If you’re not already using the Google AdWords Editor application you’re probably wasting time. It takes some getting used to but once you do you’ll see just how powerful it is, especially when working with large AdWords accounts. Below are some examples of why you should be using AdWords Editor to manage your AdWords accounts.

1. Backups for Disaster Recovery – Although it is unlikely – it’s possible that you’re entire AdWords account could be lost. Or if you simply wanted to duplicate it to a new account AdWords Editor can help you do this. To do this you should use the ‘Export for Archiving’ option in the File menu.
2. Share Proposed Changes – Some clients like to look over the account for final approval. When you’re spending $10,000 per month in AdWords, it’s hard to blame them. The easiest way to do this is to export the account to HTML. To do this highlight the Account, Campaign or Ad Group in the Account frame you wish to export. Then click File – Export to HTML then select Account, Campaign or Ad Group. You can then email this file and anyone with a web browser can look the account over. If the colleague you’re sharing these changes with is an AdWords Editor user then you should use the ‘Export for Sharing’ option in the File menu.
3. Find Duplicate Keywords – it’s a good idea to avoid using the same keyword more than once in an AdWords account. AdWords will never show two ads from one account for the same query. Use this feature to make sure you’re not wasting impressions. Click ‘Tools’ then ‘Find Duplicate Keywords’.
4. Find Underperforming Keywords & Ad Groups – using the Advanced Search function you can generate a list of poorly performing keywords. For example, highlight the campaign, open Advanced Search, skip down to the ‘Performance Statistics’ section and select ‘CTR’ from the drop-down list, select ‘is less than:’ then enter ’0.5′ and click the Search button.
   
5. Identify Inactive Keywords – using the Advanced Search function you can generate a list of inactive keywords. Highlight your campaign and open Advanced Search, skip down to ‘Match Type and Statuses’ and click the ‘Uncheck All’ link to reset the check boxes, now check ‘Broad’, ‘Phrase’, ‘Exact’ and ‘Inactive’ and click the Search button. You can quickly raise the bids for all of these inactive keywords by click the ‘Advanced Bid Changes’ link at the bottom and selecting ‘Raise maximum CPC bids for inactive keywords to their minimum CPC bids’ – you can set a bid ceiling in the ‘Additional constraints’ section.
   
6. Copy & Paste – This is probably the most frequently-used feature of the AdWords Editor. Any element is available to copy and paste. You can copy ads across Ad Groups and even other Campaigns and Accounts. This feature is also very handy if you would like to split your campaign in two and configure one for Search match and the other for Content match.
7. Interface With Other Tools – copy and paste may be the most frequently used features but the ability to interface with other tools is the most powerful. If you use a 3^rd party tool to generate your keywords or ads then you’ll love the ‘Make Multiple Changes’ feature for Keywords or Ad Groups. Tools like the PPC Campaign Builder or Efficient PPC take full advantage of this feature.
   
8. Large Scale Changes – Since Google removed the ability from AdWords to find and change elements If you need to make a change across your entire account quickly you’ll have to use the AdWords Editor. This can be very handy if for example you need to change the landing page URL for a large number of Ads. Just filter the list, perform a CTRL + A and edit the URL in the
   
9. Generate New Ad Groups – The Keyword Grouper can help you discover keywords you hadn’t thought of and then create new Ad Groups based on those keywords. To use this feature click ‘Tools’ – ‘Keyword Grouper’ then select an Ad Group you’d like to expand upon. Click the Generate common terms button and then click Next to see which Ad Groups are available to create.
10. Negative Keyword Management – AdWords Editor makes duplicating your negative keyword list across campaigns so much easier. Simply highlight your campaign and click on the Negatives tab, click one of your keywords, press CTRL + A so select all then CTRL + C to copy, then highlight the destination and press CTRL + V to paste.
    

I’ve also included a PDF version of the entire AdWords Editor FAQ from the Help Center. This is a great reference to have on hand as well as the AdWords Editor Keyboard Shortcuts PDF (here’s the same file for Mac users).

Here is the code in it’s original format.

<!-- Google Code for Lead Conversion Page -->
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
var google_conversion_id = XXXXXXXXXX;
var google_conversion_language = "en_US";
var google_conversion_format = "X";
var google_conversion_color = "ffffff";
var google_conversion_label = "your_label";
//-->
</script>
<script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion.js">
</script>
<noscript>
<img height="1" width="1" border="0" src="http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion/XXXXXXXXXX/?label=lead&amp;script=0">
</noscript>

Here is the updated code which will now validate. I have highlighted the pieces that have changed. Please note that your entries for the id, language, format, color and label will be different.

<!-- Google Code for Lead Conversion Page -->
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
var google_conversion_id = XXXXXXXXXX;
var google_conversion_language = "en_US";
var google_conversion_format = "X";
var google_conversion_color = "ffffff";
var google_conversion_label = "your_label";
//-->
</script>
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion.js">
</script>
<noscript>
<img height="1" width="1" border="0" src="http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion/XXXXXXXXXX/?label=lead&amp;script=0" alt="" />
</noscript>

Please note: this applies to XHTML Transitional doctype written in utf-8 encoding. You may also download this post as a plain text file for easy copy & pasting.

Enjoy!

1. Keywords, settings, changes, budget amounts, campaign performance and other details are subject to effect your entire account.
2. Should one of your site get flagged as spam all of your campaigns may suffer. By creating unique accounts you hedge your risk.
3. If you’re building a campaign for someone else and at some point you decide to hand over the account to them you’ll want it to be it’s own account. You can then detach it from your My Client Center and provide the new owners with the login.
4. You’ll also need to do this before your company can become Google AdWords Qualified.

Click here to learn more about the Google AdWords My Client Center.

-Jeff