Google Ads is probably one of the most popular, powerful, and versatile tools in online advertising. Some people mistakenly think the platform only lets you create and manage paid search campaigns. In reality, Google Ads is an ad network with many different campaign types, each with its own features and advantages.
Search campaigns
Paid search campaigns (SEM) let you reach a wide audience while still targeting your audience with precision. If you win the auction, your ads show up at the top of search results, which greatly increases your chances of driving qualified traffic to your site and generating conversions.
To get the most out of your SEM efforts, it’s generally recommended to pair paid search with SEO for longer-lasting results and to make better use of your budget. Check out our experts’ tips for building a strong Google Ads campaign and improving your paid search results.
YouTube campaigns
Campaigns run on YouTube can support different goals, whether that’s building awareness, driving traffic, or generating sales. Running video ads on YouTube is a great way to widen the reach of your campaigns, since the platform has more than 2.5 billion active users every month.
YouTube offers very powerful targeting. You can build custom audiences based on the type of content people watch or their browsing habits. You can also use Google search history to target fairly precise interest-based audiences or run remarketing.
YouTube campaigns run on a cost-per-view bidding system and come in several formats:
- InStream ads, shown before, during, or after a video, which viewers can skip or not depending on the option chosen
- Bumper ads, short videos that cannot be skipped
- In-feed ads that appear among video recommendations based on search terms or viewing history
- OutStream ads, which appear at the top of the YouTube homepage or on partner sites
Either way, you’re only charged once someone has watched the video or clicked to watch it.
Performance Max campaigns
PMax lets you run a single campaign across Search, Display, Discover, Gmail, Maps, and YouTube using Google’s automation technology and machine learning. Google’s algorithm uses the cost per action (CPA) or return on ad spend (ROAS) you set, along with your creative assets and audience signals, to serve different ads on each platform.
Learn more about how it works, its advantages, and the best practices for running Performance Max campaigns in our full guide on this tactic.
Display campaigns
Display ads, or programmatic advertising, are a powerful way to boost your online visibility. You can show your ads on the many websites in Google’s network, and there are a lot of them.
Programmatic marketing gives you a lot of freedom in choosing your target audience, your budget, and where your ads appear. Precise targeting lets you personalize your ads and reach highly qualified audiences, helping you get more out of your ad spend. Check out our article on programmatic advertising to learn more about how it works and what it can do for you.
Google Shopping campaigns
Google Shopping campaigns are a very good way for online stores to boost sales, especially on mobile. They focus on the last step of the conversion funnel: taking action.
When someone searches for a product using a few keywords, Google shows the products that best match the search intent at the top of the results, based on the details businesses have added to their product listings. This makes it much easier for shoppers to compare matching products by looking at images, prices, and reviews when available.
Google Shopping ads tend to perform very well because they only appear to people who are already interested in the product. They reach an audience with strong purchase intent, which greatly increases your chances of converting.
You can pair your Google Shopping campaign with a paid search campaign to strengthen your brand’s visibility in search results and grab your target audience’s attention. You can also reach people who looked at products without buying through dynamic remarketing to improve your overall results.
The platform gives you a lot of freedom in managing your budget. Like paid search, Google Shopping runs on a bidding system. You can set your budget manually or give the platform a target CPA or ROAS.
There’s no need to build a campaign structure with keywords, since Google pulls its information straight from your product listings. You can manage these through Google Merchant Center to keep them up to date and filled out carefully, which helps improve your Google Shopping results. The platform also syncs your ads with your site data automatically, so you don’t need to adjust prices or stock levels by hand.
Finally, using Google Shopping is also a good way to spot your top performers in your catalog, the products that get the most clicks and impressions. You can then adjust your campaign to drop the weaker sellers and add more of the products likely to bring in conversions.
