Google Ads offers several campaign types, each designed to reach your audience in different ways across Google’s vast advertising network. Choosing the right type of campaign is essential for meeting your business goals—whether you want more website traffic, online sales, phone calls, or brand visibility.

Understanding how each campaign works helps you align your strategy with your audience’s behavior. At BluMango, we build campaigns that combine the most effective formats for your business and industry.

Search Campaigns

Search campaigns are the most common and widely used format in Google Ads. These text-based ads appear at the top or bottom of Google search results when someone searches for specific keywords related to your business.

Best for:

• Generating leads and inquiries
• Attracting people who are actively searching for your service or product
• Driving targeted traffic to landing pages

Example:
A person searches “digital marketing agency Belgium” and sees a BluMango ad offering a free strategy call.

You are charged only when someone clicks your ad (pay-per-click). These campaigns are highly intent-driven and ideal for capturing people ready to take action.

Display Campaigns

Display campaigns show visual ads—such as banners, graphics, and animations—on websites, mobile apps, and Gmail that are part of Google’s Display Network. This network includes millions of websites where your ads can be shown based on interests, behavior, or demographics.

Best for:

• Building brand awareness
• Retargeting people who visited your website
• Reaching a broader audience while they browse online

Example:
Someone visits your product page and later sees your ad while reading an article on a news website.

Display campaigns are useful for staying top of mind and supporting more direct campaigns like search ads.

Video Campaigns (YouTube Ads)

Video campaigns let you run ads on YouTube and across video partner sites. You can use different formats, including skippable ads, non-skippable ads, in-feed video ads, and bumper ads.

Best for:

• Telling your brand story with rich visuals
• Launching new products or services
• Increasing awareness with targeted video content

Example:
You publish a 30-second video ad promoting your new service. It runs before related YouTube content watched by your ideal audience.

Video campaigns combine creative storytelling with precise targeting based on interests, keywords, or demographics.

Shopping Campaigns

Shopping campaigns are ideal for e-commerce businesses that want to promote products with image, price, store name, and details directly in Google Search results. These ads appear above or beside regular search results when users search for specific products.

Best for:

• Online stores and retailers
• Driving high-intent buyers to product pages
• Showcasing multiple products at once

Example:
A user searches for “leather backpack” and sees several product listings, including your store’s backpack with price, photo, and shipping info.

Shopping ads are managed through Google Merchant Center and work best when your product feed is well-optimized.

Performance Max Campaigns

Performance Max is Google’s most advanced campaign type. It uses machine learning to automate ad placements across all Google channels: Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Maps. You set your goals, provide creative assets, and Google does the rest.

Best for:

• Maximizing reach with a single campaign
• Automating targeting, bidding, and placements
• Businesses with clear conversion goals

Example:
Your campaign automatically adapts and shows ads on Google Search, YouTube pre-rolls, and Gmail promotions based on where your target audience is most active.

Performance Max is powerful when you want to scale quickly and rely on automation.

Local Campaigns (now part of Performance Max)

Previously a standalone option, local campaigns are now included in Performance Max. These campaigns are designed to drive traffic to physical locations by promoting your business across Maps, Search, and YouTube.

Best for:

• Restaurants, stores, and service providers with physical locations
• Getting more foot traffic or local calls
• Promoting offers or store visits

Example:
A person near your store searches for “coffee near me” and sees your local listing with directions, reviews, and business hours.

How to Choose the Right Campaign Type

Choosing the right campaign depends on:

• Your business goals (leads, sales, awareness)
• Your industry (e-commerce, service, B2B)
• Your budget and capacity to create content (images, video, text)
• Your ideal audience and where they spend their time online

At BluMango, we often use a combination of campaigns for best results. For example, a service business might use Search for lead generation, Display for retargeting, and Video for awareness. We also test Performance Max campaigns to automate and scale across channels.