Google Display Network

The Google Display Network, formally known as the Content Network, will separate the men from the boys when it comes to managing PPC. Honestly there is no easy way to do well on the display network other than test and spend money. I have spoken to a few pay per click gurus lately and they have admitted that you have to set high CPCs to break in and get impressions.

Here are the best practices for setting up a display network account:

1. Campaign structure: separate search campaigns from display network campaigns
2. Adgroup structure: create tightly themed adgroups
   1. PPC Pro Tip: individual keywords don’t matter as it is the theme they create that matters, so make sure your adgroups are no larger than 10 keywords deep
3. Keywords: need to be tightly themed
   1. PPC Pro Tip: use the Google wonder wheel to find closely related keywords
   2. Don’t worry about match type as they don’t matter
4. Ads: your ad copy must shout off the page
   1. Don’t worry about keyword stuffing as they will not be bold if they match content
5. Bids:
   1. PPC Pro Tip: bid high to start and then decrease bids as you build quality score
6. Negative keywords: use them sparingly
7. Site and Category exclusion:
   1. To start exclude YouTube, Myspace, and other broad websites you can test them later
   2. Exclude sites that don’t meet your CPA requirements
8. Placements:
   1. Sites that convert add them as placements and bid them up

This will hopefully get you started on the Display Network. However, if it was this easy you wouldn’t hear horror stories about people losing their shirt and giving up on it.  I highly recommend that you spend as much time on the display network as you do search. If you don’t have the time you should get a pay per click consultant to help you out.