Google Display Network on Steroids: Five Tips to Boost Your Paid Search GDN Campaigns

The following post discusses the Google Display Network in relation to TEXT ADS ONLY. Obviously, display ads require different strategies.

Jose Canseco thinks your
Google Display Network
campaigns could use a
little "help"

The Google Display Network is a funny beast. 

Does it drive results? Is it just there for brand impressions? Does it even help with brand awareness? Is it just there for Google to make money?

Sometimes I think long and hard about the last question there. That's not to say that the GDN falls flat all the time, but, for a while there, it was consistently performing worse than just about every other campaign I had running (for conversions, mind you). Sure, it provides additional click and impression volume - but at what cost?

So, we began tinkering with the GDN formula, thinking "there has to be a way that this puppy can work".

And there is...sometimes.

The value of Google Display Network

The first question you may ask - "why should I even care about the GDN?"

The answer is because it CAN work for you, depending on your campaign.

First off, it really does accumulate a significant number of "impressions". Notice the quotation marks, which are there because, really, how much is a GDN impression really worth? Let's be honest, a paid search ad is not great at grabbing your attention, especially when you are doing other things online. Despite this fact, the sheer number of impressions have to be worth something - plus, (this is my favorite line) "you only pay when somebody actually clicks on your ad". 'nuff said.

From a branding standpoint, there are cases that indicate a correlation between brand awareness and paid search, but the key idea is saturation. The Google Display Network is a great tool for saturating the online market, especially when talking about branding campaigns that correspond with other forms of media (television, radio, print, etc.)

For conversions, on the other hand, the Display Network may be hit or miss. It all depends on how you approach it.

Tips for using Google Display Network

She just saw your Google Ad and clicked through
to see your interesting content! Look how happy
she is!

1. Use GDN to drive positive brand impressions via interesting and engaging content on your site. I know many of you paid search advertisers out there are striving just for the online sale directly from a click. If that's you, go ahead to number two. For everyone else, the GDN is a great tool if you have interesting content to drive to. This includes videos (especially videos!), infographics, blogs, downloadable content, heck, anything that is interesting. The great thing about these "conversions" is that they provide brand impact outside of just the concrete sales funnel. Although it is harder to connect the dots from engagement to sale or lead, I think we would all agree that a positive brand impact from engaging content will lead to a higher probability of conversion, especially if it's you vs. your competitor. 

Where do you start then? The content, of course! If you have something interesting to say and share on your site, leverage that. Also, make sure your ads are primarily about that content (as opposed to, say, you business' mission statement or some soft brand-y message). Drive interest in the content item first, and the business will follow.

2. Structure ad groups around targeting tactics...and use them all. I still don't understand it when I see a paid search account doing one of the following things: (a) opting in to both search and display networks with one campaign, and (b) using the same keyword lists for display networks as with search. If you do either of these things you are missing out on a lot of valuable audience impressions, and likely hindering your own ad serving capabilities.

Ad group structure should reflect the targeting tactic, so it should specifically use keyword, placement, topic or retargeting tactics (but no more than one per ad group). This will help you control the ad serving, the messaging, and the results.

For example, a keyword targeted campaign to bike riders may look something like this:

Campaign: Display Network 

Ad Group: Keyword Targeted - Bike Riders - Road Biking

Ad Group: Placement Targeted - Biking Websites

...and so forth.

3. Keep keyword targeted lists small. Google does not take just one keyword in your ad group into consideration when deciding where to show your ad, they look at the entire list. Because of this, your keyword targeted lists should be succinct and closely grouped (limit to no more than 10 keywords, and even that is probably too high). If you target the right keyword category, you'll show up where you want.

Campaign: Display Network 

Ad Group: Keyword Targeted - Bike Riders - Road Biking

Keywords: road bikes, road biking, bike racing, road bike trails, road bike maps

4. Target audiences, not just specific keywords or websites that are close to your product. Too often advertisers think that a GDN targeted campaign has to be as relevant as a search targeted campaign. Unfortunately, they are missing the fact that the Google Display Network is about targeting audiences. Sure, you can use keywords to target, but those keywords should still be focused on your audience.

Here are a couple of tips:

(a) Use Google's Ad Planner tool to find where your audiences might be going online. Then, target those particular sites.

(b) Chances are your business or client knows their audience pretty well, especially if they are doing any offline targeting. Use the demographic information and/or market research that may be available to determine what kind of things they are interested in, and then target those categories using placements, topics, and keywords. For example, we may find out that Bike Riders generally are also interested in traveling, so we may decide to target travel-related keywords and websites with our text ads. (Remember, you only pay when someone clicks!)

(c) Look at your site analytics for top referring sites. Are there any inbound links that can be used as a new targeting opportunity?

(d) Add another layer of detail by targeting demos and interests together. Bikers that are 18 are certainly going to be different than bikers that are 55. Do your homework, find out which you want to target, and make sure the messaging, keywords, and placements speak to that audience only. (You can also use demo targeting in Google Display to accomplish some of this).

5. Use retargeting. Seriously. The best way to drive results from the Display Network is by hitting people that have already demonstrated interest. There's no better way to do this than by using the retargeting capabilities that Google offers (and it's definitely not creepy). It's easy to set up - just place a snippet of code on your site, set up an audience and ad group, and you're off! Staying in front of the users that came to your site and did not convert means that you are able to usher them down the funnel, all the while reminding them of your brand and products along the way.

Use the tips above to juice up your Google Display Network campaigns and take your results to the next level.

If you have any additional tips, please share below!

Are you looking for help with your paid search campaigns? Let us know! We're more than happy to help improve your paid search campaigns. Contact Deco Dig today.

Hey You! Stop Complaining about Online Behavioral Tracking!

I have to get this out.

There has been a lot said about online tracking and behavioral targeting lately.

"What's that you say? Evil marketers are tracking
my every move with secret spyware that
will one day hunt me down and kill me?!"

People generally seem to be a little creeped out when they hear about how marketers track their behavior online. They seem to think that [evil] marketers sit in their lairs, plotting ways to gain users' personal information so they can one day use it to steal their money or identity, infect their computers with viruses, or watch them while they sleep.

Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that I am all for standardizing behavioral targeting for online marketers. What makes me agitated are the people that want to completely abolish the practice altogether because they think it's "creepy" or unsafe.

The simple truth is that online marketers are just trying to do a better job by targeting audiences more effectively.  


Here's the big, bad secret from within the belly of the marketing beast: 99% of online marketers are simply tracking what you do online, without your personal information, so that they can serve you ads that you want to see!


Of course, there will always be mal-intents that use nefarious techniques to hack or steal information to take advantage of the system - but isn't this the case in every line of work? We have bad apple doctors that take advantage of the system, corrupt police officers that do the same, and don't get me started on politicians.

Let's leave the evil planning
to the professionals, okay?

But not once have I sat in an online display strategic planning session and heard someone say "Let's gather all of Jane Doe's personal information we can, eat some popcorn and watch while she goes to eBay! Then we can use the information to go on a shopping spree!" and never have I uttered "You know what? Let's track this audience behavior online and then show them ads of things that are completely unrelated to what they're looking at!"

Unfortunately, people like to get scared about these things and they love to crusade against any perceived threat, even without knowing all of the details.

Here are a few facts about online tracking and marketing:

1. Real, reputable online marketers and online behavioral advertising entities do not and can not gather your personal information. This is against the rules. Online marketers do not know your name, address, or phone number, especially if you don't willingly give it to them. Your browsing information is collected as anonymous "cookie" data. *Update* Check out this link, which shows how Google cookies you and places you into audience buckets. You can also opt-out from here (must have gmail account): http: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/view
2. This cookie data is only stored for a limited amount of time, usually up to 30 days before you are cleared from the targeting system. 
3. You can see who is collecting your data by either looking at the code on the site, by using a viewing tool, or by simply looking at the privacy policy. Usually the companies that are collecting your data will have specific codes placed at the top or bottom of the website you are looking at (in the website code).
4. You can clear your cookie data whenever you want! If you're sick of seeing a particular ad, clear your cache using your browser's settings.
5. Marketers can only get your email address and/or personal information if you opt-in or signup somewhere on the website. In this case you have most likely read and agreed to the privacy language.
6. Most of the time, you are being remarketed to or targeted automatically as a bigger audience segment based on results and statistics. This means that an automated system puts you into a bucket based on your online activity and serves you ads because of that. The only information that comes through in the end is whether or not that bucket or ad (likely a combination of both) converted to a lead or sale.
7. The internet is free, in part, because of online marketing. It's a tough pill to swallow for some, but let's be honest here, the less money that is spent by advertisers online, the greater the chance that you will be paying for good online content. To add to that, online behavior tracking makes those marketing programs work better, which means advertisers spend more money, and you get more free content! Amazing, isn't it?

The bottom line is, YES, online marketers are trying to sell you things. However, let's say you are a 55 year old woman - would you rather see a banner ad for men's sports equipment, or an ad about women's shoes that are similar to the ones you just looked at on zappos.com? (obviously I'm making some generalizations here). 

Instead of crusading against all behavioral targeting online, I think we can all agree that in some forms, online targeting is helpful and effective for both the advertisers and the users themselves. With the right standards in place, everyone gets what they want.