If you have been using Google AdWords to promote your products or services online, the tech giant has launched a new update that will give you more options and help you save time. Just recently, Google introduced the new AdWords Upgraded URLs format that will reportedly help you reduce time spent on managing URL tracking updates. The upgraded URLs will also provide advertisers with reduced crawl and load times, new tracking parameters, and an end to the sending back of ads for editorial review.
Wordstream founder Larry Kim explained that up until the update, AdWords ad and keyword tracking relied on destination URLs, or the webpage that you want your people to reach when they click one of your ads. If you wanted to adjust your tracking, you had to update the destination URL. This would send your ads back to editorial review and during this process, your ads would stop running and whatever information tied to the old destination URL would be lost.
With the update, you can now enter the landing page portion of the URL and the tracking information separately. This basically means that your ads will continue to run even if you change their tracking perimeters. You won’t also lose any information associated with them.
Google’s latest update also saw the “retirement” of the Destination URL field. When you set up a new AdWords ad, Final URL will be the only landing page option you’ll see, according to Larry. Take note, however, that your final URLs will need to match the domain of your display URL. Otherwise, your ad may not be approved.
Another thing you might notice with the new upgrade is that you can no longer use the {copy} ValueTrack parameter. Larry said the Upgraded URLs no longer supports this parameter. If you were using it before, you can just create a new tracking template and custom parameter instead.
Meanwhile, Google said it is changing the URL format to “provide an easier and faster way to manage and track important information about each click on your AdWords ads.” The new AdWords URL format is currently in effect so you’ll be able to try it out soon if you haven’t done it already. This basically means that you can start manually migrating your Destination URLs now.
If you’re having problems, you can refer to a URL upgrade guide that Google has released along with the upgrade. According to Larry, the guide will help you identify the type of advertiser you are and which upgrade method is best suited for you.
