Google Ads Display cheat sheet

Display campaign types: Standard display (audiences, keywords, placements, topics, demographics) and Smart display (automated, requires conversion tracking and sufficient budget).

Targeting methods combine with AND across different categories and OR within the same category: audience AND placement means ads show only where both conditions are met.

Targeting expansion (formerly conservative targeting) lets Google show ads beyond selected audiences, keywords, or placements; disabling it restricts delivery to specified targets only.

Placement targeting accepts websites, apps, YouTube channels/videos, and app categories; use 'Target and bid' to restrict, or 'Bid only' to observe and bid higher without restricting.

Content exclusions remove sensitive or low-quality inventory: 'Content suitable for families', 'Tragedy and conflict', 'Sexually suggestive', 'Social issues', 'Profanity and rough language'.

Frequency capping on display limits impressions per user per day/week/month/year; caps apply per campaign and are set in campaign settings, not at ad group level.

Device, location, language, and schedule targeting apply at campaign level; bid adjustments stack multiplicatively, not additively (e.g., +20% and +50% = 1.2 x 1.5 = 1.8x).

Ad group structure rule: group placements and audiences by similar intent and performance so bids and creative can be tuned per group; broad mixed groups mask performance.

Responsive display ad assets: up to 5 headlines (short and long), up to 5 long headlines, up to 5 descriptions, up to 15 marketing images, up to 5 logos, and up to 5 videos.

Asset limits per RDA: 1.81:1 marketing image is required; 1:1 and 1.91:1 images recommended; logos should be 1:1 or 4:1; short headline limit is 30 characters, long headline 90, description 90.

Ad strength ratings for responsive display ads: Pending, No ads, Poor, Average, Good, Excellent; driven by asset quantity, diversity, and headline/description uniqueness.

Advertisers can pin headlines and descriptions to fixed positions; pinning improves control but reduces combinations and typically lowers ad strength.

Image asset guidelines: use high-quality images with minimal overlaid text, avoid logos inside marketing images, and provide multiple aspect ratios to fit all placements.

Automated assets (formerly dynamic assets) let Google generate additional headlines, descriptions, and images from the landing page and existing assets; can be disabled per campaign.

Responsive display ads automatically assemble creatives across native, banner, and interstitial formats using uploaded assets plus business name and logo.

Uploaded display ads (image or HTML5) remain available but do not adapt across sizes; use them when exact brand control is required.

Display-compatible bid strategies: Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value, Manual CPC, and Viewable CPM (vCPM).

Target CPM and vCPM bidding require no conversion tracking; vCPM charges only when an impression is measured as viewable per MRC standard (50% of pixels for 1 continuous second).

Maximize conversions with an optional Target CPA; Maximize conversion value with an optional Target ROAS; setting the optional target constrains efficiency.

Budget is a daily average: Google can spend up to 2x the daily budget on a given day, balanced over the month; campaigns limited by budget show a 'Limited by budget' status.

Shared budgets let multiple campaigns draw from one pool; use them when campaigns share a goal, avoid them when you need per-campaign control.

Target CPA and Target ROAS need conversion history; new campaigns should accumulate conversions on Manual CPC or Maximize conversions before switching.

Bid adjustments (device, location, schedule, audience) modify bids before the auction; with Smart Bidding they act as signals rather than hard multipliers.

Portfolio bid strategies group campaigns under one shared target, useful when individual campaigns lack sufficient conversion volume.

Audience segments for display: affinity (long-term interests), in-market (active purchase intent), detailed demographics, life events, custom audiences, and your data segments.

Remarketing lists require the Google tag (global site tag) or Google Analytics; minimum list size for display remarketing is 100 active users (1000 for YouTube).

Remarketing list membership duration is configurable up to 540 days; set it to match the consideration window of the product.

Customer Match uploads hashed customer data (email, phone, address) and requires a policy compliance check plus a minimum list size; used for remarketing and similar segments.

Similar segments (formerly similar audiences) are built from remarketing or Customer Match lists and require sufficient seed list size and policy eligibility.

Combined audiences use AND/OR/NOT logic across segments; OR widens reach, AND narrows to overlap, NOT excludes (e.g., cart abandoners AND NOT purchasers).

Optimized targeting lets Google expand beyond selected audiences using conversion signals; disable it when strict audience control is required.

Custom audiences (formerly custom affinity/intent) are built from keywords, URLs, apps, or places and can be set to broad or specific reach.

Key display metrics: impressions, clicks, CTR = clicks / impressions, average CPM = cost / impressions x 1000, CPC = cost / clicks, conversion rate = conversions / clicks, CPA = cost / conversions.

View-through conversions (VTC) count conversions within the view-through window after an impression without a click; they appear in reporting but not in the Conversions column by default.

Active View metrics: viewable impressions, viewability rate = viewable impressions / measurable impressions, and Active View measurable rate; only measurable impressions count in the denominator.

ROAS = conversion value / cost; use it with Target ROAS bidding and segment by audience, placement, and device to find efficient pockets.

Attribution models: data-driven (default), last click, first click, linear, time decay, position-based; the model affects which touchpoints receive conversion credit.

Placement and audience reporting reveal which sites, apps, and segments drive conversions; exclude poor placements or lower bids via bid-only targeting.

Conversion tracking must be verified before optimizing to CPA or ROAS; without it, Smart Bidding optimizes toward clicks or impressions instead.

Frequency and viewability diagnostics: high frequency with declining CTR suggests creative fatigue; low viewability suggests poor placement quality.