 For years the Google Content Network has been viewed with suspicion by many online marketers. The reputation was not undeserved. In the first few years of its operation, the Content Network--that vast array of “Ads by Google” (i.e., AdSense ads) scattered across every conceivable kind of site on the Web--was a dim shadow of its more illustrious counterpart, the Google Search Network.
Oh, you could get the clicks, but it was pretty clear that the quality of those clicks didn’t stack up. It became common knowledge that advertising on the Content Network was just going to generate a lot of junk traffic.
But times change. And technologies change--especially when a powerhouse like Google aggressively applies its collective intelligence to the issue. If you’ve dismissed the Google Content Network because you were burned in the past, or because you’ve heard the tales of those who were, you owe it to yourself to check it out now. (Read: Why We're Content with the Google Content Network for more information on this subject).
So, it’s just that easy? Add the Content Network to your Google account and start counting your money? Not exactly. Think of the Content Network as a garden where you can grow a wide variety of produce. But like a real garden, it must be tended to. Despite all of Google’s improvements, weeds do still sprout up.
Sticking with our garden analogy, the plants are analogous to the content Web sites where your ads appear. They bear the fruit that you want to harvest: visitors, prospects, and customers. Some of these plants are cash crops while others are just weeds. What’s the difference?
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Relevance – the subject matter of the content site matches your keyword, ads and landing page
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Audience – the audience of the site corresponds to your target market
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Quality – the site provides high quality content that reflects well on your offer
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Intent – the site is intended to provide value rather than to be just a pass-through for paid clicks
In some cases distinguishing between weeds and cash crops is a judgment call, but thanks to Google and the nature of digital marketing we have very simple criteria for making this distinction: does the plant bear fruit? Luckily, Google has provided some excellent tools to help you prune your campaigns into a well-manicured garden that produces like a hothouse!
OK, enough with the metaphors--you want the step-by-step details, so here they are:
Step 1 – Generate a Placement Performance report.
1. In the main menu click on Reporting > Reports
2. Click on Create a New Report
3. Create a Placement Performance report:
a) Check Placement Performance (NOT the Placement / Keyword Performance)
b) Specify Level of Detail as "Ad Group"
c) Specify Domain or URL as "Domain"
d) Specify the Date Range setting as the last 2-4 weeks of data
e) In the Campaigns and Ad Groups setting select a specific content campaign
f) Export the results to a .csv file
Now you have all the data you need to move on to the second step.
Step 2 – Review and identify bad content sites.
1. Sort the .csv file by the Conversions (smallest to largest) field first and then by Cost (largest to smallest)--this will bring all the content sites that did not generate conversions but did cost money to the top
2. Review these poor-performing sites in a Web browser
3. If the site looks irrelevant, untargeted, useless or sleazy, paste that domain into notepad
4. Repeat this process for all the sites that the metrics indicate aren’t performing
That last step is the tough one. As noted above, it is often a judgment call as to whether you want to remove a site or not. So you'll need to visually inspect many of these sites yourself. You may find that there are thousands of sites on the list; pick off the obvious ones first (i.e., high cost, no conversions, obviously irrelevant), and then work your way through the rest of the list. As you get further into the process you may want to sort the list on other columns like CTR and Avg CPC to find the worst performers. Before long, you’ll have a substantial list of “weed” sites. Now you’re ready for Step 3.
Step 3 – Remove the bad sites from your campaign.
1. Click on Opportunities in the main menu of the AdWords console
2. In the left column, under Tools, click on the More tools link
3. Under Optimize Your Ads click on Site and Category Exclusion
4. Select the campaign that you exported in Step 1
5. Copy and paste the list you created in Step 2 into the Add exclusions field
6. Click the “Save all changes” button
If you’ve done a good job of identifying the “weed” sites you’ll begin to see an immediate improvement in your performance metrics for that campaign. Believe me, it’s a beautiful thing to behold!
Other Useful Content Network Pruning Tips
Here are a few more tips that you’ll want to bear in mind as you take on this formidable, but very worthwhile project:
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Don’t be tempted into thinking there is an automatic alternative to visually inspecting these pages. If Google can’t identify irrelevant sites using their algorithm--and they would if they could--then it’s very unlikely that you’ll ever find a script that can do a better job.
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Content sites are plentiful, and they come and go. So don’t choose too long of a date range or you could find yourself sifting through a lot of sites where your ads no longer appear anyway. Start with two weeks. If you have more time, maybe expand the date range.
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Google will allow you to enter up to 5,000 exclusions, so if you have the time, don’t skimp on the exclusions. Eliminate all the dead wood.
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There may be a good deal of overlap between one campaign and another. So if you find sites that are irrelevant to anything you do (as opposed to just that campaign), put them in a global exclusion file to be excluded from all your campaigns, not just the one on which you are currently working.
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Don’t forget the category exclusions, which you’ll find under the tabs Topics, Media Types and Page Types. These can be easy ways to clear out sites en masse.
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Be disciplined! You will be viewing many sites that are relevant to your business (or to you personally), and you will be sorely tempted throughout the process to explore interesting sites. Resist this temptation, or you will lose countless hours of your life! If you spend more than 15 seconds evaluating a site for relevance, you’re loitering.
Depending on the scope of your Google AdWords account, this project could be a major time investment. But given the amount of money that you spend on the Content Network every month, you will find this is an excellent investment that is certain to bear fruit.
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About the Author
Dane Christensen is the SEM Manager for Lyris. He is responsible for optimizing the company's PPC bid management across seven different search engines.
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