Marketers who plan on running video campaigns in Google Ads have the option to select a campaign goal when creating a new campaign. Here are the goal options Google Ads will present to you when creating a new campaign.
Depending on what video campaign you had in mind, there are some feature limitations you will want to remember before creating the campaign. In this post, I want to show you what bidding options you have depending on what the goals of your video campaigns will be to make your video campaign set up a lot more efficient. Let’s begin.
Sales
“Drive sales online, in app, by phone, or in store”
The first goal type we have in Google Ads is Sales. PPC advertisers cannot run video campaigns on the Sale goal option. Now you might be thinking, “But what about TrueView for Shopping campaigns?” Good question. Just hold on a bit. We’ll get to that soon, but we’re done with this one already. Onto the next!
Leads
“Get leads and other conversions by encouraging customers to take action”
For the marketers looking to set up a TrueView for Action campaign, you’ll want to select the Leads goal. (You can use Website Traffic goal for TrueView for Action, but most likely you’ll choose Leads). The only bidding option we have when selecting the Leads goal is Target CPA.
Target CPA for video campaigns work differently than they do with search campaigns. Yes, you still need to have conversion tracking set up. With video campaigns, Google Ads uses conversion data from all campaigns to try and predict how likely an engagement (element clicks or 10 seconds viewed) from the video ad will lead to a conversion. Do not think your video campaigns need to have a massive amount of direct conversions to make this bidding strategy work.
Website Traffic
“Get the right people to visit your website”
Pretty much the exact same options as the Leads campaign goal. TrueView for Action does work for the Website Traffic goal, and also has Target CPA as the only bidding strategy option.
Product and Brand Consideration
“Encourage people to explore your products or services”
I didn’t forget you asking about TrueView for Shopping campaigns. Product and Brand Consideration is the goal type you are going to have to choose if you want to show products from the Merchant Center alongside your YouTube ads; not Sales. And if you’re ready to launch your YouTube Shopping campaign, Maximum CPV is the only option you have.
If you want to test out the newer video ad sequencing feature as a campaign subtype, you’ll still need to select Product and Brand Consideration goal. You do, however, get more bidding options. Ad sequencing campaigns can use Target CPM, Maximum CPV, or Maximum CPM.
Brand Awareness and Reach
“Reach a broad audience and build awareness”
There are four campaign subtypes under the Brand Awareness and Reach campaign goal. Here they all are with a brief description of each straight from the campaign set up process.
And here are the bidding strategy options for each campaign subtype under the Brand Awareness and Reach goal.
- Standard Awareness – Maximum CPV and Maximum CPM
- Skippable In-Stream – Target CPM only
- Outstream – Viewable CPM only
- Ad Sequence – (Just like previous goal type) Target CPM, Maximum CPV, or Maximum CPM.
Create a Campaign without a Goal’s Guidance
“Use any available campaign type and construct a campaign step-by-step without a goal’s recommendations”
If you don’t have a specific campaign goal in mind and just want to run a video to certain audiences, you can choose the final video campaign goal option that doesn’t offer any guidance. Now if you’re thinking you have free reign to use whatever bidding strategies you want in this campaign goal, think again. We only have two subtypes to choose from with limited bidding options.
Standard video campaigns only allow Maximum CPV or Maximum CPM. Ad sequencing strikes once again with the options of Target CPM, Maximum CPV, or Maximum CPM.
Good Luck Creating Your Video Campaigns
Hopefully, you have a better idea of which campaign goal and possibly subtype you’ll need to choose for your video campaigns. And with certain bidding strategies only available for certain subtypes, you can set up the proper expectations on how your video campaigns might perform. If your selected subtype has more than one option, test out each bidding strategy to find the one that works best for your video campaigns and maximize your results.
Which YouTube bidding options are your favorites? We’d love to hear your thoughts in comments!
