ALL 22 Types of Google Ads (+When & How to Use Them)

How they work: Similar to other campaigns run by Google, you have a say in the ad assets you provide, like text and images, but when it comes to managing actual placements of your ads, the platform takes care of it all for you.
Who they’re best for: Advertisers that don’t have a lot of time to manage their Google Ads account could benefit from this fully automated type of campaign, but in general, we don’t recommend using Smart campaigns since you don’t have much control.
The types of Google Video ads you can create are as follows:
Here are the pros and cons of Performance Max campaigns:

Table of contents

How many different types of Google ads are there?

How they work: You bid on keywords relevant to your offer so that when people search something related (or identical) to those keywords on Google, your ad will show at the top of the results page (assuming your ad wins the Google Ads auction).
An example of a Search ad out in the wild.

Given all campaigns, there are 22 types of Google ads:

1. Google Search campaigns

What they are: Another automated type of Google Ads campaign, Performance Max wraps up all your assets in one swoop for goal-based advertising across all of Google’s network. This means that your ads could show on the SERP, in Google Maps, across the Google Display Network, YouTube, Gmail, and Discovery networks.
How they work: Businesses complete their Google Business Profile and go through an extensive verification process. Once you’re approved, your ad will appear with a green badge or check-mark, and you only pay when a customer contacts you from your ad
What they are: Shopping campaigns are vital to any business selling products. They are the visual ads you see on the Search and Shopping tabs on Google.
Within Search campaigns you’ll get the following ad format options:
Those feed placements include Gmail (the Promotions and Social tab feeds), YouTube (the Home feed and Watch Next feed), and the Google app (the Discover feed).

Types of Google Search ads

That’s why we’ve broken down every single type of Google ad—including what they are, who they’re best for, their subtypes, and pros and cons—so you can know which are best for your business to try.

• Responsive search ads: These ads cycle through up to 15 headlines and four descriptions to serve ads tailored to individual queries in real time. Check out our responsive search ad template for tips on RSA ad copy.

To narrow your targeting since your product feed subs in for your keywords, you’ll rely on negative keywords and other targeting parameters, like location settings and more.

• Call ads: These ads are meant to drive calls to your business by promoting a clickable phone number as the headline. Be sure to use call tracking if you use this ad type!

• Dynamic Search Ads: Dynamic Search Ads are created for you by Google using information from your website content and a short description blurb that you provide. They look identical to any other Search ad when shown on the SERP, but can be helpful for businesses with a nicely built-out website that want to leverage that (and Google) to freshen up their ad copy strategy.

Google Search ad pros & cons

What they are: Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are not run through the Google Ads platform, but they do appear on Google Search. When customers click on the ads, they can either call your business or message you.

• Easy to set up. Check out our Search campaign tutorial here.
• Targeting users based on particular keywords mean you’re attracting higher-intent traffic.
• High-intent traffic means high return on investment. The average ROI for search ads is 200%.

What they are: Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are not run through the Google Ads platform, but they do appear on Google Search. When customers click on the ads, they can either call your business or message you.

• Generally cheaper than Search campaigns.
• Visual ads can be more appealing to new audiences.
• Tons of customizable targeting options. (You actually can target keywords with Display ads, but audiences and topics are more common.)

What they are: Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are not run through the Google Ads platform, but they do appear on Google Search. When customers click on the ads, they can either call your business or message you.

• Visual ads. Shopping ads contain real photos of the product you’re selling, which makes them more attractive than text ads.
• Shopping ads can appear both in the regular Search tab and the Shopping tab. Also, more than one of your Shopping ads can appear for a given user search and, if relevant, a Shopping ad and a text ad can appear at the same time.
• Shopping ads allow you indicate special attributes like “Black-owned,” “price drop,” and more.

This is especially helpful if your business falls into a niche market and your Search campaigns are sluggish. A Display ad can trigger more branded searches that can then boost your Search campaign. In fact, you can track any indirect conversions that originated from a Display campaign through view-through conversions.

• No keyword targeting means you have to be on top of your negative keyword game, or you’ll likely see irrelevant traffic to your landing pages.
• Your shopping feed needs to be optimized in order to create high-quality ads for the right consumer.
• Requires Merchant Center account setup and integration with your ecommerce site, which can be involved.

5. Google Smart campaigns

This is especially helpful if your business falls into a niche market and your Search campaigns are sluggish. A Display ad can trigger more branded searches that can then boost your Search campaign. In fact, you can track any indirect conversions that originated from a Display campaign through view-through conversions.

• Requires a marketing budget some advertisers may not be able to afford. PMax needs to be able to collect a good chunk of data to fully optimize out of its initial learning period, so if you don’t have at least $50-100 to spend per day you may fail to see your desired results.
• Not for beginners. PMax requires you to provide a number of assets, including text, images, logos, videos, feeds, audience data, geo-targeting preferences, and more. An advertiser totally new to the PPC game might not yet know what would be best to plug into a Performance Max campaign.
• Not recommended for lead generation businesses.
• Requires an understanding of how your other campaigns are impacted.

You can find more Display ad examples here.

• Require a 3.0 average review rating to remain active.
• Any reviews you get on your LSA profile will disappear from your organic Google Business Profile when you stop advertising. Learn more with these seven LSA tips.

What’s the best type of Google ad for you?

Pros and cons: Since Google creates and manages this campaign type, you’re saving lots of time. But lack of manual control can mean a lot of trial and error with Google’s machine learning.
What they are: Search campaigns are known as the “OG” type of Google ad.