Search audiences
When you're talking about AdWords and/or PPC, most people think about search ads first, so we're going to start there as well. The audience options on the Google Search Network are a good place to begin imagining about how you will adapt spend towards the people most likely to purchase or inquire.
It's not as simple these days as choosing an appropriate bid for any given keyword. We have been able to use bid modifiers for half a decade to maximize the best performing portions of an account and spend more money automatically there. Advertisers can weigh the budget and bids automatically, depending on a few criteria:
- Location
- Device type
- Time
You can now also choose to modify bids depending on:
- Age
- Sex
Display audiences
Even though every single day a completely ridiculous sum of money is spent on Google Search Ads, people actually don't spend so much time looking. We spend the majority of our time doing other things online, such as reading news articles and blogs of special interest, watching videos, chatting in forums, etc.
PPC marketers can also use Google AdWords with images, banners and text ads to display here on the Google Display Network (GDN).
Targeting options are numerous. You can begin with Placements and Keywords. Placements are the websites you choose to show your advertisements while targeting keywords is focused on the text displayed on web pages, to which you may wish to appear.
You can also bid demographically (not just sex and age, but you can also select parental status on the GDN) taking it a step further. This isn't a case where you have to choose one or the other; rather, these choices can be layered to really customize the audience.
Affinity audiences
These are referred to by Google as "TV-like viewers," and are focused on topics of interest. Data is collected as users across YouTube and the GDN engage with pages, applications, channels, videos, and content. This information is then gathered and used to create a profile of who they are, and which ads can be tailored to their personality and interests.
You should see an affinity audience as a group of individuals with a common, ongoing interest in a particular topic.
As advertisers, we can use Google to evaluate the general desires, preferences, and lifestyle of someone to get a better sense of their personality. Placements are the websites you choose to view your advertisements, whereas the targeting of keywords is focused on the text shown on web pages, to which you may wish to appear.
You can also bid demographically (not only sex and age but you can also select parental status on the GDN) by taking it a step further. This isn't a scenario where you have to choose one or the other; rather, these choices can be layered to really customize the audience.






