Combining Paid Search with Keyword Targeting helped expand reach, improve ad efficiency, and drive stronger engagement across campaigns.

Goals

The goal of this initiative was to evaluate whether Paid Search campaigns (Google Ads, PPC) and Keyword Targeting campaigns (display ads served based on user searches across the web) could complement one another to improve performance metrics such as traffic, CTR, and cost efficiency.

Strategy & Execution

The campaign was designed as a structured three-step test:

  1. Keywords – Determine which keywords were being used for each Paid Search campaign.

  2. Implement – Create a matching keyword list for each campaign and apply it to Keyword Targeting.

  3. Test – Run the strategy on half of the campaigns to measure the lift in results.

By aligning Paid Search keywords with Keyword Targeting, the test sought to amplify reach while maintaining relevancy.

Results

After two months of testing, results demonstrated a strong performance lift, especially within Keyword Targeting campaigns:

  • Traffic: +270% increase

  • Clicks: 314 total (an all-time high for the display campaigns)

  • CTR: 0.53% — 5x the national average

  • CPC: Dropped from $1.36 to $1.17 within Paid Search

  • Paid Search Traffic: +27% increase

The data revealed that while Paid Search itself did not experience dramatic shifts, Keyword Targeting benefited significantly when paired with Paid Search’s custom-built keyword lists