Top Highlights

• Despite audience targeting's understandable popularity and success, we began to see the revelation of weakness as well. We learned it’s not quite the heroic, rescue-the-captives targeting method paid searchers had hoped it would be, and that audience targeting would not replace the keyword in paid search.
• keyword is still the most valuable form of targeting for a paid search marketer, but I also believe that audience targeting can play a valuable complementary role in search bidding. The best illustration I've heard on the core weakness of audience targeting was from an older traditional marketer who has probably never bid on a keyword in his life.
• see two older high school girls with the same income in the same geographical area; (2)  assume they are both interested in what she has to sell; and (3)  only make one sale.
• What You Think You Know About Your Customers' Persona is Wrong.[1] In his article, Aaron first bravely broaches suspicion of audience targeting by describing how it is far from the exact science we all have hoped it to be.
• It is the keyword. Whereas audience targeting chafes under the law of averages (i.e., "at some point, someone in my demographic targeted list has to actually be interested in what I am selling"), keyword targeting shines in individual-revealing user intent.