An Introduction to Google Display Ads, Part I

Google advertising is often equated with Google search ads. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg of Google’s paid advertising product options. Today, we are going to talk about Google display campaigns, which let you place your ads on millions of websites and apps so people you’d like to target will see them. You’ll learn how they work, why you might want to consider using Google Display Ads, and one subset of Google display advertising that almost always generates a positive return.

What Are Google Display Ads?

Google display ads help you reach people browsing websites and apps on the Google Display Network, which according to Google, reaches over 90% of internet users. Specifically, Google display campaigns enable banner ads to appear on websites or in apps, and as a result, people who are browsing those sites see your marketing message. You can target the audience you want to reach using a variety of settings. For example, you can show your banners only to people who are in a particular location, are a certain age, have certain interests, and are actively shopping for your product or service. Like Google search ads, you can set how much you can afford to spend per day, as well as the most you are willing to spend per click or conversion. You can manually adjust your bids or set up Google to automatically maximize the number of clicks or conversions.

Why Should you Consider Google Display Ad Campaigns?

Google display ads can help you meet you advertising goals, including some that can’t be easily accomplished through Google search ads. For example, they can help increase brand recognition in your target market or increase awareness about a new product. Like search ads, you can generate leads and sales using display advertising. As the demand for Google search ads grows, and Google continues to change its user interface to favor the few ads that appear at the top of the search results and generate the most revenue for them, the average cost per click for a paid search ads continues to increase. Since there is a huge inventory of spots for Google display ads and they offer the option to reach people actively shopping for products and services, some advertisers are discovering display ads offer a more affordable alternative than search ads to reach people looking to buy.

Remarketing: the Google Ad Product that Almost Always Works

Remarketing is a subset of display advertising that almost always works. Remarketing lets you target users who visited your website, or particular pages on it, and lets you reengage people who are already familiar with your brand. If you have ever shopped for something and felt like the item followed you around the internet, you have experienced remarketing. While this type of retargeting feels creepy to some and will only reinforce your brand to people who are already family with it, it is a popular way to use Google display ads because it tends to generate results.

How to Get Started

Like other Google products, it’s easy to get up and running with Google display ads, but also easy to make major mistakes if you have never set up a campaign. It pays to hire a qualified consultant or agency to help you set up your campaign. They will be able to walk you through options you can use to properly target your audience, will know to set up  multiple campaigns that test a variety of messages and targeting options, and will properly set up conversion tracking so you will be able to track if your campaign is generating qualified traffic or leads. Like other digital advertising options, it takes some time to figure out what works, so start with a small budget and find out what generates the results you are looking for before scaling up the spending.

Are you using Google display ads? Tell us about your experience below.

 

 

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