What is the Google Display Network?

What is the Google Display Network? According to Google, display network sites reach over 90% of Internet users worldwide. So what are they? The Google Display Network is a group of over two million platforms like apps, websites, Gmail, videos, and more where ads are visually displayed. More specifically, marketers are able to target their display ads directly to meet the interests of consumers by choosing specific content to advertise on.

They work for marketers by targeting buyers early in the sales cycle as they explore relevant topics to your brand. You can reach a consumer before they know they are looking for your brand, after they have interacted with your brand, or after they have searched for something similar. You can specifically choose target audience by demographics, keywords, intentions, or even a mix of these options. Strong and effective Google Display Network ads will reach the right consumers at the perfect moment in the perfect place.

Google ads

Tips for Using the Google Display Network

Here are our top five ways to utilize the Google Display Network to implement the most effective display advertisements. 

Define Your Google Ad Goals

The first tip is to understand why you are creating a Google Ad. There are two different types of Google ads; search, or display. Display ads appear directly on search results, instead of being centered around just keywords. For this reason, using the Google Display Network can drastically increase your brand awareness. But they can also do a lot more! Google Display ads are extremely flexible and can meet many different marketing needs. Stop advertising broadly and seeing what sticks. Instead, a more efficient approach is understanding why you are advertising in the first place. A great place to start with this is determining your specific ad objectives. 

When creating your Google Ad, you will be asked to choose your biggest goal for the advertisement. This includes the options of promoting your brand, generating product awareness, increasing sales, and getting more leads. It is important to fully understand why you are picking your goal. If you have a strong idea of your exact goals and key performance indicators to monitor them in your overall content marketing strategy, it will be much easier to go forward with creation and budgeting. 

Google display network tips

Explore Contextual Targeting 

There are many ways to utilize the Google Display Network to target a particular audience. Let’s break those options down. 

According to Google, the term “contextual targeting” refers to “the process that matches ads to relevant sites in the Display Network using your keywords or topics, among other factors.” This means that your ads would appear next to similar content due to the context of the advertisement itself. You can do this by choosing keywords or phrases related to your business, or by targeting a topic that is related to your product, service, or industry.

For example, if you own a catering business, you could market towards keywords such as “best catering near me.” Or, you could market to a specific industry and appear on a popular website about event planning. 

Dive Into Viewer-Based Targeting 

Google allows options for targeting directly to specific users. This can be done through audience, demographic, or automatic targeting. Google groups “audiences” as groups of people with specific interests, intents, and demographic information based on data and estimation.

Audience targeting allows marketers to add an audience to a campaign or ad group select from a wide range of categories. Some examples are fans of cooking and restaurants, people interested in pets, or specific users who have already visited your web page.

Demographic targeting refers to advertising to users based on age range, gender, parental status, or household income. When using demographic targeting, you are able to customized bids to place a larger emphasis on some particular demographics and less on others. This is a good option for markets that have strong data on their customer base.

Lastly, your ad reach can be significantly extended automatically by utilizing Google’s automatic targeting in Google Display ads. Using this feature means Google finds high-value traffic to drive more conversions efficiently, offering better performance prediction. Although Google expands the reach of your ads to more relevant customers, you are still in control of how broadly your ads are being displayed.

This is an excellent option for advertisers who don’t have as much time or experience to monitor or manually target their Google Display ads. All of these options are easily adaptable to meet the needs of your business and audience. The more you familiarize yourself with these options, the easier it will be to understand what makes sense for you advertising plan

Google display

Take Advantage of Remarketing 

Remarketing, also known as “retargeting,” is a key advantage of using the Google Display Network for display ads. The term indicates that marketers are able to show targeted ads to people who have already visited or taken action on your web page. They do so by using cookies on your own site. Remarketing is so effective that website viewers who are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert on your website.

How Is Remarketing Beneficial? 

There are many reasons why remarketing will help your business succeed when using Google Display ads. For example, it is possible to advertise when a user is searching for a similar product, redirecting them back to your page, increasingly their likeness to purchase. This is known as “dynamic remarketing.”

Similarly, you can even get more specific by creating “remarketing lists” to advertise to people who completed particular actions on your site. For example, maybe they clicked on an item multiple times. Or, maybe they put something in their shopping cart but did not complete the purchase. Circling back to these customers allows you to directly recapture their attention and interest. This is also cost-efficient. That’s because there is a lower acquisition cost for a customer who has already shown interest and is already familiar with your brand.

Another advantage of remarketing is Google allows you to turn on “automated bidding.” Automated bidding is a feature that takes the ambiguity out of bidding. Strategies for this feature depend on your previously mentioned ad goals and include maximizing clicks to increase site visits, target impression share to show your ad at the top of the page to increase visibility, target CPA to help get as many conversions as possible at the target cost-per-action (CPA) you set, target ROAs, maximize conversions, and maximize conversion value. Exploring retargeting is a small way to make a large impact.

Google display network

Make Your Ad as Interesting as Possible 

When developing your Google Display ads themselves, there are a lot of different elements to keep in mind. It is important that display ads can be visually eye-catching. It’s important to utilize this distinction by creating a memorable ad. 

Sizing

When beginning with sizing, refer to the advertising creative guidelines from the Inactive Advertising Bureau which lays out ad specifications across advertising networks, including Google Display Network. Work with the space by exploring your ad structure.

Composition

Your ad composition refers to the layout of information within the advertisement. The key components of the ad should include your logo, image representation of your product/service, the value proposition it ads, and a call to action. Your value proposition should include a combination of relevance, differentiation, and specific benefits. Ads work best when you explain to the viewer how their life improves with this product or service. Beginning with this purpose will allow you to work backwards to create a truly meaningful ad. 

Image

The image displaying your product should be high-resolution. It is also important that it is synonymous with the way you want your audience to view your product. Keep in mind that white space allows for viewers to better understand your focal point. This is also important as your ad should allow you to creatively display your logo. This will help build your brand recognition and increase familiarity with your brand. 

Color Schemes

Color schemes can be manipulated to play off your main image along with the remaining components. Using colors opposite of one another on the color wheel makes a more dynamic and eye-catching statement. Contrast can guide people’s actions. So, make sure your color palette is working with your composition to keep a logical order.

Call to Action

Your call to action, such as a “buy now” icon, has a strong contrast to sum up your ad. Additionally, allow the call to action to be a button that includes a link directly to the specific product advertised or to your home page. This allows the viewers to better understand the content they are viewing and their purpose on the website. 

what is the Google display network

Is the Google Display Network the Right Platform for Your Business? 

With structured ad goals, a proper targeting and remarketing strategy, and a strong ad design, businesses can succeed with display advertising. Marketing on Google Display Network can be flexible and affordable, making it a great option for many retailers. These tips will help optimize and improve display advertising efforts. This information can help decipher if the Google Display Network meets the needs of your business. 

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