Remember that the Google Network is split into the search network (which includes Google and other search sites like uk.ask.com) and the content network (like Google Mail, newsletters and bebo.com). Together, the search and content networks make up thousands of search and content sites displaying targeted Google ads. See other sites where your ad might appear.

By default, AdWords keyword-targeted campaigns are opted in to the entire Google Network: Google search, search partners and the content network (with 'Relevant pages across the entire network' as the setting). You can opt in or out of the search or content networks at any time on your Edit Campaign Settings page. To do so: Sign in to your account > Tick the box beside the campaign that you want to edit > Click the Edit Settings button > Tick or un-tick the boxes and radio buttons under the section titled 'Networks and bidding' > Click Save Changes.

• Keyword-targeted ads can appear across search and content pages in the Google Network. Google uses search targeting to match keywords to search queries on search sites. For content pages, Google uses contextual targeting to match keywords to web page content. (See details below.)


• Placement-targeted ads can only appear on pages in the content network. The advertiser chooses a specific audience and site, or portion of a site, to target. If the ad group also has keywords, the keywords and placements will work together to determine where ads should appear. Keywords will continue to match your ads to placements through contextual targeting, and you can add your own placements to bid more when your ad appears on certain sites, or to limit your ad to appearing only on the placements you target. To learn more, see the Placement targeting lesson.


• Google displays ads in the search network and in the content network based on relevancy factors. You can test different results by creating two separate campaigns - one targeted to the search network and one targeted to the content network. This lets you customise your ad text, keywords, placements (if any) and bids.


• The appearance of your ads may vary slightly among Google Network sites to match the look and feel of different web pages. Google automatically formats your ads for you. AdWords ads are always clearly labelled as advertising-related links.


• Text ads can appear on search pages and on content pages. Ads that contain graphics (like image ads and video ads) can only appear on content pages. To learn more, visit the Using Different Ad Formats lesson.

Advertisers can fine-tune their search targeting using phrases, negative matches, broad matches and other Google AdWords features. For more information, please refer to the Keyword Matching section.

As a result, contextually targeted ads provide useful information to readers and attract an audience with an established interest in your message.

You can fine-tune ads for contextual targeting by using the site exclusion function in your AdWords account. Site exclusion lets you choose sites, or types of sites, that you don't want your ads appearing on - such as competitor sites, low conversion rate sites or sites that conflict with your interests. To learn more about site exclusion, visit the Site Exclusion Tool lesson.

You can also now combine keyword targeting and placement targeting in the same ad group. This lets you define specific content sites where you want your ads to show (based on your keywords), and allows you to bid more effectively when a keyword match is found on a targeted site. To learn more about how to combine keyword and placement targeting, read the Keywords and Placements Together lesson.

Using the same technology, the AdWords system detects sensitive themes and restricts inappropriate ads from appearing, as in the case of tragedies in the news. Google is continuously updating our system with the latest analysis of all sites in our content network, so ads are always relevant to the content of the page, even as the content of the page changes. Contextual ads may be formatted in many ways, depending on the look and feel of the publisher website, so they fit with the rest of the webpage. AdWords ads are always clearly labelled as advertising-related links.

In addition, Google uses "smart pricing" technology for clicks made in the content network. Ads in the content network sometimes return lower conversion numbers than ads in the search network. To make up the difference, smart pricing automatically lowers the cost of these content clicks.

If you find that you receive better business leads or a better return from ads on content sites than on search sites (or vice versa), you can enable content bids at the ad group level or campaign level. Content bids let you set one price for ads on search sites and a separate price for ads on content sites.

To learn more about smart pricing and content bids, visit the Cost Control lesson.

For contextual targeting, AdWords looks at the themes of the keywords in an ad group to decide whether to show your ad for relevant content. If one of your keyword themes matches the theme of the content, your ad might be shown. For search targeting, however, your ad can appear based on the keywords that you've chosen and how they match the search term that a user enters.

Since keywords are analysed differently, it's best to create two separate campaigns - one geared to search and one geared to content. This allows you to structure each campaign with different objectives in mind.

Here's a summary of some of the key differences between search targeting and contextual targeting. Remember these concepts when building your campaigns.

*Note: CPM bidding is only available for campaigns that don't target the search network. Campaigns that target the search network must use CPC bidding.

Campaign strategy: as discussed previously, create a separate campaign when targeting the content network. To do this, create a new campaign in your account, starting with keywords. Then go to your Edit Campaign Settings page, and find the 'Networks and bidding' section. Choose 'The content network' and 'Relevant pages across the entire network'.

As always, make sure that your budget is set to a price that you can afford and that you only target locations and languages to which your services relate.

Ad group strategy: create at least three ad groups, each around a common theme. The idea is to bring additional traffic to your site by covering the entire market to which your products or services relate. For example, create one ad group around the exact product or service that you are offering; a second ad group around similar products or services and a third ad group around your audience demographics.

Next create a keyword list that fits the theme of each ad group. It's useful to include both general and specific keywords.

Finally, create multiple ads for each ad group. Try intermingling different ad formats, such as text ads with image ads. To keep everything related, choose the same Destination URL for every ad in a particular ad group.

Here is an example of how a pet supplier might organise its account with the goal of selling more dog supplies.

• Create separate campaigns for contextually-targeted ads and search-targeted ads.
• Set your bids at the ad group level.
• Base each ad group around a single theme.
• Test different ad formats (text, image, video).
• Point all ads in a particular ad group to the same Destination URL. The more specific the landing page, the better.
• Create short keyword lists.
• Use negative keywords.
• Write compelling, specific ads. (See Writing Targeted Ads.)
• Use placement targeting to raise your bid for websites or other placements where you particularly want your ad to appear. Or use placements to lower your bid for websites where you know your ad doesn't perform well.

• Create different Destination URLs per ad group.
• Bid at the keyword level.
• Use keyword matching options.
• Include both singular and plural keywords.
• Have more than 50 keywords per ad group.
• Create just one ad group per campaign.
• Choose generic landing pages for each ad group.

To see how your ads are doing on various pages in the content network, launch the Placement Performance Report (PPR). This report shows performance statistics for your ads on specific domains and URLs. You will get information on where your ad is shown, as well as the CPC, total clicks and total impressions from sites where your ad appears.

Before running the report, try implementing either Google conversion tracking or Google Analytics — both free programmes accessible in your account. Conversion data often provides the clearest insight about how your ads are doing on a specific site.

Here are some tips for analysing a PPR report:

• Implement Google's conversion tracking so that you can understand how individual sites are converting for you.
• Don't focus on lower overall click-through rates (CTR). Remember: a low CTR on a given site does not necessarily mean your ads perform poorly. Users behave differently on content pages than they do on search sites. For more telling information, rely on your conversion data.
• When you find placements where ads from one ad group convert well, consider targeting those placements on the Placements tab in your ad group. Try raising your bid so that your ads will have a better chance of appearing whenever your keywords put your ad on that placement. Or try doing the opposite with poorer-performing placements: lower your bid to seek a better ROI on those specific placements.
• Respond to only statistically significant data. It may take several weeks before you can see how your ad is doing on a specific site. Wait until you have enough click and impression data before making decisions.
• Use the site exclusion tool to exclude sites that are not converting for your campaign.