Author Archives: David Szetela

Hidden Google Money Grabs: New Campaign Bidding Strategies

Google makes it easy to create new campaigns, with a wizard-like interface that takes your input and helpfully suggesting features depending on your campaign’s goals.

If you’ve followed along with the first two blog posts in this series on Geotargetting and Targetting Expansion, you know that sometimes Google’s suggestions serve Google’s stockholders before advertisers. In other words, the suggestions serve to maximize Google revenue while costing advertisers more than they might otherwise pay. Continue reading “Hidden Google Money Grabs: New Campaign Bidding Strategies”

Hidden Google Money Grabs: Targeting Expansion

Last week I posted an article describing the fact that many advertisers lose money due to the default advanced geotargeting settings in every campaign.

This week I’ll describe another hidden “grab” that causes every Google Display Network ad group to lose money – by default.

Targeting Expansion

The culprit is a hidden ad-group-level “feature” called “Targeting Expansion”. Continue reading “Hidden Google Money Grabs: Targeting Expansion”

Hidden Google Money Grabs: Geotargeting

Yes, Google is a public company whose mantra needs to be “increasing shareholder value.” But unfortunately, there are a few “features” in Google Ads that maximize Google revenue by hiding default options that eat advertiser spend without delivering value.

We’ll start with faulty geotargeting.

By default, Google has your permission to display your ads to people all over the world – even if you use geotargeting (as most advertisers do).

For proof that this affects your Google Ads account, run a User Location report. You’ll likely see that your ads have been, for example, displayed to people outside the USA even if you have only targeted the USA – or even a small portion of the USA.

That’s likely wasting money – sometimes a lot of money. Continue reading “Hidden Google Money Grabs: Geotargeting”