PPC Tutorial: How To Lose Money On Google’s Content Network

Listing your PPC ads on Google’s content network is switched on by default. Many advertisers are not aware of this and sometimes they aren’t aware of the differences between search and content network anyway. If you choose to advertise on the content network, avoid these common errors:

Using Dynamic Keyword Insertion
Ads on the content network are seen by general users of the internet, not just searchers. As users aren’t on a search engine, the dynamic keyword generated will be taken from the website and not from a keyword search. This can mean that your ad appears to make no sense at all, so you may want to avoid dynamic keyword insertion for content network advertising.

Splitting Keywords Into Ad Groups
This needs careful consideration. On the one hand if you are to ensure your ads only appear on relevant sites then the keywords should be more targeted. On the other hand, you may want your ads to appear on related sites rather than specific sites and so the keywords should be more varied.

Failure To Monitor Separately
To make conversion monitoring as easy as possible, separate your ad groups so there’s one for the search network and one for content. This will also mean you can try different approaches in your ad texts. The ad that works best for search will not necessarily be the best for content.

If you aren’t even sure if your ads are on the content network, go to Campaign Settings in your PPC account and double check. Just a few small changes can make a large difference in PPC.

Lianne,
PPC Account Manager

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