Autotargeting
Autotargeting is an ad serving technology that is not based on keywords. It analyzes data in the ad and on the landing page and determines whether the ad matches the search query, user interests, or website content. Using autotargeting, you can attract additional targeted traffic by serving ads to an audience not easily reached through keywords.
How it works
For serving in search, autotargeting in real-time selects the ads that best match the user's query in terms of title, text, and landing page. Many factors are considered when selecting ads, including possible synonyms, word forms, related subjects, and negative keywords of the campaign and ad group.
For example, an ad with a text about space travel that leads to in-space.ru may be served when someone searches for tours to Mars.
In the settings, you can choose a specific query category for autotargeting to run for or leave all categories enabled.
Autotargeting runs in parallel with keywords and has the same priority with them. Statistics for autotargeting impressions are calculated separately.
- Why should I enable autotargeting?
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Autotargeting doesn't rely on specific wording, but shows your ads for queries that have very similar meaning to the subject of your ad. It lets you cover a large number of long-tail keywords that are difficult to predict when creating your keyword list, because many of these are unique search queries. If the average CPA for autotargeting is too high, but ROI is too low, decrease your autotargeting bid.
To select ads for ad networks, autotargeting first analyzes known data about user interests. If this information is insufficient (for example, the user has been surfing the web from a new computer or recently deleted cookies), autotargeting focuses on the subject of the site.
For example, an ad about tours to Mars might be served to a user interested in outer space. If nothing is known about a user, they will see the same ad on a page with a similar subject.
- Why should I enable autotargeting?
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Keywords in ad networks let you target only those users that have clearly shown interest in the subject set by these keywords. Autotargeting does not rely on specific wording and lets you serve your ads to users that were interested in related topics or similar products. With autotargeting enabled, you can expand your impression audience with no need to manually select a large number of keywords. If the average CPA for autotargeting is too high, but ROI is too low, decrease your autotargeting bid.
How to enable autotargeting
When setting up site ads in the Campaign Wizard, autotargeting is enabled by default. You can manage categories using manual audience selection, but you can't disable autotargeting for targeted queries.
- Text & Image Ads.
- Ads for mobile apps.
We recommend adding autotargeting to all ad groups along with keywords. When you create a new ad group, autotargeting is enabled by default. To enable autotargeting for your existing groups:
- Select the campaigns that host the desired groups.
- Select the groups that you want to edit.
- Click .
- Enable the Autotargeting option in each ad group.
- To enable autotargeting in search results, select the categories to apply it to:
- Targeted queries: The ad perfectly meets the user queries. For example, for the advertiser
in-space.rurunning the “Space travel” ad, the targeted query would be buy a space tour. - Queries mentioning competitors: Searches for the advertised product offered by competitors. For example, buy a space tour Fast rocket.
- Broad queries: Queries showing interest in a product exemplified by the ad. For example, choose a tour.
- Alternative queries: The user is looking for a product that can be replaced by the advertised product. The ad might also meet the query in this case. For example, buy a tour to the Moon.
- Related queries: Queries for products that might interest the user in relation to the advertised product or service. For example, buy a spacesuit.
If ads are added to the group, examples of queries that would trigger autotargeting are shown for categories.
Save your changes.
Learn more about query categories.
Managing bids in a manual strategy
If you use a manual strategy, then set a bid. If you use separate bid management, set individual bids for autotargeting on search and in ad networks.
To set a bid:
- Select the campaigns in the campaign list and go to the Keywords tab.
- In the
--autotargetingline, click
next to the bid value. - Enter the bid and click Apply.
We recommend setting the autotargeting bid at about the same level as the keyword bid.
What to do after you enable autotargeting
After autotargeting is enabled, ad serving starts based on the campaign and ad group settings. To achieve the best results, the system conducts a detailed set of calculations that are used to optimize your settings regularly. This is why we recommend that you leave autotargeting turned on for a few weeks.- Report Wizard
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Add the Targeting criteria slice and the Impressions, Conversion (%), Goal cost, and Conversions columns. This shows you the total impression statistics. Note the Targeting criteria column: if an ad was served through autotargeting, the column contains an icon.
Build a report using the Targeting categories cross section and the same columns (Impressions, Conversion rate (%), Goal cost, Conversions). You'll see statistics of impressions for the keywords selected in all categories. Queries that don't fit into any category are shown in the “Undefined” category.
To get data for each query category, add the Targeting categories filter criteria to the report and select the categories you need.
Compare conversions and goal cost for keywords and autotargeting in different categories. If the goal cost for autotargeting is too high, reduce the bid for it.
- Search queries
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Add the Impression criteria slice and the Impressions, Conversion (%), Goal cost, and Conversions columns. You will see which search queries triggered your ads. Note the Targeting criteria column: if an ad was served through autotargeting, the column contains an icon.
Build a report using the Targeting categories cross section and the same columns (Impressions, Conversion rate (%), Goal cost, Conversions). You'll see statistics of impressions for the keywords selected in all categories. Queries that don't fit into any category are shown in the “Undefined” category.
To get the data for each query category, add to the report the Targeting categories filter criteria, and select the categories you need.
For obviously irrelevant search queries selected by autotargeting, we recommend disabling the category resulting in such queries, or find out negative keywords.
