Publishing display advertising using Google is something you simply cannot avoid when doing display. In fact, display advertising is worth a cool $17.33 billion dollars in revenue to Alphabet in 2020 – alone.
Yet, knowing which Google tool can be a confusing experience. Indeed, different services are better suited to a particular type of advertiser. In this blog we will explore the following topics to assist you:
For many advertisers, Google’s tools are what brands rely on when serving ads and gaining insight into performance. Fundamentally, Google’s online tools are key components of how many marketing teams work.
For most display advertisers Google offers two main choices when it comes to display advertising publishing. Google Display Network (GDN), which is part of Google Ads.
And the alternative is Google’s demand-side platform (DSP), Display & Video 360 (DV360), which is part of Google Marketing Platform, and enables advertisers to programmatically buy media in real-time.
Google Ads is split into two networks, the Search Network and the Display Network. When you publish to Google Display Network, your display ads operate within Google Ads.
When you advertise on GDN, which has approximately 2 million sites, you have access to Google’s inventory across the Google AdSense network and YouTube. What’s more, multiple ad formats are available for advertisers such as image, animated HTML and video ads.
Similar to other full stack providers, such as Adform, Google owns both the buyer and seller interfaces in GDN, giving them unrestricted control, for better or worse.
For display advertisers there are two publish options available:
Note: Knowing design requirements is essential! No matter if you use third party tags or any of the export options, you will need to make sure you follow Google’s image ad requirements in order to have your ads approved and published by Google. Read more about that here.
Third party ads publishing enables you to have much more flexibility and agility in how you publish display advertising. Here are the pros and cons of using third party tags:
Note: Third party ad serving is only available to a limited number of customers on a case-by-case basis. No matter if you have, or don’t have a Google Account Manager, remember to submit a request for third-party implementation for your Google Ads account through this request form.
Using GDN you can export a range of campaign types and ad formats to it. However, there are clear pros and cons when publishing display advertising this way:
Note on publishing HTML5 ads: If HTML5 ads are unavailable in your Google Ads account, you can apply for access via this form. Submit your application and make sure that your account meets the eligibility criteria listed on that page. You will receive an email notification with a status update within 7 business days of your application submission.
Another different option to GDN is DV360. DV360 is a DSP used to buy and optimise media across ad exchanges and is available via Google Marketing Platform.
DV360 also taps into Google ad inventory but also accesses non-operated Google ad inventory through 50+ supply sources. By using it you are able to cover nearly 90% of the display ad inventory available online.
Here are some of the benefits of DV360:
Premium Reach
Using DV360 you can access premium ad inventory on the largest ad networks on the web.
Personalised and impactful ads
DV360 enables you to utilise a wide range of high-quality display advertising formats, including dynamic creative.
Adtech and martech integrations
DV360 works well with many third party technologies, such as DMPs and CMPs, through native integrations.
Attribution
Through DV360 you measure who saw your ads too – not just those that clicked – enabling you to calculate value at the impression level.
Advertising using Google Ads via GDN and DV360 differs significantly, and for many marketing teams this must be a key consideration. Reach, ad volume, transparency, targeting, performance, and cost, and flexibility are all major considerations.
Here are our pros and cons of using Google’s buying platforms:
Google Ads
Good for short term performance due to the combination of outcome-based bidding (CPA/CPA) and strong algorithms fed by broad Google data sources.
DV360
Good for building a brand and brand awareness. It enables better control over audiences and placements. Plus, has strong brand safety settings and more advanced creative possibilities.
Google Ads
Less flexible but easy to use and get up and running with straightaway.
DV360
Manual setup. Powerful, flexible but more complex.
Note: DV360 allows for dynamic remarketing and/or prospecting using either customisable XML or Google Doc feeds. This enables you to tailor your messaging and ad creative, ensuring you are showing the most up-to-date product information from your website.
If you use Google Ads when publishing display advertising, don’t despair! You are still able to integrate your Google Merchant Center shopping feed into your dynamic creatives, although unfortunately you can’t make use of everything that dynamic creatives have to offer.
Google Ads
Text, image, video, and (in some cases) HTML5.
DV360
Fewer manual publishing and approval processes making it faster to go live, and fewer load restrictions for high-quality creatives. Plus, you can use dynamic content inside ad creatives.
Google Ads
Only last click attribution.
DV360
Many click and impression based attribution models are available, such as view-through (VT) conversion.
Google Ads
Not really (however, some third party tags work in some cases).
DV360
Yes, DV360 allows native integrations to most adtech and martech platforms, such as CMPs.
Google Ads
Non-transparent. While many believe it is free, it is in fact not – the tech fees are implicitly included in the CPM and according to Google it is 14% of ad spend.
DV360
Transparent: Tech fees are shown explicitly, but budgets and CPMs are managed on a gross basis. According to Google (see above link) it is 13% of ad spend.
Google Ads
GDN offers Google’s own targeting data.
DV360
First party data through Floodlight pixel or DMP integration, plus a wide range of third party data providers, as well as Google’s own audience segments.
Hopefully, you now know the pros and cons, publishing display advertising using Google. Plus the value either, GDN or DV360, can bring to your display campaigns. However, when selecting which Google tool your marketing is to use it is worth considering these final three questions:
Answer these questions honestly and you will have your answer! Or if you still cannot decide then get in touch with us at Bannerflow and we can assist you in finding the best solution for your display advertising.
And if you can’t decide – then why not do both?!
Or to be more specific, why pick one tool when together they can give you the best of two worlds. Thus, enabling you to adopt a dual-platform approach and use a “best of both worlds” display strategy. Which, combined with recruiting the right internal skills, means you can ensure a clean sync of audiences between stacks and maintain a consistent recording of the customer journey.
Note: You will need to have the right people, processes and technologies to enable this strategy!