Google has announced the introduction of a new 'automated rules' feature in AdWords, so that advertisers can set up specific requirements to be adjusted depending on campaign performance. This new addition to the available tools for advertisers allows users to create rules to automate bid, budget, and status changes on a specific part of an AdWords account (such as selected keywords, ad groups, campaigns, and ads) that are triggered at a particular time.

For example, Google provides some examples of when automated rules could be set up to perform the following tasks:
* Enable ads promoting a special offer late on a Sunday night when the offer goes live
* Automatically raise the bids to the first page CPC for all keywords in a campaign that contain the word ‘sale’
* Generate more traffic on peak shopping days by automatically increasing the daily budget on Mondays and decreasing it on Wednesdays

This last function has been something that's been required for some time and will enable more flexibility in managing campaigns and adjusting settings to suit the market or business requirements.

As usual with the introduction of significant new features, the automated rules are only available to US advertisers at the moment but are expected to be gradually rolled out over the coming months to other countries.