When you hear "Google Ads" what comes to mind? For some, it might be pay-per-click text ads. For others shopping ads. And for others, performance max. Google currently offers nine distinctively different ad types, and understanding each one is crucial for making the most of your digital marketing campaigns.
Our Digital Marketing team gets questions about these options all the time, and we've developed this comprehensive guide to help you get familiar with each type and understand how to use them effectively.
Google Ad Types
Let's break down all nine ad types to get familiar with what they look like, how they work, and when to use them.
1. Search Ads
Where: Google search results pages
Why: Best for promoting web pages and web content that uses targeted keywords
What: Search ads are text-based ads that look like typical link listings in a person’s search engine results page (SERP). And while they are subject to some of the same performance guidelines as organic links, these simple, text-based ads are one of the most direct options available when you’re looking to use your CPC budget to earn web traffic for pages related to target keywords.
2. Display Ads
Where: Found on millions of websites, apps, and other properties in Google’s display network
Why: Best for building awareness across platforms, focused on new markets
What: If you’ve ever Googled something one day only to find a convenient ad for it on a random website or social platform a few days later, it was probably a display ad. Display ads are visually oriented promotions that run on Google’s greater display network — which includes millions of websites and apps as well as connected Google properties like Gmail and YouTube. Display ads reach users with visual advertisements that are based on their recent Google searches. Those visual ads are then displayed across platforms, devices, and locations.
3. Shopping Ads
Where: Scattered throughout Google Shopping, SERPs, Images, Maps, and partner results
Why: Best for promoting physical products that are included in Google Merchant Center
What: Shopping ads pull data from product feeds within the Google Merchant Center. They are different from Search ads because they are auto-populated, meaning advertisers don’t need to provide any original images or copy to use them. Using data from current Merchant Center feeds, Shopping ads present people with quick hits of basic product info, which may include things like price cuts, user ratings, brand names, selling points, and more.
4. Video Ads
Where: YouTube, placed before, during, or after YouTube uploads, in YouTube’s home and search feeds, and across the Google Partners Network
Why: Best for promoting video content or dynamic content geared towards highly engaged audiences
What: Video ads are true to their name, making them a rather straightforward option. Google Video ads are hosted on YouTube and that is largely where they are encountered by intended viewers, although some can be added to other spaces within Google’s video partners network. Video ads come in six different formats, which determine when and where the ad is played. These options range from skippable in-stream ads that play before, during, or after another video that is viewed, to masthead ads that are found at the top of a user’s YouTube home feed.
5. App Ads
Where: Google Play Store search results and suggestions, SERPs, YouTube feeds, Google Discover, and across the Search Partner Network.
Why: Best for promoting existing apps or teasing apps that are “coming soon” to Android platforms exclusively
What: For anyone selling or promoting an app, App ads are essentially the equivalent of Shopping ads. Advertisers only need to provide some basic text, set their language preferences, and establish a budget. Then, Google uses data from the app’s Play Store listing to automatically create and test different visual layouts and relevant keyword combos for ads that are auto-populated throughout Play Store search results and suggestions lists.
6. Discovery Ads
Where: Google’s Discover feed, YouTube homepages and Watch Next feeds, Gmail Promotion tabs
Why: Best for targeting purchase-ready users
What: Discover ads are geared toward Android and Apple users and are placed in Google’s Discovery feed. These ads are somewhat unique in that they rely on scalable, intent-targeted machine learning to cater ads to specific user feeds based on their search histories, app usage and preferences, and other online behavioral patterns. Discover ads also include multiple images, headlines, and descriptive copy options, allowing Google to test different iterations of an ad to place the most effective combinations possible in front of targeted individuals who are already browsing in these spaces.
7. Local Service Ads
Where: Google Maps and SERPs
Why: Best for advertising geo-specific services or products to localized audiences
What: While Local Services ads aren’t part of the core Google Ads group, they are still an option Google Ad users have at their disposal and should be considered when marketing to localized audiences or promoting geo-specific offerings. As the name suggests, these ads connect customers within geo-specific audiences to products and services offered within those designated areas. Any localized advertisers can create ads within the Local Services Ad hub so long as they meet Google’s insurance, licensing, and background check requirements.
8. Performance Max
Where: Across all Google advertising channels
Why: Used to create channel-agnostic ads that can be automatically optimized for audiences across Google ad properties
What: Performance Max launched in late 2021, and has since been referred to by Google as the future of their ad offerings. With its easy-to-use campaign setup features and its integration with Google AI machine learning models that optimize ad creation and performance, Performance Max offers several advantages over single-channel ad types. Mainly, it gives advertisers the ability to automate ad campaigns across all Google Ads properties simultaneously. Many of those single-ad channels, like Smart Shopping, have already been transitioned to Performance Max as of 2023.
9. Smart Ads
Where: Google SERPs, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and Search Partner sites
Why: Best used for goal-centric campaigns that prioritize conversion types over specific ad channels.
What: Smart Ads are a somewhat limited alternative to Performance Max. Instead of automating entire cross-platform campaigns using elements from a single source to create finished ads, Smart Ads use some of the same automation features while requiring a bit more of a hands-on approach. Smart Ads require advertisers to provide original copy images, or other creative assets and to set their own audience preferences, keywords, and bidding parameters. Then, Smart Ads allows Google to automatically display the resulting ads in a way that prioritizes specific conversion types over specific channels. Basically, Smart Ads offers the helpful automation tools that make Performance Max so useful but also allows them to create campaigns that are centralized around more specific goals, like driving more web traffic, getting more video views, or winning more localized leads.
Building a Smart Google Ads Strategy
Understanding Google's ad types is a great start – but knowing what's available is very different from knowing what to use. While we've outlined general "Why" recommendations for each ad type, these are just starting points. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - always start with a strategy that considers your industry, audience characteristics, marketing goals and business objectives. What works for one business might underperform in another. Success isn't about using every ad format; it's about using the right ones strategically.
This is exactly where CID's digital marketing and strategy experts excel. We don't just manage Google Ads – we partner with you to develop comprehensive digital marketing strategies that deliver measurable results. From initial account setup to ongoing campaign optimization, our team brings the expertise, creativity, and dedicated attention your digital marketing initiatives need to succeed.
Ready to transform your Google Ads strategy? Contact CID to get started!
All ad example images in this post via Zapier
"Bring in the Klinkhammer," they said...and we did! Amy is part of our award-winning marketing & strategy team where she writes for ads, email, the web, video and so much more. She also drinks too much coffee and spends too much time debating the Oxford comma.