Hello. I have read about 7 books about adwords now, to prepare for my first adwords ads. I'm getting contradictory info about the display URL. A very prominent marketer says that the display URL does not have to actually exist. Others (including Google, IF I understand them correctly, say that it does have to exist, and, in fact, it has to be a part of your landing page. Can you please clear this up for me? Thanks! Judy
Google wants your Display URL to exist. You can enter and use a Display URL that does not exist, but Google will eventually deactivate your ad. Your Display URL does not have to match your Destination URL. They do not have to point to the same landing page either.
Huligan posts is clear enough. Just want to add additional info : You can create an html page for that landing page to ensure that it's exist in your domains, or a subdomain with keywords you target, e.g. : BestDeals.yourwebsite.com, or FreeGuide.yourwebsite.com, etc, and put an index.html on that subdomains redirected to your root domain. Hope it's helpful, and good luck with your campaign
I create ads with display URL's that don't exist and haven't had any problems..yet. I typically add the keyword in the url. You can do it and wait and see what happens. I use the format.. companyname.com/keyword
artmac, Anything that violates Google TOS would only have the following results : 1)Your ads deactivated and will not shown; 2)Your Adwords account will be terminated. Believe me, if you're in SEO/SEM world, a terminated Adwords accout with all your SEO clients or your website campaign yourselves, will be a big pain. Just, don't take a risk, dude. Cheers,
Your display URL does not need to exist. However, it needs to refer to your actual domain. Here's Google's guidelines: https://adwords.google.com/support/...7173&query=display+url&topic=&type=f&onClick= Basically, you can put your domain, followed by a slash, followed by what your landing page is all about. Assuming that you've chosen the right landing page, this should relate to the keyword. So if you're bidding on "dishwashers" and your website is called www ShinyDishwashers.com, then your Display URL could be www ShinyDishwashers.com/Dishwashers, even if this isn't the actual URL.
Thanks for all of the replies. Forgive me for sounding like an idiot - I don't put up my own websites - but am I understanding this correctly?: I have to put my real domain, then I can put a slash, and put anything after the slash, even if that anything is not really a page that exists on my website? I would like to put the keyword after the slash...
"Believe me, if you're in SEO/SEM world, a terminated Adwords accout with all your SEO clients or your website campaign yourselves, will be a big pain. Just, don't take a risk, dude." I work in the field daily and fully understand the details of ppc..I don't take risks with my clients money without first conferring with the Google gods.
The display url and destination url can be different, but you must end up at the display url when using a different destination url. That's the official google rule. HOWEVER, you can put the keyword in the display url and they seem to allow that. You can also sometimes get away with completely made up display urls. This is usually reserved for older accounts, but I've seen it hit and miss on new ones too. That's why some guys will say it doesn't matter and others say it does. The real dilema is why on earth did you read 7 books on the topic? That's a lot of wasted money imho as adwords changes so often that the techniques they use and examples they use are out dated within a couple weeks of the book coming out.