New Interest Categories Targeting Option in Google AdWords

Anne Garcia - July 8, 2011

Google AdWords has launched a new targeting feature available through the Display Network called Google Interest Category Targeting. How does this new targeting work?

Google says that their system looks at the types of pages a user visits, taking into account how recently and frequently those pages have been visited, and then associates their browser with relevant interest categories. Using these categories, you can show ads to the people most likely to purchase your products or services, and you can reach them across all types of sites in the Google Display Network, in addition to contextually relevant sites.

There are approximately 1,000 interest categories to choose from and over 500 million users interested in these categories who visit the Google Display Network every day.

To view the Interest Categories, in the ‘Audiences’ tab in your AdWords account, select ‘+Add Audiences’ and then Interest Categories.

Here’s a more granular snapshot of some Interest Categories:

What is important to note with this new targeting is that it is available in a Cost Per Click (CPC) model where you only pay when a user clicks on your ad. So not only are you able to reach a very specific audience, but you can do so inexpensively. Interest Category targeting is an excellent way to reach users who are very likely to purchase your product or service.