Google Adwords

Where are your Google ads shown?

1. Google Search (e.g. google.co.nz, google.com)

2. Google’s Search Syndication Partners (e.g. Ask.com)

3. The Content Network (e.g. Gmail, NZ Herald, YouTube and niche sites).

Your advert position is determined by...

Relevance

Quality Score

X

Willingness to pay

Max CPC

=

Your advert rank…

which denotes

ad position

Clients often express confusion in understanding the difference between enabling their AdWords ads to run on the Search Network or the Display Network (formerly referred to as the Content Network). This is just one of the many various options you have to make a decision about in regard to your campaign’s settings.

So, what’s the difference?

The search network is likely what comes to mind when you’re thinking of Adwords. It might help to think of search network = search engines. Within the Search Network, it’s possible to choose between Google search and Search partners. Google lists AOL.com and Ask.com as examples of their search partners. These ads are targeted based on the keyword(s) users select as their search query. It is only possible to run text ads on the Search Network.

The Display Network, which, up until recently was referred to as the Content Network, or, as I like to refer to it, the “Wild Wild West” is a gigantic network of websites that have Google Adsense enabled. When you see ads on your friend’s blog, online newspapers, or when you’re cruising around Youtube watching Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton duets, these ads appear because some one enabled their ads to run on the Display Network.

Within the Display Network, it is possible to select between, “Relevant pages across the entire network,” or, “Relevant pages only on the placements, audiences and topics I manage.” In order to find the “Relevant pages only on the placements, audiences and topics I manage,” I would suggest first running your Adwords campaign on “Relevant pages across the entire network” for a month or two and to look at the websites that your ads are appearing in order to better gauge their relevancy in regard to your ads. And true to my, “Wild, Wild, West” analogy, it’s important to cap your impressions low and keep a very, very close eye on your budget so that your ads don’t run like wild horses and Google takes all of your money in a stickup.

Although the display network reaches more people, in my experience the quality of the traffic and the clicks and conversions are much lower. Many advertisers view the display network’s value in branding of their product or service. To put things in perspective, if I’m reading a friends’ blog, I’m likely not searching for a product or a service and would likely only click on an ad out of curiosity. Rather than being driven by specific keywords, display network ads appear based on themes in the keyword list. Additionally, it’s possible to run text ads as well as image, video or rich media ads on the display network.

So ultimately use the search network if your wanting to get clicks and quick conversions and the display network if your wanting to increase branding!

If your still confused or would like specialist assistance, please call us on 0800 400 736 or www.internetnewzealand.com