DIGITAL MARKETING - A Practical Approach
Alan Charlesworth
Chapter 7 – Advertising online
PRACTICAL INSIGHT
Online segmentation of ad delivery is broken into three core types of targeting –
though the last can be used in unison with either of the first two and each has its own
sub-categories:
1. Contextual – the ads served are relevant (in context) to the content of the web
page.
2. Behavioural – ads are delivered in response to your prior actions on the web.
3. Geographical – the use of IP recognition to identify where in the world the
surfer is, with location-relevant ads then being served.
"In the previous edition of the book, I included a description of Google’s system –
which took me many a long hour to compile. Upon reading it in preparation for the
chapter you are now reading, I spent several hours checking that I still had it right
– and my conclusion was that if I didn’t have it spot on, I wasn’t far off. Here’s my
updated version:"
● AdSense is part of the Google Display Network – and refers to text, image, video
and rich media adverts that are delivered on third-party sites and are relative to the
site’s content and audience.
● Google AdWords is part of the Google Search Network – and refers to the ads that
appear on the Google SERP and other third-party sites and are relative to the search
term used in a search.
The Google Display Network is sometimes described as the parent of AdSense and
AdWords, but Google depicts it as the network of websites whose publishers have
agreed to host Google ads of any kind. Any reading around Google’s online
advertising service will reveal mention of DoubleClick – which is part of the support
service Google offers publishers and advertisers.
Online advertising: a general description
Traditional advertising has always had two main categories: direct response and
brand.
● Direct response advertising seeks to elicit immediate action (usually sales) from
potential customers, normally by addressing an immediate or impending need.
, Effectiveness is (relatively) easily to measure as each advert should create an action
which can be measured (e.g. an increase in sales).
● Brand advertising seeks to build brand awareness and/or affinity over a long
period of time. As it does not elicit immediate action it is difficult to quantify its
effectiveness.
Translating this into online advertising means the following:
● Any type of advert that has an objective of direct response comes under the search
category in that people searching for a product are normally far enough down the
buying cycle that they are at the point where they are ready to make a purchase – so
an ad prompts a response. These ads will normally be textual with a specific message.
● Any type of advert that has the objective of brand development comes under the
display category. These ads will normally be image based, i.e. banners. They will be
paid for by cost per thousand impressions (CPM), i.e. how many times they are
downloaded onto a web page. A caveat to even this simplistic description is that
display was once considered to be the same as banner advertising – that is the term
describing the adverts’ appearance, not their objectives.
Problems with programmatic advertising
Not only has the volume of online advertising increased significantly since the
previous edition of this book – so too have problems associated with it. Click fraud
has been around as long as PPC advertising – and the practice continues, though at
what level is disputed by buyers and providers – and programmatic advertising has
seen the development of impression fraud.
Depending on which side of the table you sit, either click fraud is not really a problem
or it is a reason for not using PPC advertising. The search engines say that the
amount of click fraud is negligible. However, some advertisers – and independent
investigators – suggest that up to 60 per cent of clicks could be fraudulent.
An additional problem for programmatic advertisers comes as a result of its wider
use – adblocking (or, depending on where you read it, ad blocking or ad-blocking).
This is software – an adblocker – which the user downloads onto their PC, laptop,
tablet or smart phone which blocks any adverts from appearing on web pages that
are downloaded onto the device. Although the advantages to users are manifold – a
better user experience, less cluttered pages, faster page loading times, for example –
the main reason is that surfers do not like adverts. In particular, according to Doc
Searls (2015) writing in the Harvard Business Review, they do not like re-targeting
ads that follow them around the web. Based on his study of Google Trends data,
Searls argues that the rise of adblocking was specifically correlated with the
appearance of re-targeted advertising. In other words, having ads follow us around
the web was the tipping point in our acceptance of personalized advertising – so we
sought a method of stopping it.
Alan Charlesworth
Chapter 7 – Advertising online
PRACTICAL INSIGHT
Online segmentation of ad delivery is broken into three core types of targeting –
though the last can be used in unison with either of the first two and each has its own
sub-categories:
1. Contextual – the ads served are relevant (in context) to the content of the web
page.
2. Behavioural – ads are delivered in response to your prior actions on the web.
3. Geographical – the use of IP recognition to identify where in the world the
surfer is, with location-relevant ads then being served.
"In the previous edition of the book, I included a description of Google’s system –
which took me many a long hour to compile. Upon reading it in preparation for the
chapter you are now reading, I spent several hours checking that I still had it right
– and my conclusion was that if I didn’t have it spot on, I wasn’t far off. Here’s my
updated version:"
● AdSense is part of the Google Display Network – and refers to text, image, video
and rich media adverts that are delivered on third-party sites and are relative to the
site’s content and audience.
● Google AdWords is part of the Google Search Network – and refers to the ads that
appear on the Google SERP and other third-party sites and are relative to the search
term used in a search.
The Google Display Network is sometimes described as the parent of AdSense and
AdWords, but Google depicts it as the network of websites whose publishers have
agreed to host Google ads of any kind. Any reading around Google’s online
advertising service will reveal mention of DoubleClick – which is part of the support
service Google offers publishers and advertisers.
Online advertising: a general description
Traditional advertising has always had two main categories: direct response and
brand.
● Direct response advertising seeks to elicit immediate action (usually sales) from
potential customers, normally by addressing an immediate or impending need.
, Effectiveness is (relatively) easily to measure as each advert should create an action
which can be measured (e.g. an increase in sales).
● Brand advertising seeks to build brand awareness and/or affinity over a long
period of time. As it does not elicit immediate action it is difficult to quantify its
effectiveness.
Translating this into online advertising means the following:
● Any type of advert that has an objective of direct response comes under the search
category in that people searching for a product are normally far enough down the
buying cycle that they are at the point where they are ready to make a purchase – so
an ad prompts a response. These ads will normally be textual with a specific message.
● Any type of advert that has the objective of brand development comes under the
display category. These ads will normally be image based, i.e. banners. They will be
paid for by cost per thousand impressions (CPM), i.e. how many times they are
downloaded onto a web page. A caveat to even this simplistic description is that
display was once considered to be the same as banner advertising – that is the term
describing the adverts’ appearance, not their objectives.
Problems with programmatic advertising
Not only has the volume of online advertising increased significantly since the
previous edition of this book – so too have problems associated with it. Click fraud
has been around as long as PPC advertising – and the practice continues, though at
what level is disputed by buyers and providers – and programmatic advertising has
seen the development of impression fraud.
Depending on which side of the table you sit, either click fraud is not really a problem
or it is a reason for not using PPC advertising. The search engines say that the
amount of click fraud is negligible. However, some advertisers – and independent
investigators – suggest that up to 60 per cent of clicks could be fraudulent.
An additional problem for programmatic advertisers comes as a result of its wider
use – adblocking (or, depending on where you read it, ad blocking or ad-blocking).
This is software – an adblocker – which the user downloads onto their PC, laptop,
tablet or smart phone which blocks any adverts from appearing on web pages that
are downloaded onto the device. Although the advantages to users are manifold – a
better user experience, less cluttered pages, faster page loading times, for example –
the main reason is that surfers do not like adverts. In particular, according to Doc
Searls (2015) writing in the Harvard Business Review, they do not like re-targeting
ads that follow them around the web. Based on his study of Google Trends data,
Searls argues that the rise of adblocking was specifically correlated with the
appearance of re-targeted advertising. In other words, having ads follow us around
the web was the tipping point in our acceptance of personalized advertising – so we
sought a method of stopping it.
