Keyword Targeting on Google Adwords Content Network Campaigns
Jul 24, 2008 Google Adwords
Google’s had a lid on this one for a while, with an extended beta program launched some time ago, but it looks like the features have finally gone public. If you’ve ever questioned whether your content network or placement targeted ads found a good home due to poor ROI, it might be time for you to consider targeting keywords on the content network.
Right out of the “why didn’t they do that sooner?” file comes keyword targeted content network and placement targeted campaign options. Instead of throwing caution to the wind and hoping Google Adwords can come up with good content matching, you can now specify what keywords you’d like to target for your content network and placement targeted campaigns.
What does that mean?
Simple. Say you want your ad to show up on Facebook, but only on pages that mention the keyword “used car” or “used toyota” or something similar. Now you can simply start a placement targeted campaign, choose facebook.com as your target placement, and start entering keywords and ads that complement your landing page. Instead of showing up on all the placements across Facebook at random, you’ll only show up on those pages that are likely to convert a target market.
These hybrid campaigns have several unique benefits over normal content network campaigns:
- Normal content network campaigns are tough to tame
- To avoid fraudulent clicks and poor ROI, bids are often very low
- Advertisers can work for months to assemble site exclusion lists, but still aren’t guaranteed good placements
- You can potentially get a lot of traffic, but traffic quality might suffer
- Content matching algorithms aren’t the greatest, therefore ads aren’t necessarily as effective
- Placement targeted campaigns can also employ demographics targeting
- Keyword targeted ads on the content network or placement targeted campaigns means you can assist Google in targeting your image/animated ads
The moral of the story is this: If you have aging content network campaigns that have been eating up a lot of management time, go back and look at some of the better placements you’ve received over the past 3-6 months. Have a look at the specific URLs where your ad has run, and try to make a judgment call on whether that domain/placement might be worthy for a keyword targeted placement test campaign. You might be surprised at the result!
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