Google Adwords is without doubt one of the most popular, and widely used, pay per click (or PPC) advertising providers on the internet. Adwords offers two types of advertising systems, the search network, and the content network.
As the name suggests, the search network refers to PPC ads that are displayed alongside search engine results when users search for a keyword term that appears in your ad. The content network on the other hand, displays your ads on participating sites when Google determines that the theme of your ad group matches the content on the site.
As you can see, there’s a significant difference between the two types of networks that are utilised for Google Pay Per Click campaigns. And so, here’s a list of useful tips to keep in mind when you’re managing a content network PPC campaign.
Content Network PPC Tips
* Split Your Campaigns: Despite the fact that Google allows you to view your campaign data according to the network, it’s still a better idea to run separate campaigns for content networks and search networks, to improve your optimisation.
* Manage Content Bidding Strategies: Because conversion rates for content network campaigns are often (but not always) lower than for search network campaigns, it’s important to watch your cost per click (CPC) bids in terms of their return on investment calculation.
* Exclude Sites: If you’re getting a lot of clicks from a particular site, but few or no conversions, use this feature to exclude the site from your campaign. Otherwise, you’re going to be paying for nothing.
* Vary Your Ad Text: Content ads and search ads shouldn’t rely on the same text. When it comes to content network ads, make sure that you’ve crafted your ad with a stronger appeal, call to action, and benefit information to cater to people who will see it, bearing in mind that they haven’t specifically searched for your keyword.
* Placement Targeting: Use placement targeting to select a site that you would like to advertise on. Make sure that, if you do this, you have an ad that is tailored specifically to that audience or site.
* Bid On CPC, Not CPM: Cost per click, (CPC), is probably a better way to bid for your Adwords campaign. It’s clear, it’s easy, it’s obvious. CPM, or cost per thousand impressions, are often very high. This is based on the number of times that your ad is actually displayed, (the number of impressions), and not on how many times it is clicked on.
* Testing Your Keyword List: Because these ads are targeting content, rather than search terms, it’s going to require a little testing to refine your keyword list. In general, we recommend that ad groups for context networks contain between 20 and 40 keywords.
* Write Headlines: Don’t rely on the dynamic keyword insertion option. If you’re targeting ads contextually, write attention grabbing headlines for your ads.
* Long Running Tests: It seems that, in general, a content network ad campaign takes between 4 and 6 weeks to get into its stride. Apart from anything else, Google needs to build up a history for it. So make sure that when you’re running tests, you run them for long enough to obtain meaningful results.