Google Display Network – How To Test Without Losing Your Shirt

The Google Display Network (GDN) is a monster that delivers over Four BILLION page views PER DAY to over 700 Million users each month touching more than 80% of the online world.

Due to historical quality issues most people swerve the Google Display Network as they feel that it’s the remit of made for AdSense sites that used to rape unwary AdWords advertisers budgets and add little value or they just don’t understand it so don’t try it.

The Google Display Network doesn’t work for everyone, that’s a fact but it is worth testing but it needs doing differently to normal Google AdWords Search based campaigns.

On the GDN ignores match type, it will take into account Negative Keywords but if you just drag in thousands from your normal search campaigns then you won’t get a great result. Ideally you just want a few Keywords in an AdGroup, sometimes with not even any Negative Keywords at all.

The Theme based approach on the Google Display Network used to work well but now a more Keyword orientated approach seems to be favoured by Google which makes it easier but it’s still not as fluid as the normal AdWords Search Network.

So for testing your GDN Campaign taking a broader Keyword approach is the way to go but rather than using longer tail 5-6 word phrases, go for the 2-3 word search Keyword phrases and put them into a Display only campaign, you can also add some Negative Keywords but don’t add thousands!

The best approach for Display Network is to be as relevant as possible all the way, so Keyword is Relevant to AdCopy, AdCopy is relevant to landing page, all three tie up and are tightly related, if the Keyword doesn’t match specifically the AdCopy and landing page then it needs to be in a new AdGroup.

If you only target your Google Display Network Ads via Keywords then regardless of how great your Keywords are then you may discover your advert shown of an array of sites which may produce great results on some but fail miserably on others leaving you wondering if it’s the site traffic or your landing page or your service/product offer.

The Google Display Network offers Placement Targeting, this means that you can choose sites to appear on, in fact not just sites but even which specific pages or parts of sites (above the fold, across the top, or down the side etc.) and the interesting thing is that you can really find out fast if it’s the site your ads are appearing on or your landing page/offer that’s not converting.

One trick to ensure that you find placements that your target customers use is to try something like DoubleClick Ad Planner to ensure that your ads are only being displayed to the right prospects.

Something to bear in mind is that the sites that get the most traffic often have mixed themes or content on the site e.g About.com will have millions of impressions across thousands of different topics so you need to pick placements with more granularity in these cases, you need to hone in on the most relevant parts of the site that really match your target audience’s interests but due to the volume of some sites even in those sub sections you’ll need to put keyword filters in there too.

Flexible Reach is where the Google Display Network can really shine, you can set up your campaign targeting so that the advert is displayed only if a user is on a placement you have selected AND the article there matches your keyword selection, this basically becomes a bespoke placement that your advert should be highly relevant to.

With proper Keyword segmentation and targeting then the Keywords shouldn’t be the problem, but ensure that you check your ads by reviewing the page URL’s where your ads are appearing to make sure that they page is relevant, if not then refine the Keywords.

If the conversion is still too low after refining the Keywords then you can start to look at the landing page, creative you are using, or the offer you are making to try to engage better with your target audience.

The key to testing on the GDN without losing your shirt is to set a moderate campaign budget but monitor closely, ensure that the placement page and the position of the ads is relevant and that the ads and landing page are highly relevant to each other, if not then they need breaking out into smaller groups with more relevant placements, adverts and landing pages.