How to Select the Most Suitable Google Ads Campaign Type for Your Marketing Goals

Google Ads, Google’s advertising platform, allows you to display ads on search engines, as well as on partner websites, apps, and videos. You might be wondering how to choose the Google Ads campaign type that best fits your marketing goals?

Understanding Your Campaign Goals

Before selecting the right campaign type for you, it’s crucial to precisely identify the goals you aim to achieve with Google Ads. These goals will guide your strategic decisions and make it easier to assess the effectiveness of your efforts.

Identify Your Marketing Goals

Google Ads offers a variety of campaign types tailored to your marketing objectives, such as:

• Increasing brand or product awareness
• Driving traffic to your website or app
• Encouraging visitors to take a specific action on your platform (sign-up, purchase, request a quote, etc.)
• Boosting loyalty among your current customers or encouraging them to make a new purchase

You have the flexibility to choose one or more of these objectives offered by Google Ads, or opt for a campaign without a specific objective if you want more flexibility and control over the settings.

Understand Your Target Audience

Once you have defined your marketing goals, it’s essential to understand the audience you are targeting. Ask yourself the following questions to define your audience:

• What is the profile of your potential customers? Their interests, needs, and motivations?
• How do they search for your products or services online? What keywords do they use, and what websites do they visit?
• What path do they follow before making a purchasing decision?

The answers to these questions will help you establish effective targeting criteria for your campaigns, including keywords, audiences, locations, and devices.

Define Your Advertising Budget

Your advertising budget represents the amount you are willing to allocate to your Google Ads campaigns. It includes:

• Campaign budget: The maximum amount allocated to a specific campaign, either per day or per month.
• Cost per click (CPC): What you pay each time a user clicks on your ad, determined by your keyword bids and influenced by competition and ad quality.

To set your budget, consider your marketing goals, target audience, and expected return on investment (ROI). Tools like the Keyword Planner or Bid Simulator can help you estimate traffic and possible conversions with a given budget and CPC.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to choose the Google Ads campaign type that best aligns with your needs and marketing goals.

Main Types of Google Ads Campaigns

Each Google Ads campaign has its own specifics, such as ad type and format or the advertising network concerned. Here are the main campaign types available on Google Ads:

Search Network Campaigns

These campaigns allow you to place text ads in Google search results, enabling you to achieve top positions. The ads consist of a title, description, and URL and are triggered by searches for keywords related to your business. They are ideal for driving visitors to your site, generating leads, or increasing your sales.

Display Campaigns

Display campaigns let you show visual ads (banners, images, videos) across Google’s network of partner sites. These ads can target users based on various criteria such as keywords, interests, demographics, or online behavior. They are perfect for increasing brand awareness or converting visitors into customers.

Video Campaigns (YouTube)

This campaign type allows you to display video ads on YouTube and other partner sites. Like Display campaigns, targeting can be done based on various criteria, making these campaigns ideal for brand awareness, attracting visitors to a site or app, and encouraging action.

App Campaigns

App campaigns promote your app across various networks like the Search Network, Display Network, YouTube, and Google Play. Ads are automatically created from the elements you provide, such as the app name, description, images, or videos. They are ideal for increasing downloads, installations, or actions within your app.

Shopping Campaigns

Shopping campaigns showcase your products through ads on the Search Network, Display Network, YouTube, and Google Shopping. These ads include an image, title, price, and store name, grabbing the attention of users searching for products similar to yours. They are perfect for businesses looking to drive traffic to their website or physical store and boost product sales.

Performance Max Campaigns

Performance Max campaigns offer an innovative solution based on specific goals, allowing you to leverage the entire Google Ads inventory through a single campaign, optimized by Google’s AI. You provide various elements such as images, videos, titles, and descriptions, which helps create customized ads for each channel and targeted audience. They are ideal for businesses seeking optimal ROI from their advertising budget, aligned with their marketing goals.

Choosing the Right Campaign Type Based on Your Goals

After exploring the different types of Google Ads campaigns, the question arises: how do you determine which one is most suited to your marketing goals?

For Lead Generation and Conversions

If your goal is to generate leads and conversions, that is, to obtain qualified contacts or increase sales, Search Network campaigns, Shopping campaigns, and App campaigns are the most suitable choices. They target users precisely when they are searching for your products or services. Call campaigns are also interesting for encouraging users to contact you directly by phone.

For Brand Awareness and Engagement

To boost your brand’s awareness and audience engagement, focus on campaigns that display visual and creative ads. Display and Video campaigns are particularly suitable, allowing you to reach a broad audience across Google’s network of websites, apps, and video partners. Performance Max campaigns also stand out by providing access to the entire Google Ads inventory with AI optimization.

For Traffic to Your Website or App

If your priority is to increase traffic to your website or app, opt for campaigns that drive clicks on your ads. Search Network campaigns, Display campaigns, Shopping campaigns, and Video campaigns meet this need perfectly by presenting your products or services attractively and informatively. App campaigns are also an excellent way to promote your app across various channels like the Search Network, Display Network, YouTube, and Google Play.