As you’ve probably heard by now, Google are in the process of shaking up their AdWords system – inside and out.
To begin with, they’re now displaying AdWords ads in their News searches. This is more than a little puzzling. First of all, you probably assumed they were already doing so, right? Secondly, you now might be wondering why they weren’t doing so? And third of all, you’ll almost certainly be surprised to hear that they’re only doing this in the US. For now at least. Maybe they think we don’t read the news in the rest of the world?
Next, Google are pulling the plug on their AdWords Business Pages for Mobile – launched only 14 months ago. March 30th is the last date for the service, so enjoy it while you can. And bear in mind that comes only a few months after Google announced the retirement of their Print Ads program.
And from the inside, Google are still experimenting with their new AdWords interface, as written by our own (unusually) excited Aaron Weiner almost a month ago: New AdWords interface – very cool!
What do these changes mean for users of the AdWords system?
Google usually focus both on expanding the reach of the ads, and also refining the inner-workings of the system. The cogs that drive the wheels that drive the machine. For example adding new features, adjusting the quality score, making our lives a little more stressful and so on.
Yet this is the first time that I’ve ever seen them not only trimming some of the system’s tentacles, but also working on a major new interface.
Hopefully this is the start of Google making some genuine effort to improve the AdWords experience for their advertisers – both in terms of quality of placement and ease of use. The next few months should prove to be interesting.
