Comprehensive Guide to Display Ads: 15 Best Practices

Many display ad campaigns underperform not because of poor targeting or budget constraints, but because of inconsistent execution and a lack of strategic alignment.

Common issues include low engagement rates, creative fatigue, poor cross-device performance, and wasted ad spend on low-quality placements—often driven by gaps in workflow, messaging, or optimization tactics.

This guide outlines 15 display ads best practices to help improve performance across every stage of the campaign lifecycle. From creative strategy and audience segmentation to bidding controls and frequency management, each practice is grounded in performance data and scalable for high-volume environments.

Understanding Display Ads

Display ads, often appearing as banner ads, are visual-based advertisements shown across various websites, apps, and social media platforms. They are typically integrated into the layout of a web page or app and can appear in various locations, such as at the top, bottom, or sides of the content, as well as within the content itself. Display ads use targeting techniques to reach specific audiences based on factors like demographics, browsing behavior, and interests.

Importance of Design and Visual Elements

Design and visuals are crucial components of successful display ads. Effective design can combat banner blindness and enhance engagement.

1. Keep Designs Simple

Complex graphics and cluttered designs can overwhelm viewers and reduce engagement. Research shows that the average human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to 8 seconds, emphasizing the need for clear and concise visuals. Use a single, clear image to convey a message quickly. 

2. Use Strong Visual Hierarchy

Establish a visual hierarchy to direct the viewer’s attention to the most important elements first. 

Organize the layout to follow a natural reading pattern, typically from left to right and top to bottom. This layout guides the viewer’s eye from the headline to the supporting image, and finally to the CTA. Ensure that each element has enough space to breathe, avoiding clutter and enhancing readability.

Place images and logos in positions that complement the overall flow of the ad. Images should be relevant and support the headline and CTA. Position the brand logo where it is easily visible but not overwhelming, maintaining brand recognition without detracting from the main message.

3. Incorporate Visual Cues

Incorporate visual cues such as arrows, lines, or shapes that guide the viewer’s attention towards the most important elements. These cues can subtly direct the eye movement, ensuring that the headline, image, and CTA are noticed in the intended sequence.

4. Storytelling

Create ads that tell a compelling story. Storytelling can engage viewers emotionally and make the ad more memorable. A well-crafted story can make an ad more memorable and impactful. This approach goes beyond simply showcasing a product or service by weaving it into a broader, relatable context that resonates with the audience.

You may use sequential messaging to build a narrative over a series of ads. This approach allows you to unfold the narrative in stages, keeping the audience engaged over time. Each ad can build on the previous one, gradually revealing more of the story and deepening the connection with the viewer.

Crafting Compelling Messaging

Creating messages that resonate with the audience is essential for effective display advertising. Tailored messaging can significantly improve engagement and conversions.

5. Target the Messaging

Segment the audience and tailor messages to different groups based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. For instance, a cloud service provider might create separate ads for IT managers and CFOs. The ad targeting IT managers could emphasize technical features and reliability, while the ad for CFOs might highlight cost savings and ROI.

6. Present a Clear Value Proposition

A value proposition should be evident and compelling, addressing the viewer's pain points and offering a clear benefit. For example, an ad for a project management tool might promise to "Streamline project workflows and improve team productivity," directly addressing common pain points.

7. Consistency with Landing Page

Ensure that the message in your display ad aligns with the content on the landing page. Consistency builds trust and improves the user experience. The landing page should deliver on the promise made in the ad.

If your ad promises a 20% discount, make sure the landing page highlights this offer prominently and provides an easy path to redeem it.

8. Visual and Textual Balance

Maintain a balance between visuals and text. Too much text can overwhelm the viewer, while too little can leave the message unclear. Use visuals to complement and enhance the message rather than overshadow it. The text should be concise and supported by strong visual elements.

Optimizing Ad Formats and Sizes

Choosing the right ad formats and sizes can enhance the effectiveness of display ads. Testing different options helps identify what works best for campaigns.

9. Test Multiple Sizes and Formats

Different ad sizes and formats perform differently across platforms. Google recommends starting with top-performing sizes like 728x90 and 300x250, but A/B testing is essential to determine what works best for a specific audience and objectives​​.

10. Explore Animated vs. Static Banners

Both static and animated banners have their advantages. Animated banners can demonstrate a product in action, while static banners may be more suitable for simple, direct messages. Testing both formats will help identify the most effective approach for campaigns​​. A SaaS company might use an animated banner to show a quick demo of their software's features, whereas a static banner could highlight a key statistic or customer testimonial.

Enhancing Engagement Through Interactivity

Interactive elements in display ads can significantly boost user engagement and improve campaign performance. Exploring different interactive options can provide valuable insights.

11. Utilize Rich Media

Utilize rich media elements such as videos, animations, and interactive features. Rich media can capture attention more effectively than static images and can provide a more engaging user experience. Ensure these elements are relevant to your message and enhance the overall narrative of your ad.

12. Monitor Performance in Real-Time

Continuously track the performance of your interactive ads using analytics tools. Monitor metrics such as interaction rates, time spent on the ad, and conversion rates. Use this data to optimize and refine your ads for better engagement and effectiveness.

Marketing Data Governance is an AI-powered campaign management and data governance solution. Marketing Data Governance alerts you of any issues, anomalies, or drops in metrics. The platform simplifies monitoring of every component of complex marketing campaigns, including branding, targeting, and key metrics. For instance, Marketing Data Governance can track and alert you when a Google Ad, Meta or DV360 campaign exceeds target CPC, CPL, or other KPIs. 

‍

The platform is powered by AI, which enables you to set all business and operational guidelines in plain language. 

13. Leverage Remarketing

Remarketing ads target users who have previously interacted with a website or app, keeping the brand top of mind. As third-party cookies phase out, alternatives like Google’s FLEDGE (First Locally-Executed Decision over Groups Experiment) are emerging, allowing for effective remarketing without compromising user privacy​​.

14. Dynamic Creative Optimization

Use dynamic creative optimization (DCO) to tailor ads in real-time based on user behavior and context. This technology allows for the creation of personalized ads that change dynamically, showing different content to different users based on their interactions, demographics, or browsing history.

15. User-Initiated Interactions

Design ads that encourage users to initiate interactions, such as clicking to expand content, revealing hidden information, or playing a video. User-initiated actions create a sense of control and curiosity, leading to deeper engagement.

See What’s Working for You

Adhering to best practices for display ads ensures that campaigns are visually appealing, strategically sound, and highly engaging. To see what’s truly working for your company and drives sales, integrate a marketing analytics platform and run comprehensive advertising analytics. 

Improvado is an AI-powered marketing analytics and intelligence platform. It consolidates data from various advertising platforms into a single, cohesive dataset, simplifying the analysis and enabling real-time optimization decisions. With Improvado, marketers can focus on what truly matters—leveraging actionable advertising insights to drive strategy and achieve a better return on investment.

FAQ

What are display ads?

Display ads are visual advertisements that appear on websites, apps, and social media platforms. They typically include images, logos, text, and sometimes video or interactive elements, appearing in designated ad spaces on digital properties. 

Display ads are used to promote products, services, or brands and can be targeted based on audience behavior, demographics, or interests. Unlike search ads, display ads focus on visibility and awareness rather than intent-driven clicks.

What is a banner ad?

A banner ad is a type of display ad that appears as a rectangular image or graphic, usually placed at the top, bottom, or sides of a webpage. It’s designed to attract attention, promote a message, and drive users to click through to a landing page. Banner ads are commonly used for brand awareness, retargeting, and campaign promotion.

What are the 4 types of display ads?

1. Banner ads: Static or animated image ads placed in predefined areas of a webpage, often used for brand awareness.
2. Responsive display ads: Automatically adjust size, format, and appearance to fit available ad spaces across the web.
3. Native ads: Designed to match the look and feel of the surrounding content, blending in more naturally with the page.
4. Video display ads: Short video ads that play within display placements, used for storytelling, engagement, or product demos.

What are the 4 parts of a display ad?

1. Headline/copy: Concise, compelling ad copy that communicates your message.
2. Visual elements: Images, graphics, or video that capture attention.
3. Call-to-action (CTA): Clear directive CTA buttons telling users what to do next.
4. Branding elements: Logo, colors, and fonts that reinforce brand identity.

Why is it important to optimize display ads for mobile?

Mobile devices account for a large share of online traffic, so optimizing display ads for mobile ensures they load quickly, fit smaller screens, and remain visually clear and clickable. Poorly optimized ads can result in low engagement, wasted spend, and a poor user experience. Mobile-optimized ads perform better in reach, visibility, and increase conversion rates.

What are best practices when advertising on display ads?

• Design for multiple aspect ratios to ensure optimal rendering across different placements and devices.
• Use dynamic creative optimization (DCO) to tailor messaging and visuals in real time based on audience data.
• Exclude low-performing placements and domains using campaign monitoring solutions to reduce wasted impressions.
• Set viewability thresholds in bidding strategies to prioritize inventory that meets brand visibility standards.
• Align creative rotation with campaign pacing and frequency caps to avoid overexposure and creative fatigue.
• Integrate first-party data with lookalike modeling to scale reach without sacrificing relevance.

What are the benefits of display advertising?

1. Scalable reach: Access to large audiences across websites, apps, and platforms through programmatic networks.
2. Visual impact: Use of imagery, animation, and video to increase brand recall and capture attention.
3. Advanced targeting: Leverage demographic, behavioral, contextual, and retargeting options for precise audience segmentation.
   Measurable performance: Track impressions, clicks, conversions, and viewability to evaluate ROI and optimize campaigns.
   Brand safety controls: Use placement exclusions, third-party verification, and custom lists to manage where ads appear.
4. Supports full-funnel strategy: From awareness to conversion, display ads can be tailored to different stages of the customer journey.

How can I improve the click-through rate of my display ads?

Improving CTR starts with aligning creative, audience, and placement. Use clear, benefit-driven messaging and strong CTAs tailored to the audience’s intent. Test multiple creative formats—especially animated and responsive ads—to adapt to different environments. Refine targeting using behavioral data, exclude low-performing placements, and layer in contextual targeting to increase relevance. Continuously A/B test ad variations, and adjust bids based on high-engagement segments. Ensuring fast load times and mobile optimization also helps reduce drop-off and improve engagement.

What are the benefits of using rich media in display ads?

Rich media in display ads drives higher engagement by incorporating interactive and eye-catching elements like video, animation, or expandable formats. These features capture attention more effectively than static ads, often leading to better click-through rates and deeper user interaction. They also enable more detailed performance tracking, helping advertisers understand not just who clicked, but how users engaged with the ad content.

Why is the design of display ads important?

The design of display ads directly influences visibility, engagement, and conversion. Well-designed ads capture attention in crowded digital spaces, communicate value quickly, and guide the viewer toward action. Poor design, on the other hand, can lead to ad blindness, low click-through rates, and wasted spend—even with strong targeting.

How can messaging improve display ad performance?

Messaging improves display ad performance by making the value proposition immediately clear and relevant to the target audience. Strong, concise messaging aligned with user intent increases engagement, drives higher click-through rates, and reinforces brand credibility. When tailored to the audience's stage in the funnel, messaging can guide action more effectively than visuals alone.