If you’re using Google AdWords to promote your brand, you might find that you need the ability to manage your campaigns offline every now and then. Fortunately, you can do that with the AdWords Editor.
A Complete Overview of the AdWords Editor
That’s because AdWords Editor is a downloadable application. It runs on your local workstation, not in the cloud.
When you’re done making local edits and back online, you can synchronize the changes you made in AdWords editor with your AdWords account.
Also, AdWords Editor can save you time. That’s because it enables you to mass-edit and bulk create campaigns, ad groups, and keywords.
If you want to learn how to maximize your productivity with AdWords Editor, read on.
AdWords Editor Starts With a Download
Before you can use AdWords Editor, you have to download it. Fortunately, you can do that with just a couple of clicks.
Be patient during the installation process. It might seem like your PC isn’t doing anything, but it’s installing the software.
When the installation is complete, you’ll have to launch AdWords Editor manually. Unlike many other installation routines, this one won’t launch the application for you.
If you’re on a Windows platform, you’ll likely have to click the “Start” icon in the lower, left-hand side of the screen and launch AdWords Editor from the display menu that appears.
Once you’ve launched the application, you’ll have to go through an initial setup procedure. Most of it is intuitive (like selecting the language you want to use).
Another “standard procedure” that you’ll follow is accepting the license agreement. Make sure you scroll all the way down through the terms and conditions so that you can click on the “Accept” button.
It Continues With a Second Download
At this point, all you have is the AdWords Editor application. You don’t have any account data.
You need to download that data.
Click on “Accounts” from the menu at the top. Then select “Add.”
Alternatively, you can click on the big “+ ADD” button towards the top.
AdWords Editor will ask if you want to sign in with Google Chrome or inside the app. If you’re already signed into Google with Chrome, you can probably save a few seconds by signing in that way.
If you sign in with the app, you’ll need to enter your credentials manually. Use your Gmail address and password.
Once you’re signed in, AdWords Editor will download your campaign data. Now you have something that you can work with!
AdWords Editor User Interface
The UI in AdWords Editor is pleasantly intuitive. If you’re already familiar with AdWords campaign structure, you shouldn’t have any problem using it.
In the upper, left-hand corner of the screen you’ll see the campaign hierarchy in a pane labeled “Campaigns.” At the top of that hierarchy you’ll see your account displayed as your Gmail address.
Expand that by click on the twistie. Below it, you’ll see your campaigns.
Keep in mind: you’ll see campaigns that aren’t running any more. That’s okay, though, because that’s what you would see if you were in the AdWords platform.
In other words, AdWords Editor is mimicking the cloud application. That’s what you want.
Click on the twistie next to any one of your campaigns and you’ll see the Ad Groups for that campaign.
AdWords Editor Manage Box
Just below the Campaigns panel on the left-hand side of the screen, you’ll see the Manage panel. The info displayed in that panel will reflect the account that you clicked on in Campaigns.
Right now, you probably only imported one account, so the detail for that account will appear in the Manage panel.
At the top of the Manage panel, you’ll see the word “Campaigns” followed by a number in parentheses. That number indicates the number of campaigns associated with the account.
Click on “Campaigns.” In the middle of the screen, towards the top, you’ll see a list of all your campaigns in a table.
Click on any one of the campaigns and in the panel just below you’ll see detailed information about the campaign that you can edit. That’s where you’d make local changes to the campaign that you’ve selected.
Keep in mind that the editable info is in a tabbed form. Be sure to click on different tabs to see what you can edit.
It’s likely that most of what you’ll want to edit is on the first tab (“Edit selected campaigns”).
Back in the Manage panel, click on “Ad Groups” in the Manage panel. It’s just below “Campaigns.”
In the middle of the screen, you’ll see a list of your ad groups in a table. Again, you can click on any ad group and edit its detail in the pane below.
Next, click on “Keywords” below “Keywords and targeting.” In the Manage panel. In the middle of the screen towards the top, you should see a list of all your keywords.
Again, you can click on any single keyword and view detailed info about it in the panel below. You can perform edits as well.
In addition to keywords, there are a few other items you can look at below ‘Keywords and targeting”:
- Negative keywords
- Locations
- Negative locations
- Placements
AdWords Editor Shared Library
Below the “Manage” panel, you’ll see a collapsed panel labeled “Shared Library.” Click on the twistie to expand it.
As the name implies, the Shared Library allows you to add and modify info related to multiple areas of your account. It’s a time-saver because it allows you to enter data in one place instead of across multiple campaigns.
Specifically, you can use the Shared Library to manage:
- Shared sitelinks
- Shared call extensions
- Shared callout extensions
- Shared app extensions
- Shared review extensions
- Shared structured snippet extensions
- Shared location extensions
- Shared price extensions
- Shared promotion extensions
- Labels
AdWords Editor Custom Rules
Below the Shared Library panel, you’ll see a collapsed panel labeled “Custom Rules.” Click on the twistie to expand it.
In the middle of the screen, you’ll see a number of “Built In” custom rules. Those are rules that Google has created for you.
Take a look at the “Name” column in the table. There, you’ll find a descriptive name for each rule. Examples include: “Fewer than 4 sitelink extensions,” “Not targeting search partners,” and “Manual bidding.”
If your campaigns aren’t violating any of those rules, you should see all green circles on the left-hand side of the table. If you are violating one or more of the rules, you’ll see some yellow or red icons.
Click on a rule in the table and you’ll see detail about it in the panel below. You can edit the rule in that panel as well.
You can also add your own custom rule by clicking on the “Add Custom Rule” button at the top.
Synchronizing Your AdWords Editor and AdWords Account
Remember, even though you have AdWords Editor, you can still update your campaigns online in the cloud. When you do that, you have to pull down those changes.
The process of ensuring that your local AdWords Editor has the same data as your AdWords account is called synchronizing.
Fortunately, it’s easy to keep the two in sync. At the very top of the user interface, you’ll see a drop-down that reads “Get Recent Changes.” Click on that drop-down.
The drop-down menu will show you three options:
- Basic (faster)
- More data (slower)
- Schedule download
As a rule of thumb, it’s probably a good idea to avoid using “Basic.” When you synchronize, you generally want to get everything.
You can use the “Schedule download” option if you want it to synchronize data when you’re away from your laptop. It’s a good choice if you have a lot of data to pull down and you don’t want to slow down your system while you’re working on other things.
For now, though, click on the “More data” option. A popup will appear asking if you want to download data for all campaigns, campaigns already downloaded, or just campaigns that you select.
Again, less is usually not more in this case. It’s best to opt for an all-or-nothing sync, otherwise you could end up with inconsistencies between AdWords Editor and your AdWords account.
Select “All Campaigns” and click “OK.”
The application will show another popup that’s a status of the download process. Once that’s done, you’re all synced up.
Checking Your Changes in AdWords Editor
When you’ve made changes in AdWords Editor, you need to check them before you post to AdWords.
Why? Because you might have made changes that won’t post.
Fortunately, it’s easy to check your changes. Just click on the “Check Changes” dropdown at the top of the user interface.
That dropdown will show you two options:
- Check changes
- Check URL upgrades
The first option will check all the changes that you made to your account. The second will check any URLs that you’ve changed.
In either case, you’ll receive a notification if there are any issues. You’ll have to fix those problems before you can upload.
Posting Your Changes From AdWords Editor to AdWords
Once you’ve made changes in AdWords Editor, those changes aren’t automatically uploaded to AdWords. You have to manually post them.
You do that with the “Post” drop-down that appears at the top of the user interface. If you click on that drop-down, you’ll see two options:
- Post changes
- Post URL upgrades
The first option will post all your changes. The second one will post any URL changes.
Click on “Post changes” and a popup will appear. Within that popup, you’ll see a list of your changes.
Once you’ve reviewed your changes, click “Post.”
AdWords Editor will show you a summary of your upload. You can also pause the upload process by clicking “Pause” in the popup. Click “Resume post” to continue it again.
Once the post is finished, click “Close.”
Getting Statistics
If you want to view analytics for a particular ad group or campaign, click on “Statistics” on the menu bar at the top. From the drop-down that appears, click on the “Get Statistics” option.
A popup will appear. At the top of the popup, specify the date range for your stats.
In the middle, on the left-hand side, select the appropriate campaigns and/or ad groups. On the right-hand side, select the statistics you want to view.
Finally, click “OK” at the bottom of the popup.
A new popup will appear that shows you the status of your download. Once that’s completed, you can view the statistics.
To do that, click on “Campaigns” or “Ad groups” in the Manage panel on the left-hand side of the screen. Then, in the middle of the screen, click on one of the campaigns or ad groups that you specified in your download.
You’ll likely have to scroll to the right to see the stats you’re looking for.
As with all other synchronization efforts, it’s usually a great idea to get all your stats at one time. That way, you can be sure that everything is up to date.
Managing Campaigns in AdWords Editor
Click on “Campaigns” on the Manage pane in the left-hand sidebar. At the top of the table that appears in the middle of the screen, you’ll see a number of buttons that you can use to manage your campaigns.
The “Add Campaign” button lives up to its name. Click on that when you’re ready to launch a new campaign.
Keep in mind that the “Add Campaign” button is also a drop-down. You can use it to add a specific type of campaign, such as a display network or video campaign.
If you want to add multiple campaigns quickly, click on the “Make Multiple Changes” button.
A new popup will appear that shows you a table. Each row in that table represents a new campaign.
At the very top of each row is a drop-down. Use that to select the data that you’re specifying for the campaign.
For example, click on the drop-down and select “Campaign.” That field represents the name of the campaign itself.
In Row #1, enter “Campaign 1” as the name of the first campaign. In Row #2, enter “Campaign 2” as the name of the second campaign.
Leave everything else alone for now. Click “Process” in the lower, right-hand side of the popup.
After a bit of processing, another popup will appear. At the top, you’ll see a list of the changes you just made. At the bottom, you’ll see a list of any errors or warnings.
You shouldn’t have any errors or warnings, so just go ahead and click “Finish and Review Changes” in the lower, right-hand side of the window.
Now, you’ll see some changes on the user interface. For starters, there will be a yellow bar at the top of the screen that indicates you have some changes you need to review. You’ll also see two buttons:: “Keep” and “Reject.”
Since you want to keep these changes, click on “Keep.”
Now, if you look at your list of campaigns, you’ll see Campaign 1 and Campaign 2 in addition to the campaigns that were already there. They’re invalid now, though, because you haven’t specified a budget for them.
Obviously, when you’re really creating new campaigns, you’d add a budget in the “Make Multiple Changes” popup. You’d also likely add a bunch of other information besides the campaign name itself.
That’s not important here, though. These campaigns are just for demo purposes.
Keep in mind that while you’ve just used the “Make Multiple Changes” button to add new campaigns, you can also use it to remove campaigns as well.
Click “Make Multiple Changes” again. This time, select “Remove” in the Bulk Change Action drop-down that appears at the top of the popup.
In Row #1, type “Campaign 1” in the first column and select “Campaign” from the drop-down that appears at the top. Click “Process” in the lower, right-hand side.
Again, you’ll see a status window. Click “Finish and Review Changes” just like you did last time.
Now, you’ll see that Campaign 1 has a line through it. That means it’s pending delete.
Click the “Keep” button again in the yellow bar at the top. The campaign will be deleted.
There’s an easier way to delete campaigns, though.
Select Campaign 2 in the table. Click the “Remove” button at the top of the table. You’ll see that it deletes the new campaign.
Strangely enough, AdWords Editor doesn’t give you a warning asking if you really want to delete the campaign. Keep that in mind as you use the tool.
Next, click on “Replace Text.” In the popup that appears, you’ll see that you can mass-edit multiple campaigns with just a few keystrokes.
For example, you can find and replace text for any field. Additionally, you can use the “Replace Text” feature to append text, change capitalization, change bids, and change URLs.
Managing Ad Groups with AdWords Editor
To manage ad groups, you’ll use the same type of user interface that you use for managing campaigns.
Get started by clicking on “Ad Groups” in the Manage panel on the left-hand sidebar. At the top of the table that appears in the middle of the screen, you’ll see a number of buttons that you can use to manage ad groups.
Click on “Add Ad Group” to create a new ad group. A popup will appear asking you which campaign you want to associate with the new ad group. Select a campaign and click “OK.”
Your new ad group will have a number of default values. You can change those by just clicking on it and making the appropriate modifications in the lower panel.
Once again, the “Make Multiple Changes” button is a huge time-saver. Click on that to see it in action.
A new popup will appear. On the left-hand side, you’ll see a radio button that gives you two choices:
- My data includes columns for campaigns and/or ad groups
- Use selected destinations
If you select the first option, you’ll create a new campaign if you don’t specify that info when adding the ad groups. If you select the second option, you can specify which campaign applies to all the ad groups you’re adding now.
On the right-hand side of the popup, towards the top, you’ll see a Bulk Change Action drop-down. Use that to choose whether you’re adding, updating, or removing ad groups.
Use the table that appears on the right hand side of the popup to enter data. Each row represents a separate ad group.
Use the drop-downs at the top of each column in the table to specify a data field. For example, select “Ad Group” to specify the name of the ad group.
Once you’re done entering data, click “Process” in the lower, right-hand side of the popup.
A status window will appear. At the top, you’ll see a list of changes you made. At the bottom, you’ll see a list of errors and warnings.
Click on “Finish and Review Changes.” The main screen will light up with colors showing that you’ve made some changes.
At the very top, you’ll see a yellow bar. In that bar, you’ll see two buttons: “Keep” and “Reject.” Click on “Keep” if you’re happy with the changes you made. Otherwise, click “Reject.”
Once you do that, your changes will take effect locally. You’ll need to post them to your AdWords account, of course.
Select an ad group in the table and then click “Remove” to delete the ad group. Remember, though, AdWords Editor won’t give you a warning asking if you really want to delete the ad group. Be very careful about using that feature.
Finally, click on “Replace Text’ to mass edit your ad groups. You can find and replace text, append text, change capitalization, change bids, and even change URLs.
Managing Keywords in AdWords Editor
Click on “Keywords” under “Keywords and targeting” in the Manage panel on the left-hand sidebar. The buttons that appear at the top of the table in the middle of the screen enable you to manage keywords.
Click the “Add Keyword” button to add a new keyword. In the popup that appears, select the ad group you want associated with the keyword.
Click on “Make Multiple Changes.” A new popup will appear that enables you to bulk add keywords.
On the left-hand side of the popup, You’ll see a radio button that gives you two choices:
- My data includes columns for campaigns and/or ad groups
- Use selected destinations
If you select the first option, you’ll create a new campaign and ad group if you don’t specify that info when adding the keywords. If you select the second option, you can specify which ad group applies to all the keywords you’re adding now.
On the right-hand side of the screen, use the Bulk Change Action drop-down to choose whether you’re adding, updating, or removing keywords.
In the table below, enter your new keyword data. Each row corresponds to a single keyword.
Use the drop-downs at the top of each column to specify a data field. For example, select “Keyword” to specify the name of the keyword itself.
Once you’re done entering data, click on “Process” on the lower, right-hand side of the screen.
After some processing time, a status window will appear. At the top of that window, you’ll see a list of changes you made. At the bottom, you’ll see any errors or warnings.
Click on “Finish and Review Changes” on the bottom of the window. You’ll see a yellow band at the top of the screen informing you that there are changes pending. You’ll also see a “Keep” and “Reject” button.
Click on the “Keep” to preserve any of the keyword changes that you just made.
If you want to delete any keyword data, just highlight the keyword and click the “Remove” button at the top of the table.
Use “Replace Text’ to mass edit your keywords. You can find and replace text, append text, change capitalization, change bids, and even change URLs.
Wrapping Up AdWords Editor
AdWords Editor is a powerful tool that enables you to manage your AdWords campaigns while offline. It also makes your life easier by allowing you to do mass-edits and bulk creates. If you haven’t yet started making your life easier with AdWords Editor, why not download it and give it a try today?
