Google is now introducing new smart display campaigns, which applies machine learning in order to optimise your AdWords PPC campaigns.
What are Smart Display Campaigns?
Google is using automation in order to optimise targeting, bidding and your ads in order to get the best performance out of them.
In essence, you provide the system with headlines, descriptions, images and logos in order to create responsive display, text and native ads.
The bids are then set based on any target CPAs, and the likelihood of conversion is then determined for each auction.
In Google’s own words:
“Smart display campaigns use the power of Google’s machine learning to automatically:
“Connect your business to prospective customers who may be interested in your products, using insights from millions of apps and sites
“Create beautiful image, native and text ads that fit anywhere across the GDN
“Set the right bids to meet your performance goals”
Smart display campaigns can also include dynamic retargeting by attaching feeds to campaigns.
Examples are displayed, and thousands of permutations of your ads are then generated.
How it works
In order to get started with a smart display campaign, you can choose one of the first four objections under “Drive Action” under the marketing objectives screen and the option for smart display campaigns is found there.
Asset details under the ads tab shows the grades based on how likely it is to generate conversions.
You will need to have conversion tracking with at least 50 conversions on the Display Network or 100 from Search ads in the last 30 days. Target CPA bidding is also required, and daily budgets should account for 10-15 times the target CPA bid. Site exclusions also need to be applied.
An example
Google gave an example of what it can achieve on the AdWords blog:
“trivago, a hotel search platform, is using Smart display campaigns to help travelers around the world find hotel rooms that meet all their travel needs—like a room large enough for a family of four, one with hi-speed Wi-Fi for a business trip, or one with an ocean-front view for that well-deserved beach vacation. The travel brand provided:
“1. Creative assets: Headlines like “Find Great Hotel Deals,” descriptions of its hotel listings, beautiful images of destinations like Rome and London, and its logo
“2. Business goals: A target CPA and daily budget
AdWords did the rest—creating over 25,000 tailored ads and showing them to travelers shopping for hotel deals. For instance, people browsing a travel blog might see a message with trivago’s “Find Great Hotel Deals” headline and a breathtaking image of the Coliseum. With Smart display campaigns, trivago drove 36% more conversions at the same CPA, compared to its other similar display campaigns. The brand now uses Smart display campaigns across markets in Europe, Asia and North America.”
Google is the only place providing automation in this fashion at scale, and has stated that advertisers using Smart display campaigns have seen over a 20% increase in conversions at the same cost per acquisition, compared to other display campaigns.
You can read more about it in Google’s help section, otherwise if you have any further questions do let us know.
