2008 is coming to a close, and we want to leave you with our favorite posts for 2008. The posts were chosen based on FrankRank, and represent the team's favorites over the last year.

1. Introducing Google Ad Planner
   There was a ton of interest in the tool, and the post announcing it was the most read post here on Inside AdWords for the whole year.
2. Improvements to Ads Quality
   This year, we made two big changes to how we calculate Quality Score and rank ads. This post explained the new changes in detail.
3. Build your own display ads in minutes
   We liked this post as it showed off a new tool that helps you broaden your advertising campaigns easily.
4. Keyword tool updated with search volume
   A theme for this year's top posts is providing our advertisers with more information to make their advertising decisions. The keyword tool updates definitely fit in with this theme.
5. Announcing Google Insights for Search
   Like the keyword tool, Insights for Search is another useful tool for your business.
6. Tie: New ways to look at Search & Content Network statistics and Separate metrics for Google and search partners now available
   Both these posts announced improvements to AdWords reporting that had been heavily requested by advertisers.
7. New features in Website Optimizer
   The new features addressed some of the top requests for Website Optimizer.
8. Use keywords and placements together on the content network
   This new feature gave advertisers better control over their advertising on the content network.
9. Groundhogs, Seasonality, and Trends
   A fun post looking at how you could use Google Trends to plan your campaigns around seasonal traffic patterns.
10. Announcing the Search-based Keyword Tool
    Another tool we released this year. The Search-based Keyword Tool helps you locate missed opportunities for advertising campaigns.

That's it for our top 10 for this year. We'll be off celebrating the holidays for the next two weeks, so you won't see any posts from us. We'll be back here blogging in January. Have a great holiday!

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew

This week, we released version 7.0 of AdWords Editor for Windows and Mac. The new version includes the long-awaited first page bid estimates and keyword Quality Score, along with several updates to the Keyword Opportunities tool. Version 7.0 also provides the option to enable usage tracking, which lets Google collect anonymous statistics to help us improve AdWords Editor. Learn more about these and other new features in the release notes.

If you're not already using AdWords Editor, you can visit our website and click 'Download AdWords Editor' to get started. If you're an existing user, you'll see a prompt to upgrade to version 7.0 the next time you run the application.

Important: Existing AdWords Editor users will need to download their accounts again after upgrading to version 7.0. We've discovered an issue with the automatic upgrade feature (the 'Backup then Update' option in the upgrade prompt), so please refer to these special instructions to save comments and uposted changes when you upgrade.

If you'd like to wait to upgrade, you can click 'Don't Update' in the automatic update prompt.

To learn more about the benefits of using AdWords Editor to manage your ad campaigns offline, please refer to these frequently asked questions. Also, comprehensive instructions and tips are available in our Help Center.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Today, we'd like to highlight a campaign management tip from the AdWords Help Forum: Using keyword matching options with your negative keywords.

You may already know that keyword matching options allow you to specify how the keyword should interact with users' search queries to help you target your ads more effectively to potential customers. But did you know that in addition to your regular keywords, you can use keyword matching options with negative keywords as well? Since negative keywords filter out unwanted ad impressions and clicks, using matching options gives you more precise control over which queries to filter out. To learn more and see examples, please read the full post in the AdWords Help Forum.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Seasoned AdWords users know that to have successful campaigns you need to do more than simply set them up and let them run. To get the most out of your campaigns, you should consider optimization, today's (Ad)Word of the Day. 

According to the AdWords Glossary, optimization is the process of modifying your ad campaigns to improve the quality and performance of your AdWords ads. This often involves changing the contents and settings of your campaigns and ad groups and editing your keyword lists and landing pages.

Optimization can be as simple as adding new keywords relevant to your campaign, or can be as involved as adjusting your CPC bids and rewriting your ad text. By optimizing your campaigns to improve your keyword Quality Scores, you can help lower your ad's costs without losing your position on a search results page. 

If you'd like to learn more about optimization, here's a guide from our AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Christian Yee, Inside AdWords crew

As many of you know, we're constantly evaluating our AdWords program policies to keep them current and effective. This means making changes from time to time by either adding new policies, such as the endangered species policy, or updating existing policies, such as the Display URL policy.

This fall, we changed our policy around beer, for the first time allowing advertisements of its sale in the U.S. via AdWords. And starting today, in response to advertiser feedback we've received over the years, we'll permit the advertisement of hard alcohol and liqueurs that target the U.S.

To comply with the updated hard alcohol and liqueurs policy, advertisers must promote the information about hard alcohol and liqueurs that their websites contain, such as recipes and brand messages. Ads that directly promote the sale of hard alcohol and liqueurs are still not permissible through our program. In contrast, advertisements for beer may directly promote its sale.

For example, under the hard alcohol and liqueurs policy, you might market to individuals searching for helpful and relevant alcohol-related information by promoting holiday cocktail ideas or the caloric content of popular spiked beverages. Under the beer policy, you might state a specific sales promotion for a great winter ale.

Hard alcohol and beer manufacturers can now take advantage of online holiday traffic and initiate campaigns that appeal to their target audiences.

Plans to expand this updated alcohol policy to other countries in accordance with local regulations are expected in the coming weeks. For more information about the alcohol policy and other AdWords content policies, please visit our Advertising Policies page.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Today, we're announcing a new campaign-level option that allows you to extend the reach of your text and image ads to show your AdWords ads on the T-Mobile G1, the iPhone, and other mobile devices that have full (HTML) Internet browsers. This new option will now allow you to display your ads specifically on these devices, create exclusive campaigns for them, and get separate performance reporting. We hope this option will help you more effectively reach your audience with the right message at the right time.

G1 and iPhone ads have many of the same benefits as our standard mobile-format ads, such as allowing you to deliver mobile-specific calls-to-action and reaching your audience when they're on the go. Showing ads on the G1 and iPhone also has additional advantages for your advertising. Users are performing a lot of searches on these devices, and searches are likely to go up during the holiday season. Last Christmas, the iPhone drove more traffic to Google.com worldwide than any other mobile platform.

Unlike standard mobile ads, you don't need to format your ads for mobile phones to show your ads on the G1 and iPhone. Because the G1 and iPhone have full Internet browsers, you'll be able to display your standard AdWords ads and landing pages on these devices without having to modify them.

With this new option, you're opted-in to show ads on the G1 and iPhone, and you're also eligible to show on additional devices that use full Internet browsers as these devices enter the market. If you want to change your settings to only show ads on G1s and iPhones or to not show ads on these devices, follow these steps.

If you're running standard mobile ad formats, they won't be affected, and they'll continue to run on mobile phones with mobile (WAP) browsers. If you're interested in learning more about mobile advertising in general, you can see past mobile advertising posts on the Google Mobile Blog.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Ads Quality is important for you, our advertisers, as it directly affects your ads' position on the page and how much you pay for your ads.

Over the past few months we've made some big changes to improve how we calculate Quality Score and how your Quality Scores are displayed in your account. One of these changes was the transition from minimum bids to first page bids. To help explain Ads Quality and these changes, we've just released two instructional videos that walk through the basics of Ads Quality and the transition to first page bids.

The first video, Ads Quality Basics, provides a general introduction to Ads Quality, including an overview of Quality Score and answers to some common questions about Ads Quality. If you don't know how Quality Score works, this is a good video to watch.

The second video, Ads Quality Updates, goes beyond the basics and gives more detail on the recent changes made to Ads Quality. If you want to know more about how the change from inactive keywords to first page bids affects your campaigns, we recommend this video.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew