One easy way to control content advertising in Google AdWords is to use placement targeting. This allows advertisers to choose which websites their text, image, and video ads appear on, and limit their appearance on other sites and even on certain sections of a website or on particular topics. Placement targeting is one of the most powerful tools available for properly setting up a PPC campaign.
Automatic targeting gives Google the power to choose where the ads will be displayed, based on suggestions given when setting up ad groups. Keywords or topics can be defined that tell Google to put the ad on sites that are relevant, but the system itself chooses which sites the advertisements are actually served to.
With managed placements, marketers choose where the ads will be displayed. AdWords has an ad placement tool that allows users to search for websites that take Google’s ads. Advertisers just have to search for keywords and are given a list of websites, which they can then add and have their ads start to show up on.
Managed placements also allow marketers to filter what kinds of sites they advertise on. They can filter by whether a site allows image, video, or text ads, and what sizes are acceptable. Sites can also be filtered by the demographics of the typical visitors to the website, and by topic categories. Even more important, advertisers can alter their bid amounts based on placements.
With display network enhanced campaigns, marketers use keywords to refine their placements. They can choose whether to advertise across Google’s entire display network, or choose just particular sites or categories, which makes them placement specific.
It should be noted that targeting placements by topic should be reserved for campaigns that have a larger budget and are attempting to get out a broad message. This type of advertising will result in a lot of traffic, depending on the topics, but does not give a lot of advertising control to the users, which may affect the bottom line of some smaller businesses.
The best use for enhanced campaigns are to get traffic from the very largest, most popular sites. Enhanced campaigns are also good for newer businesses that are just getting started in display network advertising, as they give more control to the marketers, rather than to Google. Finally, it is wise to keep in mind that smaller budgets need excellent targeting so as not to waste clicks or impressions.