Google Display Network Campaign: Definition, Setting Up Process and Case Studies

What is Google Display Network advertisement?

Here is an example to understand it better.

Imagine you are looking to buy a leather jacket.

You search Google to find the trendy leather jackets, and you go through a few reviews from popular brands. Suddenly, whether you are on gaming site or watching videos over YouTube, ads for new leather jackets start popping up. You might ignore these ads, but they represent the thing you are after. These jackets brands can get into your head – even if you don't click. Simply put, these ads have done their job.

This is the power of Google Adwords Display Network or GDN!

As you have a rough idea of what GDN is all about, this definition of Google Display Network will make the things clearer.

Let’s Understand What Google Display Network Actually Is

The Display Network is an advertising network of over 3 million websites and over 6,00,000 apps. It is the part of Google Adwords and lets you target audience outside of the Google search network.

GDN shows you ads on the platform or websites being visited by your target audience. In the previous example, it offers a leather jacket ad on YouTube because the user frequently visits it.

This way, GDN help you reach your target audience while they’re watching video on Netflix, checking their Gmail or using a gaming app. It lets you show your ad in a variety of ad formats such as video, texts and standard images ads.

But Wait, How GDN is Different from Google Search Network

The Google Search Network lets you place ads on Google's traditional search engine. Think it as Yellow pages. It shows your ad whenever users search it with specific keywords and phrases. The results show up within Google organic search result above or alongside the organic search results. They have the “Ad” tag next to the search result URL. It works on PPC or pay-per-click basis, meaning that you only pay when your ad is clicked.

On the other hand, Google Display Network works passively. It displays your ads on chosen websites, where it can approach your target audience while they browse, read, play or shop. While Google Network is all about showing ads according to the search queries, Display Network shows ad targeting the interests and needs.

Yeah, you can say that Display Network interrupts the audience with your ads as they visit one of those 3 million websites listed in the Display Network. That’s why it is sometimes termed as “Interruption Marketing”.

Here are Some Biggest Benefits of Using Google Display Network

Widens Your Audience Reach:

With over 3 million websites in its network, GDN boosts the exposure and reach of your adverts. It shows ad even to the users who have never been on Google in their lives.

Cheaper CPC:

Compared to the traditional Google search platform, the cost per click on the display network is cheaper.

Visual Ads:

Most Google search ads appeared in the textual form. However, GDN lets you use more displaying methods, from video to images.

Remarketing Ads:

One of the key USPs of GDN is its remarketing ads. They provide an excellent opportunity to convert the visitors into your customers. And it is dramatically cheap. You can target the users who have been on your website.

How to Set Up Google Display Ads

Here are the steps to run your Google Display Ads

STEP 1: Sign in to Your Google Ads Account

STEP 2: Click on "+ Campaign" button and then choose, "Display Network Only."

STEP 3: Name Your Campaign in the Campaign Name Box

(Note: In this step, there are two options—Marketing Objective and “No Marketing Objective”. Choosing the Marketing Option post can be useful. But in this post, we will go according to the "No Marketing Objective Option.)

STEP 4: Choose No Marketing Objective Option and Enable the “All Features Option too.

(Note: After you have picked up “No Marketing Objective”, you have the ability to decide your campaign settings such as locations)

Choose the Locations (according to your target audience). Here you need to choose the language options, too.

STEP 5: Set the Budget for Your Campaign

Set a budget that shows how much you can spend per day, on your display advertisement. There is also an option called Bid Strategy. However, beginners should start with the "Manual CPC" as they can get more experience to start other possibilities. Similarly, Ad extensions and advanced setting on the top of the page can be chosen once you get enough experience. Click on SAVE AND CONTINUE!

STEP 6: Complete the Display Network Only Section:

Give here your ad group name and choose a CPC bid. As you have selected manual bidding option, you can set the price here. A beginner can start with the lowest price and can adjust later according to their AdWords.

STEP 7: Choose How to Target Your Ads:

Beginners can choose the “Keywords” option that gives you control over the ads targeting. Here you need to submit the keywords associated with your target audience. You can also use Placements option to target your ads. It can be found by scrolling down and clicking on “Narrow Your Targeting Further”. Here you can set the ads so that they can appear on chosen websites associated with your offer. You can even create it clicking on “+Multiple placements” option to show your ads on specific webpages.

STEP 8: Weekly Available Impressions:

Once you set you ads, you will see Weekly Available Impression. This feature tells you about how much inventory, which is the total amount of advertising that Google has, is left. A large number means that you can quickly raise your budget and not "top out" for a successful display network campaign. The more specifically you target your campaign, the fewer impressions there will be. 

STEP 9: Create the Ad:

Create Ads section requires you to fill up your headline, descriptions, display URL and more. There is also an option of Image Ad in the same section. Here you can upload the images.

There is also an option to get more reference or ideas from Google for a website. It can be done by entering your website URL into "Enter the page your ad will link to" section. Once you do it, you will get many ideas related to your ad campaign. You can choose or edit these ideas by placing the cursor over them and click on Edit. You can customize it and can view it in various size formats (as you can see them in ad preview.)

Click Save.

Case Studies: The Right Methods to Leverage Google Display Network Campaign

Creating a GDN campaign is just one thing and making it successful is quite another.

Here I have rounded up some successful key studies you can learn how to make your GDN campaign a success.

CASE STUDY #1: How This Builder Gets Huge Leads Using GDN

About the Client:

This luxury home builder has been building homes since 1967. With the aim of getting qualified leads at a good CPA, they opted for GDN.

Their Objectives:

·     To get quality of leads.

·     Decreasing CPA

Strategy:

·     Targeting an in-market audience with remarketing

·     Targeting segments related to homes

·     Utilizing Similar Audiences to find other users

·     Using keyword contextual targeting to create remarketing lists

Results:

·     Reduced CPA on remarketing campaign by up to 50%.

·     Getting leads from remarketing

·     Growing CTR on remarketing ads by up to 3 times

Things to Learn From Them

·     Their key mantra was to focus on in-market audience or people actively looking for properties for sale and home furnishings. Once they got to this builder’s site, they added them to their contact (remarketing list) so that they can reconnect them again.

·     Combining in-market audiences with remarketing reduced their CPA while increased their CTR up to three times higher on remarketing ads.

·     They used audience targeting tools such as Similar Audiences to get new users who had similar interests as of people on their remarketing lists.

CASE STUDY #2: Interior Designer Increases Conversion by 40%!

About the Client:

This case study is about an interior design business that saw 40% conversions using GDN without exceeding his budget. 

Their Objectives:

·     To increase the leads without having to exceed the budget.

Strategy:

·     Pausing all the search campaigns to focus entirely on GDN to get more traffic due to the lower click cost compared to the traditional search methods.

·     Creating a campaign according to the interests, topics and keyword of its audience.

Result:

·     Orders grew 40 times within 40 days.

Things to Learn From Them

What worked for them? They got results despite holding their all campaigns.

The valuable lesson we have learned from this case study is to focus on only one campaign by investing in the right keywords and budget. However, this strategy might not appeal all unless you want to experiment with your campaign.

CASE STUDY #3: GDN Makes This Turkish Campaign a Huge Success

About the Client:

This is the case study of an eminent Turkish B2B vendor looking to spread its campaign for businesses. For this, they have created an advertising campaign to be promoted through Google’s Display Network.

Their Objectives:

·     Raising brand awareness

·     Driving traffic to their website

·     Getting a wide reach

Strategy:

·     A significant part of the budget was dedicated to GDN.

·     Extensive use of Gmail Ads and Search alongside GDN.

·     Using generic B2B keywords used by their target audiences

·     Running contextual, topic and interest targeted campaigns.

·     Using extensive remarketing strategies.

·     Segmenting the campaign into three parts such as: targeting audience and convincing them to sign up for the campaign; informing them about the event related with the movement and giving special offers on the actual day of the event.

Results:

·     Over 230 million impression and 65k clicks were generated.

·     Google Search campaigns generated a total of 45,000 clicks.

Things to Learn From Them

Well, this campaign was generated on a vast level with a big budget. But it can work for small businesses within the budget. They can use the right keywords and invest in other campaigns such as Google Search along with GDN.

OVER TO YOU

Google Display Network can help you get success by promoting your campaigns over the platforms and websites visited by your target audience. However, it should be used strategically by using the right keywords, getting familiar with targeting options, remarketing and other factors.

What do you think? Awaiting your valuable comments!