One of the biggest challenges in Pay-Per-Click advertising is trying to capitalize on the Content network. Search Engine Marketers know there is qualified traffic out there, but reaching it is the biggest obstacle.
Did you know Google offers a report that details exactly which Content sites your ads are placed on? Yes it’s true! Google will not only tell you what sites your ads were placed on, but also which sites brought in conversions for your business. In order for the report to show conversion data you must have Conversion Tracking properly set-up on your sites success/thank-you pages.
The report is called Placement Performance and it is an invaluable tool to help you get the most out of the content network. It reveals which sites are making you money and which sites are costing you money. The AdWords Help Center outlines exactly how to create this report. You should create a Report Template so it’s easy to run again .
There are two main objectives when analyzing this report;
1) Exclude sites that are not profitable. To do this, sort by cost. Are there certain sites that are not relevant that you are getting clicks from? If yes, add them as excluded sites. By doing this, you are telling Google you do NOT want your ad to show on these sites.
2) Capitalize on sites that are making you money. If there are certain sites that your ads are showing on where conversion rate is through the roof, then you should think about creating a placement-targeted campaign. This will allow you to target specific sites giving you more control over bidding, ad text, and budgets.
The Google AdWords help center offers a great article on more ways to benefit from this report. If you are not currently using this report, I recommend that you run it at least twice per month. The money it will save you will definitely be worth your time.
