Google Ads Demand Gen: Key Updates, Best Practices, and 2025 Strategies
Feb 17, 2025Google Ads continues to evolve, and one of the most significant areas of focus in 2025 is Google Demand Gen campaigns. With major updates being introduced, this campaign type is set to play a key role in digital marketing strategies. Understanding its latest features, best practices, and how it compares to other Google Ads campaign types is essential for maximizing results.
Key Updates to Google Demand Gen Targeting
One of the major updates to Google Demand Gen campaigns is the introduction of channel control. Previously, these campaigns ran across multiple placements, including YouTube Ads, Google Discover, Gmail, and Shorts, without precise control over budget allocation per channel. The latest updates allow advertisers to select specific placements, enabling targeted spending. Advertisers can now create YouTube Shorts-only campaigns or specify budgets for YouTube in-stream ads, YouTube in-feed ads, Gmail ads, and Google Display Network placements.
Another key change is the transition of Video Action campaigns into Demand Gen. By July 2025, all Google Video Action campaigns will migrate into this format. Understanding how Google Demand Gen Ads operate will become even more crucial as businesses shift to the updated system.
Conversion Tracking Enhancements for Demand Gen
To align Google Demand Gen campaigns with social media advertising platforms like Meta Ads and TikTok Ads, Google has introduced a new set of conversion tracking reporting columns. These columns now include view-through conversions, which track users who see an ad but convert later through another channel, such as Google Search Ads or Google Shopping Ads. This allows for a more accurate comparison between Google Demand Gen vs Meta Adsperformance. It is important to ensure attribution windows and tracking methods are consistent across platforms when evaluating performance.
Best Practices for Demand Gen in E-Commerce
For e-commerce brands, Google Demand Gen campaigns should be structured differently from traditional Google Ads campaigns. Since location targeting and language targeting now operate at the ad group level, the best approach is to run a single Demand Gen campaign with multiple ad groups, rather than splitting budgets across multiple campaigns.
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Bidding Strategy: Avoid Max Clicks and instead use Max Conversions or Target CPA for conversion-focused optimization. Target ROAS should only be used once sufficient data is collected.
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Ad Groups: Each ad group should contain 40–50 products, but no fewer than 10, to ensure Google’s AI-powered ad optimization has enough data.
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Placement Optimization: Regularly check Google Ads placements and exclude low-performing placements, particularly within YouTube Ads.
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Audience Targeting: Monitor audience segment performance and adjust accordingly. If a Lookalike Audience performs well but receives little traffic, moving it to its own Google Ads ad group can help drive conversions.
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Demand Gen for Lead Generation
For lead generation, Google Demand Gen Ads can be an effective tool when structured correctly. Two primary strategies exist:
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Data Power Approach – This method includes multiple ad formats (image ads and video ads) within each ad group, allowing Google Ads automation to allocate budget dynamically to the highest-performing ads.
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Conservative Control Approach – This strategy assigns one ad format per ad group, enabling better control over Google CPA bidding and budget allocation for each creative type.
While offline conversion tracking enhances Google Demand Gen campaign performance, these campaigns can still be successful without it. When running both Google Performance Max and Google Demand Gen Ads in the same account, it is best to turn off optimized targeting in Demand Gen to maintain audience control and avoid overlap.
The Role of Google Demand Gen in 2025
With Google Search Ads CPCs rising and AI-driven search tools changing user behavior, mid-funnel advertising will become a critical part of digital marketing strategies. Google’s investment in YouTube Ads and video-based advertising signals the importance of video marketing in attracting and engaging potential customers. Advertisers who adopt Google Demand Gen Ads early can take advantage of lower CPCs before competition increases.
As Google continues to refine and expand the capabilities of Google Demand Gen campaigns, businesses should incorporate this format into their Google Ads strategy to stay ahead of market trends and capitalize on its growing effectiveness.