So, you have a new business or perhaps a new product and you’re wondering where to start. Maybe you’re thinking “how do I get my name out there?” Look no further than the Google Display Network (GDN). Sure, you can rely on word of mouth, print advertising, and TV ads, but you won’t get as much exposure compared to digital advertising as Google, Facebook, and other digital platforms can reach over 90% of online users worldwide. With the GDN, you can deliver your ads to the right audience at the right time.
What is the Google Display Network (GDN)?
The GDN is a group of more than 2 million websites, videos, and apps where your ads can appear (in the form of images and banner ads). The GDN can help you reach people while they’re browsing their favorite websites, showing a YouTube video to friends, checking their Gmail account, or using mobile devices and apps. It’s an effective way to increase your brand awareness & exposure at a fraction of the cost of other advertising methods. With well structured display ads and a proper targeting method, the GDN can be an essential tool for your new business endeavor as users are categorized by purchase intent and interests, helping you fine-tune your audience targeting.
When starting a campaign on the GDN, you’ll want to set up your targeting first. Without targeting, Google will target all demographics, websites, and apps by default, which will deplete your budget very, very quickly and also bring in low quality traffic. There are multiple targeting options. The main ones include:
- Topic Targeting
- Placement Targeting
- Audience Targeting
Topic/Placement Targeting
This is a fairly simple concept. Let’s say you want to advertise a new video game. With Topic Targeting, you can target websites, apps, and YouTube channels focused on video games! Topic Targeting allows you to get granular as well. You can target video games as a whole, or focus on just fighting games, adventure games, sports games, and etc.
Placement Targeting
This is almost the same thing as Topic Targeting except you have the ability to directly choose the websites & YouTube channels your ad can appear on, while Topic Targeting is more of a blanket (covering all sites, channels for a topic). Going back to the video game example, let’s say you only want to target channels that focus on a specific genre. With Placement Targeting, you can directly enter the website/channel URLs to target, and Google display your ad there.
Audience Targeting
This is yet another effective targeting method. For the GDN, audiences are groups of people with specific interests, intents, and demographic information, as estimated by Google. Google classifies users into an audience based on browsing history when logged into Gmail. For example, if you often shop for clothing, Google will categorize you under the “Apparel” audience. Audience targeting works great for targeting users interested in your product or service. Audience Targeting can be broken down into:
- In Market Audiences (based on purchase intent)
- Affinity (based on consumer interests & passions)
- Remarketing (based on how users interacted with your business)
- Life Events (based on important life milestones such as marriage, purchasing a house)
- Customer Match (reach users based on CRM data)
Let’s say we’re advertising a new skateboard and we would like to optimize our audience targeting. For our In Market Audience, we can target “Skateboarding Equipment”, which would target people in the process of purchasing a skateboard. For our Affinity Audience, we would want to target what a skateboarder is interested in. These audiences would include “Thrill Seekers”, “Outdoor Enthusiasts”, & “Sports Fans” Again, Google classifies users into their audience based on purchase intent & search history, ensuring relevant targeting.
It’s Time to Try GDN Today!
In conclusion, the GDN reaches over 90% of Internet users worldwide. With the Display Network, you can use targeting to show your ads in particular contexts (like “outdoor lifestyles” or “cnn.com”), to particular audiences (like “young moms” or “people shopping for a new sedan”), in particular locations, and more. With the targeting available, advertising on the GDN can help boost your brand awareness and bring the right people to your site.
