There were a few screams when the new interface first popped up, but not to fear! Here is the scoop…

Today here at A L Roberts Digital we got our first look at the new Adwords ALPHA interface design. We admit that there was an initial moment of panic, but we’re happy to report that after spending some time with the new design, we feel that the redesign will actually be a refreshing change for long time account managers, even if those old habits of the original design take some time to relearn.

Interestingly, the new design appeared when opening one of our Australian accounts – so it may be that certain countries are getting the alpha access sooner than others. We haven’t included screenshots of every part of the new account design in the post, but you can find a gallery of screenshots at the bottom of this post.

Here is what we first saw when the new design appeared:

Here is a look at the keywords view, and the new overall look of Adwords:

The design of this page hasn’t changed much, it has just had a visual update. The page design is similar for all other main views like the Campaigns and Ad Groups, and search term report. The tabs we know and love are still here but they look more attractive. Filters, Segments and Columns are now found as buttons instead of drop downs.

The good old chart has also had just a basic refresh, but is larger than before.

The side panel is again similar to the old Adwords version, but now contains different sections for Enabled and Paused campaigns instead of using a drop down menu. Making it easier to see which campaigns you should be focusing on, right now.

The Overview page is very similar to the Home tab of the old Adwords, but with a clearer line graph, plus more attractive charts and visual displays. Opportunities is nothing we haven’t seen before either, but it is now placed more strategically to encourage advertisers to make the most of new possibilities.

The account options and setting can be found under the three dots in the top right corner. However, these still take you back to the view in old Adwords.

A few changes to make note of…

Here are the changes we’ve noticed after spending just a little time in the new interface (we’ll update this article as we discover more). These changes are the ones that have gone beyond the simple “visual refresh”.

1. You can now expand and enlarge graphs

This is a nice feature if you are showcasing to clients, or perhaps using screenshots as part of your reports. The graph can be enlarged with the button in the top right hand corner next to the three dots.

2. Filters, Segments, Columns and Exports are now buttons not drop downs

The good old drop down buttons have been swapped out for these slightly more “funky” looking icons instead. Filters, Segments and Columns respectively. Exports are other options are found under the three dots.

3. It seems as if adding locations by “location groups” and available clickable locations within the map area aren’t available. You can also now see a satellite view!

Although it might just be a restriction of the Alpha version of the interface, the only 2 options available for location targeting seem to be classic search, bulk add and radius targeting. The option to view clickable areas and postcodes is not available, and neither are location groups.

However, we can now see a pretty satellite view of our map! Why wouldn’t you want that?

4. You can only select “Auto” as your bidding strategy… at the moment.

This was probably the most surprising and limiting thing we found in the redesigned interface. The only option for bidding in the Alpha version seems to be “Auto”. There is no way to change this, unless you “Edit in previous Adwords”. We’re not sure if this means any accounts managed in the new alpha interface will switch to auto bidding automatically. We’ve asked Google for some clarification on this.

Here is a screenshot of the Additional Settings

5. The Locations tab has had an attractive rework

Probably the most attractive design rework of any of the views. Instead of a clunky list, we can now see a map view of locations currently being targeted, and also excluded. Again we have a satellite view option as well.

6. The Ad schedule page also looks a lot nicer

Not a big change, but we liked the fact it is a lot clearer than the old version.

6. Change history is a lot more useful than it was before.

You can now see what TYPES of changes have been made more clearly in Change History. This will make it easier to keep track of what has been done, how it has impacted your account and allow you to see that more clearly with the large chart too.

7. You can now resize column sizes on any page view!

We have no screenshot for this one, but you can now also resize your columns in any view! This is a new feature as it allows you to fully customize your view.

Final Thoughts

Although we aren’t jumping over to the new interface just yet, what we’ve seen so far is intuitive, useful and stays in line with the old design enough for changes not to feel too extreme. As with any design rework, the old “muscle memory” developed over years of using the older version will take to time to adapt, however it should definitely be worth the short term discomfort.

If you have any thoughts on the new design, or any other findings we haven’t included please leave a comment below!