Content Network – Part 1 – Google Ad Planner
A commonly overlooked area by most AdWords advertisers is the content network, otherwise known as AdSense. Often, ads on the content network are a lot more cost effective and provide a greater return on investment (ROI) than the search network, especially in highly competitive markets. How do you effectively set up a Content Network campaign?
Step 1: Investigate which sites run ads using AdSense, and does it make financial “sense” to advertise on them.
Where do you find out this information?
Actually, Google makes it easy for you. There are a variety of tools that should be used. In this post we will cover just one:
Google Ad Planner: A research tool that connect advertisers and publishers. Here you can find information about demographics of relevant sites, such as gender, age, socio-economic status, and geographic locations of users. Especially useful is their insight into users’ online behavior, such as length of time online, likeliness to purchase online, etc.
Ad Planner is currently in beta (as most products of Google are 
) so you need to sign up and be approved, although everyone who does is approved within a few days.
Actionable Tip: Sign up for Google Ad Planner, await your approval notice, enter your target demographics, and export the list of available sites to review.
Next we will cover the tools within AdWords you can use to research available sites for the Content Network.