One of the most interesting aspects of being a search engine marketer is witnessing the new marketing products and services frequently introduced to the industry. And as a search engine marketer discovering and learning to use these newly introduced products and services effectively is just part of the job; however, one of my favorite search engine marketing products to come along is the placement targeted campaign option over at Google AdWords. It’s been around for a while but was called site targeting in the past, and the name has recently been changed to placement targeted because of a few newly added features.
Feature #1 – The option to select PPC or CPM as your payment model.
Feature #2 – The option to select the sites to display your ads, the sub pages, and often the specific ad unit on a blog or Website; therefore the name placement targeting.
It’s true that I really love this placement targeted campaign feature…but why? Because it’s just simply fun. I mean if you use the tool correctly you can optimize your campaigns with text, display and video ads, and display them on sites ranging from small niche content sites to large social network sites such as MySpace, or even high traffic volume content sites such as MarthaStewart.com. And it’s actually easy and fun. And although the current targeting of subsection placement is somewhat limited, as the Google network expands so will the site targeting options.
So what’s the big deal with this placement thing?
For me the big deal is in the simplicity of setting up an ad campaign across major Web networks in only an hour or two. You can plan and launch text, display and video ad campaigns in a snap, provided you already have the display and video ads created as I do in this case. And just like PPC you can choose your advertising regions, budget options, scheduling, and go into the admin and change options anytime you wish.
When you are selecting your ad placements you can choose among several selection options.
- You can browse categories such as women’s interests.
- Choose a topic such as “camping” and then select the sites brought up into the category.
- List existing URLs on the Google network and select.
- Select by demographics.
For my use, the best feature of placement targeting is the choice between the CPC and CPM models, and the option to change the options whenever you want. You probably already understand that PPC is pay-per-click and CPM is cost-per-thousand impressions. But what are the benefits of each model?
CPC is the option you want to select if cost is overshadowed by Website visitors, thus having the goal of driving as many qualified, actionable visitors to the site as possible.
CPM is the option you select if your goal is to gain exposure and elevate the awareness of your Website – basically we’re talking about a low cost branding campaign. It’s generally cheaper than CPC because you are paying as little as .25 cents per 1000 impressions; although the cost per thousand impressions can increase rather quickly when you begin to target high traffic sites.
I love the CPC/ CPM feature because it does occasionally save me money on my search campaigns. Recently I switched one of my campaigns from a PPC model to a CPM model, and saved myself about 200$ the first month while maintaining the same amount of conversions.
If you are not using the placement targeting option I encourage you to try it. It’s simply a snap and I’m sure you’ll like it.
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