Google Gives AdWords Users New Alert Options

Google has introduced a couple of new alert options for AdWords advertisers. Users can of course use account alerts, and can also use custom alerts. Now Google has added new alerts for keyword and budget ideas, which are personalized tips to help users improve their campaigns' effectiveness. These are in the "opportunities" tab.

"New ideas are usually generated for campaigns and ad groups every few weeks, but you may miss ideas that can expand your coverage and boost your traffic if you don't check the Opportunities tab regularly," explains Google's Dan Friedman. "Now, when there are new ideas available for your review, you'll see them highlighted along with the rest of your campaign alerts."

Google has also added the ability to create custom alerts for changes in conversion volume, conversion rate, and cost per conversion for users using AdWords conversion tracking.

"By setting alerts for your conversion data, you can make sure that you're quickly notified about fluctuations in your key metrics," says Friedman.

Google says it is still working on bringing custom alerts to all linked accounts for My Client Center (MCC) users, but until then, you can just set custom alerts for individual accounts if you can log into them directly.

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AdWords Opportunities Expanded to More Advertisers

Earlier in the summer Google began beta testing the Opportunities Tab in AdWords. This is a feature in advertisers' accounts that tries to point them to additional cost-effective traffic for their search campaigns.

Google is now expanding the beta to more advertisers in the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom and Australia. Google says over the next few business days, they will expand the beta to all English-language accounts.

"You can think of the Opportunities tab as your homepage for account optimization. You can use the tab to get a quick overview of Google's customized keyword and budget ideas for your campaigns and ad groups," says Amanda Kelly of Google's Inside AdWords crew. "You can also compare the impact of different ideas before making changes. So, if you're looking to increase your keyword coverage for a specific product, or have your ads appear more often for your existing keywords, the Opportunities tab is a great place to start."

Ideas in the Opportunities tab change, so just because you see a list of ideas one day, does not necessarily mean that you'll see that same list all the time.

Google is not getting rid of any other AdWords tools, but they've changed the location of some. Those who are included in the beta test won't see the Tools tab, but instead will be able to access AdWords tools by clicking on the Opportunities tab, and scrolling down the menu. There is a "more tools" link that will show the full list.

"Ultimately we want the Opportunities section of your account to evolve into a single destination you can visit whenever you want to get new ideas for increasing your ad coverage on relevant search terms, capturing additional clicks in your most profitable campaigns, or simply improving your overall ROI," says Kelly.

Google says it hopes to provide a broader set of optimization tools in the future, and that the Opportunities tab is just a starting point for this. Users can expect more changes to come, and the plan is to take the beta testing to advertisers all over the world in the coming weeks.