If you aren’t already using scripts in your AdWords account, you’re missing out. The possibilities of what you can do with them are only limited by your creativity (and coding skills, obviously). Even for JavaScript rookies like myself, there are still easy scripts that can make your life easier.
What is an AdWords script?
AdWords scripts allow a user to programmatically access their AdWords account using JavaScript. Like I said above, what you can do with this is only limited by your creativity.
For example, let’s say you own a sports apparel store that specializes in NBA swag and you’re advertising jerseys using AdWords. During the NBA season, there are multiple games every day. Using JavaScript, you could write code that dynamically adjust bids higher for the teams that won. Brilliant, right?
Inputting the scripts
This is where we’ll start. You’ll find the “Create and Manage Scripts” menu option concealed under “Automate” on the campaigns tab.
After navigating here, you’ll end up on a page where you can create, schedule, and manage all of your scripts. From here, select the “+ Script” button shown below.
Now you’ll be shown the box where you can easily copy and paste any AdWords scripts you have. Remember to delete what shows up in the box by default when pasting a script.
And finally, when you’re done adding your script and making the necessary changes, go ahead and save it. After you save, you can navigate back to the scripts menu and schedule your script.
Four easy-to-use AdWords scripts
My NBA example is complicated; the simpler scripts below are just four of my favorites that I use regularly. All of them require little programming knowledge and are essentially “plug and play.” If you’re hungry for more, my favorite AdWords scripts blog has a plethora of them to choose from. The source code for each script is found underneath setup instructions.
Daily account summary report
The origins of this script can be found directly from Google. This one is my favorite because I can check it every morning, wherever I am. Since it updates to a Google Spreadsheet, even checking it on your smartphone is nice. It gives a nice snapshot of performance from an account level.
Setup
This one does involve some initial setup. But getting it going is simple.
First, make a copy of this spreadsheet in your Drive account. (File > Make a copy…)
Following the instructions above, create a new script then copy and paste the source code below.
Be sure to update “SPREADSHEET_URL” with the URL of your new template.
Lastly, to be sure you have it updating every morning, it has to be scheduled to run every day at a set time. Google recommends scheduling it at 5:00am, because there sometimes can be a delay in the statistics.
Search query performance report
Looking at your search queries at least once a week is something that you should be doing to look for more potential negative and positive keywords. This script pulls search query performance over the last seven days, outputs it in a Google Doc, and emails a user-defined list of email addresses when it’s finished. The author of this script is Russ Savage and you can find all of his awesome scripts on his site.
Setup
The setup here is fairly straightforward. Create a new Google Doc, input your Google Doc URL and email(s), then you’re good to go.
Track account, campaign, and ad group level Quality Scores
If you’re unsure about what exactly Quality Score is, I would recommend reading about how Quality Score is calculated and everything that goes into Quality Score. This script is also from Russ Savage, and it does something that Google doesn’t allow you to do: view Quality Scores over time.
It’s arguable whether there’s actionable insight available in doing this, but it’s always nice to have the data available. This script looks at the top 50,000 keywords in your account. (As a sidenote, re-running the script does not overwrite the previous entries.)
Setup
Create a new Google Spreadsheet and copy the URL in the script. Once you’ve done that, copy the script into AdWords and schedule it to run every 30 days.
Ad, ad group, keyword, or campaign creation date
Yet another script from the Russ Savage gold mine. Because Google doesn’t actually store when these entities were created, the script uses the day it first started receiving impressions, which generally is the day it was created.
This is most useful for A/B testing and seeing how long specific ads have been running. When A/B testing, it’s always important to leave enough time to collect data that can become actionable insight. Having a label showing the date created helps to make sure you don’t make changes to your account too soon (or too late).
Setup
As far as setting up goes, this one is by far the easiest. Copy and paste the code in a new script and define which entity you want to track in the “ENTITY” line (if you want to track all of them, make a new script for each one). And you’re done.
Depending on your account size, this script can take some time to complete so be patient!
Reaching success with Google AdWords
Staying ahead of the curve with pay-per-click advertising can be difficult. But leveraging the latest techniques in the best way can add to the challenge.
If you’re having trouble getting your account to perform like a superstar, Digett is here for you! We’re a Certified Google Partner and have experience helping clients of all sizes get the most for their business out of AdWords. Contact us today for a free consultation to get started!