Site-targeted ad campaigns can use an advertiser’s budget more effectively by focusing on those niches where the audience will have a greater interest in the marketer’s message.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has famously decried the scattershot approach of broadcast advertising. He’s right; certain ads are a better fit for certain demographics, so why should all of us be subject to feminine hygiene ads unnecessarily?
Broadcasters can make a reasonable guess about their demographics and plan ads accordingly. If you’re watching Oprah, the advertising isn’t quite the same as it is during WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown. So I’ve heard.
Google heard that as well. It’s why their contextual advertising model has pushed them to a $100+ billion salary cap, because it works. Like virtually anything, there’s room for improvement, and that’s why Google has continued to tweak its AdWords program.
The latest update noted on the Inside AdWords blog involves the site-targeting process. Google has released Category Site Selection for the site tool used by AdWords clients.
The new tool complements other methods of finding desirable sites in Google’s content network, like “listing site URLs, describing topics that match your ad, and selecting demographics.”
From the AdWords blog about Category Site Selection:
This allows you to browse sites by category, making it easier for you to find and include sites that are relevant to your products or services. For example, if I want to advertise my soccer camp, I would first select the ‘Browse Categories’ button in the site tool. Then I can select ‘Sports’ and drilldown to the topic ‘Soccer’ in order to view sites that may interest me.
Depending on your business, there may be a site, and its visitors, just waiting to be targeted today.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
