Not Running Ads on Google Display Network? Think Again!
GDN is the world's #1 ad network, reaching more than 80% of global internet users. It is a network of multiple Google properties that display AdWords ads like Gmail & a collection of websites, blog, new sites etc. that have partnered with Google.
Here, I would discuss the Google Display Network (GDN), its benefits & the possible scenarios when you should target the Google Display Network.
Let's first understand what GDN is?
Google has partnered with global media outlets and niche publishers to create the largest online advertising network in the world. Google's Display Network is a very easy & cost-effective way of marketing/ advertising on millions of high-quality websites, news sites/ pages, Google properties such as Google Finance, Gmail, Google Maps etc. and blogs.
AdWords advertisers can place their ads on relevant pages with the help of contextual targeting (I will discuss this targeting option later) or by targeting topic specific websites relevant to their products and services.
Benefits of GDN-
As I mentioned earlier, GDN is the world's #1 ad network and reaches over 80% of unique internet users in more than 20 languages and over 100 countries so it's a great way to expand the marketing reach to targeted audiences all over the web.
- With GDN, you can reach users where they spend most of the time. Study shows that the average user only spends 5% of their time on search but spend 47% of the time across websites on the display network.
- It's not only a great medium to drive awareness of your products or services but u can also increase sales by targeting audiences with ads on relevant content.
- You can capture prospective buyers of products/services while they are reading web pages related to their interest, needs, demographic & psychographic profile
- It's Cost Effective too. GDN unique reporting features allow you to granularly monitor your audiences' response, control costs & adjust your strategy to meet your ROI objectives.
- You can hand-pick websites relevant to your products & services or exclude placements if you don't want your ads to appear on them at all, so, controls are very flexible.
- With GDN, you can reach potential customers at different points of the buying cycle. Not every potential customer is focused on conducting a search. With GDN, you can reach the potential customer when he is at the initial level of buying cycle (i.e. awareness or interest) by reading something directly/ indirectly related to your products or services.
- Display Network provides the opportunity to build more relevant and engaging ads with dynamic, optimized rich media ads.
- Google's smart pricing feature will automatically reduces maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bids for certain pages in the Google Network, if a click from a Google Network page is less likely to turn into actionable business results - such as online sales, registrations, phone calls, or newsletter signups.
- GDN targeting offers "Demographic bidding" option- a way to help your ad reach audiences of a certain age or gender.
When to target GDN?
Here, first we need to understand that the mindset of users on search & display network is entirely different. User insert a search query on Google search when he is proactively looking for ads related to services or products but when users are visiting the pages that are relevant to their needs, interest or profile then they are not proactively looking for ads.
On search, the ads are triggered by the search query entered by the user. However, ads are triggered on GDN when matched to relevant page content or specifically targeted by the advertisers.
You should target GDN in the following circumstances:
- If you are primarily concerned with branding goals. Brand advertisers are typically most concerned with ensuring their message reaches their target audience, while maintaining control of where their brand appears, and the cost per impression of their ads. With wide range of targeting options, the Google Display Network allows advertisers to find and connect with their target audience more effectively and more often, providing them with effective targeting at scale.
- If you need to target demographic or psychographic segments of users. Advertisers who want to target a set of people/ group based on their age, interest, lifestyle, gender etc. then GDN targeting can help them to reach the potential segments.
- If you need to target visually engaging content. Online video and game sites within the Google Display Network are also available to advertisers who want to extend the reach of their display campaigns even further. Advertisers can appear before, during or after a video stream (in-stream video ads), overlay a video or text ad on top of a video (in-video overlays), or run an image, video, or text ad at the conclusion of a video (end-cap ads).
- If you need to expand your search traffic. A well managed display campaign can increase search traffic by increasing brand awareness, brand recognition and brand preference. This brand awareness causes users to be more attracted to the brand. Studies shows that Search and display together provide a 22 percent conversion rate lift over search alone.
- If search auctions are too competitive. If keywords competition is high and CPCs are sky-rocketing on the search network, then targeting the display network can be a good idea as it can offer less competition and lower costs per click, and might actually convert well and generate acceptable costs per acquisition for you.
Before moving further, I want to answer one question (with stats) which I encountered so many times for the display network performance, i.e. does the display network perform better than the search?
Yes, if managed properly. If fact, in few cases GDN provides me better CPA than the search network. Google AdWords team has analyzed a group of more than 25,000 global accounts with a statistically significant number of Google-tracked conversions on both the Search and Display Networks for a 12-month period. The primary metric we examined was cost-per-acquisition (CPA). CPA is a common success metric for many types of campaigns and is often closely tied to overall campaign return on investment (ROI). AdWords team found that for advertisers running on both the Search and Display Networks, ads on the Display Network can be as cost-effective as ads on the Search Network. The Display Network generally delivers conversion volume that's high enough to noticeably impact the overall revenue driven by AdWords, although there are likely limits to the number of Display Network conversions available at target CPAs. 47% marketers achieve a CPA on the GDN that is as good or better than the CPA they achieved with Search.
Also, the median CPA on the GDN is 4% lower than the median CPA on search.
This means, you can get excellent results from GDN if you set up your campaign correctly & optimize it well.
Let me know your thoughts ...
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