Google Introduces ‘Flexible Reach Targeting’ to GDN

Following on from last months introduction of the ‘Display Tab’ in Adwords,  Google’s next step  to create a more controlled Display Network has been the introduction of ‘Flexible Reach‘  targeting. Where as in the past the targeting method for the GDN has been set at a campaign level, Flexible Reach now enables users to choose their settings at an AdGroup level.

Adwords Help describes the difference as follows:

With campaign-level settings, you choose either one targeting method per ad group, when you select “Broad reach,” or the intersection of all targeting methods specified within the ad group, when you choose “Specific reach.”

With ad group targeting, you can choose multiple targeting methods at the ad group-level to target your ad. “Flexible reach” gives you control to either target or set bids for different targeting methods when you add them to an ad group.

They also give the following as an example as to how this may be used:

Example:

If you’re adding the placements travel-example.com andluxurytravelexample.com to an ad group, you can decide between these two options:

• Use only travel-example.com and luxurytravelexample.com for targeting, which means your ads aren’t eligible to show anywhere else. (You could also set specific bids for these placements.)
• Use these placements for bidding only, which means you can set a bid on travel-example.com and luxurytravelexample.com to increase or decrease your chances of showing there. Your ads, however, can show on other websites based on other targeting methods, like keywords, in your ad group.

Tug will be testing this new setting soon, so check back for our thoughts and analysis soon!