Google campaigns can show ads only on Google, Google plus their search network; and/or on their display network of over a billion web pages. These are ads placed on content websites throughout the internet. It could be next to an article on a related topic, a discussion forum, or the front page of a news website.

Benefits
Is your product or service so unique that people don’t know enough to search for it? Then display advertising may be for you. It’s also great if you are looking for a lower cost per click, or if you are interested brand awareness as opposed to direct measurable response. In the later case, you can show your ads on a “cost per impression” instead of a cost per click.

Targeting
You can still target by geography just like ads shown in response to searches. You can choose specific websites to show your ads still targeting only the people in your chosen geography. One of the most interesting approaches is to target the person instead of the website. You can target people who have visited your website and/or people with certain interests- even if they have never been to your website. For example We can show ads only to people in Manassas that have an interest in roofing!

Graphics
Can you make a more compelling sales pitch using a picture? Would you like to have more than 95 characters and spaces? Then consider display advertising.

Tip
Make a separate campaign and budget so you can separately control spending and monitor results on your display advertising. See my article on Push Vs. Pull Advertising for more about display vs. search advertising.