Adwords Tips: Search & Content Networks

When setting up a new campaign on Google Adwords, you may have noticed that your ads automatically appear on Google’s ‘search’ network and ‘content’ network.

The ‘search’ network means that your ads will appear to the right or above search results on Google and their search partners which include AOL, Ask Jeeves and other search engines who display Google ads. In fact you can opt to have your ads appear on Google only and not the other search engines.

The ‘content’ network is a whole network of websites who opt to display Google ads on their site in return for a commission from Google if someone clicks on them. Google automatically matches your ads with the content displayed on the website – it’s the general theme of the website and the theme of your keywords that Google uses to decide the match. This can be a bit hit and miss, so it’s worth checking which sites your ads are being shown on.

Before you decide to continue with these default settings (i.e having your ads on both search and content networks) consider how much you’re spending and if you really want your ads on the content network (certainly to begin with). If your budget is fairly small, then just concentrate on the search network and disable your ads showing on the content network.

If you really want your ads on the content network too, then I find it works best to set up a separate campaign for the content network and allocate its own separate budget. So disable the content network in your settings for the campaign to be shown on the search network only, then set up a brand new campaign for the content network (so you may need to disable the search network on that one). You’ll find it easier to control and keep tabs on the sites displaying your ads than having them all lumped together with the search ads.

You can then see how your content network ads are faring with their own budget and adjust budgets accordingly for both networks separately depending on the return you’re getting from your ads.