What Is Retargeting, And How Can It Give Your Google Pay Per Click Campaign Serious Power?
Many business owners who are running their own Google Ads miss out on tremendous potential without even knowing it. By not turning on Google Ads’ retargeting, you are essentially not capitalising on the traffic that your website already receives. Not only that, but retargeting ads are also far cheaper than what you otherwise pay per click for your keywords.
Retargeting can give your PPC campaign some serious juice, mainly because it shows ads to previous visitors to your website while they are browsing the web, maybe watching YouTube videos or checking their email. This ensures that your brand remains at the front of their minds, and when they want to buy what you are selling, your brand is the first thing they see.
Also referred to as remarketing, turning on this feature means taking your conversions to the next level. Plus, you’ll experience a much better Return on Investment (ROI) from a PPC campaign. Think about it this way, visitors who are familiar with your brand, and see it just about everywhere they go online, are more likely to buy from you than if they never saw you again!
How Does Retargeting Work?
Now, if you already use Google AdWords, all that’s needed is to paste a piece of code, also referred to as a remarketing pixel, into your website; this will automatically add visitors to the remarketing audiences list by placing a cookie on their computer.
The code for different pages can be customised to correspond to each category. For instance, if you run an online store that sells kitchen supplies, you can create a category for “toaster,” retargeting the audience based on how those visitors landed on your toaster’s page. This allows you to show visitors targeted display ads, like when you’re running a special for the 4th of July or Christmas and the toasters are available at a discount. This will help draw them back for a quick sale.
Using retargeting allows you to show previous site visitors’ ads while browsing through Google’s partner websites, which are part of the Google Display Network. Speaking of which, several thousand websites are part of this network, including many big-name websites. So, a placement on these websites, and that to ones that are so well targeted, are invaluable.
Business owners starting their retargeting campaign should start by retargeting everyone who landed on their website’s homepage. However, this will initially raise your Google retargeting costs since your ads target everyone that landed on your website, and they (the ads) can’t consequently be as targeted.
Narrower targeting over time will help to increase relevancy, essentially lowering your cost per click. Later, you can create multiple Google remarketing lists, which are part of super targeted campaigns. For instance, you’ll be able to show people who have purchased from your website a different set of ads from those who haven’t. Those who haven’t purchased can be offered a discount, for instance, and those who have purchased can be shown ads for complementing products.
Using Retargeting For Your Product Listing Ads
If you own an online store, you are probably wondering whether retargeting will work with Google Shopping. While they are highly effective individual marketing tools, they pack some serious power.
You can make retargeting work with your Product Listing Ads, or PLAs as they are called, in two ways:
• You are placing your Google Shopping ads in front of the retargeted audience.
• You are showing other ads across the display network, which includes YouTube and Gmail, to people who may have clicked on your Product Listing Ads (PLAs).
In both scenarios, you are essentially multiplying what is already a powerful platform, i.e., Google Shopping Campaigns, by laser targeting your audience to ones that are highly likely to buy. The results from running such a campaign are, as you’d guess, higher conversion figures and, consequently, a higher return on your investment.
Work On Google Shopping Campaigns
Google Shopping is positioned by the search giant as a competitor to Amazon. They are now both effectively competing for the same slice of the eCommerce pie. However, Google’s offering is different because of its ad service, which is designed for advertisers. This is evident from Google’s launch of “Goal Optimised Shopping Campaigns.”
Goal-optimised shopping campaigns are the first time that Google has combined its extensive ad network with a shopping platform. Google have affirmed that the goal is to evaluate all the signals available and then use AI to predict if a search query is likely to convert; this allows advertisers to make the most out of their advertising budget across a myriad of product networks and varying audiences.
Essentially, the new campaigns will help to extend your Google Shopping efforts, allowing you to remarket your products through Gmail, Google Search, and YouTube, amongst other assets. The result is that customers interacting with your PLAs will continue to see your ads. This is a win for business, regardless of how you cut it.
What Does Retargeting Cost?
Technically speaking, retargeting campaign costs will vary depending on how you’ve planned your campaigns. Typically, Google’s retargeting ads are the most cost-effective campaigns you can run. This is especially important for highly competitive industries such as real estate, where a single click can cost a few hundred quid.
Remarketing or retargeting helps to keep costs low by combining conversion filtering, contextual targeting, and frequency capping with other strategies. This enables you to create targeted remarketing campaigns which help increase ad relevancy, showing your ads to those most likely to convert.
Final Word
Running a retargeting campaign is one of the best ways to get the most bang for your advertising budget. However, it should be set up correctly, and every metric should be scrutinised to ensure that your ads continue to deliver the results needed to grow your business.
