Optimized Targeting and The Unified Display Campaign

 

Optimized Targeting and The Unified Display Campaign

Google is making changes to Display Campaigns in January 2022. All Existing SMART Display Campaigns and any Standard Display Campaign using Targeting Expansion will be switched over to the newly released Optimized Targeting. Google has also decided to merge SMART and Standard Display campaigns, meaning you will no longer need to choose between the 2 when creating a new Display Campaign. This is in an effort to simplify the Display Network Campaign creation process.

Optimized Targeting

Announced in July 2021, the introduction of Optimized Targeting falls in line with Google’s push toward increased automation. Available for, and now the default targeting setting on, Display Campaigns, Discovery Campaigns and Video Campaigns (that use Sales, Leads or Traffic as campaign goals), this introduction has led to a significant change in Display Ads.

Optimized Targeting works by expanding your audience outside of your targeting parameters. Google’s Algorithm identifies people that are likely to convert based on real time conversion data. This means that people who exhibit online behaviors like those that have recently converted will be included in your audience. It also looks at information contained in your landing pages and creatives when determining when and where your ad is shown.

Though similar to the Audience Expansion feature, Optimized Targeting differs in its fundamental process for choosing who sees your ad. Audience Expansion finds additional impressions by finding people who are similar to audiences you’ve manually selected for as opposed to Optimized Targeting using real time conversion data to find people who are more likely to convert based on exhibiting behavior similar to other users that have converted. Adding targeting signals (audience segments or keywords) to Optimized Targeting can allow you to get more specific and have more control over who sees you ad.

Whether this targeting type is right for you or not depends on the goal of your campaign. For example, Optimized Targeting is all about finding new customers, so if your goal is to reach previous customers to get them to purchase your product or service again, then you’ll want to opt for Manual Targeting over Optimized Targeting. Same thing if you have strict guidelines about where your ads can show. However, if your goal is to increase your audience and find new people that are more likely to convert, Optimized Targeting is a good option.

The Unified Display Campaign

With the introduction of Optimized Targeting, Google has decided to combine SMART and Standard Display Campaigns into a single entity. The automated targeting used in SMART Campaigns as well as the Targeting Expansion feature of Standard Display campaigns have merged into the Optimized Targeting feature of the new Display Campaign. These changes will occur in January 2022. Any Display Campaigns using Targeting Expansion and SMART Display Campaigns will be switched over to Optimized Targeting and any newly created Display Campaigns will be in the new format. Other changes include the ability for eligible advertisers to pay for conversions rather than clicks and support for data driven attribution.

If you are currently running SMART or Standard Display campaigns, don’t worry, your campaigns will continue to run as they were before (except for Targeting in SMART Display Campaigns and any Standard Display Campaigns using Targeting Expansion, both will now use Optimized Targeting) and you will retain the ability to edit for now. Google may change this as the new Display Campaign continues to roll out, that remains to be seen. In the near future, Google will provide the option to add Optimized Targeting to your campaigns using Google Ads API or Google Ads Editor.

Last Thoughts

This seems to be a good move by Google for a couple reasons. It simplifies and streamlines the creation of Display Network Campaigns, provides more options to advertisers, can help businesses run more effective campaigns, and can help people build new connections with businesses they otherwise wouldn’t have. Targeting can get very complicated, so giving advertisers a tool that uses machine learning to help them reach the right people, while still maintaining options for targeting experts to get highly specific, seems to be a good way to cover the spectrum and give flexibility to advertisers.

Keeping up with the flurry of changes that Google is constantly making can be overwhelming. If you find yourself unable to keep up with optimizing your ads because of the everchanging marketing landscape, Direct Placement can help you get and stay in front of the right people online so you can focus on doing what you do best.

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