Is Display Network Good For Local Businesses?

[Planet13]

Hi there, Everyone:

Is the display network good for advertising local businesses?

can you even target local locations via the display network?

Is it best to search for sites that cover local interests, see if they use adsense, and then target those particular sites?

Any advice or experience in this area greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[RhinoFish]

yes.
yes.
yes, but you asked a simple question with a very detailed answer.

instead of looking to see if they use adsense, don't bother - they might use it later, or rotate it now and then, and it's way too time consuming to do this. target it if it's highly relevant, if they don't run adsense now, it'll sit harmlessly idle in case they ever do run AS later. local interest sites are certainly the place i'd start, but i'd combine placements with keywords so that my ads are contextually relevant to whatever is offered in the ads.

[RhinoFish]

i once ran a display campaign local to NYC, client was giving away a prize that included a tour and dinner in the city, prize didn't include travel to/from NYC... no probs, just show it to local NYC folks. it was a product launch for a photo related product, so i carpeted photography sites contextually and via managed placements, but geo-targeted it to just people who were in NYC when they were viewing those photography sites. CPC cost structure meant i could easily limit my spend, and still have very specific reach. GDN was the perfect answer! have fun!

[Planet13]

thanks so much, RhinoFish!

[RhinoFish]

some good (brand new) stuff here:
[adwords.blogspot.com...]

i'm in there, :-)

but check out the bakery profile in regards to your question, focus on two things there, geo-targeting and store locator, check out the pdf file. short on details, but long on correct concepts to do what you want to do.

[Planet13]

Thank you again, RhinFish:

There was a recent post on certified knowledge about changes to how the display network uses targeting, and I am a little concerned that it is becoming LESS friendly toward small, direct response sellers at the sake of becoming more friendly to large companies that are looking for an economical way to increase their branding.

[certifiedknowledge.org...]

any thoughts on this?

[RhinoFish]

the CK folks are VERY smart / informed / experienced, and so is this CK guest writer, MikeN of PPCA - but he's just telling you there that things don't run in "full" automatic when contextually targeting.

contextual keyword targeting has limits - it's conversion targeting that we direct responsers want... so you have to keep an eye on what comes in contextually, and act on it... based on conversions.

conversely, there is a great strength to the looseness of the GDN contextual targeting, and that's reach. if the semantic keyword theming / matching were super tight, it'd be useless because of it's small size and inability to scale.

think of it like this... what if Match.com only showed you the exact matches it found for you... it'd suck. you need reach, and the GDN gives you that by not being uber narrow. like Match, don't "invest" deeply in the many choices it shows you, screen them, and pick out the best ones according to your own needs.

bid low on your auto placements (contextual matches), they'll be loads of them - and when you see something you really like, contact her... oops, I mean add her as a Managed Placement...

spend a little money on her, take her out, "bid" her up.

Trust me, if MikeN had just the narrowness you think he wants (he actually wants to control it either way really, depending on the specific goals in hand), the blog article would be about how the GDN contextual targeting is too narrow and as a result, it's reach stanks.