Google Ads Campaign Types: Find the Best Match for Your Business

Choosing the correct type of Google Ads campaign type is crucial to attaining your advertising objectives. You probably know by now that the objectives in advertising are divided into awareness and performance, and in addition to that, in this blog, I will explain what outbound and inbound marketing is. 

To choose the correct campaign type, you need an advertising approach strategy.

In order to choose the correct type of campaign, it is necessary to be guided by the following principles: 

• at what stage is your product 
• does the target audience know about your product  
• is there significant competition in the market 
• do you see advertising as a short-term or long-term project  
• what sort of media does your target audience consume 

Google Ads Campaign Types 

Whether you are using Google Ads to acquire awareness or searching for potential customers for a product or service, you can find the optimal campaign for your needs in Google Ads.
In the awareness phase, display and discovery campaigns are most often used, in which the text part of the ad is usually combined with imagery. With these campaigns, attracting attention with enticing visuals and a compelling message is essential. The brand slogan steps out the most because of its brief message. The most significant metrics measured in these campaigns are the number of users reached, i.e., Reach, and the number of ads shown, i.e., Impressions. In addition to the above, marketers often look at the cost per thousand ad impressions, or CPM for short. Micro and Macro conversions at this stage are not the primary indicator of campaign success, so you should not fret about a reduced number of conversions and a lower rate of clicks on ads (abbreviated CTR). Another term for this type of campaign is outbound because, with them, we target individuals who are not actively searching for our product, but we serve them advertisements during their daily use of the Internet. With search campaigns, we target users who are searching for a specific term. Whether the search term is our brand or product or even a competitor’s product, we include users actively searching for a solution to their needs with this type of campaign. We call this type of campaign inbound because we only show ads to users actively seeking the solution we may offer them. With display campaigns, in addition to new users, we can also target existing website visitors, i.e., remarketing lists. In this way, we show our ads to individuals who are somewhat familiar with our offer and are one step closer to making a purchase decision. Display and search campaigns are the most common types of campaigns that advertisers use when advertising on Google. In the following, I will go through all varieties of campaigns individually and explain their advantages.

Search Campaigns 

The most widespread type of campaign on Google Ads is called a Search campaign. You can see search ads every time you search for a desired term using the Google search engine. You will see ads in text form on the search engine results page.
We use search campaigns when we want to show ads to users who search for certain terms that are of interest to us. In doing so, we use keywords. You can discover the keyword selection strategy in our Keyword Research Guide. With search campaigns, in addition to the products and services you offer, you can display ads to those who search for your brand. Using this principle, you ensure that your ads will be displayed at the top of the results page and that your competition will not take over your target audience. In addition to using classic keywords where you need to do your own analysis, there is also the option of dynamic keyword determination by Google. In this method, Google Ads itself determines for which keywords the ads will be displayed. In such ads, it is not necessary to write both titles and descriptions that will be displayed. It is enough to go with descriptions only, while Google will take care of the titles.

Performance Max

The newest type of Google Ads campaigns, Performance Max, enables you to combine search and display ads. At the same time, Google Ads determines which channels it will use to position ads, aiming to maximize the number of conversions achieved.  In addition to the ad titles and descriptions that we input in traditional search campaigns, here we have the option of inserting images and videos with the objective of making the ad more prominent.
In general, performance max campaigns are still in their infancy, but as time goes by, they are growing wiser by using machine learning. By using machine learning, Google Ads better recognizes your users’ behaviors and more precisely determines the channels and types of messages.

Display Campaigns

We use them most often in the awareness phase. With them, we can reach a large share of the target audience. Along with awareness itself, it is also possible to use this type of campaign for remarketing. The types of ads that can be used here are divided into: 

•  Uploaded images, i.e., visuals that have been created in advance without the need to input additional text. On those visuals, it is recommended to put all the text that could be of interest to the target audience because, with this type of ad, there is no option to add additional text. The formats for uploading images are fixed, and ads are displayed only on placements for which we have valid visuals.
• Responsive display ads integrate visuals and text. In this form of ad, in addition to the visuals themselves, we can contribute our own titles and descriptions that will be displayed together with the visuals. We often use this type of ad because it adapts itself to the format with the program’s aid.

These two varieties of ads can be used in awareness and remarketing advertising. Here we come to the next form of advertising: dynamic remarketing. It is most often used by web shops and online marketplaces to emphasize their offer to the right audience further. In doing so, website users are tracked during their visit. The system captures all the products an individual user views and places them on the list. Thanks to dynamic remarketing, each user will be shown ads for the precise products or services they have previously viewed on the website. In this case, the ad type is also a responsive display, but the images we use are automatically pulled from the feed previously uploaded to the system. In titles and descriptions, we can also combine data from the feed as well as our own creative. This type of advertising has proved to be extremely effective because it targets users in the late phase of their buyer journey, that is, those familiar with the product and beginning the active purchase process.  

Video Campaigns

Video campaigns are focused on ads that are in video format. Here, YouTube video content is used for ads. Using video campaigns makes it possible to reach a broader group of users, that is, those who use the YouTube network. Here, our reach also extends to those users who use Bing or Yahoo instead of the Google search engine to search the web. The most common purpose of display campaigns is to create brand awareness in such a way that ads are shown to as many users as possible. To start advertising through video campaigns, you need to have an active YouTube channel and upload the desired video to the channel. That video will later serve as an ad. In addition to the video itself, it is also possible to insert the text that will be displayed in the ad. 

Local Campaigns  

Are you a store or restaurant owner? Do you want to increase your commitment to your affiliate? Local campaigns are the correct choice for you. This kind of campaign aims to introduce visitors to your locality. Unlike traditional search ads, ads are shown in places where users are browsing for locations, such as Google Maps. To advertise through local campaigns, you need a Google My Business profile.

App Campaigns 

Are you an iOS or Android app developer? If you want to increase the number of installations of your app via the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, Google Ads provides a solution in the form of App campaigns through which you can promote your app. The link in the ad goes directly to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, where your app is located.

Smart Campaigns

Smart campaigns allow the simplest entrance into the world of Google Ads advertising. They are intended for entrepreneurs who are setting up their first campaigns. Google determines the target group itself by using algorithms. It is necessary only to write several titles and descriptions, after which the ads are ready to be shown to the audience. 

Shopping Campaigns

Shopping campaigns are an ideal choice for merchants who have online sales. It is possible to display the offered products on Google using this type of campaign. A distinct Google Shopping Tab will display the advertised products on the search engine results page.

The Wrap Up 

Whether you’re a novice or an advertising expert, Google Ads offers a wide selection of campaigns tailored to your experience and requirements. If you are just starting to set up your first campaigns, there are Smart campaigns, which are the simplest to set up. Search and display types of campaigns are the most prevalent because of their universality and the broad audience they can reach. Certainly, when choosing the type of campaign that suits your needs the best, take into account that for the best results, it is not enough to adhere to one type of campaign; it is necessary to mix several types of campaigns and adjust the daily budgets according to expectations.

How to get the most out of your investment in digital advertising read in our guide.