For some, the news that AdWords is getting a redesign might not come as a surprise. Several accounts have been switched over to the new design for weeks or even months. For others, whose accounts have not yet made the switch, you’re now in on the secret: Google has officially announced that their gradual redesign is finally going to reach all of Google AdWords.
Though the makeover doesn’t truly affect your account in the sense that paid search best practices will be the same as usual, the aesthetic differences may take getting used to for some. For most of us, it is just going to change what we spend a good part of our day staring at.
Color scheme and design play an important part in the new AdWords. Though there were a few changes in organization and space that were clearly made to help save time, the majority of the makeover reflects a fairly straightforward objective: Simplification.
The Changes
The majority of the redesign has to do with color scheme and screen space. It continues Google’s quest to create a consistent look across their wide array of product offerings. A few tools and tabs have been rearranged or moved, but all the capabilities of AdWords will remain the same.
Billing, Account Settings and Help (oh my!) have been moved. Originally, you could have found them at the top of the screen under their individual tabs. You will now find each of them tucked away behind the gear on the homepage. Gmail users will recognize this as the same gear menu that they see in their email and calendar. By hiding these behind a gear menu, Google leaves extra screen space that should allow for better efficiency and navigation around AdWords.
This change will give our charts, tables and tools more real estate. It allows for minimal scrolling, and all the important information for campaign management is going to be above the fold of the page. It no longer will be necessary to scroll to see the statistics that we need.
Google wants their overall redesign to allow for a more “beautiful user experience.” Not coincidentally, it is also trying to make life easier by making everything simpler. Google believes that their makeover will help make AdWords tasks quicker and more efficient.
The change does give tools more space, and whether this affects your daily PPC tasks or not in terms of efficiency and speed, there’s no turning back: The new layout will make its way across all accounts over the next few weeks. If you haven’t experienced or at least seen the Google AdWords redesign already, be prepared, because it’s coming whether you like it or not!
