AdWords Dynamic Remarketing with Google Tag Manager

Two of the most under-utilized functions within AdWords are using custom parameters with the remarketing pixel and uploading feeds to the Business Data section. Today, I am going to explore one application of these AdWords features. With the help of Google Tag Manager (GTM), we will be using custom parameters to create dynamic text ads with a feed we created and uploaded to Business Data.

AdWords remarketing pixel custom parameters are values that you create to collect and organize data about visitor behavior. In addition to dynamic remarketing campaigns where custom parameters allow for highly tailored ad copy, custom parameters can also be used to build more granular audiences for RLSA campaigns.

Remarketing tag values:

In GTM, custom parameters need to be created as “variables” and applied to an AdWords remarketing tag. These custom parameters will be passed when the remarketing pixel fires on a page. Depending on the structure of your website, the values passed will correlate with specific objects in the dataLayer or HTML on a web page. If you need help setting up custom parameters with GTM or understanding the dataLayer, I highly recommend checking out Simo Ahava. He is truly a GTM wizard.

You’ve set up your custom parameters, everything is firing correctly and data is being passed to AdWords…what’s next? In order to build a display campaign with dynamic text ads, you must have a feed that correlates with the values being passed to AdWords. Essentially, the Business Data section of AdWords is going to serve a similar function as the Merchant Center does for PLAs; it will house our feed, submit items for approval and log errors. For our campaign, it was necessary that the Resort ID (hrental_id) matched with the IDs in feed. Your feed may require different attributes depending on the type of campaign you select.

After your feed has been uploaded and approved you are ready to build your dynamic remarketing campaign.

Create a Display Network only Campaign.

Under Dynamic Ad Settings select Use Dynamic Ads

Select your recently imported feed

It will take a few minutes, possibly 24 hours, for dynamic ads to become available for your campaign. To create a dynamic ad click  and in the drop-down you should see an option for Ad gallery. If the Ad gallery function is not available, do not fret! The option will appear shortly.

While these aren’t the best-looking display ads around, they are certainly a step up from the normal, Plain Jane text ads normally served on the GDN. Plus you can incorporate things like price, product name, product category and description.

In addition to text ads, you’ll also have the opportunity to build appealing dynamic display ads that also serve on the GDN. These ads include all of the elements in your feed but are much more picture oriented. AdWords has a ton of design templates available to choose from, allowing you to create display ads quickly and easily – no design or PhotoShop experience required!

So are dynamic remarketing campaigns worth all of this work? Absolutely! When you show highly relevant, visually appealing ads to your targeted customers, the results will speak for themselves. Take your paid search game to the next level with dynamic text and display ads.