DS3: Announcing Several Upload Improvements

(cross posted from the DoubleClick Search blog. To learn more about DoubleClick Search, contact your Account Manager or request a call from a DoubleClick Search specialist.)

We heard from several of you about the importance of improving the process of downloading reports and uploading files in DoubleClick Search V3 (DS3). You offered comments and suggestions for making the functionality better. As a result, the DoubleClick Search team spent the past few weeks prioritizing and focusing on the changes that would provide the biggest impact. We hope that the improvements described below will make a major difference in your use of DS3.

Faster upload processing of large accounts

Our Engineering team made several changes behind the scenes to improve the upload processing times of large engine accounts (engine accounts with over 100,000 keywords). In the past, uploads of large accounts took a much longer time to process. Now, these previously delayed uploads will process at least 20 times faster per row.

Uploaded keywords now include dashes (-) and periods (.)

Before this release, DS3 would remove all dashes (-) and periods (.) from uploaded keywords. You can now upload keywords with the confidence that they will remain intact.

Downloaded reports now include AdWords broad match modifier (+)

Before this release, DS3 would remove the Google AdWords broad match modifier (+) from downloaded reports. The downloads now include the modifier, and it will also remain if you need to make changes to the report and upload it back into DS3.

We’ll continue to look for new ways to make the download and upload processes better in the future. Please contact your Technical Account Manager or email ds-support@google.com with any suggestions.

For more information about other new features in this DS3 release, including new bid strategy reporting columns, check out the release notes. And keep an eye on the blog for more exciting features in upcoming releases.

Posted by the DoubleClick Search team

New features in DS3: Inferred match type, upload email confirmations, and report names

(cross posted from the DoubleClick Search blog. To learn more about DoubleClick Search, contact your Account Manager or request a call from a DoubleClick Search specialist.)

We recently described some new DoubleClick Search V3 (DS3) features designed to improve your workflow and productivity. Now, we have even more improvements to enhance your reporting and upload capabilities.

Inferred match type

When we launched DS3, we provided the ability to set a bid for each match type on a Microsoft adCenter keyword. As each keyword could correspond to three match types and we couldn’t determine with certainty which match type caused the conversion, we were unable to populate the Match type column in reporting. However, many of you duplicated keywords to have a 1-to-1 match type relationship and asked us to display match type. As a result, the new Inferred match type column allows you to see a match type attributed to your adCenter keywords and makes it easier to compare keywords across engines.

DS3 infers the match type from the bids you have set for adCenter keywords:

• - If a broad match bid is set (in other words, greater than 0), DS3 assumes it’s a broad match keyword.
• - If a phrase match bid is set but not broad, DS3 assumes it's a phrase match keyword.
• - If an exact match bid is set but not phrase or broad, DS3 assumes it's an exact match keyword.
• - If a content match bid is the only bid set, DS3 will leave the Inferred match typecolumn blank.

After you select the Inferred match type column, you'll be able to see it in DS3 reporting on the UI and on downloaded reports. A few other things to keep in mind:

• - To make it easier to compare keywords across engines, DS3 will copy the Match type column value into the Inferred match type column for Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing keywords.
• - This is a read-only column: You won’t be able to update match type by changing the value in the Inferred match type column and uploading.
• - This column does not appear in DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA) reporting. You won’t be able to see a match type for adCenter keywords in DFA.

Upload email confirmations

Tired of constantly checking the Uploads list to see if the spinny has stopped and your important upload processed? You can now opt to receive emails when an upload is complete. The email will contain a link to the upload page; if there are errors, you can download the error sheet from the uploads list, make corrections, and attempt the upload again.

Names for emailed reports

When you set up a report to be emailed from DS3, you can now customize the name that will appear in the email subject line. This is useful if the default name isn’t descriptive enough to differentiate between reports. For example, you could email two reports for the same campaign, but set up different date ranges, and include the date ranges in the report names.

To make sure you learn about new DS3 features as they’re released, enter your email address in the Follow by Email field in the upper righthand corner of the blog and click Submit. You’ll receive an email every time we add a post to the blog.

Posted by the DoubleClick Search Team

Improved workflow and productivity in DS

(cross posted from the DoubleClick Search blog. To learn more about DoubleClick Search, contact your Account Manager or request a call from a DoubleClick Search specialist.)

In addition to Floodlight segmentation, we’ve made some exciting enhancements to the DS3 UI over the past few weeks, including new filter options, keyword defaults, and a settings bar for campaigns and ad groups. Read on to learn how these new features can help you work faster and better in DS3.

New filter options: ‘Does not contain’ and ‘Starts with’

When you set up a filter that has the options Contains, Equals, and Does not equal, there are now two additional options: Does not contain and Starts with. When combined with the recently released ability to filter by multiple terms, you have an even more powerful set of filtering options.

Apply default settings to keywords

When creating keywords in the DS3 UI, you can now apply default values to keywords as you enter them in the text box. This makes it easy to apply the same values to several keywords, while also customizing the settings for some keywords when needed.

For example, if one keyword in an ad group is performing well, you can set a specific max CPC bid of $10, while keeping all other keywords at the default bid of $5. To apply a default, exclude the field from the row in the text box. Learn more about the proper formatting of default keyword settings in the Help Center.

New settings bar for campaigns and ad groups

When you select a campaign or ad group in DS3, you’ll now see a settings bar near the top of the page. This bar gives you a quick overview of campaign/ad group settings. If you need to make a change, you can simply click the Campaign settings or Ad group settings button and edit the settings in the inline panel that appears. Look for even more useful information in this bar in the future.

For more information about the latest DS3 release, including fixes to known issues, check out the release notes. And keep an eye on the blog for information about improvements to uploads, downloads, and reporting!

Posted by the DoubleClick Search Team

DoubleClick Search V3: More Features to Whet Your Appetite

(Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Search blog)

The DoubleClick Search team has been hard at work to bring you a slew of great new features you’ve been asking for. A month ago we released the new agency and advertiser home pages. Two weeks ago we unveiled the DS3 preview. Today we continue the momentum with the launch of three new features in DS3. All of these are live and available to use starting today.

Find What’s Most Important With Filters
With filters you can sift your data down to just the campaigns, ad groups, ads or keywords that you care about. Filtering can be done on statistics such as clicks, impressions, or transactions as well as attributes like campaign budget, or keyword name. Filters are also saved as part of the report view. Once you’ve saved a report view it’s as easy as two clicks to review your best performing keywords, find ad groups with unusually high cost per clicks or pretty much any way you’d like to slice and dice your search advertising campaigns.

Really large bulksheets can take a long time to upload, and previously it was difficult to tell just how far along it was. But there’s one thing worse than not knowing when the upload will complete. It’s realizing you mistakenly clicked on the wrong file and watching helplessly in horror as it gets uploaded and processed.

Starting today, users of DS3 no longer have to worry - bulksheet uploads now include a progress bar, as well as the ability to cancel any upload in flight. We can’t help you pick the right file the first time, but now you can easily correct an errant click.

Drag and Drop Customized Columns
DS3 already includes powerful column customization that lets you customize and save report views. Today we’ve made column choosing even easier by adding the ability to drag and drop columns to change the order they show for reports.

This is just the beginning - we’ve got a ton of new features in store for you over the coming weeks and months.

If you like what you see already and are interested in upgrading to DoubleClick Search V3, contact your TAM for more information.

Stay tuned to the DoubleClick Search blog for the latest!

Posted by Vanessa Howell, Product Manager

Your life as a search professional is about to get much easier

(Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Search blog)

DoubleClick Search began in 2006, a tool for larger agencies and advertisers running large-scale online advertising campaigns across multiple platforms. It’s designed to manage the execution of paid search campaigns and centralize the measurement of performance across search and display advertising.

Think of search campaign management like an air traffic control system: directing one airplane to take off from a given airport at the right time is relatively simple. Coordinating thousands of airplanes, across many airports is more complex. The same is true of search campaigns: managing a search campaign is easy, but managing multiple campaigns and search engines, and comparing performance of search and display strategies, can be more difficult.

Today at SES New York, we’re giving the first glimpse of the latest version of DoubleClick Search (version 3), designed to make these tasks simpler.

We’ve spent the last 9 months talking to our customers and agency partners about what you want from a search campaign management tool, and we’ve heard you loud and clear: you want a powerful solution that lets you manage millions of keywords, across the leading search engines, from a fast, easy-to-use platform. So we took a look at our existing DoubleClick Search product and decided to rebuild it from scratch, designing it to take the activities you do on a daily basis and make them simpler, faster and more effective.

We are currently beta testing DoubleClick Search v3 with select partners and will be rolling it out to all partners later this year. Here are a few ways we’ve made our DoubleClick Search product better:

Workflow: We’ve simplified navigation with an easy-to-use, AdWords-like interface and enabled you make changes to your campaign directly from DoubleClick Search or directly in the search engines. We’ve also added the ability to upload campaigns in spreadsheets with up to 1 million rows, and manage campaigns globally with many language and currency options.

Reporting: DoubleClick Search now includes powerful filters and labels that allow you to highlight important keywords. Our revamped reporting features also allow you to manage where your ads appear with precise position controls, design your bidding strategy to meet specific ROI goals, and compare how your campaigns are performing across search and display, thanks to seamless integration with DoubleClick’s display platform, DoubleClick for Advertisers.

Optimization: We’ve given you new tools to enhance optimization, including the ability to view performance data across all the major search engines and a customizable reporting view so you can focus on what matters most to your business.

Here is a sneak peek at what the new DoubleClick Search will look like:

(Mock screenshot)

There will be more news in the weeks and months ahead, so please be sure to check back at our DoubleClick Search blog.

Posted by: Ariel Bardin, Director of Product Management

Preview DoubleClick Search V3 on March 22 at SES in NYC

(Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Search blog)

Over the past few months, we've been hard at work on a brand new version of DoubleClick Search. With significant improvements in workflow, optimization, and reporting, DoubleClick Search V3 was built to make your life as a search professional much easier.



Please come see DoubleClick Search V3 and meet the AdWords and DoubleClick Search executive team. The session will take place on March 22 from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM at SES New York. 



Also, visit our booth in the Expo Hall (#1001) for a personal meeting with the AdWords and DoubleClick Search team. 
We're looking forward seeing you at SES in NYC.

Posted by Fredrik Keerberg, Product Marketing Manager

Coming Soon: New Agency and Advertiser Pages in DoubleClick Search

(originally posted on the DoubleClick Search Blog)

In the blog post from January 18, we mentioned that we’ve been working on an updated version of DoubleClick Search, called V3. We’ll soon be introducing some of the features from V3 to the current version of DoubleClick Search: the new Agency Home and Advertiser Home pages. In addition, we'll be adding a unified DoubleClick Search sign-in page on the Google domain. Benefits include:

• Performance: This move to the Google infrastructure will provide a faster and more stable environment for DoubleClick Search with the Agency/Advertiser release, and allow us to make product changes more quickly in future releases.
• Instance consolidation: You'll be able to access agencies and advertisers from all instances at one sign-in page.

• Workflow: It will be easier and faster to select agencies and advertisers, to display only the advertisers that matter to you, and to access the Reporting Center.

• Preparation for V3: These changes will help to pave the way for even bigger changes in the coming months: the full release of the updated DoubleClick Search V3! Come see us at SES in NYC on March 22 for the premiere of DoubleClick Search V3.

To see a preview of the DoubleClick Search Home release, sign up for the webinar on February 24.

Posted by the DoubleClick Search team

DoubleClick Search 2010 Recap

DoubleClick Search has had an exciting 2010, with several new features designed to improve your DoubleClick Search experience:

• Added support for several Microsoft adCenter features in preparation for the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, including Geographic Targeting, Content Targeting, and Dynamic Ad Text.
• Added support for several Google AdWords features, including Bidding Options, Delivery Method, Ad Rotation, Device Platform Targeting, and Campaign-level Negatives.
• Greatly enhanced the support for AdWords Placement Targeting and Image Ads, moving these features out of beta to full production.
• Launched an all-new Bid Strategies page, with several ways to customize the reporting data to suit your needs. Also, the new Bid Strategy Keyword History page shows detailed history of bid strategy changes for each keyword.
• Added new features to the DoubleCilck Search Reporting Center, including the ability to report on Spotlight tags, and export directly from DoubleClick Search instead of having to queue up a request and then wait for an email.
• Provided users with the ability to resubmit their own search engine tasks in DoubleClick Search.

These features are only the beginning; stay tuned for even bigger changes in 2011. To follow just DoubleClick Search news on this blog, filter your view here.

Posted by Ariel Bardin, Product Management Director