A Complete Guide to Google Display Ads & Advance Practices
Google Display ads appear as banners, images, or interactive media on websites that are part of the Google Display Network (GDN). Banner ads are an example of display advertising. The GDN reaches millions of websites to increase brand visibility and drive traffic to their websites. Businesses can select specific demographics, interests, and behaviors to show their ads to the right audience.
28 January, 2024
What is Google Display Ads? All Basics to Best Practices
To know more about Google Display Ads in detail and how Display Ads help to grow your business, here are some important topics about it, and to know their in detail click on Table of Contents.
What are Google Display ads?
Display ads are banners, videos, and image ads that are shown across websites and mobile apps in the GDN. This network also includes Google-owned properties like YouTube and Gmail.
Google offers a range of ad types. That’s why Display ads are often mistaken for Search ads. If the GDN ad meaning is still vague to you, let’s look at this Google Search ads and Display ads comparison table, how are they different?
| Display ads | Search ads |
| Static images, animations, and interactive content | Purely text-based ad format |
| Appear on Google Play, in the Shopping tab, and Google Maps, including the Maps app | Appear in the Search Network (search engine results pages) |
| Bid strategies include Cost per action (CPA), Return on ads spending (ROAS), Cost per click (CPC), and Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) | Generally uses CPC; CPM isn’t available |
These two Google ad types can be run simultaneously, however, for new advertisers, we recommend testing 1 type first to review and monitor the ad performance easily.
Benefits of Display Campaigns
There are several benefits of Google Display campaigns for advertisers, including:
- Expand reach: GDN campaigns reach over 3 million websites and more than 90% of internet users worldwide. They appear on millions of websites, apps, YouTube, and Gmail, increasing brand awareness by 1046%.
- Remarketing: Google Display Network ads target users who have previously interacted with your website or app. Google Ads remarketing campaigns can result in a 10% increase in conversion rate compared to non-remarketing campaigns.
- Design to use easily: Display campaigns use machine learning to simplify targeting, bidding, and ad formats, resulting in a smooth and hassle-free campaign experience.
- Optimized Targeting: Identify and target the most relevant audience segments that are likely to convert, boosting your chances of meeting conversion goals by 59%.
- Smart bidding: Use machine learning-based bidding strategies to optimize conversions or conversion value in each auction.
How do Google Display ads work?
Google Display ads work in a complex but fascinating way, involving multiple players and stages:
- Advertisers: Businesses or individuals create Display ads using the Google Ads platform. They provide assets like logos, images, headlines, descriptions,
and videos. They also set targeting parameters, like demographics, interests, and website placements. - Google Ads Auction: When someone visits a website or app on the Google Display Network (GDN), an ad space becomes available. Advertisers compete in a real-time auction for that space. The winner’s ad gets displayed.
- Targeting: Google uses various factors to determine which ad wins the auction. This includes the advertiser’s bid, the relevance of the ad to the website or user, and the likelihood of the user clicking on the ad.
- Ad Formats: Display ads come in various formats, like banner ads, video ads, native ads, and expandable ads. Google automatically chooses the best format and size for the available ad space.
- Analytics and Optimization: Google Ads provides detailed analytics about ad performance. Advertisers can use this data to optimize their campaigns, improve targeting, and refine their ad creatives.
Here’s a simplified illustration of the process:
In this example:
- The coffee shop owner is the advertiser.
- The website is part of the GDN.
- The ad space is the empty banner on the side of the webpage.
- The coffee shop owner has targeted their ad to people interested in coffee and those living near the shop.
- Google has determined that the coffee shop’s ad is the most relevant and likely to be clicked on, so it wins the auction and is displayed.
- They are typically cheaper than search ads, but they may have a lower click-through rate (CTR).
- They are a great way to build brand awareness and reach new audiences.
- They can be used to retarget people who have already visited your website or interacted with your brand.
- Google is constantly developing new targeting options and ad formats, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest trends.
Google Display ads types, sizes & ad formats
Best Google Display ads come in a variety of sizes. You can see the most common dimensions below:
- Responsive Mobile Ad Sizes: 330 x 200, 300 x 50, 300 x 100, 250 x 250, 200 x 200
- Responsive Desktop Ad Sizes: 300 x 250, 250 x 250, 336 x 280, 200 x 200,300 x 600, 160 x 600, 970 x 90, 728 x 90, 468 X 60
- Standard Ad Sizes: 200 × 200, 250 × 250
- Large leaderboard: 980 x 90
- Native ad formats: Vary depending on the platform where the ad is displayed
Now you’ve learned the sizes of your GDN ads. What are the main types and which one should you opt for? Here are two main types of Google display ads: Responsive Display Ads and Uploaded Display ads.
Responsive Display ads
Responsive ads automatically adjust their size, appearance, and format to fit available ad spaces. So a single responsive ad may appear as a small text ad in one place and a large image ad in another. To create their ads, advertisers enter their assets (for example, headlines, descriptions, images, and logos). Google Display ads automatically adjust to fit any available ad space on the GDN, they have the greatest reach.
Uploaded image ads
Uploaded image ads that give you more control over the design and appearance of your Display campaign in Google Ads. You can create custom image ads in different sizes or use HTML5 to create interactive and animated ad.
Which type should you use?
Responsive Display Ads | Uploaded Image Ads | |
Pros | Automated ad creation based on available assets | Full control over creative design and content |
Wide reach across various Google properties | Ability to create highly customized visuals | |
Optimized for different ad placements and devices | Ability to use custom or branded visuals | |
Easy to set up and manage | Ability to showcase specific product features | |
Cons | Limited control over ad appearance | Requires design skills or graphic assets |
Limited customization options | More time-consuming to create and update |
Google recommends using responsive ads in most cases as they are easy to install. Create at least one responsive display ad for each ad group and include multiple titles and descriptions to optimize performance.
How much do Google Display ads cost?
Just like how Google search works, Google Display ads also operate on a Google auction system. When your ad meets the criteria for a particular ad space based on your targeting settings, it enters into a quick auction with other advertisers.
Google determines where your ad will be placed and how much you’ll pay for each click based on:
- Ad Rank
- Quality Score
- Targeting options
- Bidding strategy
Here are some bidding strategies to give you a better idea of Google Display ads costs:
- CPC: The average CPC for Google Display ads ranges between $0.50 and $2.00. For example, if your ad receives 100 clicks at an average CPC of $1.50, you would pay $150. Usually, the actual amount you pay per click is lower than your maximum CPC bid. In the end, you only pay the necessary amount to outrank the advertiser below you.
- CPM: Google Display ads cost calculated by CPM can range from $0.50 to $5.00. For instance, if you run a campaign with a CPM rate of $2.50 and it generates 50,000 impressions, you would pay $125.
- Industry variations: Keep in mind that some industries may have higher competition and more expensive clicks. For example, industries like insurance, finance, or legal services may have higher average CPCs, probably between $5 and $20 or more.
According to Trusted Skill Shop’s data, the average CPC on the GDN is $0.63. In comparison, the average CPC on the search network is $2.69, around four times higher. This is because clicks on the search network are generally considered more valuable.
How to set up Google Display ads
No matter which type of display ad you choose, learn how to set up and adjust targeting options to reach your target audience.
An example of how to professionally set up a Google Display Ads campaign is given in the video. However, this campaign setup rule does not apply to all business situations. Every business has different strategies for setting up campaigns. Because, when it comes to campaign setup one needs to focus on various things like bidding, budgeting, keyword research, writing ad copy perfectly, location targeting, etc. So these tasks cannot be done properly without professional people and even if someone can, the result will be low conversion or zero conversion. So it is nothing but foolhardy to expect high results by campaigning just by watching this video.
6 best practices for Google Display ads success
Now that you’ve learned the technical aspects of Google Display advertising, let’s shift our focus to some effective Display Ads strategies that can help you gain success and maximize your returns.
1. Check out your top-performing search keywords in Search ads
If you’re considering keyword targeting, start with your most successful search keywords. Find out the ‘top-performing’ keywords for your Google Display campaign. Keep in mind that consumer intent varies between these two Google Ads networks. If there are a few keywords that consistently generate low-cost clicks or conversions on the search network, it’s worth trying them out on the GDN ads.
2. Use ‘Bid adjustment’
Once you have gathered enough data from your Google Display Network ads, you can make informed decisions about their performance. This includes identifying which keywords and affinity audiences are performing well or poorly. Bid adjustments provide a valuable strategy to act on these insights.
If you apply a positive bid adjustment to an ad group, then you instruct Google Ads to increase your maximum CPC bid whenever ads from that group display. Conversely, a negative bid adjustment reduces your maximum CPC bids for that ad group.
3. Check out ‘Referrals’
Google Analytics provides a lot of valuable information, particularly for Google Display advertisers. One particularly valuable report for display advertisers is the referral traffic report.
Select ‘Acquisition’ and then click on ‘All Traffic’. You’ll see ‘Referrals’. This report shows which websites attract people who could potentially benefit from your product or service. These websites are ideal locations to display your ads as you will reach relevant audiences and generate returns on your impressions and clicks.
4. Highlight your business value
As consumers have become used to Display campaigns in Google Ads, it’s very likely that they would scroll past your ads without notice. To prevent potential waste of Google Display ads cost, especially if you’re using CPM bidding, it is vital for your display ads to capture the attention of your prospects.
The visual appeal of your display ads (e.g. color scheme and typography), is undoubtedly important in grabbing attention. However, the role of your value proposition, the benefit that your future customers will experience, is often overlooked. For instance, if you’re advertising pet food, your value proposition could be the support of pets’ health at every age.
Regardless of your specific value proposition, it should be prominently highlighted in your ads to make it stand out and grab the reader’s attention.
5. Focus on headlines in Responsive Display ads
You’ll write four pieces of copy when creating a Responsive Display ad:
- A short headline: 25 characters
- A long headline: 90 characters
- A description: 90 characters
- Your business’s name: 25 characters
When writing headlines in Responsive Display ads, keep in mind these two important points:
- Google Ads will never display both headlines simultaneously
- Google Ads may occasionally exclude your description.
Therefore, make sure that your headlines are strong enough to stand on their own. Each headline should effectively convey the unique value of your business or the offer you are displaying. This ensures that even if the description is not shown, your headlines alone can effectively communicate your message.
Here’s a successful Google Display ads example of a strong headline:
6. Use videos
According to Banner flow, Display campaigns in Google Ads with a video gain an 89% higher click-through rate (CTR). Here’s the good news – creating a Google video Display ad is simpler than you think. It doesn’t necessarily require a recorded video as you can include basic text animation, movement, or even a GIF.
Final words
Google Display ads offer a powerful platform for businesses to reach their target Customers across a wide range of websites, apps, and other online platforms. If you’re looking for support from experts to run ads in various formats, including images, videos, and responsive ads, check out Trusted Skill Shop services.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has helped you understand what Google Display Ads are, why we should use them, and how it works. If you need any further information, don’t hesitate to contact us.
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