Google Ads campaign types, and how to choose one

Google Ads is not only text ads in search results. It also covers video ads on YouTube, image ads on sites and in apps, Shopping ads that show a product photo and a price, and more.

The large choice that decides how you run them is the campaign type. Sort who you want to reach, what you will count as a result, and what assets you can prepare, and the type is easier to choose.

This article compares the role of each type and includes a table for deciding what to try first. If you want the relationship between campaigns and ad groups first, read How Google Ads is structured, and how delivery works.

Separate goal, type, where it shows, and ad format

"I want it on YouTube," "I want to use a video ad," and "I want more inquiries" are different conditions.

The same placement on YouTube can be a Video campaign, Demand Gen, P-MAX, or another option. You may be able to use the same video asset, and the goal you optimize for and the way delivery is managed still differ. Google Ads Help: Choose a campaign type

Choosing a goal such as "Sales" on the creation screen is also separate from being able to measure a completed purchase. Measuring the result requires conversion tracking.

Compare the main campaign types

First, a rough sort of what each type is for and what you prepare. Where ads show depends on settings and eligibility, so these are the typical cases.

Google has announced a plan to fold Display campaigns into Demand Gen. In the official notice checked on October 2, 2026, the migration tool is provided in stages, and consolidating new-campaign creation into one path, and automatically migrating the remaining eligible campaigns, are described as "planned for later." Do not treat the migration as completed across the board. Check the notice in your own account. Google's official migration notice

Search: answer people who are already looking

A Search campaign shows ads against searches for a product or service. A cooking class, for example, can use it to offer a trial lesson to people searching for "bread class trial."

The feature is that you can read interest from the search term and match the ad text and the destination. It is a candidate when you can say concretely who you want to reach by what they search: a local booking service, or a product people compare.

If the product category is not known yet, or you want to convey a value that is hard to put into a search, Search ads alone give you limited contact. Even when people have words they search, you still need to check whether that is purchase intent or only research.

AI Max is a feature inside a Search campaign

AI Max is not an independent campaign type. Inside a Search campaign, it automates matching to search terms, ad assets, and similar work. The name is close to P-MAX, and it is a different thing. Google Ads Help: AI Max

Do not assume that choosing Search means delivery uses only the keywords you registered and the ad text you wrote by hand. Also check which features are on when you create the campaign.

P-MAX: deliver across several surfaces from a result goal

P-MAX (Performance Max) delivers across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, Maps, and similar surfaces. It optimizes bids and delivery from goals such as conversion volume or conversion value. Google Ads Help: P-MAX

The grouping that corresponds to an ad group in Search ads is an asset group. You gather assets that fit the products or destinations you are promoting, and Google combines them for each surface. For product sales, you can also use product data from Merchant Center.

When you consider it, check the following before you check how many places it can show.

• Can you define the result you want to increase as an action, such as a purchase or a valid inquiry?
• Is that result measured correctly?
• Do you have text, images, or video that can convey what the product is, and a destination?
• After delivery, can you check the quality of the results you acquired?

The judgment here comes from a system that optimizes toward a result goal. It does not mean "AI delivers, so you can also leave what counts as a result to it."

Audience signals are clues you give the AI about what a prospect looks like. They are not a setting that limits delivery to only the people you specified. Google's official campaign comparison shows this difference as well.

Do not treat search themes as the same restriction as exact-match keywords in a Search campaign. Google Ads Help: Search themes

Demand Gen: build interest with images and video

Demand Gen uses images, video, and similar assets to prompt interest in a product, or an action such as a purchase or an inquiry. It can deliver on YouTube, Discover, Gmail, the Google Display Network, and similar surfaces. Google Ads Help: Demand Gen

For a cooking class, you might show not only finished bread, but a first-timer making dough, or the flow of the trial day. It is a point of contact for "I was not searching for a class, and I want to try it."

Some of the surfaces overlap with P-MAX. In Demand Gen you can use channel controls to choose surfaces such as YouTube Shorts. What you can actually choose depends on the settings. Google Ads Help: Channel controls

Choosing it only because you have images is weaker than trying it with a hypothesis of who you show what to, and which action that might lead to. The review after delivery is easier.

Delivery on Display, and the name of the type, are separate

Display ads are image ads and similar formats people see while browsing sites and apps. The network of those ad slots is called the Google Display Network (GDN).

Folding Display campaigns in does not mean the GDN ad slots themselves go away. Delivery to the GDN moves into Demand Gen, so keep the name of an existing campaign separate from how you will create campaigns from here. Google's official migration notice

Video: design "being watched" to match the goal

A Video campaign delivers video ads on YouTube and similar surfaces. Uses depend on the goal: reach, which emphasizes getting in front of many people, or views, which emphasizes getting the video watched. Google Ads Help: Video campaigns

For a cooking class, a video that conveys the instructor's manner or the classroom is one option. The metric you emphasize changes depending on whether you want more awareness or you want the video watched through.

A video view and a trial booking are different results. If you deliver with views as the goal, do not evaluate the result by bookings alone. Decide the evaluation before you launch. The reverse also matters. If the ad is meant to increase bookings, do not call it a success from view count alone.

The older "video action campaigns" are being replaced by Demand Gen. Do not use a creation flow from an old explanation, "promote conversions with video," as a current option as it stands. Google's official video action campaign migration notice

Shopping: ads from product data

Shopping ads show a product photo, product name, price, store name, and similar fields. They can run from a standard Shopping campaign, or from P-MAX that uses product data.

The feature is that, instead of registering keywords for delivery the way Search ads do, what gets shown is decided from product data in Merchant Center. Tidying the product name, description, price, inventory, and similar fields is the important work. Google Ads Help: Shopping ads

When you compare a standard Shopping campaign with P-MAX, sort whether you want to manage product ads as the center, or you want to combine product data with text, images, and video and deliver across a wider set of surfaces.

Increasing bookings for a cooking class, and selling bread-making tools online, lead to different candidates. Do not choose Shopping ads only because there is a website. Check whether you have products to sell and can manage the product data.

App: increase installs and in-app actions

An App campaign prompts installs of a mobile app, in-app actions by users, and similar results. It delivers across several surfaces, including Search, Google Play, and YouTube. Google Ads Help: App campaigns

What you need is the app you are promoting, and measurement of the result you want. If you only want more signups for a service people use in a web browser, you do not choose this type only because the name "app" is close.

A table for deciding the type to try first

The following is a guide for choosing, based on the systems above. It is not a ranking that guarantees results, and it is not a correct answer that fits every business.

For trial bookings at a cooking class, Search ads that answer "people looking for a nearby class" can be the first candidate. If you have material that shows what the trial is like, and you want interest from people who have not searched yet, Demand Gen is also a candidate. Even in the same business, the type changes with who you reach and what role the ads play.

Increasing several types at once, from the start, makes the next judgment harder than limiting the test to a range you can evaluate inside the budget.

Before you launch, write down why you chose it

Once you have a candidate, fill this in. It is easier to think, after delivery, whether to continue or what to fix, than if you decide only the campaign type name.

Result you want the ads to increase:
Who you want to reach, and what that person is doing now:
Campaign type you will choose:
Why you choose that type:
Text, images, video, or product data you can prepare:
Where the ad sends people:
Have you confirmed that the result is measured?
Budget you can use, and when you will review:
Metric you will use to decide whether to continue or revise:

After you choose a type, how to assemble the campaign, ad groups, ads, and keywords is in How Google Ads is structured, and how delivery works.

If you want to sort improvements from the ad numbers after you start, Shoryaku AI's Google Ads analysis is available. Put into words the result you want this campaign to increase, and the role of the type you chose. That is the base for judging a change in the numbers.

• Marketing