Susan Wenograd provides tips on optimizing display advertising campaigns. She discusses different targeting options on the Google Display Network including topical, keyword, placement, audience, in-market and affinity targeting. She emphasizes using layered targeting to precisely reach the intended audience. Wenograd also provides advice on optimizing campaigns through negative keyword/topic targeting, impression caps, remarketing and custom audiences. Her tips aim to help advertisers efficiently reach the right people with the right messages.

1. Display: Reaching the People
You Want, Where They Are
Susan Wenograd
Partner & SEM – Five Mill
Susan.Wenograd@fivemill.com

2. About Me
• Partner at Five Mill. We are PPC
pros with avg. of 7 years
experience.
• Specialize in medium-to-large
scale paid search, display, and
Facebook Ad accounts
• Live in Virginia with my husband
and this cutie.
@SusanEDub

3. Display Doesn’t Work
@SusanEDub

4. GDN Targeting Boils Down
To…
@SusanEDub
Targeting by site/content
attributes
Targeting by audience
attributes

5. GDN Master Targeting Types
• Topical
• Keyword
• Placement
• Audience
• In-Market
• Affinity
• Remarketing
@SusanEDub

6. Site Focus: Topical Targeting
“Show my ads on websites with topics
related to…” (there are over 5,000)
@SusanEDub

7. Site Focus: Keyword Targeting
“Show my ads on web pages containing all
or some of the keywords I specify…”
-Keep ad groups tightly focused
-Utilize negative keywords sparingly
@SusanEDub

8. Site Focus: Placement
Targeting
“Show my ads on these specific sites…”
-Don’t assume you know where your target audience is
-Build this list from running on broader targeting
-Note: Placement means anywhere on that site, so you
may show on a lot of irrelevant stuff!
@SusanEDub

9. People: Audience Targeting
“Show my ads to people who…”
@SusanEDub

10. People: In-Market
In-Market
-Looking to buy
-Limited time membership
-Example: In-Market to purchase a car
@SusanEDub

11. People: Affinity
Affinity
-Permanent member of a “fan club”
-Longer lifetime engagement vs. in-market
purchasers
-Example: automotive enthusiasts
@SusanEDub

12. Custom Affinity
Customized audience based on criteria YOU
specify. (Cuz the GDN just doesn’t have it.)
@SusanEDub

13. Gimme An Example
You sell a line of high-end desserts for
vegans.
…bummer.
@SusanEDub

14. …Are There No Vegans?
It means you gotta find ‘em yourself with layering.
@SusanEDub

15. It Doesn’t Mean They Don’t
Exist
“Layering” = overlapping display tactics to laser-focus your ads on the
people you actually want.
@SusanEDub

16. Custom Affinities Help, Too
@SusanEDub

17. Optimizing Display
@SusanEDub
Me, when display isn’t optimized. Which honestly, is
almost every account I’ve taken over.

18. Optimizing: Ditch Bad
Placements
Please use this. It makes me so
frustrated when marketers don’t.
@SusanEDub
Bonus tip: Exclude
adsenseformobileapps.com to avoid paying
for clicks from clumsy thumbs.

19. Optimizing: Impression Caps
@SusanEDub
Look at conversions per impression (CPI) vs. average
frequency per cookie to help guide your impression
caps

20. Optimizing: Impression Caps
@SusanEDub

21. Optimizing: Negative Keywords
& Topics
@SusanEDub
In our Vegan example, negative out keywords: recipes,
entrees, coupons, etc.
Some common topics to negative: Job sites, dating sites,
politically-charged sites, etc

22. Exclude Categories
@SusanEDub
“Sensitive Content”:
excluded from most
remarketing campaigns to
not to associate brand
with negative stuff
“Types of Placement”:
should be removed to not
to drive up impressions
without any
clicks/conversions

23. Exclude Categories
@SusanEDub
Icky brand
association
(shout out to my friends
at EliteSEM – love ya,
tho!)

24. Remarketing
@SusanEDub

25. Target Based On What Users
Did (Or…Didn’t.)
• Abandoned cart.
• Viewed certain pages on the site but didn’t convert to a
lead.
• Purchased, eligible for upsell.
• Signed up for a free trial. Start showing ads just before
expiration.
….and any other combination that’s large enough to show
ads to.
Target messaging accordingly!
@SusanEDub

26. Advice On Creating Audiences
• If large, break into time frames, if for no other reason then
visibility
@SusanEDub

27. Time-Based Targeting
Know what people do & when
@SusanEDub

28. Exclude Audiences
@SusanEDub
Exclude audiences: purchasers, those who stayed less than 10 seconds,
those who visited customer service/career pages, etc.

29. Similar Audiences
• When you create a new audience, Google will create a
Similar Audience.
• Based on Display browsing activity over 30 days, finds
users with shared interests & characteristics
• The bigger the audience size, the better it can find similar
users – min. of 500 cookie’d users.
@SusanEDub

30. Dynamic Remarketing
• Requires Shopping Feed/Merchant Center
• Requires a leeeeeeeetle extra coding finesse
• Worth the effort
Campaign Type Sum of Revenue/Cost
Display Remarketing 3.7
Dynamic Remarketing 5.7
@SusanEDub

31. Less Waste = You Win
@SusanEDub

32. Gmail Ads
@SusanEDub

33. Gmail Ads
@SusanEDub
Display-like presentation/tageting, but search-like results!

34. Quick Note About Metrics
@SusanEDub
Regular metrics: I am a god!
Real metrics: Ok, maybe less so

35. Quick Note About Metrics
@SusanEDub
Then add:

36. Additional Tips
@SusanEDub
• Consider using coupon codes for cross device attribution
• Optimize to a cost per gmail click to website at first. Turn on
conversion optimizer when you can
• Be prepared to “rest” your audiences periodically
• Have granular ad groups and utilize those layering options!

37. Ready? Set. Go.
• Determine WHERE your audience is and isn’t, based on
the Placements report.
• Determine WHO your audience is. Use layers to get hyper-
focused.
• Determine WHAT they want and need, based on how they
interact with your site.
• Test, Test and Test some more.
@SusanEDub

38. Thanks For Listening!
Susan Wenograd
susan.wenograd@fivemill.com