What are Google Ad campaign types?!

Google Ads can be confusing for people who haven’t used it before (heck, it can be confusing to people who have used it before!). One of the main pillars of Google Ads is the different campaign types that you can use.

You see, it’s not just about being able to have your ads being shown on the search results page. There’s so much more that you can do with Google Ads, and it all comes down to selecting the right campaign type.

Search Campaigns

This is the campaign type that most people are familiar with. Your adverts appear on the Google search result page – at the top or the bottom.

With a search campaign, you can make potential customers notice your brand, consider your product and take action, right at the point of consideration. They are searching for something you offer and you can make sure your ad is shown at that point.

Shopping Campaigns

Shopping ads appear on Google next to the search results and near the Google search text ads. They help to promote your product by giving consumers detailed information about what you’re selling before they even click on your ad. They can see a photo of the product, a description, and even the price – all before they even click!

Shopping campaigns are great to help advertise your products, boost traffic to your website or local shop, and find better-qualified leads.

Display Campaigns

Google Ads can also appear across a network of over two million websites and apps. With a reach of over 90% of the people on the internet! Your ads get matched to content related to your business or your customers’ interests.

Display campaigns are used to increase your exposure and to reach audiences with specific interests across the web.

Video Campaigns

Video campaigns are excellent at reaching the right audience on a large scale and capturing their attention. Your video ads can be shown on their own or within other streaming content on Youtube and across Google’s network of websites and apps. You only pay when people choose to watch your ad.

Video campaigns help to bring your business and products to life. They engage with customers in a different way to traditional ads, like showing ads before they start to watch their favourite YouTuber or music video, or while they are researching for an intended product purchase.

App Campaigns

App campaign ads run across Google’s largest properties – including Search, Play, and YouTube, as well as thousands of mobile sites and apps. Your ads and bids are automatically adjusted to get the most downloads. Just add a few lines of text, a bid, and some assets and the rest is optimised to help customers find you.

With an App campaign, you can increase engagement, app installs, and even in-app actions such as signing up for a newsletter or ordering a product.

So the campaign type you choose determines where users see your adverts. On top of that there are many ways to make sure you then engage with your audience in the most effective way:

• Device Targeting: You can set your ads to show on any device, including desktops, tablets and smartphones
• Locations and Language Targeting: You can set your campaign’s ads to show to customers in a particular location (as broad as the continent or as focused as the postcode or mile radius around a specific area), or to customers who have chosen your selected language as their browser’s language settings
• Bidding and Budget Settings: Your bid strategy controls how you pay for users to interact with your ads. Your bid limit is the most you will pay per click for ads in that ad group. Your budget is the average amount that you’re willing to spend each day on your campaign. The budget is set by you and can be increased or decreased at any time
• Ad Extensions: Ad extensions are a brilliant set of tools that enable you to add even more details to your adverts – such as location, links to pages on your website and your phone number

So no matter what your goals are (to increase online sales, bring in new website visitors, or get the phones ringing), Google Ads can most definitely help you hit those!

I’ve been working with Google Ads since 2007 and have experience in all campaign types for large and small companies. Please get in touch if you would like to chat about how I can help you get the most out of Google Ads for your business.