Cheap clicks are only cheap if they are real.

For remarketing and awareness, genuinely yes. For generating enquiries from people who have never heard of you, usually not — nobody on a Display placement was looking for you. Most disappointment comes from buying it for the second purpose.

Because intent is low and some of the clicks are accidental, particularly on mobile app inventory. Cheap clicks that never enquire are more expensive than costly clicks that do. Judge Display on outcomes, never on cost per click.

In almost every case, yes. Mobile game and app inventory produces a large share of accidental taps. Excluding it typically reduces click volume dramatically and improves everything that actually matters.

Display is a campaign you control — you choose placements, audiences and exclusions. Performance Max hands Google control across all its surfaces including Display, with far less visibility into where your money went. Both have a place; the trade is control against reach.

For most small businesses, only what remarketing needs, which is modest because the audience is small by definition. Prospecting Display deserves budget when you have a genuine awareness problem and Search is already profitable and saturated.

Responsive display ads generate sizes automatically from your assets, which is adequate for most advertisers. Purpose-designed banners in key sizes perform better where budget justifies the design work — and they are one of the few genuine creative levers Display offers.