{"id":4169,"date":"2026-07-21T20:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ivitskiy.com\/blog\/google-display-network-ads\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T20:49:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:49:07","slug":"google-display-network-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ivitskiy.com\/blog\/en\/google-display-network-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Set Up Google Display Network (GDN) Ads in Google Ads"},"content":{"rendered":"
In short:<\/strong> Treat the Google Display Network (GDN) as a separate test channel for image and video impressions across websites, apps, Gmail, and YouTube. Start with the goal, geography, languages, budget, and bidding strategy, then build a responsive display ad from images, logos, headlines, and descriptions. The real work starts after launch: review placements, audiences, devices, and conversions, because GDN often delivers cheap reach but demands constant pruning of low-quality impressions.<\/div>\n

The Google Display Network (GDN) is Google’s network of partner websites and apps that get paid to run ads. Google also places image ads directly on its own properties, inside Gmail and on YouTube.<\/p>\n

The ad looks different on every placement. It is assembled from images, headlines, and video you supply separately, and Google automatically adapts the combination to fit each specific site or app.<\/p>\n

GDN campaigns are one of Google’s two oldest ad formats, the other being Search. A click on the Display Network typically costs less than a click on Search, so it pays to know how to set up GDN properly and use that cost gap to your advantage.<\/p>\n

What Google Display Network Ads Actually Look Like<\/h2>\n

On any site that partners with Google, you will see GDN ads appear as banners at the top, bottom, or middle of the page, or alongside an article on the left or right. You can always tell it is a Google ad by the small blue triangle icon in the banner’s top right corner.<\/p>\n

You will also see GDN creative on YouTube, where display ads show up as images between videos in the feed.<\/p>\n

One common way publishers monetize a site today is what’s known as Made for AdSense: building a site whose main purpose is earning money by showing other people’s ads. AdSense is Google’s program for site owners who want to earn money by displaying someone else’s ads, while Google Ads is the system for advertisers who create their own ads and want to run them on those sites.<\/p>\n

How to Set Up a Google Display Network Campaign<\/h2>\n

To set up a GDN campaign in Google Ads, follow these steps:<\/p>\n

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Where GDN Most Often Bleeds Budget<\/h3>\n

On GDN I keep tight control over placements, exclusions, and audience composition, and I analyze each one’s performance separately. Without that hygiene, automatic reach expansion happily routes budget toward impressions that are technically eligible but practically useless.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

The mechanics of excluding placements and unsuitable content are covered in Google’s own guide for Display Network campaigns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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  1. Open your Google Ads account<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  2. Click «+ New campaign»<\/strong>.\n
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    1. Campaign goal<\/strong>: skip goal guidance.<\/li>\n
    2. Campaign type<\/strong>: Display.<\/li>\n
    3. Campaign name<\/strong>: I recommend including the product, the destination page, «GDN,» and the country, something like Brand_Web_GDN_US<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    4. Campaign settings include<\/strong>:\n
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      1. Locations<\/strong>: target every country, just your own, or specific major cities.<\/li>\n
      2. Languages<\/strong>: the browser language of the people you want to reach.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      3. Budget and bidding<\/strong>.\n
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        1. Average daily budget<\/strong>: how much you are willing to spend.<\/li>\n
        2. Bidding<\/strong>: choose whether you pay for conversions, conversion value, or impressions. You can also bid manually and set your own cost per click. I recommend Target CPA<\/strong>. If you leave the target price blank, the strategy runs in Maximize Conversions<\/strong> mode. If you already know your target cost per conversion, enter it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        3. Targeting<\/strong>.\n
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          1. Audience segments<\/strong>. Pick every custom segment and remarketing list you have (people who already visited your site). The «Browse» tab lets you add Google’s stock audiences, but they are not effective enough on GDN to spend much time there. To fine-tune segments, use «Search» rather than «Browse»: mark exactly what you want and exclude irrelevant interests. I recommend turning Optimized Targeting off.<\/li>\n
          2. Demographics<\/strong>. Age, gender, parental status, and household income. Every group is selected to receive ads by default. To exclude a group, click it and deselect it, for example if you do not want to show ads to under-25s or over-45s. Each row also has an «Unknown» option, and I recommend leaving it active, because Google frequently cannot identify a user well enough to place them in any category.<\/li>\n