It’s no secret that Google has been using Data Analytics to target users based on the gender they identify with for years now. The demographic reports Google provides you with to track the gender of your audience may be a useful feature, but have you ever wondered what makes it work in the first place? Well, I’m here to discuss exactly that. A lot more than that but we’ll get into those details shortly.
There’s more than one way in which Google identifies the gender of a particular user. Firstly, if a user is logged into their Google account while using the search tools, Google can access their basic profile details such as their gender, age, and more. However, that’s the more straightforward method of identifying a person’s gender. What about when they’re not logged in? The other method by which Google can tell which gender a user identifies as is to track their internet activities, especially those on Google platforms. Once it does this, it can provide you with access to the right target audience for your users. This helps boost conversion rate as your Display Ads can effectively reach users who may be interested in purchasing your product or service based on their gender.
Now, this isn’t to say that you should only target one specific gender for your Ad Campaign. It’s a common misconception among agencies and PPC experts alike that most purchases online are made by those users who identify as female. Therefore, they model the content in their Display Ads in a manner they think will appeal to female viewers, with most products they’re advertising. However, as I said before, this is a misconception.
This isn’t restricted to the content (written or graphic) that’s featured in a Display Ad. It also includes the targeting of your ads using Google’s Data Analytics. Sure, some product or service categories are sure to attract females, but this isn’t true for general categories of products. There is reliable data to prove that identifying a user’s gender and targeting them based on that may not be the only effective way of improving click-through rates. After all, if it were that easy everyone would have a successful Display Ad Campaign to celebrate, wouldn’t they?
Aside from how profitable it could or couldn’t be to identify a user’s gender using Google Data Analytics, let me divert your attention to a surprisingly related matter: the issue of bots. One of the worst factors that could affect your Digital Marketing Campaign could be those pesky bots that show up and do nothing for your conversion rate. No company or agency wants to deal with bots for this very reason and is constantly on the lookout for ways in which they can be dealt with once and for all.
This brings me to the main point I’m trying to make here: Google Data Analytics can help you identify bots based on gender (or lack of gender, thereof). Confused? Allow me to explain. We discussed earlier that one of the many ways in which Google helps you target potential customers and convert views to clicks and clicks to sales is to identify their gender. Now, if Google is tracking a user’s history and activities and is unable to identify any behavior that’s consistent with that of any particular gender, you’re likely dealing with a bot.
There are many ways to gauge whether or not a bot has been targeting your ads such as low average session times, high bounce rates, etc. However, one of the most compelling signs of bot activity is their lack of gender-based preferences. And this is what Google is exceedingly good at identifying. By identifying bot activity using something as simple as gender-based browsing history, Google helps you limit revenue loss and other common problems associated with bots.
You can rest assured that by using Google’s many tools, you don’t need to do any of the legwork here. You simply visit the Google Analytics Admin Panel and tick on the check box in settings that’s titled ‘Bot Filtering’. Then, you can sit back and watch Google work its magic. By following these aforementioned steps you’ve essentially handed Google the go-ahead it needs to filter out bot activity on your Display Ads. It achieves this mainly by checking whether or not a bot’s activity is consistent with a particular gender.
While spammers often come up with new and innovative ways to stir up trouble for your website or Ad Campaign, they’re only human (unlike their accomplices, those nasty bots) and tend not to view their spamming activities from every possible angle. As of now, spammers are unable to program their bots in a way that displays typical online behaviors associated with any one gender. In other words, it’s difficult for a bot to follow a human train of thought simply because a bot doesn’t have preferences!
Therefore, one of the most effective ways of weeding out bots from the genuine engagement on your Display Ads is to filter them based on gender. A better way to put this would be: don’t cater to users whose gender Google is unable to identify. Given the wealth of data Google has at its disposal to create useful tools that can help you target the right audience, it doesn’t go wrong very often in matters like these. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that if you’re having trouble identifying fraudulent activity, Google can come to the rescue.
To wrap things up, using the data Google gives you access to concerning the gender a user identifies with could end up being more rewarding than you think. On one hand, it may not necessarily help you increase sales by targeting a specific gender alone if you’re selling a gender-neutral product or providing an essential service. However, on the other hand, it can help you rid your Display Ads of bot activity based on the latter’s utter lack of gender-based preferences.