Tools and Strategies for Optimizing Display Network Placements

Find relevant placements

Use the Placement Tool to select websites and other placements in the Display Network where you'd like your ad to appear. The tool appears when you create a new campaign or ad group starting with placements, or when you click the Add placements link on the Placements tab of an existing campaign.

For campaigns focused on branding or traffic, think of what type of websites your target audience might visit. For campaigns focused on ROI and conversions,

consider what type of website a potential customer is likely to visit when they're most likely to make a purchase or convert.

Track success with Placement Performance reports

The Placement Performance report shows performance statistics for your ads on specific domains and URLs in the Display Network. Use this information to optimize your placements on the Display Network and improve your return on investment. For example, use the report to find placements where your ads are earning the most clicks. If you find that your ad converts particularly well on a given website, try adding that website to your ad group as a placement, with a higher placement bid to help your ad appear on that site more often.

Focus on conversions, not CTR

It's important not to worry if your clickthrough rate (CTR) on Display Network sites is lower than what you're used to seeing on the Search Network. It's normal for CTR to be lower on the Display Network because user behavior on Display Network pages is different than on search sites -- users on Display Network pages are browsing through information, not searching with keywords. Remember:

• A low CTR on a Display Network site doesn't mean you're performing poorly.
• Your ad performance on the Display Network does not affect the performance, cost-per-clicks (CPCs), or position on Google search pages or on other pages in the Search Network.

For these reasons, we recommend that you use conversion tracking data and ultimately your ROI -- and not your CTR -- as the true performance gauge for your placements and Display Network performance.

Use performance data to refine placements

Depending on your advertising goal and the kind of performance data available to you, here are some actions you might consider taking to refine your placements:

• If certain types of sites are performing well, add more placements that are similar.
• Allocate more budget to placements that are doing well.
• Review low-performing placements and determine if it would be better to target just a section of that site rather than the whole domain. Or, delete the lowest performing placements, especially if they are high cost.