10 Actionable Display Advertising Best Practices for 2024

Feel like you're throwing money at display ads with little to show for it? You’re not alone. The internet is crowded, and getting your banner ad noticed is tough. Many businesses see their ad budgets shrink with minimal return, thinking display advertising just doesn't work.

But the real difference between a campaign that drains your budget and one that delivers a great return is strategy. It's about consistently applying proven display advertising best practices that force your campaigns to perform better. This guide breaks down ten essential strategies to help turn passive views into paying customers.

In Short: Following key best practices in targeting, creative, and measurement is what separates a wasteful display ad campaign from a profitable one.

What are the best practices for display advertising?

Effective display advertising hinges on a few core principles: reaching the right person, with the right message, at the right time.

• Precise Audience Targeting: Don't show your ads to everyone. Use data to find people most likely to be interested in your service.
• Compelling Creative: Your ad needs to grab attention instantly with clear visuals and a strong message.
• Optimized Landing Pages: The click is just the start. The page users land on must be easy to use and guide them to take action.
• Smart Retargeting: Bring back visitors who didn't convert the first time with tailored follow-up ads.
• Constant Measurement: Track your results, see what's working, and adjust your budget accordingly.

By focusing on these areas, you move from just getting impressions to driving real business results like leads and sales.

1. Strategic Audience Targeting and Segmentation

Spraying your ads across the internet is like throwing darts in the dark. A critical display advertising best practice is getting ads in front of the right people. This means slicing your audience into specific groups based on their behaviors, interests, and past interactions with your business.

Think of your audience by "temperature." A cold audience has never heard of you. A warm audience knows your brand. A hot audience is ready to convert. Each needs a different message. For example, a plumber can use Google’s "in-market audiences" to target people actively searching for "emergency plumber," reaching those with an immediate need.

How to Implement Better Audience Targeting

Good targeting makes your ads more relevant, improves click-through rates, and stops wasting money.

• Build Custom Audiences: Upload your customer list to platforms like Google Ads to find them online or create lookalike audiences. This targets new people who are similar to your best customers.
• Use Website Visitor Data: Create remarketing lists based on actions. Segment visitors who viewed a specific service page or added an item to their cart.
• Create Intent-Based Groups: On the Google Display Network, you can build custom intent audiences. A web design agency could target people who recently searched for their competitors' brand names.
• Implement Audience Exclusions: Just as important as who you target is who you don't. Exclude existing customers from campaigns aimed at finding new ones.
• Test and Refine: Don't set and forget. A/B test different audience combinations to see what works best.

2. Compelling Creative Design and Visual Hierarchy

If your display ads are boring or confusing, they'll be ignored. A key display advertising best practice is creating an ad that grabs attention and guides the user’s eye to your call-to-action (CTA). This requires a strong visual hierarchy where the most important elements stand out.

People scroll fast. Your ad has less than a second to communicate its value. A local contractor, for instance, can use powerful before-and-after photos. An e-commerce brand can use high-quality lifestyle images. The goal is to convey your message quickly and make the next step obvious.

How to Implement Better Creative Design

Well-designed ads perform better, leading to higher click-through rates.

• Establish a Clear Hierarchy: Your ad should have three main parts: a compelling image, a concise value proposition, and a clear CTA. Use size and color to guide the user's eye.
• Keep Branding Consistent: Use your company’s logo, colors, and fonts so users recognize you. This builds trust.
• Design for All Sizes: Use responsive ad formats to ensure your ad looks great on any screen without awkward cropping.
• Make Your CTA Pop: The call-to-action button should be impossible to miss. Use a contrasting color and clear, action-oriented text like "Get a Free Quote."
• Test Everything: A/B test different images, headlines, and CTA button colors. Small changes can lead to big improvements.

3. Conversion-Focused Landing Page Optimization

A great ad is useless if the page it leads to doesn't convert. Optimizing your landing page is one of the most critical display advertising best practices. It means creating a focused experience that guides the user from the ad's promise to a single, clear action.

An e-commerce store running a campaign for a specific sneaker should send users to that exact product page, not the homepage. A law firm advertising for car accident cases needs a landing page that speaks to that specific legal need. Mastering conversion rate optimization best practices is essential.

How to Implement Better Landing Page Optimization

A high-converting landing page feels like a natural extension of the ad.

• Maintain Message Match: The headline, offer, and images on your landing page must reflect the ad. If your ad says "50% Off," that should be the first thing a visitor sees.
• Remove Distractions: Get rid of the main navigation and other links that could pull the user away from your goal.
• Test Form Field Reduction: Does your form need ten fields? Every extra field increases the chance a user will leave. Test with just the essentials.
• Prioritize Page Speed: Slow pages kill conversions. Optimize images and use fast builders to ensure the page loads almost instantly.
• Segment Your Pages: Create unique pages for different audiences. An HVAC company should have separate pages for "AC repair" and "furnace installation." For more insights, explore these landing page design best practices.

How do you optimize a display campaign?

Optimizing a display campaign is an ongoing process of testing and refining. It's not a one-time setup.

1. Analyze Performance Data: Regularly check which audiences, creatives, and placements are driving the best results (e.g., lowest cost-per-lead).
2. A/B Test Creatives: Continuously test new headlines, images, and calls-to-action to find what resonates most with your audience.
3. Adjust Bids: Increase bids on high-performing segments and decrease them on underperforming ones to allocate your budget more effectively.
4. Refine Targeting: Exclude audiences that aren't converting and test new lookalike or in-market audiences to find fresh pockets of customers.
5. Review Placements: Check where your ads are showing. Exclude low-quality or irrelevant websites to improve brand safety and performance.

In Short: Optimization is a cycle of analyzing data, testing new ideas, and reallocating your budget to what works best.

4. Strategic Retargeting and Remarketing Campaigns

Often, a potential customer visits your site, looks around, and then leaves. Strategic retargeting gives you a second chance. It's one of the most powerful display advertising best practices because it shows targeted ads to people who have already interacted with your brand.

These users are already familiar with you, so the ads are more relevant and deliver higher conversion rates at a lower cost. For example, an e-commerce store can show ads for the exact products a user left in their shopping cart. This personalization is what makes retargeting so effective.

How to Implement Better Retargeting Campaigns

Good retargeting helps you stop losing warm leads. For a deeper dive, explore what retargeting is in digital marketing, but here are some quick tips:

• Segment Your Audience by Behavior: Create separate audiences for people who viewed a specific service, abandoned a cart, or downloaded a guide.
• Use Sequential Messaging: Guide users on their journey. Show a general brand ad first, then one with a specific benefit, and finally an ad with a special offer.
• Set Frequency Caps: Seeing the same ad constantly is annoying. Limit how often one person sees your ad to avoid ad fatigue.
• Leverage Dynamic Retargeting: For e-commerce, show ads featuring the specific products a user viewed.
• Define Time Windows: Set how long someone stays in your retargeting audience. A 30-90 day window is often effective.

5. Cross-Device Coordination and Data-Driven Performance Measurement

Modern customers switch between their phones, laptops, and tablets all day. Your advertising needs to follow them seamlessly. This means coordinating your campaigns across all devices and platforms while constantly measuring what works.

Imagine a user abandons their shopping cart on a desktop. With cross-device coordination, they can see a reminder ad on their Facebook feed while scrolling on their phone later. This continuity is a core component of effective display advertising best practices because it keeps your brand top-of-mind.

How to Implement Better Measurement and Coordination

Without unified tracking, you're flying blind.

• Implement Unified Conversion Tracking: Use tools like Google Analytics 4 to track user journeys across all platforms. This gives you a single source of truth for conversions.
• Track Conversion Value: Don't just count conversions; assign a monetary value to them. Understanding your Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) is essential for evaluating success.
• Set Cross-Platform Frequency Caps: Prevent ad fatigue by limiting how many times a user sees your ads across Google, Facebook, and other networks.
• Build Custom Dashboards: Create a central dashboard to monitor key metrics. Pull in data from all platforms for a clear, real-time view.
• Test and Optimize by Device: Don't assume the same ad works everywhere. Test variations to see what resonates most with mobile versus desktop users.

6. Ad Copy Testing and Messaging Optimization

Even the best-designed ad will fail if the message doesn't connect. Your ad copy, from the headline to the CTA, is what persuades a viewer to click. One of the most vital display advertising best practices is to test your messaging to see what truly resonates.

Think about the psychology behind a click. A law firm might find that "No Win, No Fee" performs better than "Free Consultation" because it addresses a client's financial fear. An e-commerce store could test "Free Shipping" against "Buy Now, Pay Later" to see which drives more sales.

How to Implement Better Ad Copy Testing

Systematic testing removes guesswork and reveals the words that drive action.

• Test One Element at a Time: Isolate your variables. Test different headlines while keeping the description and CTA the same.
• Focus on Benefits, Not Features: Customers care about what your product does for them. Instead of "Durable Titanium Drill Bits," try "Drill Through Anything, Guaranteed."
• Use Power Words and Urgency: Words like "Free," "Guaranteed," and "Limited Time" can prompt action. Create urgency when it's authentic.
• Segment Tests by Audience: Your message for a cold audience should be different from your message for a warm, remarketing audience.
• Document Your Winners: Keep a "swipe file" of your most successful ad copy. This helps inform future copy for your website and emails.

7. Budget Allocation and Campaign Structure Strategy

Putting your entire budget into one campaign is like betting it all on one horse. A better approach is to strategically allocate funds and structure campaigns to focus on what works. This core display advertising best practice involves organizing campaigns by factors like audience temperature, geography, or product lines.

Think of your budget like a portfolio. You want a mix of safe investments (proven campaigns) and a smaller portion for growth opportunities (testing new audiences). An HVAC company might allocate a larger budget to its "AC Services" campaign during the summer when demand is high.

How to Implement Better Budget Allocation

Smart budget management means investing your money for the highest possible return.

• Follow the 80/20 Rule: Put 80% of your budget into proven, high-performing campaigns. Use the other 20% to test new audiences or creatives.
• Structure by Audience Temperature: Create separate campaigns for cold, warm, and hot (retargeting) audiences. Your hot audience will have a smaller budget but a higher ROAS.
• Use Automated Rules: Set up rules in Google Ads to automatically shift budget based on performance thresholds.
• Allocate Geographically: If you're a multi-location business, structure campaigns by city or state. Put more money into the regions that generate the best returns.
• Review and Rebalance Monthly: Schedule a monthly budget review to analyze performance and reallocate funds. Need help? A Google Ads budget calculator can provide a solid starting point.

What is a good click-through rate for display ads?

There isn't a single "good" CTR, as it varies widely by industry, ad format, and placement. However, the average CTR for display ads on the Google Display Network is around 0.35%.

• Below Average (Under 0.2%): This might indicate issues with your ad creative, targeting, or offer. It's a signal to start testing new elements.
• Average (0.3% – 0.5%): You're on par with many advertisers. There's still room for improvement through optimization.
• Above Average (Over 0.5%): This is a strong CTR. It suggests your ads are highly relevant to your audience. Well-executed retargeting campaigns can often achieve CTRs of 1% or higher.

In Short: While the average is 0.35%, you should aim to beat your own benchmarks through continuous testing and optimization.

8. Competitive Analysis and Market Positioning in Display Ads

Running ads without knowing what your competitors are doing is a mistake. This crucial display advertising best practice involves analyzing the competitive landscape to find gaps, refine your unique selling proposition, and create ads that stand out.

If every roofer in your city runs ads promising the "lowest price," you have an opening. You can position your service around "24/7 emergency repairs" or "durable materials," attracting a different type of customer. This insight comes from seeing what everyone else is doing first.

How to Implement Better Competitive Analysis

Spying on your competition helps you differentiate your brand.

• Document Competitor Ads: Use tools like Semrush or Adbeat to see the actual display ads your competitors are running.
• Analyze Their Positioning: Read their ad copy. Are they the "cheap" option, the "premium" choice, or the "fastest" service?
• Identify Market Gaps: Look for what they aren't saying. If they focus on features, you can focus on benefits.
• Study Their Landing Pages: Click their ads to see where they send traffic. Analyze the user experience and the offer.
• Avoid Direct Copying: Use your findings for inspiration, not imitation. Find a unique angle that makes your business the obvious choice.

9. Local Market Adaptation and Geo-Targeting Precision

Running the same ad in New York City and rural Nebraska is a waste of money. A powerful display advertising best practice is tailoring your message to where people live. Precise geo-targeting ensures your ads and offers connect with specific areas, making your brand feel local and relevant.

This goes beyond just setting a state. It's about delivering hyper-relevant content. For example, a law firm can run location-specific ads that reference local landmarks. This detail shows you understand the customer's world and builds trust.

How to Implement Better Geo-Targeting

Precision here makes your marketing budget work harder.

• Create Location-Specific Campaigns: An HVAC company should run separate campaigns for each city it serves, allowing for custom ad copy and offers.
• Use Local Imagery and Social Proof: Feature images of local landmarks. Showcase testimonials from customers in that specific area.
• Implement Location-Based Bid Adjustments: Analyze which zip codes or cities convert best. Increase your bids in these high-performing areas.
• Coordinate with Local SEO: Align your display campaigns with your local SEO efforts. Run a geo-fenced display campaign in the same area you're targeting for SEO.
• Test New Markets Systematically: Before going all-in on a new area, allocate a small test budget to gauge performance.

10. Brand Safety and Quality Standards in Ad Placements

Allowing your ads to appear next to controversial content damages your brand's reputation. A crucial display advertising best practice is ensuring your ads show up in appropriate, brand-safe environments. This involves actively controlling where your ads are placed.

Think of it as choosing the right neighborhood for your business. A premium brand wouldn't want its ad on a sensationalist news site. Proactive brand safety management ensures your ad spend supports your brand values, not undermines them.

How to Implement Better Brand Safety

Protecting your brand’s reputation improves ad effectiveness.

• Enable Brand Safety Controls: In platforms like Google Ads, exclude sensitive content categories like tragedy, conflict, or mature content.
• Create Publisher Allowlists and Blocklists: An allowlist restricts your ads to only run on a pre-approved list of high-quality websites. A blocklist prevents ads from showing on specific low-quality sites.
• Monitor Placement Reports: Regularly review the "Where Ads Showed" report in Google Ads. If you see your ads on off-brand domains, add them to your blocklist.
• Use Contextual Targeting: Target ads based on the content of the page. This ensures your message is topically relevant.
• Filter Invalid Traffic (IVT): Check your settings to ensure filtering for invalid traffic is enabled. This protects your budget from non-human or fraudulent clicks.

Key Takeaways

We've covered the essential pillars of a successful display advertising campaign. From strategic audience targeting and compelling creative design to budget allocation and data-driven measurement, you now have a detailed blueprint.

Think of this guide as a working manual. When click-through rates dip, revisit the sections on creative and ad copy. When you're questioning your ad spend, review the chapters on budget allocation. It's a continuous cycle of improvement.

Turning Knowledge into Action

Don't try to overhaul everything at once. Start small and build momentum.

1. Pick Your Priority: Choose one or two areas that represent your biggest pain point. Is your retargeting list too generic? Start there.
2. Set a Specific Goal: Don't just "improve creative." Set a measurable target, like: "Increase CTR by 15% in 30 days by testing two new headlines."
3. Execute and Measure: Run your test and let the numbers tell you what’s working.
4. Analyze and Iterate: If a new headline wins, make it your new control and test another element. If it fails, you learned what doesn't work.

By adopting this focused approach, you transform abstract display advertising best practices into a concrete system for growth. Each small win builds on the last, creating a powerful customer acquisition engine.

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Ready to implement these strategies but need a dedicated team? As a top 1% Google Premier Partner, Clicks Geek specializes in turning display advertising spend into measurable growth. Let's talk about how we can build a high-performance campaign for your business.