Can Using GMail Help You Spy On The "Best Performers" Content Ad?

[Planet13]

Hi there, Everyone:

I have read somewhere that if you send yourself a gmail with a keyword phrase for the subject, that google will automatically insert an ad in the footer that has the best click-through rate related to that email subject.

So if you sent an email to yourself that had the subject of "widgets" and the body had text that just said "widgets" then google would show the best performing content ad related to widgets.

Can anyone confirm this? I tried it with one of the keywords in my niche, and the ad that was returned was shown in the footer of the email was only somewhat related to the topic.

(that keyword has LOTS of RELEVANT ads in the SEARCH results, so I would be surprised if there were no relevant ads in the content network.)

[areyougellin]

Google will sort the ads in Gmail in the same way they do Search -- Quality Score x Max CPC = determined ad rank.

The highest ranking ad isn't necessarily the one with the best CTR, although generally the ads that rank higher do have a higher CTR.

[Planet13]

Thank You, areyougellin:

It seems that a lot of the ads are remarketing ads and are not necessarily related to the subject matter.

Maybe it means that there are not that many sites bidding on the content network for those keywords?

[areyougellin]

Hard to say.

I actually have another thread in this forum where I'm questioning whether or not Remarketing ads are even served in Gmail.

I haven't been able to serve my Remarketing ads on Gmail. What's more, I haven't been able to find anybody that can confirm that they can.

On a site where Remarketing ads are eligible to be served (Gmail or otherwise), those ads will compete with regular Display Network ads served via Managed or Automatic Placements by other advertisers. The same "quality score x max CPC" formula would be used to determine who gets ranked where.

I would test opening the email and looking at the ads, then clear your cookies and open up the same email. See how much the ads changed. Granted, they will change every time no matter what, but you should be able to see if there is an obvious and drastic difference in at least the relevancy of the ads.

[Planet13]

It would seem that if remarketing ads aren't being served in gmail, then at least there is a lot of personalization, because I am seeing ads unrelated to the email I am currently reading, but that ARE related to a previous email I read.

[areyougellin]

I've spoken to a second person that has confirmed their Remarketing campaign receiving 0 impressions from Gmail.

Unless somebody proves otherwise, I'm convinced that Gmail doesn't display remarketing ads.

[LucidSW]

> I'm convinced that Gmail doesn't display remarketing ads.

I should have thought about asking this during a Google conference on Tuesday...

I don't use gmail too often but all I remember seeing are text ads. Do banners ever show in gmail? Now, all the remarketing ads I've seen are banners. Maybe the reason is as simple as that. But if someone is trying to remarket to gmail and getting nothing, you may be right.

[Planet13]

I haven't seen any banners.

Usually I see one ad at the footer of the email, and then a few ads stacked vertically on the right hand side.

The ad in the footer has a light pink background.

The ad is not really all that relevant. For instance, I got an email from a Jeep forum that I subscribe to (because I am having car problems) and the ad in the footer is for an "IT Recruiting Company"

I haven't looked for anything like that, as far as I can remember.

If google WERE showing me remarketing offers, then I would be seeing ads for a pet supply store or an Asian airline company - which is what I see a lot when going to different websites with adsense on them.

[areyougellin]

> I don't use gmail too often but all I remember seeing are text ads.
> Do banners ever show in gmail? Now, all the remarketing ads I've seen
> are banners. Maybe the reason is as simple as that. But if someone is
> trying to remarket to gmail and getting nothing, you may be right.

Remarketing ads can be text or banner ads.