Automatic placements: Definition

A term used in Google Ads reporting to reflect the webpages, videos and apps on the Display Network where your ads show automatically, based on the targeting that you've selected. While you can individually target placements like webpages, videos and apps in your ads, automatic placements are the result of placing your ad based on your other targeting methods, like keywords or topics.

Note: While Smart campaign ads serve on the Display Network, the details of where these ads are shown aren’t surfaced in the predefined report 'Automatic placements (group)'.

Here's how automatic placements work:

  • If you use a campaign type that only runs on the Display Network and a targeting method other than targeted placements in those campaigns, then your ads will have the opportunity to show on Display Network websites automatically. These appearances will be reflected as automatic placements in the statistics table on your 'Placements' page in Google Ads.
  • If you don't want your ads to appear in automatic placements, you can exclusively use placement targeting. Add placements to your ad group so your ads are eligible to show only on the websites you choose.

Example

If you’re using keywords for targeting in your ad group, we'll try to match your ads to relevant placements based on your keyword list, among other factors. For example, if you have an ad group with keywords related to men’s shoes, your ads in that ad group could show on web pages about shoes. Those websites would appear as automatic placements in the statistics table on your 'Placements' page in Google Ads.

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