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By: Jeremy Katz | Director of Pay Per Click at NoRiskSEO.com and Former Google Adwords Agency Account Manager.
Search Campaigns are definitely the most used and common form of Google Adwords campaign. A lot of people assume that they are the only Google Adwords format worth utilizing to drive sales. In fact, if done correctly, Display Campaigns are not only good for branding but they can also be your most effective Adwords Campaign.
Certain industries such as Law, Real Estate and IT Tech Support yield average cost per clicks upwards of $50 – $100 with Google Search Campaigns. Some eCommerce PPC campaigns can be equally competitive. In large metropolitan areas, there can be hundreds or even thousands of your competitors in each of these three industries and everyone and their brother “Wants to be listed at the top of Google”. Like most of us, if you don’t have thousands of dollars per day to spend on Adwords, you will not be able to stay “at the top” of Google for long.
Wouldn’t you rather get the most bang for your advertising buck? I believe Google Display Campaigns can be the most effective and efficient Google Adwords Campaigns, not just for branding purposes but also for driving sales.
Here are some of the tricks to set up a successful Display Campaign on the Google Display Network and why many people fail.
Most people set up a Display Campaign by uploading banner ads (creatives), choosing a few topics, interests or keywords they believe are relevant for their industry, set their location targeting and think they are finished. After they run the campaign, what they don’t notice is that the websites or applications their ads actually displayed on have hardly any relevance to their desired targeting at all! I have seen numerous companies spending hundreds of dollars a day running Display Campaigns and the MAJORITY of their clicks are coming from CHILDREN’S GAMES ON PHONES OR TABLETS. For example, let’s say you are trying to advertise your restaurant or food related business on the GDN. If you use the topic targeting category “Food and Drink” without utilizing these following options I am about to explain, your banner ad is very likely to appear on Mobile Applications such as “Fruit Ninja” or other child games. This obviously would not be your ideal target audience.
Why Most Advertisers Have Wasted Their Money Failing Miserably with Google Adwords:
- Instead of using broad topic or interest based targeting, only use placement targeting and cherry pick the placements one by one that are closely related to your target audience. You can get suggestions by simply typing in keywords or phrases in the “Search For Placement Ideas” box and looking at each website that shows up.
- Depending on your industry or advertising goals, I generally recommend to ad negative bid adjustments of 100% on mobile devices to avoid showing up on very small screens and mobile applications.
- Under Campaign Exclusions, click the option that says “Site Category Options” and exclude these following options that are automatically defaulted to be enabled. (WHO WANTS THEIR AD TO SHOW ON A PARKED DOMAIN ANYWAYS?…Thanks Google)
Sensitive content
Crime, police, and emergency
Death and tragedy
Military and international conflict
Juvenile, gross, and bizarre
Profanity and rough language
Sexually suggestive
Type of placement
Forums
Social networks
Parked domains
Error pages
In-game
Gambling
Photo-sharing pages
Video-sharing pages
Experimental
GMob mobile app non-interstitial
If you do not want to cherry pick the placements that you want your ads to display on, these are some of the worst converting placements (websites) that almost every advertiser should exclude when running a Display Campaign. Quick recap: Do NOT use the websites below as you will waste money.
3dgames.la
4allmindsandbodies.com
abcya.com
adsenseformobileapps.com
allgameshome.com
apexinnovations.com
appgravity.com
arcadehall.com
autoevolution.com
blurtit.com
bmi-calculator.net
celebrityselfy.com
contractortalk.com
coolrom.com.au
cu.cc
dateinasia.com
download-free-games.com
easybib.com
empa-al.com
et.com
eyespopping.com
faly.com
fg911.com
fgog.net
filehippo.com
flasharcadegamessite.com
flashgamesplayer.com
francoischarron.com
freecme4me.com
freegames.com
free-games.com.au
freegames.org
freegames-24.com
freegamesdownload.com
freetypinggame.net
friv-town.com
gamebaby.com
gamechit.com
gamefirst.me
gamejoyment.com
gamemoms.com
goboplay.com
gpworld.com
gunkgames.com
healthforself.com
healthtipswatch.com
healthydietbase.com
healthyreply.com
heartofcars.com
hidden4fun.com
hiddenobjectgames-nodownload.com
hiddenobjects.co
hihagames.com
hometownmds.com
horoscopedays.com
hotrodders.com
interesticle.com
jeux.com
jeux-fille-gratuit.com
jobs2careers.com
jobs-to-careers.com
kreativeideer.com
kundeavisonline.com
lifespan.com
listotic.com
lovelivehealth.com
lunito.com
mafa.com
mahjong.fr
mankiz.com
maploco.com
mdcalc.com
medicine-b.biz
mirosto.com
myplaycity.us
mysteryvale.com
mytopfreegames.com
n2yo.com
nosjeux.fr
nurseslabs.com
nursing-theory.org
objets-caches.com
online-game-city.com
online-hidden-objectgames.com
onlinepriser.no
ozov.com
pandajogosgratis.com
pdrhealth.com
playkix.com
playpickle.com
playxn.com
plentyofgames.com
printable2014calendars.com
proprofs.com
puckermob.com
puzzleplay.com
puzzlezonegames.com
racing-games.com
radiologyimagingcenters.com
rebelcircus.com
robertgames.com
roundgames.net
sense-lang.org
smartfares.com
smud.no
snake-bomber.com
spellsofmagic.com
startplaytoday.com
stickpage.com
superior-games.com
tablette.com
teensdigest.com
thesaurus.com
thosefreegames.com
universityprimetime.com
urlm.no
usatravmed.com
uz.com
videolan.org
viralomania.com
viraltopia.net
wapking.com
waptric.com
womensshape.com
This article is only the tip of the iceberg on how to effectively run a Display Campaign and how to avoid wasting money on irrelevant clicks. If you have any questions or comments regarding this topic, we would love to hear from you.
Our success is our clients’ success and we offer full service solutions including expert web design, guaranteed SEO rankings and remarkable pay per click optimization to get you the best results advertising online. Please visit www.NoRiskSEO.com to learn more or call Jeremy Katz at (754) 229-3343 today.
Thanks for Reading,