Used nearly 3.5 billion times each day, Google offers valuable opportunities to position your brand in front of prospective customers. Available on both mobile and desktop, using Google ads in your digital marketing strategy gives your website greater exposure by positioning your products and services above Google’s organic results. However, investing in paid advertising on Google doesn’t necessarily guarantee your ad will secure a top spot.
Are you wondering how Google ad campaigns can work for you? No worries! With years of relevant PPC training, the Google specialists at Premiere Creative created a helpful PPC guide that explores each Google ad campaign type. Read on to discover the best advertising approach for your unique brand.
What are Search Network Campaigns?
Ads created through Google’s Search Network will show up on the search engine result page (SERP), as well as other Google sites (surfaces) where people search with relevant keywords. Let’s say, for example, you manage a local dance studio. A Search Network campaign lets you unveil your text ads to high-potential customers as they’re searching for “dance lessons.”
Ads will match to SERPs based on the terms or phrases someone types into the search bar. For example, a quick Google search for “private tapdancing lessons” or related terms will trigger an ad that uses these phrases. Search Network campaigns are usually focused encouraging people to complete the desired action, such as clicking your ad or calling your business. In general, the main goals of Search Network campaigns are:
- Increasing sales
- Generating quality leads
- Boosting website traffic
These campaigns show Google ads to people who are actively seeking out information. When someone intentionally seeks out a product or service you offer, they’re much more likely to find your ad helpful and click it.
RLSA – Remarketing Lists for Search Ads
Remarketing lists for Search Ads (RLSA) refers to a helpful feature that lets you customize your search ads campaign for people who have previously visited your site. From there, you can tailor your bids and ads to these visitors when they’re searching on Google or partner websites.
When people leave your website without completing a purchase, remarketing lists for search ads help you connect with these potential customers when they continue searching for products and services. You can set your bids, create ads, or select keywords keeping in mind that these customers have previously visited your website.
DSA – Dynamic Search Ads
Dynamic Search Ads are the easiest way to find customers searching on Google in need of your services or products. These ads are ideal for advertisers with a well-developed website or a large inventory as a Dynamic Search Ad uses your website to help fill in the gaps of your keywords-based campaigns. Without Dynamic Search Ads, even well-managed Google Ads accounts with many keywords can miss relevant searches.
How Do Search Network Ads Appear on Google?
When someone searches on Google with terms closely related to your keyword lists, Google Ads will use these titles and phrases to select a landing page and generate a clear, relevant headline for your ad.
Let’s imagine, for example, you’re the proud owner of an international tutoring company chain. Someone searching on Google for “GMAT Prep NYC” sees your ad with the headline “In-Person GMAT Prep – NYC,” clicks your ad, and then lands on the site of your top New York location. Using this method, Dynamic Search Ads can quickly direct potential customers to the most important pages on your website.
What are Display Network Campaigns?
While Google’s Search Network serves ads according to the search queries, the Google Display Network shows ads that target a user’s interests and needs. Used by over 3 million websites, Google Display Network (GDN) shows you ads on the platform or websites being visited by your target audience. This approach to advertising displays your ads on chosen websites, where it can approach your target audience while they browse, read, subscribe, or transact.
Dynamic Remarketing
Remarketing allows you to show ads to people who have previously visited your website or used your mobile app. Dynamic remarketing takes this a step further, letting you serve ads to visitors that contain products and services they viewed on your site. With messages tailored to your audience, dynamic remarketing helps you build better leads and sales by attracting old visitors back to your website to complete the desired action.
Getting Started with Display Network Campaigns
- Product or Service Feed: Create a feed that includes all your products or services, as well as details about each item (unique ID, price, image, and more). These details get pulled from your feed into your dynamic ads. You can upload your feed to the Business data section of your Shared Library. But if you’re an eCommerce retailer, you’ll upload your product feed to the Google Merchant Center.
- Tag with Custom Parameters: Add the dynamic remarketing tag with custom parameters to all pages of your website. The tag adds your website visitors to remarketing lists and associates them with the unique IDs of the feed items they viewed. You’ll find your tag in the Audiences section of your Shared library.
- Create Responsive ads: Responsive ads use layouts in numerous sizes and formats for modern platforms, including HTML5 for mobile devices. You can create responsive ads in the Google Ad Gallery.
Dynamic Prospecting & Dynamic Remarketing
Dynamic prospecting brings user information and product information together to show your best product at the right time to the users who would be the most interested. Unlike dynamic remarketing, which is focused on getting the most value out of your existing customers, dynamic prospecting helps you acquire a collection of new users. This difference makes dynamic prospecting the preferable method if you’re a new advertiser or if you’re targeting an audience different from your first-party data (including your remarketing lists).
What are Google Smart Display Campaigns?
Smart Display campaigns offer a streamlined solution to managing the complex variables of display advertising. From people researching products to customers who are ready to buy, using a Smart Display campaign to show your ads in all formats across the Google Display Network lets you reach buyers at all stages of the sales cycle.
Smart Display campaigns combine three areas of optimization:
- Automated Bidding: Smart Display campaigns will optimize to set your bids according to the likelihood of conversion in every ad auction, thereby giving you the best possible value.
- Automated Targeting: Targeting optimizes as your campaign runs, which means your ads increasingly show where they’ll get you the most business. Where applicable, Smart Display campaigns use dynamic prospecting to match your feed to the likeliest converters.
- Automated Ad Creation: Ads are automatically generated from the building blocks you provide, like headlines, descriptions, logos, and images. They responsively fit into almost all ad spaces across the Display Network.
When to Run Google Smart Display Campaigns?
Smart Display campaigns may be a good choice for you if:
- You want to attract additional customers beyond your manually targeted campaigns
- You use conversion tracking, and you meet the conversion-based eligibility requirements. To be eligible to set up a Smart Display campaign, you need to have gotten at least 50 conversions on the Display Network—or at least 100 conversions on the Search Network—in the last 30 days.
- You’ve limited your Display Network advertising to remarketing, but now want to reach people earlier in the buying process
- You’re new to advertising on the Display Network and want a fast and high performing campaign
What are Google Video Campaigns?
Video campaigns let you show video ads on their own or within other streaming video content on YouTube and across the Google Display Network. Available video ad formats include in-stream ads, video discovery ads, non-skippable in-stream ads, out-stream ads, and bumper ads. Keep in mind that video discovery ads can only appear on YouTube.
In-stream ads run before, during, or after other videos on YouTube or across Display Network sites, games, or apps. These ads may also appear in YouTube videos that are embedded on other sites. After 5 seconds, the viewer can then skip the ad.
Video discovery ads only appear on YouTube and reach people in places where they’re discovering content. The appearance will vary, depending on the ad sizes and ad formats that content publishers support. When a viewer clicks the thumbnail for your ad, the video will play on its YouTube watch or channel page.
Outstream ads show on partner sites. These ads are only available on mobile and tablet and are designed to help make it easier for users to tap to play your video. Outstream ads can help increase brand awareness by extending your reach beyond YouTube.
Non-skippable in-stream ads are a non-skippable ad format designed to allow you to reach customers with your entire message. Non-skippable in-stream ads are 15 seconds or less, and viewers can’t skip the ad.
Bumper ads are a short video ad format, designed to allow you to reach customers broadly and increase awareness about your brand by using a short, memorable message. Bumper ads are just 6 seconds or less, and viewers can’t skip the ad.
What are Google Shopping Campaigns?
If you’re an eCommerce retailer, you can use Shopping campaigns to promote your online and local inventory, boost traffic to your website or local store, and find better-qualified leads. To get started, you’ll need to upload your product data to the Google Merchant Center. Next, you can use this data to create ads on Google and around the web where potential customers can see your sales offerings. Shopping ads extend far beyond a traditional text ad – they show users a photo of your product, plus a title, price, store name, and more. These ads give users a strong sense of the product you’re selling before they click the ad, which gives you more qualified leads.
Where do Google Shopping Ads Appear?
Shopping ads use your existing Merchant Center product data – not your keywords – to decide how and where to serve your ads. Depending on your location, you’ll see Shopping ads across the web on:
- Google Shopping (in select countries)
- Google Search, next to search results and separate from text ads
- Google Search Partner websites, including YouTube and Image Search in some countries (if your campaign is set to include search partners)
- The Google Display Network (for local catalog ads only)
Which Google Ad Campaign Will You Choose?
Now that you understand the different types of Google Ads, consider launching an online campaign to bring greater success to your business. If you want your business to stay ahead of the competition, you’ll need to maximize your online presence. With years of experience helping businesses of various industries reach the first page of Google, let Premiere Creative create your next PPC campaign and track your most important KPIs. To learn more about Google Ads, connect with our marketing team by dialing (973) 346-8100.