One of the best advantages of Paid Search is the ability to target specific audiences. In this section, learn about the various means of controlling how, when, and to whom your ads are displayed, through choice of networks, scheduling, location, and language.

Within Paid Search, there are two different types of networks that you can advertise in, Search and Content. The Search Network refers to sites within a Provider's Network that will show your ad alongside search results.  There are some cases where members of a Search Network are not considered Search Engines, but since your ads only show up on Search Results pages on that site, it can be considered the Search Network (examples: shopping.com & buy.com). The Content Network refers to content sites around the internet.  Content Sites can basically be considered anything outside of a Search Engine.  Examples of content sites are: gmail.com, nytimes.com, myspace.com among many others.

Search Networks

The two leading search networks are Google and Yahoo.

Google

Ad Serving options in Google Adwords determine how frequently your ads will be served in relation to the other ads in the same Ad Group.  Google provides you with two different options: 

• Optimize: Shows ads that have a higher Click Through Rate (CTR) more frequently
• Rotate: Shows ads more evenly

Ad Serving preferences can be located by clicking the edit button on a specific Campaign in the Campaigns section of the Adwords interface. In the Optimize setting, Google will tend to strongly favor the ad with the highest CTR which will act as a tough obstacle for new ads to overcome.  Give both ads an even chance and switch your Ad Serving preference to Rotate when testing or rolling out new ads, it gives them a better opportunity to succeed.
  Google Search Partners    

Yahoo 

Yahoo! is the second most popular Search Engine with over 47 million users per day and over 2.4 billion searches done every month.

• Among Yahoo’s strengths is it’s similarity to Google. The hierarchical structure adds to familiarity and ease of use for those marketers experienced with Google Adwords.  Also a positive feature is the ability to use Excel to facilitate changes and updates using bulk import and exports.  In addition, Yahoo offers multiple tools for managing campaigns, budgets, targeting and more.
• Some of the down-sides of Yahoo! search marketing is it’s smaller market share.  In addition, you may also find higher CPC costs than Google, which means that you must manage your profitability more closely with Yahoo!.  Another weakness of Yahoo! is a smaller set of match types for keywords, compared to Google.  And last because Yahoo will not allow plural versions of keywords, you can experience increased click costs because there are fewer exact match possibilities. 

Content Network

Google    

• Device Platform - In late 2008, Google Adwords enabled users to select between two different Device Platforms, 'Desktop and Laptop Computers' and 'iPhones and other mobile devices with full Internet browsers.'  At this time, Google has opted all new campaigns to both platforms.

Scheduling and Serving

Scheduling

Ad Scheduling allows advertisers to control when their campaigns are active based on days and times.  Currently all Providers have this functionality.  Options include: the ability to pause your campaigns, increase your Max CPC, or decrease your Max CPC.   Ad Scheduling changes will need to be made at the Provider.  These options can be found on Campaign and/or Ad Group settings pages. Our recommendation is the following:

• Limit ads to business hours for store or phone sales
• Increase/decrease bids based on ROI/ hour

Ad Serving

Ad Serving options in Google Adwords determine how frequently your ads will be served in relation to the other ads in the same Ad Group. Google provides you with two different optons: 

• Optimize which shows ads that have a higher Clcik Through Rate (CTR) more frequently.
• Rotate whcih shows ads more evenly.

Ad serving preferences can be located by clicking the edit button on a specific Campaign in the Campaigns section of the Adwords interface.

In the Optimize setting, Google will tend to strongly favor the ad with the highest CTR which will act as a tough obstacle for new ads to overcome.  Give both ads an even chance and switch your Ad Serving preference to Rotate when testing or rolling out new ads, it gives them a better opportunity to succeed.

Geo Targeting

Geo Targeting is a tactic that lets advertisers control where their ads are seen.  Geo Targeting is available in different forms on Google & MSN.  Google Adwords has the most robust Geo Targeting capability, as you can set targeting for: Global, National, Region, City, and Specific (coordinates, zip codes, etc). We recommend the following uses for geo targeting:

• Use to deliver different messaging to different regions
• Use to improve efficiency by adjusting bid strategy by region
• Use to limit delivery to areas you know convert the best

You can implement geo targeting either from ChannelAdvisor or at the provider.

• ChannelAdvisor: Targeting by Country is available by editing a specific Campaign in the Campaigns module
• Provider: Deeper targeting options are available in the Campaign Settings in Google Adwords and in the Ad Group Settings in MSN.

Language

Google Adwords allows you to select the language of people who see your ads. You can select the language either from creating a campaign or editing a campaign in ChannelAdvisor.