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Auto Placements vs Managed Placements?

by ``Yousef
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Alright, I'm starting a new campaign that is purely content network because I believe it has the ability to convert pretty damn well. I know this niche well, as it as mainly targeted at people like myself and therefore I know some of the authority sites and lower end sites in my niche.

Now, I've used the Google Adwords placement tool before and 1/3 times it actually worked and my ads got placed. I chose the most relevant related sites both high end ones with 100K+ impressions and lower end ones with around 10-100K impressions but I don't understand why my ads aren't showing up.

I left it running for the past 9 hours, still no activity in my account. I know Google Adwords doesn't have real time statistics so I checked my Tracking202 account and visitor appeared (this was probably me).

Do I need to up my bid price perhaps? All keywords, ads and adgroups are showing eligible at my current bid price.

Or do I need to let Google dictate where my ad gets placed on the content network as I seem to have no luck doing so myself?

/rant

Any help would be returned with a smile .
#auto #managed #placements
  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    It can take some time before you get approved on the content network. You have to be patient. The weekend doesn't seem to be the best time to start a campaign. Also, Monday is a holiday in US and Canada. You may have to wait until Thursday or Friday.

    It should tell you if you are still awaiting approval or if your ads are ready to go. If it says your ads are Approved, maybe you are not bidding high enough.

    I think you are doing things right by selecting the sites you want to advertise on instead of letting Google decide with your keywords. I wouldn't change a thing there.
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    • Profile picture of the author kyraline
      Hi there,

      "I think you are doing things right by selecting the sites you want to advertise on instead of letting Google decide with your keywords. I wouldn't change a thing there."

      I was wondering about that too. Can one use both methods for the same ad campaign or should it be exclusive, either keywords or managed placement?

      One of my campaigns is for mortgage-related terms, however I had the greatest difficulty finding sites with actual Adsense on them. And the few sites I've come up with are not showing my ads. In the placement tool I use the 'describe topics' option to put in some related terms. Adwords then gives me a list of available sites, BUT when I check out these sites on most of them I can't find any adwords on them, so I only selected the few sites that did (those are the ones not showing my ads). For my keywords in automatic placement so far I have only 49 impressions. Raising my bids doesn't seem to help, and besides, isn't the Content network supposed to be dirt cheap?

      Fondly,

      Johanna
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      • Profile picture of the author pauljeaston
        Originally Posted by kyraline View Post

        Hi there,

        "I think you are doing things right by selecting the sites you want to advertise on instead of letting Google decide with your keywords. I wouldn't change a thing there."

        I was wondering about that too. Can one use both methods for the same ad campaign or should it be exclusive, either keywords or managed placement?

        One of my campaigns is for mortgage-related terms, however I had the greatest difficulty finding sites with actual Adsense on them. And the few sites I've come up with are not showing my ads. In the placement tool I use the 'describe topics' option to put in some related terms. Adwords then gives me a list of available sites, BUT when I check out these sites on most of them I can't find any adwords on them, so I only selected the few sites that did (those are the ones not showing my ads). For my keywords in automatic placement so far I have only 49 impressions. Raising my bids doesn't seem to help, and besides, isn't the Content network supposed to be dirt cheap?

        Fondly,

        Johanna
        Same situation here and I have problem with my ads showing. Any updates right now after a few weeks?
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      • Profile picture of the author Lucid
        Originally Posted by kyraline View Post

        I was wondering about that too. Can one use both methods for the same ad campaign or should it be exclusive, either keywords or managed placement?
        They should be exclusive. One campaign exclusively managed placements and one keyword placement. And of course a third campaign for search.

        Here's the thing, and I'll use your mortgage niche as the example. The search campaign, that's a no-brainer. You bid on keywords like "buy a mortgage" for when people actually are searching for mortgages

        In your particular case, I doubt there's many sites that are only about mortgages. But there are surely many sites with sections or pages with articles such as tips on how to save on their mortgage. Those are the ones you have to find and target. I'm sure many real estate sites display Adwords, those would be good too. What better time to sell mortgages when they are in the process of buying a home? Those are all your managed placement sites.

        For keyword placement on the content network, I myself would not bother, but that's just me. The one thing I might do at first is run such a campaign for the purpose of finding sites for the managed placements campaign. In this field, there could be thousands of sites your ads appear on. It's just a matter of researching them and deciding if they are a good fit for the managed placement campaign. Once done, stop running the keyword placement campaign and concentrate on the managed one.

        Given the competition of the mortgage field, I would set the CPC to something like $2 with the understanding it may have to go higher. Don't know where you get the idea that it would be "dirt cheap". As with the search network, prices are dependant on the laws of supply and demand. More demand means higher prices. Some sites have more traffic which makes them a valuable commodity with higher costs as a result. It's all relative of course. In your niche, cheap may be $2 per lead but you may find a low traffic site where your costs are lower. You have to decide if you want cheap or traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author pauljeaston
    Is placement targeting better in your experience Lucid? That's as far as content network is concerned.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    You should get a higher CTR on Managed Placements as these are sites you know meet your demographic and they display ads above the fold and in good positioning on a decent site. You can also evaluate the competition from other Ad Networks.

    One problem I ran into (causing lack of impressions) was not selecting the right option under the campaign settings. You must select "Relevant pages only on the placements I manage". The other option just lets you control the bidding on the sites in your placements list. They won't show without keywords to trigger them. This is why they should be separate campaigns.

    What I feel is the best way to approach it is by using an auto placements to find unknown converting targets while also running a Managed Placement campaign on sites that you are already aware of. Slowly thin the auto placements list, moving the sucessful sites over to the managed campaign.

    The auto placement campaign will also give you a better idea of your CPC. If you have to pay too much for a click on a finance site then the managed campaign will let you target the demographic rather than the subject matter - this is its most powerful benefit.
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    • Profile picture of the author livalot
      Originally Posted by Fraggler View Post

      You should get a higher CTR on Managed Placements as these are sites you know meet your demographic and they display ads above the fold and in good positioning on a decent site. You can also evaluate the competition from other Ad Networks.

      One problem I ran into (causing lack of impressions) was not selecting the right option under the campaign settings. You must select "Relevant pages only on the placements I manage". The other option just lets you control the bidding on the sites in your placements list. They won't show without keywords to trigger them. This is why they should be separate campaigns.

      What I feel is the best way to approach it is by using an auto placements to find unknown converting targets while also running a Managed Placement campaign on sites that you are already aware of. Slowly thin the auto placements list, moving the sucessful sites over to the managed campaign.

      The auto placement campaign will also give you a better idea of your CPC. If you have to pay too much for a click on a finance site then the managed campaign will let you target the demographic rather than the subject matter - this is its most powerful benefit.
      Hi There,

      Iam having Great CTR in automatic placements and reduced cost.you want me to add these placements in manged placements by increasing cpc. if so,Google works simultaneously, in automatic and managed placements.

      Thanking you
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    Managed placement is better. As Fraggler says, you are targeting your demographics. That's the point I was trying to get across previously. You want to be in control of where your ads are showing. Sure it's more work but more rewarding in the end also.

    I don't recommend the content network for everything. In fact, I manage only a handful. Only about 10-15% of my clients do I use the content network. Others were tried but with poor results. Depends on what you're selling. Like the search network, the more specific your ad and the site, the better. If you sell car parts, you'd look for sites about cars but you'd probably not do too good. However, if you find sites about Ford Mustang and show them only ads about parts for that make and model, you'd likely do much better. If you targeted specific pages within that site about Mustang cat-back exhausts and showed ads that you sell those, you'd do even better with higher CTRs and conversions.
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  • Profile picture of the author pauljeaston
    What offers work best in terms of roi with content network? the higher payouts with the required cc or the zip submit and emails submits?
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  • Profile picture of the author chetankm
    same thing happen with me my new ad campaign for US and Canada is approved yet. When i drag my mouse on status message shown that it take 2-3 day to approve.
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