For four years now, Display Select Keywords—a feature in AdWords that puts your PPC ad on hundreds of sites throughout the Google Display Network—has been in beta testing. Now, it is finally open to the public, and it has become even more precise.
The Big Change: Choose Between Content and Audience
In the past, when advertising through the Google Display Network, you inputted your keywords and Google chose when to show your ads. They would automatically show your ads on sites directly related to your keywords, as well as sites that are only likely to be interested in your keywords (based on past experience). While this is great, it could mean that you were wasting clicks on people that weren’t committed to your keywords.
Now, Google allows you to choose how you want your ad to be shown. You can still use the old way of showing it to both interested and likely to be interested parties by selecting the Audience option (used to be Keyword Contextual Targeting, or KCT), or you can tell Google to only show your ad on the sites that are an exact keyword match using the Content option (used to be Display Select Keywords, or DSK). To summarize:
- Audience – The old KCT – Shows your ad throughout the entire Google Display Network, including an audience that is only potentially interested in your keyword.
- Content – The old DSK – Shows your ad only within the specific content (sites, apps, videos) that is relevant to your keywords.
How to Make It Work For You
When setting up your PPC ad, look under the Display Keywords tab. You will see an option for Keyword Setting. This is where you will choose between Audience or Content. Again, if you choose Audience, it will be the same thing as selecting KCT in the past, which gives you a larger reach. If you select Content, this is the same thing as DSK in the past, which limits your reach by only showing your ad to searchers most likely to make a purchase.
Why This Is Such Good News
With the updated Google Display Network settings, you can choose whether you would rather reach a larger audience or if you would prefer to have a higher ROI. The Content option will only show your ad to approximately thirty percent of the audience you will reach using the Audience option. However, this limited audience is already at the end of the sales funnel, so you will likely increase your ROI dramatically—usually between 30-50%.
For Further Clarification
If you are still a little bit confused, here is an example of how the new Audience and Content settings work. Let’s say you own a car dealership and you want to set up a PPC campaign using the Google Display Network. You choose “fuel efficient cars” and “electric cars” as your keywords. If you then select the Content setting, Google will show your ad only on sites that directly match these keywords. On the contrary, if you select the Audience setting, your ad will also show up on other sites where people who view car sites are likely to be browsing, such as news sites.
The Google Display Network has always been a powerful tool, but now, it can be an even more effective way to advertise. If you are interesting in setting up your own ad on the Google Display Network, contact Zero Gravity Marketing now. We would love to walk you through the options and identify which one is the best for your business.
