4 simple tips to succeed with AdWords for video

If you don’t do anything else, the one thing you should always do for an AdWords for Video campaign is CHOOSE YOUR TARGETING.

If this is your first time using AdWords for Video, you could easily overlook where your ad will run and who will be seeing your ad.

Google has made it incredibly easy to create an AdWords for Video campaign, and one caveat is that they have made audience targeting optional, when it’s the one thing that really shouldn’t be!

Now this will differ for everyone depending on your niche/target customer, but you can choose what countries to show your ad, what ages and genders to include, and even what interests to target.

Now this next tip just takes the click of a button, but it could save you a lot of money and improve your campaign’s performance numbers greatly in the long run.

So there are 2 basic types of YouTube ads:

• In-Stream: Also known as “pre-roll” or “skippable video ads,” these are the ads where your actual video plays before the actual YouTube video.
• In-Display: These are somewhat similar to traditional display ads, where a static image is placed on the side along with a headline and a couple lines of description text.

So to make a long story short: We want to run only In-Stream ads, since In-Display ads perform terribly in comparison, therefore wasting of money that could be used for In-Stream instead.

(Just in case you’re wondering, this tip is backed by thorough testing of hundreds of AdWords for Video campaigns.)

To disable In-Display Ads: Uncheck the “Searching on YouTube” and “Include people browsing the web” boxes when choosing target audience.

This last tip can be a real money-saver over the long run.

So the way AdWords for Video works is that you are paying per view of your video ad. A “view” is only counted when somebody watches at least 30 seconds of your video (or the entirety if your video is shorter than 30 seconds).

Now, by default, AdWords tends to choose your Max CPV value for you, which may be automatically set at something around 10-20 cents per view.

I recommend that you set your own Max CPV and experiment with the bid that will generate you the most number of views for the least amount of money.

You can test Max CPV Bids by starting at around $0.10, then slowly decreasing by 1 cent until your campaign stops using the budget and you see a decrease in impressions/views.

Often, I’ve found that the same campaigns which were previously getting views at $0.10, could still generate views at $0.05, thereby effectively doubling my total view volume from the campaign.

You’ll have to experiment in order to find that “sweet spot” where your ad is still winning views, but once you do, you’ll be able to squeeze the most out of your AdWords for Video campaign.