Banner ads are a popular and effective way to promote your products or services online. But not all banner ads are created equal. To maximize your return on investment and optimize your search engine marketing (SEM) strategy, you need to know what are the most effective banner ad formats and sizes for SEM. In this article, we will cover the following topics:
SEM is the practice of using paid ads to increase your visibility and traffic on search engines like Google or Bing. Banner ads are one of the types of ads you can create and display on the search engine results pages (SERPs) or on other websites that are part of the search network. Banner ads are also known as display ads or image ads, and they usually contain a graphic, a headline, and a call to action. Banner ads can help you achieve different goals, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or driving conversions.
Banner ads are again rising in favor as search engine indexes images and video higher. The exception are pop-ups that are akin to spam . I like to use banner ads in specific geo-targeting campaigns as well. Although these are mobile only we know we have customers near your place of business now we just have to invite them to visit us.
When it comes to SEM, there are various banner ad formats you can use depending on your objectives, budget, and target audience. Static banner ads are simple and straightforward, displaying a single image and message. They’re easy to create and load quickly, but may not be as attention-grabbing as other formats. Animated banner ads use motion such as GIFs or HTML5 animations to create more dynamic visuals. They can showcase multiple messages or products, but may be expensive and time-consuming to produce. Interactive banner ads invite users to interact with them by clicking, hovering, or swiping. They can provide a more immersive and personalized experience or additional information or value, such as a quiz, game, video, or calculator. However, they require more technical skills and resources to create and may not be compatible with all platforms or formats.
Although this is true, the online world has truly made things much easier for everybody to create banner and display ads. With Google they are incorporating images now into Google Maps. You may have noticed that a search for restaurants in your area show great images of the menu items in photo formats. These are excellent means of SEM as pages with images index much higher
The size of your banner ad can affect its performance and placement on the SERPs or the search network. Different banner ad sizes have different advantages and disadvantages, depending on the device, the location, and the competition. For example, the medium rectangle (300x250 pixels) is one of the most popular and versatile banner ad sizes that can fit well on both desktop and mobile devices. It can appear on the top, bottom, or side of the content and support different formats, such as static, animated, or interactive. However, it may also face more competition and lower click-through rates (CTRs) than other sizes. The large rectangle (336x280 pixels) is similar to the medium rectangle but slightly bigger. The leaderboard (728x90 pixels) is one of the most prominent and visible banner ad sizes that can span across the entire width of the screen. The half page or large skyscraper (300x600 pixels) is one of the largest and most eye-catching banner ad sizes that can appear on the side of the content. Lastly, the mobile leaderboard (320x50 pixels) is one of the most suitable and effective banner ad sizes for mobile devices that can fit well on narrow screens.
I get the highest click throughs on the mobile leaderboard and highly recommend that if you need to choose just one. Mobile search is especially strong in geo targeting in a radius around your business and at the location of all your competitors.
I agree with my colleague on mobile video banners but ive had the best views on 8-12 seconds videos. Attention spans are short and brevity in copy and video get high yields.
Native display banner ads are a great way to tell a story with a tease about a new product or service. Always try to include in banner video 15 or 30 seconds. Video will out perform static display and triple conversions to a website or landing page.
Great article. Its been a while since Ive read thoughts on banner ads and its nice to see them rebounding as a useful tool along with the great analytics tools that capture so much more rich data in the last few years.