Google Ads campaign types: which one should you use?

This article has been updated in September 2026.

Google Ads is the most important but also the most complete advertising network when you are starting with ad campaign strategy.

Google Ads offers seven main campaign types in 2026: Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, Shopping, Video, Display and App. Each one reaches people at a different moment, from an active search to passive browsing on YouTube or Gmail. The right choice depends on your objective, your available creative assets and the quality of your conversion data.

Key takeaways

• Intent first: Search and Shopping capture people who are already looking for what you sell.

• Automation needs data: Performance Max and Demand Gen rely on Google AI, so their results depend on accurate conversion tracking and, ideally, CRM data sent back to Google Ads.
  
  

What are the Google Ads campaign types available?

Google Ads currently lists 6 campaign types: Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, Shopping, Video and App.

Search and Shopping Google Ads campaigns respond to a query. Video and Demand Gen reach audiences while they browse. Performance Max covers every Google channel from a single campaign, and App campaigns promote iOS and Android applications.

When should you use a Search campaign?

Use a Search campaign when people already search for your product, service or problem on Google. Text ads appear on the results page for the keywords you target, and you pay per click. Search remains the most controllable campaign type and the usual first investment for B2B companies with a limited budget.

Responsive search ads have replaced expanded text ads: you supply several headlines and descriptions, and Google assembles the combinations.

Google introduced AI Max for Search in 2025, an optional set of features that extends keyword matching, adapts ad text, and can choose the landing page for you.

I would suggest using AI Max on Search when your current keywords reach all possible traffic and you are looking for new search queries. What is super important is for your website content to be strong. You have detailed, mobile-friendly pages or landing pages, well-optimized because the AI will get the messaging from there. Also, you need to have a good conversion history and tracking to train the AI. Google suggests not to use AI Max on brand-new accounts because of the lack of conversion data and established negative keyword list. 

Bidding on a competitor's brand name is allowed, but clicks are usually expensive and quality scores low. Remarketing to people who visited your own site is often a cheaper way to win the comparison.

What is Performance Max and who is it for?

Performance Max is a goal-based campaign type that serves ads across all Google channels (Search, YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Maps) from a single campaign. You provide assets, a budget and a conversion goal, and Google AI decides where and to whom ads are shown. It suits advertisers with reliable conversion tracking.

Performance Max launched in 2021 and has since absorbed Smart Shopping and Local campaigns. Its main weakness for B2B is that it optimizes toward whatever conversion you give it. If that conversion is a raw form fill, it will find cheap form fills, including spam. Sending qualified-lead or deal-stage data from your CRM back to Google Ads corrects this. 

What is a Demand Gen campaign?

Demand Gen is a campaign type that combines image and video ads to reach people in Google's feeds: YouTube (including Shorts), Discover, Gmail, Maps and the Google Display Network. It replaced Discovery campaigns in 2023 and Video action campaigns in 2025. It is built to create demand before someone searches, much like paid social.

Demand Gen is the closest Google equivalent to Meta or LinkedIn Ads campaigns: visual creative, audience targeting and lookalike segments built from your customer lists. It works well for remarketing to site visitors and CRM contacts, and for introducing a product to audiences similar to your existing customers.

Google has also begun moving Display campaigns into Demand Gen. According to Google Ads Help, eligible advertisers can migrate existing Display campaigns voluntarily since June 2026, and remaining eligible campaigns will be migrated automatically at a later date. 

How do Shopping campaigns work?

Shopping campaigns display product ads with an image, title, price and store name directly in Google search results and the Shopping tab. Instead of keywords, they use a product feed in Google Merchant Center, which Google matches to queries. They are intended for retailers and e-commerce businesses selling physical products.

Because the feed is connected to your e-commerce platform, product ads update on their own: a price change is reflected in the ad, and an out-of-stock item stops being advertised. Feed quality (titles, categories, images) plays the role that keywords play in Search. Most retailers now run standard Shopping alongside, or inside, Performance Max with a Merchant Center feed.

Which video ad formats can you run on YouTube?

Video campaigns run on YouTube and Google video partners in three main formats:

• skippable in-stream ads, which viewers can skip after five seconds;

• non-skippable in-stream ads of up to 15 seconds;

• and six-second bumper ads that cannot be skipped.

Shorts and in-feed placements are also available.

My advice is to combine a longer skippable ad, which tells the story, with bumpers that repeat the key message, so you multiply touchpoints at a low cost. Video campaigns today are aimed at reach, views and consideration.

Are Display campaigns still availaible on Google Ads?

Google is consolidating Display into Demand Gen.

Demand Gen, Video and Performance Max targeting relies on two audience families: 

• Behaviour and interests: Google segments such as in-market audiences (people actively comparing a product or service), affinity audiences and custom segments built from search terms or competitor URLs.

• People who have interacted with your brand. It is your data segments: website visitors, app users, YouTube viewers and Customer Match lists uploaded from your CRM. With third-party cookies less reliable and consent requirements stricter (Law 25 in Quebec, Consent Mode v2), these first-party lists have become the most valuable audience source.

What are App campaigns?

App campaigns promote an iOS or Android application across Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover and the Display Network from one campaign. Formerly called Universal App Campaigns, they are fully automated: you supply text, images, video and a bid, and Google generates the ads and optimizes for installs or in-app actions.

How do you choose the right Google Ads campaign type?

Choose by objective. To capture existing demand, start with Search, plus Shopping if you sell products online. To scale conversions with solid tracking, add Performance Max. To create demand or remarket with visuals, use Demand Gen. For awareness, use Video. To promote a mobile app, use App campaigns.