Here’s the beauty of AdWords in four lines:
Most AdWords account holders don’t know what the content network is, or even that they’re using it for their ads.
Most AdWords account holders using the content network are paying far too much for their ads.
Many AdWords account holders think the content network is a waste of time and turn it off.
All of the above are wasting opportunities and money.
The content network allows most people with a website to display targeted ads, and receive a small amount of money for each click that they generate.
You’ve probably come across hundreds of thousands of these ads without realising it:
When you set up a new campaign in Google, the content network is enabled by default. Bad idea. And by default you use the same cost per click as the search network. Really bad idea.
In the all too common pattern that I call the cause-effect-kneejerk-panic-syndrome (I need a better name), many of the people who realise the risks of working with Google’s defaults switch off the content network altogether.
This is a great shame, as if you handle the content network correctly, it can be a good source of very cheap, targeted traffic. Yet in much the same way that a goat’s usefulness is irrelevant if you let one loose in your garden, it needs to be controlled and restrained.
In fact the content network is not only useful, but it appears to be getting cheaper while simultaneously producing better results. For many of our clients, we’re starting to see more conversions at a lower cost. The question is why?
I believe that Google are using the content network as a safety net under their main cash generator. We know that almost all of Google’s income comes from AdWords, but a significant part of this probably comes from the ads placed on Google itself.
If, as unlikely as it may seem today, another company were to dethrone Google and take their place, the revenue generated by these ads would wither at a rapid rate. This would leave Google with a wonderful, powerful system that no-one would be using. Unless, that is, they were to transfer their great system beyond the Google network.
This is something that they’ve been doing for a long time, but I believe that Google are now starting to improve the relevance and gains from the content network. If the day comes when people stop going to Google to search, their system will already be widely used across the rest of the web. The content network system could even survive completely independently of the Google network itself.
If I’m correct, then we’re going to see the quality of the content network improve further, and as an increasing number of advertisers start to realise this, the word will spread and the snowball effect will kick.
The content network may one day prove to be the world’s greatest life insurance policy. It may ensure that Google continue to live and prosper long after their death.
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