Google Display Network

Targeting Types, Bid Settings & Optimization Tools

Dana Berardi - Senior Online Marketing Specialist at BuyerZone

Source: Google

Audience Engagement

Interest Category / Similar Users Targeting

Remarketing

Display + Search

Social Display

Contextual Targeting

Customer Purchase Funnel

Loyalty

GDN Features

Awareness

Interest

Consideration

Purchase

Display campaigns can play an important role at each point of the purchase cycle.

There are two different ways to target in display: by audience or by

site.

The next couple of slides will explain the targeting types GDN offers to help you capture the audience or

sites that are best for your business.

First up…

Contextual Targeting

•Contextual targeting - shows ads on sites related to your keywords

•Not very transparent as there is no insight in advance as to what kind of page content the ads are going to show on

•Close monitoring of placements needed to see how relevant the content is

Keywords

•Contextual targeting - shows ads on websites that you choose

Placements

•Contextual targeting - shows ads on pages about specific subjects

•Shortcut to contextual targeting, but less overall granularity as topics are much broader

•Great to test a new area or find new placements; not recommended for high performance campaigns due to the poorer targeting than contextual

Topic Targeting

And then…

Audience Targeting

•Audience targeting - shows ads to users after they’ve left your site

•Dynamic Remarketing shows users personalized creative of the product the viewed on your site

•Similar User is look-a-like targeting based on remarketing list

Remarketing/Similar Users

•Audience targeting - shows ads based on their inferred interest

•The list of interest categories available is the same as for topics, but an audience is targeted and not the page content

•The furthest removed from the point of interest as the user is seeing the ad because of their browsing history

Interest Categories

•Show ads to users based on their age and gender

•Audience targeting

Demographics

Keep your campaign goals in mind when choosing the right targeting type for you.

Brand awareness campaigns work well with targeting types that have larger audiences, while performance

campaigns should be targeted more precisely.

Targeting Types vs. Conversion Rate & CPA

Source: Google

* Size of bubble reflects conversion volume

Combine different targeting types

to improve the efficiency

of your campaign.

The right mix of targeting = success to your GDN campaign.

•Keywords

•Placements

Contextual Keywords

•Interest Categories

•Placements

•Keywords

Interest Category

Marketing

•Remarketing/Similar User Audience

•Placements

Remarketing

Keywords

Interest Categories

Remarketing

Dynamic Remarketing

Topic Targeting

Placements

Demographics

Recommended Targeting Combinations

Placements and Topics/Keywords • Placements that have the audience demographic that is best for your business and some

topics/keywords that define a good content subject.• Ads will appear on those sites and only on relevant pages.

Topics and Interest Categories• When a person views a topic you know they're reading content that is broadly relevant to

your business. If the interest category matches as well, then you know they consistently read about that topic and are still showing interest.

• A combination of topics and interest categories increased the chances of getting a good quality visitor.

Anything and Remarketing• Users who have visited your website before are more likely to convert.• Remarketing lists work well with all other targeting methods (i.e. contextual keywords).

Combining targeting types makes your targeting more precise, but also limits your reach.

Interest Category Placements

Keywords

Once you have chosen your targeting types, ensure that bids and bid targets are set up correctly.

Bid Settings & Types

Bid Settings Bid Types

• Custom Bids• Should always be set at most

important level of targeting• Custom bids can only be set on one

targeting method within each ad group

• Default Bids• Bids inherited from ad group bid that

are being used when no custom bids are enabled

• Bid Adjustments• Percentage change in bids based on

default or custom bid• Bid adjustments can not be set on

keywords

• Bid Only• Targeting is used for bidding only• Placements/categories/topics are

added with bids, but ads are shown when other targeting methods match

• Target and Bid• Ads will only be shown on targeted

placements/categories/topics with the option to bid on them

To determine the best bid type & bid setting for you, think about these questions:

How do we want to target/reach people vs. what do we want to bid on?• If multiple targeting dimensions are being used the most

important one should have the dominant bid (custom bid).

• E.g. a contextual keyword campaign that uses placement to refine targeting should use custom bids for keywords and default bids or bid adjustments for the placements.

How are we bidding? • Managed bids or bid adjustments?

• Keywords can only have default or custom bids.

• If there are only have 2 targeting dimensions it can be bid on both (default & custom).

Google offers a variety of optimization tools that can help you improve performance and scale.

Relax and let the tools do the work for you.

Conversion Optimizer vs. DCO

Conversion Optimizer

• Automated bidding to achieve CPA goals• Bids are optimization based on target CPA• Conversion Optimizer looks at historical

performance only• Requirements: conversion tracking and 15

conversions/month• Limited Volume

Display Campaign Optimizer

• Automated bidding and targeting to find additional conversions based on CPA

• No traditional targeting parameters• Goal is to find new inventory based on

historical account performance based on ad display URL

• DCO creates clusters around content/sites and shows ads on sites that are similar or to audience that have shown interest in that content

• Requirements: conversion tracking and 15 conversions/month

• Long-term growth opportunity

Things to keep in mind when using DCO:

Best Practices• DCO generally works better with shallow conversions that have high volume• When launching a new DCO campaign use an aggressive target CPA at or above the past 30-

day GDN average CPA• It’s recommended to set the campaign budget to ~20 x CPA

Common Mistakes to Avoid• Optimizing DCO too frequently & early• Using DCO to lower target CPA below historical avg. CPA on GDN• Switching out old creative for new ones with different services• Optimizing/excluding placements based on second-level conversion performance

Questions or Comments?

Email: Dana.Berardi@buyerzone.comTwitter: @BuyerZone