Get Your Banners Ready: Google Goes Graphic
Fourteen pointers for a successful AdSense banner ad campaign.
Fourteen pointers for a successful AdSense banner ad campaign.
Blow the electronic dust off those old banners. Google wants you to test them in its AdSense program. Banner ads will be targeted based on keywords, just as AdSense ads are targeted now. You add the images to your campaign at the AdGroup level.
Some banner networks target on a channel or site-by-site basis. Others use a run-of-network (RON) method, then target banners based on where they convert best. Google, however, uses contextual keywords as its channel or targeting mode, allowing for more specific targeting.
Keywords relate to topics, concepts, areas of interest, or consumer problems. If you test the Google image ad network (or banner network, as some call it), your CPCs will be calculated under Google’s “Smart Pricing,” in which CPCs are adjusted based on computed relevance.
The Google team obviously has a soft spot for Charles Darwin. The AdWords system (including AdSense) uses natural selection across a broad environment. Only the strongest survive. This natural selection process has been hard-coded into the AdWords algorithm. The new image ads complete the picture.
Any graphic ad or banner uploaded into the system competes for visibility with the overall results for text ads (yours, and those of your competition). If an image ad gets clicks due to high relevance, a compelling message, and good design, it can trump text ads. That results in more impressions and clicks (as it must get clicks for repeated exposure). Google uses both CTR and CPC factors to determine a “strong” contender that deserves to remain in rotation.
Marketers and agencies might argue CTR is only one of many ways to measure a graphical ad’s relevance. Though true, Google will use CTR and a small feedback link under each ad to facilitate targeting and assure relevance.
What kinds of ads should you create for the AdSense banner network? I’m just starting to experiment with image ads for our own campaign. Keep the following in mind when developing banners:
Ready to test? Update banners to match your desired keywords. Or, just sit back. Text still works great.
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