Understanding the Different Google Ads Campaign Types

Google Ads campaign types

There are now 11 different Google Ads campaign types to choose from.

The campaign type you select is based on your marketing goals, strategy and how much time you can invest into optimising your ads.

Each type of campaign performs slightly differently. They come with their own benefits and limitations, so it’s up to you to decide which campaign type will deliver the best results for your budget.

Performance Max Campaigns

What is a Performance Max Campaign?

Performance Max (PMax) is a type of campaign that’s based on the goals of the advertiser. It allows you to run ads across all of Google’s channels from a single campaign. This includes Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail and Maps.

Selecting Performance Max helps improve performance based on your conversion goals. It does this using Smart Bidding to deliver more conversions and better value in real-time.

You should use a PMax campaign if you have:

Broad campaign goals – Suitable when advertisers want to maximise results with minimal manual intervention.
Diverse audience targeting – Ideal for campaigns targeting a wide audience.

For example, an ecommerce store could use PMax to automatically allocate its advertising budget across Google Search, Shopping, Display and Video networks. Google’s AI would showcase Search ads, as well as place visually appealing ads on the Display network or YouTube.

Google’s AI Input into PMax Campaigns

Google’s AI is the main feature of Performance Max campaigns.

Google uses machine learning to optimise your ads towards your campaign objectives. It does this by automating your bidding, audience targeting, ad creative, budget optimisation and more.

This is ideal if you don’t have much experience with Google Ads or are running ads for eCommerce. As long as you have the budget and a bit of patience, Google’s AI will continuously test your ads and determine how best to spend your money.

Objectives of a PMax Campaign

Online conversions – Optimise for actions such as online sales and email sign-ups.
Brand awareness – Maximise visibility and exposure across diverse channels.

Benefits of a PMax Campaign

Reach more customers – You aren’t limited to a single Google channel with Performance Max. The ability to run your ads across Google’s entire inventory helps engage with new customers – including market segments you hadn’t previously considered.
Increase campaign value – Google’s AI can predict which ads are most likely to deliver conversions. That allows PMax to deliver more value with less input from the advertiser.
Ease of use – The simplified functionality of Performance Max campaigns removes much of the complexities involved with other campaign types

Limitations of Performance Max

Limited control – Advertisers have less granular control over ad placements and bidding strategies. While Google’s AI is good at placing ads, it doesn’t have the insight that you do, so it may still miss opportunities.
Limited data – The individual insights on each campaign or asset combination are much less accessible which makes it difficult to interpret the data effectively and make optimisations
Learning curve – Users might need time to understand and leverage the full potential of PMax. That can increase the total cost of your campaign as you figure things out and wait for Google’s optimisations to kick in.

Google’s AI makes Performance Max campaigns a great option for anyone who’s getting started with Google Ads. For advertisers seeking more control, Search or Display campaigns may work better.

Search Campaigns

What is a Search Campaign?

Search campaigns allow you to place text-based ads across Google’s network. Search ads can appear on Google Search, Google Search Partners, and the Google Display Network.

Google’s Search campaigns are the go-to for many brands. They’re affordable, flexible and very effective. If you want to get the most out of your Search campaign, you’ll need an in-depth understanding of how Google places ads.

The system is complex, but it comes down to a few major factors:

The auction process – Ads are placed in an auction each time ad space becomes available. Your position on the page is determined by bid amount, ad relevance and other factors.
Quality score – Google assigns quality scores based on ad relevance, landing page experience and expected click-through rate. The better your quality score, the better your ads will compete in the ad auctions.
Keyword targeting – The keywords you choose for your ads determine how much you need to bid. Competitive keywords cost more, but typically, they attract the highest volume and/or the highest quality of users.

Google Search campaigns are particularly useful when you want to target ads based on user intent. These types of ads allow for very specific targeting, which is useful for niche audiences.

Objectives of a Search Campaign?

Search campaigns are ideal for most types of marketing objectives. The platform is flexible and can be optimised towards a wide variety of goals. In general, though, Search campaigns provide the best results for objectives like:

Lead generation – Encourage users to fill out forms, call your business or sign up for newsletters.
Website traffic – Getting visitors to your website is the first step in most marketing strategies. Search campaigns are very effective at increasing website traffic.
Brand awareness – Running search ads increases your visibility in the search results, which reinforces your brand and messaging.
Product sales – Drive direct sales through product listings.

Benefits of a Search Campaign

Immediate engagement – Your ads begin running as soon as they’re published, so you can engage with users immediately.
Ad auction dynamics – Google’s job is to display the most relevant search results possible. This means that you don’t always need the highest bid to win an auction – Google places importance on showing ads that are relevant and high quality.
Highly specific targeting – Search campaigns offer sophisticated targeting controls. That allows you to target people based on demographics, geographics, search intent, language and much more.

Limitations of a Search Campaign

Cross-channel performance – It’s possible to display Search ads on the Google Display network. Display ads often reach users with lower intent, which may not be the best use of your budget.
Learning curve – The sheer number of options provided by Search campaigns can be a double-edged sword. It takes practice and experience to identify patterns in the data to effectively maximise your results using Search.
Limited ad formats – Search campaigns are limited to text-based ads. These have limited visual appeal compared to other formats.

Consider using Display or Video campaigns if your ads need to include more visually engaging content.

Display Campaigns

What is a Display Campaign?

A Display campaign places visual-based ads on the Google Display Network. These ads reach users across various websites, apps and other platforms.

Google partners with millions of website owners to create the Display Network. Website owners sell advertising space on their site in return for a share of ad revenue.

Google can then place visual ads (such as banners) on these websites. This allows advertisers to reach users outside of Google Search and place ads on special interest websites.

For example, a fashion retailer could use a Display campaign to run ads for its new clothing line. The retailer could choose to place those ads on fashion-related websites where potential customers will be browsing.

The heart of every Display campaign is the creative (the image and video assets that appear in the ad). Creative elements make Display ads stand out, which is ideal for brands that offer visually appealing products and services.

Objectives of a Display Campaign

Display campaigns adopt a programmatic approach, using traffic data and online display targeting to drive impressions at scale. This typically results in display ads reaching audiences with low actionable intent (especially when compared to Search campaigns). Because of this, Display campaigns work best when you have one of the following objectives:

Increase brand awareness – Users may be shown your ads dozens of times. Even if they don’t engage with the ad, it can increase your brand awareness, recognition and recall.
Product showcase – Showcase products or services through visually compelling content. This is especially useful for online retailers.
Remarketing – When used for remarketing, Display ads can follow particular users (such as visitors to your website) all over the internet. That makes them very effective when it comes to influencing users at different stages of their purchase journey.

Benefits of a Display Campaign

Visual appeal – Display ads allow for creative visuals, leaving a lasting impression on users. The only catch is that you may need to test a variety of ad creatives to discover what works best for your brand.
Wide reach – The Google Display Network provides extensive coverage across millions of websites and apps.
Special interest targeting – Google’s Display Network includes millions of special interest websites. If you offer a niche product or service, Display campaigns make it easy to reach the right people.

Limitations of a Display Campaign

Ad blindness – Display ads may be ignored due to ad blindness, where users tend to glaze over advertisements in favour of actual website content.
Limited user intent – Users may be less actively engaged compared to Search campaigns.

If a Display campaign doesn’t suit your brand, products or services, try running a Search campaign or Video campaign as an alternative.

Video Campaigns

What is a Video Campaign?

A Video campaign focuses on the creation and promotion of video ads. These ads aim to engage and capture the attention of users across several platforms. Most Video campaigns are placed on YouTube, but they can also be displayed through Google’s video partners.

Videos are some of the most effective advertising tools available. Video is highly engaging, and people are watching more YouTube than ever before.

If your brand is visually compelling, video is the best way to tell stories, convey a message and promote your products or services. Like other types of campaigns, Video campaigns come with sophisticated targeting controls that ensure you’re reaching the right people.

Most video ads are placed on YouTube, but Google also maintains a video network, so your ads can show up on other websites and apps. There are several types of video ads:

Skippable in-stream ads – These play during the content, but can be skipped after a few seconds.
Non-skippable in-stream ads – Played during the content, with users needing to watch the entire ad before continuing. These ads are typically shorter – around 15 seconds or so.
Bumper ads – These short ads are displayed at the beginning or end of a video.
In-feed video ads – In-feed ads are displayed within normal content feeds (e.g. on the YouTube homepage). They resemble organic content.
Outstream ads – Video ads that are played on partner websites outside of YouTube, such as within an article.
Masthead ads – Premium video ads that are placed at the top of the YouTube homepage.

Objectives of a Video Campaign?

Brand awareness – Increase visibility and recognition through visually impactful video content. Customers are increasingly engaging with genuine brands, so this is a great opportunity to build a community.
Product promotion – Showcase products or services in a compelling manner to drive consideration, conversions, website traffic and more.

Benefits of a Video Campaign?

Visual appeal – Video ads capture attention and convey messages more effectively than static images or text.
YouTube reach – YouTube is the world’s second-most visited website. With Video ads, you can leverage the extensive user base of YouTube for broad exposure.

Limitations of a Video Campaign?

Production costs – Creating high-quality video content can be expensive. Google provides options for automatically creating video ads using static content (such as text and images), but these are less effective than creating unique ads from scratch.
Ad skipping – Users may skip ads before the full message is conveyed. You typically won’t be charged if the user skips your ad.
Ad efficacy – A video campaign needs a completely independent strategy from other Google Ads campaigns to deliver results beyond reach. The content, placement and ad mediums need to be meticulously thought out to effectively target users at each stage of their conversion journey to influence their behaviours.

Video campaigns aren’t for everyone. Consider using a Display campaign if you want to showcase visual content across a broader network, or a Search campaign if you need greater control in targeting users.

App Campaigns

What is an App Campaign?

An App campaign is a specialised strategy that’s intended to promote smartphone apps.

Ads used for App campaigns can be displayed on a range of platforms, including Google Search, YouTube, the Play Store, Search Partners, the Display Network, and the Discover Feed (on Android phones).

These types of ads can be targeted at particular audiences and interest groups. For example, a music streaming app may target users watching music videos on YouTube to capture the attention of enthusiasts.

Objectives of an App Campaign

New downloads – Increase the number of app installs.
Increased engagement – Encourage users to interact with the app by promoting certain features.
App pre-registration (Android only) – Allow users to register their interest for an upcoming app. This is useful when building out your marketing funnels and capturing user information.

You should consider running an App campaign if you are launching a new app, or if you have updated an existing app. Promoting new features or significant updates is a great way to increase downloads and engagement within your app.

Benefits of an App Campaign

Automation – Google optimises ads and ad placements to reach users who are most likely to install or engage with the app.
Broad reach – App campaigns leverage multiple Google platforms, allowing you to reach a diverse audience.

Limitations of an App Campaign

Limited control over ad placement – The amount of automation in App campaigns means you have less control over specific placements, relying on Google’s algorithms for optimisation.
Possibility of irrelevant impressions – Automated optimisation may result in ads being shown to users who don’t find your app relevant.

If you want more control over ad placement and targeting, it’s best to use a Search or Display campaign and target users actively searching for app-related keywords.

Smart Campaigns

What is a Smart Campaign?

A Smart campaign is an automated advertising solution offered by Google Ads.

It’s designed for small businesses or advertisers with minimal time and expertise in managing online campaigns. Smart campaigns leverage machine learning to optimise ad delivery and targeting.

The ads generated by Smart campaigns are easy to set up, with Google doing most of the heavy lifting. They can appear on Google Search, Maps and the Display network.

Smart campaigns are ideal for:

New businesses or users – If you need to establish an online presence quickly, Smart campaigns make it easy to launch your ads.
Limited resources – For businesses with limited time, expertise or marketing budget, Smart campaigns are a great option.

When you generate a Smart campaign, you simply need to tell Google a few basic details about your brand and products. You’ll provide ad headlines and descriptions, and Google will generate ads based on the information and assets (such as images) you provide.

Google will also take care of bidding and bid optimisation. The goal for Google is to maximise your results, so Smart campaigns are good bang-for-your-buck when starting out.

Objectives of a Smart Campaign

Lead generation – Generate calls, emails, newsletter sign-ups and other types of leads.
Website traffic – Attract visitors to your website.
Brand awareness – Increase the visibility of your brand in the search results to improve awareness, recall and recognition.
Product sales – Increase online sales of products and services.
Product showcase – Use imagery to showcase your products and services (through the Display network).

Benefits of a Smart Campaign

Time efficiency – Setting up a Search or Display campaign can be time-consuming. Smart campaigns require minimal input and ongoing management, so they’re perfect for time-poor advertisers.
Automation – Google’s algorithms continually optimise the campaign for better performance. If you are inexperienced with Google Ads, this is the best way to improve the return on your investment.

Limitations of a Smart Campaign

Limited control – Advertisers have less control over specific targeting options compared with more advanced campaign types.
Simplicity vs. customisation – While simple to set up and use, Smart Campaigns may lack the customisation options available in more complex campaigns. This can limit the effectiveness of your ads when compared to other campaign types.

If you have the time and money, running Search or Display campaigns is usually the better option. But, if you’re just getting started with Google Ads, Smart campaigns are an effective tool.

Standard Shopping Campaigns

What is a Standard Shopping Campaign?

A Standard Shopping campaign is specifically designed to promote products in your online store. These campaigns display ads that showcase products with images, pricing and other details directly in the search results.

This creates a rich experience for users and shortens the user journey between their search and purchasing from your eCommerce store.

Standard Shopping campaigns work by taking a feed of information about your products. This feed is then turned into ads, which are displayed in the search results. Ads are typically displayed when a search includes commercial intent, e.g. “Buy men’s shirts”.

To set up a Shopping campaign, advertisers need a Google Merchant Center Account. This account is where you’ll upload and manage your products, group items together, and structure campaigns.

Objectives of a Standard Shopping Campaign

Standard Shopping campaigns have just one objective: drive sales through your online store.

Showing your products in the search results makes it easy for users to find what they’re looking for. It also allows them to compare similar products at a glance, without needing to visit individual websites for details.

This shortens the time between consideration and purchase, which can help you hit your sales targets.

Benefits of a Standard Shopping Campaign

Visually rich content – Showcasing images of your products enhances the user experience and makes them more likely to visit your website.
Comprehensive product information – Users can compare images, prices and product details in the search results, which improves user experience.
Increased click-through rate – The visual appeal of Shopping ads means they tend to attract more clicks from users.
Real purchase intent – Shopping ads mostly show for search queries with commercial intent. This means each person who clicks on your ad has a genuine intention to buy something you’re selling.

Limitations of a Standard Shopping Campaign

Less control over ad placement – Shopping campaigns are powered by Google’s AI. This limits how much control you have over when and where your ads are placed.
Less control over ad copy – Unlike other campaign types, Shopping campaigns don’t provide much freedom over ad copy. This can limit how you highlight the features and unique selling points of your products.
High competition – There’s lots of competition among Shopping ads. That can lead to increased bid amounts for ad placements.
Only suitable for certain types of advertisers – Shopping campaigns are limited to eCommerce advertisers, and they’re not effective for things like unusually high-priced items (such as expensive jewellery). Given the potential costs involved, it’s important to keep an eye on your ROI when running a Shopping campaign.
More admin – Advertisers will need to manage their Google Merchant Centre account in addition to their Shopping campaign to make updates to the products they wish to advertise

In terms of alternative campaign options, Performance Max campaigns simplify a lot of the features of a Standard Shopping campaign, or, if you don’t have the budget for a Shopping campaign (e.g. if you operate in a competitive industry), or if you’re looking for more control over ads, a Search or Display campaign may be the better option.

Discovery Campaigns

What is a Discovery Campaign?

A Discovery campaign places personalised ads that can reach up to 3 billion customers across Google’s feeds. With a Discovery campaign, your ads can be served to potential customers who may not be actively searching for your products or services.

Instead of serving ads in response to a search query, Google analyses an individual user’s browsing habits and interests to serve ads they’ll be interested in.

Discovery ads are effective because they are visually rich and personalised. This makes them much more compelling to users across platforms including YouTube, Gmail and the Google Discovery feed (which is found on Android devices).

You should consider a Discovery campaign if you’re looking to launch a new product or build brand awareness. Since your ads will go out to people who aren’t actively searching, it’s a great way to reach new people!

Objectives of a Discovery Campaign

Connect with existing customers – Discovery ads are served based on a user’s online behaviour and interests. That means you can use Discovery ads to reconnect with customers who are already interested in your brand. If someone has engaged with your website or YouTube channel, or previously made a purchase, they’re more likely to see a Discovery ad.
Increase brand awareness – Because Discovery ads can be displayed to users who aren’t actively searching, they’re an excellent way to reach new customers.
Increase conversions at scale – Discovery campaigns can support a huge range of marketing goals, like increased sales, email sign-ups and website visits.

Benefits of a Discovery Campaign

Visually appealing – Discovery ads are visually rich, featuring combinations of images and text. This makes them more appealing to your target audience.
Personalised recommendations – Users are shown Display ads based on their interests and online behaviour. Each ad placement is personalised, which makes it more likely someone will engage with your ads.
Broad reach – Discovery ads are available to 3 billion people across all of Google’s feeds. That gives you unlimited freedom to create a campaign that reaches your ideal customers.

Limitations of a Discovery Campaign

Limited control over ad placement – Google uses AI to decide when and where to place Discovery ads, giving you less control compared to other campaign types.
Poor engagement – Discovery campaigns have some of the broadest reach in the advertising world. Naturally, engagement doesn’t scale at the same rate as reach, so you may find another campaign type piques more direct interest and engagement than a Discovery campaign.
Less suited for conversion-focused campaigns – While Discovery campaigns can be designed to deliver conversions, they’re better suited to audience building.

Search and Display campaigns offer many of the same objectives as Discovery campaigns. They’re also more affordable and better suited to conversion-focused campaigns, making them a good alternative for some advertisers.

Demand Gen Campaigns

What is a Demand Gen Campaign?

Demand Gen campaigns are a new addition that serves as the next generation of Discovery campaigns.

With Demand Gen, advertisers provide creative assets in the form of images, videos, headlines and text descriptions. Google uses these assets to create ads and places them across YouTube, Shorts, Gmail and the Discover feed.

The benefit here is that your ads can show up on YouTube (including Shorts). YouTube is twice as likely to be used for researching products and services than any other social media platform. That means it’s the perfect place to reach customers when they’re making purchase decisions.

Like Discovery campaigns, Demand Gen campaigns are largely automated. They’re an effective way to reach users at scale, especially if you want to showcase visually appealing products and services.

Objectives of a Demand Gen Campaign

Demand Gen campaigns are designed to achieve one thing: increase demand.

These types of campaigns are served to billions of people across Google’s properties. The ads are visually appealing and can contain images, videos, text and product information.

Users don’t need to be actively searching for your business/products/services to see a Demand Gen ad – ads are served based on their interests and browsing behaviour.

This makes Demand Gen campaigns especially effective at attracting new customers at every stage of your marketing funnel.

Benefits of a Demand Gen Campaign

Greater ad impact – Demand Gen ads can reach up to 3 billion people across Google’s network. The addition of YouTube makes these ads even more effective in reaching new people with high-impact visuals.
Personalised ads – The Demand Gen ads that users see are tailored to their online behaviour. That makes users far more likely to engage with your ads, purchase a product or visit your website.
AI-powered bidding – Google’s AI makes it easier to optimise your bidding when running a Demand Gen campaign. The longer your ad runs, and the more conversions it generates, the better Google’s automated bidding gets.
Suitable for conversion-focused campaigns – Demand Gen campaigns can incorporate product information (similar to how Shopping campaigns are created). This makes them effective for campaigns that are designed to attract online sales and other conversions.

Limitations of a Demand Gen Campaign

Limited control over ad placements – Google’s AI determines when and where to display Demand Gen ads. This limits your control over individual placements and bids.
Limited data – Like most of Google’s AI-driven campaigns, the limited amount of data advertisers can access makes it difficult to effectively analyse and optimise your ads
Higher cost – The sheer reach of Demand Gen campaigns means they can be expensive. While they’re effective for advertisers who want to reach a large audience, they’re less suitable for smaller businesses.

Call Campaigns

What is a Call Campaign?

Call campaigns are exactly what they sound like – they’re designed to attract phone calls to your business. This is done by placing ads that are linked to your phone number. Customers can simply click on an ad and it will automatically call your business.

Ads created in Call campaigns are only displayed on mobile devices that are capable of making calls. You can set your ads to only show when your business is open, so you won’t be missing calls or wasting your ad budget.

Objectives of a Call Campaign

Call campaigns are specifically intended to increase the number of phone calls your business gets. Call-only ads appear in Google’s Search results on mobile devices, so they’re displayed to users who are actively searching for your products and services.

Benefits of a Call Campaign

Never miss a call – Ads can be set so that they only appear when you’re open for business.
Customers can take immediate action – The biggest benefit of a Call campaign is that it puts you directly in touch with your customers. This means each call comes from a highly qualified lead who’s ready to engage with your business.
Improve your ad with extensions – Call campaigns can be expanded with ad extensions. These provide additional information about your business location, website, promotions, product pricing, sitelinks and more. Adding more extensions improves the performance and flexibility of your ads.

Limitations of a Call Campaign

Highly specialised ad type – Call campaigns are fantastic if you rely on calls from customers. They’re less effective for other goals.

Google Search campaigns can be used to achieve many of the same objectives as Call campaigns. If you don’t specifically need customers to call your business, a Search campaign may be more effective.

You can also do things like installing a chatbot on your website to provide instant responses to customers.

Hotel Campaigns

What is a Hotel Campaign?

Google Hotel campaigns are a specialised type of ad that lets you bid for hotel ads that appear when someone searches for a hotel on Search or Maps. Hotel ads appear in a booking module that shows prices, photos, amenities and a booking link.

To create a Hotel campaign, advertisers provide information about the hotel, pricing and listing. You create a landing page to capture bookings, and then Google assembles ads whenever a user performs a search.

Hotel campaigns are managed from your Hotel Center account, which is linked to your Google Ads account.

Objectives of a Hotel Campaign

Increase bookings – Hotel campaigns are intended to directly generate bookings. This can be an invaluable income stream in such a competitive industry.
Create awareness among travellers – Your ads include your Hotel’s brand name and other information. Even if you don’t attract a booking this time around, getting your name out there can increase awareness, which can influence purchase decisions.

Benefits of a Hotel Campaign

Send customers to your website to book – Hotel campaigns are focused on sending customers to your website to book. This shortens the user journey and makes it more likely that you’ll earn a booking.
Tailor your prices – You can modify your price point based on the user. For instance, you could increase prices slightly for short-notice bookings, or lower prices for customers travelling from certain countries.
Highlight the benefits of your hotel – The details you provide to Google include information about amenities, unique selling points and other benefits. That could make the difference when a user is comparing similar hotels.
Only pay for an ad when someone books – Hotel campaigns come with a variety of bidding options. One of the most popular is paying a commission to Google when someone actually books a room. This is a cost-effective way to generate bookings.

Limitations of a Hotel Campaign

High competition – Hotels are an extremely competitive industry. This is reflected in Hotel campaigns, which may be expensive to run in certain geographic locations.
Limited control over ad placement – Google offers plenty of targeting control for Hotel ads, but it may be more limiting than third-party platforms like Wotif.
Limited control over ad formats – Advertisers provide information about their hotel and booking options, and Google automatically generates ads. This limits the variety of ad formats available.

Use Google’s campaign types to turn your ads into long-term success!

Google Ads campaign types have a big impact on the success of your paid advertising.

If you want to make the most of your budget, you’ll need to carefully define your goals and choose the right campaign type. That can be daunting, but with the guide above, it should be a cinch to choose the right settings!

You don’t have to go it alone though – committing to Google Ads is a big decision, and help is available from Gordon Digital.

Gordon Digital has a team of paid ads specialists. We know Google Ads inside and out, so we can select the best campaign type for any goal you have in mind.

When you work with us, we take the time to get to know your business, objectives and customers. That allows us to create effective campaigns and generate more bang for your buck!

You can contact us online to find out more or book a strategy session if you’re ready to get started with our Google Ads agency.