In my previous three blog posts I have been discussing the key sessions from day 1 of SMX Advanced London on Monday 16th May.  Today’s blog post discusses some new features and tools to use when advertising on Google AdWords’ Display Network.  Key points highlighted in this post were in the Best Practises with Google’s New Ad Features session, from Biren Kalaria, Sales Development Manager, YouTube & Display, Google UK.

The Google AdWords Display Network

The industry average click through rate (CTR) of display ads on the Internet is 0.07%; Google’s data on their Display Network records a 0.45% CTR.  This is a higher average than we have experienced, but potentially possible with a very small, highly targeted campaign.

Biren Kalaria discussed tools that are available or coming soon:

1.Contextual targeting tools
a. Available now, great tool for quickly generating comprehensive display targeted campaigns

2. Interest Category Marketing
a. Allowing advertisers to reach a demographic based on their interests, i.e. travel enthusiasts, sports fan, etc.
b. This product should be released this quarter, and will give the ability to advertise to  800-1000 custom demographic segments

3. Demographic Targeting
a. The first iteration of the tool will allow you to target male/female audience specifically in the Display Network
b. The second iteration of the tool will allow age targeting

4. “Similar Users”
a.  This will allow you to extend the reach of your remarketing campaigns by allowing you to reach demographically “similar users” to those on your remarketing list

5. Audience Insights
a. This will provide top level insight reporting on the people within your remarketing lists.  This information will enable you to scale marketing campaigns, and uncover new opportunities
b. Biren hoped the tool would be available before the end of Q3

Google’s display network offers a relatively cheap opportunity to gain more traffic. In previous years, the lack of control or tools when advertising on Google’s display network made activity uncontrollable and untargeted. The tools now in place and those coming later this year will allow further control and enable more specific targeting of users.

Well, this is the last in my series of blogs posts discussing key points made at SMX Advanced; I hope you have found them informative.