AdWords Help

Take advantage of Google's Content Network to expose your keyword-targeted ads to a wide and qualified audience. As a starting point, you can use some of the same optimization tips that we recommend for search sites to help improve your return on investment on content pages. You can also watch our Content Network Optimization Tips video (English only). However, we also recommend strategies unique to the Content Network to help ensure your ads perform as well as they can.

1. Campaign Structure: Create themed ad groups - an ad group for each product or service that you're advertising.
2. Keywords: Choose keywords that relate closely to one another and to the ads in the ad group.
3. Ads: Write clear, compelling ad text to attract users browsing content pages.
4. Content Bids: Set a separate maximum CPC for clicks that occur on the Content Network.
5. Negative Keywords: Limit how often your ads appear on content pages with irrelevant themes.
6. Site and Category Exclusion: Prevent your ads from appearing on specific sites in the Content Network.
7. Winning Placement: Make sure your Quality Score and bid are high enough to win placement on content pages.

Campaign Structure

Each of your keyword-targeted advertising campaigns is composed of multiple ad groups. An ad group is the basic family unit of AdWords - a collection of ads and keywords built around a common theme.

To determine whether to place your ad on a content page, the AdWords system considers the theme of all the ads and keywords in the ad group. For this reason, it's important that each of your ad groups is built around a consistent theme. Focus on only one of the products or services that you're advertising. This helps ensure that your ads appear on the most relevant content pages.

Take Sarah's movie merchandise store, for example. Instead of creating a general 'movie merchandise' ad group, Sarah set up several ad groups, each focusing on a different product. This helps each of Sarah's ads reach a targeted audience.

Ad groups in Sarah's 'Movie Merchandise' campaign:

• Matrix Clothing
• Spiderman Games
• Star Wars Toys

Keywords

Your ad group's entire keyword list helps determine where your ads show on the Content Network. Each ad group should have a cluster of 5 to 20 keywords that relate closely to one another and to the ads in that ad group. The more closely related your keywords, the more likely it is that your ads will find the right audience.

Here are some example keyword lists in Sarah's 'Movie Merchandise' campaign that would and would not work well on the Content Network:

Poor ad group
Better ad groups
Best ad groups

Ads

On the Search Network, ads are shown to users who are specifically searching for results using one of your keywords. On the Content Network, ads are shown to users as they research interests and browse sites that are related to your keywords.

Since users on the Content Network are in a different mindset than users visiting sites in the Search Network, it is important to use direct, compelling ad text. This will maximize the qualified clicks you receive on the Content Network. Keep the following tips in mind when writing your ads:

• Think about the type of user browsing a web page and write ads to attract the user's attention.
  If your target user visits pages with fashion-related content and you sell purses, relate the product (purses) to your user in the ads.
• Include call-to-action phrases.
  Phrases like 'Register now,' 'Get a free quote,' and 'Call now' can help set expectations for the person who is about to visit your site. Your call-to-action should be what you consider to be a conversion.
• Highlight any special offers or features available on your site.
  We've found that advertisers often experience higher return-on-investment (ROI) on the Content Network when they include product prices in their ads. The pricing information you provide can help you stand out from competitors and showcase your best deals. Be sure to also highlight any special offers that you might have like 'free shipping' or 'satisfaction guaranteed.'
• Link your ad to customized landing pages that match the information in your ad text.
  For example, if your ad highlights a special deal on cell phones, make sure that ad directs users to the specific cell phone page of your site. Your landing pages should be clear and easy to navigate.
• Test multiple creatives and ad formats (text, image, video) in all available sizes.
  Testing multiple creatives and formats allows you to gain better insight into what sort of ads will perform the best for you.
• Clearly tell your audience exactly what you offer on your site.
  Be sure that your ads are clear on the product or service that you actually offer. This will help you filter out unwanted clicks and help users avoid clicking an ad that is irrelevant to their browsing experience.

Here are two examples of effective ads from Sarah's 'Spiderman Games' ad group:

Content Bids

Content bids are a quick and easy way to help meet your ROI objectives on the Content Network. This feature lets you set a maximum CPC bid for clicks that occur on content pages in addition to the maximum CPC bid(s) you set for the Search Network.

You may wish to use content bids if you find that you pay different amounts for conversions that occur on the Content Network versus the Search Network. Increasing or decreasing your content bids in accordance with your conversion costs will help maximize your ROI.

To enable content bids, you'll first need to enable Content Network distribution for your campaign on the Edit Campaign Settings page. Ensure the content bids check box is selected, and save your changes. You can choose to leave your bids on Auto or specify a unique bid. The Auto setting uses an average of all your ad group's keyword- and ad group-level CPCs.

If you're having trouble deciding what to bid for ads shown via the Content Network, you can choose a bid based on the ad group's network performance. For example, if you see that you receive a better return-on-investment from ads shown on the Content Network rather than on the Search Network, you can raise your content bids to increase Content Network traffic.

To monitor and measure your ad group performance you can use conversion tracking or Google Analytics, two free tools that will help you track your conversion metrics. Once you've reviewed your performance results, you can set your bids accordingly.

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are a great way to help prevent your ads from showing on pages about irrelevant topics. Choosing the right negative keywords will protect your ads from receiving untargeted clicks, thus improving your ROI. Your ad will appear less often on pages where your negative keywords are used, or won't appear at all if the page demonstrates a strong use of that theme or keyword. (Due to the nature of contextual advertising, keep in mind that it's still possible for your ad to show if the particular keyword appears a few times on the page.)

For example, Sarah sells 'Star Wars' apparel, but not 'Star Wars' jewelry. To avoid unwanted clicks, she adds these negative keywords to her campaign:

• watch
• jewelry
• ring

These negative keywords will help prevent her ad from showing on content pages that focus on jewelry, rather than on clothing.

Site and Category Exclusion

Another way to keep your ads from showing on irrelevant sites is with the Site and Category Exclusion tool. Simply enter the URL of the website that you don't want showing your ads, and your ads will never appear on that site or any of its subsites. You can also exclude certain page types and groups of pages that may be viewed as sensitive.

Winning Placement

Most sites in the Content Network only display two, three, or four ads per page. Placement is won on a content page based on two factors: Quality Score and bid. If you find that your ads don't show often on the Content Network, try improving your Quality Score by taking the steps described in the other sections of this article. You can also try adjusting your content bids to be more competitive (enable content bids first if you haven't already).

Next Steps

We suggest that you use this page for guidance when creating and refining your campaigns. However, these tips aren't exhaustive, and we encourage you to experiment with your own ad text and targeting techniques to find what works best for you. To learn more about the Content Network and contextual advertising, nd to explore more tips, visit our Content Network Help Topic.