Google Display ads

What Google Display ads are actually good for

The Google Display Network spans an enormous number of websites, apps and Gmail inboxes. Ads appear as banners or native-looking units beside articles, videos and email. Because inventory is plentiful, impressions and clicks are cheap, and that's the trap: it's very easy to buy attention from people who will never become customers.

Google Display ads work best when they have a specific job. For most small US businesses, that job is one of three: bringing back people who visited your site, reaching a narrow audience in your service area, or adding reach in the season when demand peaks. As a standalone way to find new customers on a small budget, Display usually disappoints.

Audiences, from warm to cold

I build Display campaigns starting with the warmest audience and working outward:

1. Site visitors who looked at a service or pricing page and left. This is classic remarketing.
2. Customer lists, where you have permission to contact people, for repeat or seasonal services.
3. Custom segments of people who recently searched related terms, limited to your area.
4. Broader interest audiences, only when the first three are working and the budget allows a test.

Optimized targeting can expand beyond these signals. I turn it on or off based on results, never by default.

Exclusions save more than clever bids

Before launch I exclude mobile app categories that produce accidental taps, sensitive content, parked domains and placements that don't fit your brand. After launch I read the placement report and keep extending the list. In many accounts this alone removes a large share of wasted spend. Frequency caps matter just as much: a handful of impressions a week is a reminder, fifty a day is harassment.

Creative that survives small sizes

Responsive display ads combine your images, logos, headlines and descriptions into dozens of sizes. I prepare landscape and square images, a clean logo, short headlines and one clear offer. Keep text on images to a minimum, because it gets cropped. For a home services company, a photo of a finished job with “Free estimate in Tampa Bay” beats a stock photo of a smiling family every time. If you need stronger visuals, I also produce ad creatives.

Measuring Display honestly

Display seldom gets the final click before a sale. Someone sees your banner, remembers you and searches your name a week later. I look at view-through conversions without taking them at face value, and compare branded search volume and total leads in periods with and without Display. That shows whether it adds customers or merely shows up near ones you would have won anyway.

Example: a dental practice and its whitening page

Imagine a dental practice running Search ads for “emergency dentist” and “teeth whitening”. Plenty of visitors read the whitening page and leave. A small Display remarketing campaign could show them a reminder over the next few weeks with the practice's address and booking link, capped at a few impressions a week. Healthcare is a sensitive category in Google's personalized advertising policy, so the ads must stay general and never imply anything about the viewer's health. On patient-facing pages, tracking pixels also raise HIPAA questions, so talk to your compliance advisor before tagging them. I'd measure success in booked appointments, not banner clicks.

Privacy rules in the US

There is no single federal privacy law, but California's CCPA and a growing list of state laws give visitors rights over tracking for advertising, and many expect a clear way to opt out of “sale or sharing” of their data. Plenty of small businesses fall under none of these laws, yet an honest privacy policy and cookie notice cost little. I set up Consent Mode so tags follow the visitor's choice; for what applies to you, check with your attorney.

Setup is $600 and management starts at $1,000 a month. Display is one piece of the wider Google Ads services I offer, and most clients run it next to Search.