Google Display Network Playbook

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Google Display Network Playbook
for Performance Marketers
Fall 2012

Table of contents

1 Win moments that matter

Display for performance goals
2 2.1 Display for the performance marketer
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2.2 Reach performance goals with the Google Display Network

Building a successful campaign
3.1 Targeting

3 3.2 Creative

3.3 Bidding Search

3.4 Measurement

Optimization strategies and best practices
4
4.1 Use cases and optimization best practices

5 Tie it all together

Additional resources

Sources cited

1.0

Display: The way advertising was meant to work
When the 1900s advertising innovator John Wanamaker famously
lamented, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the
trouble is, I don’t know which half,” he didn’t have what you can get
today: real ROI for your ad dollars.

Here we are, decades later, and the concept— Now is the time to take your marketing to the
and context—of the advertising experience next level and reach your customers through
has drastically changed. New technological the varied online touch points in their day-to-day
capabilities, like real-time bidding, dynamic lives, not only while they’re searching. Display
creatives and auto-optimization, get you to the advertising gets you there.
right person at the right time. Sophisticated ROI
measurements show you the half that’s working For starters, Google Display Network ads reach
and how you can make the other half work better. people across all types of content—from small
Today Wanamaker would be a much happier man. niche blogs to sites with millions of daily views.
Regardless of where your audience is—on the go,
With the Google
Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or a at work or at home—display ads reach them at Display Network, you
small-business owner, your customers use the
Internet in almost every aspect of their lives—for
the right time with messaging that’s relevant to
the content they’ve chosen to experience. Bottom
can touch the right
work, fun, shopping, getting information and, of line: Display drives performance. customer at the right
course, keeping in touch. In fact, the average
American spends two months of their Don’t just get in the display game—win it.
moment, all across
waking year online1. This playbook shows you how. the web.

4 Google Display Network Playbook for Performance Marketers

2
Display for performance goals

2.0

Reach performance goals at scale
with the Google Display Network
Display advertising on the Google Display Network gives you the
scale to reach the widest possible audience and the flexibility to
fine-tune your message by audience. We make this possible by
serving billions of ad impressions on over 2 million websites
daily, and providing the technology to hone in on your
specific goals. You can keep it simple by using text ads, or you can
take advantage of a range of more sophisticated formats, like rich
media ads—and beyond. No matter your marketing goal, Google
Display Network makes it easy to win with integrated campaigns.

The Google Display Network reaches
93% of all US Internet users, allowing you
2

to maximize performance goals at scale.


2.1

Display for the performance marketer
With smarter technology, more-sophisticated audience-buying capabilities and more ways to connect, display
has become central to the success of advertising. It can holistically improve your other online campaigns,
increasing conversions across all channels, even offline.

How display can work for performance goals:
Reach shoppers at the Supercharge search Extend the value of Customize creative. Manage your
moment of relevance. with display. your search campaigns It’s advertising done smarter. investment—
Only about 5% of users’ time Together, display and with remarketing. Regardless of channel or and make changes—
is spent actively searching .
3
search can supercharge the Ninety-six percent of device, you can personalize in real time.
The rest of the time—95%—is effectiveness of advertising. people who visit a website your creative to send the right Our easy-to-use (but highly
spent experiencing content. After seeing a display ad, leave without taking the message to the right person. sophisticated) measurement
With Google’s display targeting customers are 136% more likely action marketers want them But with display, there’s so tools show how your
options, you can reach your to search for your brand .
4
to take . Remarketing lets you
5
much more you can do to investment is paying off in
specific audience within court these already qualified customize your creative, real time. You can improve
that 95%—when they are prospects and maximize sending the right message to campaign performance on the
shopping, browsing and the ROI of all campaigns by the right customer. fly with incremental changes
potentially in the mood to buy. winning customers back to that adjust daily execution to
your site. match your overall strategy.


2.1
Your consumers are engaged across all digital devices and channels—
PC, phones, tablets, social media and video—and you should be too. You
can reach users across these multiple touch points using the Google Display
Network. Set up is easy—right in your AdWords account. From planning to
measurement and analysis, we can save you time and money.

Reaching your audience at the right moment

Wake up AM commute At work Lunch At home Bedtime

35% of Android/ 59% of smartphone 71% of web traﬃc is 51% of smartphone 70% of tablet 21% of tablet users
iPhone owners use an owners use mobile on Desktop 8 owners search for owners use their use their tablets while
app before getting web while waiting 7 restaurants 9 devices while lying in bed11
out of bed 6 watching TV 10

Mobile Desktop Tablet


2.2

Reach performance goals with the
Google Display Network
The Google Display Network makes
it easy to integrate your entire Illustrative example
marketing campaign in one place. Joanne’s company makes specialty yoga mats. She wanted to expand their success in search
Use display to add relevance to your by launching display ads that would reach young urban yoga enthusiasts.
search, mobile, video and social
On desktop, they increased awareness by advertising on lifestyle sites
channels. You’ll connect with
that are frequented by their target audience.
consumers better because you’ll
reach them wherever they are, all On mobile, they prompted interest by creating a campaign promoting
across the web. 20%-off coupons to people on the go, targeting those who were
actively out shopping for related items.
You can optimize bidding, targeting and creative
for each channel within the Google Display In social, they spread the word through “tell a friend” ads: Tell your
Network. We help you improve overall ROI by friends about the customized yoga mat you just bought and get a
integrating your marketing across platforms discount on your order. People could also share this offer by clicking
and devices. the +1 button directly on the ad.

And…they topped it off in video with a YouTube campaign that showed
companion ads next to videos that their best prospects and customers
watch, such as those involving yoga classes and meditations.


3
Building a successful campaign

3.0

What it takes to win with display
The best performance campaigns combine efficient targeting with effective
creative, flexible bidding and actionable measurement. Within this basic
script for success, you have lots of options; there’s no one-size-fits-all way to
come out a winner. Let’s take a look at some specifics of how to build a great
campaign to reach your performance goals.


3.1

Targeting
Targeting is all about reaching the right person at the right moment. This is not
one-size-fits-all for every campaign, but rather takes planning and the flexibility
to change—just like with search campaigns. We’ll start with the basics of setting
up a campaign and move on to ways to target for the best ROI.

To get started with a display campaign, set up a new campaign within your AdWords account. We
recommend that you set up your campaign as ‘display network only’ to get the precision and control of all
the features of display without interfering with search performance. You can copy your settings over from
existing search campaigns, or make them unique to display.


3.1
Step 1
Choose your device targeting: Desktops
& laptops, mobile devices and tablets
Since your customers are using many devices
throughout the day, it’s important for you to be able
to reach them with optimized ads for those devices.

For new advertisers, we recommend selecting all devices to show your ads to get the biggest range. If
you’d like to get more specialized, you can customize audience targeting and ad creative for mobile and
tablets and create separate campaigns.

Step 2
Choose your locations and languages
Targeting by city, state and country is especially useful
for advertisers such as local businesses, retail stores
and auto dealers, who have geographically specific
offerings. Language targeting is a must-have if your
site is in multiple languages—it’s a great way to
capture additional customers.


3.1
Step 3
Choose your targeting type
Once you’ve decided on devices, locations and languages, the next step
is choosing the unique targeting type that works best for your campaigns.
We’ve described our targeting types below and how to use them. You can
also combine targeting types to narrow your audience even further.

Keyword contextual targeting: Interest categories:
Show ads on sites related to Show ads based on their inferred interests
your keywords Interest categories send ads to people who may be
Keyword contextual targeting lets you target more likely to become buyers based on what they
relevant content and show display ads to people browse and see online. Our system looks at the
at the exact moment they are reading—and types of pages a user visits and how often they visit
thinking—about your category. As in search, you them, then associates relevant interest categories
can select relevant keywords and bids. Your ads (such as travel, entertainment and sports) with
are then targeted to relevant pages in the Google that user’s browser. It’s safe to say, for example,
Display Network that relate to these keywords. that if someone is looking at Caribbean vacation
With keyword-level transparency, you can see sites, they’re interested in travel. They’ll probably
which keywords are triggering conversions and need a plane ticket, a hotel and maybe a car rental.
which are not. And you can fine-tune accordingly. You can use interest categories to anticipate your
potential customers’ needs. Note: More targeting types on pages 16 and 17


3.1

Targeting types (continued)
How remarketing works

Your Website Website in networ

Remarketing: Dynamic remarketing for retail
Show ads to users after they’ve advertisers: A user visits your website
left your site Show users personalized creatives of the
Remarketing reconnects you to people who’ve products they viewed on your site
already visited your site, prompting them to Use remarketing to deliver dynamic creatives by
Your Website Website in network Shopping cart
come back. It’s like plugging a leaky bucket: linking your Google Merchant Center feed. Online
Remarketing can help you plug the gaps of lost retailers using Google Merchant Center can use
revenue by re-engaging with users that have left Dynamic Remarketing to tailor creative to show
your site without taking the desired action. You specific products a visitor has viewed. These
The user visits another site on
can send a fresh message, tailored just for them, advertisers are bringing together all of Google the Google Display Network
after they leave your pages. Your ad will appear Display Network’s targeting, optimization, bidding and is served your ad
on other sites in the Google Display Network—a and creative tools to push their ROI as high as
proven way to engage wandering prospects and it will go.
bring them back to close the sale. Streamline Your Website Website in network Shopping cart

site tagging and optimize remarketing strategies
with the new Remarketing Tag—one-time tagging
that gives you maximum flexibility for designing
custom remarketing lists. If the user clicks on your ad, they
return to your site (and can be
directed to take a desired action)


3.1

Targeting types (continued)

Topics targeting: Placements: Demographics:
Show ads on pages about specific subjects Show ads on websites that you choose Show ads to users based on their age
This broader form of contextual targeting allows Choose specific sites where you want your ads and gender
you to place your ads on pages with similar topics to run. But look out: Placement targeting can cut You can get your brand in front of large targeted
(like Autos and Vehicles). Since this is contextually down on the number of times your ad is displayed. audiences based on demographics but also use it
based, you can use this tactic to get a high volume Use it sparingly, for example when you know for as a refining tool. For example, you can combine
of impressions for your topic. Consider layering certain that your best prospects spend a lot of demographics with remarketing to show ads only
topic targeting along with keyword or placement time on the specific sites you’ve chosen. to consumers of a certain age or gender who
level targeting to further refine your audience and have already visited your site.
reach your performance goals.


3.1

Examples of display ads reaching the
right audience at the right moment
Example 1: Example 2:

Re-engage qualified Reach the right
prospects with audience in the right
remarketing context with mobile
You are a hotel marketer, and Now let’s say you’re a sporting-event
it’s wedding season. You’ve got a marketer. It’s playoff time and you need
honeymoon suite available, and you want to fill the arena. You know that your
it booked. On Monday a prospect visited target audience uses mobile phones
your site but didn’t make a reservation. to check on their teams’ standings and
watch highlights. So you run a mobile
But because you’re advertising on
display ad promoting the best seats
the Google Display Network, you
for tonight’s game, and it shows up on
have another chance to connect to
the sports sites where your fans look
her, through remarketing. So now
up stats. With a simple tap, tickets are
it’s Tuesday, and while that same
bought and seats are filled.
prospect is looking at a floral site in the
Google Display Network, she sees a These ads work because they’re “in the
display ad for your hotel that offers a moment.” They are relevant to what
complimentary night’s stay. You’ve just consumers are doing. The Google Display
sold the suite: she books immediately. Network makes these tailored, targeted and
timely connections possible.


3.2

Creative
A creative, simply put, is an ad. On display, this can be text, image, rich media,
video or mobile devices. Designing the right creatives is an integral part of being
successful with display, as they can have a powerful impact on your campaigns.
Know what types of messaging strike a chord with Make your call to action prescriptive: Tell people
your customers. Use Google Display Network’s what to do—click now, call today, use this coupon,
audience data to understand them, and our complete your purchase. Then, when you think
creative tools to tailor ads that resonate. You you have a great ad, test it to be sure your
can even customize your creative according to messaging delivers as you’ve intended. We give
users’ past interactions, such as pages visited and you everything you need to personalize creative
products browsed. that sells.

Advanced tip

Make the most of your creative
Use all ad formats and sizes, Personalize ads to promote products Include a relevant landing page, not
including text and services most relevant to that just the home page
• Jump on every opportunity to reach your
customer. If you’re using remarketing, • Just as you can with search, link your display
audience by using a variety of ad formats and match your ads to the content that ad to a relevant landing page on your website.
sizes on the Google Display Network. This users viewed on your site. There, post more information about the
will help ensure that you’re tapping into the product or service. And make sure you make
maximum amount of publisher inventory. it easy to navigate to conversion/transaction
pages to seal the deal.


3.2
Creative formats
Choose the option that works best for you to build your creatives.
Try Display Ad Builder Build creatives on your own
You can use the Display Ad Builder to create Publishers for sites across the Google Display
attention-grabbing ads in just minutes. It’s easy. Network choose which ad formats and sizes
If you are new to display, our Display Ad Builder they’ll allow on their pages. Some publishers only
offers a gallery of ad templates you can customize allow certain sizes of formats to appear on their
completely or use as is from a selection of pre- pages, so we recommend that you create your
designed ads created for specific industries. ad in all available formats and sizes for maximum
placement options. For a full inventory and specs,
Choose from a variety of templates, headlines, check out this list.
typefaces and colors. Add to that images, Flash
animations and video. It’s your ad; own it by
adding your logo, custom images and color
Creative has

4x
schemes that complement your branding.

the impact on
campaign performance
than media12

Help center: To search for step-by-step directions to implement
any of the features in this section, visit google.com/support


3.2
Imagine what you can do with creative

We were wondering: What’s there to learn The initiative, Project Re:Brief, is helping
from a few of the most iconic ads in the marketers and agencies learn that
history of advertising? Can what made campaigns in new media can, in fact, be as
them legendary be brought to life in the inspiring and compelling as those created
digital age? Can digital advertising be as in Mad Men’s golden age of advertising.
evocative and memorable as these famous Good creative tells a story that comes
ads of yesteryear? through despite fragmented, multitasking
audiences using multiple screens. A good
To find the answers, we teamed up with
story sells.
the agencies Johannes Leonardo and Grow
Interactive, and the legends who created www.projectrebrief.com
those campaigns in the ‘60s and ’70s. We
remixed the ads, bringing them to life in the
digital age with new technologies.


3.3

Bidding
Bidding is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. There are several options for
bidding—manual versus automatic, based on clicks, conversions, or even
impressions, depending on your goals. Use this section to get some more
context on the various types of bidding available.

Manual bidding options:

Cost per click (CPC)
If you are focused on getting people to your website, CPC bidding is a good place to start.

Cost per acquisition (CPA)
With this approach you bid per acquisition, or conversion. This is a common strategy
used by e-commerce sites, which are focused on high returns for their advertising
investment.

Cost per thousand (CPM)
Referring to the number of ad views, or impressions, this is most commonly used for
brand-oriented campaigns that want more eyeballs on their ads.


3.3

Save time and maximize ROI with automated bidding tools

Enhanced CPC (eCPC) Conversion optimizer Display campaign
optimizer

Maximizes conversions at a set budget
Modifies bidding to by managing bidding and targeting
Automates bidding to help
What improve chance of
achieve your CPA goals. automatically. After you provide
conversions. creatives, campaign budget and a target
CPA, this tool does the rest.

Campaigns in which you want to meet This is a really great option for
CPC goals and improve the chance of Campaigns in which you want marketers who want to free up some
When to use conversions. This can work well for to automate bidding, but still of their resources by allowing our
customers factoring in view-through have control of targeting. technology to do the heavy lifting
conversion data. with both bidding and targeting.

Conversion tracking Conversion tracking
Requirements Conversion tracking
15 conversions/month 15 conversions/month

Improve Optimize Expand


3.4

Measurement

The goal of tracking your results is to learn what’s working—
and what’s not—and make changes based on data.

If you’re just looking for impression or click data then, they might not have clicked directly through
by keyword or placement, we offer transparent a display ad to get there; they might have come
reporting right in your AdWords account. Most through another channel. Knowing about these
performance advertisers are looking for more exposures can help guide your ad strategies and
information to help them make decisions, increase ROI. Different types of tracking—from
especially data about how their display campaigns simple to complex—tell you how consumers Harness the potential
directly meet goals like online conversions and
lead generation.
interact with your ad.
of display advertising
To help you measure the full impact of every
by using data to
In display advertising, the last clicks don’t tell the element of your campaign, we provide several
whole story. Shoppers may have seen your ad types of metrics to help you make decisions. make decisions.
many times before they visit your site. And even

Help center: To search for step-by-step directions to implement
any of the features in this section, visit google.com/support


3.4
Track your display investment
Conversion tracking shows how clicks and impressions lead to a desired action on your site.
From within your AdWords account, you can copy and paste a snippet of code to add to the
conversion page (e.g. purchase page, thank you page) on your site.

Conversions can show up in three ways in your account:

Conversions (1-per-click) Conversions (many-per-click) View-through conversions (VTCs)
This metric is good for measuring conversions for unique This measurement is great for purchases, as it shows VTCs measure “assist” conversions. An assist
customer acquisitions, like sign-ups, because it counts multiple conversions for a single AdWords ad click within conversion is when a customer sees a display ad, then
only one conversion per customer. Conversions (1-per- 30 days. Let’s say that someone clicked on your display later converts on your site. Why would someone use
click) count every AdWords ad click that results in a ad and bought a pair of shoes, then returned to the this as a metric? Display can affect the holistic value of
conversion (within a 30-day window). However, if more page through another channel (such as a bookmarked other campaigns. Looking at view-through conversions
than one conversion comes from one person’s ad click, page) and bought another pair. That would count as two gives you insight into this, and lets you see the lifting
the additional conversions won’t count. conversions for that original click. effect that display campaigns can have.

Many advertisers evaluate CPA and optimize
according to both click-through and view-through Multi-channel funnels in Google Analytics
conversions by creating a VTC multiplier when Many channels can influence the sale. Most marketers look at the top of the funnel (views, clicks, opens) and the
looking at overall results and making changes. bottom (sales, registrations, leads). This means, however, that they are overlooking most of the funnel, where
influence and research occur. Multi-channel funnels in Google Analytics let you look at interactions across different
digital media to show how these channels work together to help influence sales and conversions.

Multichannel funnels help you evaluate ROI, leading to better optimization and results. And that’s exactly the kind
of insight that John Wanamaker was looking for.


4
Optimization strategies and
best practices

4.1

Use cases and optimization best practices
Optimization—manually or through automated tools—is the key to success on the
Google Display Network. To get the most out of your digital investment, actively
manage your display campaigns just as you would your search campaigns.

Here’s where it all comes together: Let’s look
at five examples of how you can optimize
your campaign, according to different goals.

We’ll outline some goals to help you get started,
optimize and grow your campaigns. A great
strategy is to build a strong foundation with a Use Cases
solid ROI, then expand out for more volume. For
example, start out with campaigns types that yield 1 “I want to get started with display.” p. 29
the highest conversion rates (like remarketing)
and expand out to campaigns that will help you to “I want to increase the conversions of users p. 30
scale (like topic targeting).
2 who have already been to my site.”

Optimizing as you go is key, but also keep in mind 3 “I want to optimize my campaigns for better ROI.” p. 32
that display is an effective tool for attracting new
customers to your site—so be careful about “I want to increase the volume of my p. 34
limiting your campaign’s traffic by stringent
4 display campaigns.”
campaign settings. Your goals may also change
as you introduce new products or services— “I want to save time and still achieve solid p. 35
necessitating strategies for acquiring new
5 ROI with my campaigns.”
customers and seeking volume.


4.1

1 “I want to get started with display.”

If you’re just getting started, this is a great introduction to setting up your first display campaign,
utilizing the targeting type most similar to search: keyword contextual targeting.

“How do I reach the right audience?” ”How do I choose the right ads?” “How can I measure my campaign
• Just getting started? Try a keyword contextually • If you’re copying over a search campaign, you effectively?”
targeted campaign, which shows ads on sites should already have great text ads that you Add conversion tracking to your site to learn
related to your keywords. Keyword contextually can use. As a second step, ensure that you’re which keywords drive the most conversions,
targeted campaigns on display are set up the reaching as wide a variety of placements as and to make decisions based on that information.
same way as search—create ad groups related possible by adding in all available image In your AdWords account, you’ll find an easy
to specific themes and input corresponding ads. ad sizes. how-to under the Tools and Analysis section >
• Create separate campaigns for display • Don’t know how to create a display ad? Try Conversions.
to ensure that you’re getting the best Display Ad Builder, which helps you quickly
performance. By separating search and display create customized ads in an array of sizes.
campaigns in your AdWords account, you gain
more control and flexibility—and you’re able to “Which bidding strategy should I consider?”
make changes that only influence the campaign Conversion Optimizer can help you minimize Advanced tip
that you are intending to change. manual work involved and may be the best option
for you if you have more than 15 conversions in To get ‘display-only’ campaigns,
the past 30 days, since it manages the bidding for you can copy your best performing
you to get you the optimal amount of conversions. search campaigns with AdWords
If you’re not eligible yet, use CPC bidding and Editor. AdWords Editor allows you to
remember that you can manage bids at the make bulk changes for your account
keyword level. easily—like copying campaign—and
upload them right into the AdWords
interface.


4.1

2 “I want to increase the conversions of users who have already been to my site. ”

If you’re a performance-oriented marketer, the next logical step from paid search advertising is
remarketing. Use these tips as a guide to setting up your campaigns.

“How do I reach the right audience?” “Which bidding strategy should I consider?” “How do I measure my campaigns
Remarketing is a no-brainer for performance Conversion Optimizer can allow you to get the effectively?”
advertisers, since you’re re-engaging with maximum number of conversions at a set budget At the bare minimum, install conversion tracking
prospects that have already shown interest with remarketing. However, if you’re using manual to understand which clicks and campaigns are
by visiting your site. As a first step, set up a CPC bidding, bid more aggressively on the user converting.
remarketing campaign with several lists. For lists that are the most valuable to you, like those
example, you could target users who have visited that were the closest to a sale and abandoned Google Analytics allows a greater depth of data to
just the homepage in one list, and users that their shopping cart. analyze and make changes to your campaigns.
have abandoned a shopping cart in another list,
so you can tailor the message and promotions
accordingly. For other ideas, see our remarketing
strategy list guide.

“How do I choose the right ads?” Advanced tip
Match your creative to the type of remarketing
list. As in the example above, if you target users Try out new and easier ways to create remarketing lists
who have just been to your homepage, you could
• Google’s new Remarketing Tag can • If you’re already using Google
use a more general message. For users who
allow you to use one easy tag across Analytics, try out Remarketing with
abandoned a shopping cart, you might extend a
your entire site for flexible and Google Analytics for easy, integrated
special promotion or discount.
customized list creation. remarketing list creation.


4.1

Seven tips for improving ROI for remarketing

1 Use the new Remarketing Tag:
One tag across your entire site
4 Automate bidding with conversion
optimizer. Conversion optimizer
passes values based on specific is optimized for users, not just
page views or user actions. It will for sites. When paired with a
save you time and allow more- remarketing, conversion optomizer
sophisticated list strategies. on average yields an 8% decrease in
CPA and a 14%.13

Tailor creative to specific Exclude or bid down on poorly
2 remarketing lists. Personalize
5 performing placements.
promotions, calls-to-action and
landing pages for each list.

Create user lists based on different Select a relevant landing page for
3 combinations of pages visited (for
6 each user list (Product/Sign-up/
example, users who have visited a Contact us).
product page but did not purchase
the product).
Shorten membership duration or
7 target a different user segment.


4.1

3 “I want to optimize my campaigns for better ROI.”

The following points outline some great tactics for optimizing toward the best
campaign performance.

“How do I reach the right audience?” “Which bidding strategy should I consider?” “How do I measure my campaigns
These tips work well for campaigns using Lower bids or pause poorly performing keywords effectively?”
Keyword Contextual Targeting, Topic Targeting or or placements. At a minimum, implement conversion tracking
Interest Categories. • Optimize display keywords just as you would to understand performance. Try multi-channel
for search. Increase bids on high performing funnels in Analytics for more robust reporting.
“How do I choose the right ads?” keywords, and decrease bids or pause
Choosing the ad rotation setting ‘optimize for keywords that are not performing.
conversions’ gives preference to ads that are • Try the same tactics for placements.
expected to perform best. Within AdWords, you can see any site Advanced tip
you’ve received a click on (it appears as an
‘automatic placement’ in the placements Another way to improve ROI
section of the display tab). is to send consumers to your
most relevant landing pages. Add
URLs at the ad creative or at the
keyword level to send them to the
page that will get that user the best
information. This works especially
well for retail, local and travel
verticals.


4.1

Optimization calendar for performance campaigns

Day 1 Week 1 Week 2 Once a month

1x 1x

Start your campaigns. Optimize for impression Optimize for conversion Maintain performance.
1x 1x
and click volume. volume and CPA.
Check that your campaign For best results, check on
is running within the first • Before changing a bid, • Expand on what’s your campaigns at least
24 hours. Then look at make sure that there’s working by adding more once a month to make
the automatic reports enough volume to warrant keywords, categories or sure they are performing
section and correct any making a change. Change placements and pause as best they can, while
mis-targeting by excluding bids at the placement or what’s not working. making small changes
placements that appear keyword level after at as needed.
• Tweak bids: Increase or
irrelevant. least one week of data.
decrease bids at the site
Focus on the placements
level to get closer to your
or keywords where you’re
target CPA
spending the most money.
• Turn on Conversion
• Leave wiggle room for your
Optimizer once you’ve
CPA goals. CPA may be
reached 15 conversions.
higher in the first week, as
the system is learning, but
will stabilize after about 50
conversions.


4.1

4 “I want to increase the volume of my display campaigns.”

If you’d like to increase volume and acquire new customers, these are some
great suggestions.

“How do I reach the right audience?” “How do I choose the right ads?”
There are lots of options for reaching new Leverage all ad formats and sizes (including text).
customers and increasing volume on the Google You’ll increase the likelihood of reaching more
Display Network, while still maintaining ROI. Here prospects by capturing all available inventory.
are two good strategies:
• Topic targeting: Use broad topics to cast “Which bidding strategy should I consider?”

a wide net. Create a new campaign with When going for volume, a tactic you can use is

relevant topics, or consider pairing it with to bid higher to get maximum exposure. Bid up

Keyword Contextual Targeting for more on particularly well performing placements or Advanced tip
precision. Also consider layering topic keywords.

targeting with demographics for more Expand only to new prospects
“How do I measure my campaigns
targeted precision.
effectively?” For a specific promotion,
• To increase volume on an existing Keyword
View-through conversions (VTCs) are a great guarantee that you’re advertising
Contextually Targeted campaign, try adding
option for measurement here in order to only to new prospects by using
new keywords to your campaign. These can
understand the holistic value of these higher a remarking list that captures
be synonyms of keywords already in your
volume campaigns. customers that have already
account, or more generic keywords than you
visited your site. Excluding this
already have.
list of users ensures that you’re
reaching just new customers with
these campaigns.


4.1
“I want to save time and still achieve solid ROI
5 with my campaigns.”

Let our automated tools do the heavy lifting—freeing up resources while still
getting great ROI.

“How do I reach the right audience?” “Which bidding strategy should I consider?”
Display Campaign Optimizer can be a great set- When launching a Display Campaign Optimizer
it-and-forget-it tool for optimizing bids as well campaign, set an aggressive target CPA, at or
as targeting. All you need to get started is ad above the past 30-day Google Display Network
creatives and a budget. average CPA. You can lower this over time as the
campaign starts to ramp up. We also recommend
“How do I choose the right ads?” ensuring that your campaign budget is set at 20x
Include all ad formats (including text) to let max CPA goal.
the Display Campaign Optimizer give you
maximum reach. Measurement/requirements
Conversation tracking and a minimum volume of
Advanced tip
conversions are required.
Wait about two weeks before
tweaking these campaigns to ensure
that the Display Campaign Optimizer
is able to learn the most about your
campaigns. After two weeks, try
optimizing with small changes to
expand to more volume or refine
your audience targeting.


5.0

Take what you’ve learned
and put it into action
Display advertising builds awareness, sparks interest and drives sales.
It makes conversations happen with customers, and it can help other
channels, like search, work better.

Google Display Network gives you the brainpower targeting, bidding, optimization, creative and
of thousands of engineers through an end- measurement—is at your fingertips. We connect
to-end advertising solution that improves you to consumers who define your success.
performance and efficiency. Everything you Reach them through Google: That’s where they
need to make online advertising work—planning, are every day, at home, at work and on the go.

Five things every advertiser should know about display advertising on the Google Display Network

1 2 3 4 5
With display, you can reach Layering display with the Without remarketing, you’re Our redesigned contextual Measurement tactics, like
your audience wherever they search advertising you’re leaving money on the table targeting engine brings the view-through conversions and
are—across desktop, mobile already running often and letting the 96% of users science of search to the art multichannel funnels, give
and video. produces better results than who visited your site without of display. you the best understanding
either search or display alone taking action walk away.14
of your campaigns for the
because they complement smartest action.
and reinforce one another.


Additional resources
Help center: To search for step-by-step directions to implement any of the features, visit google.com/support
Large customer site: google.com/ads/display
Small customer site: google.com/ads/displaynetwork
Project Re:Brief: ProjectRebrief.com


Sources
1. Emarketer. “Average Time Spent Online 2008-2011.” December, 2011.

2. Comscore, Media Metrix Report, August 2012.

3. Online Publishers Association (OPA). “Internet Activity Index (IAI).” http://www.online-publishers.org/page.php/prmID/421comScore%20online%20panel. Aug. 2010.

4. Google Internal Analysis, 2011.

5. Advertise.com. “10 Ways Remarketing Will Boost Your Product Sales.” http://whitepapers.clickz.com/content11005. 2010.

6. “From apps to everyday situations- An Ericcson consumer insight study.” http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2011/silicon_valley_brochure_letter.pdf. May 2011.

7. “The Mobile Movement.” http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/library/studies/the-mobile-movement/. Apr. 2010.

8. Emarketer. “Web Traffic in North America.” http://www.emarketer.com/. June 2012.

9. “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users.” http://www.gstatic.com/ads/research/en/2011_TheMobileMovement.pdf. Apr. 2011.

10. Nielsen. “Q1 2011 Mobile Connected Device Report.” http://www.nielsen.com/. May 2011.

11. “In the U.S., Tablets are T.V. buddies While eReaders Make Great Bedfellows.” http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/in-the-u-s-tablets-are-tv-buddies-while-
ereaders-make-great-bedfellows/. May, 2011.

12. “comScore ARS Research Highlights Importance of Advertising Creative in Building Brand Sales.” http://www.comscore.com/. Oct. 2010.

13. Google Internal Data, 2012.

14. Advertise.com. “10 Ways Remarketing Will Boost Your Product Sales.” http://whitepapers.clickz.com/content11005. 2010.15. Advertise.com. “10 Ways Remarketing Will
Boost Your Product Sales.” http://whitepapers.clickz.com/content11005. 2010.


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