Running a successful PPC campaign today requires more than just getting ads in front of people; it’s about reaching the right audience with precision.
Whether you’re aiming for local shoppers or a global audience, ad targeting plays a pivotal role in maximizing your ROI.
When targeting users through platforms like Google Ads or Microsoft Ads, you can reach people based on:
Who they are (demographics).
What they’re actively searching for.
Their interests and hobbies.
And more.
By mastering the variety of options available on platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, you can ensure your ads resonate with the people most likely to take action.
Let’s dive into the core targeting options that can help fine-tune your campaigns for optimal performance.
Search Targeting
We’ll start with the most common form of targeting in Google and Microsoft Ads: Search.
Search campaigns are a powerful strategy for marketers, allowing you to reach users when they are actively searching for products or services.
By showing an ad on a search engine results page (SERP), you’re in a position to answer the user’s query and potentially influence them to make a purchase.
So, how do you show up on these SERPs?
By bidding on keywords.
What Are Keywords?
Keywords are phrases advertisers use to tell platforms like Google and Microsoft what searches we want our ads to show up for.
For example, when someone goes to Google and types in [blue couch], Google will scan your account to see if you’re targeting and bidding on the keyword.
If you do, then you’re eligible to show up for the query. If not, then your ad won’t show.
However, just having the keyword in your account isn’t enough to show up for all those “blue couch” queries.
There are many other factors that influence whether your ads will show for a certain query, like keyword match types, negative keywords, and your keyword bids, but that’s a topic for another chapter.
Dynamic Search Ads
Another type of targeting in Search campaigns is called Dynamic Search Ads, or DSA for short.
Unlike traditional keyword bidding, DSA campaigns use your website content to target your ads, and can help fill in potential keyword gaps that you’re not already bidding on – but are still relevant to the user.
DSA content, like headlines and landing pages, is also generated from your existing website content, which can save you time in the initial setup.
You can allow the platform to scan all website pages, some pages, or a list of pages you specify to ensure the ad content is relevant for the user.
For example, you may not want the platform to scan your “Returns and Shipping” page because it wouldn’t be relevant content for the initial query.
Dynamic Search Ads are a great tool when you’re looking to expand the reach of your current Search campaigns.
They’re designed to help advertisers bridge the gap to match for relevant queries that aren’t already being bid on within your campaigns.
Audiences
Rounding out targeting on the Search network, we have Audience targeting.
There are numerous types of audiences you can target in Search campaigns, including:
In-Market.
Remarketing.
Detailed Demographics.
And more.
By adding these types of audiences to a Search campaign, you can choose to either target your ads only to those users who match that audience and are searching for keywords, or you can increase bids on those matched audiences while also serving ads to users who just match the keyword targeting.
Using these audience layers, you can optimize your campaigns by creating a custom experience for these matched audience users by:
Creating a separate campaign targeting only those users.
Adjust ad copy.
Setting separate bid strategies.
And more.
Display Targeting
Display campaigns on the Google Display Network (GDN) have a variety of targeting options that live under two main categories: content and audience.
Content (also known as contextual) targeting means your targeting options focus on the content of the page or website.
When you choose content targeting, you’re indicating to Google that you want your ads to show based on these types of content factors:
Topics: Choosing topics to show ads on content related to a certain subject.
Placements: Choosing a specific website, app, or video to show ads on.
Keywords: Choosing keywords to trigger your ad when people view related content on YouTube, websites, or apps.
Screenshot from Google Display Network, October 2024
When you choose audience targeting, you’re telling Google you want your ads to show for users who exhibit the behaviors you’ve identified as important.
These audience segments include:
Detailed demographics.
Affinity.
In-Market.
Life events.
Custom segments.
Combined segments.
Let’s take a deeper dive into each of these audience segments for more information.
Topic Targeting
Topic targeting has one of the widest reach of content targeting options.
It allows advertisers to choose topics from a list Google has created that group websites, placements, and apps that fit into that theme.
Topics can range in theme, from gardening and enterprise software to extreme sports and medical research.
There are many high-level categories, most with multiple sub-categories to help you find the type of content you want your ads to show up next to.
Screenshot from Google Display Network, October 2024
Placement Targeting
Placement targeting is one of the narrowest targeting options on the GDN.
With placement targeting, advertisers provide Google with a list of specific websites or apps they would like their ads to show up on.
However, just because you choose specific websites does not guarantee that your ad will be displayed.
For your ad to be eligible to show on those websites or apps, they need to be opted into Google’s ad network, AdSense.
Keyword Targeting
Keywords are also a potential targeting option for the GDN, but it’s important to note the difference in functionality compared to Search campaigns.
For the GDN, keyword targeting does not use match types.
They end up functioning like Broad Match keywords, spanning a wider range of potential keywords to show up for.
Additionally, when choosing keyword targeting on the GDN, it also takes the context of those keywords into play – meaning your ads can show up on webpages, apps, and videos related to those keywords.
Detailed Demographics
Detailed demographic targeting allows you to target users based on information Google presumes or infers about them.
These categories include:
Parental status.
Marital status.
Education.
Homeownership status.
Screenshot from Google Display Network, October 2024
Each of these categories has sub-categories to help narrow down who exactly you’d like to reach.
For example, when choosing a Parental status, you can choose based on whether they are parents of infants, toddlers, grade schoolers, teenagers, or adult children.
Affinity
Affinity audiences have the broadest reach of Display Network targeting. When first created, the original intention was to mimic TV audiences.
These lists are groups of people who might have an affinity toward a certain industry or hobby like “social media enthusiasts” or “frequent travelers.”
These audiences are best used when you’re trying to reach a large group of people for brand awareness efforts.