Coming soon to an account near you: the shiny new AdWords interface

Innovations / March 20, 2017

Don’t pout if you haven’t had access to the new AdWords interface. It’s coming… The word so far is that some small business advertisers are logging in to see an Alpha prototype, while MCC account holders will have to wait a little longer. (Note: As of March 20, 2017: we’re starting to see some of our clients in our MCC presented with the new Adwords interface)

Among those who are seeing the new interface, some are encountering it directly after logging in, while others are politely asked to “Try the new AdWords”. If you opt in, AdWords makes it easy for you to satisfy your burning curiosity and then toggle back to the old interface.

Why hasn’t it come to my MCC?

There’s a straightforward business rationale behind why the little guys are seeing this first. Some of the new features are intended to make things easier for beginners. Super users are already all over AdWords, why rock the boat? With larger spend accounts being managed through the MCC, it makes sense to roll out the changes to the little guys first, where there is a smaller risk of disrupting big campaigns, and big revenue.

Rolling out to small business users also enables Google to test and receive feedback, and likely understand interface issues encountered by less experienced users. Think of it as Google doing the “let your mom try the website” usability test: all features should be transparently easy, particularly to the most inexperienced users.

Some sneak peeks

Over at the Inside AdWords Blog, Google has assured us that the interface is coming to all advertisers before long. Word is the interface is cleaner and more streamlined, with some sharp new icons to represent filter, segments, columns, and download options.

If you’re not among the lucky, early few, here are a few screenshots of what you can expect… get ready for a lot of pretty (and useful) data visualizations.

These tasty widgets are being called Overview cards.

Many of these visualizations appear in AdWords’ shiny new Overview tab.

Get ready to glean more actionable information about your account at a glance, thanks to cards that visualize daypart reporting, device data and ad scheduling.

More new features ahead

Word is that AdWords hasn’t rolled out all the features it has planned for its new interface. We’re particularly intrigued by the Advanced Bid Adjustments tab, which will enable advertisers to adjust bids based on interactions beyond clicks and conversions.

If you do switch over to the new alpha interface, you may want to return to the old view to carry out some familiar tasks. Like any major update, the new AdWords interface will uncover new opportunities and ways of working, but it may also bring challenges as you unlearn and discover new ways of working.

We’d love to hear more about your experiences with the new interface. How is it improving your day-to-day? What challenges is it presenting to your business or agency?