Ladies and gentleman! Sit back and relax while I regale you with a tale of corporate money making. Seems appropriate, after yesterday’s fun, yeah?
Our tale begins at Google, tucked deep within their AdWords laboratory. A mad, mad scientist, having perfected the algorithms necessary to allow paid ad (PPC) accounts execs to glean helpful, actionable information from said accounts by way of AdWords Tools has suddenly decided to drop the hammer. And now, much like the dude that hangs out by the vulnerable kids’ schools, having addicted us to the ease of use of that particular platform, he turns us into money making drones by taking away our ability to have faith in our various campaigns and adding work to our already slightly crazy, client oriented lives.
Far fetched? Try near fetched! It’s happening next week!
Seems Google, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to switch up the way that AdWords works.
According to their recent statement:
“AdWords currently offers three ad rotation settings: optimize for clicks, optimize for conversions, and rotate evenly. Using the ‘rotate’ setting for ad rotation is helpful for testing new creatives, but when run indefinitely can inhibit advertiser performance and deliver less relevant ads to our users. Starting next week, the ‘rotate’ setting for ad rotation will change. Instead of rotating creatives for an indefinite period of time, this setting will only rotate for a period of 30 days. After that, the setting will then optimize to show the ads expected to generate the most clicks. Every time a creative is enabled or edited, the ads in that ad group will rotate more evenly for a new period of 30 days.”
Excellent. But, what does that mean for PPC folks like you?
“To those of us in the glamorous world of PPC, this means that we will have to remember to readjust our campaigns every 30 days to reset the ads to evenly rotate, if we haven’t made any edits during this time” says Oneupweb’s resident Shoeologist and Paid Lady High Dominus, Kate Shapkaroff. “As a rule, we prefer not to let Google choose which ad performs better even if they feel this new setting will ‘help advertisers improve performance of their AdWords accounts’. Essentially, it’s putting an automatic stop date on A/B testing. While most A/B tests show a statistical significance in 30 days, this new auto setting will override if not reset and will tamper with our conclusions.”
Tampering with conclusions is never a good idea, especially when you’re tampering with the conclusions of a Lady in deadly high heels (like Kate).
Why would Google do this? Is it really as innocent as they say: an attempt to improve relevance and user experience?
“Cash money, yo! Google wants to serve the ads that will get more clicks to pad their multi-colored pockets,” concludes Kate confidently.
How does one deal with this conundrum? Well, do as you have always done (if you are a success within this industry); evolve. Get on a rotation that allows you to test on a 30 day or less time period. This may be impossible with some campaigns, but it will work for others. There’s also AdWords Campaign Experiments. This may take the edge off a bit, but, again, not for all campaigns.
Alternatively, this switch may open the door to competition. Services such as AdBrite, Chitika and more may now find some wiggle room to become truly viable within this field. Afterall, isn’t that the glory of capitalism? Supply and demand? PPC pros demand a service that allows them to ensure that the campaigns being bought and paid for with hard earned marketing dollars are the best that they can possibly be. Google has just rubbed out that option.
“If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain to be in peril.”
Sun Tzu said that in the Art Of War. It holds true here. The enemy would be the thousands of other companies and services ready and willing to give marketers exactly what they want and need to succeed. “Yourself” would not only be Google, but also the folks who use and pay for Google’s products. And Google is showing some astonishing ignorance right now.
With decisions like this, you certainly will not be the only game in town for much longer.
P.S.- Kate, this link is for you.
