Cracking the Content Network - Driving Me CRAAAAZY!

I've heard the same thing, some people saying the content network can be good. I'd be curious myself as well. If there are any good ebooks out there? There was suppose to be a Warrior creating one about the content network, but don't think it's come out yet.

The content network is a tough nut to crack though there are big rewards if you get it right. I have given up trying to crack it.

The content network is definitely more expensive than it used to be; but still cheaper than search.
One of the keys to the content network is to know that google does not actually look at the individual keywords in your campaign; but rather the overall theme of your campaign. So, your adgroups will tend to focus on more generic terms (as opposed to long tail keywords that usually work well on search).

So make sure your search campaigns are totally separate from your content campaigns.

I think a big key to the content network is tracking and weeding out sites that don't convert. You can also target your ads to particular pages of sites.

Go take a look at: My Google Tool .com

Adam has assembled a $127 video course that deals specifically with Googles Content Network and how to generate low cost leads.

> The content network is definitely more expensive than it used to be; but still cheaper than search.

I don't know if it's more expensive. I haven't run the numbers.

As for cheaper, on an actual CPC basis, I'm looking at numbers now. I'm surprised but yes, 90% of campaigns show a lower CPC on CN. However, it may just be because of bidding lower and other factors, I didn't go into details.

On the flip side, conversions are consistently lower. And at times dramatically lower. But again, it depends on your campaign. Most of the data I'm looking at are before I managed a client's campaign and they didn't know what they were doing. There are just a couple of exemptions.


> One of the keys to the content network is to know that google does not actually look at the individual keywords in your campaign; but rather the overall theme of your campaign.

I have heard that too and believe it is essentially correct.


> So make sure your search campaigns are totally separate from your content campaigns.

Totally agree.

I usually avoid the content network. I use it for only a handful of clients. I know of some who only use the CN.

My strategy is to first get the search network going and making a profit. Never start a new campaign using both the search and content networks.

If I use the CN, I first research which sites related to the offer that display Adwords. Create a separate campaign to target the CN but not the SN. Then, specify which sites you want your ads to show on. Treat the sites as if they were keywords and remove those that don't perform. Continue researching sites and add.

Letting Adwords choose the sites using your keyword is not a good idea in my opinion. They seem to simply check an Adsense site for occurances of your keywords. Just yesterday while doing research, I saw an ad for a local college. As I recall, one course they offer is for pharmacy technicians as I think the ad mentioned that. The page however only mentioned a few times the word pharmacy. Of course, the college is also probably not doing Adwords correctly and probably using only that one-word keyword, which is a no-no in my book.

I've lately done a CN campaign and used only phrase and exact match types. It doesn't appear to make a difference although logically and intuitively, I would not use broad matches. Another thing I heard is only the first 20 or 30 keywords are needed and Google won't look beyond that number to establish your theme. That would mean too that negative keywords have no effect. I've tried negatives and it doesn't appear to have an effect.


> How do you compare the CN to Google search?

You can't really compare in my mind. Ads on CN are not targeted so you will definetely get lower CTR. My goal is 0.1%, one in 1000. If I get that, I'm usually happy but I've gotten more than 1% consistently in some cases.

As I do more CN campaigns, I'm learning more. One thing is when you target a site, create a campaign specifically for that site. Target individual pages and create a campaign for that page. In effect, grouping your CN ads.

One thing I tried once that Google didn't like was mention the site's name in the ad. The site was selling shoes and the client selling clothes. The ad was something like

Got the Shoes?
Buy the shoes at XYZ.
Now come buy the dress at ABC.

I thought it was a clever idea but the ad was rejected.

I've heard too that banners sometimes do better than text ads. Something to keep in mind. I would create a separate CN campaign for banners and not lump them with your text ads.

Also, just because an ad works well in search, doesn't mean it will work equally well in the content. You have to test separately.

I'm very good at search but still need to figure out the CN a bit more. I'm getting there.