New AdCenter Features

On Feb 14 2006 I had the chance to get a sneak preview of some of the new AdCenter features that will be rolling out later this month. Overall I think the changes will be well received.

I would also like to add that I am pretty impressed so far with how the AdCenter team is not only soliciting, but actually implementing, feedback they have received from the PPC community. They have even gone so far as to hire a community support analyst who will be responsible for interacting with the community on forums and blogs. Being a borderline forum junkie myself i think that's pretty cool.

Here are some of the highlights of the upcoming release:

1) Simplification of the new order creation process. Process is now 4 steps: Order Settings, Ads, Keywords and Pricing.
- Order Settings tab now incorporates targeting elements.

2) All budget, bidding, and incremental pricing options are edited in one place — the new Pricing tab.

3) Integration of research into order creation:
- Suggestions, demographic and pre sales data have been added.
- Keyword research and idea tool added to the Keywords tab so it's available when you create your keyword lists.
- New Keyword Research Tool available

4) Improvements made to the usability of managing ads and keywords
- The Ads page now allows you to create (or edit) ads in a left-hand pane with a real-time preview on the right.
- The text field for ad text and titles are now updated with character limits as you type.
- Reason codes added for all keyword/ad rejections.
- “Ad Description” field renamed “Ad Text.”
- “Negative match” option renamed “excluded keywords.”

5) Change to Incremental bidding from a specified dollar amount to a relative percentage applied across all keyword bids.

6) Negative keywords can now be applied at the order level.

7) Base bid amounts can be applied across all

Last but not least, the screenshots:

The AdCenter Campaign Tab (First Screen After Login)


AdCenter Order Settings with Targeting


AdCenter Ads Screen (Real Time Ads Preview)


AdCenter Keyword Tool & Charts

AdCenter Pricing Tab