Convertiv | Social Media Agency |

While the Google Content Network can certainly provide an advertiser with huge click volume, if not managed correctly, content ads can quickly drain your budget with minimal results.  Below are a few best practices for managing Adwords campaigns within the Google Content Network:

Replicate Campaigns for Content Only:

From a campaign hierarchy perspective, I would recommend replicating your Search Network campaigns to Content Only campaigns and labeling them accordingly.  For example,  if you have a search campaign called “Golf Putters,” call the replicated Content Only campaign “Golf Putters: CONTENT.”

Use Data from Google Search Network:

Because the Google Content Network only gives you visibility down to the Adgroup level, its best to initially launch a Content Campaign with only your best performing Adgroups from the Search Network.  Next, I would pause all under performing keywords and ads from the Search Network Adgroups to ensure you’re transfering only the best performers to the Content Network. Finally, I would start by setting your bids at 50% lower than your Search Network campaigns, as conversion rates within the Content Network are typically much lower.

Negative Match Ad Placements:

At one point or another, we’ve all landed on a web page full of Adsense ads with little or no relative content.  Obviously, the likelihood of generating quality conversions from a domain park is low, so refining your ad placements is a key driver to Content Network success.  Similar to finding Negative Keywords, by running an Adwords Placement Report, you can start to negative match any non-converting content websites.