Separate Metrics for Google & Search Partners

[Mel66]

Via the Inside Adwords Blog, Adwords advertisers will (finally!) be able to see separate metrics for Google and the search partners.

One cool feature that isn't mentioned in the post is that there is now a drop-down menu which allows you to choose how you want to see the stats: all rolled up, search rolled up but content separate, or all separate. Very cool. Search Engine Roundtable has a nice screen shot.

Even more exciting is this upcoming feature, from the blog post:

"Additionally, separate Google and aggregate search partner statistics will soon be available in the Report Center."

Yes! While search partners generally perform well for most advertisers, we've been asking for a while for more transparency into what's working and what's not, so we can improve our campaign ROI. Hats off to Google for once again leading the pack in giving us some of the transparency we crave.

[abbottsys]

Originally Posted by Mel66

.....we've been asking for a while for more transparency into what's working and what's not, so we can improve our campaign ROI. Hats off to Google for once again leading the pack in giving us some of the transparency we crave.

Well said! Let's hope they keep this up with other critical components of their vast ad distribution network. I'd love to see the same transparency for our ads on:

1. iPhone (and other handheld computers)
2. Blogs
3. Parked Domains
4. Error Pages
5. Gmail

In fact, I'd like them to go beyond just reporting the results, I'd like to be able to configure and run separate campaigns for each of these channels (especially #1, the handheld channel).

Still, as you say, a good first step. Thanks Google!

[Mel66]

Now that this data has been available for a few days, I'm really feeling the need to bid separately for Google and search partners. In some cases, performance is very similar; but in others, it's *very* different. Depending on the vertical, Google may perform much better than search partners; or it may perform worse and cost a lot more due to stiff competition. At a minimum, the ability to set separate bids is a necessity; ideally, I'd like to set up separate Google and Search Partner campaigns with different keywords, ad copy, and tactics.

I have a feeling this is coming, but the sooner the better.

What's everyone else think? What are you seeing in your data?

[chris1]

I realized that there was a significant gap in performance (conversion rate) between Google and their network a few years ago and what I did was the following:

1) Duplicate all of my campaings
2) Submit the new campaigns with everything exactly the same except the bids were at 75% of the original (also I added "Network Only" to the name of each new campaign)
3) Opt the original campaings out of the Google search partner network so that they only got traffic from Google
4) Opt the new campaigns into the partner network

This allowed me to run seperate campaigns for Google only traffic and partner only traffic. I found that in about half of my campaigns, it made a significant difference and these campaigns are still split. Doing it this way has been a bit of a pain to manage, but I found that its well worth it in some cases.

[AdWordsRep]

Yesterday, I passed this thread along to the team behind the seperate stats, and have just now quoted you all in this evening's Advertiser Feedback Report. Many thanks for the valued comments - as always.

Does anyone have anything else they'd like to add, whether positive, neutral or negative? It'll be seen by the right folks.

AWR