Anyone else think the google discovery network is just one massive pile of ??

[AnglophileAlex]

So here’s how I see it: GDN is great for getting your brand name out there! It’s unparalleled for that purpose, as it is _the_ largest display network.

The pitfall many marketers stumble over is that effective display campaigns are _much harder_ to set up, compared to search ads. Preferably, you come to Google with a pre-curated list of websites/app placements where you know your ad would be relevant.

By default, even if you target based on interests, Google will place your ad _wherever it can_, given your provided combination of assets and budget allow it. This includes those icky pop-up interstitials that people click on accident when they’re trying to close them and ads that appear when a user scrolls through a website and accidentally taps on that ad.

You mentioned that you used GDN for retargeting. The retargeting lists are those high-intent (i.e. engaged users who also started a CTA but abandoned it) or low-intent (just website visitors who bounced after 15 seconds). With the unpredictability of display ads, here are my thoughts on the possible next steps:

– Check the placements of the retargeting ads and where you can cut out any of those “junk” placements. Also, research exclusion lists for junk websites and exclude them from your campaigns.

– If you don’t have a well-curated list of remarketing placements that you can use now, observe the placements that provide high-quality traffic. Compile a list of those over time and use them subsequently. Don’t dedicate to much budget in that case though if it’s merely to collect data!

– If you’re using GDN for retargeting, ensure that your remarketing lists are high-intent. That way, even if you don’t choose the best placements, you’ll still get higher-quality traffic.

– If you have the budget for it, try display ads for awareness purposes, pushing for impressions. Observe the quality of traffic at that stage (so, closer to the top of the funnel). Exclude bad quality placements and then when you (and the algorithm) have enough learning for your website, try moving down to a more cut-throat/metric-oriented stage of the funnel, i.e. lead generation or purchases.

– Maybe try a search ads campaign targeted exclusively at remarketing audiences rather than display ads? Again, I’m not saying that display ads cannot work as they do work when set up meticulously. At the end of the day, it’s up to you if you prefer to use visual-first ads which are a bit more complicated to set up or text-first ads which don’t provide the visual element, but are much more predictable!

[TTFV]

The Discovery Network offers high-quality inventory compared to GDN but trying to ram in a CPA you want isn’t likely going to work. You’re better off starting with Max Conversions and seeing where you land after 3-4 weeks.

It works extremely well for remarketing for our clients, we generally see CPAs around where our paid search lands.

But just like any targeted display (non-remarketing), it’s more of a branding play so don’t expect many conversions.

Since you’re selling products you are better off just running dynamic remarketing as part of your P-Max shopping campaigns.

[tsukihi3]

What do you sell? Discovery Ads aren’t for everyone.

It’s working to generate leads for B2B (pricing based on quotes) and “unique” (out of ordinary/new products/cool designs… anything that can be clickbaity) products as far as I can tell you, but I can agree it’s not working more than it is.

[Westerblom]

Maybe you can try to use your products feed in the Discovery campaign.

Usually performance in a Discovery campaign comes from the Gmail placement.