There are two key components to setting up any audience strategy in PPC: positioning and observation.
For any PPC practitioner, these two settings can make or break your performance.
It seems that when you get used to the settings or features in these platforms, Interface changes -Or worse-the option changes.
This guide explains the main differences between targeting and observation settings, and where to find them in the Google Ads and Microsoft Ads interfaces.
Aim and Observe: What is the difference?
What exactly is it aim Settings and why are they important?
Using the targeting only setting means that you will only show your ads to those users in the audience you specify.
When using audiences, this setting applies to all search ads, display ads, and YouTube campaigns.
On the other hand, what observe Means why is it important?
Using observation settings means that the reach of your campaign will not be affected. If you add an audience to a PPC campaign, Google will only collect data about the performance of that audience.
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You will be able to compare the audience performance of key KPIs with users who are not categorized into that audience.
When to use each setting
Positioning and viewing settings are very different. If you use them in the right way, each of them can bring benefits to your PPC activities.
When to use targeting settings
When you want Limit your positioning Only for the audience you choose.
Examples of targeting strategies only
- Create a remarketing campaign. In this example, the use of positioning is essential.
- When you want to send a message to a specific audience in different ways.
- Create a search campaign using broad-matched keywords. This is very common in B2B niche companies, and it is difficult for them to find the quantity. By using a broad match + target audience strategy, you can eventually get more qualified visitors.
- Create any type of video ad campaign (you don’t want the world to see your content, do you?).
When to use observation settings
- When you want to monitor Performance by a specific audienceWithout reducing the reach of the campaign.
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Observation only strategy example
- Add remarketing lists to search campaigns and increase bids for that audience
- When you want to monitor new intent audiences for search campaigns. Once you have enough performance data, you can start to change your strategy to pull other levers.
As a general rule of thumb, I usually don’t recommend observe In any display ad or YouTube campaign. This is because these activities focus more on awareness and targeting the right audience is key.
There are many other use cases Use one setting or another, but if you are just starting out, this provides a good starting point.
Where can I find this setting
In the Google Ads interface, navigate to audience Tabs on the left.
Note-You need to decide whether your PPC campaign has a campaign-wide audience target, or an ad group-wide audience target.
From there, click Edit audience segment To the right:
Screenshot from Google Ads, December 2021At the top, you can choose here position and observe:
Screenshot from Google Ads, December 2021In this example, I chose to use position (Not recommended observe Settings) due to the low overall search volume of the keywords.
We used pure broad match targeting and targeted qualified audiences for this B2B company.
Where to find in Microsoft Ads
Let us not forget Microsoft (Bing) advertising. Microsoft has the same functions as Google.
In the Microsoft Ads interface, navigate to audience Tabs on the left. (Similar to Google).
From there, click Create association.
Screenshot of Microsoft Ads, December 2021After entering, you will scroll down to see the options. Microsoft does provide these functions in a different language than Google, but they accomplish the same thing.
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Microsoft options are Bid only (compared to observe On Google) and Goals and bids (compared to position On Google).
Screenshot of Microsoft Ads, December 2021After setting the desired goals, you can choose to increase or decrease your bids for your chosen audience.
Performance example
Now that you are familiar with these positioning settings, let’s take a look at a real-world example of how to implement these settings.
In the figure below, the client wants to first understand how certain industries and company scales perform compared to general users.
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In this case, the audience is set at For observation only Start. If you are testing a new audience, this is usually recommended, rather than going all-in without data.
The performance after one month is obvious: users in these selected audiences are more qualified than ordinary users.
The click-through rate is 230 times higher than users who are not in these audiences!
Screenshot from Google Ads, December 2021It should be noted that the overall coverage is much lower than the average user, which is expected.
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How does this change the strategy of this search campaign?
The client eventually expanded their match type to broad and set the audience to Target only. This leads to:
- Higher click-through rate.
- Reduce cost-per-click.
- Higher conversion rate.
- Reduce cost per conversion.
Audience expansion mistakes you don’t want to make
If you are an experienced PPC marketer, it may not be surprising that Google sometimes hides automation features that they don’t want you to find.
A feature that is particularly difficult to locate is called Audience expansion.
This feature is in the Google Display Campaign (not the search network).
Hold this Remarketing Activities, for example. Before we can find this “hidden” feature from Google, you will notice a significant difference in performance.
- This Remarketing audiencee only accounted for 45,000 impressions
- This Show automatic positioning Accounted for more than 1.8 million impressions!
- Although there are some conversions, they are in one Huge cost.
Screenshot from Google Ads, December 2021if Remarketing, This setting should almost always be turned off. why?
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Whole point Remarketing Is to re-attract users who know you! If you have a specific message for this group of people, you don’t want others to see it.
If you are creating a promotion, you may find this setting more useful. However, please always be cautious.
Where to find and turn off settings
In a display campaign, you need to be in a specific ad group. Therefore, if you have multiple ad groups, you need to turn off this feature for each ad group.
navigation Ad group> Settings> Edit ad group targeting.
Screenshot from Google Ads, December 2021From there, you will see this box with the option to move the joystick. By default, it will move to the first point on the right.
Screenshot from Google Ads, December 2021Generalize
As with any PPC campaign, there is no “one size fits all” strategy, especially in terms of audience positioning.
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By understanding these key differences in positioning and observation, you can improve your PPC strategy into the most meaningful model for your goals.
More resources:
Featured Image: Visual Generation/Shutterstock
