4 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
4 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Content network placement - what gives?

by Biks
3 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I'm trying to run some ads on the Google content network and I'm trying to use the placement option. I've chosen a bunch of sites from their suggested list for my niche and it seems everything is "hunky-dorey". Google is telling me my ads are all eligible and I'm getting just a few impressions.

How does Google decide if my bid gets me on the page? How do I know if anyone else is bidding on that placement? Does traffic going to the site have any bearing on how much I need to bid, or does it just depend on who else is bidding for that placement?

Am I also competing with people who are bidding on keyword searches for that same site? (I assume so.) Let's say I want to be on a page that is optimized for a keyword already. I've got to beat out the keyword search bids for my content placement ad to show up?

Are all pages considered equal on a site I'm bidding for? Wouldn't I be showing up in a deep linked page that ISN'T optimized for any keyword in particular? It seems I'm not even showing up on the "crappy" pages within a site that bidding for.

Questions, questions, questions... :-)
#content #network #placement
  • Profile picture of the author pauljeaston
    Waiting for updates too as these placement targeting gets me nowhere...
    Signature

    Suffering from Gout? Check out Cures for Gout

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1235506].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author michaellive1986
    Guys i'm sorry to ask this but I didn't get the point. I'm still a newbie here. Could you please elaborate, if it's okay with you?
    what placement option are you talking about? is it related to adsense? I'm not really familiar with it but I'm sure I am much interested to learn and do tasks.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1235534].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    Michael, managed placement is where, in Adwords (therefore you are an advertiser), you select the sites and even specific pages within that site you want your ads to appear as opposed to Google finding sites based on your keywords.

    Biks, the process of how Google serves your ads on the content network is similar to how it does it for the search network. Each ad has an ad rank calculation based on their bid and CTR. Highest one gets the top spot.

    All types of placement are put into the mix. For advertisers choosing a CPM model instead of CPC, I'm sure there's some sort of calculation to convert that to a CPC model. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Google actually figures all this out on a CPM-based model so the reverse would be true. It can all be very complicated I'm sure, but Google has smart people over there to figure it all out and put every advertiser on the same level. As with search, it all has to do with your ad quality. Nothing to do with the amount of traffic to that site.

    You don't know who else is bidding on managed placement for any page. Looking at the page and ads won't give any clues. Doesn't matter because you want to create better ads than the competitors, no matter what kind of placement they choose.

    You also say you've chosen sites from a suggested list provided by Google. I would check each and every one of them and decide for yourself. A suggested site may not be appropriate for your offer. I've rejected sites based on how and where they show ads as well as overall value. Never, ever blindly accept suggestions by Google.

    So, create great ads is the first step to get great CTRs and appropriate placement (don't select a dog food page when you sell cat food). You may have to select a higher CPC than you want to at first just to get the impressions and some history.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1236275].message }}

Trending Topics