{"id":640131,"date":"2024-09-30T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/"},"modified":"2024-09-30T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T13:00:00","slug":"why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/","title":{"rendered":"#Why you should turn off optimized targeting in GDN today"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a22a88a9e7f8\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a22a88a9e7f8\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/#This_Google_feature_sounds_too_good_to_be_true_and_it_mostly_is_Here_are_the_pitfalls_and_how_to_navigate_them\" >This Google feature sounds too good to be true, and it mostly is. Here are the pitfalls and how to navigate them.<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/#Navigating_this_feature\" >Navigating this feature<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/#Google_operates_a_black-box_approach_with_optimized_targeting\" >Google operates a black-box approach with optimized targeting\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/#Optimized_targeting_can_%E2%80%93_and_will_%E2%80%93_eat_away_at_your_budgets\" >Optimized targeting can \u2013 and will \u2013 eat away at your budgets\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/#The_term_%E2%80%98optimized_is_somewhat_misleading\" >The term \u2018optimized\u2019 is somewhat misleading\u00a0<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/#Lets_look_at_an_example\" >Let\u2019s look at an example<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/#Our_findings\" >Our findings<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-should-turn-off-optimized-targeting-in-gdn-today\/#How_to_tread_carefully_with_this_feature\" >How to tread carefully with this feature<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"subhead\" itemprop=\"alternativeHeadline\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"This_Google_feature_sounds_too_good_to_be_true_and_it_mostly_is_Here_are_the_pitfalls_and_how_to_navigate_them\"><\/span>This Google feature sounds too good to be true, and it mostly is. Here are the pitfalls and how to navigate them.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"bialty-container\">\nGoogle introduced a feature called \u201coptimized targeting\u201d for Google Display Network, or GDN, campaigns in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This feature promises to look beyond your campaigns\u2019 manually selected audiences to seek out ones you may have missed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Google touts that it can find new customers beyond your existing audience <strong>without<\/strong> increasing bids and still meet your goals. <\/p>\n<p>Sounds enticing, right?<\/p>\n<p>But while it might seem like this feature could scale your campaign and improve its performance, the reality is that it will place your ad on irrelevant websites and generate a high volume of invalid clicks, ultimately resulting in poor performance.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-navigating-this-feature\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Navigating_this_feature\"><\/span>Navigating this feature<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Optimized targeting is automatically enabled when you create a GDN campaign at the ad group level.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This means that unless you specifically disable it, your campaigns will be subject to this feature right from the outset.<\/p>\n<p>When testing this feature, several significant issues crop up:<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-google-operates-a-black-box-approach-with-optimized-targeting-nbsp\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Google_operates_a_black-box_approach_with_optimized_targeting\"><\/span>Google operates a black-box approach with optimized targeting\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>This means you have little insight into how this feature performs compared to your chosen audiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There is, however, the option to see how it performs compared to your manually selected segments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Go to your <em>GDN campaign &gt; Audiences<\/em>. At the bottom of the audience segment report, review the row for <em>Total: Expansion and Optimized Targeting<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-optimized-targeting-can-and-will-eat-away-at-your-budgets-nbsp\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Optimized_targeting_can_%E2%80%93_and_will_%E2%80%93_eat_away_at_your_budgets\"><\/span>Optimized targeting can \u2013 and will \u2013 eat away at your budgets\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In one campaign, it spent a staggering 99% of our budget, leaving little room for targeting our selected audiences.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-term-optimized-is-somewhat-misleading-nbsp\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_term_%E2%80%98optimized_is_somewhat_misleading\"><\/span>The term \u2018optimized\u2019 is somewhat misleading\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Instead of improving campaign performance, it led to levels of invalid click traffic that surpassed \u201cvalid\u201d traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This inflated traffic wasted our budget and skewed our performance metrics.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-css-opacity has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-let-s-look-at-an-example\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Lets_look_at_an_example\"><\/span>Let\u2019s look at an example<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When a client wanted to run display campaigns to expand their reach, we launched them with optimized targeting turned on to test the feature.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As we monitored these campaigns, we compared the performance of display campaigns with optimized targeting on versus those with it off.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-our-findings\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Our_findings\"><\/span>Our findings<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Campaigns opted into vs. opted out of optimized targeting in the same 30-day period<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Opted into Opt. Targeting<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Invalid CTR<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>66%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<td>26%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Difference<\/td>\n<td><strong>-60%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n<p><strong>Campaign before and after opting out of optimized targeting\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Time Period<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Impressions<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Invalid Clicks<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Invalid CTR<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Before<\/td>\n<td>3,492,348<\/td>\n<td>31,461<\/td>\n<td>66%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>After<\/td>\n<td>3,335736<\/td>\n<td>5,154<\/td>\n<td>45%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Difference<\/td>\n<td><strong>-4%<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>-84%<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>-31%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Comparing the 30-day periods before and after opting out of optimized targeting.\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In this instance, campaigns with optimized targeting turned on generated a notably higher invalid click rate at 66%, compared to just 26% when it was off \u2013 a difference of 60%.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After turning off optimized targeting, invalid clicks significantly decreased by 84% (from 31,400 to 5,200) while impression volume remained stable. Invalid CTR dropped from 66% to 45%, a 31% improvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The data shows that turning off optimized targeting led to a substantial decrease in invalid click volume and CTR.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even though our client\u2019s primary goal was to expand reach regardless of click quality, turning it off did not impact impression volume.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Disabling this feature proved to be a viable strategy for improving traffic quality and reducing invalid click activity in display campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The lesson here is to consider disabling optimized targeting on your display campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-tread-carefully-with-this-feature\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_tread_carefully_with_this_feature\"><\/span>How to tread carefully with this feature<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Optimized targeting led to difficult-to-see insights, budget dis<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>earances and invalid click traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Given all of the above, here are three recommendations for proceeding with the feature:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you have optimized targeting turned on, closely examine its performance. Determine if it is delivering value or just consuming your budget.<\/li>\n<li>If you decide it is not for you, include a step in your GDN campaign launch process to disable this feature. In most cases, you will unlikely need it turned on.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019ve unknowingly opted into optimized targeting, analyze your invalid click traffic in your GDN campaigns against the invalid click credit you received in your transaction history. In our test case, we found that we were grossly under-credited for our invalid click traffic. Reach out to your Google representative to see if an additional review of invalid click traffic can be done and whether you deserve additional compensation from this feature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While optimized targeting might seem beneficial at first glance, it\u2019s essential to approach it cautiously.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Its potential to drain budgets and drive invalid traffic can outweigh the benefits it promises. Don\u2019t hesitate to disable it and protect your advertising budget from some unnecessary expenditure.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: How to make your display campaigns profitable<\/em><\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"about-author\">\n    About the author<\/p>\n<div class=\"information\">\n<div class=\"author-module\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 text-center\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-fluid rounded-circle avatar-border\" alt=\"Juliette Smith\" width=\"140\" height=\"140\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2024\/09\/Juliette-Smith-Just-Global.jpg.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-fluid rounded-circle avatar-border\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2024\/09\/Juliette-Smith-Just-Global.jpg.webp\" alt=\"Juliette Smith\" width=\"140\" height=\"140\">\n                                            <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9\">\n<div class=\"about\">\n<div class=\"name\">\n                            <strong>Juliette Smith<\/strong>\n                        <\/div>\n<div class=\"row g-2 pt-2\">\n<div class=\"col-auto\">\n                                    <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/juliette-smith-6b7b34117\/\" aria-label=\"opens in a new tab\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin\"><\/i><\/a>\n                                <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>Juliette has close to six years of experience working at some of the top marketing agencies in the US. At Just Global she perfects search tactics for global tech and cybersecurity enterprise organizations. She is currently based in Chicago, Illinois.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-display-network-optimized-targeting-turn-off-447054\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Google feature sounds too good to be true, and it mostly is. Here are the pitfalls and how to navigate them. Google introduced a feature called \u201coptimized targeting\u201d for Google Display Network, or GDN, campaigns in 2021.\u00a0 This feature promises to look beyond your campaigns\u2019 manually selected audiences to seek out ones you may&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":640132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2024\/09\/Optimized-targeting-Why-you-should-turn-off-this-GDN-feature-today-800x450.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[123333,142591,107942],"class_list":["post-640131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-display","tag-google-ads","tag-ppc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}