Update: Separate stats for Search Partners vs Google Search

I didn't see this already covered so thought I'd post.

A very useful addition by Google I think.

You can now view Google Search / Search Partners seperately in each ad group or campaign at a glance.

Very handy me thinks.

Now all they need to do is to enable campaigns to have search partners only, without needing to list on Google.

 

I see there's a new option on the Adwords interface, allowing you to split the performance of Google from the other Search Engines.

Very interesting (particularly since Google use the Google results, not their partners to calculate QS), though if you find Google performs worse, there's little you can do about it.

Of course, if the Search Network performs worse, you can either can it, or create a second campaign with lower bids to target it (or to be precise, both of them, but Google should be triggered by the other campaign, with the higher bids).

It's worth mentioning in passing that one of my keywords with a 7% CTR was hit with a poor Quality Score, as it was getting 1% on Google, and 14% on the Network - I believe this was because it was positioned to the right on Google, and above the natural results on Ask etc.

 

Side note - you see this?
http://www.bgtheory.com/blog/slight...ner-search-sites-matter-in-certain-instances/

FYI - here's the Google post announcing the change:
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/10/separate-metrics-for-google-and-search.html

I may actually enable the search network now on new campaigns now that I can see what's what.

Good change, now as Muchacho said we just need to be able to target the search network independent of Google.com.

 

Yep, looks good but it is likely to "put the cat amongst the pigeons" trying to figure it all out - there does not seem to be much correlation between performance on Google and the search partners. What does surprise me is the huge difference in impressions, 9 to 1 in favour of the partners but CTR less than a quarter what it is on Google. That still gives me more clicks from the partners but leaves me wondering who they are? Nothing in my visitor logs suggests I am getting that much paid traffic from elsewhere than Google's own sites.

But, those are just the bare campaign figures, look at the adgroups and everything goes haywire - really hard to see a pattern! The only really consistent number is the CTR being much lower on the partner sites.

 

It is a neat addition, but pretty much useless.

 

Why would you say that? I've always found being able to view data on a more granular level, especially when you can act on that data, to be of value.

 

I agree, it's useless

 

??? I'm with Guy on this; if you think knowing that ads on Google itself have a lower CPC, a higher CTR, or convert better at half the cost is useless information one has to question what basis you are costing your campaigns on; presumably, budget and ROI are of no consequence to you? Well, I'm glad I am not employing you.

Personally, I think there is some valuable information in there. It may take a while to analyze but I already foresee making some major changes, e.g. switching off search network on existing campaigns and moving certain keywords and ads into a new campaign tailored better for it.

 

It depends on what results you see, I think.

If Google is cheaper that the partners, then you can set up two campaigns, one on Google, one on both (since you can't target just the partners) and bid lower on the partners.

If the partners are cheaper, I'm not sure how you can use the information.

Certainly, it'll tell you whether the partners are worth continuing with.

And as I've already said, it can give you more insight into your Quality Score - I've got campaigns where the clickthrough rate on Google is hugely different to the partners (because of the advert being placed above/to the side, I think). Since Google is used to calculate Quality Scores, it can explain some (otherwise) puzzling quality scores...