Avoid These Costly Errors When Launching Programmatic Campaigns

Setting up your first campaign in Google Display & Video 360 (DV360) is exciting—but if you're not careful, you can waste budget, miss opportunities, and end up with underwhelming performance. DV360 offers powerful features, but that power comes with complexity.

Whether you're a first-time advertiser or managing campaigns for a client, here are the most common mistakes in DV360 setup—and how to avoid them.

1. Skipping Clear Campaign Objectives

DV360 offers a wide range of campaign goals—from brand awareness to app installs and conversions. Many new users jump into setup without defining the true objective.

🔍 Fix:
Always choose a campaign goal first. This determines:

• The best bidding strategy

• Conversion tracking setup

• Audience targeting

• Optimization focus

2. Choosing the Wrong Inventory or Exchange Settings

DV360 gives access to dozens of exchanges and inventory types. By default, all exchanges may be selected—even low-quality ones.

🔍 Fix:
Use allowlists and select high-quality exchanges or publishers.
When possible, build custom inventory lists based on:

• Language

• Geography

• Device type

• Placement performance

3. Overlapping or Conflicting Audience Targeting

Layering too many targeting options—like age, geo, affinity, keyword, and device—can over-constrain your audience, resulting in zero impressions or high CPMs.

🔍 Fix:
Keep targeting lean. Start broad, then gradually refine based on performance.
Avoid applying overlapping exclusions (e.g., excluding mobile in one layer but targeting mobile in another).

4. No Floodlight Setup or Improper Tracking

Running conversion campaigns without Floodlight tags is like flying blind. Many campaigns launch without tracking events properly, leading to misleading results.

🔍 Fix:

• Install Floodlight tags correctly on landing pages or app events

• Verify tags are firing before launch

• Use Google Tag Assistant or Tag Manager for testing

5. Poor Creative Specifications or Upload Errors

DV360 has strict specs for image, video, and HTML5 creatives. Uploading the wrong size, file type, or leaving out backup images causes rejected ads or blank impressions.

🔍 Fix:

• Follow DV360's creative guidelines

• Use the creative preview tool

• Double-check that all assets (including fallback) are uploaded

6. Launching Without Frequency Caps

Without frequency caps, a single user could see the same ad 20 times a day—wasting budget and irritating your audience.

🔍 Fix:
Set reasonable daily and weekly frequency caps per user:

• Display: 2–3 impressions/day

• Video: 1–2 impressions/day

• YouTube Reserve: per placement contract

7. Forgetting Brand Safety & Verification

DV360 gives access to a wide range of inventory—including sites that may not align with your brand. Failing to use brand safety tools can lead to ad placement on low-quality or harmful websites.

🔍 Fix:

• Use third-party verification like DoubleVerify or Adloox

• Apply site category exclusions

• Set viewability and brand safety filters during line item setup

8. Using the Wrong Bidding Model

Using automated bidding for awareness or fixed CPM for performance campaigns is inefficient. Many setups fail because the bidding strategy doesn’t match the goal.

🔍 Fix:
Match bidding to your campaign objective:

• Awareness: CPM or vCPM

• Conversions: CPA

• Clicks: CPC

• Viewability: Viewable CPM

9. Ignoring Geo-Targeting Accuracy

Many advertisers mistakenly target countries instead of cities or regions, or forget to exclude unintended locations—leading to irrelevant traffic.

🔍 Fix:

• Be specific with location targeting (city, radius)

• Use inclusion and exclusion filters

• Double-check device language settings if needed

10. No Daily Budget or Pacing Controls

If you don’t control pacing, DV360 might spend your full budget too quickly or too slowly—especially in high-demand inventory.

🔍 Fix:

• Set daily budgets at the insertion order and line item level

• Choose even pacing for brand awareness or as fast as possible for time-limited offers

• Monitor daily spend during the first few days closely

Conclusion

DV360 is a powerful tool, but even experienced marketers make avoidable setup mistakes. Whether you're launching display, video, or app campaigns, proper planning and attention to detail can save thousands in ad spend and unlock your campaign’s full potential.