Anomalies

What is an anomaly?

A day when a campaign moved well away from its own normal. Conversion value, ROAS and cost per conversion are judged on a week, and so is every figure for the account as a whole. Each card names the campaign (or Whole account), its severity, the figure that moved and which way, the day or week judged and, once it has lasted more than a day, how many days running. How anomalies are found gives the rules.

How do I read a card?

Under the heading comes a verdict, one of Investigate now, Worth checking, Worth a look, Worth a glance, Positive or Informational, and a short paragraph on what moved, how large the move is by the campaign's own standards, and what to do about it. A sharp jump in spend is worth checking, a large fall in conversions is worth investigating, and a rise in conversions is good news.

Under it are the figures you can check by hand: Actual, Baseline, the normal it was judged against, and Deviation, how many standard deviations apart they are. On a card about conversions, conversion rate, value, ROAS or cost per conversion, if conversions Google credited later have moved the figure, the card shows the newer one beside it. Adintel checks again 7 and 30 days after the day judged.

Why do only some cards carry a written explanation?

Adintel writes an explanation for each departure it puts forward to your briefing; where several come in as one, it explains the strongest. Other cards say No written explanation, and their figures and evidence are still complete. A rise in clicks, impressions or CTR never goes to the briefing, so its card carries only the figures, the verdict and its short paragraph.

Evidence shows the figures, worked out by rule, that an explanation is written from: where the change concentrated (which campaigns, ad groups, asset groups, products, search terms or conversion actions carried it), what moved with it, and what changed in the account over those days and the 14 days before them. Full reasoning opens the explanation's longer working.

What do Acknowledge, Resolve and False positive do?

The page opens on New. Acknowledge marks a card seen while you look into it. Resolve marks it dealt with. False positive records that it was not a real departure. All three keep the card, under its status, and False positive also takes it off the account's timeline. Resolve and False positive are final; the card then shows no buttons. None of them changes how anomalies are found: the rules stay the same for every account.

Can I act on the campaign from here?

Yes. A campaign's card carries Act on this campaign, which opens the campaign's status, daily budget and target under the card, each changed through the usual confirm (changes you make from Adintel). This works on Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns; other types, budgets that are not daily, and targets set on a shared bid strategy are changed in Google Ads. A whole-account card has no single campaign to act on.