5 Differences Between The Old & New Google Ads Interface

The new, much lauded (or maligned, depending on how you feel about change) Google Ads interface has brought a number of new features to support your online advertising and consequently the older version of the interface will be phased out by the end of 2018. We here at Click Guardian thought it best to highlight the five differences between the old and new and make it that little bit clearer.

Interface - Arguably the most obvious feature of the newer Google Ads is the layout of the interface itself. With the older version the layout felt more cluttered and less aesthetically pleasing. With the newer version, the emphasis has been placed on showing the key features – predominantly the keywords and graphical information - in a more visually engaging format. It can be said that this has made information and metrics more easily interpreted and makes Google Ads seem less daunting for the new user.

Features - Amongst the new features, Google Ads can now offer an opportunity to target and optimize your ads for more specific audiences. For example, there is now an option to target audiences according to their household income. This allows advertisers to focus their ads at more suitable demographics and avoid wasting revenue on audiences which would otherwise be irrelevant.

Shortcuts – Now this can be a bone of contention for some and a great addition for others. It’s now possible to use a combination of shortcuts via the keyboard to jump quickly to whichever section of Google Ads you need to use. Need to jump to Ad Groups quickly? No problem, just press G + J and you’re there. Or, if you can’t be bothered with that you can simply click on the “Go To” tab and simply type in the relevant keyword and Google Ads will give you a list of relevant options to click on. Consequently, this makes Google Ads that little bit easier to navigate. Older users of Google Ads might find it a little harder to adjust, but then again, who said change was easy?

Mobile – Mobile constitutes the majority in terms of user platform and the new Google Ads interface accounts for this reality. Features such as bid adjustments for calls, which allows you to prioritise call extensions for your account and your auction, and ‘Showcase Shopping Ads’, which allows you to show a range of products as oppose to a single product, reflect the fact that mobile users were slightly overlooked by the older interface when constructing campaigns and ad groups. It seems that the newer version has done much to improve upon that.

Promotions – Within the new interface, a new feature which allows you to apply an extension that highlights specific parts of ad text that you wish to promote. Specifically, this is done by applying a tag to the piece of text which you want to highlight. In a way of speaking, this is the Google Ads version of giving ad text neon flashing lights to draw the customers’ attention.

To Summarise - The new Google Ads interface offers some great new features and there will be some who will bemoan the changes which have been incorporated. It is also noticeable that Google Ads still lacks specific features which deal with click fraud. This seems like a bit of a lost opportunity, as the issue of click fraud is becoming an increasingly harmful aspect of online advertising – especially in relation to a platform such as Google Ads.

With this lack of security, services such as Click Guardian offer advertisers the opportunity to protect their ads against the threat of Click Fraud. This means that your ads will be protected against a person, bot, automated script or program trying to inflate your Google Ads budget and drive up costs.

Offering a free 7 day trial and an easy-to-setup process, the Click Guardian system is ideal for advertisers looking to save money and optimise their campaigns. Sign up today for a free 7 day trial of Click Guardian Pro.