Demand Generation campaigns are designed to build interest and influence purchasing decisions before potential customers begin actively searching. They are particularly effective for increasing brand awareness, driving product discovery, and supporting long-funnel storytelling strategies. This guide walks you through the steps to create a Google Demand Gen Ads campaign, ensuring you can convert audiences more efficiently across Google’s ecosystem.

Campaign Setup #

From the Ad Manager home screen, click the Create Campaign button. A pop-up appears, allowing you to select Google as the platform to publish your campaign.

📌 Note: If you have not yet connected your Google Ad account, it appears greyed out.

Once you have selected Google, click Next to choose whether to start from scratch or use Ad Manager templates. Ad content creation follows a streamlined three-tier structure:

• Campaign Level
• Ad Group Level
• Ad Level

Each level includes a dedicated configuration process, allowing for more organized and targeted ad management.

Campaign Level Setup #

Name #

Begin by entering a unique and descriptive name for your campaign to help identify it easily.

Campaign Objective #

Select Demand Gen Ads as the campaign objective, then define the campaign goal.

Budget #

You can set a daily budget for the campaign. This functions as a subscription and is charged to the card linked to the connected Google Ads account. Key features include a clear breakdown of daily spend along with the campaign’s start and end dates, and the ability to adjust the budget amount at any time by editing the campaign.

📌 Note: The currency displayed matches the currency configured in your connected Google Ads account, and the campaign’s start and end dates follow the time zone you are in at the time of campaign creation.

Target Cost Per Action #

This setting allows you to cap the highest amount you are willing to pay for a single click.

EU Political Ads #

This section allows you to specify whether your campaign contains political advertisements targeting the European Union. Declaring this ensures compliance with EU advertising regulations, safeguards advertisers from potential disapprovals or account restrictions, aligns campaign setup with Google’s latest requirements, and promotes trust and transparency in political advertising within the EU.

Ad Schedule #

Here, you can set a schedule for when you want your ads to run. This allows you to restrict your campaigns to audiences who are typically available in certain windows.

Once you are satisfied, click the three dots associated with the campaign to create up to 10 ad groups.

Ad Group Level Setup #

Geographic Location #

Campaigns can be tailored to target specific locations or exclude certain areas within a country or state. You can define geographic targeting in two ways:

• By Location: Search and select a country, city, place name, address, or coordinates.
• By Radius: Specify a radius around a chosen address to define the audience reach.

Use the radio buttons to select your preferred targeting method, then search and select the desired location.

📌 Note: Google Ads does not support the ability to include or exclude locations by radius. When using radius-based targeting, you can adjust the radius to expand or narrow your audience reach.

Language #

Enter the languages spoken by the users you wish to target. You can search for and select multiple languages to include in a single campaign.

Select Placements #

Choose the channels where your ad will appear to ensure it reaches the right audience. Selecting the right channels maximizes engagement and campaign effectiveness.

Audience Targeting #

Create and refine your audiences directly within the campaign builder using dedicated sections, including Interest & Affinity Audiences, In-Market Audiences, Data Segments for remarketing, Lookalike Audiences, Demographic Targeting, and Audience Exclusions. This streamlined approach allows precise targeting to reach the most relevant users for your campaign.

Click the three dots associated with the ad group to create up to 3 ads.

Ad Level Setup #

In this step, you define the content for ads within your ad group.

Media Type & Website URL #

Choose whether to include an image or video, or a carousel of media, then enter the exact website URL where users land when they click your ad. This is a required field and must be entered manually. Once the media type is chosen, you have the option to upload the content as well as your business logo below.

Headline #

You can add up to 5 headlines, each with a 40-character limit. Use the “Add New Headline” button to add more headlines up to the limit.

Description #

You can add up to 5 descriptions, each with a 90-character limit. If your message exceeds 90 characters, you can continue it in Description 2, which also allows up to 90 characters. Use the “Add New Description” button to add more descriptions, up to the description limit.

Review and Publish #

Before publishing your campaign, review all the details, including ad content, budget, and audience settings. If any adjustments need to be made, click Edit. Once you are satisfied with the setup, click Publish to launch your campaign. The payment is then processed through the connected Google Ads account.

Important Note #

When creating an ad campaign, ensure strict compliance with Google Ads policies to avoid ad disapprovals or rejections. For detailed guidelines, refer to the official Google Ads policies.

Frequently Asked Questions #

What are Demand Gen campaigns best for? #

They are designed to build interest and influence purchasing decisions before customers actively search, making them effective for brand awareness, product discovery, and long-funnel storytelling.

Why does the Google option appear greyed out? #

The Google platform option is greyed out if you have not yet connected your Google Ad account. Connect the account first to enable it.

How many ad groups and ads can I create? #

You can create up to 10 ad groups per campaign and up to 3 ads within each ad group.

What are the headline and description limits? #

You can add up to 5 headlines (40 characters each) and up to 5 descriptions (90 characters each) per ad.

How does geographic targeting work? #

You can target By Location (country, city, place name, address, or coordinates) or By Radius around a chosen address. Note that Google Ads does not support include/exclude of locations by radius.

How is payment processed? #

After you publish, payment is processed through the connected Google Ads account, billed to the card linked to that account as a daily subscription.