If you’re considering running Google Ads, you’re probably asking yourself “what types of Google Ads campaigns should I run?”.
There are currently 7 different campaign types available in Google Ads, and it can be overwhelming to try and figure out which one might be best for your business.
Let’s take a look at these different types of Google Ads campaigns and when you might want to run them for your business.
The Different Types Of Google Ads Campaigns
Search Campaigns
Search ads appear when people type a search term or phrase into the Google search bar. This campaign type is ideal when you are selling a product or service that people are actively searching for.
Use this when: you want potential customers to find your business on Google search
Display Campaigns
Display ads are show across the Google display network (a network of millions of websites that are signed up to show ads from advertisers on Google).
You can show ads to specifically defined audiences, such as people who have been to your website already (this is called remarketing/retargeting), people who have specific interests, people in certain locations, and a whole host of other custom settings.
Use this when: you want to reach a specific kind of audience that is not necessarily actively searching for your business, products or services
Video Campaigns
If you would like to run video ads, you can set up a video campaign to show your ads on YouTube. This campaign type helps people to become aware of your brand, or you can show them only to people who have been to your website already.
Use this when: you have awesome video content and you’d like to reach people on YouTube through video advertising
Shopping Campaigns
Do you have an e-commerce business? Then a Google Shopping campaign could help you to make more sales online. It does depend on what your products are, what your price point is, and what your ad budget is – sometimes shopping campaigns can be hard to get a decent return on investment (ROI).
Use this when: you have an e-commerce website and your products are unique and expensive enough to get a decent volume of sales
App Campaigns
App campaigns help to drive installations and engagement for your app. This type of campaign has a lot of inbuilt automation and so offers less control than the previously mentioned campaign types.
Use this when: you have an app and you’d like to promote it across as many channels on Google as possible
Local Campaigns
Bricks and mortar stores can use local campaigns on Google Ads to drive people to their physical locations.
To use this campaign type you either need to link your Google Ads account to your Google My Business listing/s or select the relevant affiliate locations within your campaign settings.
Ads in this type of campaign can show on the search network, display network, Google Maps and YouTube.
Again, this is an automated campaign type so there is less control on where and how your ads show.
Use this when: you have physical locations you would like people to visit and buy from
Smart Campaigns
Google promotes the use of smart campaign as ‘the easiest way to get your ads up and running’. They’re essentially similar to AdWords Express which I never recommend, due to the lack of control over how and where your ads show.
If you want to get serious about Google Ads and ensure the best ROI for your ad spend, this is not the campaign type for you.
Use this when: you don’t want to have the hassle of setting up a proper Google Ads campaign but would like some kind of presence on Google’s search and display networks
3 Factors To Consider When Choosing What Kind Of Google Ads Campaigns To Run
Now that you know what the different types of Google Ads campaigns are, how do you work out which type you should be running?
Here are 3 factors that may help you decide.
Your Budget
Firstly, work out what your budget for your Google Ads spend is. What are you comfortable spending – $100? $500? $5,000?
Next look at what Google estimates your search clicks will cost. Google Ads has a really useful tool called the Keyword Planner which will estimate how much different search terms will cost.
Depending on your business type and location, search clicks can cost anything from a few cents to hundreds of dollars – per click!
If you only want to spend $500 on ads per month, but your cost per click for search keywords is going to be around the $10 mark, that means you’ll only be able to get around 50 search clicks per month, and of those, how many will lead to enquires and ultimately sales?
I usually recommend a budget of no less than $600 per month if you choose a search campaign, as this works out to just $20 per day, and anything less can be hard to get enough sales to justify the cost.
Display and remarketing campaigns are generally a lot cheaper as you only pay when people click on your ads, but this depends on your settings and what audience you choose for your campaigns or ad groups. Anything from a few cents to a few dollars is common.
For display campaigns set to a remarketing audience only, most of my clients spend between $20 and $100 per month.
Shopping campaigns can spend thousands if you aren’t careful so be cautious with your keyword bids when you start.
Your Niche
As above, depending on your products and services, and the location around which you’d like to run your ads (for example your suburb only, your city, state, country or beyond), your ads spend may be a few hundred dollars, or potentially thousands.
When your budget and your ad spend align, you’ll have the best chance of a return on investment.
Generally, finance and legal terms are the most expensive types of search clicks – it’s not unusual to see costs per click of $40-100 and even more in these areas.
For most of my clients their costs per click for search campaigns are set between $1 and $5.
For remarketing campaigns, they are around or under $1 per click.
Your Competition
The last factor to consider when deciding what type of Google Ads campaign to run is what level of competition is there in your niche or location.
Are you the only business offering these products or services? Are you the only person in your local area or the area you want to show your ads in?
Do you offer something unique compared to your competitors? And finally, are your competitors using Google Ads already?
How you answer these questions will help you decide if Google Ads might work for your business and if so, what campaign type to choose.
If your competitors are running search ads, you might want to run search ads as well, so you can hopefully get some clicks away from them and to your own site. This can be especially useful if your competitor is showing their ads when someone searches for your exact brand name to try and steal clicks from people looking for your business specifically.
If you’re still unsure, and would like a free, no-obligation review of your business and whether Google Ads could work for you, contact me now.
I’ve been managing Google Ads campaigns since 2013 and will never recommend them if I don’t believe it can help grow your business, brand awareness and sales.
Find out more about my Google Ads management, my Google Ads process and my Google Ads pricing now.
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