What Is Display Advertising?
Display advertising refers to any form of digital advertising that relies on visual creative, as opposed to plain text ads in search results.
When you visit a news website and see a branded banner along the top or side of the page, or watch a video pre-roll before online content, you are looking at display advertising.
The Google Display Network, one of the largest display advertising ecosystems in the world, reaches over two million websites and apps globally, including major South African publishers such as News24, IOL, TimesLIVE, and many others.
Display ads come in a wide variety of formats. Static banners remain common, but responsive display ads, which automatically adjust their size and format to fit available ad space, have become the dominant format through Google Ads.
Video display ads, interstitials, and rich media ads that include interactive elements are also available depending on the platform and publisher. The targeting options available to display advertisers go well beyond simple placement.
Advertisers can reach audiences based on their demographic profile, their interests and browsing history, the context of the page they are currently reading, or their previous visits to a specific website through a technique called remarketing.
Remarketing, also called retargeting, is one of the most valuable applications of display advertising for South African businesses. A user who visits your website, browses your service pages, and leaves without converting can be served your display ads as they continue to browse other sites.
This keeps your brand visible during a longer consideration or purchase cycle, which is particularly important for higher-value products and services where buyers may take days or weeks to make a decision.
For a Johannesburg property developer or a Cape Town wealth management firm, this kind of persistent brand presence can be the difference between a prospect choosing you or a competitor when they are finally ready to act.
Display Advertising In Practice
A Gauteng-based vehicle fleet leasing company launches a display advertising campaign targeting financial decision-makers at businesses with more than 50 employees.
Using Google Display Network's in-market audience segments for "business vehicle leasing" combined with demographic targeting for ages 30 to 55, they serve responsive display ads across relevant business and motoring websites.
Their creative includes their brand colours, a headline focused on cost savings versus outright purchase, and a clear call to action for a fleet assessment quote.
In addition to the prospecting campaign, they set up a remarketing campaign targeting users who previously visited their website but did not submit an enquiry form.
This remarketing audience sees a different ad set with a more direct message, referencing specific fleet sizes and offering a complimentary fuel cost analysis.
Over 60 days, the remarketing campaign delivers a conversion rate six times higher than the cold prospecting campaign at a fraction of the cost per click.
This demonstrates a core truth about display advertising: while prospecting builds awareness at scale, remarketing converts the warm audiences that prospecting creates. Our Google Display Advertising service manages both layers, ensuring your creative stays fresh and your targeting stays relevant.
How display advertising works
Display advertising is visual advertising, banners, images, rich media and video, shown on websites, apps and other digital properties as people browse content, rather than as they search. It reaches audiences during their online activities, placing a brand in front of relevant people to build awareness, interest and recall, or to remarket to past visitors. Advertisers reach these audiences through targeting: by the content of pages, by audience interests and behaviours, by remarketing, or by chosen placements, often bought programmatically through automated auctions across networks like the Google Display Network. Because the audience is not actively searching, display ads reach people earlier in their journey and typically see lower click-through and conversion rates than search ads, but at low cost per impression and with enormous reach. This makes display advertising suited to awareness, reach and remarketing goals, complementing the intent-capturing role of search advertising.
Display advertising formats and effectiveness
Display advertising spans several formats: static image banners in various sizes, animated and rich-media units, responsive display ads that adapt to available space, and increasingly video. What makes display effective is less the format than the targeting and the creative, since reaching the right people with a compelling, relevant visual matters more than the ad size. Remarketing, showing display ads to people who previously visited your site, is among the most effective uses, because it reaches warm prospects who already know you. Effectiveness is often measured beyond direct clicks, since display's value includes the awareness and recall it builds, which influence later conversions that a last-click view misses, so judging display purely on immediate click-through undervalues it. Used with precise targeting and strong creative, especially for remarketing and awareness, display advertising extends reach and reinforces a brand efficiently; used bluntly, its low costs can still amount to little return, which is why targeting and creative quality are decisive.
FAQ
Is display advertising effective for South African businesses?
Display advertising is most effective for brand awareness and retargeting in South Africa. It works well for businesses with visual products or services, those targeting specific demographics through contextual or interest-based placements, and brands that want to stay visible to past website visitors during a longer buying cycle. It is less effective as a direct-response channel compared to paid search.
What is the difference between display advertising and search advertising?
Search advertising targets users who are actively searching for a product or service, showing text ads in search results. Display advertising places visual banner ads in front of users while they browse other websites, based on their interests, demographics, or past behaviour. Search is intent-driven. Display is interruption-based and better suited for awareness and retargeting.
Is display advertising effective?
It can be, particularly for awareness, reach and remarketing, when paired with precise targeting and strong creative. Remarketing to past visitors is an especially effective use. Its value often lies in the awareness and recall it builds, which influence later conversions, so judging it only on immediate clicks understates its contribution.