Question

Topic targeting on the Display network. anyone tried it? I've done loads of contextual keyword and custom-intent audience targeting with great success, but I've got a new business and there isn't a clearly defined audience. I'm wondering if Topic targeting is specific enough to hit my market. I'd love anyone's thoughts on it!  

Answer 1

One thing to watch very closely is the “placements. ” Often times you’ll find these display ads are being served up on very random YouTube channels, obscure websites within tons and tons of apps. You will need to review these and exclude as you see fit. The inventory across the entire internet and within apps is literally endless. Just make sure Where your ads are being shown is aligned with your ideal customer. Start with a small budget. Monitor for 7 days. Then then assess

Comments

Thanks, I appreciate it. Not a ton different than the contextual keyword targeting I'm used to. But the Topic impression estimates are about 10x what I'm used to seeing, so I imagine placements can be a nightmare. Already excluded mobile apps and YouTube, but I'm noticing a bunch of sites not in English (I'm in the US), even though my language targeting IS set to English. Any way to exclude these types of placements in bulk?  

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@tommi not that i know aside from excluding each individual one. Perhaps someone else has a good answer. Within my display campaign I was seeing a lot of Indian and Chinese sites as placements. So I know what you mean. Quick question. What’s your niche?  

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@jarmon Home security.  

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@tommi local market? Or statewide or national?  

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@jarmon National

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@tommi hmm. Interesting. Perhaps You could try a Gmail only display campaign in addition to or in lieu of this display campaign

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@jarmon @tommi I have noticed that the type of bid strategy does affect what placements get served. You still end up with YouTube and apps (no matter how much you exclude) but it’s worth testing to see which filters these out.  

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@sycamine1 Yeah, the problem I'm running into is I don't have any conversion data, so I'm pretty limited. I tried max conversions for 1 whole day and the results were awful (obviously). Sticking to Manual CPC now with device bid adjustments, but I noticed that my new business with this new account does not have the Max Clicks bid strategy. I thought that was odd.  

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@tommi indeed. I’ve played with many ways. There’s no set pattern. I’d also give with custom intent as another route. It’s just Test test test until something sticks. Hope this helps.  

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Have you tried dv360? Audience targeting capabilities are far superior than that of GDN.  

Answer 2

I have only used Topics to expand/scale successful campaigns - I prefer to start more targeted with keywords, custom affinity, etc

Comments

Me too, the problem is my niche doesn't allow for keywords. There are very few sites and blogs in my niche that are "10 hacks to fix [blank]", know what I mean? I am trying a custom affinity audience today using a competitor's url and keyword. We'll see if that takes.  

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@tommi custom intent is the new keyword targeting. Are there youtube channels you can target?  

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@chantel That's a good thought. Not sure? What's the best way to figure that out? Maybe a YouTube placement campaign + keywords?  

Answer 3

Topics is the one disaplay targeting I've never touched. I don't like that it incorporates both user and placement targeting, that seems too much to me like telling Google "just go and get me traffic". But if you had REALLY good overlay on a particular topic, I would say "test it, the clicks will be cheap enough. "

Comments

Thanks for that. Yeah, I'm finding topic targeting is awfully broad, so I'm layering it with the demographic that I'm trying to hit. So if you can't do keyword targeting and topic targeting is too broad, what would you try?  

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@tommi custom intent audiences and remarketing audiences

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Start out just by bunging all your competitor websites in as a custom intent audience, works a treat every time.  

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And after all that I've wound up confusing Topics with Keywords anyway. Topics I have used, you can get pretty specific with those.  

Answer 4

I like by URL audience targeting.