It's Time to Rethink Google AdWords Content Network

Editor's Note: Andrew is obviously not a Google employee. His advice is designed to help you, not Google.

Many people are unwilling to extend their Google AdWords campaign success beyond search result pages to include Google's content targeting program, that is, Google AdWords ads appearing next to articles on third party sites or other content besides search results. In the past you may have been burned by low performing ads in the content network or you don't really understand how it works. Some of these concerns are very real, but there are good reasons to rethink content targeting. I'll look at the pros and cons and then offer some quick tips on how to get (re-)started, if that seems appropriate.

Good reasons to avoid content targeting

• The AdWords user interface misleads new advertisers. Industry consensus suggests that content targeting ought to be used selectively and one should bid lower on content than on search inventory. This is because ads on content inventory tend to convert at a lower rate than ads on search inventory. But when you walk through Google's campaign setup, you find that you've been automatically opted into the content network at the same high bid as your search campaigns. You need to go back into campaign settings to either opt out or opt into content network at a lower bid.
• The "search network" also contains content. Think you've opted out of content targeting? Think again. If you have "search network" enabled in hopes of getting some search traffic from AOL, for example, you may not realize you are also eligible to receive traffic from sources that are not search engines per se. Sites that contain a "navigational component" may qualify to go into Google's search (not content) network. That's baffling. (Expect this to change by year-end. Google informs me that they will improve the transparency of reporting and opt-outs for sources within the search network.)
• Control over page placements (where on a publisher's pages your ad shows up) has traditionally been poor through Google's platform. Much of what we bid on behaves like remnant inventory. Due to the early "cool hack" heritage in Google's engineering culture, AdWords content targeting still doesn't focus on premium inventory. Negotiating direct buys with publishers may be the only way to secure premium inventory and improved control over impact and timing.

Reasons to try it again

First baby steps

To get (re-)started with content network targeting:

Andrew Goodman is one of the world's best-known Paid Search experts. He is the Principal at Page Zero Media, and author of Winning Results with Google AdWords (McGraw-Hill).