Advice on Content Network

[FranticFish]

Hi, would be grateful for some feedback on my strategy for Content Network; first time I've used it.
The campaign has been running for over a year (no managed placements, just keywords) so I have tons of placement data, and I've assessed every site ads were shown on.

So now I have two campaigns set up. In each, I've set up a different Ad Group for each display site niche (i.e. Business, Politics, Medical etc). Both campaigns are set to show ads only when keywords and placements match.

Campaign A: niches that are very relevant to site.
Managed placements, very general keywords. Ads should show on every page on each site.

Campaign B: less relevant niches.
Managed placements, more specific keywords. Ads should show only on relevant pages in the site.
Large list of excluded placements at Campaign level, and
A 'control' Ad Group on the same keywords, with no placements set.

My understanding is that
(a) using managed placements, Google will ONLY show ads on those sites,
(b) except in the case of the control Ad Group.

So this means that I can go through the data for the control group, and then feed the good sites into the rest of the campaign(s), and add the crud ones to the block list.

Is this right?

[RhinoFish]

your exclusions only apply to the control adgroup, so why did you apply it at the campaign level?

it doesn't change anything to apply them at the campaign level, it neither hurts or helps (as compared to the adgrp level), asking to make sure i understand your intention, and questions.

why do you call it the 'control' adgroup, when it's more a feeder, or sniffer, or finder, or feeler, or placement discoverer?

[FranticFish]

your exclusions only apply to the control adgroup, so why did you apply it at the campaign level?

Gotcha - all the other Ad Groups are 'opt-in' so it's not needed at a campaign level.

No particular reason to call it a control group; I guess 'finder' would be more appropriate.

Thanks for the tips.

[Channel01]

For the campaign settings, do you have the networks set to 'broad reach' or 'specific reach'. If you're using the former, your ads will be triggered on sites outside of your managed placements at times. That'll happen if the theme of the (non-targeted) placements match your keywords.

[FranticFish]

Hi, thanks for posting - no, I'm using specific reach on both campaigns.

[RhinoFish]

Both campaigns are set to show ads only when keywords and placements match.

Campaign A: niches that are very relevant to site.
Managed placements, very general keywords. Ads should show on every page on each site.

CTR and targeting play into the "show on every page on each site" equation. if you truly want to reach for every page, you should skip the keywords altogether. however, it's unlikely that you can reach every page, CTR (competition) will usually prevent that. for conversions, it's likely better to include the general keywords (as you've done).

whether you're on broad or match all criteria (you), placements don't have to be entire domains, they can be channels (sections of a site) and even specific pages. if you find certain ones of those are the source of your conversions, you can target them as placements and bid them higher than the domain level targeted placements.

[FranticFish]

Thanks - I had hoped (and it seemed from my reading of their help) that this is the sort of control I'd have, so it's good to have it confirmed.

[RhinoFish]

they way you're doing it, is one way, nothing wrong with it at all.

but using Narrow (all targeting conditions must be met), means each time you add a targeting mechanism, your overall reach shrinks a bunch.

if you use Broad, and tier your targeting mechanism bids, you can achieve the same affect you're chasing, but with a much broader reach. and you can use interests, remarketing, topics, and simplify your work level a tad as well. though your tight versus general keyword theme groups won't work the same.

in any case, have fun!