YouTube Ads Competitor Targeting
Published on: December 7 2022 by Paid Media Pros
YouTube Ads Competitor Targeting
Table of Contents
YouTube Ads Competitor Targeting
startTime | durationTime | text |
00:00:00 | 00:00:03 | in last week's video michelle toked |
00:00:02 | 00:00:05 | about how you can target your |
00:00:03 | 00:00:08 | competitors on either the google or |
00:00:05 | 00:00:10 | microsoft search networks and today i'm |
00:00:08 | 00:00:11 | going to take that one step further i'm |
00:00:10 | 00:00:14 | going to go over how you can target your |
00:00:11 | 00:00:16 | competitors with youtube ads youtube |
00:00:14 | 00:00:19 | offers some unique targeting options |
00:00:16 | 00:00:21 | that you can't get anywhere else and it |
00:00:19 | 00:00:23 | can be much more cost effective than |
00:00:21 | 00:00:25 | bidding on your competitor keywords so |
00:00:23 | 00:00:27 | we're going to go over a few of my |
00:00:25 | 00:00:29 | favorite targeting options and tactiks i |
00:00:27 | 00:00:31 | like to use to get in front of users who |
00:00:29 | 00:00:34 | may be looking for your competitors |
00:00:31 | 00:00:36 | the first way i try to target competitor |
00:00:34 | 00:00:39 | audiences on youtube is to try to get my |
00:00:36 | 00:00:41 | video ad placed on videos toking about |
00:00:39 | 00:00:42 | my competitors and when we're hand |
00:00:41 | 00:00:45 | picking our placements we typically call |
00:00:42 | 00:00:46 | that manage placements so right now i'm |
00:00:45 | 00:00:48 | in an ad group that was already posted |
00:00:46 | 00:00:50 | live so on the left hand side you see |
00:00:48 | 00:00:52 | i'm already under placements and then i |
00:00:50 | 00:00:54 | can look right here at starting to add |
00:00:52 | 00:00:56 | placements now if you're creating a |
00:00:54 | 00:00:57 | video campaign for the first time you'll |
00:00:56 | 00:00:59 | eventually get to the step in your ad |
00:00:57 | 00:01:01 | group creation when you can start |
00:00:59 | 00:01:03 | selecting your targeting options when |
00:01:01 | 00:01:05 | you do you will see a screen just like |
00:01:03 | 00:01:06 | this and instead of editing your |
00:01:05 | 00:01:08 | placements you're just going to be |
00:01:06 | 00:01:10 | adding them but the research process in |
00:01:08 | 00:01:12 | this view is the same i already made a |
00:01:10 | 00:01:14 | video going over the placement targeting |
00:01:12 | 00:01:15 | options we get for youtube you can check |
00:01:14 | 00:01:17 | that one out right here but when i'm |
00:01:15 | 00:01:19 | going after competitors i typically like |
00:01:17 | 00:01:21 | to stik with two different placement |
00:01:19 | 00:01:23 | options that's going to be youtube |
00:01:21 | 00:01:25 | channels and youtube videos so to start |
00:01:23 | 00:01:27 | researching it we can go specifically to |
00:01:25 | 00:01:28 | the search bar enter specific keyword |
00:01:27 | 00:01:30 | phrases for your competitors whether |
00:01:28 | 00:01:33 | it's just the brand name a specific |
00:01:30 | 00:01:35 | product name whatever and as i hit enter |
00:01:33 | 00:01:37 | we started to see numbers appear next to |
00:01:35 | 00:01:38 | the placement targeting categories the |
00:01:37 | 00:01:41 | first one is a youtube channel and there |
00:01:38 | 00:01:43 | we see the official brand's channel i |
00:01:41 | 00:01:45 | can go over and click on that option |
00:01:43 | 00:01:47 | and when you add a channel you're |
00:01:45 | 00:01:50 | telling google if we're eligible you can |
00:01:47 | 00:01:51 | place my video ad on any of the videos |
00:01:50 | 00:01:53 | underneath the channel every single one |
00:01:51 | 00:01:55 | of them if i go back and hit the back |
00:01:53 | 00:01:56 | arrow we can then look at specific |
00:01:55 | 00:01:58 | youtube videos |
00:01:56 | 00:02:00 | this could be the better option if you |
00:01:58 | 00:02:01 | find a channel that has certain videos |
00:02:00 | 00:02:03 | that are great for competitor targeting |
00:02:01 | 00:02:05 | but not every single video for a |
00:02:03 | 00:02:06 | partikular channel is worth having ads |
00:02:05 | 00:02:09 | placed on them you can then start |
00:02:06 | 00:02:10 | scrolling down and choose each specific |
00:02:09 | 00:02:12 | video you would like to target i'm |
00:02:10 | 00:02:14 | purposely skipping the videos on the |
00:02:12 | 00:02:16 | keep channel because i already targeted |
00:02:14 | 00:02:17 | the entire channel but you can see from |
00:02:16 | 00:02:19 | the scroll bar there are a lot more i |
00:02:17 | 00:02:21 | can keep going and adding and let me go |
00:02:19 | 00:02:23 | back up hit back one more time and then |
00:02:21 | 00:02:26 | i may want to check out websites because |
00:02:23 | 00:02:27 | your video ads can appear on websites |
00:02:26 | 00:02:28 | that are part of google's display |
00:02:27 | 00:02:30 | network i know i already said i like to |
00:02:28 | 00:02:32 | try to stik on youtube with competitor |
00:02:30 | 00:02:34 | targeting as much as possible but i will |
00:02:32 | 00:02:36 | check out websites as my third option if |
00:02:34 | 00:02:38 | i'm not finding enough competitor |
00:02:36 | 00:02:39 | placements that are to my liking or |
00:02:38 | 00:02:41 | maybe i don't think the youtube portion |
00:02:39 | 00:02:42 | of it will have as much reach as i want |
00:02:41 | 00:02:43 | it to and that's what google's |
00:02:42 | 00:02:45 | recommending for the website targeting |
00:02:43 | 00:02:46 | so for me right off the bat none of this |
00:02:45 | 00:02:48 | looks relevant so i'm just going to |
00:02:46 | 00:02:50 | stik with the channels so if i click |
00:02:48 | 00:02:53 | save we see the specific targeting |
00:02:50 | 00:02:55 | options that i have selected now every |
00:02:53 | 00:02:58 | time i run a manage placement campaign i |
00:02:55 | 00:02:59 | keep an eye on the placements i have |
00:02:58 | 00:03:01 | chosen because there have been several |
00:02:59 | 00:03:03 | instances where i've hand selected |
00:03:01 | 00:03:05 | placements and all of a sudden i see |
00:03:03 | 00:03:07 | zeros for certain placements that i have |
00:03:05 | 00:03:09 | selected even if my cost for view bids |
00:03:07 | 00:03:10 | are higher or i know i have an automated |
00:03:09 | 00:03:12 | bid strategy that should get me |
00:03:10 | 00:03:14 | impressions on these specific channels |
00:03:12 | 00:03:15 | and that can happen for a couple reasons |
00:03:14 | 00:03:17 | so to show you this i'm going to click |
00:03:15 | 00:03:19 | on the blue edit button and go back to |
00:03:17 | 00:03:20 | the placement selection screen and i |
00:03:19 | 00:03:23 | want to highlight this little fine print |
00:03:20 | 00:03:25 | right here it says your ad can appear on |
00:03:23 | 00:03:27 | any eligible google display network |
00:03:25 | 00:03:29 | placement and then only the following |
00:03:27 | 00:03:31 | youtube placements so i see this happen |
00:03:29 | 00:03:33 | in accounts when they have placement |
00:03:31 | 00:03:35 | selected but then they also edited other |
00:03:33 | 00:03:38 | targeting layers whether it was topics |
00:03:35 | 00:03:39 | in-market audiences whatever so for |
00:03:38 | 00:03:42 | whatever reason if you're not eligible |
00:03:39 | 00:03:44 | to have your video ads show up on any of |
00:03:42 | 00:03:46 | the channels or videos you have selected |
00:03:44 | 00:03:48 | google does have the right to ignore |
00:03:46 | 00:03:50 | those video placements and then just |
00:03:48 | 00:03:52 | show your ads to the audiences that you |
00:03:50 | 00:03:54 | have added as your additional targeting |
00:03:52 | 00:03:56 | layers it's exactly why i said monitor |
00:03:54 | 00:03:57 | your managed placements very closely |
00:03:56 | 00:03:59 | right after launch make sure that |
00:03:57 | 00:04:01 | they're actually appearing on those |
00:03:59 | 00:04:02 | specific placements keep the ones where |
00:04:01 | 00:04:03 | you're seeing decent performance you |
00:04:02 | 00:04:05 | know you're getting in front of your |
00:04:03 | 00:04:07 | competitor's audience but then remove |
00:04:05 | 00:04:09 | any of them that may have zero |
00:04:07 | 00:04:10 | impressions and try to research new |
00:04:09 | 00:04:12 | options i want to keep my managed |
00:04:10 | 00:04:14 | placements as controlled as possible |
00:04:12 | 00:04:15 | even if you're seeing success for |
00:04:14 | 00:04:17 | managed placements or you're just |
00:04:15 | 00:04:19 | looking for new ways to get in front of |
00:04:17 | 00:04:20 | a competitor's audience my second |
00:04:19 | 00:04:22 | favorite option will be to create a |
00:04:20 | 00:04:24 | custom audience segment you may be more |
00:04:22 | 00:04:26 | familiar with the older term of a custom |
00:04:24 | 00:04:28 | intent audience in order to start |
00:04:26 | 00:04:30 | creating these audiences we need to head |
00:04:28 | 00:04:32 | up to tools and settings and then click |
00:04:30 | 00:04:33 | on audience manager under the shared |
00:04:32 | 00:04:34 | library |
00:04:33 | 00:04:36 | first you're going to see the main data |
00:04:34 | 00:04:38 | segment overview but we need to go over |
00:04:36 | 00:04:39 | to the next option which is our custom |
00:04:38 | 00:04:41 | segments |
00:04:39 | 00:04:42 | and then we'll want to go to the blue |
00:04:41 | 00:04:44 | plus button to start creating our new |
00:04:42 | 00:04:46 | custom segment |
00:04:44 | 00:04:48 | now the default option that's selected |
00:04:46 | 00:04:50 | we see the other smaller blue circle |
00:04:48 | 00:04:51 | that it's selected is for the option of |
00:04:50 | 00:04:53 | people with any of these interest or |
00:04:51 | 00:04:55 | purchase intentions for youtube |
00:04:53 | 00:04:57 | advertising we actually want the second |
00:04:55 | 00:05:00 | option and that is people who search for |
00:04:57 | 00:05:01 | any of these terms on google we look at |
00:05:00 | 00:05:03 | another piece of fine print that i'm |
00:05:01 | 00:05:05 | highlighting right here this option is |
00:05:03 | 00:05:06 | for campaigns running on google |
00:05:05 | 00:05:09 | properties and if you didn't already |
00:05:06 | 00:05:12 | know google owns youtube so youtube is a |
00:05:09 | 00:05:14 | google property and in this artikle here |
00:05:12 | 00:05:16 | that i'm sharing on the screen this is |
00:05:14 | 00:05:19 | how google describes how custom segments |
00:05:16 | 00:05:22 | work for video campaigns these audiences |
00:05:19 | 00:05:24 | are built based upon keywords that users |
00:05:22 | 00:05:26 | have recently searched on google.com so |
00:05:24 | 00:05:28 | this is pretty much keyword search |
00:05:26 | 00:05:30 | history targeting so i know highlighted |
00:05:28 | 00:05:32 | the search terms bar and then start |
00:05:30 | 00:05:35 | pasting in keywords or search terms |
00:05:32 | 00:05:37 | related to your competitors brand name |
00:05:35 | 00:05:38 | products other options on here people |
00:05:37 | 00:05:40 | looking for support if they're looking |
00:05:38 | 00:05:42 | for help or have issues with your |
00:05:40 | 00:05:44 | competitor add those terms to the mix |
00:05:42 | 00:05:45 | another option i have right here is the |
00:05:44 | 00:05:47 | brand name plus alternative they're |
00:05:45 | 00:05:50 | looking for other options besides your |
00:05:47 | 00:05:52 | competitors they're looking for trials |
00:05:50 | 00:05:54 | specific features so if you have video |
00:05:52 | 00:05:55 | creative that can showcase why you're |
00:05:54 | 00:05:57 | better than your competitors why you |
00:05:55 | 00:05:59 | could be the better solution for them |
00:05:57 | 00:06:01 | include all those keyword variants |
00:05:59 | 00:06:03 | within this targeting so that's one |
00:06:01 | 00:06:05 | option before i can save and create it i |
00:06:03 | 00:06:07 | have to name it and now i can create so |
00:06:05 | 00:06:10 | that's one option let me go back up and |
00:06:07 | 00:06:11 | create another custom audience okay this |
00:06:10 | 00:06:13 | time i'll name it first and then i'm |
00:06:11 | 00:06:15 | going to skip this first section that is |
00:06:13 | 00:06:17 | really good for adding in keywords but |
00:06:15 | 00:06:19 | we also have different targeting options |
00:06:17 | 00:06:21 | for custom audience segments and that is |
00:06:19 | 00:06:23 | going to be people who browse specific |
00:06:21 | 00:06:24 | types of websites so right now on a |
00:06:23 | 00:06:26 | different screen i've pulled up all of |
00:06:24 | 00:06:28 | my competitors websites or maybe landing |
00:06:26 | 00:06:30 | pages and then i'm going to start adding |
00:06:28 | 00:06:32 | them to this specific custom audience |
00:06:30 | 00:06:34 | segment so what i'm trying to tell |
00:06:32 | 00:06:36 | google is get in front of users who like |
00:06:34 | 00:06:38 | to visit these types of websites to |
00:06:36 | 00:06:40 | clarify this is not a remarketing |
00:06:38 | 00:06:42 | audience based off your competitors |
00:06:40 | 00:06:44 | websites you cannot do that if your code |
00:06:42 | 00:06:46 | is not on their website but it's giving |
00:06:44 | 00:06:48 | google good behavior signals of the type |
00:06:46 | 00:06:49 | of audience you would like to reach now |
00:06:48 | 00:06:51 | i could go up x out of the keyword |
00:06:49 | 00:06:54 | options and try to focus just on the |
00:06:51 | 00:06:55 | website browsing behavior but one thing |
00:06:54 | 00:06:57 | i may like to do |
00:06:55 | 00:06:58 | is bring back the keywords and |
00:06:57 | 00:07:01 | potentially start adding some of the |
00:06:58 | 00:07:03 | non-branded type keywords maybe i want |
00:07:01 | 00:07:05 | to add keywords around small business |
00:07:03 | 00:07:08 | crm add a variety of those so i'm still |
00:07:05 | 00:07:10 | mostly going after non-branded search |
00:07:08 | 00:07:12 | history within google.com but using |
00:07:10 | 00:07:14 | browsing behavior based on my |
00:07:12 | 00:07:16 | competitors websites to at least hone in |
00:07:14 | 00:07:18 | on a more specific audience it's going |
00:07:16 | 00:07:19 | to be your call to see how specific or |
00:07:18 | 00:07:21 | broad you want to make this custom |
00:07:19 | 00:07:23 | segment but know that we can also add |
00:07:21 | 00:07:24 | urls instead of just going after your |
00:07:23 | 00:07:27 | competitor's keywords if you've been |
00:07:24 | 00:07:28 | paying attention to the segment insights |
00:07:27 | 00:07:30 | on the right you probably see weekly |
00:07:28 | 00:07:32 | impressions are a lot whether i'm |
00:07:30 | 00:07:34 | choosing urls or keywords so personally |
00:07:32 | 00:07:37 | i like to take each competitor name and |
00:07:34 | 00:07:38 | create their own custom audience that |
00:07:37 | 00:07:41 | way when i'm adding them to specific ad |
00:07:38 | 00:07:43 | groups i get to see which competitor can |
00:07:41 | 00:07:45 | i really utilize the most if i'm finding |
00:07:43 | 00:07:47 | a specific competitor custom segment is |
00:07:45 | 00:07:48 | performing way better than the others |
00:07:47 | 00:07:51 | i'll be able to split that one out into |
00:07:48 | 00:07:53 | its own campaign or ad group because we |
00:07:51 | 00:07:54 | will be able to see the performance for |
00:07:53 | 00:07:56 | each competitor differently because |
00:07:54 | 00:07:58 | we've broken them out i'm going to x out |
00:07:56 | 00:08:00 | of this one and then save it and stik |
00:07:58 | 00:08:02 | with just the urls now let me show you |
00:08:00 | 00:08:04 | one more option on how i like to target |
00:08:02 | 00:08:06 | my competitors with youtube ads but |
00:08:04 | 00:08:08 | first i want to show you an example |
00:08:06 | 00:08:10 | in this partikular example we can see a |
00:08:08 | 00:08:12 | search query was typed in the search bar |
00:08:10 | 00:08:14 | on the top and in this case it's a |
00:08:12 | 00:08:16 | branded search and when you do this on |
00:08:14 | 00:08:19 | youtube you are going to get a list of |
00:08:16 | 00:08:21 | search results since this is youtube yes |
00:08:19 | 00:08:23 | most of them will be video suggestions |
00:08:21 | 00:08:25 | but we see different ads on the top what |
00:08:23 | 00:08:27 | we see right now are search partner ads |
00:08:25 | 00:08:29 | so these are text ads that these brands |
00:08:27 | 00:08:31 | are running through google ads this is |
00:08:29 | 00:08:33 | just one of the partner placements |
00:08:31 | 00:08:35 | instead of text ads you may see shopping |
00:08:33 | 00:08:37 | results those are going to be for the |
00:08:35 | 00:08:39 | e-commerce accounts and then instead of |
00:08:37 | 00:08:41 | text or shopping ads you could see a |
00:08:39 | 00:08:44 | video ad these are called video |
00:08:41 | 00:08:46 | discovery ads formerly known as trueview |
00:08:44 | 00:08:47 | discovery so in the case of competitor |
00:08:46 | 00:08:48 | targeting if someone goes and types in |
00:08:47 | 00:08:50 | your competitor name and you're |
00:08:48 | 00:08:52 | targeting those competitor keywords your |
00:08:50 | 00:08:54 | video ad could be the number one |
00:08:52 | 00:08:56 | position this is a great way to have |
00:08:54 | 00:08:59 | your video at the very top of the |
00:08:56 | 00:09:01 | results to have people look at your ad |
00:08:59 | 00:09:03 | or your placement first and let me show |
00:09:01 | 00:09:05 | you the main reason i love discovery ads |
00:09:03 | 00:09:08 | we see in the network settings in this |
00:09:05 | 00:09:10 | partikular campaign discovery was the |
00:09:08 | 00:09:12 | original option that allows you to |
00:09:10 | 00:09:14 | target just the youtube search results |
00:09:12 | 00:09:17 | discovery ads can also appear as |
00:09:14 | 00:09:19 | recommended videos on a video watch page |
00:09:17 | 00:09:21 | but if you really want to focus on user |
00:09:19 | 00:09:23 | intent you can select just the search |
00:09:21 | 00:09:26 | results and this partikular network |
00:09:23 | 00:09:28 | setting is done at the campaign level so |
00:09:26 | 00:09:29 | if i'm looking at targeting just the |
00:09:28 | 00:09:31 | youtube search results this is pretty |
00:09:29 | 00:09:34 | much the only time that i would use |
00:09:31 | 00:09:36 | keyword targeting for a youtube campaign |
00:09:34 | 00:09:38 | so now for my discovery ads i will go |
00:09:36 | 00:09:40 | add new keywords i'm just going to use |
00:09:38 | 00:09:41 | the same keyword list i did for the |
00:09:40 | 00:09:44 | custom audience segment and then i will |
00:09:41 | 00:09:46 | save so now when anyone goes on youtube |
00:09:44 | 00:09:48 | types my specific competitor's keywords |
00:09:46 | 00:09:50 | potentially my ad could show up at the |
00:09:48 | 00:09:52 | top another way to capitalize on users |
00:09:50 | 00:09:55 | search intent from your competitors to |
00:09:52 | 00:09:57 | showcase your video one thing i will say |
00:09:55 | 00:09:59 | about targeting just the youtube search |
00:09:57 | 00:10:00 | results with discovery ads is that we |
00:09:59 | 00:10:03 | typically see volume lower than we |
00:10:00 | 00:10:04 | expect remember on the example i showed |
00:10:03 | 00:10:06 | you there were text ads i said there |
00:10:04 | 00:10:08 | could be shopping ads depending if it's |
00:10:06 | 00:10:10 | ecommerce product so your video ad isn't |
00:10:08 | 00:10:12 | guaranteed to show up all the time but |
00:10:10 | 00:10:15 | what i will say is that when we do show |
00:10:12 | 00:10:17 | almost every time we see higher view |
00:10:15 | 00:10:20 | rates and we see the highest percentage |
00:10:17 | 00:10:22 | of users watching the entire video ad |
00:10:20 | 00:10:23 | with discovery ads which we have another |
00:10:22 | 00:10:25 | video right here we can walk through the |
00:10:23 | 00:10:27 | entire setup of a discovery ad you're |
00:10:25 | 00:10:29 | paying for that view every time and |
00:10:27 | 00:10:31 | users are sent to the watch page this is |
00:10:29 | 00:10:33 | not like an in-stream ad where they have |
00:10:31 | 00:10:35 | a chance to skip it and go see the |
00:10:33 | 00:10:36 | actual video they are actually going to |
00:10:35 | 00:10:38 | your video watch page so if you're |
00:10:36 | 00:10:40 | paying for the video every time choose a |
00:10:38 | 00:10:42 | longer video format that really |
00:10:40 | 00:10:44 | showcases the value of your brand over |
00:10:42 | 00:10:46 | your competitors whenever i'm trying to |
00:10:44 | 00:10:48 | do conquesting for my video campaigns |
00:10:46 | 00:10:49 | i'm pretty much starting with one of the |
00:10:48 | 00:10:51 | three examples i walked through it |
00:10:49 | 00:10:53 | really depends on the creative the |
00:10:51 | 00:10:54 | client has and the targeting |
00:10:53 | 00:10:56 | opportunities that are available |
00:10:54 | 00:10:57 | depending on who the brand is or maybe |
00:10:56 | 00:10:59 | what industry they're in definitely had |
00:10:57 | 00:11:00 | brands that we wanted to target that |
00:10:59 | 00:11:01 | just flat out don't have a youtube |
00:11:00 | 00:11:03 | channel so we can't do placement |
00:11:01 | 00:11:04 | targeting like we would want to we'd |
00:11:03 | 00:11:06 | either have to rely on third-party |
00:11:04 | 00:11:08 | videos or just go straight to the custom |
00:11:06 | 00:11:10 | audience segment option where we can |
00:11:08 | 00:11:12 | utilize search history take all that |
00:11:10 | 00:11:14 | into consideration and i can't stress |
00:11:12 | 00:11:16 | enough how good video creative will have |
00:11:14 | 00:11:18 | an impact on the performance of the |
00:11:16 | 00:11:20 | campaign but use the videos that really |
00:11:18 | 00:11:21 | showcase why you're the better option |
00:11:20 | 00:11:23 | and if you're choosing the in-stream |
00:11:21 | 00:11:26 | options make sure you're utilizing all |
00:11:23 | 00:11:28 | your cards possibly a video action |
00:11:26 | 00:11:30 | campaign to drive more traffic to your |
00:11:28 | 00:11:32 | website and have landing pages that |
00:11:30 | 00:11:33 | showcase your features and why they're |
00:11:32 | 00:11:35 | better than the competition thanks for |
00:11:33 | 00:11:36 | watching our video if you found it |
00:11:35 | 00:11:38 | useful give us a thumbs up below we |
00:11:36 | 00:11:39 | release a new video at least once a week |
00:11:38 | 00:11:43 | so if you want to see more from the paid |
00:11:39 | 00:11:43 | media pros channel be sure to subscribe |