You’d be hard pressed to find a Google Ads practitioner who loves the Google Display Network (GDN). Some may be indifferent to display ads, some (like me) may hate them, but I have yet to encounter anyone who is passionate about success with the GDN.
That being said, GDN is either an optional or required part of most Google Ads campaign types, so it’s important to understand its capabilities and limitations.
In this article, we’ll cover what the GDN is, how it works with different Google Ads campaign types, and most importantly, how to navigate its challenges to get the best possible results for your campaigns.
- What is the Google Display Network?
- What are Video Partners in Google Ads?
- How different campaign types work with the Display Network
- How to monitor your Display Network performance
- How can you target ads on the Display Network?
- Should you run ads on the Display Network?
What is the Google Display Network?
The Google Display Network is a collection of more than 2 million websites and apps that monetize using Google AdSense. According to Google, the GDN reaches more than 90% of the internet audience globally. That’s huge – it has a wider reach than Google Search!
Here’s how it works: website owners, app developers and even YouTube creators who want to earn money can use a tool like Google AdSense to create space for ads on their platforms.
As an advertiser, you can then place your ads in these spaces through Google Ads. When a user interacts with your ad, you pay Google, and Google shares a portion of that revenue with the publisher.
When I say “publisher,” your mind might jump to major news outlets like The New York Times. And while they are certainly part of it, the GDN encompasses a massive variety of sites and apps, from small blogs to popular mobile games. Accordingly, there is a wide range in the quality of these websites, apps, and channels.
What are Video Partners in Google Ads?
Within the broad scope of the Google Display Network, there’s a specialized segment called Video Partners.
The GDN has a mix of text, image, and video ad inventory.
Video Partners are a subset of that video inventory, meaning they are specific websites and apps that are set up to show video ads.
How different campaign types work with the Display Network
Depending on what type of Google Ads campaign you’re running, you may be automatically opted into GDN, and potentially unable to opt out. Here’s what that looks like by campaign type:
- Display Campaigns, Performance Max Campaigns, App Campaigns: If you’re running any of these campaign types, your ads will automatically show on the Google Display Network. If you’ve included video ad creative, you’ll likely also appear on Video Partners. These campaign types are designed with the GDN in mind, making them a natural fit for broader reach.
- Search Campaigns: The Display Network will be turned on by default when you create a new Search campaign, but most Google Ads experts (myself included) will advise that you turn this off. The intent of users on Search is very different from those browsing the Display Network, and mixing them usually leads to wasted budget in your Search campaigns.
- Video Campaigns: For Video campaigns, you have the option to include Video Partners. While you’re welcome to test it, I generally don’t recommend this. It’s often better to keep your video campaigns focused on YouTube for better performance.
- Demand Gen Campaigns: With Demand Gen campaigns, you have granular control over your channel settings. You can choose to opt into or out of the Display Network. I prefer to keep my Demand Gen campaigns on Google-owned properties only: YouTube, Gmail and Discover.
- Shopping Campaigns: This is the only campaign type that is not compatible with the Display Network. However, you can include your Google Merchant Center feed in a Display, Video, Demand Gen or Performance Max campaign, which opens up GDN inventory for your products.
How to monitor your Display Network performance
If you want to understand how your ads are performing on the GDN, you have a few different options in Google Ads:
- Segment by Network: For most campaign types, you can add a Segment for Network in your reports. This allows you to break down your performance data by where your ads showed (e.g., Google Search vs. Google Display Network). This is particularly helpful for Search campaigns, to see if you might have accidentally opted into the GDN.
- Channel Performance Report (Performance Max): If you’re running Performance Max campaigns, you can find insights into your GDN performance within the “Channel performance report.” This report gives you a detailed breakdown of how your ads are doing across different channels, including the GDN.
- Insights and Reports > Where ads showed: This report, also known as your Placements report, lists all the websites, apps and YouTube channels where your GDN ads have run. If you see any placements that look irrelevant, spammy, or just not a good fit for your brand, you can add them as exclusions. This is similar to adding a negative keyword to a Search campaign. You can add exclusions at the ad group, campaign, or account level
How can you target ads on the Display Network?
Ads that run on the Display Network can be targeted based on audience and/or content.
- With audience targeting, you’re selecting users based on who they are. This could be based on their interests, demographics, behaviors, or even if they’ve interacted with your business before (remarketing). For example, you might target people interested in outdoor activities or those who have visited your website in the last 30 days.
- With content targeting, you’re selecting users based on the content they are currently engaging with. This includes display keywords, topics and even specific placements on websites, apps, YouTube channels or YouTube videos. For example, you might target people using gaming apps, or place your ads on your competitors’ YouTube channels.
Should you run ads on the Display Network?
I’m generally not a fan of the Display Network.
I’ve found that the traffic quality tends to be lower compared to Google-owned properties like Discover, Gmail, Maps, and Google Search. That’s because most users on Google-owned properties are signed in, so Google knows exactly who they are, which is immensely helpful for ad targeting purposes.
On the Display Network, Google doesn’t know who all of those users are. This lack of data often leads to more irrelevant traffic and more susceptibility to spam.
However, the GDN is unavoidable in an increasingly automated Google Ads environment. And it does have a few unique benefits; combined segments only work with Search and Display campaigns now, and dynamic remarketing is only available through Display campaigns and Performance Max. Just make sure you monitor your performance closely, and leverage conversion-based Smart Bidding to minimize wasted ad spend.
This article is part of our ongoing weekly Search Engine Land series, Everything you need to know about Google Ads in less than 3 minutes. Every Wednesday, Jyll highlights a different Google Ads feature, and what you need to know to get the best results from it – all in a quick 3-minute read.