Demystifying Google’s Content Network
Jon Lisbin – Principal
Frank Coyle – VP of Sales
May 20, 2009
Webinar Logistics
• Being recorded
• Email with link will be sent out later this week
• Ask question throughout via chatbox
Presentation Agenda About Point It
• Launched in April 2002
• PPC & SEO
• Seattle’s largest independent search marketing firm
• 12 team members, 40+ yrs of SEM experience
• Servicing clients across all verticals and revenue models
Content Network – Old View
• Cheap CPC
• Poor lead quality and conversion
• Suspect clicks
• Runaway costs
• Avoided by many
• So what’s it like today
Content Network - Today
• World’s largest online advertising network
• Millions of web pages displaying ads
– Google AdSense, Pulse 360, etc.
• News, Forums, YouTube, About.com, etc.
CNN.COM
Forums
Best Practices
• Campaign structure
• Keywords
• Ads copy
• Bid strategy
• Performance measurement
Creating a Content Network Campaign
• Create separate Content campaign from Search
Keywords in the Content Network
• Google places your ads based on KW themes
• The more themes, the more placements
• Create Ad Group keywords themes
– Example: Fitness
• Abs
• Muscle building
• Aerobics
• As few as you need for a theme
– 5-10 is OK, 25-50 KWs max
• Broad match only
Eye Catching Ad Copy
Display Advertising
Replacing These Three Ads With This Single One
• Need to bid 3x, BUT will not pay 3x.
• Only pay what it takes to beat the highest single ad
• And if CTR is better, then CPC will be lower than single text ads
• Only do this when you know you get traffic from a site
Ad Quirks
• All ads approved by humans
• May take 24 hrs, but usually just a few
– Weekends can be slow
• Impressions will be low initially then gradually build
• Do not pause! Starts back at the beginning again.
– Lower bid or ad schedule
Bidding
• Bid to get in the top 4
• CPC acts like PPC on Search
– Only pay for clicks
• CPM just impressions
– Can go through impressions very fast
– Need to monitor carefully
– Branding
• Let Google choose for you
• Select placement:
– Topic
– URL
– Demographics
– Google categories
– By site or by page
Placement Strategies
Best Practices Summary
• Separate Content from Search
• Theme your keywords into different ad groups
• Make your copy standout
• Bid high enough to get shown
• Track and measure performance
New Google Adwords UI Network Tab
` Sample Placement
Placement Performance Report
Site & Category Exclusion
• Membership Club goal to increase conversions
• Ad Group had over 1,500 keywords
• Broke down into 29 ad group, because Google only looks at 50 keywords per ad group in the content network
• In one week, the conversions increased 391%
• Subsequently we have doubled that using “keyword Grouper” tool.
Case Study
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Apr 22 - 27 83.56 276 33
Apr 29 - May 4 314.89 1010 127
Cost Clicks Conversions
Summary
• Content network well worth testing
• Start with small budget
• Track where ads are being placed
• Measure carefully
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