This document provides tips on using Google Display Network (GDN) targeting to reach specific audiences. It discusses the main types of GDN targeting including topical, keyword, placement, audience, in-market, affinity, and remarketing targeting. It emphasizes layering different targeting types like custom affinities and time-based targeting to precisely find audiences like vegan dessert buyers. Additional advice includes optimizing remarketing campaigns, creating specific remarketing audiences, and using dynamic remarketing with product feeds. The key is to determine where, who, and what your target audience is to test effectively on GDN.

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. Made up of
paid search pros with avg. of 10
years experience.
• Specialize in medium-to-large
scale paid search accounts.
• Live in Virginia with my husband
and this cutie.
#pubcon @SusanEDub

3. GDN Targeting Boils Down
To…
#pubcon @SusanEDub
Targeting by site/content
attributes
Targeting by audience
attributes

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

5. Display Doesn’t Work
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6. Site Focus: Topical Targeting
“Show my ads on websites with topics
related to…” (there are over 5,000)
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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
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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!
Bonus tip: Exclude adsenseformobileapps.com to avoid paying for clicks from clumsy
thumbs.
#pubcon @SusanEDub

9. People: Audience Targeting
“Show my ads to people who…”
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10. People: In-Market
In-Market
-Looking to buy
-Limited time membership
-Example: In-Market to purchase a car
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11. People: Affinity
Affinity
-Permanent member of a “fan club”
-Longer lifetime engagement vs. in-market
purchasers
-Example: automotive enthusiasts
#pubcon @SusanEDub

12. Custom Affinity
Customized audience based on criteria YOU
specify. (Cuz the GDN just doesn’t have it.)
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13. Gimme An Example
You sell a line of high-end desserts for
vegans.
…bummer.
#pubcon @SusanEDub

14. …Are There No Vegans?
It means you gotta find ‘em yourself with layering.
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15. It Doesn’t Mean They Don’t
Exist
“Layering” = overlapping display tactics to laser-focus your ads on the
people you actually want.
#pubcon @SusanEDub

16. Custom Affinities Help, Too
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17. Optimizing
Please use this. It makes me so
frustrated when marketers don’t.
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18. Remarketing
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19. Target Based On What They
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!
#pubcon @SusanEDub

20. Time-Based Targeting
Know what people do & when
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21. Time-Based Targeting
Set up Audiences:
•30 day - Target
•8 days - Exclude
Leverage the Time Lag report to see when it’s not worth
showing your ads anymore, and/or when to start showing
them.
#pubcon @SusanEDub

22. Advice On Creating Audiences
• If large, break into time frames, if for no other reason then
visibility
• Exclude audiences: purchasers, those who stayed less
than 20 seconds, those who visited customer service
pages, etc.
#pubcon @SusanEDub

23. 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.
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24. More Brilliant Audience Advice
http://selnd.com/21ojEEf
(…courtesy of FiveMill’s President, the
“other” Susan W.)
#pubcon @SusanEDub

25. 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
#pubcon @SusanEDub

26. 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.
#pubcon @SusanEDub

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