Assuming you are doing a direct response approach (getting conversions for a desired cost), you’ll want to look one primary attributes:

Targeting method cost per conversion (CPA) or ROI

Here is a sample protocol to optimize your Google Display Network Placements:

Periodically (at least once a week), come through your placements. Identify ones that have spent at least 2x your target CPA or ROI. Exclude them. For example, if you want conversions at 10 CPA, you can be safe to assume that if you spend 20 dollars without a conversion, it’s time to turn off that placement. ALTERNATIVELY, you can get more aggressive, and turn placements off at only 1.5x your target spend. In this case, you would PAUSE everything over 15 dollars without a conversion, or anything that is over 15 CPA.

Pluck out the best placements that give you the best performance (ROI or CPA), and bid specifically on them. The THEORY is: if you bid more aggressively on placements that perform well, you’ll increase your volume of conversions.

Don’t know how much to bid Use the protocol here: How to Set the Perfect Bid Every Time in AdWords to get your bid modifiers. The MATH is simple: If your CPA is worse than your target, bid down. If your CPA is better than your target, bid up to increase volume.

Pro-Level: after identifying the best placements, and bidding specifically on them, find other placements similar to those. Create ads that are finely tuned for that particular audience. Even more pro - once you get plenty of data on a site, try to reach out to them specifically to see if you can get a better rate than what you’re getting through GDN. This is known as a private media buy.

Assuming you are doing a direct response approach (getting conversions for a desired cost), you’ll want to look one primary attributes:

Targeting method cost per conversion (CPA) or ROI

Here is a sample protocol to optimize your Google Display Network Placements:

Periodically (at least once a week), come through your placements. Identify ones that have spent at least 2x your target CPA or ROI. Exclude them. For example, if you want conversions at 10 CPA, you can be safe to assume that if you spend 20 dollars without a conversion, it’s time to turn off that placement. Alternatively, you can get more aggressive, and turn placements off at only 1.5x your target spend. In this case, you would pause everything over 15 dollars without a conversion, or anything that is over 15 CPA.

Pluck out the best placements that give you the best performance (ROI or CPA), and bid specifically on them. The theory is: if you bid more aggressively on placements that perform well, you’ll increase your volume of conversions.

Don’t know how much to bid Use the protocol here: How to Set the Perfect Bid Every Time in AdWords to get your bid modifiers. The math is simple: If your CPA is worse than your target, bid down. If your CPA is better than your target, bid up to increase volume.

Pro-Level: after identifying the best placements, and bidding specifically on them, find other placements similar to those. Create ads that are finely tuned for that particular audience. Even more pro - once you get plenty of data on a site, try to reach out to them specifically to see if you can get a better rate than what you’re getting through GDN. This is known as a private media buy.