I never shy away from expressing my love for YouTube advertising. I strongly believe they are one of the most cost-effective ways to build brand awareness or stay in front of your target audience.
But as much as I love video campaigns in Google Ads, I admit they’re not perfect. Before launching a campaign, new YouTube advertisers should be aware of certain things. This article will cover three easy mistakes to make if you don’t pay attention to the fine print of campaign setup.
4 Rules That Impact Your Google Ads Video Campaign Budget
Many of the features that give us the flexibility of Google Ads can also lead to errors Set up a Google Ads campaign. There are three things to keep in mind when running a video campaign.
1. Your video ad will show outside of YouTube by default
As you complete the video campaign setup process, you’ll see a section called “Networks.”If you expand this section, you will see Your video campaigns are automatically included in the three YouTube ad networks: YouTube search results, YouTube videos, and video partners on the Display Network. this is correct. Your video will be served on sites other than youtube.com.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re looking to expand your reach.However, if you want more control over the experience, add Display Network on is probably not the best idea. Let me explain.
People go to YouTube to watch videos. So we see better viewing times, winning action, and overall engagement from the YouTube network. When people are on another website, they visit that website to view specific content; not the content of your video ad. So if you have a limited budget, remove the Display Network from your targeting. You can re-enable this setting at any time if you feel your reach is limited.
2. Video ad extensions don’t appear on TV devices
I love using video action campaigns for clients who want to get as much traffic and conversions as possible from YouTube ads.We can add call-to-action extensions, sitelink extensions, etc. to Encourage users to visit your website. A big problem with these extensions is that they don’t show up on most TV devices.according to Google“The call-to-action button on TV is only available for video campaigns using the “Brand Awareness and Reach” and “Product and Brand Considerations” goals.
So if you’re running a video action campaign, you’re likely to assume that you’re getting the most variation in conversions or traffic visits, but that’s not the case. The call-to-action button does not appear on TV devices. Sitelinks won’t appear on TV devices. Additional lead forms will not be displayed on TV devices. So to make sure I’m spending my mobile budget on the action, I turn off the TV.
Having said that, I’m not saying that TV equipment is worthless. A lot of people watching TV with their mobile phones in their hands. After seeing your ad, they can easily find your brand or product. If you still want to take advantage of the TV device, split it into its own campaign. You have more control over your budget and better visibility into how your Action campaigns are performing on and off TV.
3. Google can ignore your managed placements
When choosing your targeting, advertisers can choose to display their ads on specific YouTube channels, YouTube videos, video playlists, display sites, apps, and app categories. Just like the exact match type in Search Ads isn’t as precise as we’d like, YouTube ad managed placements May be equally unstable. You might think your ad will only appear on the placements you choose, but that’s not the case. Check out the beautiful Google Ads placements next to your placement settings.
“Your ad can appear on any YouTube or Display Network placement match your other goals. “
This means that Google Ads has the right to ignore your managed placement goals And use other targeting options that you layer in your ad groups, such as topics, audiences, and more. We’ve seen a lot of wasted spending in new client accounts as their ads show on many other unexpected placements.
4. Not every Display Network site plays video ads
Finally, if you’re researching display sites for managed placements, you also have to be careful. Google will show you results for every website that is part of the Display Network; not just sites with video ad placements. Therefore, you’ll need to closely monitor any display site placements you add to your ad group targeting to ensure your video ad is actually playing on the selected sites. It will help you avoid a lot of wasted ad spend.
Are you wasting any ad spend?Find out quickly with the free Google Ads Performance Grader.
Bonus Tip: Test More Than Just Videos
So far I’ve given YouTube video campaigns some mistakes to avoid, so I’d like to end with a positive tip.
Ad testing is an essential part of any project Paid Media Strategy YouTube ads are no exception. Your video creative should be the component you test the most in your video campaigns. However, if you only have one video to work with, you can test other components of the video ad.
In your in-stream video ad, you can test a few different extensions to see which one encourages more clicks:
With your in-feed video ad, you can experiment with different thumbnails, titles, or descriptions.
Then, depending on your campaign goals, you can see which variations are increasing view rates, decreasing watch time, increasing engagement, or potentially increasing traffic and conversions. I know many companies have a hard time getting a lot of video ideas. But even if this is your case, you can (and should) test some different ad variations to see how you can improve performance.
Bottom line: always read the fine print (and test!)
There are still a lot of mistakes to avoid that I can review and hopefully we can address in future posts. The ones I’ve included are the most mistakes I get when reviewing new accounts. Be sure to read the fine print in the support section to understand how campaign targeting or campaign settings actually work for video campaigns in Google Ads. Many times, nuances make them work very differently than expected. Having a complete understanding of how your video campaigns work will not only save you money, but also improve your performance from the start.
- Your video ad will show outside of YouTube by default
- Video ad extensions not showing on TV devices
- Google can ignore your managed placements
- Not every Display Network site plays video ads
