The Google Display Network is sometimes a very tough cookie to crack with all of it’s nuances but it is vitally important to a brand’s online presence. We hear a lot of comments about how display advertising hasn’t worked for advertisers in the past so they are hesitant to revisit this tactic. However, internet users spend 95% of their time online reading and engaging with content, checking social networks, blogging and more. In order to introduce your brand and products to internet users, display is a must.
Along with reaching more internet users, display can also have a direct impact on your brand traffic. Here is an example of a brand that fluctuated their GDN spend month to month. As their GDN impressions changed, their clicks from brand terms followed the exact same pattern. Running display campaigns in conjunction with search campaigns can positively impact your brand.
Although display advertising can be daunting a great new guide (and on-going series) called A Search Marketer’s Guide to Google Display Advertising was published in Search Engine Land today to walk marketers through all of the great new changes, making the Google Display Network easy to manage. Here are a few of the highlights:
- It’s all about placements. Once you find several placements that work for you, the possibilities are endless. Finding placements will take some data gathering through targeting options like keyword and topic. Once you start to see placements that stand out, they can be separated out into their own ad groups.
- The keyword mystery of creating themes has finally been solved. Updates to keyword targeting encourage ad groups filled with tight knit keywords describing products and services. A tip from Google is that all keywords in the GDN are considered broad match. It might be best to look at your search keyword data to find queries that are more refined
- Only 50 negative keywords can be applied to a GDN ad group. This makes it even more important to use a very exact keyword list. Also, consider using negative topics instead to control where your ads are showing
- GDN Flexible reach allows settings to be set on the ad group level instead of the campaign level, giving even more control for GDN efforts. This is a continued effort to make the GDN advertiser friendly
Have more quick tips for success on the GDN? Let us know!
