Types of Google Ads campaigns
Explore the world of Google Ads campaign types and learn the unique uses of each. From Search and Display campaigns to Shopping, Video and App campaigns.
What are Google Ads campaigns?
A campaign in Google Ads is a highly structured set of ads designed to promote products or brands on Google search engines and partner sites. It provides the basis for effective management and organisation of online advertising.
Campaigns have specific objectives, audiences and themes that allow advertisers to tailor messages, budgets and targeting parameters. The ad groups below the campaigns group related keywords, ads and landing pages.
Precise targeting options help you reach the right audience, and powerful reporting and analytics tools allow you to measure the effectiveness of your campaign. Overall, Google Ads campaigns strategically reach target audiences, drive traffic and achieve marketing objectives.
What are the types of Google Ads campaigns?
Google Ads, formerly Google AdWords, offers a range of campaign types to meet different advertising needs and preferences. Each campaign type is individually tailored to specific user objectives, with its own features and options.
Branded Google Ads advertising
These types of campaigns, also known as brand campaigns, are designed to promote and protect a company's brand. In these campaigns, advertisers bid on their brand name and related keywords so that their ads appear when users search for their brand on Google. This strategy helps businesses manage the narrative around their brand, acquire high-quality leads, and fight off competition that could cause price bidding on their brand terms.
Google Shopping campaigns
Shopping campaigns, specifically targeted at online shops' ADS marketing, allow advertisers to display product-based ads with images and price information in Google's shopping tab and search results. It's a great way to visually showcase products and compare them directly to other retailers' products.
Google Performance Max campaigns
The latest campaign type to be introduced is Performance Max, which uses Google's machine learning capabilities to increase conversions across all Google advertising channels. These include the Search Network, Display Network, YouTube, Discover, Gmail and more. Advertisers provide their ad inventory, and Google automatically creates and optimizes ads. This type of campaign is useful for businesses that want to maximize conversion value or volume from online sales to in-store visits.
Google search campaigns
These campaigns are mainly text-based and appear in Google search results when users search for keywords that match the keywords chosen by the advertiser. This is an ideal option for businesses that want to maximise visibility in response to user searches, provide timely solutions or meet immediate needs.
Google Display campaigns
These focus primarily on visual, banner-style ads that appear on Google's Display network. This network contains millions of websites, apps and videos where your ads can be displayed. Display campaigns help build brand awareness and reach a broad audience.
Google Discovery campaigns
Discovery campaigns allow advertisers to reach users on Google's platforms who are likely to be interested in their offers, but may not be actively looking for them. These campaigns appear in custom feeds on platforms such as YouTube's homepage feed, Gmail offers and social tabs, and Google Discover.
Video campaigns
This type of campaign allows advertisers to show video content on YouTube and other sites in Google's Display Network. It's a great way for businesses to attract users who like video content, and can be used for brand storytelling, product demonstrations or tutorials.
Application campaigns
This type of campaign is for businesses that want to promote their mobile apps on Google's major services, such as Search, Play, YouTube and Google Display. App campaigns use machine learning to optimise your ads to reach the most relevant audience and increase app installs or in-app conversions.
Google Ads remarketing
This smart advertising strategy allows companies to show ads to users who have previously visited their website or used their app. Remarketing campaigns can be very effective in attracting users who have shown interest but did not generate results during their first interaction. These campaigns can be shown on the Google Display Network and the Google Search Network and can take the form of standard ads, dynamic ads or search ad remarketing lists (RLSAs).
YouTube advertising
YouTube advertising campaigns offer several advertising formats that allow businesses to reach their audience in the way that suits them best. These include In-Stream ads, which can be bypassed or not, Buffer ads, Video Discovery ads and Out-Stream ads. YouTube ads are managed through the Google Ads platform and are a great way for businesses to increase brand awareness, generate leads or grow sales through engaging video content.
The aim of Google Ads campaigns
Each campaign has its own objectives that you want to achieve with your advertising campaigns. They provide a guiding framework that informs your overall campaign strategy and influences your choice of campaign type, targeting options, ads and more. Here is an overview of the most common campaign objectives set by marketers:
Brand awareness and coverage
This objective is about increasing the visibility and awareness of your brand. The aim is not necessarily to achieve immediate results, but rather to impress your brand image on the minds of potential customers, thus laying the foundations for future engagement. This is usually achieved through Display Network, Video and Maximum Performance campaigns.
Website traffic
The aim of increasing website traffic is for advertisers who want to increase the number of visits to their website or a particular webpage. It can be an effective way to reveal more detailed information about your products or services to users. Google Ads campaign types such as Search Network, Display Network and Shopping campaigns can contribute to this goal.
Product and service consideration
This objective aims to engage potential customers who are already aware of your brand and are at the consideration stage of the buyer's journey. The aim is to convince these users that your offer best meets their needs. Video, app and remarketing strategies can effectively serve this objective.
Lead generation
The aim is to collect information from users who are interested in your product or service, which can then be used for subsequent marketing activities such as email campaigns or sales calls. This often involves creating attractive calls to action that encourage users to share their contact details, perhaps in exchange for something of value, such as a white paper, a discount or registering for a webinar.
Sales and conversions
The sales and conversions objective focuses on getting users to take specific, measurable actions, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter or filling in a form. Search Network, Shopping and App campaigns can increase sales and conversions.
Promoting the app
This objective is specifically designed for businesses that want to increase the visibility of their mobile apps, install installs or encourage existing users to use the app more deeply. Google Ads app campaigns serve this objective exceptionally well.
How do you define your Google advertising campaign?
Setting up a Google Ads campaign is a process in which each step contributes to creating an effective campaign that is tailored to meet your advertising goals. Here's a step-by-step guide to setting up a Google Ads campaign:
Google Ads account
The first step is to set up a Google Ads account if you don't already have one. So visit the Google Ads homepage and click 'Get started now'. Follow the instructions to create your account.
Choose campaign type
Next, log in to your Google Ads account and tap the 'Campaigns' tab, then click the plus button to create a new campaign. Select the campaign type that best matches your advertising objectives. You can choose from Search, Display, Shopping, Video or App.
Choose a campaign objective
Next, choose the objective that will make your campaign successful. These objectives can be 'Sales', 'Leads', 'Website traffic', 'Product and brand awareness', 'Brand awareness' or 'App promotion'. If you need targeting, you can create a campaign with targeting.
Define a campaign
Define your campaign settings, such as naming your campaign, selecting the networks where your ads will appear, choosing the locations where you want to target or exclude advertising, setting the languages, deciding on the budget and defining the bidding strategy.
Create advertising groups
Ad groups contain one or more ads and a common set of keywords. Name your ad groups and then choose how to target your ads. You can target by keywords, demographics or audience types (such as remarketing or similar audiences) depending on your campaign type.
Create ads
Now it's time to create your ad. The process for creating an ad will vary depending on your campaign type. For example, if you are running a Search campaign you will need to write headlines and descriptions. You will need to upload your video if you are doing a video campaign.
Check and publish
Once you have everything in place, check your campaign settings, targeting parameters and ad text to make sure everything matches your campaign objectives. If everything looks good , click "Save and Continue" to launch the campaign.
Customer story
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Google Ads campaign soup kit
Google Ads campaign funnels are a strategic way to organise and manage your ADS account. They reflect the customer journey from brand awareness to the final result. This approach helps businesses tailor their messaging and targeting at each stage of the funnel, ensuring maximum relevance and effectiveness. Here's a closer look at each stage of the Google Ads campaign funnel:
At the top of the Suppilo (awareness)
This is about getting your brand and your value proposition in front of as many relevant eyes as possible. It's about broad coverage and visibility, not immediate results. Campaign objectives at this stage usually revolve around brand awareness and coverage. Campaign types that can be effective at this stage include display network campaigns, video campaigns and maximum effectiveness campaigns.
In the middle of the channel (reflection)
The aim here is to reach those who are already aware of your brand and are considering their options. The aim is to move these potential customers lower down the funnel by offering more information about your products or services, differentiating your offering or offering incentives. Campaign types that work well at this stage can include search network campaigns, video campaigns or app campaigns. Remarketing can also be particularly effective as it re-engages those who have already interacted with your brand.
Lower part of the channel (result)
At this stage, it is a question of turning reflection into action. This is where you target those who are ready to make a decision, with the aim of guiding them to choose your product or service. This can be achieved through Shopping campaigns, Search Network campaigns or App campaigns that focus on specific conversions such as purchases or sign-ups.
Post-purchase (commitment)
Suppilo does not end up in a shop. Keeping existing customers and encouraging new businesses is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. With Google Ads, you can retarget existing customers with new products, special offers or loyalty programmes. Search advertising remarketing lists (RLSAs) can be particularly effective at this stage.
Frequently asked questions
For more information on Google Ads campaigns, please see the FAQ section below.
Google Ads offers several different types of campaigns: search network campaigns, display network campaigns, shopping campaigns, video campaigns, app campaigns, maximum effectiveness campaigns and remarketing campaigns.
The type of campaign you choose depends on your marketing objectives. For example, search network campaigns are great for increasing conversions, display network campaigns for increasing brand awareness and shopping campaigns for e-commerce businesses.
Performance Max is a new type of campaign that uses Google's machine learning features to increase conversions across all Google ad shares, including Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail and others.
Brand campaigns are campaigns in which advertisers bid on their brand name and related keywords. This strategy helps companies to manage their brand narrative, acquire high quality leads and prevent competitors from bidding on their brand terms.
Google Ads remarketing allows you to show ads to users who have previously visited your website or used your app. Remarketing campaigns can be used on the Google Display Network and Google Search Network to remind users of their interest in your products or services and encourage conversions.
YouTube advertising campaigns allow businesses to connect with their audience in a more engaging and interactive way through video content. It is ideal for increasing brand awareness, product consideration and conversions.
Success can be measured using Google Ads reporting and analytics tools. Key performance indicators can include click-through rates (CTR), conversion rate, cost per click (CPC) and return on ad spend (ROAS), depending on your campaign objectives.
Yes, you can run several campaign types at the same time. This allows you to reach your audience in different ways and on different platforms, maximising visibility and engagement.
The Google Ads campaign funnel is a way to structure your advertising strategy to reflect the stages of the customer journey from awareness to conversion. It involves delivering targeted messages at each stage of the funnel to bring potential customers closer to a result.
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