Google AdWords Editor Lives!

AdWords Editor is still much-loved by search marketers, judging by the reaction when I suggested a year ago that Google seemed to be deprioritizing it. Now, with the release of Google AdWords Editor 11, there's even more to love!

AdWords Editor is one of Google's most popular tools, according to the search giant itself. I've questioned over the last 18 months or so why AdWords Editor seemed to be lagging so far behind the web version. In their Version 11 announcement this week, Google said this is the biggest update to the tool since it launched in 2006. It's about time!

So let's see what's new:

Redesigned AdWords Editor Interface

The new AdWords interface has a clean, fresh layout with reorganized navigation options and a streamlined data view.

The new navigation layout above features:

1. The Toolbar, where you can open or add an account, download recent changes, check or post changes or view account stats.

2. The Account Tree, or Tree View, where you choose which account, campaign or ad group you want to work in

3. The Type List (see details below).

4. Data View, where you'll find the contents of the account, campaign or ad group you've selected in the Tree View.

5. Edit Panel, where you can make edits to your row selected in Data View.

Open Multiple Account Windows & View Side By Side

This is a huge plus for marketers or agencies managing multiple accounts. With this update, you can now view and edit multiple accounts side by side, even dragging and dropping or copy/pasting from one account window into another. Yes, this even includes MCC accounts.

In addition, you can use multiple open windows to view different parts of the same account at the same time. This means you could have your keyword list open while creating your ads, for example. Just select the accounts, campaigns or ad groups and click the pop-out arrow icon.

Type Lists Improve AdWords Editor Navigation

Google added type lists to ease navigation and get rid of the need to use multiple open tabs.

+10 years ago when AdWords editor was first released, there were just a small number of campaign objects to deal with - Campaigns consisted of AdGroups, which consisted of keywords and text ads. However today, there are dozens of campaign objects including placements, topics, locations, etc. The new navigation lets you simply click an item in the type list to view data for the selected account, campaign, or ad group - rather than have to guess which tab contains that data.

New Advanced Search For Filtering & Complex Searches

The new AdWords Editor Advanced Search enables you to apply multiple search criteria and save searches, as well as find and edit/remove poorly performing keywords.

Build complex searches by using the Search Builder to first search on one term, then adding on additional criteria. An option within the search menu icon allows you to view and apply filters, limiting your results to new items, edited items, items with errors, etc.

Choose 'Save current search as…' to file your searches for later use. You can also use search shortcutslike the keyword:term command to find all keywords containing a specific term.

Make More Bulk Changes & Select Multiple Items

Google made it easier to make bulk changes and assignments across multiple campaigns and ad groups with the AdWords Editor 11 updates.

Using multi-select lets you easily view and paste items into multiple campaigns or ad groups. Google offers these simple instructions for multi-select:

How to use multi-select:

• In the tree view, use Ctrl + click (Windows) or ? + click (Mac) to select multiple campaigns or ad groups.
• Select a type in the type menu to view items from your selected campaigns or ad groups.

How to copy and paste items into multiple campaigns and ad groups:

• Copy a set of items (e.g. keywords, ads, etc.).
• In the tree view, use Ctrl + click (Windows) or ? + click (Mac) to select multiple campaigns or ad groups.
• Paste the items into the selected campaigns or ad groups.
• Confirm the ad groups that you’d like to paste the items into, and click OK.

Your Shared Library lets you assign bid strategies and sitelinks across multiple campaigns and ad groups.

The Make Multiple Changes tool organizes your text into rows and columns so you can add, update or remove items in bulk. You can either type your data in directly, or copy and paste a list of changes into the tool. You can then review your changes (Google will tell you if there are errors or warnings) and confirm that you want to apply the changes. If you screwed up, you can click "Revert" to undo your bulk edits. You can also undo and redo up to 20 changes.

Download An Entire MCC Account

Google now allows you to download and manage entire MCC accounts in AdWords Editor, with the option to download several accounts simultaneously.

You'll also be able to see the total number of changes, errors and warnings.

Upgrade To The New Google AdWords Editor: Version 11.0

Google will continue offering support for previous versions of AdWords Editor for four months – until April 10, 2015 – after which all accounts will migrate to version 11.0.

This rollout is available to all AdWords Editor users worldwide effective now, on both PC and Mac.Upgrade today and get started! Check out Google's AdWords Editor 11 video below for an overview of the new features.

About The Author

Larry Kim is the Founder of WordStream. You can connect with him on Twitter or Google+ or just click the follow button at the top of the page here.

Note: This article was originally published on the WordStream.blog.

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