Hats Off to Adwords Developers
We’ve made several suggestions in the past for improving Adwords’ online interface and desktop editor, and Google has actually made several of the revisions. The most recent one was adding “dismiss” to alerts. I imagine that once a dozen or so similar suggestions pile up, a manager in Adwords’ development department schedules the revision for programming. So I’m adding this post as a sort of Adwords wish list, and beginning it with two suggestions I made yesterday via an online chat with a Google chat representative. Please feel free to add to the list whenever you have ideas for improving either the online Adwords interface or the Adwords desktop editor.
Chat Transcript 23 July
info: Thank you for contacting Google AdWords. Please hold a moment while we route your chat to a specialist who will help you with your question: “I have two inquiries: 1) account access for linked MCC’s via the desktop editor. 2) will we be assigned an account representative?”.
info: Google Rep has received your message and will be right with you.
Google Rep: Hello, Chris. Thanks for contacting Google AdWords. I’m happy to help you.
Google Rep: I see that you have two questions. I will address them both.
Google Rep: First I am going to pull up your account and take a look.
chris: thank you
chris: the first point is just a suggestion
chris: these linked MCC’s are so convenient
chris: we have a team managing these accounts, and by giving them access to the parent mcc, they can also access our partners’ mcc accounts
chris: this works beautifully for the online interface
chris: however, it’s not working perfectly, because each of our SEM professionals still requires a separate login for each MCC
chris: because the desktop editor doesn’t allow access to linked MCC accounts with a single login
chris: we use the desktop editor extensively
chris: so this forces me to create extra Google accounts
chris: one for each SEM professional x number of linked accounts (which today = 9 professionals x 3 MCC accounts = 27 potential logins)
chris: I suggest that Google modify the desktop editor to allow access to linked mcc accounts
Google Rep: Do you mean that when you try to use AdWords Editor you have to have separate logins for each MCC account?
chris: precisely
Google Rep: So you can get to the child accounts under one direct MCC but you cannot access “sub-MCC” accounts through the main MCC login that you use for your AdWords dashboard. Is that correct?
chris: true
Google Rep: I would be happy to look into this to see if there is any other work around.
chris: we are working around it just fine; it’s just an inconvenience, and I thought I would mention it as a recommendation
chris: because in the past, Google seems to have valued our recommendations
Google Rep: I would be happy to pass it along. It is a good point.
chris: thank you
Chris: regarding the second point . . .
chris: our access to Google Analytics is based on a hodge podge of logins through a number of accounts
chris: and when we have to access Google Analytics with logins other than those used to access Adwords, we lose our Adwords sessions.
chris: this forces us to re-login back and forth during our analysis, and reporting process
chris: why can’t Google allow us to access Google Analytics for any account from within that account’s Adwords interface?
chris: this becomes a larger issue for those accounts accessed via linked MCC logins
Google Rep: AdWords will only allow Analytics access to accounts that are directly linked to a specific AdWords account. But I do understand your concern and it does make sense.
Google Rep: I believe the reasoning behind the current situation is for privacy reasons.
chris: of course I’m referring only to linked Analytics / Adwords accounts.
chris: I can imagine the reasons behind it, and to some extent it may be an Urchin legacy issue
chris: aside from that, it’s not logical that a customer would give an SEM manager the keys to their Adwords account, but not allow them to turn on the headlights to drive it. So I’m not really buying your privacy argument. Managing Adwords without analytics is unprofessional.
chris: anyway, I would be pleased if you passed along the suggestion for consideration
Google Rep: I certainly will.
chris: thank you for your time today.
Google Rep: You’re welcome.
chris: bye for now
Google Rep: Is there anything else that I can help you with?
chris: No thank you. Have a good day.
Google Rep: It was a pleasure chatting with you. If you have any more questions, please feel free to visit our Help Center. You can also print this chat transcript for your records. Have a great day.
