Ads Added By AdWords Program - What You Need To Know

Google has announced a new pilot program titled "Ads Added By Adwords" which gives them the power to create new ads and automatically have them begin running in your account. This pilot program only applies to a segment of advertisers who were picked by Google. If you are a part of this program you or one of your colleagues would have received an email from Google alerting you of the update. Beware, if you are one of the chosen accounts and you do not opt out you will begin seeing new ads in your account beginning February 9th 2018.

The ads added by AdWords will be created using a variety of different information including your current ad copy, your landing pages, your keywords and more. Google has stated that they estimate these ads will show a 5% - 15% increase in performance.

Immediately after this announcement there was outrage on all social media channels. For many advertisers and PPC agencies this is a major concern because they feel it causes a loss of control in their accounts. There are many moving parts in every AdWords campaign and business alike that Google does not know about. Adding new ads without review or approval from the account manager poses multiple risks. Below we outline some of the major concerns that the PPC community expressed over the new 'Ads Added By AdWords' Program:

• Loss Of Control
• Irrelevant Ad Copy / Brand Image
• Interruption Of Current A / B testing (Ad Copy, Landing Page, etc.)
  
• Incorrect Optimization (How Will Google Measures Success? Click Through Rate vs. Conversion Rate?)

Your first step is to double check if you have received an email from Google notifying you of the program. If you find that email and would like to opt out, respond in writing that you would like to be removed from the program immediately. This way you can be sure not to have Google automatically create ads in your account.

To double check if you are in the program, open your AdWords account and navigate to your Ads tab. Be sure you toggle the 'Labels' column on and check to see if there are any ads labeled "Added by AdWords". If there are, you can either pause or delete them. Unfortunately, AdWords is preventing you from modifying these ads, most likely so it doesn't interfere with their testing.

For PPC agencies or accounts with hundreds of ads, former Google employee Frederik Vaerye has writted a script which will identify any automtically added ads. You can access that by script by clicking here.

Your other option is to let the program run and see what Google comes up with. If you decide to go this route we strongly suggest keeping a close eye on all new ads and their future performance. Make sure that all ad copy is relevant to your business and promoting the correct products and services you offer to avoid any wasted spend.

These types of updates from Google AdWords force us to view the landscape of the PPC industry from a macro view and look towards where the future is taking us. There is no doubt that machine learning and automation will play a larger role in all parts of our lives including PPC, however it is our job to make sure we still maintain our power of control as advertisers.