To put it simply, link retargeting is just like traditional ad retargeting. The key difference is that instead of having to send customers to your site, you can display retargeted ads based on the link they click. And it can be any link – not just to your website.

Link retargeting really allows you to take your content, social, email, or even AdWords marketing farther! We’ve put together five key tips you need to know to get started.

Can I shorten a link to any content?

The short answer (pun intended!) is yes! You can shorten any link on any platform to any site. To make the most of your efforts, we recommend making sure the content is relevant to your brand. This way, you’ll improve the odds that your target customer will click.

As an example, Pampers is using link retargeting to target ‘first-time moms’. They chose to direct their audience to a relevant article in Parents Magazine: “How to prepare for your first baby?”

Can I use link retargeting on a standard “long” link?

Link retargeting is not possible with a standard link. This is because it requires specialized technology that allows the link to place a retargeting cookie on the computer of the person who clicks.

We’ve developed this software to make it really easy for you to turn your standard links into retargeting short links. All it takes is the click of a button in your RetargetLinks dashboard.

Can I customize my short links?

Absolutely. Our short links are quite flexible, to allow you to have them appear exactly how you’d like.

You can customize the default re.tc links (this is a link to our patent for example: re.tc/patent). You can also request a short vanity URL (su.tt or jmpr.rocks are examples from some of our clients).

Note: In the vanity URL example, you’ll need to buy the short domain name first and then follow the instructions provided in your dashboard to start link retargeting using your own short links.

When running AdWords campaigns, you’re actually able to hide the short link within your AdWords ad link (see more here on how to set up a search retargeting campaign).

How many ads will be shown and where?

Our default volume cap (the maximum ads we show per person) is 15. This displays up to 9 ads per week, 5 ads per day, and 2 ads per hour, depending on the audience. We do this to keep your brand top of mind over a two to three week period, following the launch of your campaign.

We display banner ads just like a traditional retargeting tool. Your ads will display in Google AdX, OpenX, Rubicon, AppNexus and other real-time bidding platforms across premium online publications like Vogue, Elle, Fortune, FastCompany, Wall Street Journal and all other ad-supported sites.

How do I know if my link retargeting campaign is working?

There are three key metrics we use to determine whether a link retargeting campaign is working. They are: link clicks, ad clicks, and conversions. We’ve included some steps here to show you how to measure these metrics.

Step One – Measure Your Link Clicks

Make sure your link retargeting campaign is reaching your target audience. Emails, online articles, social media posts, newsletters, press releases, and even Google AdWords are all ways for you to share your short links.

If you’re just starting or are looking to reach out to more targets, we recommend using RetargetLinks as a prospecting tool. You can do this by boosting posts on social media channels, or paying for ads in Google AdWords.

Then, you can tell if your campaign is working by looking at the number of link clicks on your Links Dashboard (see below).

If you’re sharing the right content to the right audience on the right channels, you’ll have a lot of clicks. The example you’ll see next is from a campaign run by the team at Traction Conference. As a result of their RetargetLinks content campaign, they had 85,138 clicks (58,296 unique) from 873 links shared via their email newsletter (direct), Twitter and Facebook pages.

Step Two – Measure Your Ad Clicks

The second indication to help you measure your campaign is to look at the number of ad clicks on your Ads Dashboard. See below the example from our friends at Traction.

When you display relevant and compelling banner ads, you’ll catch the attention of your targets and encourage them to click to find out more.

Helpful tip: banner ads are most effective when they have consistent branding, simple messaging, a clear call-to-action (CTA), and even some element of animation. 

In the above example, Traction Conference managed to display 161,340 retargeting ads to most of the 58,138 people that clicked on their short links. Out of those, 422 people clicked for a 0.26% click-through rate. Note that this is three times the 0.10% average for banner ad performance!

Step Three – Measure Your Conversions

The final indication of performance is to look at the number of people that land on your page and ultimately the number of those that convert by purchasing your product or subscribing to your service.

In the case of Traction Conference, 947 people landed on the marketing page and 186 actually went on to purchase a ticket for the conference. The team was able to achieve a 20% conversion rate. Note that this is 10 times greater than a typical retargeting ad conversion rate.

Summary

Hopefully if you’ve made it this far down the post, you have a better idea of how link retargeting works. Now you are ready to make the most out of your campaigns.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop us a line as we’d love to hear from you! If you’re ready to get started, click here to create your first shortened retarget link!