Google Display Network – Improved Targeting with Display Select Keywords (DSK)

The Google Display Network offers a variety of targeting options that allow for highly granular user clusters. Accurate target groups are crucial for running well-performing display campaigns. Defining these in the Display Network has previously been associated with a relatively high optimization effort.

Google now promises relief and recently introduced the new Display Select Keywords feature. This new feature complements the existing contextual keyword targeting. It aims to automatically restrict to the top-performing ten percent of users to significantly increase campaign performance. We have thoroughly tested the function in practice.

Why the Google Display Network is popular with online marketers

The Google Display Network offers enormous reach. According to Google, it can reach over 90 percent of all users worldwide. This is a key reason for online marketers to rely on AdWords for banner campaigns. Additionally, the costs per contact or click (average CPC, CPM, CPM) with AdWords are usually significantly cheaper compared to external display providers. Lastly, the abundance of targeting options is convincing, allowing for very specific target group clusters to be realized.

But why place so much emphasis on keyword targeting? It allows you to reach thematically relevant websites for entered keywords. Unlike topic and interest targeting, the connection between contextual keyword targeting and the landing page is the most direct, offering significantly higher relevance. Regardless of targeting, regular evaluation of placements is recommended. Semantic and contextual information alone is not always sufficient to provide Google’s algorithm with a suitable match.

The placements vary greatly in terms of performance and landing page quality. Therefore, unsuitable and poorly performing placements should be excluded, and the advertising budget should be invested in the best placements. However, this process costs time and money, primarily because evaluating placement quality is only possible once valid data has been collected. Only then can campaigns be driven into a profitable performance range to achieve optimal results.

How to achieve an optimized learning curve

Why not utilize the historical performance data that Google already provides through Big Data? The Display Select Keywords setting does just that. It searches the portfolio of all targeted placements and evaluates them based on anticipated performance. Additionally, an algorithm analyzes user behavior and evaluates it regarding their conversion readiness. According to Google, this works similarly to targeting ready-to-buy audiences: “We match your ad using keyword selection, predictive conversion models, customer’s purchase intent, and other criteria.”

This practice reduces the regular reach of targeting. Only the top ten percent of the original keyword targeting is displayed. Simultaneously, the conversion probability is said to increase by up to 35 percent. Google attempts to substantiate these predictions with several case studies.

For example, the daily lead count for The Control Group/Instant Checkmate increased by 100 with Display Select Keywords. ShopAtHome achieved a 50 percent improvement in conversion rate. Click rates increased by 110 percent in parallel. Such figures should naturally be taken with caution. Performance values are always heavily dependent on one’s business model, the market environment, and the company’s position in the market. Therefore, the effectiveness of the DSK function should only be assessed after extensive testing.

How to properly implement DSK

DSK is already available in approximately 10 percent of all German AdWords accounts. The feature is still somewhat hidden in campaign settings. It will soon be unlocked in the remaining accounts. Thus, DSK has the potential to become a new standard for contextual display campaigns.

To use DSK, a standard Display Campaign (“Display Network Only”) with a focus on keywords is required. Alternatively, you can duplicate an existing contextual campaign for further editing.

Do not make additional targeting specifications, such as combining with topics or interests. The option “No Marketing Goal” should generally be chosen to allow for finer settings during campaign creation (Fig.1).

Fig. 1: Campaign settings for Display Network

In the next step, select “Keywords for Display Network” with one or more corresponding keywords. For keyword selection, use short generic keywords with a maximum of two words in combination. Otherwise, the search volume will be too low.

Also, remove the check marks at targeting optimization “Let AdWords automatically find new customers.” If necessary, you can create direct ad texts. If this point is irrelevant to you, skip it (Fig.2).

Fig. 2: Campaign settings for Display Network with keyword targeting

Your campaign is now set up. However, it still needs the specific DSK settings. Add these to the implemented keyword under the tab “Display Network” -> “Keywords for Display Network” by clicking on the red button “Targeting” (Fig.3). Then select the ad group and edit the keyword again (Fig.4).

Fig. 3: The Display Select Keywords setting is somewhat hidden. After creating the contextual campaign, the keyword must be edited again

Fig. 4: The Display Select Keywords setting can be found in the keyword editing menu

If all steps are performed correctly, the “Display-Select-Keywords” option should become visible (Fig.5). After saving again, the campaign with the DSK setting is now complete. The workflow for implementation is somewhat unusual. Perhaps the option will be directly selectable in the future.

Fig. 5: Display-Select-Keywords setting for the existing keyword

Best practice and results in practice

Once the display campaign is set up, you should revisit the campaign’s primary goal. Do you primarily want to increase campaign profitability by saving budgets and investing in high-conversion areas? Or should the existing reach primarily be maintained and bids better distributed overall?

Both goals can be pursued with the DSK targeting. For budget savings, modifying the existing contextual campaign with DSK is recommended. This reduces scatter loss and only targets performing users. However, the branding effect is decreased. Users at the beginning of the customer journey tend to be addressed a little less.

If you aim for a consistent reach of display campaigns and want to optimally allocate the daily budget across different user groups and placements, duplicate the existing campaigns. One campaign remains with the original settings. The duplicate is then modified into a DSK campaign. Both campaign types now run simultaneously, allowing for separate bid settings. With a higher CPC for the DSK campaign, you ensure sufficient budget is available for performing areas. The remaining budget flows into the high-reach twin campaign. Overall, advertising spend is distributed more efficiently. This parallel increases the performance of this targeting.

The campaigns should be further optimized. Regularly evaluate placements and exclude them if necessary. Consider exclusion of all mobile apps (via placements adsenseformobileapps.com), as they often perform below average. Evaluating by device types, which you can set via the corresponding segment, is also sensible.

Conclusion

Both applications proved themselves in our practical test. Although the results didn’t turn out quite as well as described in the Google case studies, we were still able to record a significant improvement in KPIs. Especially good were the results with advertisers who already had well-performing display campaigns. But even for small advertising budgets, the tested targeting provided added value. There, performance display can now be operated on a controllable level.

Our final conclusion: Ultimately, the performance of the DSK targeting depends on usage and the respective conditions of use. Whether DSK manages to become the new AdWords standard for implementation and control of contextual keyword display campaigns in the future remains to be seen. In our opinion, the potential is certainly there.

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