Category Archives: DoubleClick Search Blog

News, tips and information about coming changes to DoubleClick Search

DS features in April

In April, we added the following features to DoubleClick Search:

  • Bid strategies that can recommend and optimize mobile bid adjustments
    Bid strategies that target conversions or revenue can now optimize AdWords mobile bid adjustments based on the bid strategy’s goal. If you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can set your bid strategy to recommend mobile bid adjustments. Learn more.

  • Use keyword parameters in ads
    You can customize your Google AdWords and Bing Ads ads by using dynamic text parameters in DoubleClick Search (DS). A customized ad is more likely to appeal to potential customers because it's more relevant to their search queries. Ad parameters also allow updates to ads without having to go through the engine’s validation and approval process. This feature works with both manual campaigns and inventory campaigns. Learn more.

We also made the following feature updates:

  • Bid strategies for PLA campaigns
    To optimize bidding on Product Listing Ads, you can now apply a return-on-investment (ROI) bid strategy to product targets, an ad group with product targets, or an entire campaign. You can even use the same bid strategy to manage bidding for both keywords and product targets and let DS determine the ideal bids for reaching your ROI goals. Learn more.


  • Use formula columns that contain Google Analytics goals in bid strategies
    If you need greater control over how conversions are combined and weighted in your bid strategy, you can create a formula column that defines your own key performance indicators (KPIs), and then add a bid strategy that optimizes to the formula column. Now, formula columns that include data from Google Analytics conversion or revenue columns can be used in a bid strategy.


  • New reporting resource in the DS API
    DS has added a new resource type to its API that contains the list of all columns an advertiser has created, such as Floodlight columns, Google Analytics columns, or formula columns. Once you retrieve the list of columns, you can request reports for the metrics that the columns contain. Learn more about working with saved columns from the DS API.

  • Saved views include segmentation selection
    When you save a report view that is segmented, DS now saves the segmentation selection as well. This only applies to new views that you create going forward. Existing views cannot save the segmentation selection.

  • Fresh, new look
    We’ve added more space and softer colors to make DoubleClick Search easier on the eyes. This is the same look in many of the other Google products you know and love.

We also want to let you know about a change in product functionality:

  • Fewer AdWords search queries available in the search query report
    Google now removes the search query from the referrer on ad clicks that originate from SSL searches on Google.com. Learn more about this change. The search query report in DS won’t be able to display search queries for these clicks. Instead, you’ll see Other queries. Learn more about how encrypted searches affect the DS search query report.

    The AdWords search terms report lets you see search queries that generated ad clicks along with key performance data. And the Search Queries report available in Google Webmaster Tools provides aggregate information about the top 2000 queries, each day, that generated organic clicks.

Posted by the DoubleClick Search team

The Search Agency saves times and discovers insights at scale with executive reporting from DoubleClick Search

The search marketing landscape can change quickly and marketers need tools that can adapt just as fast - to understand immediate opportunities, and react if necessary. Late last year, we announced executive reporting from DoubleClick Search to give marketers the ability to see their campaign performance quickly, across their entire business or in any specific view. Today, we’d like to highlight how a top digital agency has found success with our tools to increase efficiency and get a better handle on their business.



With hundreds of clients around the globe, The Search Agency’s leaders were finding it increasingly hard to keep an eye on the health of their business. Keen to quickly understand the performance while eliminating time-consuming monthly and quarterly reporting tasks, they adopted executive reporting from DoubleClick Search to help oversee company’s interests.

The team needed a way to get the big picture—fast. They also had to have details such as monthly and quarterly reports of all the agency’s business, aggregated for industries or individual clients, with in-depth costs by month, quarter or device.

“That kind of detail is essential for day-to-day work, but also for quick KPIs,” says Wiratunga. “If I’m walking into a board room with my department leads about a certain client or if I get called into a meeting with 15 minutes to prep, I need a way to see—on the fly—exactly what’s happening with an account and all of its issues.” 

After implementing executive reporting, Wiratunga was able to save multiple hours each month and quarter by eliminating repetitive reporting tasks for his team, and focusing them instead on more strategic work. He was also able to prepare for client escalations on short notice as needed. To get the full scoop on The Search Agency’s success, read the full customer story here.

A new look and feel across DoubleClick Digital Marketing

Over the past several years, we’ve been working on a gradual redesign of many Google products like Search, Maps, Gmail, and AdWords -- with the goal of offering a simple, streamlined user experience that helps you get tasks done quickly and efficiently.

Today, we’re rolling out this new look and feel across all our DoubleClick products -- another example of how we’re continuing to unify our solutions across the platform. With this update, you’ll find that all products part of DoubleClick Digital Marketing now offer more screen real estate to our tools and reports, to help you focus on your tasks at hand. This means that you’ll experience the same, easy workflows across our products -- whether you’re managing search, display, rich media, and beyond. Note that this change only affects the style of the page, and does not change any functionality of our products today.


We hope that the new design will help you better navigate through your account and focus more on your data so you continue to succeed with our tools. To stay up-to-date on new DoubleClick developments, follow us on our Google+ page.

DS features in March


In March, we added the following feature to DoubleClick Search (DS):

  • Support for the new AdWords “Search Network with Display Select” campaigns
    AdWords has launched a new campaign type, “Search Network with Display Select”, which is helping advertisers     gain up to 15% more customers than search campaigns alone. Any new campaigns that you create in DS will automatically be “Search Network with Display Select” campaigns. DS will continue to support legacy “Search & Display Networks” campaigns for a few months. Learn more.

We also made the following feature updates:

  • Include impression share in executive reports
    You can now     add a chart to an executive report that displays the impression share metric for your Google AdWords keywords. With impression share metrics, you can easily report how many of the overall potential impressions you’re capturing.

  • Improved targeting settings for Bing Ads ad groups
    We made some improvements to clarify that a Bing Ads ad group can override the campaign’s location and device settings     independently. In other words, you can override one or both of these settings when you create or edit a Bing Ads ad group.

  • Segment Google Analytics goals by device
    When a reporting table includes columns for Google Analytics goals, you can now     segment the table by device as well as by ads.

  • Bid strategies for PLA campaigns
    To optimize bidding on Product Listing Ads, you can now apply an ROI bid strategy to product targets, an ad group with product targets, or an entire campaign. You can even use the same bid strategy to let DS optimize your bids across both product targets and keywords to reach your ROI goals.     Learn more.

  • Formula columns: new functions, new columns, and new aggregation options
    • New functions
      We have added 18 functions that you can use in formula columns: 14 for manipulating strings, 2 for specifying relative dates, and 2 for error handling. In addition,       to_number(), to_percent(), and to_money() can now convert localized strings into numbers. See a list of all functions in the new function list for DS formula columns.
    • New columns You can now use the Status and Keyword_match_type columns in a formula column. These columns are considered to be enumerated columns because they always contain one of a few values pre-defined by DS. Make sure that any functions you create refer to one of the pre-defined values that the column can contain.
      Here’s an example function that outputs "Brand-Broad" for keywords that are labeled with the “Brand” label and have been defined with a broad match type:       If(and(Has_label("Brand"),keyword_match_type="Broad"),
      "Brand-Broad","Brand")
    • New aggregation options When you create a formula column, you can specify how the summary row in a reporting table aggregates data from a formula column. Previously, a summary row always summed the raw data in the individual rows and then applied the formula to the sum. Now you can specify that a summary row applies the formula to each row and then sums the formula results.

Posted by the DoubleClick Search team

Sign up for Shopping campaigns best practices webinar

Since announcing support for Shopping campaigns last month, our customers have been taking advantage of this streamlined, powerful feature to drive retail results.

To help you make use of new opportunities, we’ll be hosting a webinar next Wednesday, 4/9, around best practices for Shopping campaigns. Join us as we review the following:  

  • Best practices for migrating PLA campaigns to Shopping campaigns
  • Tips for structuring your Shopping campaigns for efficient bid strategies
  • Upcoming changes for managing and optimizing your Shopping campaigns in DS

Our team is ready to guide you through the migration well in advance of busy holiday season. Sign up here for our webinar next week. If you have more questions, or haven’t yet started with Shopping campaigns, reach out to your DoubleClick Search account manager today.

Guided help now available in executive reporting

On top of running your promotional campaigns, keeping an eye on bids, and leading client meetings, staying up-to-date with new DoubleClick Search features can be a challenge. We want to make sure you have the opportunity to discover and take advantage of the features that can make a difference to your business.


Today, we’re excited to announce guided help in executive reporting. Guided help walks you through specific UI workflows, step-by-step, to help you become a master of the feature. Today, we’re launching two useful tours:


  • Change the order of metrics and charts: learn how to further customize individual charts and pages.
  • Report downloads: see how you can download your reporting data for offline analysis.


We encourage you to explore Guided Help in the DoubleClick Search UI. Within the Executive Reports tab, navigate to the Help tab in the right-hand corner. Under the Take a Tour header, you can select one of the two tours available. We’re also considering adding Guided Help workflows to other DoubleClick Search features in the future.

GH-blog-select-flow-edited.png


If you have questions, feedback, or workflow ideas about Guided Help, please chat with your DoubleClick Search Account team.

Keeping up with retail: Tips and best practices from Channel Intelligence and DoubleClick Search

To follow up on our Channel Intelligence and DoubleClick Search announcement in February, we held a Google Hangout earlier this week, where our Product Managers discussed the power of data to build great text ad and Product Listing Ad campaigns -- and how retailers can do it even better through an integrated solution.

If you missed the hangout, not to worry -- you can watch the full recording below to learn about how our teams work together to deliver a better e-commerce experience for retailers. 




Stay tuned to the DoubleClick Search blog and DoubleClick Google+ page for more developments around our Channel Intelligence and DoubleClick Search integration. 

DS features in February

In February, we added the following features to DoubleClick Search (DS):

  • Report on impression share You can now report on impression share for keywords in your AdWords engine accounts in DS. Impression share is the number of impressions you’ve received divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive. With impression share metrics, you can easily track how many of the overall potential impressions you’re capturing. Learn more.

  • Easy access to agency and advertiser data, and faster account navigation We’ve completed the rollout of two DS UI changes that are designed to enhance usability and workflow efficiency.

    • The new agency view: Enables viewing and reporting across multiple advertisers. This view shows key data from multiple advertisers in one integrated, consistent view to help advertisers more easily act on big opportunities.

    • The new navigation bar: Provides a more usable way to quickly find and access information across your advertisers. It includes a new horizontal layout, a search-as-you-type function, favorites labels, and keyboard shortcuts.

To learn more, read this blog post and this Help Center section.

We also made the following feature updates:

  • Improvements to automated rules and bulk edits We made the following improvements to automated rules and bulk edits (including scheduled edits) in DoubleClick Search:

    • Bulk edits and automated rules at the advertiser level
      When you navigate to an advertiser with all engine accounts, or navigate to an advertiser with an engine type (e.g.,       All AdWords accounts), you’ll now see the Edit and Rules buttons above the table.

    • Bulk edits and automated rules for objects within labels
      When you click       Labels in the left nav and then click a specific label, you’ll now be able to apply bulk edits and automated rules after navigating to the campaigns, ad groups, keywords, or ads in the label.

    • Change min/max bid in bulk for keywords
      Change min/max bid for bid strategies is a new option when setting up a bulk edit or automated rule for keywords.

    • Change budgets across engine accounts
      For rules and bulk edits on Bing Ads campaigns, we combined the       Change daily budget and Change monthly budget options into one Change budget option. This allows you to change budgets in bulk across Google AdWords and Bing Ads engine accounts.

    • Change labels in bulk for ads
      Change label is a new option when setting up a bulk edit or automated rule for ads.

    • See the source of your bulk edit or automated rule
      When you click       Bulk operations in the left nav, the new Changed by column on the Bulk operations page shows the source of the edit or rule.
      • For one-time bulk edits, the column displays the user’s email address.
      • For scheduled edits, the column displays Scheduled edit: {scheduled edit name}.
      • For automated rules, the column displays Rule: {rule name} with a link to the Rule details page.

  • Sitelink descriptions in DS DS now supports syncing and managing multi-line descriptive text for AdWords sitelinks.

  • New LENGTH() function for inventory templates Inventory templates for ads and keywords now support the LENGTH() function, which returns the length of a string or other value. With this function, you can create templates that respond to the length of a field, as in the following example that outputs “generic” if the BRAND field is blank: [IF(LENGTH(BRAND) > 0, BRAND, "generic")]. Learn more.

Watch the recorded webinar for February features to see these updates in action.

Posted by the DoubleClick Search team

Learn DoubleClick Search fundamentals: join an upcoming webinar

If you're interested in developing your DoubleClick Search expertise, try our online eLearning and certification, then join our upcoming webinars to learn more. Register through the Training page in the DoubleClick Search Help Center (sign-in required). While you’re there, you can also learn more about our latest product releases.

DoubleClick Search Fundamentals eLearning and Certification 
Get an overview of how to manage large search campaigns in DoubleClick Search. This online, self-paced training course is designed for new and current DoubleClick Search users who want to understand the basics of campaign management, reporting and bid optimization.




Review the material, test your knowledge, and print out your certification when you pass. The course and exam are now available in select languages, including Spanish, Japanese, German, and Portuguese-Brazilian – try it today. Register



Upcoming webinar: Using Analytics Data Successfully in DoubleClick Search – 3/11 
Join this webinar to learn more about Analytics best practices, analyzing Analytics data in DoubleClick Search and how Analytics integrates with specific features, such as formula columns, bid strategies and rules. Co-led with our Analytics trainer. Register

Pre-recorded webinars available 
In case you missed a previous webinar, check out the recorded webinars page in our Help Center – you might be able to find a pre-recorded session ready to watch. We offer numerous videos, including previous New Feature Trainings, as well as videos on the Performance Bidding Suite, Reporting, Campaign Management, and more.

For more DoubleClick Search training updates, stay tuned on the DoubleClick Search blog, or follow us on Google+.

Posted by the DoubleClick Search Team

Shopping campaigns beta in DoubleClick Search: a better solution for product-centric marketing

The AdWords team recently announced availability of the AdWords API for Shopping campaigns, letting search management platforms support this new way of managing, bidding, and reporting on Product Listing Ads. As an extension of the DoubleClick Search Commerce Suite, today we’re excited to announce that DoubleClick Search is offering beta support for Shopping campaigns. Clients should reach out to their Account Managers for access to these capabilities.

With this release, we’ve integrated AdWords’ streamlined, flexible workflows and powerful reporting tools for Shopping campaigns seamlessly with the DoubleClick Search platform. This will let advertisers:

  1. Efficiently create and manage Shopping campaigns with faster workflow and automation tools. DoubleClick Search features the same intuitive interface for managing product groups as found in AdWords. Additionally, you can use existing DoubleClick Search tools like bulk edits to make large-scale changes to your Shopping campaigns, or schedule edits to automate changes to product groups, based on criteria that you determine.
  2. Surface insights quickly with real-time, product-centric reporting. With DoubleClick Floodlight tags, you can track real-time conversions back to the individual product and product group. Formula columns let you create custom columns for products and product groups to track the metrics most valuable to you. You can dynamically roll up the product-level data along your most relevant product attributes, like categories or brands. You can also use cross-campaign reports for insights across your campaigns and ad groups. 

To see how to set up, manage, and report on Shopping campaigns in DoubleClick Search, check out a preview video here.

With this first wave of Shopping campaigns support, we look forward to further helping marketers run effective search campaigns in powerful new ways. Over the next few months, we’ll continue to roll out support for additional features, including algorithmic bid optimization for Shopping campaigns.

For more information, reach out to your DoubleClick Search account manager to see how you can get started with Shopping campaigns today.