Part of: PPC
Google display ads management for ecommerce
Display ads are image ads shown across websites and apps. We use them mainly to remind people who have already visited your store, and sometimes to reach new people. We are honest about where display wastes money and how hard its results are to measure.
Is this right for you?
Who it is for
Stores with enough traffic to remind, creative ready to show and tracking that records real orders.
When it is not
Stores with little traffic, no usable images or offers, or unreliable tracking. Also stores hoping display will replace search. It rarely does.
What is included
- Audience plans for past visitors and for new people
- Placement and topic exclusions to keep ads off poor sites
- Brand safety settings agreed with you
- Ad formats and sizes briefed against your creative
- A fair view of what display adds, not only what it is credited with
- Monthly reporting kept separate from search
Display ads are image ads shown across websites and apps. For an online store they work best as a reminder to people who have already visited, and less well as a way to find new customers. We run them with tight limits, and we tell you plainly when they are not worth the money.
This page is part of PPC. That page helps you choose between channels. This one explains the work of running display well.
What the work involves
Audiences
Most of our display work starts with people who have already visited your store, because they know who you are. We can split them by what they looked at, so someone who viewed a product sees that product. New-customer audiences come later, and only as a test with its own budget. Customer lists, which Google calls Customer Match, can only be used for people who agreed to it, and Google’s consent requirements for UK and EU users apply.
Placements and brand safety
Display ads can appear on a very wide range of sites and apps, and some are poor. We exclude topics and sites you would not want to be seen on, then check where ads actually appeared and keep removing the weak ones. Tell us what matters for your brand and we will set the limits with you.
Creative
Display lives or dies on what people see. You need images in several sizes, a clear message and an offer that makes sense. If you do not have these, ad creative can help, and we will write a plain brief either way. Static ad design makes the images, and creative strategy settles what they should say.
The landing page
Clicks are wasted if the page they land on does not match the ad. We check that people arrive somewhere that follows on from what they saw. Landing page optimisation covers the page itself.
When display is a waste
Display is often a waste when:
- the store has little traffic, so there is nobody to remind
- tracking is unreliable, so you cannot tell what it did
- the same people are already being reached by search and Shopping, and display only claims credit for their sales
- there is no usable creative
- it is expected to find new customers at search prices
If that sounds like your store, we will say so, and suggest putting the money into Google Ads or the page itself first.
What we measure, and how honest we can be
Display often looks better in the platform than it is. A person sees an ad, then buys later because they already meant to, and the platform counts the ad as the cause. We report the platform’s figures next to your store’s own sales, and where we can, we suggest a simple test, such as pausing display for a set period and watching what happens. This will not give a perfect answer. Attribution and ROI dashboards shows how we put the numbers side by side. Display also counts ‘view-through’ conversions, when someone saw an ad without clicking and bought later. We keep those separate, because they overstate what the ads did.
We do not promise rankings, revenue or a return on ad spend.
What it costs
Our fee depends on how many audiences and formats are involved, and your ad spend is paid to Google separately. It is part of a digital marketing retainer, and any display creative we agree is covered by it. See the pricing page.
How we do it
Every project is different, so timings depend on its size and complexity. You get a realistic timeline in writing before work starts, and we never promise results by a date.
Step 1: Check the foundations
We check your tracking, your audience lists and what creative you already have, because display depends on all three.
Step 2: Plan the audiences
We start with people who have visited, then agree whether reaching new people is worth testing and how much to put behind it.
Step 3: Launch with limits
We set exclusions, frequency limits and a modest budget before anything goes live.
Step 4: Review placements and results
We read where ads actually appeared, remove poor placements and compare what display is credited with against your store's sales.
What it costs
Retainers start from £500 per month and cover our services only. They do not include your ad spend, or any software or other subscription costs. One-off optimisation projects are priced by current need or an agreed hourly rate. Our pricing page has the detail.
Questions people ask
Do display ads actually work for ecommerce?
They can, mostly as a reminder to people who have already visited. They are weaker at finding new customers, and they often take credit for sales that would have happened anyway. We measure with that in mind, and tell you what we think display added.
What is the difference between display ads and remarketing?
Display is the format, which means image ads shown across websites and apps. Remarketing is one way to use it, by showing ads to people who have already visited your store. Google now calls remarketing lists 'your data segments'.
How do you stop my ads appearing on poor sites?
We set exclusions for types of site and for specific placements, check where ads actually showed, and keep removing poor ones. We cannot stop every unwanted placement, but we can keep checking. Google lets us exclude sensitive content types and specific sites and apps, and its 'where ads showed' report lists every placement.
Can you promise a return on ad spend?
No. Display is the hardest channel to measure fairly, and anyone promising a return is guessing. We show what the platform reports next to what your store recorded, and explain the difference.
Do I need new creative for display ads?
Usually, yes. Display needs images in several sizes, and ads made from your product photos alone often look weak. We can brief the creative with you, or you can use your own designer.
Ready to talk it through?
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