Not All Impressions Are Created Equal

You’ve probably heard the saying “not all impressions are created equal”. Well, that is no more true than when it comes to website traffic & if you’re not targeting your audience correctly, or placing your ads on quality websites, you will end up with low-quality impressions and little to no traffic to your website. Let’s discuss the difference between quality and low-quality impressions, and how to target your audience correctly.

When we talk about quality impressions, we’re talking about targeted audiences, quality placements, and high intent platforms. These are the types of things that are going to produce good quality traffic and impressions. On the other hand, “run off-site” ads with poor audiences, low intent, and non-exclusive placements will produce low-quality impressions.

Lets take for example this screenshot from ksl.com; the ad for the automotive dealership “Tim Dahle” is a great ad, however it’s completely meaningless to most users unless, of course, you were in the market for a new car, truck or SUV.

So how do you make sure you’re getting quality impressions?

It’s all about targeting or retargeting your audience correctly and placing your ads on quality websites, placements, and platforms with more control. For example, Google display, YouTube and Google Discovery ads allow you to reach your targeted market based on user behavior or previous intent, user demographics (age, income, etc) and furthermore you can exclude specific audiences if they are not relevant.

We like to stay away from websites that allow you to advertise but don’t allow for targeting options. “Run of site” websites for example nextdoor, KSL, and stgeorgenews.com, just to name a few. Their websites have low intent traffic with little to no targeting ability, so you’ll want to avoid placing your ads on these types of websites if you’re trying to get a quality click to your site.

High-quality impressions are essential if you want to generate quality website traffic & by targeting or retargeting your audience correctly and placing your ads on quality websites and platforms, you can ensure that you’re getting the most out of your advertising budget.

Here’s an example of an ad placed on a site based on a user’s intent, Ram Trucks has multiple ads placed on the Fox News site, not because of a placement, but because of the user’s intent to purchase a truck or behavior on the Ram Trucks website.

If you are tired of wasting your advertising budget on ads that don’t convert, give us a call and we can get your ads in front of the right users with the highest intent for your product or service.