Introducing The New Google Ads Networks (Placements) View
You should follow Dave on Twitter 
February 26th, 2009 
Posted in: PPC Marketing 
24 CommentsThe Google Ads content network has been the source of heartbreak and of joy for countless advertisers over the years. There are many opinions on the content targeting and placement targeting but the general consensus is that those new to Google Ads should avoid it until they understand it fully. That is about to change. We were recently invited to participate in the new Google Ads UI beta. Things have really changed a LOT and to be honest, I don’t really like it yet but there is one feature that really jumped out me as a game changer, the new “networks” tab. ..
Below you will find some screenshots of the new interface. Please note that I have removed any data that has identified the campaigns. These details are simply deleted and are indeed included in the interface. Please click images for full sized shots.
The new interface is a streamlined, ajaxified beast with a lot of new features. You’ll notice straight off the bat that the interface has been adjusted to look like Google analytics. In fact, the transition between Google Ads and analytics is now seamless, complete with all the ajax progress animations. There is also an option to collapse the left sidebar (not shown) which includes a list of campaigns for easy access, similar to Google Ads editor.
The one feature of note however is the new “networks” tab in each campaign. This tab lists the networks that your campaign is running on. Either search, search partners, content network and defined placements. The best part however is the content network automatic placements!
Previously, the only way to access this data was to through a tedious process of creating a placement performance report for the date range you wanted. Then you had to wade through the data with the awful pagination Google provides in it’s reports (what can we really do with 100 rows Google?). You also had to manually select your campaigns. Not any more.
Now you can see day by day metrics on each URL that your ads appear on the content network without running a placement performance report!
And that’s not the best part. With the new view, you can sort the columns in order of the metric of your choice, check the URLs that are performing to that metric and automatically add them to your placement campaigns! (Now called “Managed Placements” as seen).
To those of you who that were willing to put in the hard slog and suffer the sometimes agonizing wrath of the content network and placement campaigns you will realize how much of a fantastic new time saving feature this will be. This cuts out what can be hours of research time looking for decent performing placements.
The interface is still in very early beta. It errors out at least 2 times a session for me every time I have tried it. This has been a common complaint so I doubt it will be released any time soon.
Now, if Google could provide some cross segmentation options and integrate the bizarrely missing display ad builder tool, this will be an absolute hit. Great stuff Google!
Is anyone else as excited about this as I am?
February 26th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
great post on content upgrade. i’m looking forward to receiving beta access
February 26th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I’m intrigued. This would save me a ton of time. Did the Goog give you any idea on when they plan on rolling this out to a larger base?
February 26th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Dan, contact your rep. The beta went into a larger roll out phase, that’s why I was able to post the screen shots.
Robert, Nope. But they have a LONG way to go. There’s a LOT of bugs to work out.
Unlike Yahoo however, it’s great to see them listening to feedback from their CUSTOMERS.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
that content network has been the culprit of lost fortunes too….
February 27th, 2009 at 5:53 am
It’s nice to hear this great news, Dave. Google finally listen to their customers’ voice and it’s a good head start here…!
February 27th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Great post. I’ve been wanting an easier way to find out the specific site details in adwords, makes it a lot easier all around.
February 27th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Being new to the Adwords concept I find your post on the new interface interesting. the new new “networks” tab for each campaign can help take the confusion out of setting placement performance reports, but being new to the PPC for now I think I will try to learn as much as I can before diving in.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I’m so glad you’re excited! I’m also really glad to hear that you have had a positive experience with the AdWords feedback loop. I think its something we can always improve on, but we certainly have been trying.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Not sure if this is relevant to the topic but would like some info – if anyone knows. I have had a listing with DMOZ for years but it had become dated. DMOZ have now kindly changed the listing per my request but Google still seems to be referring to the old listing when I search my company name. Do I just have to sit and wait or is there something I can do to hurry things along. ALSO I discovered that my keywords were available to purchase as Domain Names so I bought them. That said not sure if Google looks favourably on being immediately re-directed to another site – I already do this with .com. Does anyone have any nifty ideas on how to utilise these domain names to promote my main business – I am not too keen on selling via numerous sites – I have little enough spare time on my hands as it is.
March 6th, 2009 at 6:34 am
nice posting, I wish I could like others blogger in there, that can optimize adword and adsense
March 6th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Adwords is getting improved day by day. Great post by you and great improvement by google…
March 6th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I’ll have to wait to see how it works when they roll this out but it sounds like you are now able to identify poor performing content partners running your ads. That would be huge as I have always suspected that bad apples are dragging down ROI. If google adwords now has a tool giving reports on performance by specific content network partners, that would be very helpful.
March 6th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
its good news which use google application daily.Adwords is a thing which increase day to day…but great post about google adwords….keep it up.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
This is incredible, I have stopped using adwords for the time being but I’m planning on starting again fairly shortly and this might really come in handy.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
That looks cool. So far I have stayed away from using content network for my adwords campaigns. I will probably take a plunge soon if I can judge the performance correctly.
Looks like with the new UI, it’s going to be easy. Is the beta available for everyone? I didn’t see any mail from adwords support.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:51 am
The one thing I wish they completed seperate out is advertising parked domains so you can see it’s performance in it’s own right and turn it on or off
March 15th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Great post and helpful news. I hope I can optimize the new AdWords UI. Thanks a lot Dave!
March 17th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I still struggle to get a decent ROI for my content network ads. I don’t know what am I doing wrong.
March 22nd, 2009 at 5:04 am
I plan on doing a New Google Campaign this week.
Great Info,
Ray.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Amazing!have had a listing with DMOZ for years but it had become dated. DMOZ have now kindly changed the listing per my request but Google still seems to be referring to the old listing when I search my company name.
April 27th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Any idea where the tool for finding content network sites went to? I used that to find out which sites I wanted to target in a placement campaign but I can’t find it in the new interface… Nice post, too, thanks!
May 19th, 2009 at 12:44 am
We have been using the “content” network and its working ok for us. Considering that the “search” network is expensive for us because we are just starting out, “content” network seems to be a viable option.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:24 am
We have been using the “content” network and its working ok for us. Considering that the “search” network is expensive for us because we are just starting out, “content” network seems to be a viable option.
August 26th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
We have been using the “content” network and its working ok for us. Considering that the “search” network is expensive for us because we are just starting out, “content” network seems to be a viable option.