More product cuts at Google.

admin 02.11.2009

Just got this from a few clients:

…We’re writing to let you know that in the week of March 23, 2009, the AdWords Smart Positioning beta test will be retired. Specifically, you can expect to see the following changes in your account XXXXXXXXXX and campaigns in the coming months:

- Starting the week of February 23, 2009, campaigns not actively using Smart Positioning will be unable to enable the feature.

- During the week of March 23, 2009, accounts with campaigns still actively using Smart Positioning will have the Smart Positioning feature disabled.

During this disabling process, we will reduce your maximum CPC bids by the same factor your bids were increased when you enabled Smart Positioning.

Without an understanding of the engineering that makes this engin run, it seems like a strange choice for them to abandon this product – I’d think that, once built, it wouldn’t be a huge resource drain for Google to keep it running.