If you are wondering how a display select campaign can work for your business, then you are in luck.

This article is full of information that shows how display select campaigns can and have worked for both myself and my clients. By following the information laid out here in this article, just about anyone can put together a successful campaign.

If you would like to see a real display select campaign working on a real live account, then you can request that from me here

 

So How Do Display Select Campaigns Work Anyway?

If you have attempted to use Google’s help file to determine how display select campaigns ads actually work, you are likely also disappointed by what little information is there. Google appears to want to keep a tight lid on this one; perhaps they do not want people to know they are using their logged-in users’ browsing data to run their ad serving algorithm for these ads …

Because no one can really prove how display select campaigns work with cold hard facts, I have made an attempt to explain them here by commenting on the vast similarities I have found in the many display select campaigns that I manage.

If you look below, you will find two display select ad placement reports from two completely separate display select network campaigns, promoting two totally different products.

Notice the similarities in the Placements Google has given me:

Two Total Unique Display Select Campaign Placements

Two Total Unique Display Select Campaign Placements

 

Common Ad Placement in Display Select (Info Site)

A Common Ad Placement in Display Select (Info Sites)

 

It is clear Google tries to put a product in front of a person who is in the informational stages of a purchase in order to short-circuit the purchase cycle.

In addition to this and for eCommerce products, placements also often run on sites that allow browsers to browse similar categories of products, similar to how search partner campaigns work.

Common Ad Placement for Ecommerce

For eCommerce, This Is a Common Ad Placement

 

One thing most ad management professionals I have spoken with agree on is that Google pretty much knows what a user’s intent is before ever opening a webpage it hosts ads on, if that user came from Google’s search engine and especially if that user was logged in to their Google profile when they went there.

Entry Point for Display Select (1)

 

Entry Point for Display Select (2)

Entry Point for Display Select

 

Ending Point for Display Select Sequence (1)

Ending Point for Display Select Sequence

 

When you consider Google often already has the user’s age and sex, what pages they have visited in the past, and in many cases, where they have physically been, you can see how Google makes these display select campaigns convert as well as its search ads.

Ending Point for Display Select Sequence (2)

Display Select Can Perform Just as Well as Search

 

Google also uses its own historical conversion data to know whether or not it was right about any one ad placement, and via machine learning, to determine where your ads should be placed before you even begin to advertise.

Google Tracks the Value of Display Select Keyword

Google Tracks the Value of Every Display Select Keyword

 

Google Tracks Every Placement

As Well as Every Placement They Give You

 

How Display Select Is Set Up

If you were not already aware, display select advertising is a single settings change inside the settings menu of the campaign you would like to employ it for.

Display Select Campaign Feature Setup

Display Select Campaign Feature Setup

 

Bonus Tip: You should always eliminate the possibility of having your ads show up in mobile apps that host AdSense ads by setting up a campaign exclusion in the display settings menu for both AdSense for mobile apps and GMOB before you even get started.

How to ensure you do not show on Mobile Apps (1)

How to Ensure You Do Not Show on Mobile Apps #1

 

How to ensure you do not show on Mobile Apps (2)

How to Ensure You Do Not Show on Mobile Apps #2

 

Ad Copy

To make working ad copy for display select, you will have to often upgrade your normal search campaigns ads to actually sell the product or service in question to the flightier user if you have not already. A search ad that works well for regular search will not automatically work well with display select.

How Can I Create an Ad for Exclusive Use in Display Select?

You can segment out which ads should be shown exclusively on display select by running image ads in your campaign, as these banners by default cannot be shown in the regular search results.

If you were just to load up display ads in your search campaign with display select running (and no text ads), then you could technically just run ads on the display select network, which is a great little hack.

Select Ad Copy And Run Display Ads

To Specify Your Display, Select Ad Copy and Run Display Ads

 

Ad Strategies & Examples

In my opinion, the main goal with your ad copy on display select campaigns is to get qualified prospects to check out your offer so you can remarket to them later.

For a physical product, I always recommend listing the price and image of the product itself in the ad, which prequalifies the user to the highest level possible.

Example of Display Select Ad for Physical Product

Display Select Ad for Physical Product Example

 

Example of Placement that Display Select Ad (1)

Example Placement of That Display Select Ad

 

For a service, I generally recommend trying to differentiate the service from other similar services in its class and use a dedicated landing page for this.

Example of Select Ad for Service

Display Select Ad for Service Example

 

Example Placement that Display Select Ad (2)

Example Placement of That Display Select Ad

 

Works Hand-in-Hand With Remarketing

While your display select campaigns may not work immediately to generate as low of a conversion as you would like, they most certainly will with the right remarketing follow-up.

Always remarket your visitors with both display- and search-based retargeting for maximum results.

Search Based Retargeting Ads

Search Based Retargeting Ads (RLSA)

 

Display Based Retargeting Ads

Display Based Retargeting Ads

 

Results

Take a look at the cost per conversion achieved on a recent campaign I have been running for a high dollar product.

Display Select Performance in Adwords

How to Show Display Select Performance In AdWords

 

Display Select Results From Brand New Campaign

Display Select Results From Brand New Campaign

 

Letting this campaign run for a few more months and with better search retargeting, I could easily bring the cost per conversion down on this campaign by 100 percent or more as the branding effect of this display campaign really kicks in and people finish the purchase a few months later.

Here is an example of a campaign that had produced even better results via display select vs. its own search campaign clicks, so there is always the possibility of saving money with display select as well.

 

Display Select Results From Another Campaign

Display Select Results From Another Campaign

 

No matter what you are selling, there is always generally a way to make display select work. If it’s not working for you, then just ask me to set it up for you, and I will!

Author:

Corey Zieman

Paid Search Strategist

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