Optimize your campaigns on the Display Network: Category Exclusion

The Display Network is loved by some and hated by others, mostly because in order to effectively optimize it we must change the mindset we use to optimize campaigns on the Search Network.

Personally, I think of the Search Network and the Display Network as two totally independent networks and with their own optimization techniques, which should not be measured with the same rule and should be worked individually.

One optimization technique that works VERY well on the Display Network and is generally underutilized is category exclusion.

This technique is to exclude the website categories that our Display Network campaigns show on, regardless of whether they are contextual or managed placement campaigns, that perform the worst based on our goals.

Category Exclusion is quite simple to perform and the optimization value it can bring to our campaigns on the Display Network is very high, so there is no reason not to exclude categories if we are running campaigns on the Display Network. .

OKAY! But how do I see which categories should I exclude?

The worst performing categories can be excluded by following the following 4 steps:

1) Enter the "Display Network" tab of the campaign of our interest.

2) Click on the "Exclusions" option and select "Categories" from the menu.

3) Then on the right we will see an option to exclude categories at Campaign Level, we must select the option «Add exclusions».

4) Once the previous step is ready, a window will open with data from all the website categories where our ads were seen and we will be able to select the ones we want to exclude.

Once we have selected all the categories that present low performance for the campaign, we click «Save» and voila! We will stop serving our Display Network ads in those categories.

By following these simple steps, in a few minutes we can greatly improve the performance of our campaigns for the Display Network.