When Google Discovery events first appeared in 2019, I doubted they would be huge.
Their available inventory on Gmail, YouTube, and the Discovery Feed seems too low to make sense for most advertisers.
as Google has iterated and expanded, However, I changed my tune.
While not as scalable as standard Google Display or YouTube campaigns, I now know the value of these campaigns and work hard to integrate them into most of the accounts I’m involved with.
So – how can you be successful with Google Discovery Ads?
The Foundation is all about providing the right information to the right people at the right time.
Fortunately for Discovery users, this ad unit offers several advantages over standard Google Display campaigns (and search).
Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
- Discovery’s #1 positioning differentiator.
- Discover tiered targeting in campaigns.
- Discover + redirect.
- optimize the target.
- Discover the dos and don’ts of advertising 101s+.
Discovery’s #1 Differentiator: Positioning
Paid search, capable of delivering impressions at the moment of intent (search), is often the most effective Google advertising product.
With Google Display, you can run ads for retargeting and resemblance Audiences based on past paid search clicker pools, but you can’t specifically target people who have previously searched for specific terms.
With Discovery, you can.
In a discovery campaign, custom segments allow you to explicitly target based on Google search activity.
You’ve never been able to create ad groups that target only searchers of selected keywords in your YouTube, Gmail, and Discovery feeds.
It’s really powerful.
This targeting unlocks the wedge-shaped intent phase between display search and paid search, unique to Google Ads.
Custom segments: how to set them up
Because Google owns all the assets (Discovery, Gmail, YouTube) Discover ad impressions, you can ensure keyword targeting Provides impressions for past searches for your keyword variations.
Setup is simple.
When creating an ad group, select New custom segment.
From there, select people who searched for these terms on Google radio button and enter your keyword.
Screenshot taken by author from Google Ads, March 2022By doing this, you’ll be advertising to anyone who searches for these terms on Google.
A note.
Suppose these keywords are treated as Broad match.
Still, this targeting option is what sets the Discovery apart — and a great one.
Pro tip: Subdivide this targeting into its own ad group/campaign to ensure you have control over spend, budget, bidding strategy, and more.
You may want to maximize the reach and frequency of this subset of your audience and differentiate the experience from other display campaigns.
Hone in on Hierarchical Targeting
Like Google Display, Discovery supports affinity, people of interest, life events, and demographic targeting options.
As Google shows, these targeting options can be stacked on top of each other.
One of my favorite combinations is Custom Audience + Target Audiencetaking into account the personalization opportunities for images in responsive display ad units.
For example, if I’m targeting high net worth individuals, I can pass Demographics aim.
Screenshot taken by author from Google Ads, March 2022Pro tip: With Discovery, you can run “display” ads to people who are interested in your competitors.
Use keywords, key competitor pages (login, pricing) and apps to digitally deliver a personalized before-and-after experience around competitor prospects and customers.
The visual elements of Discovery make it a great strategy for these campaigns of conquest.
Discovery that redirection is a must
If you run a standard display retargeting campaign, finding a retargeting campaign is a no-brainer.
Discovery offers inventory not available through standard displays.
Given that retargeting campaigns often deliver the best ROI for advertisers, it makes sense to maximize impressions as much as possible.
In addition to the additional inventory, Discovery’s 4:5 aspect ratio ads and carousel are unique to the campaign type. They offer the opportunity to differentiate the experience compared to standard displays.
Pro tip: use customer match A list of key advertisers to target unrestricted branded content relevant to them.
people Interact with the discovery feed Looking for content to consume.
This is a great approach if you have content that you want to push to a list of high-value first-party data.
This provides you with a great opportunity to showcase your expertise, communicate your value proposition, explain features, share past customer stories, discuss the onboarding process, and more.
Things to Avoid: Optimize Your Targeting
Optimize targetingformerly known as Audience extensionis a feature that Google enables by default when setting up new campaigns and ad groups.
Google will tell you that they will identify the signals of likely converts to give you more leads at a similar CPL to a non-“optimized” program.
The collective experience of colleagues and colleagues is that keeping this setting enabled is rare.
Most advertisers should avoid it.
It provides little visibility or control over the target, which means limited opportunities for optimization.
For retargeting campaigns this should be avoided 100% as it will change the campaign beyond the re-engagement goal.
Discover Ads 101 + Dos and Don’ts
Discovery’s targeting is unique, but ad units also offer some unique opportunities.
Like display ads, discovery ads are responsive. You feed it a series of images and text, and the algorithm determines the best ad to serve based on the user’s demographics and behavior.
While they are nearly identical to Google Display responsive display ads, there are some differences between them and discovery ads.
mainly:
- find ads do not want Video is supported.
- find ads Do Provides a responsive carousel ad format.
- find ads Do Offers a mobile, newsfeed friendly 4:5 aspect ratio.
The basic principles of display advertising also apply to discovery. It all comes down to personalizing the pre/post-click experience with content of interest and/or value, and taking advantage of the unique features that ad types offer.
Discover Ads Dos
- Do Take advantage of the 4:5 aspect ratio. Google’s tools can help, or you can hire freelancers to resize existing banners for less than a dollar (when done in batches).
- Do Maximize the image, title, and description used for each ad. The more you can let Google test, the better your ads will perform.
- Do Leverage creative learning in your social channels. The mindset of a Discovery ad viewer is very similar to the mindset of someone scrolling through social feeds.
- Do Use images with people. They usually drive better CTAs than images with no one.
- Consider linking lead forms with your discovery ads – Especially suitable for enthusiastic audiences. Get extra points if you integrate your CRM to automate your lead flow.
- Do Monitor your asset level reports For metrics, your ad text and image components are resonating.
find unwanted ads
- do not Implies interactivity (eg adding a CTA button). Google is stricter on this than standard display campaigns
- do not Use lots of overlay text in your images. It results in a lower average CTR.It also results in suboptimal ad unit formats for some inventory
- Don’t overuse low-funnel KPIs with apathetic audiences. As with other display and social strategies, you often want to warm up your audience before offering a low-funnel call to action
- do not Leverage discovery campaigns before setting up conversion tracking. Discovery’s bid strategies all leverage conversion data.
in conclusion
Discovery Ads is a new(ish) format for Google Ads, and its use has grown in importance as privacy takes center stage.
They offer some unique advantages over other ad types like Google Ads and other ad types, including search keyword-level targeting.
Discovery will become a major part of your digital marketing efforts by putting marketing best practices at your forefront during campaign setup and optimization.
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Featured Image: Art Gala/Shutterstock
