Google Ads recently introduced dynamic ad targets for dynamic search ads (DSA’s). So, I decided to provide a bit of detail on DSA’s and why the update makes them a more useful targeting method.

Dynamic Ad Targets & What They Offer

Before dynamic ad targeting, you had no say in the targeting of your DSA’s. Google assigned the targeting to pages based on their heading structure and keywords. This wasn’t ideal for advertisers who didn’t have great on-page SEO and site organization because the targeting didn’t have a firm grasp of the categories that should be targeted.

Dynamic search ad targets are categories that people might search for on Google.

  • Dynamic ad targets categoriesDSA targets are basically in-market audiences.
  • They’re pulled from your website’s individual pages by Google’s crawlers and paired with searches that fit a general theme.
  • You can select these categories by your crawling your whole website or individual pages
  • If you can’t find a DSA target from your site you can search a database of categories and target them that way.
  • You can select DSA targets based on the keywords evident on certain web pages on your website or site-wide.
  • You can search for a database of categories that might not be on your website at all.
  • Each category has a volume estimate so you can see how many searches it gets per month.
  • You can hover over each category and see which of your website pages will be promoted for that category.

Benefits and Drawbacks of DSA’s

DSA’s are pure hands-off digital marketing. They are ideal for the do-it-yourselfer without the money to pay a digital marketer but who still has to promote dozens or hundreds of product pages.

Rather than creating an ad group for each page and having hundreds of ad groups, you can simply create one ad group that promotes your entire site. This ad group can be augmented by creating further ad groups to promote specific parts of your site that might not be getting coverage by the dynamic search ad automatic targeting.

But, if you have less than 25 products or are selling B2B products it’s good idea to avoid DSA’s. They’re not great for branding and a competent Google Ads copywriter can use keyword research, marketing information, and other cues to get the most out of each ad.

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Bfw is a full-service traditional advertising and digital marketing agency. Our digital marketing team has over ten years of experience advertising on Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and other platforms. If you need help with your next marketing push, then don’t hesitate to contact us. Or, subscribe to our advertising blog for updates on when new articles come out!