Demand Gen in Google Ads: how to set up Discovery ads

Google Ads Discovery units are a relatively new display format. The current name of this format is a Demand Gen campaign. Its inventory now extends beyond Google-owned surfaces to the Google Display Network.

The ad looks like a banner built around an image. Demand Gen can place it across these surfaces:

• on YouTube between videos, while they scroll the video feed;
• under the video they are watching on YouTube;
• in Gmail, as a mail-like unit;
• on the Chrome New Tab news feed that Google shows;
• in Google Maps;
• on eligible Google Display Network inventory.

Legacy Discovery stayed mostly inside Google products, but current Demand Gen can extend to the Google Display Network. Review channel controls and placement reporting instead of assuming that partner sites are excluded automatically.

Advantages of Discovery ads

1. In Google Discovery you can build several ad types:

• image;
• video;
• a carousel ad.

The carousel is the unusual one. It shows a person several of your products or services at once (from 2 to 10). They can swipe through up to 10 cards, each with its own title, image, and link. That format fits an advertiser with more than one offer. You can also split one product’s features across cards. One ad then carries a lot more information.

2. A Discovery campaign is built for lead generation. The person is asked to:

• download a catalog, price list, or lead magnet;
• book a consultation;
• register on the site or for a webinar;
• subscribe to news or a newsletter;
• join a community;
• create an account.

Those actions share one trait: they do not ask the person for effort, spend, and a final decision to buy on the spot.

3. Discovery usually delivers a higher CTR than other display formats. It tends to outperform Performance Max and the Display Network. Against Search, Discovery usually has a lower cost per click.
4. Discovery leans toward mobile users, so it reaches a large audience. The site still has to work well on a phone.
5. Discovery on YouTube brings in leads that later convert. Unlike a Search campaign, Discovery does not close a sale right now. The path from view to action is often indirect. The person may not convert immediately, but the message is easy to take in and easy to remember. Over time that person can become a customer.
6. A Discovery campaign does not take long to launch. Automated bidding and AI targeting are decent at finding people who might care about the business. This is not a hot audience already searching for a specific offer. From their behavior on the web, Google can still see who is easier to nudge toward the action you want.

How to create Discovery campaigns and what to watch

1. In your Google Ads account, create a new campaign.
2. For Goal, the better choice is Do not select a goal.
3. For Campaign type, choose Demand Gen. Discovery is the old name, so new Google Ads accounts may no longer show it.

Discovery campaign settings

1. In Conversions, mark only the main actions you want from a visitor. If you tick many conversion actions, the system performs worse.
2. Name the Discovery campaign so the name itself shows the product, the funnel stage, the campaign type, the country, and the language. Example: MG_Web_DGen_US_EN.
3. For the campaign goal you can pick:
   • Conversions: the main choice.
   • Clicks: I do not recommend it.
   • Conversion value: in Discovery, conversions do not produce direct revenue, so this goal can leave you with few impressions.
4. Do not set a target CPA on day one. If you have not run display yet, you cannot guess the real conversion cost. Set the number too low and you get no impressions, then you lose time. Let Google pick the conversion price first, then take that process under your control.
5. Budget is the amount you will spend in one day and can afford to lose. The first days of Discovery rarely look efficient, until enough stats have piled up.
6. Locations of the people who should see the Discovery ads.
7. Audience language. You can pick more than one.
8. Devices: leave computers, tablets, and mobile on, and turn TVs off.

At this point the campaign shell is in place: conversions, budget, geo, language, and devices. Next come ad groups and the ads themselves. Without those, Demand Gen still has nothing to show.

Creating a Discovery ad group

Each ad group points at its own audience. You need as many groups as you have audience signals. In practice you build only the first one. The rest copy every field except the audience signal. That part is unique to each group.

Google’s official documentation shows that Demand Gen runs in YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and Discover feeds.

Name the group the same way you named the audience signal, so you can find it later. Audience signals are built from demographics, interests, in-market intent, and remarketing lists.

Do not turn on optimized targeting at the start. Google then adds people who are not in your audiences. If you switch that on immediately, the data gets mixed and later analysis gets harder. You can add optimized targeting later, once the first stats exist and you want to test how Google expands.

The Discovery ad

1. You can now create 3 ad types:

• Single image: the main choice.
• Video ad performs worse than video built in a Video campaign. It can also steal a large share of impressions from your other Discovery ads.
• Carousel image ad.

Most of the time (98%) Google serves the first type. The other two get only 2%. In a Demand Gen campaign, the single-image ad is the one that works.

2. In Final URL, put the landing page the person should open after the click.
3. Add images, logos, headlines, and descriptions.

• To add an image, go to Uploads and pick the best product photos from the Asset library. Each photo can get 3 crop variants. You can upload 20 images in total.
• Upload logos in advance. Here you pick up to 5 ready variants and set the crop.
• Headlines differ from Search. In Discovery they are longer (40 characters, not 30). The job is not “buy now”. It is to get the person to take the target action. Write headlines and descriptions for a Discovery unit, not as a copy of Search ads.

4. Call to action is the text the person reads on the button that opens the site. By default Google Ads picks the call to action it thinks is best in each case. The list includes:

• Shop now;
• Sign up;
• Get quote;
• Learn more, and similar options.

Pick the call to action and the language yourself, so they match the goal exactly.

5. Enter your business name.

How to make many ads for different audiences

When the ad is ready, Google offers Review and save. Before that, duplicate the ad. To do it:

1. On the left, next to the first Ad group, click the 3 dots and choose Make a copy.
2. Click Select audience and attach a different audience signal.
3. When every signal has its ads, go to Review campaign.

After policy review, the Discovery ads go live. A couple of weeks later you can see which audience works better.

Demand Gen launch checklist

1. Pick one primary conversion: a form fill, a registration, a lead magnet, or an account creation.
2. Split audiences into separate groups: remarketing, similar interests, in-market intent, demographics.
3. Run the first days without a hard target CPA if the account has no fresh stats.
4. Prepare images for a mobile feed: the product, a person, the result, and clear contrast.
5. Check the landing page on a phone: speed, first screen, form, and a clear next step.
6. Do not dump every audience signal into one group. You will not be able to tell what worked.
7. Judge the campaign after conversion data accumulates, not by CTR and CPC in the first days.

Conclusions on a Discovery campaign

Discovery Ads are a practical way to tell a large audience about the product. Competition in this format is still lighter than in Search, and the ad itself gives a picture of the offer before anyone hits the site. You can test several audiences and keep the ones that produce results.

Optimizing to conversions beats neighboring display campaigns. Discovery is quick to set up and not complicated, so it is worth a live test on your own business.

What next?

Article (topic)	Description
Google Ads campaign types
Search ads
Shopping campaigns
Performance Max
YouTube ads
Discovery ads
Display ads