I wonder how Google targets Adwords ads for the content network: do they just analyze the ad text and match it to a webpage's theme or do advertisers also have to gather keywords just as it's the case with search ads (and then Google takes these and matches them to a website's theme)? If so, do you have any tips for a beginner? Like: broad/phrase/exact match, is there also a quality score, and so on... Thx!
croni, Content network ads are placed on the basis of the campaign keyword lists in exactly the same way as with search results. Your list of keywords for a particular ad group will be matched against the content of a page. There's a lot to get to grips with in Adwords and I'd really advise that you spend a decent amount of time reading through the learning center: http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/ One tip that I would pass across is that you're best off starting with a tightly focussed campaign. If you sell 10 different products, concentrate on just 1 initially until you're comfortable with the processes involved. Keep your keywords tight and relevant as well - aim to have a smallish (20 or fewer) group of highly relevant terms rather than 100s of vaguely appropriate ones. Jon
You can either do a keyword-targeted content campaign - here's some tips on optimizing it http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54588 Or you can do a site-targeted content campaign where you don't have to choose keywords but instead choose domains you want your ads to appear on.
Of cos keywords are required.... Thing is, nobody really know how Google exactly qualifies your ad to be shown on a particular site. Probably, if the site is well ranked/optimized for the keyword that you target, it will show your ads. But then again I have had my content ads shown on MySpace and other sites that has totally NO relevance. Best thing you could do, is site targeting ads. I mean, really specific site targeting. A quick example: Say your main keyword is online education. What you could do, is to go on Ezinearticles, and search for the general category of online education. Then choose to show your content ads there, and set a decent CPC that will expose your ad appropriately. Or you could be extreme and choose individual articles that are even more specific to your ad. Just some tips.