Yesterday Google released a nice incremental upgrade to our favorite PPC campaign management tool, AdWords Editor. Version 6.5 has some valuable new features – but some bugs that for many advertisers may be showstoppers.
First, the application often fails to install correctly, especially if you have a previous version installed. The solution is simple: just manually uninstall the previous version before installing the new one. To be double-safe, reboot after the installation of the new version.
The new Keyword Opportunities tool rocks – but some agencies may run into this bug: the tool doesn’t work if you’ve loaded an account by using your Master Clients Center login. Those affected will see the error message “Authentication Failed” when they try to use the tool The current workaround is to load the account using the login info of the “child account.”
In our tests today the Keyword Opportunities tool revealed some excellent suggestions for additional keywords that should be included in ad groups. Google says the tool takes into consideration the target geography of the campaign (see below), but in our tests the tool suggested local versions that were outside the target area of a geotargeted campaign.
Still, finding great additional keywords is golden, and the tool can help automate that process, based on inside info Google knows about your campaigns (e.g. location) that a conventional keyword research tool wouldn’t know. We cross-correlated the suggested keywords with a Search Query report, and found close correlation between the keywords in the two. This suggest Google is drawing on campaign performance data to deliver terms that it has broad-matched successfully to your campaigns existing keywords. Cool!
Here’s Google’s description:
How do I find new keywords related to specific terms or phrases?
The Keyword expansion feature in AdWords Editor generates keyword ideas based on descriptive words or phrases that you choose. After you get keyword ideas, you can copy the new keywords or add them directly to new or existing ad groups.
To use the Keyword expansion feature, follow these steps:
- Go to the Tools menu > Keyword Opportunities, or click ‘Keyword Opportunities’ on the Keywords tab. You must have a working Internet connection to start using the Keyword Opportunities tool, but you can work offline again once you’ve gotten keyword suggestions.
- On the Keyword expansion tab, enter a descriptive word or phrase.
- Click Get Keywords.
The list of keyword results includes information about the volume of searches and the level of competition for the keyword. The Volume column shows the average amount of traffic per month. The Competition column shows the average number of advertisers per month bidding on the search term. Both columns show data on a scale of 0 to 5.
You can sort the list of results by clicking on the column headers. Click once to sort from low to high, twice to sort from high to low, and three times to return the list to its original order.
The keyword results are based on the language and location you’ve specified in Tools > Settings, under ‘Locale.’ To view keyword ideas for another locale, change this setting and then run the Keyword Opportunities tool again.
