How to Market Your Merch: Google Search Keyword Targeting vs. Layered Audiences

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Wavo Labs: This series shares the results of our music marketing experiments and how they inform artist media strategy.

What We Tested

Google Search ads offer a broad range of targeting types that help music marketers identify their most engaged audiences. For this test, we set out to determine the effectiveness of combining multiple targeting types to drive return on ad spend (ROAS) for merch campaigns.

We dug into the data for US merch campaigns on Google Search with a ROAS objective to compare the performance between conventional keyword targeting and keyword targeting layered with a custom YouTube audience—for example, the artist’s channel subscribers or video viewers.

By layering keywords with custom YouTube audiences, this creates an “and” relationship for targeting, making it possible to identify audiences that are both searching for specific keywords and part of a specific YouTube audience. 

With this strategy, the new layered targeting audience is populated by qualified audiences who are more likely to purchase merchandise.

The Results

Here are the key results from the test:

  • By prioritizing more qualified fans, layered audiences had a 108% higher Click-Through Rate (CTR) compared to simple keyword targeting. 

  • Keyword-layered YouTube audiences generated 12% higher ROAS on Google Search than conventional keyword targeting. 

Why? Because people in layered audiences spend more money per purchase than those reached through conventional keyword targeting. 

That being said, conventional keyword targeting still has its benefits. Because these audiences are generalized, they are less expensive to reach. These audiences are also bigger—and due to this, ultimately generated more total revenue at an 11% lower cost per conversion. 

The Takeaway

Our test demonstrated that layered keyword and YouTube audiences identify the most qualified fans and complement a conventional keyword strategy.

We recommend that music merch campaigns on Google Search with an ROAS objective leverage both conventional keyword targeting as well as layered keyword and YouTube targeting.

Moving forward, we’ll look for more ways to incorporate existing custom audiences into keyword targeting on Google Search.

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