Every SEM manager worth anything is constantly running creative tests. And many of you, since you are reading this blog, probably use scripts in some way to make that easier. But how do you figure out exactly when the tests start? They could be different for every AdGroup.
I have seen some people use labels, some people use schedules, but I never really liked having to keep track of those things. So I created this script which will keep track of the start dates for creative tests automatically.
The approach I took stores a copy of your ad ids in a google spreadsheet. Then it checks the current ads in the AdGroup against the ads from the spreadsheet and figures out if something changed by looking at the ad ids. If it has, the script assumes a new test has started and notes the date in the spreadsheet accordingly. Using this method, a marketer can be sure that the script is comparing statistics from the proper time frame to determine a test winner.
But then a reader mentioned that they wanted to be able to choose the metric to measure the ads by and also use a threshold to only start measuring after a certain number of clicks in the AdGroup. So I added that ability to the script as well. You only need to adjust a few parameters at the top of the script and you have a fully functional creative testing script in place.
Whenever it takes action on an ad by pausing it, the results will be sent to you in an email so that you can create a new challenger ad for that AdGroup.
I did a few things differently with this script. I always hate making my readers go into Google Docs and create a blank spreadsheet for my scripts to use as storage. So to get around that, this script will check for the existence of a special label in the account where the spreadsheet id is stored. If it finds one, it will use it. And if it is missing (like it will be on the first run), it will create the spreadsheet and label. This way, no messy spreadsheet urls in the scripts. It is a little bit of a workaround but until Google allows us to store additional config data for scripts, I thought this was an ok way to handle this.
As always, I'm open to your feedback on if this script is useful to you. What other metrics do you judge ad performance by? What else is this script missing?
Thanks,
Russ
/************************************
* Ad Creative Test Automation Script
* Version: 1.3
* Changelog v1.3 - Data is written to the spreadsheet a little faster
* Changelog v1.2 - Added additional threshold options
* Changelog v1.1 - Fixed issue with dates in email
* Created By: Russ Savage
* FreeAdWordsScripts.com
************************************/
// You can use any of the same values here as you can for METRIC below
var THRESHOLD = { metric : 'Clicks', value : 100 };
var TO = ['example@example.com'];
//Try any of these values for METRIC:
//AverageCpc, AverageCpm, AveragePageviews, AveragePosition,
//AverageTimeOnSite, BounceRate, Clicks, ConversionRate,
//Conversions, Cost, Ctr, Impressions
var METRIC = 'Ctr';
var ASC_OR_DESC = 'ASC'; //ASC - pause ad with lowest value, DESC - pause ad with highest value
function main() {
//Start by finding what has changed in the account
var ad_map = buildCurrentAdMap();
var prev_ad_map = readMapFromSpreadsheet();
prev_ad_map = updatePreviousAdMap(prev_ad_map,ad_map);
writeMapToSpreadsheet(prev_ad_map);
//Now run through the adgroups to find creative tests
var ag_iter = AdWordsApp.adGroups().get();
var paused_ads = [];
while(ag_iter.hasNext()) {
var ag = ag_iter.next();
if(!prev_ad_map[ag.getId()]) { continue; }
//Here is the date range for the test metrics
var last_touched_str = _getDateString(prev_ad_map[ag.getId()].last_touched,'yyyyMMdd');
var get_today_str = _getDateString(new Date(),'yyyyMMdd');
var ag_stats = ag.getStatsFor(last_touched_str, get_today_str);
if(ag_stats['get'+THRESHOLD.metric]() >= THRESHOLD.value) {
var ad_iter = ag.ads().withCondition('Status = ENABLED')
.forDateRange(last_touched_str, get_today_str)
.orderBy(METRIC+" "+ASC_OR_DESC).get();
var ad = ad_iter.next();
var metric = ad.getStatsFor(last_touched_str, get_today_str)['get'+METRIC]();
ad.pause();
paused_ads.push({a : ad, m : metric});
}
}
sendEmailForPausedAds(paused_ads);
}
// A function to send an email with an attached report of ads it has paused
function sendEmailForPausedAds(ads) {
if(ads.length == 0) { return; } //No ads paused, no email
var email_body = '"' + ['CampaignName','AdGroupName','Headline','Desc1','Desc2','DisplayUrl',METRIC].join('","') + '"\n';
for(var i in ads) {
var ad = ads[i].a;
var metric = ads[i].m;
email_body += '"' + [ad.getCampaign().getName(),
ad.getAdGroup().getName(),
ad.getHeadline(),
ad.getDescription1(),
ad.getDescription2(),
ad.getDisplayUrl(),
metric
].join('","') +
'"\n';
}
var date_str = _getDateString(new Date(),'yyyy-MM-dd');
var options = { attachments: [Utilities.newBlob(email_body, 'text/csv', "FinishedTests_"+date_str+'.csv')] };
var subject = 'Finished Tests - ' + date_str;
for(var i in TO) {
MailApp.sendEmail(TO[i], subject, 'See attached.', options);
}
}
//Given two lists of ads, this checks to make sure they are the same.
function sameAds(ads1,ads2) {
for(var i in ads1) {
if(ads1[i] != ads2[i]) { return false; }
}
return true;
}
//This reads the stored data from the spreadsheet
function readMapFromSpreadsheet() {
var ad_map = {};
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.openById(findSpreadsheetId()).getActiveSheet();
var data = sheet.getRange('A:C').getValues();
for(var i in data) {
if(data[i][0] == '') { break; }
var [ag_id,last_touched,ad_ids] = data[i];
ad_map[ag_id] = { ad_ids : (''+ad_ids).split(','), last_touched : new Date(last_touched) };
}
return ad_map;
}
//This will search for a label containing the spreadsheet id
//If one isn't found, it will create a new one and the label as well
function findSpreadsheetId() {
var spreadsheet_id = "";
var label_iter = AdWordsApp.labels().withCondition("Name STARTS_WITH 'history_script:'").get();
if(label_iter.hasNext()) {
var label = label_iter.next();
return label.getName().split(':')[1];
} else {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.create('AdGroups History');
var sheet_id = sheet.getId();
AdWordsApp.createLabel('history_script:'+sheet_id, 'stores sheet id for adgroup changes script.');
return sheet_id;
}
}
//This will store the data from the account into a spreadsheet
function writeMapToSpreadsheet(ad_map) {
var toWrite = [];
for(var ag_id in ad_map) {
var ad_ids = ad_map[ag_id].ad_ids;
var last_touched = ad_map[ag_id].last_touched;
toWrite.push([ag_id,last_touched,ad_ids.join(',')]);
}
writeToSpreadsheet(toWrite);
}
// Write the keyword data to the spreadsheet
function writeToSpreadsheet(toWrite) {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.openById(findSpreadsheetId()).getActiveSheet();
sheet.clear();
var numRows = sheet.getMaxRows();
if(numRows < toWrite.length) {
sheet.insertRows(1,toWrite.length-numRows);
}
var range = sheet.getRange(1,1,toWrite.length,toWrite[0].length);
range.setValues(toWrite);
}
//This builds a map of the ads in the account so that it is easy to compare
function buildCurrentAdMap() {
var ad_map = {}; // { ag_id : { ad_ids : [ ad_id, ... ], last_touched : date } }
var ad_iter = AdWordsApp.ads().withCondition('Status = ENABLED').get();
while(ad_iter.hasNext()) {
var ad = ad_iter.next();
var ag_id = ad.getAdGroup().getId();
if(ad_map[ag_id]) {
ad_map[ag_id].ad_ids.push(ad.getId());
ad_map[ag_id].ad_ids.sort();
} else {
ad_map[ag_id] = { ad_ids : [ad.getId()], last_touched : new Date() };
}
}
return ad_map;
}
//This takes the old ad map and the current ad map and returns an
//updated map with all changes.
function updatePreviousAdMap(prev_ad_map,ad_map) {
for(var ag_id in ad_map) {
var current_ads = ad_map[ag_id].ad_ids;
var previous_ads = (prev_ad_map[ag_id]) ? prev_ad_map[ag_id].ad_ids : [];
if(!sameAds(current_ads,previous_ads)) {
prev_ad_map[ag_id] = ad_map[ag_id];
}
}
return prev_ad_map;
}
//Helper function to format the date
function _getDateString(date,format) {
return Utilities.formatDate(date,AdWordsApp.currentAccount().getTimeZone(),format);
}