Google adPlanner Makes it Easier to do Demographic & Behavioral Research
Google Ad Planner has recently made some updates that make it even easier to define audiences.
The biggest change is more insight into how profile demographics are calculated:
- Added Unique Visitors (cookies), a new cookie-based metric, to help you cross-check and compare metrics, similar to Google Analytics unique visitor metrics.
- Changed Unique Visitors to Unique Visitors (users) so it’s clearer that you’re reviewing estimated numbers of real world users.
- Placed the Unique Visitors (cookies) and Unique Visitors (users) metrics on a site’s profile page so you’ll have a more comprehensive view of how a specific site can support your media planning. Learn how to make the most of these two metrics.
Image and quote source from Inside AdWords.
Easier to Choose Your Target Audience
My favorite change is that there are now pre-defined audiences that you can choose from. This is a brand new feature that you can see in the left image
When you load a new audience, adPlanner will automatically select your typical demographics:
- Gender
- Age
- Education
- Household Income
- Children in Household
However, what’s really nice about this feature is that adPlanner will also pre-select certain behavioral characteristics such as:
- Sites also visited
- Keywords searched
In combining both user demographics and behavioral characteristics; it’s very fast to build an initial profile of sites that match your audience.
Of course, you should know your audience better than adPlanner, so while this is a nice starting place; it probably won’t be your final list.
I’m a big fan of using adPlanner to do placement targeting research.
Once you’re up and running, don’t forget to:
- Run placement performance reports to see how sites are converting
- Block underperforming domains
- Filter your information in Google Analytics for better insight
If you’re still learning adPlanner, here are some videos that will help you get started.
Ad Planner Overview
Defining an Audience:
Reviewing & Profiling Sites
Google AdWords
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