Advertisements are a highly effective marketing tool that can bring attention to your business. When done correctly, advertisements reap many benefits. There are several factors that contribute to creating a successful ad, but one of the most important aspects would be the ability to target your ad to the corresponding audience. There are a variety of advertising platforms to choose from, but to capitalize on maximum targeting abilities, Google Ads is an ideal application to use.
Why Google Ads?
There are many reasons why Google Ads is an ideal choice for an advertising platform, beyond the fact that it resides in the largest search engine in the world. The targeting capabilities of Google Ads help to guarantee that your advertisement will generate conversions. Google’s targeting tools help you to narrow the audience of users viewing your advertisements and can be implemented at both the ad group and campaign levels.
Google’s targeting abilities are essentially broken down into two categories: Google search targeting and Google display targeting. Google search targeting refers to advertising on the Google Search Network, with your advertisements displayed following a relevant search query by a user. There are various targeting parameters that can be used under Google search targeting, including: keyword, custom audiences, location, remarketing lists, and more. Google display targeting refers to advertising on the Google Display Network, displaying advertisements on websites that the user visits, targeting those who have shown interest in your business. There is a variety of targeting options to select from, including: keyword, custom audiences, affinity audiences, topic, location, placement, and more.
1. Keyword Targeting
Keyword targeting is optional for display campaigns, but fundamental for search campaigns. For display campaigns, you enter terms that are related to your business, and Google will find similar websites where it will put your ads. For search campaigns, the keywords that you choose tells Google what terms you want to bid on and when you want your ad to be displayed. The ability to control the presence of your ad and who sees it, allows for you to be able to effectively optimize your ad groups based on resulting data.
2. Topic Targeting
Topic targeting ensures that your ad is only displayed with content similar to yours, and to your specified audience. Further, with Placement Targeting, you can control which websites and applications you want to display your ads.
3. Audience Targeting
Audience targeting allows for you to be able to target your audience based on interests. This is beneficial as it allows for you to advertise to a very specific group of people. Google offers the ability to utilize custom built audiences and pre-built audiences. There are many different audiences to choose from, including: custom audiences, affinity audiences, remarketing audiences, and in-market audiences. Custom audiences allow for you to be able to create your own custom affinity audiences for better matched targeting results. To build this audience, Google matches users based on the keyword or website that was provided, in turn displaying a specified audience for your ad. Remarketing audiences offer the opportunity to follow up with users who perhaps visited your website or ad with no action. Your ad will appear in a search or on relevant web pages that the user will visit, reminding them of your business and what you can offer them. In-market audiences present your ads to users who need what you can provide; they are actively looking for your service. The different methods of audience targeting can result in a higher ROI for your ad as it is marketed to a narrow audience relevant to your business.
4. Demographics Targeting
Demographics targeting uses filters to target people who match your audience. There are several filters to be utilized to target your ideal customers, including: gender, age, income, etc. Demographic targeting can allow for you to specifically narrow your audience, with the ability to exclude certain users based on their demographic information. The narrower you get, the more impressionable your ad will be due to it only being displayed to relevant users.
It is apparent that there is essentially no limit to how you can target your campaigns with Google Ads, as there are more targeting capabilities beyond what has been discussed. The variety of options from which to choose creates the opportunity for you to be able to generate successful ads based on your narrowed targeting efforts. Effective ad targeting can be what makes or breaks your ad; the more specific your audience and keyword lists are, the more impressionable your ad will be, thus producing conversion, a higher CTR, and an increased ROI. Targeting can be difficult if you have not done it before or if you simply do not know where to begin. Taking advantage of professional services can help your business to run successful campaigns. The Google Ads and Analytics services at CodeMasters can create relevant ads for your business, with the ability to edit and optimize based on performance and previous data, improving quality score. Learn more about how CodeMasters can successfully advertise your company today!