The AdWords Next Interface | Navigation & New Features

After allowing advertisers to prepare for the new interface for nearly a year, Google is now finally making all users upgrade to AdWords Next.

Here’s a quick guide to get you up to speed with the new interface, our favorite new features, and some pro tips from the experts.

A New Dashboard

First, let’s take a look at the major differences to design.

The  look  and  feel  are significantly different. Advertisers that spend a lot of time in the interface will need to adopt some new workflows.

-Caroline Rice, Retail Search Manager at CPC Strategy

1. The main navigation panel, formerly located across the top, is now located on the left side.

The navigation bar is now on the side rather than the top. It does take a bit of getting used to. All of your campaigns, metrics, and more are  now located on the left.

-Chris Pezolli, Senior Retail Search Manager at CPC Strategy

2. Reports, dimensions (formerly predefined reports), and other features like shared library and keyword planner are located in the top right.

Navigating the AdWords Next Interface

For most of us, the biggest challenge comes with locating features new and old.

Thankfully, there are handy keyboard shortcuts and even a search tool that can be used to zip around the new dashboard.

Chris Pezolli says,

Pro-tip: There are shortcuts for everything that make navigation easier. I frequently  use the G+C shortcut to bring myself back to the main campaign page.

Other favorite shortcuts:

• G+A = go to ads tab
• G+T = go to / search bar

In addition to using keyboard shortcuts, there’s also a handy search bar for finding everything you need.

Finding where everything is is the biggest pain point. Figuring out where everything lives, as many features have been rearranged. The search bar andkeyboard shortcuts are your friend.

–LaBroi Walton, Senior Retail Search Manager at CPC Strategy

Our Favorite New Features

AdWords Next brings a host of new features — all bringing new capabilities to advertisers.

Here are some of our favorites.

Audience Insights

Chris’ favorite new feature is Audience Insights — a powerful new tool that allows you to view demographic insights for each of your audiences.

You can use this to gather data on your website visitors, CRM lists, converters, etc.

Chris Pezolli says,

If you are wondering where to start with prospecting, you can start here to find what  in-market audiences are likely to convert. You may even find an audience that performs well you didn’t know even know about.

Where?  Tools > Shared library > Audience manager > Audience Insights (left panel)

Ad Variations

Caroline’s favorite new feature is Ad Variations, which enables you to test ad copy and landing page performance across an entire account or within specific campaigns before creating a new ad.

Caroline Rice says,

Start by selecting which campaigns you want to add your ad variation to. You can test within specific campaigns, your entire account or specify with filters like “final URL contains” or “headline 2 equals.”

Caroline notes that you can select three types of ad variations:

• Find and replace (looks for specific text and replaces with something new)
• Update text (adds a new element)
• Swap headlines (flips H1 and H2)

Where? Drafts & Experiments > Ad Variations

For the rest of this article, check it out on CPC Strategy's Ecommerce blog.