Today I'm going to walk you through one of the newer features of Google AdWords called Gmail Sponsored Promotions (GSP). GSP is a way to target users based on their Gmail account activity. GSP used to live in its own UI, but Google realized the success of this platform and recently released it from beta to all advertisers, meaning anyone can now play!This guide will cover ad layout, targeting options, best strategies, setting up a campaign in Google AdWords, and tips to get you started.Ad layoutThe Gmail ad is presented in two sections in the Gmail inbox: a collapsed ad and an expanded ad, but it's essentially the same ad. The collapsed ad appears as a "new message" in your inbox and when you click on it, it then takes you to another ad - the expanded ad. You pay the cost per click (CPC) each time someone clicks on the reduced ad. The expanded ad then directs the user to your landing page; however, you don't pay for the click from the expanded ad to the landing page (it's free).The screenshots below are taken from my personal Gmail account to show you the layout.

It's pretty clever really; as you can see there are two ads targeting my search history - mortgages and cellphone companies - so this is an extremely personalized targeting method!Reduced adAnnouncement of <a href=" removed link " target="_blank" rel="noopener">特殊数据库 sponsored promotions by GmailExtended at Gmail Sponsored Promotions AdsTargeting optionsYou can select many targeting options when using GSP, including the use of keywords, topics, interests, customer list targeting, and demographics.Advertisers could previously target based on a user's recent purchases and job title. However, this feature was removed when GSP moved from the standalone UI to the standard AdWords interface.Best StrategiesThe best strategy to use – which many people are excited about – is to bid on your competitors' domains by uploading them in the keywords section.

This means that your ads will appear to those who receive emails from your competitors. Be prepared to bid aggressively and adjust bids to gain impressions using this strategy, as there will be a lot of competition now that GSP is no longer in beta.Another good strategy is to target domains that have the same target market as you, but are not necessarily competitors. For example, if you owned a gardening machinery business, you might target gardening magazine domains, as you would both share a very similar audience. This is another fantastic way to get your ads in front of the right audience.Google recently released Customer Match, which is another effective strategy to use.