Google Tweaks AdWords Site Targeting

First, it isn’t called site targeting any longer, as Google said changes to what advertisers can do with ads means ‘placement targeting’ works better as a name.

The addition of new ways to target ads, and the introduction of new ad formats like video, make the two year old name ‘site targeting’ seem downright quaint. Since Google’s advertising clients can place their ads on subsections of sites, or even specific pages, the name change reflects this better.

That name change isn’t the only update Google made to AdWords. Advertisers have a new way to pay for the placements they set with the service.

Through the launch of cost-per-click (CPC) bidding, advertisers can choose from one of two billing options for placement advertising:

If the purpose of your placement-targeted campaign is to increase sales, leads, sign-ups, or other conversion-oriented metrics, you can select CPC bidding and pay when users click on your ads.

If you want to maximize impressions and increase brand awareness among your target audience, you can select cost-per-impression (CPM) bidding. And you can specify either the maximum price or the average price (with preferred bidding), that you’d like to pay for each click or 1000 impressions.

Google said the minimum bid for CPC pricing per click will be one cent, while the minimum bid for CPM will be 25 cents per 1,000 impressions.