Turn Off The Adwords Content Network.

One of my Wealthy Affiliate friends learned the hard way. She had just set up a campaign and activated it and left for the bathroom. When she got back 3 minutes later, she had already racked up over 800 clicks...must have been one good looking ad.

I'm sure she probably meant to turn off the Adwords content network but that 3 minutes she had it on for cost her a pretty penny. Its one of the biggest mistakes advertisers make when starting an adwords campaign. They leave the content network running.

Always turn off the content network.

The Google Adwords content network is used to show ads on relevant websites in the form of adsense. The network is plagued by click fraud and advertisers can recieve very untargetted and unwanted traffic. There's actually a right way and a wrong way to use the adwords content network.

Leaving on the content network feature will get your ads tons more impressions and this usually means lower click thru rate (ctr). As you know, having a low ctr can have damaging effects on your quality score and other aspects of your campaign including roi.

If you're going to use the content network then its best to use a separate campaign so you can track the results and maintain the different variables related to both the content network and the search network.

Setting up a placement targetted campaign is also much better than letting an adwords campaign run with the content network on. Placement targetted campaigns (formerly site targetting) places your ads on websites which you select so you have more control over where your ads are shown. You can also pay per click instead of by impressions if you like. This is the only recommended use of the content network.

So next time you start that new campaign, remember to save your self some money by turning off the adwords content network.