Google Display ads

What Google Display ads are good for

The Google Display Network covers a huge range of websites, apps and Gmail. Ads appear as banners or native-style units next to articles, videos and email. Because space is plentiful, impressions and clicks are cheap, and that's exactly the trap: it's easy to buy a lot of attention from people who will never be customers.

Google Display ads work best with a clear job. For most small businesses in Canada that job is one of three: bringing back people who visited your site, reaching a narrow audience in your area, or adding reach in a season when demand peaks. As a stand-alone way to find new customers on a small budget, Display usually disappoints.

Audiences: from warm to cold

I build Display campaigns from the warmest audience outwards:

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

Optimized targeting can expand beyond these signals. I switch it on or off depending on results, not by default.

Exclusions save more money than bids

Before launch, I exclude mobile app categories that bring accidental clicks, sensitive content categories, parked domains and placements that don't fit your brand. After launch, I read the placement report and keep adding to the list. In many accounts this alone cuts a large share of wasted spend. Frequency caps matter too: five impressions a day for a week is a reminder, fifty is harassment.

Creative that holds up in small sizes

Responsive display ads mix your images, logos, headlines and descriptions into many sizes. I prepare landscape and square images, a clean logo, short headlines and a clear offer. Text on images should be minimal because it gets cropped. For a home services business, a photo of finished work with “Free estimate in Calgary” beats a stock photo of a smiling family every time. If you need stronger visuals, I prepare ad graphics too.

Measuring Display without fooling yourself

Display rarely gets the final click before a sale. Someone sees your banner, remembers you, and later searches your name. I look at view-through conversions, but I don't take them at face value; I compare branded search volume and total leads in periods with and without Display. That tells you whether it adds customers or just shows up near ones you would have won anyway.

Example: a dental clinic between check-up reminders

Imagine a dental clinic that runs Search ads for “emergency dentist” and “teeth whitening”. Many visitors read the whitening page and leave. A small Display remarketing campaign can show them a reminder for the next few weeks with the clinic's address and booking link, limited to a few impressions a week. Healthcare is a sensitive area in Google's personalized ads policy, so the ads must stay general and avoid implying anything about the viewer's health. I'd measure success by booked whitening appointments, not by clicks on the banner.

Privacy and consent in Canada

Display remarketing relies on tracking site visitors, so your site needs a privacy policy that explains it and, for visitors from Quebec, consent under Law 25 before tracking cookies fire. I set up Consent Mode so tags respect the visitor's choice. It's cheaper to get this right at the start than to fix it after a complaint.

Setup is $650 and management starts from $750 a month. Display is one piece of the wider Google Ads services I offer; most clients run it next to Search.