Feb 5, 2014 4 min

Dynamic Remarketing On The Google Display Network

Google has now released Dynamic Remarketing to all AdWords clients that have a Google Merchant Center account. Dynamic Remarketing automatically creates beautiful, customized ads that connect with shoppers across the web by reminding them of items they’ve seen on your site. Dynamic remarketing enables you to show highly relevant ads to an audience that has already shown interest in your products, and these clicks are significantly less expensive than clicks on traditional search ads.

Traditional Remarketing Vs. Dynamic Remarketing

Traditional remarketing is very simplistic. A remarketing tag is implemented on your site and all visitors from your site are cookied, then they are served a generic ad when visiting sites on the Google Display Network. Dynamic Remarketing is different because visitors are segmented by interest and then shown dynamically tailored ads. There are 5 main segments: all site visitors, general visitors, product viewers, shopping cart abandoners, and past buyers. Not only are visitors segmented, Google shows a tailored ad that displays products from your site that a visitor has previously viewed or shown interest in.

How Does Google Decide Which Products To Display In Your Ads

Google takes into account dozens of signals when determining the best combination of products to show in your ads. Below are a few of the signals Google takes into account:

The products viewed on your site along with their value and where they were in the funnel. For example, products that were put in your shopping cart are prioritized as a recommendation.
Related products to the ones viewed on your site. For example, people who buy cameras also tend to buy memory cards or people who browse tents also tend to browse sleeping bags.
Top performing products which are based on your best selling items as well as those most viewed or clicked.
Audience characteristics including that site visitor’s demographic and interests
Customer’s frame of mind based on the context of the page they’re reading the ad on and also recency from when they last visited your site.

How To Implement Dynamic Remarketing

Implementing Dynamic Remarketing is slightly more difficult than implementing traditional remarketing and does require some programming knowledge. The first step in setting up Dynamic Remarketing is ensuring that you have an approved merchant feed in your Google Merchant Center. You will then need to add a couple lines of code to your current remarketing tag (this is where it gets a little tricky), you will need to dynamically insert product category and/or product name and price using variables from your shopping cart. Once you have updated the remarketing code on your site, you can then go into AdWords and set-up your remarketing lists (based on visitor segments) and your Dynamic Remarketing campaign.

Sample Dynamic Remarketing Ads

The below templates represent some of Google’s most popular layouts for Dynamic Remarketing ads. When building your Dynamic Remarketing campaigns you will have access to Google’s full template library.

Minimalist – Multiple Product Layout

Rotating product cards
Product highlights on rollover
PREV/NEXT buttons rotates to an additional set of products

Card Stack

Product images create fluid horizontal card stack
Includes product name, description, price, sale price
Hover opens additional card with description and prices
PREV/NEXT buttons rotate products

Thumbnail Basic

Highlighted thumbnail appears in center of the layout
Thumbnails are highlighted one after each other while product images change
Includes product name, description, price, sale price, discount
User selects product by hovering over thumbnail image

Thumbnail Gallery With Discounts

Highlighted thumbnail appears in center of the layout and includes discount on product
Thumbnails are highlighted one after each other while product images change
Includes product name, description, price, sale price, discount
User selects product by hovering over thumbnail image

Single Image With Carousel

One product image appears at a time
Includes product name, description, price
PREV/NEXT buttons rotate products

Signage Layout

Dual-panel billboard with product name and price on one side, image on the other
Animation during intro
Includes product name, description, price, sale price
Rollover opens description with “opening shutters” effect
PREV/NEXT buttons rotate products