Advanced Targeting for the Google Display Network By David Szetela

#SMX #24B @Szetela

Advanced Targeting for theGoogle Display Network

Presented by:

David Szetela

Owner and CEO, FMB Media

#SMX #24B @Szetela

#SMX #24B @Szetelawww.vizioninteractive.com

Google Display Network(GDN)

Huge reach – many millions of peopleText adsStatic and animated bannersVideoSeveral different targeting methods – ways to get your ads in front of the right people


Google Display Network(GDN)

Two targeting categories: Site and AudienceSite = “Show my ads on these kinds of web sites”Audience = “Show my ads to people who share common characteristics, regardless of which sites they visit”


Keyword Targeting

“AdWords: place my ads on GDN pages containing all or most of these words”No more than 5-10 keywords, 2-3 words Almost always a bad idea to use Search keywordsAdWords keyword matching isn’t perfect so ads are sometimes placed on irrelevant sites


Keyword Targeting

Best practice: view the Automated Placements report for each ad group and exclude the poorly-performing sites

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Placement Targeting

Specify which sites should display your adsAds will appear on all site pages – so might not be appropriate for sites with variety, e.g. nytimes.comCompile placement lists using Display Planner (in the Tools menu)

#SMX #24B @Szetela

#SMX #24B @Szetela


Topic Targeting

Target by sites whose content matches specified topicsMore than 5,000 topicsAdWords places ads on irrelevant sitesCheck Automated Placements and exclude poorly-performing ones

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Audience Targeting

Previous targeting options: AdWords, place my ads on these kinds of sitesAudience targeting: AdWords, show my ads to people who match these characteristics“Audience” = a group of people who share behavior – e.g. previous visitors to your site


Audience Targeting

Ads “follow people around” as they visit sites in the GDNIt doesn’t really matter which sites carry the ads – key objective is to get ads in front of the right people


Remarketing

Audience = people who have previously visited your siteAd messaging can take this into consideration, e.g. “Come back and get a 10% discount”Create remarketing audiences (“lists”) using Google Analytics rather than AdWords


Remarketing

Average CTRs and conversion rates are higher than any other kind of GDN targetingA “must do” for all advertisersPowerful but a little complicated at first –take the time to learn and practice


Dynamic Remarketing

An image of the last viewed product is automatically featured in the adA “must do” for all eRetailersRequires customized tagging of all site pages – so


In-market Targeting

Google “knows” when people are in the market to buy a range of items and servicesCurrently 492 in-market audiencesAverage CTRs and conversion rates are higher than for topic-targeted methods


In-market Targeting


Affinity Targeting

Target ads to people who share common interestsThink of these groups as “clubs”Currently there are 105 affinity audiences

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Custom Affinity Targeting

Like affinity audiences, but target groups can be more tightly defined – smaller “clubs”Example: affinity audience = “investors”; but gold coin seller would want to target investors who are also interested in gold coins



To set up, give AdWords a list of keywords and sitesKeywords = words that describe the custom audience’s interestSites = examples of sites that would be frequented by your target audience



Google recommends entering at least 10 keywords and sitesUse Display Planner to get ideas for keywords and websitesRemember that using Custom Affinity Audiences is not about targeting websites –it’s about targeting a very specific audience

#SMX #24B @Szetela

#SMX #24B @Szetela


Demographic Targeting

Allows advertisers to choose the gender, age and parental status of the people they want to target.Of questionable value, since it only applies to about 40% of GDN users


Demographic Targeting


Customer Match

Creates an audience of people on your uploaded mailing list

Also creates “similar audience” list

Use just like a Remarketing list


Layered Targeting

The use of more than one targeting method in an ad groupCan be very powerful – and also very dangerousWhen you specify two targeting methods, by default you’re combining the methods with a logical AND – not a logical OR


Layered Targeting

Example: using Topic and Keyword targetingBy default, you’re saying “Show my ads on sites that match these topics, but only if the site pages also contain keywords like this.”This can be useful when intentional, but make sure it’s what you intend


Layered Targeting

Accidental layering is often the cause of reduced reach, i.e., lower-than-expected impressions and clicksUseful example: target ads using a custom affinity group consisting of people interested in gold coins, and use keywords like “gold coin” and “gold eagle” to make sure ads are placed on pages about gold coins


Layered Targeting

Accidental layering is often the cause of reduced reach, i.e., lower-than-expected impressions and clicks


Layered Targeting

Useful example: target ads using a custom affinity group consisting of people interested in gold coinsAnd use keyword targeting with keywords like “gold coin” and “gold eagle” to make sure ads are placed on pages about gold coinsResults in a smaller audience but much more apt to buy


Target Exclusions

It can be useful to make sure ads don’t appear on certain sites, or to certain audiencesExample: show my ads to people in the affinity audience “Foodies,” but not if the Audience member is visiting a web site whose topic involves Catering or Food & Grocery Retailers


Target Exclusions

Scroll to the bottom of the Targeting section and choose the drop-down “Add ad group exclusions”Choose “Topics,” and add the topics you want to exclude (see next slide)Click on “save” and you’re done!

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A Note about Negative Keywords

A negative keyword tells AdWords, “Don’t show my ad on any pages that contain this word.”They should be used sparingly – usually not at allBig problem when advertisers use their search ad groups, as-is, when creating GDN ad groups


Thank You!Questions?

I’m David Szetela, @Szetela

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Marketing

Advanced Targeting for the Google Display Network By David Szetela