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.

However, a placement-targeted ad always fills the entire ad position (space reserved for ads on a page) itself. This means that only one placement-targeted ad appears on a content page. If you run a text ad, the ad would be expanded to its expanded text ad format so as to fill the entire position.

To see how ads can be formatted on a content network page, visit our ad format page.

The creation process for both choices is similar. But when you start with placements, you'll notice a few differences from starting with Keywords:

• Placements: instead of creating a list of keywords to trigger your ad, you create a list of websites or related placements where you'd like your ad to appear.


• Placement Tool: instead of using the Keyword Tool to find potential keywords to advertise on, you use a Placement Tool to find potential placements where you'd like your ad to appear. You can list exact URLs or use other criteria to generate a list of available placements. This is explained in more detail below.

The Placement Tool offers four ways to choose placements:

• Browse categories: Shows sites and related placements that match categories (like Entertainment) or subcategories (like Music) that you select. For best results, narrow the topic by choosing subcategories that most precisely match your ad.


• Describe topics: Shows sites and related placements relevant to words or phrases you enter. For instance, a coffee merchant might enter topics like organic coffee beans, coffee or coffee products. We will then display a list of sites relating to the topics entered.


• List URLs: shows placements that exactly match, or are related to, URLs you enter. For example, if you are advertising tennis equipment, you might enter the URLs of your favourite tennis or sports websites. If the sites that you enter are part of the Google content network, we will display those sites as available for targeting. If not, we will display a list of related sites that may have a similar audience. You can then choose the placements where you would like your ad to appear.


• Select demographics: Shows sites and related placements popular with the audience demographics you select. For example, you might choose an audience age range of ages 35-44. We'll display placements likely to target that audience.

Click Add next to placements where you'd like your ad to appear. Placements that you select move to the Selected Placements list on the right-side of the page. Click the Add Selected Placements button to save them to your ad group.

To match your ad to the most relevant placements, we recommend that you use all four methods above.

As it does with keyword-targeted ads on the search network, AdWords automatically lowers the actual CPM to the minimum price needed to win the auction in a given position on the content network. In many cases, advertisers pay a price lower than their CPM bid.

CPM pricing can be used with keywords or with placements. CPM pricing is only available for campaigns that target the content network. It can't be used in campaigns that target the search network.

For ads with CPC bidding, the AdWords system considers the ad's bid, click-through rate (CTR) and other relevance factors, all taken across 1000 impressions. The resulting figure is the ad's eCPM or effective cost per thousand impressions.

For any available ad position, the eCPMs of ads with CPC pricing are compared to each other and to the bids of any eligible ads with CPM bidding. The highest-ranking ad wins the position and is displayed to the user. An image ad must outrank the eCPM of the top four keyword-targeted text ads in order to win the space.

Regardless of the type of ad that wins the position, the AdWords Discounter monitors the competition and ensures that the winning ad is charged only what is necessary to maintain its ranking above the next highest ad.

To learn more about the AdWords Discounter, visit the Cost Control lesson.

When a user searches Google or sites across the Google Network, we will determine to show your ad based on the user's:

• Google domain
• Query entered (called query parsing)
• Internet Protocol (IP) address
• Language preference

When a user searches on any of the hundreds of Google domains, AdWords displays ads according to the domain used. For example, if a user located in Spain searches on Google.fr, AdWords shows ads targeted to France.

For example, if a user in New York searches for hotels in Hollywood, the user sees ads targeted to the Hollywood area.

This search functionality only applies to ads that target certain areas worldwide.

We will only use the IP address to show regionally (region and city) targeted or customised ads or when a user searches Google.com from any location.

• Regionally-targeted and customised ads: If a Google user searches plumbers from a New York area IP address, we may display regional or customised ads targeted to New York, even though New York is not in the search query.


• Google.com searches: If a user with an IP address in France searches on Google.com, the user might see ads targeted to France, even though the user is not accessing Google.fr.

For example, users who choose Spanish as their language preference see ads targeted to Spanish speakers.

Google does not translate ads. If an advertiser writes an ad in English and targets the Spanish language, the ad appears in English, regardless of the targeted language.

• Target countries or territories to reach a wide audience across one or more countries.
• Target regions and cities if your business serves specific geographic areas or if you want different advertising messages in different regions.
• Target customised areas to reach specific geographic areas which may not be available in region and city targeting or if you want to define specific geographic areas.

To choose your language and location targeting options for a new campaign:

1. Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.co.uk.
2. On the Campaign Summary page, click the link for New online campaign and then choose to 'start with keywords' or 'start with placements'. You will be taken to a new page.
3. Name your campaign and ad group.
4. Select one or more languages that you wish to target.
5. Under Target customers by location, you'll see a default location. To show your ads to customers in a different place, click 'Change location', then make your selection.
6. Click 'Continue'.
7. After you complete the targeting section, finish creating your campaign.

To change your language or geographic targeting settings for an existing campaign:

1. Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.co.uk.
2. Tick the campaign that you wish to edit and click Edit Settings.
3. Select a language to target beside 'Languages'.
4. Click Edit beside 'Locations'.
5. Click OK if you receive a pop-up dialogue box.
6. Select your new locations.
7. Click Finished.
8. Click Save Changes.

For example, if you sell Spanish books, you can choose to target your ads to the Spanish language. When we detect that a user speaks Spanish by one of the methods listed in the topic above (How AdWords Targets Users), we will display your ad.

We recommend that you target the language in which your ad is written. For example, if your ad is written in English, target English-speaking users. Remember that Google will not translate your ad for you.

It is common for new advertisers to target all countries and territories in the hope of widening their reach. However, by doing this, you may target people who cannot read the language of your ad or website, which creates low-quality clicks.

To help assess where and who you should target, answer these questions:

• Where does your business sell or provide?
• Who is your intended audience?

A good strategy is to organise and name your campaigns by country (such as Germany) and your ad groups by product lines (such as coffee products and tea products). Then, tailor your keywords and ad text to the intended audience.

Make sure that your keyword list and ad text for each ad group is in one language. This ensures that the ad appears in the same language in which the keyword was entered. For example, if a user enters a keyword in Japanese, the ad will appear in Japanese.

Double-byte characters need nearly twice the display space as single-byte characters. For example, the title line of an English ad has a 25 character limit. However, the limit for that same title line is 12 characters for a double-byte language. The second and third lines of English ad text are limited to 35 characters, while the limit for double-byte characters is 17.

Two other rules to follow when creating ads with double-byte characters:

- Use single byte characters for symbols, such as punctuation marks and currency symbols.

- Use single byte characters for alphanumeric characters.

When creating a double byte character ad in the English interface, the character limit on the screen is wrong. To avoid receiving an error message, enter only the correct character length.

Figure: Japanese ad in U.S. AdWords interface

Figure: Single byte characters and numbers inside a double byte ad

Region and city targeting usually works best for region-specific businesses, such as boutiques, stores, restaurants or hotels. For example, if you sell flowers and only deliver in the New York City area, you should target your campaign to that area only.

Region and city targeting may not be offered in your country. The available options are displayed when you set up your campaign.

Here is how to do so:

• Include the names of regions and cities that you wish to target in your keywords, such as Seoul hotel and hotels in Seoul. When a user anywhere in South Korea searches for your keyword, your ad appears.
• Add the names of regions and cities that you do not wish to target as negative keywords. For example, if your ad group contains the broad-matched keyword hotels, add -Sao Paulo as a negative keyword (with the hyphen) to prevent your ad from showing for the query Sao Paulo hotels.
• Include region and city names in your ad text to reinforce the local nature of your product or service. This way, if your ad appears for a user uninterested in the targeted region, the user will not click on your ad.

Additionally, customised targeting does not limit you to the cities and regions offered by region and city targeting. For example, an advertiser owns a restaurant chain in South Wales. With customised targeting, the advertiser could choose to target the entire southern half of Wales instead of specific regions or cities.

• Enter a physical address: With this option, you enter a street or business address. (This option is available for the U.S and Canada only.) You then choose a distance (such as 50 miles or kilometres) that forms the radius of a circle around the address. Only users located within this circle or those who include in their search the names of cities within this circle will see your ads.


• Select a point on the map: Instead of entering an address, you can define the centre of your advertising circle by dragging the interactive map to place a red marker on your location. This location will automatically be converted to exact latitude and longitude coordinates, which the AdWords system will use in targeting your advertising.


• Multi-point (or polygon): Multi-point targeting lets you click three or more points on an interactive map to outline the advertising region of your choice. (Again, the system will convert the points that you select to latitude and longitude automatically.) Using multi-point targeting, you can create target areas of virtually any size and shape.

The primary matching options you can apply to your keywords are:

• Broad
• Phrase
• Exact
• Negative

AdWords also offers a more advanced matching option called embedded matching, which will be discussed in greater detail later in this lesson.

When your keyword is broad-matched, it will trigger your ad whenever that keyword or similar term appears in a user's query. This means that your ad will still appear even if:

• Other words are included in the query.
• Terms in the query are not written in the same sequence in your keyword (for example, if your keyword is x, your ad may be triggered by search terms xyz, zx or zyx).
• The query is similar to your keyword. This includes plurals and synonyms.

Broad matching is an effective way to reach a wide audience. To specify a broad-matched keyword, enter your keyword without including quotes, brackets or other punctuation.

Example: For the broad-matched keyword used book, your ad could appear when users enter the following queries:

Used book dealer
Buy used book
Used and rare book
Used book for sale
Used book finder

Phrase matching helps restrict your ad from showing on irrelevant variations of your keyword and target your audience more accurately. To enable phrase matching for a particular keyword, enclose it with quotation marks.

Example: For the phrase-matched keyword "used book", your ad will appear when Google users enter the following queries:

Exact-match keywords are enclosed in square brackets.

Example: For the exact-matched keyword [used book], your ad will display when Google.co.uk users enter the following query:

To specify a negative keyword, add a minus sign (-) before the keyword or phrase you want to limit. Negative matches may not restrict your other keywords as much as phrase or exact matches might.

Example: For broad-matched keyword 'used book' and negative keyword -college, your ad will display when Google.co.uk users enter the following query:

The broad-match keyword used books will probably be too general to be effective for this ad. The ad would appear on queries such as used biology books or used shelves for books. As a result, the ad would probably accrue many impressions, but few clicks.

Similarly, the broad-match keyword Shakespeare might be too general. Common variations such as Shakespeare festival would trigger your ad, but will not bring visitors who are interested in your business to your site.

Adding "used books" as a phrase match better targets the ad by ensuring that it will appear only if users search on the terms used books in that order. You ad would appear if users search on Shakespeare used book or used books of play. You will know that you are reaching only people looking for different variations of used books.

The broad-match keyword Shakespeare plays does not differentiate between users searching for books of Shakespeare plays, performances of Shakespeare plans or auditions for Shakespeare plays. Adding the negative keywords -performance and -auditions would eliminate many unwanted impressions and possibly improve your ROI as well.

Adding Negative Keywords

To identify appropriate negative keywords for your account, you can use the following methods:

• Use the Keyword Tool: We recommend using our keyword tool, which has many features to help you refine your keyword list. You can access this tool by clicking Keyword Tool above the keyword table for the Ad Group you wish to edit.
• Add Ad Group or Campaign level negative keywords: You can apply negative keywords to all of the Ad Groups in a campaign or to an individual Ad Group. To apply negative keywords at the campaign level, click Tools on the Campaign Management tab and then click Edit Campaign Negative Keywords.
• Enter negative keywords manually: As described in the examples above, you can also manually add negative keywords to your keyword lists. To specify a negative keyword, place a negative sign (–) before the word.

The broad-matched, multi-word keywords used rare books and used Shakespeare plays may work well. Implementing phrase-matched keywords may eliminate unwanted variations that do not pertain to your service. As a result, phrase-matched keywords can be more effective with general terms. The keyword phrase "used book" is appropriate since the advertiser is selling used books, but does not offer text books or blue book estimates for used cars.

All three types of ad groups compete with each other in AdWords. If an ad position is available on the content network, placement-targeted ads and keyword-targeted ads from all advertisers will compete for the position.

• You've chosen no placements, so there's nowhere for these ads to appear.
• Ads from this ad group won't run unless you add placements or change your campaign settings.

• Your ads can only appear on placements that you've targeted.
• You've chosen no keywords, so there's no way to target your ad contextually to any other pages.

• Your ads can only appear on the placements that you've targeted.

• Your ads can appear on any matching content network page.
• Your placements are used for bid adjustments only or to assign individual destination URLs.

• Your ads will appear only on your placements, and only if those placements also match your keywords.