Choose keywords for Google Display Network campaigns

 This article applies only to Google Ads accounts in the new Search Ads 360.

On the Google Display Network, keywords help you connect your campaigns to likely buyers.

For example, if your most likely customers hike, you might add keywords around hiking or the outdoors. Google Ads will find relevant websites that include your keywords as well as relevant audiences interested in those keywords. Try to pick keywords that are relevant to entire ad groups, and not just a single ad.

This article explains how to use keywords on the Google Display Network.

How it works

Keywords are one of the targeting options on the Google Display Network. Sometimes your ads may show in places that seem unrelated to your keywords. Depending on your keyword setting, your ads instead may show to audiences based on their recent browsing history or other factors, rather than the content of the page they’re currently viewing. Learn more About contextual targeting.

When choosing keywords for your Google Display Network campaigns:

• Create ad groups for your products or services so that Google can show ads related to them.
• Choose keywords that you imagine could appear on websites where your customers might browse.
• Get additional ad group and keyword ideas. Learn how to Improve your keywords for the Google Display Network.

Create ad groups

Before you choose keywords for your Google Display Network campaigns, make sure that the ad groups for each of your campaigns are organized by the products or services that you offer. Once you have keywords that describe the products or services that you're advertising, you can then create ads related to those keywords.

Choose keywords

Your ad group's keyword list helps Google Ads show your ads on relevant websites or to relevant audiences. Follow these guidelines to create a high-quality keyword list:

• Choose keywords related to your product or service.
• Create a set of 5 to 20 keywords that relate to the ads in that ad group. Two to three-word phrases tend to work well.
• Select keywords that are related to each other. For example, if you sell flowers, you may want to add roses and flower arrangements to your keyword list. That way, your keywords could show ads to customers who are interested in buying roses or flower arrangements.
• Select keywords related to the websites your customers see.
• If you have a strong and well-recognized brand, include branded keywords.

Instructions

Get keyword ideas

You can get new keyword ideas that you might not think of when you build your campaigns.

1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
2. Navigate to a Google Ads client account.
3. Click Keywords and select Display/video keywords, or click Ad groups.
4. Click the plus button  to add a new keyword or ad group.
5. Choose the campaign and ad group you’d like to get keyword ideas for.
6. Under “Get keyword ideas”, fill out the “Enter a related website” or “Enter your product or service” field.
7. Click the plus next to each suggested keyword to add it to your list of keywords.

Monitor and improve your keyword performance

To see results for your Google Display Network keywords:

1. In the navigation panel on the far left, click Display Campaigns.
2. Select Keywords from the page menu and select Display/video keywords.

You’ll find a table including impressions, clicks, and other results showing how well your keywords are meeting your advertising goals. Based on these results, you can make decisions about revising your keyword list.
 

Related links

• Add keywords
• About negative keywords
• Where ads might appear in the Google Display Network