke access:



The “Incoming requests” tab allows account administrators to see all requests to join from individuals, and either accept or reject them. Finally, the “Invitations sent” tab can be used to directly send invitations to qualified individuals.

Add or update Google Accounts associated with your profile
We know that qualified individuals may change companies, or use multiple email addresses throughout the day. We’ve therefore made it possible for you to add multiple Google Accounts to your account, as well as to change the primary email to which you receive communication for the Google Certification Program.


For more information on the new Google Certification Program feature changes, visit the Help Center.

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team

Introducing Google Engage for Agencies in the US and UK

Are you a US or UK-based Webmaster? Web designer? SEO? Marketing consultant? Freelancer? or offer web related services to small and medium businesses? then keep on reading...

At Google, we’re committed to the success of the digital economy and we believe that helping small business get online and thrive is fundamental to that success.

We recognize that many SMBs rely on freelancers and small agencies to create and manage their online presence as well as help them with their online marketing. To make the jobs of these agencies easier, we’ve launched a new training and incentives program called Google Engage for Agencies.



Google Engage participants will receive free access to educational resources dedicated for them and more incentives to grow their own and their clients’ businesses.

If you’re a webmaster, web-designer, digital agency, freelancer, SEO, IT consultant, or provide any other web services to US or UK-based small businesses, you can apply to join the program starting today. Please see links below for information on participation for US and UK-based agencies:
Google Engage for US Businesses
Google Engage for UK Businesses

Note: if you are an established search engine marketing firm, media agency or digital agency with a strong foundation in Google media solutions, please visit the Google Certification Program homepage to learn more about training and certification programs designed for larger agency partners.

Check out Google Engage today and learn about the benefits the program can offer your business and the SMBs you support.

Posted by Alon Chen and Esra Guler, Product Marketing

AdWords Editor 8.0.1 for Windows and Mac

In order to make it easier for you to manage your account and take advantage of location extensions, we’re releasing a new version of AdWords Editor, 8.0.1, for Windows and Mac.

AdWords Editor 8.0.1 now supports location extensions, our new and improved way to run local ads. To support this change, we've transitioned the local business ads in your AdWords account to ads that are compatible with location extensions, added the Extensions tab in the AdWords Editor interface, and removed the Local Business Ads tab. This new Extensions tab should help make it easy for you to create and manage your location extensions. Learn more.

To help you focus on just what you need when you’re managing your AdWords account, AdWords Editor 8.0.1 also introduces collapsible and expandable panels, progress bars for tasks that can take some time, improved adding of My Client Center accounts, simplified exception requests, and more helpful error messages.

To learn more about all of the new features in version 8.0.1, such as support for campaigns using target CPA and enhanced CPC bidding options, read the release notes.

If you're already using AdWords Editor, you'll be prompted to upgrade automatically, as soon as it's available for you. After you install the new version, you’ll need to download your account again. To preserve your comments and unposted changes, select the 'Backup then Upgrade' option in the automatic upgrade prompt, then import the backup file after downloading the account. We’re launching version 8.0.1 to all users over the course of the next few weeks, so don’t worry if you don’t get it right away.

If you’re not using AdWords Editor, you can visit our website to download it. Find more information and answers to your AdWords Editor questions in our Help Center.

Originally posted to the Inside AdWords Blog.

Posted by Jason Shafton, Product Marketing Manager

Keep current on all things advertising

The rapid pace of change in the advertising space can be dizzying. From new ad formats to new ad systems, from startups to mergers, the marketing industry is running at a million miles an hour, and it’s often daunting to keep up with it all. We know that staying informed takes a lot of effort, and it’s critical to make good decisions about how you spend your time and resources.

That’s why we put together Google Ad News. Powered by Google News, Ad News is a simple but powerful way for anyone in the advertising industry to track current news coverage on relevant subjects such as display, search, mobile and even traditional media - all in one place. Subscribe to news feeds in the categories you care about most, or search to find coverage on topics related to your business, such as your niche industry or brand.

We invite you to check it out and share it with your colleagues. Hopefully, you’ll find lots of relevant news that’ll help you spend less time scouring the web and more time building your business.

Posted by Oliver Deighton, Business Marketing

Introducing the Google Display Network

(cross posted from the Inside AdWords Blog)

Over the past year, we’ve been focused on investing in display advertising, and we’ve seen great momentum from the increasing number of you running display campaigns with Google. We’ve rolled out new features and targeting options and more precise measurement tools. To provide more places for you to run display ads, we’ve added more publisher sites (through Google AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange) to our ad network of over one million sites. Meanwhile, many of you have continued to run ads on YouTube and our own properties. In an effort to make our display media offerings clearer to advertisers like you and agencies, we’re creating a new umbrella name for all these properties, the Google Display Network.

The Google Display Network will comprise all of the sites (apart from search sites), where you can buy ads through Google, including YouTube, Google properties such as Google Finance, Gmail, Google Maps, Blogger as well as over one million Web, video, gaming, and mobile display partners (our display partners include all of our AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange partner sites that allow text and/or display ads). The Google Display Network offers all ad formats - text, image, rich media, and video ads - enabling you to unleash your creativity and engage potential customers across the Web.

You can run ads on the Google Display Network the same way you always have. Either place bids through AdWords or make reservations on YouTube and Google Finance with the help of a Google account team.

In the upcoming weeks, you’ll see a change in the AdWords interface reflecting this new term, and you’ll see Google Display Network where you might have seen Google Content Network mentioned. We’ve also launched a new website showcasing the sites and benefits available to you on the Google Display Network.

We’re working hard to offer the best display advertising solutions and we look forward to introducing new features on the Google Display Network that help you reach your advertising goals.

Posted by Neal Mohan, Vice President of Product Management

Google Commerce Search grows up

As the Google Enterprise Search team just announced, today we’re releasing the second generation Google Commerce Search, a hosted website solution designed specifically for online retailers. In addition to the proven speed, Google-quality search relevancy, and intuitive user experience of the first version, Google Commerce Search 2.0 includes a number of innovative features for both merchants and shoppers:

• More merchant customization: Today we’re launching a full merchandising dashboard, giving merchants more control over promotions, ranking rules and filtering - with no custom code so marketers and product merchandisers can do all of this themselves. Time-based promotions, full left-hand panel facet control and simple product ranking rules make retailers’ jobs simpler and easier.
• Unparalleled shopper experience: With query autocompletion, retailers can offer common queries to shoppers in real time, as they type, without any custom coding. Search quality improvements make GCS faster and more relevant than before. Because it’s hosted in the Google cloud, search results are returned to shoppers in less than a second. Spelling and stemming dictionaries and new custom synonyms mean that shopping on a retail site can be as easy and accurate as searching on Google.com.
• Better browsing and navigation: Though more and more shoppers are turning directly to the search bar on retail sites when they’re looking to make a purchase, some people will always prefer to navigate through different categories and discover new products. Now, Google Commerce Search allows visitors to shop by browsing around your site as well as searching directly for products.
  

Click here to watch video

To hear more about these new features, be sure to sign up for an upcoming webinar on June 23rd at 10amPST / 12pmCST / 1pmEST. If you're unable to make it, you can learn more or request a demo at google.com/commercesearch.

Posted by Anna Bishop and Abdul Salem, Google Commerce Search team

AdWords Campaign Experiments Beta: Split testing tool for your campaigns

Yesterday, we announced a new tool called AdWords Campaign Experiments, or ACE, that will help you optimize your account by letting you accurately test and measure changes to your keywords, bids, ad groups and placements. We're testing this new tool and inviting U.S. advertisers to participate in the beta.

For more information and to sign up for the ACE beta, please visit the AdWords Campaign Experiments page on Google Ad Innovations.

Posted by Courtney Lischke, Product Marketing Manager

Announcing the Ad Planner 1,000 and Greater Integration with AdWords

Today, we are introducing several new features that integrate DoubleClick Ad Planner data with other Google advertising solutions. These features help streamline the process of planning and building online ad campaigns while offering advertisers access to better data for more informed media planning decisions.


Ad Planner Top 1,000 Most Visited Sites
The Ad Planner 1,000 list is a list of the top 1,000 global sites on the web by unique users as measured by Ad Planner. Published monthly, this list details the number of unique visitors, page views and reach for each site for the top 1,000 sites globally. It’s a great way to quickly reference the most popular sites on the web.

This latest resource represents yet another step in the evolution of Ad Planner in providing reliable traffic and audience information for websites. In conjunction with our Ad Planner 1,000 list, the Google Content just released an Ad Planner 1,000 targeting feature. These two features combined provide an example of how Google is working to provide more actionable data for online display advertisers.


Exporting Google Content Network Placements to AdWords
Many Ad Planner users are also AdWords users, and one of the top requested features is to provide a simple and easy way to buy Google Content Network placements advertisers find through Ad Planner. The newly launched Export to AdWords feature enables advertisers to simply export Google Content Network placements from Ad Planner into AdWords. These exported placements will be set up as a new campaign or ad group within AdWords.

For advertisers running text ads or display ads on the Google Content Network, this provides an easy way to build media plans of managed placements. Now translating the great audience research data in Ad Planner into your AdWords campaigns is easier than ever.


Creating Lists in Ad Planner
To help you create your own list of favorite sites to save and add your media plans, we also recently launched “Lists” in Ad Planner. With “Lists”, you can store sites and placements in lists for future use in media plans. To get you started, we’ve made the Ad Planner 1,000 list available to all Ad Planner user accounts for use as a handy reference or for download.

Our goal with the Top 1000 Sites and other recent updates is to deliver new tools for greater planning efficiency and data to make more informed advertising decisions.

Visit www.google.com/adplanner to check out our new features.

Posted by Rohit Kundaji, Software Engineer and Wayne Lin, Product Manager

Google Ad Innovations: Where ads are going next

If you're a regular reader of the blog, in the last year you've seen Google's advertising tools move in some exciting directions. We've introduced more data-driven and efficient campaign management with the new AdWords interface, easier account optimization with the Opportunities tab, and new ad formats like Ad Sitelinks and Product Extensions, to name a few.

But where is advertising with Google headed next? Which new tools, formats and features will make it possible for you to communicate with your customers in more meaningful, creative ways?

We've started a new project, Google Ad Innovations, to answer that very question. Google Ad Innovations is a website where you can explore Google's latest advertising technologies, watch short video demos to learn more, and try out select new tools.

The technologies we'll highlight on Google Ad Innovations are at various stages of development, from early tests to fully released features. Here are a few of the new releases you'll find on Ad Innovations right now:

• Remarketing -- a way to show your ads to users who have previously visited your website as they browse sites across the Google Content Network
• AdWords Search Funnels -- a set of reports that help you understand the Google.com search ad click and impression behavior leading up to a conversion
• Location Extensions with multiple addresses -- an ad format which displays a list of nearby store locations when your customers are performing local searches
• Click-to-Call Extensions -- an ad format that let mobile phone users call you directly from your ads
• Analytics Intelligence -- a Google Analytics feature that automatically identifies significant changes in your site traffic

Although there's a lot to look at on Ad Innovations, we want it to be more than a show and tell site. Every Ad Innovations page will have a feedback link: if you see a feature that can be improved, or if you think we've hit on a valuable new idea, let us know! The comments and suggestions you leave while using Google Ad Innovations will go directly to the Google team working on the feature.

So, if you want to stay on the cutting edge of advertising products, visit Google Ad Innovations — we’ll regularly add new tools and features to the site, and we can't wait to hear what you think!

Posted by Devin Sandoz, Product Marketing Manager

Now available: Reach the right audience through remarketing

Imagine your client is a travel company, and they're trying to excite users about deals to tropical Caribbean destinations. Users may come to the website, browse the offers and think about booking a trip, but decide that the deal is still not cheap enough. Then, they continue to browse the web. If your client later decides to offer discounted deals to the Carribean, how do they reach users who have already expressed interest in traveling there?

To help you to do this, this week we're rolling out a new feature called remarketing. Any AdWords advertiser can use remarketing to reach users as they’re browsing the web on sites within the Google Content Network. Remarketing is a simple way to connect with users, based on their past interactions with your clients' websites.

We began trialing remarketing last March as part of our interest-based advertising beta. We’ve received a tremendous response from the hundreds of advertisers who’ve been using it in recent months, across all industries - including automotive, retail, local and finance. We’ve seen that remarketing has worked well for many different kinds of advertisers - whether they’re looking to boost brand awareness, or drive clicks and sales, and whether they use display or text ads. For example, if you support search advertising clients, you can use remarketing to create an integrated campaign strategy for them. After driving traffic to their sites with search ads, you can then remarket to the users who reach their sites by showing them tailored ads on sites throughout the Google Content Network.

You can easily set up and create a remarketing campaign for clients through the new “Audiences” tab in AdWords. A remarketing campaign allows you to take advantage of the same features and reports you can use today in AdWords - it’s really just a new way to reach the best audience for your clients' ads.

(click for full size image)

Here’s an example of how it works. Let’s say your client is a basketball team with tickets to sell. You can put a piece of code on the tickets page on the client's website, which will let you later show relevant ticket ads (such as last minute discounts) to everyone who has visited that page, as they subsequently browse sites in the Google Content Network. In addition to your own site, you can also remarket to users who visited your YouTube brand channel or clicked your YouTube homepage ad.

You can also run a number of remarketing campaigns at the same time. For example, you could promote discount game tickets to users who’ve previously visited your client's tickets page, advertise VIP hospitality packages to users who clicked on his “How to get to the arena” page, and advertise a sale on team merchandise to users who’ve previously visited his YouTube brand channel.

Remarketing is a great way for businesses to reach users who are likely to be highly receptive to their ads and special offers. For example, Intercontinental Hotels Group has used remarketing to reach potential customers who have visited one of their hotel websites:

Ad by InterContinental Hotels Group using remarketing to offer incentive to users

(click for full size image)

It helps advertisers and websites get higher returns. It also means more relevant and useful ads for users, and more opportunities to receive special offers and discounts that may be of interest.

As we announced when we launched interest-based advertising, we want to put users in control of the ads they see, so anyone can opt out of remarketing by using the Ads Preferences Manager. Our remarketing product complies with industry standards developed by self-regulatory groups such as the NAI and IAB and IAB UK.

To get started with a remarketing campaign, visit the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Aitan Weinberg, Product Manager

30 days until AdWords API v13 sunset

For those of you who use the AdWords API, we wanted to remind you that on April 22, just 30 days from today, most v13 services will be turned off. Visit the AdWords API blog to learn more about what's changing and how to migrate your application to the new AdWords API.

Posted by Jason Shafton, Product Marketing Manager

Better Site Traffic Data in DoubleClick Ad Planner

The mission of DoubleClick Ad Planner, Google's free research and media planning tool formerly named Google Ad Planner, is to provide the deepest, most accurate insight into online audiences possible. This insight helps display advertisers select the best sites for their media plans and drive results for their campaigns.

One of the many data points that DoubleClick Ad Planner provides is site traffic data. In line with Ad Planner's mission, we've improved how we estimate and share this data in order to provide media planners, buyers and researchers with improved data quality and more data visualization options. This builds upon the traffic improvements we made in January of 2009 and is part of our continuous effort to provide trusted insights into online audiences.

This release includes the following two significant improvements:

• Traffic estimates across a number of metrics are now more accurate (Unique user and reach estimates remain the same)
• Direct measured traffic is now included for publishers who opt-ed in their Google Analytics data

Upgrading Site Traffic Estimates

To improve the quality of our site traffic estimates, we have upgraded our traffic estimation model. Our model uses a hybrid methodology that combines sample user data, from various Google products and services, with direct measured site-centric data. The model's direct measured signal is pulled from Google Analytics customer accounts that have chosen to opt-in to sharing their data with Ad Planner. This hybrid approach allows us to use direct measured data to train our traffic estimation models and produce the best estimate for any given site. For more information about how we use opt-in Google Analytics data check out our past blog posts on how Google Analytics data is used in Ad Planner and on replacing traffic estimates with direct measured Google Analytics data.

This latest upgrade improves the accuracy of our estimates by over 10%. We look at a large amount of data and metrics to evaluate our estimates and are continuously working on improving them. We believe our model to be among the more accurate sources of traffic estimation in the industry.

Publishers who would like to complement their site listing with direct measured data are welcome to do so by opt-ing in their Google Analytics data in DoubleClick Ad Planner Publisher Center. We invite publishers who are new to Ad Planner to learn more about using Publisher Center to manage their site profile.

Providing Direct Measured Site Traffic Data

In May 2009, we announced Ad Planner Publisher Center, which made it possible for publishers to opt-in their Google Analytics data to Ad Planner. We've now upgraded site profiles in Ad Planner to display this data in the worldwide charts for Daily Unique Visitors on site profile pages. For publishers who opted-in, their direct measured data is displayed as a solid line in their chart. For example, Gamezhero, a website offering free online games, opted-in their Google Analytics data in June. Here's what their worldwide chart for Daily Unique Visitors looks like now:

(click here to view image)

In the coming months, we plan to bring direct measured site traffic data to country-level profile views in addition to the worldwide profile views that are currently supported.

Understanding the Data in Ad Planner

To offer additional transparency into how Ad Planner generates its data, we've published a new help document about our methodology. The document provides more details behind how Ad Planner generates site traffic data, in addition to other data, such as demographics, ad information, categories and descriptions.

Getting Started

Give DoubleClick Ad Planner a try at www.google.com/adplanner. We think you'll find it to be a powerful research and media planning tool that makes it easy to find audiences and create well-informed media plans.

Posted by Wayne Lin, Product Manager, DoubleClick Ad Planner

[note: this post has been reprinted from the DoubleClick Blog]

New search ads formats, an overview

Last week Susan Wojcicki, VP, Product Management, shared an update on some of the new search ad formats we've been testing. Knowing that you're knee deep in holiday campaigns and 2010 planning, we wanted to share an overview of these formats with you so that you may consider them for your strategies. As you'll see, each of the new formats aims to provide additional information, delivered in the most useful format (whether it be images, videos, or maps) to help users make better informed decisions.

Ad Sitelinks: In early November we launched Ad Sitelinks, a new AdWords feature that allows you to extend the value of your existing AdWords ads by providing additional links to content deep within your sites.

Product Extensions: Similar to Ad Sitelinks, product extensions enrich existing AdWords ads with additional relevant information - in this case, information on products included in an advertiser's Google Merchant Center account.

Location Extensions: For advertisers with a brick-and-mortar presence, Location Extensions enable them to dynamically attach business addresses to ads.

Comparison Ads: Comparison Ads, which are currently being tested by a limited number of advertisers in the mortgage/refinance space, will enable users to specify what they're looking for and compare prices in a single space.

For more information on the new search ad formats, visit the Official Google Blog or the Inside AdWords Blog.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Just in time for the holidays: Google Commerce Search

A few weeks ago, we announced a new tool designed to bring the power, speed, and relevancy of Google search to retail websites. With Black Friday (and Cyber Monday!) right around the corner we wanted to use this Holiday Campaign Countdown post to arm you with information for retail clients who may be shopping around for a new website search solution (pun intended).

As a hosted product, Google Commerce Search (GCS) installs quickly, scales effortlessly, and provides sub-second response times, even during seasonal traffic spikes. With advanced search features like spelling correction, automatic stemming, and custom synonyms, users will find what they're looking for without unnecessary clicks. Finally, Google Commerce Search is powered by the retailer's Google Merchant Center feed, streamlining implementation. Check out the full list of features in this overview video:

(click to watch video)

GCS provides visitors with an improved shopping experience, which can drive higher visitor-to-buyer conversion rates. While the conversion rates of most retailers is around 3%¹, the best-performing sites have been able to achieve much higher conversion rates – even reaching double digits. Google Commerce Search can help bridge the gap between user expectation and on-site technology, while freeing retailers to do what they do best, creating and selling products.

To learn more, be sure to sign up for an upcoming webinar on December 3rd. If you're unable to make it, you can learn more at google.com/commercesearch.

[1]Trends 2009: US Online Retail, Forrester Research, Inc., April 2009

Posted by Anna Bishop, Enterprise search team

Leave no website un-searched!

Most of us can't imagine the web without search, yet when it comes to on-site search, the majority of websites are lagging behind. According to industry research, 85% of site searches don't return what the user sought¹, and 22% of site searches return no results at all². For clients who may have site search quality issues, leading to site abandonment, we have a cost-effective solution for you to share with them.

Google Site Search is a quick and easy way to add or improve website search capability. Hosted in Google's network of data centers, Google Site Search brings the speed, quality, and relevancy of Google search to sites with no on-premise hardware or software. Administrators can control the look and feel of the search engine, including optional Google branding and an XML API that allows for complete customization. New features like rich snippets, metadata refinements, top result and date biasing, and on-demand indexing make for a powerful search experience.

Starting at $100 per year, it's easy and affordable for clients to add Google Site Search to a blog or website of any size. To learn more and sign up, visit google.com/sitesearch today.

(1) "Enriching Search: Efficiency Without Additional Spending," Jupiter Research
(2) "Unpuzzling Search: Best Practices from Mondosoft Study," IDC

Posted by Anna Bishop, Enterprise Search Team

AdWords API v2009 updates - released, future and deprecated features

We're happy to announce the newest version of AdWords API v2009 beta -- v200909. If you're a current API user, check out the updates below. If you're not yet using the API, please visit the Google AdWords API homepage for information on getting started.

New Features

• Asynchronous calls - Asynchronous calls allow you to work with large sets of data faster and more easily. Instead of having to wait for our system to fully complete your request before you can make another one, you’re now able to make another call as soon as the API service confirms that it has received your previous call. No more waiting for the server to complete large requests. v2000909 will also continue to support synchronous methods.
• Keyword and placement ideas - With the new TargetingIdeaService, you'll be able to get keyword and placement ideas through the API, using the functionality of the Search-based Keyword Tool.
• Location Extensions preview - Limited location extensions functionality is now available as a preview of the full functionality in development.
  

For a complete list of the changes in v200909, please see our release notes.

Coming Soon
Over the next few months, we'll continue to introduce new features and additional AdWords functionality. Feature updates include ReportService and the ability to pre-check for errors.

Deprecated Services
With the release of equivalent functionality in v200909, the following v13 services are now deprecated: CampaignService, AdGroupService, CriterionService, AdService, InfoService, KeywordToolService, SiteSuggestionService.

As v2009 introduces some new concepts and features, we have extended the sunset period for deprecated services to 6 months. Accordingly, the deprecated v13 services will be turned off on April 22, 2010. If you haven't already begun migrating your systems to the v2009 API, we strongly encourage you to start right away. The deprecation of remaining v13 services (AccountService, TrafficEstimatorService, and ReportService) and accompanying sunset dates will be announced in the future.

As with every new version of the AdWords API, we strongly encourage you to review the resources in the Developer's Guide to learn more. Additionally, if you aren't using the AdWords API client libraries yet, this is a good time to check them out as they are designed to work with both v2009 and v13.

Posted by Shreyas Doshi, Product Manager and Adam Wooley, Product Marketing Manager

Google Campaign Insights: Better measurement for display advertising

As we've previously said, one of our aims is to improve display advertising on the web and, as a result, grow the display advertising pie for everyone. Three simple principles guide our approach: simplify the system for buying and selling display ads; deliver better performance that advertisers and agencies can measure; open up the ecosystem by making it accessible to more participants.

One question on the mind of every advertiser and agency is: how can I better measure the impact of my display ad campaign?

We hear you. A growing number of advertisers and agencies are running display ad campaigns across the Google Content Network, so we're investing substantially in creating better measurement tools for our clients. At the moment, an advertiser can measure how many clicks its display ads achieve, measure conversions that result from those clicks, compare results with industry benchmark data, and use View-through conversion reporting to measure visits to its website from users who saw its display ad in the past.

Today, we're pleased to announce the launch of a brand new tool to measure the impact of your display ads - Google Campaign Insights. As of today, Google Campaign Insights is available for larger display ad campaigns across the Google Content Network in the US and UK. Over time, we hope to roll it out more widely to assist even more advertisers and agencies in different parts of the world.

Google Campaign Insights is a unique measurement tool that can give reliable data about how a campaign has raised brand awareness, or active user interest, in a particular product or service. It looks beyond the traditional measures of clicks and conversions to calculate the incremental lift in both online search activity and website visits that result from a display ad campaign.

How does this all work? In short, we use the same expertise we use to improve our own services -- our ability to analyze large quantities of data. Google Campaign Insights compares two anonymized and aggregated data sets: a large group of users (many thousands, minimum) who saw a particular ad, with an equivalent, large group that did not see the ad. It then measures whether there is any significant difference in searches and visits to the advertiser's website between the two groups. Doing this, Google Campaign Insights can determine the incremental change that is directly attributable to the display ad campaign. With this insight, advertisers can establish how well their display ad campaign is working.

(Click for full size image)

(Click for full size image)

Google Campaign Insights provides highly reliable results to marketers because of the statistical methodology our computer algorithms use to combine and analyze large volumes of data from several sources -- the advertiser's own campaign information, ad serving logs and sampled data from Google Toolbar installs that have opted in to enhanced features. All of the results reported to advertisers are anonymized and aggregated over thousands of users.

Advertisers or agencies who run wide-scale display ad campaigns on the Google Content Network and who want to take Google Campaign Insights for a spin should check with their Google representative.

We're excited about the contribution that Google Campaign Insights can make to our clients' campaigns on the Google Content Network and to display advertising generally.

Posted by Paul Todd, Product Management Director

[Note: This post has been reprinted from the Inside AdWords Blog]

Updated Keyword and Placement Tools, coming to an account near you

You may have heard that we've updated the Keyword and Placement Tools to include more features that will hopefully help make managing your clients' campaigns easier. These updates are still in beta so we're rolling them out to all AdWords accounts in English and other languages over the coming weeks. Keep an eye on your clients' accounts, and if you see these tools available, give them a try. If you have feedback, we're all ears, so let us know what you think using the Send Feedback link in your client's account.

• The updated Keyword Tool now allows you to get keyword suggestions based on the keywords you enter as well as website content and user searches. You can also see various keyword match types at once to compare their predicted metrics in one place.
  
  
• The updated Placement Tool makes it easier to search for placements that match specific criteria, such as image placements on youtube.com that are in the Entertainment category. The Advanced Options section allows you to further filter by country, language, impressions per day, included ad sizes, and demographic options.
  

Both tools will be available via the Tools tab in your client's account. If you don't see them yet, check out the screenshots on the Inside AdWords blog.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

The New DoubleClick Ad Exchange

We've just announced the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange. With this launch, your clients can now advertise on inventory in the Ad Exchange through the Google Content Network, offering them additional high-quality options for displaying their ads.

Read the full details on the Official Google Blog, and for more information on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, visit our Help Center.

Posted by the Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Signed, sealed, bulk verified

If your clients use Local Business Listings on Google Maps to drive traffic to their brick and mortar locations, they're probably familiar with the verification process to ensure the accuracy of their listing. Clients with 10 or more business locations can upload their listings via bulk uploads, but in the past couldn't verify bulk uploaded listings. Until now.

Business owners can now verify bulk uploaded listings as well, provided that their bulk uploads satisfy the following requirements:

• Accurate and up-to-date data
• Minimum of 10 bulk uploaded listings already in business owners' Local Business Center account
• Full compliance with our Local Business Center Quality Guidelines
• Submitted by the owner of all businesses listed
• All businesses have only been submitted by a single user

If your client's bulk uploads check out according to the above list, he or she can fill out this form to verify the listings. Remind your clients to update their bulk uploads whenever anything changes, as listings are periodically reviewed and will become unverified if we find they don't meet the requirements. For more information on the Local Business Center, check out our User Guide.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team