New Ad Planner features: the Ad Planner 1,000 and greater integration with AdWords

Today, we�re introducing several new features that integrate�DoubleClick Ad Planner�data with other Google advertising solutions. These features help streamline the process of planning and building online ad campaigns and give you useful data for making more informed media planning decisions.

Ad Planner Top 1,000 Most Visited Sites

One of these new key releases is the�Ad Planner 1000 list, a list of the top 1,000 global sites on the web by unique users as measured by Ad Planner. Published monthly, this list details the number of unique visitors, number of page views, and reach for each of the sites included. It�s a great way to quickly reference the most popular sites on the web.

The Ad Planner 1000 list is another step in the evolution of Ad Planner in providing reliable traffic and audience information for websites. In conjunction with it, the Google Content Network just released an�Ad Planner 1,000 targeting feature. We hope that the combination of these two features helps provide you with more actionable data to use in your display ad campaigns.

Exporting Google Content Network Placements to AdWords

We�ve heard from many of you that you�d like to be able to easily buy Google Content Network placements that you find through Ad Planner. With the newly launched Export to AdWords feature, you can now simply export Google Content Network placements from Ad Planner into AdWords. These exported placements will be set up as a new campaign or ad group within your AdWords account. If you�re running text ads or display ads on the Google Content Network, this is an easy way to build media plans of managed placements.

Creating Lists in Ad Planner

To help you create your own list of favorite sites to save and add to your media plans, we�ve also recently launched �Lists� in Ad Planner. With �Lists�, you can store sites and placements in lists for future use in media plans. To get you started, we�ve made the Ad Planner 1,000 list available to all Ad Planner accounts as both an online reference and as a downloadable file.

Our goal with the AdPlanner 1000 and other recent updates is to offer you new tools that allow you to plan more efficiently, and more data so that you can make more informed advertising decisions.

Visit www.google.com/adplanner to check out the new features.

Posted by Rohit Kundaji, Software Engineer and Wayne Lin, Product Manager

New tool for brand advertisers on the Google Content Network

Over the past year, we've focused on building new solutions on the Google Content Network for campaigns focused on branding. Last year we introduced frequency capping to help you manage how often your Content Network campaigns reach the right people. We then launched an �above the fold� filter to allow you to show ads only in places that appear on potential customers� screens when the page loads. We also developed innovative tools to measure the impact of brand campaigns.

Today, in response to feedback from many of you who run branding campaigns, we're announcing a new filter that allows you to show your ads only on AdSense sites among the 1000 largest on the web, as defined by DoubleClick Ad Planner. This new feature will ensure that your ads reach a large number of users, but only on well-known sites best suited for branding goals.

To activate the new filter, select �non Ad Planner 1000� within the �category filters� section of your AdWords account. Keep in mind that not all sites in the Ad Planner 1000 are in the Google Content Network and that your ads will only show on those sites that are.

It's important to note that the Ad Planner 1000 does not take performance statistics into account, and that by enabling this filter, you may be excluding many sites that are relevant to your advertised products. Additionally, with this or any of our other brand filters enabled, your campaign will run on fewer sites, so you may need to raise your bids if you�d like to maintain your impression levels. We recommend experimenting to determine which feature or combination of features best meets your goals.

We hope this new feature gives you greater control and assurance over where your ads appear and makes the Google Content Network an even more powerful environment for effective branding campaigns.

Posted by Katrina Kurnit, Inside AdWords crew

Improvements to view-through conversion reporting for display campaigns

This week, we�re making two new feature enhancements to our view-through conversion reporting to help you more effectively measure the ROI of your display campaigns on the Google Content Network. View-through conversion reporting, which we launched last year, helps you measure the conversions that result from users who have seen but not clicked on your display ads. The enhancements we�re making will allow you to customize this reporting to better fit your needs.

Customizable view-through conversion window. You�ll be able to set a custom range for the window of time for which you�d like view-through conversions reported. Previously, this window was set to 30 days, meaning we reported on the number of view-through conversions that occurred up to 30 days after a user saw your ad. Now, you�ll be able to customize this time-frame, based on what makes sense for your product or service. For example, if you�re a local pizza shop looking for users to download a coupon and order a pizza, users will generally respond to your ad within a day or two after seeing it. In this case, you might set a reporting window that�s much shorter than if you were an auto dealership, for example, as it may take several weeks before a user schedules a test-drive, given the a longer sales cycle for automobiles.

De-duplication of search conversion reporting. In addition, you�ll also have the option to exclude reporting for view-through conversions that are duplicated across both the Search and Content Networks. If you enable this feature, we will exclude from your view-through conversion reports conversions that come from users who have also clicked your search ads. These conversions will only be attributed to your search ads.

If you decide to apply these settings for your campaigns, please note that they will affect data moving forward in your account.

We believe these improvements will make view-through conversion reporting more accurate and actionable for you. If you�re using view-through conversion tracking today, we recommend you evaluate these two new options and implement them based on your needs. However, try to avoiding flipping back and forth between enabling and disabling these settings as this can muddy the usefulness of your campaign metrics.

If you�re advertising using display ads on the Google Content Network, but are new to view-through conversion tracking, we encourage you to implement it to more effectively track the ROI of your display campaigns. Remember, display ads often drive performance beyond immediate clicks and conversions, like from users who may visit your site and make a purchase after seeing your display ad, even if they haven�t clicked. Learn more in our Help Center.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

Happy U.S. Small Business Week

Each year since 1963, the President of the United States has set aside a week to celebrate the contributions of American small businesses: National Small Business Week. Taking place in Washington D.C. from May 23rd � 29th this year, the event salutes the estimated 27.2 million small businesses in America.

At Google, we feel it�s especially important to show our appreciation, admiration and respect for small business owners and employees during this time. We get to see firsthand how creative and innovative you are, and we�re deeply committed to helping you drive your business forward.

Take 5 minutes to easily share the story of your business
All small businesses have a story, so we want to give you the chance to tell yours in a quirky, fun way. To kick things off, we�ve put together this quick example video:



To create a Search Story featuring your business� journey, just follow these simple steps:

1. Watch the video above if you haven�t already.
2. Take a few moments to create your own.
3. We�d love to see it, so share it with us and the world.

Find tools for online success
This year, we�ve partnered with the U.S. Small Business Administration on a site to help your business thrive using online tools. Check it out, and then download our Online Tools booklet to learn how to put these strategies into action.

We�re happy to share that in 2009 Google generated $54B in economic activity in the United States - one business at a time. You can see how Google programs like AdWords helped small businesses in your state at www.google.com/economicimpact.

Google is also a proud sponsor of this year�s Small Business Week celebrations. Visit the National Small Business Week website for more useful resources for your business.

Here�s to hoping for many more prosperous and successful years to come for your company and all of the other small businesses across the country.

Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew.

Update 1:55PM: Updated with information on Google's economic impact in 2009.

Manage and Track your extensions with the new Ad Extensions tab

Over the last year we�ve launched a number of ad extensions in AdWords to help you make your ads more useful and relevant to people searching for information on Google. Ad extensions expand your standard text ad with one or more lines of additional information like an address and phone number (location extensions and phone extensions), more page links (ad sitelinks), and product images (product extensions).

In order to help you manage and track the ad extensions in your campaigns, today we�re introducing a new Ad Extensions tab within your AdWords account. From the Ad Extensions tab, you can see statistics for any of your campaign ad extensions. You can choose to see "All" or "All but deleted" extensions, and you can also choose the type of ad extensions to view, such as location or product extensions. For example, if you select �Locations,� the tab will display all location extensions for that campaign (on the campaign details page) or all campaigns (in the �All Online Campaigns� overview).

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The Ad Extensions tab automatically appears in your account when you've enabled ad extensions in at least one campaign. You can also enable or disable the tab for your account view by clicking the arrow button next to your existing tabs above your performance table.

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To learn more about the new Ad Extensions tab, visit the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

Go Mobile! Series: Introducing click-to-call ads for mobile content and apps

Today at Google I/O, we announced that we�ll begin extending click-to-call advertising to mobile content and apps on the Google Content Network in the coming weeks. Click-to-call ads for mobile content and apps work with phone extensions and appear as animated �banner text ads with a call button on mobile devices with full Internet browsers. Now, whether your potential customers are reading the latest news, checking sports scores, or playing a downloaded game on their phones, you can reach them with relevant ads that let them easily click, call and connect with your business.

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Benefits:

As those of you who already use click-to-call search ads may know, providing a calling option can help you drive more qualified leads and conversions as callers are often more ready to make a purchase. Adding a phone number to your ads can also give your business more credibility, resulting in higher click-through rates and increases in both calls and visits to your website. What�s more, enabling click-to-call ads for mobile content and apps is easy, even if you�re new to mobile, click-to-call advertising, or the Google Content Network.

Getting started:

To get started with click-to-call for mobile apps and content, just follow these three quick steps:

1. Ensure that your campaigns are opted in to serve on the Content Network, either by selecting �All available sites� or specifically checking �Content Network� within your Campaign Settings.

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2. Set up phone extensions and add your business phone number.

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At this time, click-to-call ads for mobile content and apps only support phone extensions and not location extensions.

3. Ensure that you�ve chosen to show your ads on mobile devices with full Internet browsers.

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Improving your performance:

Once you�re all set up, we encourage you to track your results and experiment. Our robust reporting lets you see the number of calls you receive by campaign, ad group and keyword so that you can easily monitor and improve your campaigns. Keep in mind that you pay the same price for a call as for a click, so it�s a good idea to try creating new mobile campaigns for content to figure out what works best.

More innovative mobile ad formats on the way:
At Google I/O today, we also shared a preview of our new expandable ad units that display videos or images on content and apps on mobile devices with full Internet browsers. These new ad units offer you more real estate and let potential customers interact with the ad without being redirected from the content or app they were viewing. When people click to play a video, our ad unit plays on their device�s native video player or YouTube app. Once they close the video, they�re returned to exactly where they left off on their mobile site or app. �You may begin to see these new formats running on our network as part of our beta for US-based advertisers, and we�re excited to make them more widely available soon.

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We recognize that you have many options when planning your mobile advertising strategies and we�re excited to be a part of this rapidly evolving and competitive mobile ads ecosystem. We�ll continue to innovate with new mobile ad formats that we hope will help you better reach your audience in more relevant and engaging ways, driving the mobile ads space forward for everyone.

Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew

Reminder: Upcoming webinar on display advertising opportunities

We wanted to remind you that this week we�re holding a webinar about our recent innovations in display advertising and how marketers are incorporating it into their strategies.

Join us on May 20, 2010 at 11:00am PST / 1:00pm CST / 2:00pm EST.

Specifically, we�ll discuss:

• Google's vision and recent innovations in display advertising
• How to best take advantage of our offerings, from planning to improving your campaigns
• How advertisers are incorporating the Google Content Network into their marketing strategy

Hope to see you there!

Posted by Katrina Kurnit, Inside AdWords crew