Running ads on websites is always a difficult and expensive job. But with the support of Google Display Network, abbreviated as Google Display Network from Google Adwords, or google ads, everything will become easier.
What is Google Display Network?
GDN stands for Google Display Network, a network of large websites that are partners of Google that allows us to use Google Display Network to advertise banners on our products and services.
GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK ads show up on www.channelnewsasia.com
Google Adwords (google ads) has two different advertising systems: Search and Display. You need to distinguish between Google search network and display network.
Google Search Network is the most popular form of paid advertising online, placing ads in a “favorable position” of Google. Users can easily see you when they search for keywords. Your ad will display under organic search results. Also, there is less CTA content compared to other regular organic search results.
However, the Google Display Network (GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK) is more passive. GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK inserts ads into carefully selected websites. Users can see when shopping, accessing or reading news. Google ads in this format incline to images, banners, media and some attractive words.
Remember that 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual. So, running ads in this way can make customers remember longer and be more noticeable.
Both forms of running ads have their own advantages and positions to create a sustainable PPC strategy.
Search ads are most often used because placing ads in a position outside the search results page will immediately meet the search needs of users, from which the chance of being clicked will be higher.
If users search for something, your ad will show right in front of their eyes. If that fits the query perfectly, then there is a good chance they are not just clicking the ad. They can also create conversions right on your website. For search, users are in the active search phase. So, their goal is to directly search for specific topics, products or services.
Google Search ads are displayed when users perform a search for products or services
Meanwhile, display is more passive because users see ads. Users do not have to type in search queries but accidentally see when accessing other websites. This form is similar to the ad in newspapers or magazines. You can easily glance to quickly go to the content that you are really looking for.
So, when running ads display, you need to set the mindset and target the results of ads search. Because users’ thoughts when meeting these two types of ads are not the same. In short:
- Ads search is aimed at an audience who is interested in your ad and item as soon as you see the ad.
- GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK Ads change the game in a different way, showing up on pages outside of organic search results, at which time the user is performing an activity.
Google Display Network ad position
Advertising on the Google Display Network allows you to appear on more than 2 million websites. It helps you reach more than 90% of Internet users, this is a huge number, isn’t it?. Your ad will be displayed on many websites, mobile apps and videos. And how the ads are shown depends on how you set the goals for the campaign:
- Find related keywords and topics
- Select specific websites and pages
- Target specific customers based on their interests, demographics and history.
Note that depending on the targeting you choose, the placement of ads may be related or not relevant to your ads content. You can display ads to users who access the website using iPhones, Android devices, tablets or mobile apps.
What is the Google Display Network mode of operation?
- Contextual advertising
This is a trick based on the keyword or topic you have chosen. In order to increase the chance of displaying ads on websites, apps and websites with relevant content. Google constantly analyzes the main subject of the website advertising.
Based on content, language, topology, and page structure. If your keywords or topics coincide with the subject of the website, Google ads will choose that website to post your ad.
- Choose the correct website
With Placement targeting, you can select websites, videos and apps from the Google Display Network website system. To display ads, Google will not automatically select your website as a keyword or topic.
What is remarketing?
Remarketing is also known as remarketing, advertising displays to people who visit the website and save traces, suggesting to remind customers about the company’s products and services.
This trick, also called remarketing ads, is aimed at users who have interacted with your ads, website or app. Aim to show your ads regularly to this audience. Whatever phase they are in.
If you have ever visited the website or clicked on the ads, you will be included in the remarketing list.
5 reasons to choose a Google Display Network?
By now, maybe you have somewhat understood what Google Display Network is and how it works. Now I will analyze why you should choose Google Display Network. Outstanding benefits of GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK for businesses include:
1. Reach the user
The most obvious advantage of GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK is its wide coverage. With over 2 million GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK registration websites, your ads will have the opportunity to appear and click more.
The Google display network in google ads helps businesses’ ads reach customers better
While using regular Google ads, ads are only displayed when users visit Google and type in search for certain keywords. If you use GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK then users will see your ads even when they are not searching by Google. This is a huge advantage because more people will see your ads.
2. Reduce CPC costs
Compared to Google search, CPC on Google Display Network is usually cheaper. That means you still target potential customers without having to spend huge amounts of money. GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK is a great alternative for those who want to save money.
3. Many prices to choose from
PPC (Pay-per-click) is the most familiar way to pay when advertisers pay per click. But with the Google Display Network, you can convert to CPM (cost per mile). CPM may be more beneficial for advertisers because this cost is based on per 1000 views instead of per click. This is the optimal way to save costs and increase ROI with effective ads.
4. Ads images
Unlike regular search ads that are all text, with GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK you can use highly interactive images. Not only that, you can also choose animations to ads more effectively. When placed in the right website, image ads will significantly increase CTR and conversion compared to ads with plain text.
5. Remarketing Ads
One of the most powerful features of GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK is stalk advertising, also known as remarketing ads.
Remarketing is one of the points GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK takes advantage of to run ads more effectively
If you have never used this trick before, you have missed the opportunity to not only get customers to convert but also be extremely cost effective. Assuming users access your website via PPC ad but do not convert, you will think that you have missed this user already and it is time to move on to the next users?
That is a big mistake!
With the power of stalking advertising, you can create a new campaign aimed at users who have already visited your website. With GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK, the website will track users through cookies and display your ad after the user accesses the website. This method is not only cheap, but also has the potential to help you regain lost users and get customers to convert.
If your product keeps showing up when users surf the web, they will eventually be persuaded and converted.
What are the disadvantages of GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK?
There are many reasons why you should consider Google Display Network, but before you put this ad into your advertising campaign, you should also know some of the following disadvantages.
Cons of GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK- Google Ads
1. Can’t control display ads
The first disadvantage is that you cannot control which website will display your ads.
Google always tries to place ads in related websites but it is not always accurate. Sometimes your ads will show up on bad websites. Although it is possible to prevent websites from posting ads, you must manually add them in the campaign settings.
This means you have to check 2 million websites for ads to not appear on malicious websites, causing not only brand image but also poor-quality traffic.
2. Ads are not related to the website
Because you cannot control the website posting ads, you will have another problem that is related.
Google also constantly evaluates the content of the website to display ads that match that content. But in fact, this is not always the case!
Similarly, the only way is that you manually filter and remove irrelevant websites in campaign settings. Otherwise, the best way is to buy banners from the website you want.
3. You cannot adjust customer behavior
Another problem of GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK is that it is difficult for you to target specific customers.
The Google Display Network cannot target a specific customer
For example, if you sell television, you will want to focus on users who want to buy a television and are looking for details about this item. For Google search network, you just need to add keywords like “buy TV” to the search term.
However, in GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK it is not so simple. Your ad will show to anyone, whether they want to buy a television or not.
GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK ad display formats
Many people often misunderstand that GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK only display image ads. But in fact, GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK will give you many choices of formats and sizes with text ads, figures, images, media and videos.
- Text ads – GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK can run text ads just like search. Text ads include the title and two content, and allow advertisers to write a variety of content in which the copy generates the most clicks.
- If it is the image ads – image data will fill ad size on the display website. You can add customer images, layout and background color on ads images.
- The case of Ads media – Components may interact, cartoon or ads vary depending on the audience and how they interact with the ads. Such carousel moving series products.
- For video, Ads become popular when Youtube is in Google Display Network. You can use AdWords to place ads next to Youtube videos.
In addition, GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK has over 20 different displayed ad sizes.
Google Display Network offers various advertising sizes for marketers to choose from
Each website that submits to Google ads will choose an ad size that fits their site layout. Therefore, if you want your ads to run on many websites that meet many sizes of ads, it is best to design ads for display in many sizes.
Advertisers can post drawings, real images and HTML5 ads on GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK with the following size:
Squares and rectangles
| 200 × 200 | Small square |
| 240 × 400 | Vertical rectangle |
| 250 × 250 | Square |
| 250 × 360 | Triple widescreen |
| 300 × 250 | Rectangle in line |
| 336 × 280 | Large rectangle |
| 580 × 400 | Netboard |
Vertical rectangle
| 120 × 600 | Vertical rectangle |
| 160 × 600 | Tall and wide rectangle |
| 300 × 600 | Half page ad |
| 300 × 1050 | Vertical |
Long rectangle
| 468 × 60 | Banner |
| 728 × 90 | Long rectangle |
| 930 × 180 | Banner on the top |
| 970 × 90 | Long large rectangle |
| 970 × 250 | Billboard board |
| 980 × 120 | Overview |
Mobile
| 300 × 50 | Banner mobile |
| 320 × 50 | Banner mobile |
| 320 × 100 | Large banner mobile |
| File size | Less than or equal to 150KB |
You must design ads that are compatible with all ad sizes as above. If not, your ads will not appear on the GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK or even on certain websites. Image or media ads earn approximately 2 times the CTR of text ads but the frequency of occurrence is lower.
The reason is that a block of Google can fit more than 1 ad text but only for 1 ad image only. So you need to outbid the maximum CPC of ads text that share the same block as image ads at the same location.
If you can not build image ads, you can use Google Display Ad Builder but need to integrate clear CTA and brand message in each ad and ads design must be consistent with the design of the website. .
Set up a Google Display Network campaign
Step 1: Start the campaign
After choosing to create a new GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK campaign, the screen will display the following:
The first step of the installation
The first step is to choose to create a campaign or use a campaign designed by Google based on the goals you have set before. Today’s article is aimed at those who want to set up a campaign manually.
Note that the default setting is only set when you select a target from before. If you want to install it manually, click “No Marketing Objective”.
Choose “whether you have marketing goals or not”
Next, the screen will display similar to the search side. You choose the geographical location that ads should and should not appear, methods of bidding, budget, ad runtime …
Note that the default setting for bidding is manual CPC with the option of Enable Enhanced CPC.
Consider choosing advanced CPC bidding.
This trick needs to turn on Adwords conversion tracking. I prefer to manually manage bids rather than let AdWords do it, so I will not check this box. Display also has the option of location and phone number, you can choose to use or not.
Ad Rotation setting also defaults to “Optimize for Conversions”. In this section, I also do not like to let Adwords decide to select Rotate Indefinitely even though it will then appear a warning that your ad will perform poorly.
If you run a lot of ads, you need more than 90 days compared to the settings “Rotate Evenly for 90 Days, Then Optimize” (it means rotate ads evenly for 90 days and then optimize) in Adwords.
Finally, ads run time, default 24/7. This setting is quite logical. Sometimes ads attract customers at confusing times, so if you limit the time, you will miss many opportunities.
However, if ads have CTA phones, it should be accompanied by the time of hotline operation to set the appropriate time!
Step 2: Format ads
The biggest difference between GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK and GSN is that ads display has many different display sizes so it is best to create ad versions that are compatible with all available sizes and formats because you do not know in advance that which ad sizes will be displayed and click on the most.
Image ads
First, you need to create the image according to the desired ad size. Some ad sizes are similar, like 300 x 200 and 336 x 280. This layout should be similar to the square, banner and skyscraper ads.
When you are ready to post ads, go to + Ad and select Image Ad from the drop down list:
Select the ad image you want to run
To continue downloading ads, select Upload An Ad:
Create new ad or upload ad.
Next is the Display and final URLs field, which can add tracking templates, custom parameters, and other URLs to the mobile version.
The settings section for display URLs and final URLs
In this section, you choose to download more than one ad of different sizes if you want these ads to have the same URL and tracking parameters.
You can set parameters for tracking URLs
Designing your own image ads and uploading them into AdWords will be more creative and interesting, as well as control the quality and format of the ads. But if you can’t do it yourself, Google also offers a tool to create display ads based on existing text ads or with a wizard.
Responsive Ads
As of early February 2017, you cannot create text ads in GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK, instead they will be “responsive ads”. Responsive ads automatically resize, content and format to fit any ad frame.
For example, your responsive ad will be in the form of ad banners on one page, but dynamic text ads on other pages because the ads automatically change to fit the website space and in line with marketing goals.
Thus responsive ads can increase coverage and impact but at the same time save you time. Now you have two options: create image ads or responsive ads:
You can create your own images or use responsive ad
If you choose responsive ad, the screen will display as follows:
Options of responsive ads in GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK
You will enter information for the responsive ad including:
- Short title (25 characters)
- Long title (90 characters)
- Description (90 characters)
- Business name (25 characters)
- Final URL
- Download images
In case you upload photos yourself, as long as the images follow the instructions, you can post directly, save the image and continue. However, if you want to get images from other websites or sources, you will have to consider the aspect ratio and size.
Step 3: Add the message
In a non-marketing GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK campaign, you need to shorten your message. The user does not intentionally search for the item you advertise when the ad appears; so the message should be more brand oriented than selling a specific product.
Many GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK ads do not have specific CTA, instead they reinforce the brand image. Also, do not stuff content in image ads. Ads size is also very diverse and suitable for many different designs. Therefore you should be flexible to change the message content so that the text does not occupy an area in any size.
It is best to prioritize content that clearly distinguishes your advantage over competitors or trending like air-con promotions in the summer to quickly entice customers.
Step 4: Landing Page
Ideally, every CTA or promotion should have a separate landing page to invest in appropriate content and images as well as track user behavior rather than just navigating to the home page.
Also on the landing page should have more than one CTA for users to interact such as clicking call, chat or fill out the form. An important note is that you should design the message on the landing page clearly, easily identifiable and coincides with the content of the ads. You are paying per click, so be prepared for your landing page to encourage users to take the next step.
Step 5: Targeting
If traditional ads search only targets primarily through keywords that match the query, then ads display can target by keywords, topics, interests, demographics …
You also have control over where ads are placed through managed placements. Here you can choose related websites to get closer to customers who are interested in that field. After having a list of managed placements, in the Ad Group screen select “Use a different targeting method” → “Placements”.
Then enter the website you want to run ads is complete. Managed placement can also display websites that your target customer group has high accessibility.
For example, the target customer group is mothers. You will want to place ads at mom blogs or parenting sites. An extremely effective method is to use two campaigns at the same time. One used for keywords / interests / topics and one used for location management, but to expand accessibility you should start running traditional GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK. Based on the topic and then gradually narrow it down by removing unwanted pages individually or in clusters.
The categories of websites that are usually excluded from the GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK are pages 18+, pages related to law or politics.
To exclude websites, go to the Topics tab in Targeting:
If you do not want to show ads on your app, add adsenseformobileapps.com to Placements.
Keywords play an important role like in traditional search although keywords in GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK are often general terms. For example, if the target customer is a blog reader for mothers, the keyword will be: mom, mother, child, newborn. You can also insert long-tail keywords.
To be honest, keywords are not the parts that I care about the most. At the bottom, Google also recommends some keywords for you to include in the campaign which are similar to the Opportunities tag in search.
After adding keywords to the ad group, you will see the expected numbers for the week:
Below the GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK targeting options screen, there is always an option section to find additional users as follows:
But I often leave this box blank when starting a new campaign to avoid damaging the data. If you want to target only by keywords, click Save and Continue and then continue to create ad groups. If you want to add another option, click on Narrow Your Targeting Further. There will be more sections Interests and Remarketing, Topics, Placements, Demographics.
Interests are preferences based on the user’s Internet access behavior and not because of their website at the time the ads appeared.
Topics are topics that users are interested in, divided into thousands of subcategory:
Adwords also allows targeting with Demographics (demographics). However, Adwords data will be more limited than Facebook so the results will not be too accurate. For example, if I were to target mothers, I would add demographics as follows:
Do not over targeting
Running GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK ads is to take advantage of coverage or approach the first floor in the marketing funnel. Each level of installation you add to targeting is reducing your chances of appearing or the number of direct responses.
Therefore, you need to clearly identify the target of the campaign to set the appropriate targeting. My tactic is beyond location management. Whatever method you use, start from wide and narrow. Expanding the scope will speed up the process of collecting and researching data to know which target settings are good and which ones are bad.
Remember GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK is different from ads search. The nature of this type is broad scope, not specific goals, so do not exceed targeting limits and lose this advantage.
Step 6: Run the campaign
Everything is ready, now is the time to start running the campaign and switch to management mode.
Like the search keyword report, in GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK you will have a list of websites displaying your ads. It is called “Automatic placements” to decide whether or not to continue posting ads on these websites.
The list is very long, so I will sort by click to evaluate which website users will click the most first.
After the first campaign, you will certainly gain experience to apply it more effectively for future visits.
Manually creating a file to remove pages that are not suitable for ads is probably quite a feat. But if you do it from the beginning will save time for the next time. You can store this data in the “negative placement” list in the Shared library.
Step 7: Adjust the targeting
What happens if the first targeting does not bring the expected traffic or impression?
The reason is probably as I mentioned, you were too specific about the goal when setting up. But do not worry when you can completely change the targeting at any time. For example, for managed placement, you can add or remove individual positions immediately.
If you set up too many targeting floors. You can cut it out and see if the traffic results are better. For example, you use keywords, topics, demographics to target. Then try removing one of the three and then observing the results to decide next.
Step 8: Check the results of running ads
You can manage the effectiveness of ads like traditional search ads. The interface is similar, you can test many different ad versions.
Because GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK has a lot of ad formats, I usually start each run with 1 ad. From there observe each type of ad will entice users in any way.
For example, I see ad format (a) most displayed and (b) most clicked. Then I will create both ad versions and track changes when running two different types in parallel. This job is quite hard compared to search because the display has many ad image formats.
Step 9: Consider selecting appropriate ads
With Adwords, this is not easy.
But with a little creativity, you can guess which ads will show on which pages. First you need to list the custom parameters you will use in the Final URLs section. You can use custom parameters without the need for a tracking template. I often shorten the parameters or even encode them for example:
- Text ad = txt
- Skyscraper = sky
- Small square = ssq
- Horizontal banner = hzb
To see this list in Placement, add the Custom Parameter column under the Attributes tab.
Note: This setting is not applicable to responsive ads. Because every ad version has the same URL for every custom parameter.
Another way to get this data is through Google Analytics. To view specific creative ad IDs of non-responsive ads in Analytics. You add the custom parameter {creative} to the ad’s URL.
You should apply with all non-responsive ads. Then, the actual Ad Creative ID of each ad will move into Analytics. To view data, just:
- Go to Acquisition >> AdWords >> Display Targeting
- Select Secondary Dimension of Ad Creative ID
- View specific locations
To find the ID of the ads, go to the Ads tab. You can add Ad ID and Ad type to Modify columns.
The screen will display two new columns, Ad ID and Ad Type:
If you have set your custom parameter in 1 way, you can still use Google analytics. GA aims to track user behavior through clicks of different ad formats.
If you want to see ad text versus image ads by location, you can download data from Dimensions in Adwords. To download the report:
- Click the Dimensions tab
- Select “Automatic Placements”
- Click on the data download box
- Add segment and select Ad Type
- Download the document
- Excel file includes position, image ads, text and responsive.
Google Display Network (advertising network display) has a very wide coverage so know how to manage. The location installation will make an important contribution to a successful GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK campaign. GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK also has multiple targeting settings. But you should not overdo it and lose the true advantage of this form. Expand the scope, the object from the beginning and gradually adjust to narrow the results.
And now wish you success with the Google Display Network. Finally, do not forget to update the latest AdWords changes right here! Otherwise, contact us for a free consulting session!