Understanding the opportunity of advertising on the Google Content Network
Launching a campaign on the Google Content Network gives you opportunity to reach another very targeted audience; often in a very different consideration phase than users on the search network. In competitive verticals like insurance, travel or finance, CPCs on the search network are high and it’s difficult or costly to remain visible. The Content Network is a great tool to build brand awareness targeting users with both Image and Text ads, extending your business’ message in a manner not possible through the search network. More impressions on the ever expanding content network, means competition and cost are often lower than other online channels. Using the Google Content Network to compliment other online marketing efforts can help lower overall costs and maximise business exposure.
Introducing the Contextual Targeting Tool
The Contextual Targeting Tool, can help build tightly themed keyword lists for campaigns to run on the Google Content Network. When you enter words or phrases in the Contextual Targeting Tool, the tool suggests a set of keywords related to your terms, and groups them into themed ad groups. Currently the tool is only available to a limited number of advertisers and agencies, however, data can be accessed though your Google account manager. Hopefully we will see this available to all in early 2011.
Content Campaign – Planning and Setup
Content Network campaigns should always be kept separate from Search Network campaigns. Here are some things to consider when setting up your new Google Content campaign:
- Set a daily budget. Make sure this is set conservatively in the beginning, then increase over time. There are a huge number of impressions available daily on the content network, so it’s easy to spend a lot in a very short time.
- Try different ad formats to see what works best for your business. Depending on your business’ objectives and available budget, there is a lot of choice. See all ad formats: https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/adwords/select/afc/ads.html
- Make ads catchy and interesting. Remember, users are not searching for your products as with Search. So your ads need to stand out. Compelling, attractive and well-written ads will capture a users interest and provide a valuable experience.
- For local products, offerings or location specific services, consider geo-targeting. It’s applied in the same way as it is on the Google Search Network.
Content Network – Keyword Themes
Start by creating keyword themes. Identify keyword themes you would like to target; this will be the basis of your content ad group. Here’s an example of how a theme of keywords for a content ad group could be set-up
Content Ad Group Theme: Travel Insurance
Keywords: cheap travel insurance Australia, vacation insurance, compare travel insurance Australia, travel cover, travel insurance, travel insurance Australia, travelinsurance, annual travel insurance, holiday, Australia
Identify keywords that are likely to be mentioned on a website when a user is reading about “Travel Insurance.” Google recommends that each ad group use 10 to 20 keywords in any given Ad Group. Don’t try fit too keywords into each group, just create another ad group, even if it seems too similar. To help discover and build keyword themes, use the contextual targeting tool, if this is not available to you within AdWords, other great resources including: Google’s Wonder Wheel and other search engine that use clustered search results.
Displaying the Right Ads
The quality of advertisers ads is extremely important on the Content Network. The objective when advertising on the content network is to effectively capture and engage users who are not actively searching for your product. Therefore, the message must be clear and should help pre-qualify users. An ambiguous or misleading message will result in a poor brand experience and will waste your money.
Setting Bids
There are a number options when bidding on the Google content network. The two most common are CPC and CPM but CPA bidding is also available. This can be set under campaign settings tab > Bidding & Budget. CPA bidding will only be available once your new campaign has history including a significant number of conversions recorded.
As a general rule, start conservatively with your CPC and CPM bids. You can increase them over time if you are not getting enough clicks / impressions. For CPA bidding, be generous in the beginning. Take the CPA from Search Campaigns and add 25% to it. This will be a good starting point. As the system achieves your goals, you can lower the CPA target to increase profitability
Optimising your Content Campaigns
Excluding / Managing Sites
A Placement Performance Report will give insight into all performance metrics of websites where ads were displayed in a Content Campaign. Usually ads wont appear on a site for long if no clicks are recorded, so the best way to measure the success of a campaign is through conversions. When viewing placements select the sites to manage. Exclude by checking the radio button next to the URL then click “Manage Placement and Bid” or “Exclude Placements”.
Negative Keywords
These work in the same way in a Content Campaign as in a Search Campaign. They help disqualify any sites mentioning those words to make sure your ads are highly relevant to the sites they appear on.
Content Success
In anticipation of Google releasing the The Contextual Targeting Tool, any of these tips can be applied to improve existing campaigns or used as a guide when setting up a new content network campaign. As with setting up a Search Campaign, the AdWords user interface will guide users through the basic campaign setup process. Google tools mentioned above give more insight and better understanding of the performance of Text and Image based ads across the Google Content Network. AdWords advertisers continue make the mistake of assuming that Google’s Search Network is the same as Google’s content network. Separate content and search campaigns and enjoy the results of a successful content campaign.
