Logging into campaign settings, you might be surprised to see four ad rotation options now. Two “optimize” settings, one “rotate for 90 days, then optimize for clicks,” and now, “rotate indefinitely”.
In other words, the setting that was the only and original setting in AdWords, and for a long time was one of the two main settings people used (though the optimize for clicks, or “performance” setting soon became the default).
Google’s explanatory wording seems to take a bit of a potshot at those who would cling to this setting, saying something to the effect that “no matter what happens, bad performing ads will show right along with the good performers forever and ever and ever…”
We’ll take the insults, if it gives us the opportunity to go back to deploying custom testing strategies when we so choose. We’ll certainly consider optimize settings where they make sense.
Google makes it official on the Inside AdWords blog. They note that there is no longer the need to lobby for this feature through a request form, as the setting has been added to the interface (even though “fewer than 1% of advertisers” requested it).