Google AdWords Change Display URLs to lowercase
27th January 2011
I am not going to rant and rave about why we need competitiveness in a market but how are we able to disagree with changes to a service when there is only one provider.
This week we have seen the display URLs in AdWords change to a all lower-case instead of having the options of CaMalCase. After 2 days it now seems that all of our campaigns are now changed and we are searching back through our histories of ad variations to pull back the best performing ads. Thanks Google for the Heads Up!
Many decisions that Google makes in regards to their AdWords systems I can understand, but this one has really got me confused. Google has said that “by standardizing the look of the URLs on the page, we were able to improve many of our user metrics, including ad click through rates.” We know that optimising the ad not just for CTR but for profit makes our work in testing different variants of Ad Text one of the most important things we can do, and testing the capitalisation of the display URL was part of that.
Looking at some of my best campaigns the ads which converts most are the ones which uses capitalisation Obviously Google have said that they have tested this and it doesn’t matter, completely contradicting the (recently) changed overview of their guide to optimising Ad Text. In that same section they say “It’s difficult to predict what will perform best for you before you actually try it. Test out several versions of ad text to evaluate which one performs the best for your business.” The appropriate phrase is “For Your Business”.
Google are not thinking about “Your Business” when making this changes, but they are thinking about their results page. My theory is that Google is trying to blur the line between the organic search results and the sponsored links. Brilliant for us as our ads get clicked, but even better for them as they receive more money.
Obviously Google are a search engine, that is their primary purpose, but when it comes to Google AdWords, they need to realise that they are an advertising agency and making decisions like this without consulting their users or allowing us to make the decisions will only drive people away. Come on Bing, hurry up and grow faster, I look forward to the day when you are the main source of spend for my Pay Per Click clients.
Common belief sees that the Google AdWords system is changing every 2 weeks with someone sat behind a desk with a big red button when an account passes certain rules, Bam the account is blocked, we are hit with any excuse other than the real reason. Would it not be better to just say we need to find out from our Headquarters? Google does know to solve the solution of customer support and is trying to change its current image but for advertisers, who have hit problems with the AdWords system, find themselves hitting their head against the wall. Again this year will be interesting with the launch of Yahoo and MSN.
Cordialement / Kind regards,
Glen Mortimer
http://www.perferencement.com
http://www.ucquence.com
http://www.efficienttraffic.net
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