Monday, June 4, 2012

Ad rotation settingsLast month Google announced the Ads Rotation changing and how creative rotation works in AdWords. Specifically, when Google changed the even rotation setting to rotate evenly for a period of 30 days, after which AdWords would optimize to show your higher performing creatives more frequently.The concerns have focused on (1) the lack of an opt-out for this change and (2) the potential that the 30 day even rotation window might be shorter than your testing window for new ads. With the modified Rotate evenly setting, Google tests indicate that Google will provide you with more valuable traffic in an automated, efficient manner. They have found that, on average, optimized creative rotation results in an increase in click-through rate and an increase in total conversion volume for advertisers. Here’s an example describing the benefit (note: data is intended for illustrative purposes only):Advertisement A has a 3% CTR, while Advertisement B has a 1% CTR. Under the original Rotate evenly setting, the ads would show roughly evenly, resulting in an average CTR of around 2%. Under the new setting, Advertisement A will show more frequently after the even rotation window has passed, bringing the average CTR closer to 3%, or a 50% increase in clicks. The systems will also continue to run Advertisement B for a low fraction of traffic to continue to test how well it performs.Google also optimizing that if they see a large amount of demand for the opt-out over the next few weeks, they will also offer the opt-out in the AdWords interface directly.You can opt-out by filling in your information on this form or by contacting your account representative. Both of these changes will go into effect on June 11, 2012.