Dynamic Search Ads are a type of campaign on the search network that allows you to advertise your site’s content with a different criteria than using keywords.
These campaigns differ from Google’s others in some particularities. Let’s see them together!
- It is possible to intercept users’ search terms relevant to the business being promoted by using the textual content of web pages combined with organic indexing of the site; in this way, a highly relevant landing page with the search intent is presented to a potential contact or buyer.
- Visually, a dynamic search ad looks very similar to a standard text ad. The component on which the advertiser cannot manually intervene is the headline. The latter is automatically generated by the platform through the html code of the page that will be used as a landing point by the user. Specifically, the <title> tag will be used: it is therefore advisable to optimize this component of the html code.
Here is an example to recognize the differences between the two types of ads:
The ad in the first position is a standard ad and can be recognized by the hyphen that in this type of ad is usual to separate the three headlines.
In second position we have an ad for the dynamic search network, easily recognizable because:
- Devoid of the headline demarcators, unless they are manually inserted in the title tag.
- The keyword with which the search was conducted and/or a call to action are not present.
We reproduce the screen showing the title tag employed in the second ad:
Now that we understand what differentiates Dynamic Search Ads, I will explain how to set up a DSA campaign from scratch. In particular, we will see:
- technical accuracies you need to consider to make the most of this type of ADV.
How to create dynamic ads for the search network
Let’s take a step-by-step look at the procedure to create a Google Ads DSA campaign. To start, when you create a new campaign select the marketing objective based on the results you want to achieve with the campaigns:
Having done this you will be taken to the Google Ads network selection panel where you want your ads to appear, in this case we select campaigns for the search network:
Within the campaign setup screen click on the “Show more settings” field and select the dynamic ads tab.
Within the “Dynamic Search Ads settings” you will be able to enter:
- Domain Name: the domain of the site for which you will conduct Google Ads DSA campaigns and which will be used to set up the different campaign targets.
Page Language: here you can select the pages to be used based on the language in which they are written. This setting is very useful at the moment when you have one site for all versions in different foreign languages. - Targeting criteria: in this section you can set the criteria with which to use your pages in sponsorships. To take full advantage of the targeting criteria, it is necessary that the site is well optimized from an SEO point of view. In fact, the page content and specifically the configuration of the different html tags, as well as the site’s organic performance data, are used to associate each target page with the most relevant search terms.
After completing the campaign setup (Defining the budget, bidding strategy, geographic targeting and extensions) we then move on to setting up the dynamic ad groups.
In the ad creation screen click on the small arrow under “Ad group type” to be able to choose between two different types of ad group: a standard ad (which makes use of keywords) and a dynamic search network ad:
Once this step is completed, the screen will allow you to select the targeting of dynamic campaigns, as we will see in the next section.
Targeting dynamic ads for the search network
The targeting of dynamic search ads is the most important component of these campaigns, because effectiveness and results depend on its proper setting. The typology of different targeting, in fact, works similarly to a typical marketing funnel:
- A very broad target audience will allow you to intercept a large number of search terms for the market segment you are sponsoring, with the goal of driving traffic within the site and manning the SERP for more searches.
- A narrower targeting, on the other hand, will allow intercepting extremely specific search terms, closely related to a particular group of landing pages, with the main goal of generating conversions.
By entering the domain of the site, the platform then groups pages within specific categories, or allows the advertiser complete control over the pages they want to sponsor.
Let’s now look at the main types of targeting available and how best to employ them:
Targeting of all web pages
Selecting this criterion asks the platform to use the entire content of the site, without distinction between product or service pages and information pages. This can be effective in the exploratory phase to discover useful keywords to sponsor your business.
This type of targeting allows you to find out which search terms are being used by users to search for the sponsored products and/or services that are not manned by the keywords in the plan, and place them within the campaigns on the search network.
Targeting by Categories
Google Ads, based on the content of the website, will automatically generate categories by grouping pages according to the type of product or service (for example, for a clothing e-commerce: shirts, shoes etc. ).
Since these are automatic groupings, control by the advertiser over individual web pages is extremely limited. For more specific control over the pages you want to appear on the search network, you can use targeting by URL or by Page.
This type of targeting is useful if you want to intercept specific search intents for distinct product categories and increase the quality of prospecting traffic coming to the Web site.
Targeting by URL
This is the option that allows you to enter the exact address or elements of the URLs you intend to sponsor. This makes it possible to select specific products within the same category. Through this targeting criterion, more flexibility is achieved than through the use of targeting by category.
With this setting you ask the platform to target the URLs of product subcategories. Starting from the example seen above, within the category “shoes” you can report URLs related to: /shoes-elegant; /shoes-running; /shoes-children etc.
Target by Web Page Rules.
This targeting allows you to select up to three elements from category, page content, page title and URL. This allows you to opt for even more detailed product selection than the categories shown above.
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Starting with the macrocategory “Shoes” you will be able to isolate the page content by keywords (e.g. : elegant) and further segment the target audience with the URL by pattern (e.g. : /oxford).
