Is your Search campaign quietly running on the Display Network?

Key facts

• In 21% of the sample, campaigns labelled Search were also serving ads on the Display Network.
• Where Display ran inside Search campaigns, it took 23% of their impressions but only 1.5% of their spend.
• A Display click inside a Search campaign produced a real enquiry at about 4% of the rate of a Google Search click in the same campaigns.
• Search-partner clicks cost less but converted at only 16% of the Search rate at the median, so each enquiry cost more, not less.
• 100% of the Search campaigns created through SoudCoh's campaign builder launch with search partners and Display switched off, targeting people physically in the service area.

Definitions. An enquiry is a connected call or a submitted form; the enquiry rate is enquiries per click, compared with Google Search inside the same campaigns.

Usually because nobody unticked a box. When a Search campaign is created in the Google Ads interface, its network settings include Google search partners and the Google Display Network by default. Leave the Display box ticked, and Google may show the campaign's ads on websites and apps as well as on search results.

Three things make it easy to miss:

• The campaign still says Search. The campaign type and name do not change, so the campaign list gives no hint.
• The report shows one total. Unless the report is split by network, Display impressions and clicks are blended into the campaign's figures.
• Delivery can shift without a visible change. Google can move delivery towards Display without any change appearing in the change history, so a campaign that looked fine last quarter may not be fine now.

Any Search campaign built in the interface, or copied from one, can carry the default, whoever built it. That is why every Search campaign needs the check.

It inflates reach while barely touching the budget line anyone checks. Where Display ran inside Search campaigns, it took 23% of impressions but only 1.5% of spend. Cheap impressions flatter the averages:

• Click-through rate falls, because display impressions are rarely clicked, which makes the search ads look weaker than they are.
• Impressions look plentiful, because a large share of them sit on pages where nobody was looking for a tradie. Search impression share is reported for the Search Network only, so it will not reveal them at all.
• The few Display clicks are cheap, which flatters the average cost per click.

The number that matters is enquiries. A Display click inside a Search campaign produced a real enquiry at about 4% of the rate of a Google Search click in the same campaigns. Display clicks are real clicks, but they come from people reading something else: a news article, a game, a weather forecast. Some are accidental taps. On a fixed daily budget, every dollar spent on a weather app is a dollar not spent on someone searching for a plumber.

For most trade businesses, no. Search partners are searches on other websites that use Google's results. Their clicks cost less than Google Search clicks, which makes them look efficient on a cost-per-click report. But in SoudCoh's research sample, partner clicks converted at only 16% of the Search rate at the median, so each enquiry cost more, not less.

A trade business pays for enquiries, not clicks. Check enquiries per dollar by network in your own account over the longest window you have. If partners produce more enquiries per dollar than Google Search, keep them. If they do not, switching them off is one tick-box. SoudCoh switches partners back on only where a campaign shows more enquiries per dollar from them.

It takes a few minutes per campaign, and nothing changes until you save.

1. Split the report by network first. On the Campaigns page, add the segment Network (with search partners). Look at impressions, clicks, cost and conversions for Google Search, search partners and the Display Network separately.
2. Open each Search campaign's settings. Under Networks you will see two boxes: include Google search partners, and include Google Display Network.
3. Untick the Display Network on every Search campaign unless you have a deliberate, measured reason to keep it.
4. Decide on search partners from your own data. Keep them only if they produce more enquiries per dollar than Google Search.
5. Check the location option in the same pass. Target people in or regularly in your locations, not people searching for or interested in them. A trade business can only serve its own area.
6. Review automatically created assets and URL options. If the campaign lets Google write extra ad text or send clicks to other pages of your site, check what it says and where the clicks land.
7. Note the date you changed it, so later reports can be read before and after.

If you look after several campaigns, Google Ads Editor can show and change network settings in bulk. Make it a quarterly check: settings drift when campaigns are copied, rebuilt or handed between managers. Our Search campaign builds start with these settings switched off, and every other Search campaign, whoever built it, is checked for them.

In its own campaign, with its own goal and budget. Display can have a job in a trade business: reminding recent website visitors who did not enquire, or keeping a name in front of people in the service area ahead of a busy season. Those are different jobs from catching someone searching for a blocked drain, and they need their own measurement.

• Run it as a separate Display or remarketing campaign, never inside a Search campaign.
• Give it a separate budget, so it cannot quietly take money from search.
• Judge it on enquiries per dollar, not clicks per dollar or impressions.

In SoudCoh's research sample, Display judged on enquiries per dollar rarely survives inside a Search campaign. Our Display Network page explains how we set it up as a campaign of its own when a business has a use for it.

Expect the report to look different before the results do. Impressions usually fall, because the cheap Display impressions disappear. Click-through rate usually rises. Average cost per click may rise, because the cheap Display clicks are gone. None of these is a sign that the campaign got worse.

Judge the change on enquiries and cost per enquiry over the following weeks, against the same measures before the change. The money that went to Display is now available for searches, which is where trade enquiries come from.

This is one of several settings covered in our white paper Launch, discover, control, alongside the search-term work in why the search terms report hides half your spend. The measurement side is in our white paper From keyword to revenue. For trade-specific set-ups, see our marketing for pest control, roofing businesses, painting businesses and moving companies, or talk to us about your own account.

Should a Google Ads Search campaign include the Display Network?

For most trade businesses, no. In SoudCoh's research sample, a Display click inside a Search campaign produced a real enquiry at about 4% of the rate of a Google Search click. If you want Display, run it as its own campaign with its own goal and budget.

Where is the Display Network setting in Google Ads?

Open the Search campaign, go to Settings and find Networks. There are two boxes: include Google search partners, and include Google Display Network. Untick the Display box and save. Repeat for every Search campaign, because the setting is held per campaign.

What are Google search partners?

Other websites that show Google's search results and ads. Their clicks are usually cheaper, but in SoudCoh's research sample, partner clicks converted at only 16% of the Google Search rate, so each enquiry cost more. Keep them only where your own data shows more enquiries per dollar.

Will turning off the Display Network reduce my leads?

Rarely by much. Display clicks inside Search campaigns converted at a small fraction of the Search rate in SoudCoh's research sample, and the budget they used goes back to search. Impressions and clicks will fall; judge the change on enquiries and cost per enquiry over the following weeks.

How do I see how much of my budget went to the Display Network?

On the Campaigns page, segment the report by Network (with search partners). You will see impressions, clicks, cost and conversions for Google Search, search partners and the Display Network separately. Check it for every Search campaign, over the longest period available.