Google Demand Gen Campaigns: What They Are and When to Use Them

What Demand Gen is

Google's About Demand Gen campaigns page describes it as a campaign type that captures engagement and action across YouTube (including Shorts), Discover, Gmail, Maps and the Google Display Network. Its own FAQ puts it more simply: Demand Gen brings video and image assets into one campaign and uses AI to show your best visuals to people likely to be interested in your brand, "even if they aren't actively searching for you yet."

That last point is the whole idea. A Search campaign answers a query someone has already typed. Demand Gen puts your product in front of people who have not looked for it yet, in feeds and between videos. It suits businesses with something visual to show: a product, a result, a short demo. The creative has to stop someone scrolling, because nobody arrived looking for it. If you have never run Google Ads, start with our Google Ads basics guide; account structure, conversion goals and billing work the same way here.

Demand Gen, Search or Performance Max?

Google's comparison table on the same page sets out the difference in purpose:

• Search: maximise performance across Google Search, for people who are already searching.
• Performance Max: maximise performance across all of Google's channels from one campaign, including Search, Shopping and Maps. Audience signals are hints, with no hard targeting.
• Demand Gen: generate demand and deliver results on Google's most visual surfaces. It lets you target specific audience segments, including Lookalike segments, and choose the channels your ads appear on.

Google's FAQ says Demand Gen gives "more control over creative testing, audience targeting, and specific placements on YouTube and Discover." So the practical choice comes down to control. Performance Max decides where to show and who to reach, as our Performance Max guide explains. Google Search itself is not in its channel list. Demand Gen lets you pick audiences, pick channels and test creative against creative. The table also lists Brand Lift, Search Lift and Conversion Lift measurement and creative A/B experiments for Demand Gen.

Where the ads show: channel controls

Google's channel controls page explains that channels are set per ad group. You can choose All Google channels and let Google spread the budget, or choose Let me choose and pick from YouTube (in-stream, in-feed and Shorts), Discover, Gmail, Maps and the Google Display Network. Google's example: a vertical creator video can be served on YouTube Shorts only.

Google recommends All Google channels for most advertisers and advises judging the campaign on its overall efficiency, not the cost per conversion of each channel. It also notes that Maps only serves when a location asset is enabled, and that reports can be segmented by channel and, for YouTube, by format (skippable in-stream, in-feed, Shorts). If you need a set amount of spend on one channel, Google suggests putting that channel in its own ad group with a higher target CPA, and warns this may be less efficient.

The same help page lists restrictions for sensitive categories: such ads are generally limited to YouTube inventory, must target predefined Google audiences such as affinity or in-market segments, and alcohol advertisers cannot use product feeds. Brand safety is handled at account level, on the Content suitability page.

Audiences and Lookalike segments

Google's Demand Gen audiences overview lists what you can target:

• Your data: website visitors, app users, people who interacted with your YouTube videos or channel, and customer lists.
• Google segments: custom segments built from keywords, URLs and apps; in-market, life events, detailed demographics and affinity segments.
• Demographics, location, language and devices.
• AI-powered options: Lookalike segments, optimized targeting, New Customer Acquisition (bid higher for, or target only, new customers) and "made for you" recommended segments.
• Exclusions: leave out people who have already interacted with your business, plus content exclusions by keyword, topic or placement.

Google advises a separate ad group for each audience that has its own creative, and a separate ad group for Lookalike segments. To re-engage existing customers it suggests adding your first-party lists and connecting your YouTube channel; our guides to remarketing audiences and a YouTube channel for a business cover both. A customer list is personal data you pass to Google, so check that your privacy notice covers it (see website privacy basics).

A Lookalike segment starts from a "seed" list of your own data and finds people with similar characteristics. Google is changing how these work. Its Lookalike segments page says that during 2026, Lookalike segments in Demand Gen are moving to a "suggestion mode": the seed list becomes a signal, and the system "may reach highly qualified customers outside of similarity thresholds". The narrow, balanced and broad slider (2.5%, 5% or 10% of the target location) no longer acts as a hard limit unless you opt out, which for now is done through a Google form, with in-product opt-out controls promised later in the year. A new Lookalike segment takes about 72 hours to populate. If you need ads to reach only people close to your seed list, check which mode your ad groups are in.

Assets and formats

Demand Gen runs on images and video. Google's asset specifications list:

• Images: square 1:1 (minimum 300x300), horizontal 1.91:1 (minimum 600x314), vertical 4:5 (minimum 480x600) and vertical 9:16 (minimum 600x1067, recommended for Shorts), .jpg or .png up to 5 MB.
• Logo: square 1:1, minimum 144x144, recommended 1200x1200, up to 150 KB.
• Video: square, horizontal 16:9, vertical 4:5 and vertical 9:16, at least 5 seconds long. Videos under 10 seconds cannot serve on YouTube in-stream.
• Uploaded display ads in standard sizes such as 300x250 and 728x90, up to 150 KB.

The about page adds carousel ads with 2 to 10 image cards, product feeds from Google Merchant Center, sitelinks and promotion assets (promotion assets only with a Merchant Center feed). You can run an image-only or video-only campaign, but Google says using both typically performs better, and that more assets improve your chances. Google also offers creative enhancements and generative AI tools that build new versions from your existing assets; review what they produce before it runs under your name.

Bidding, budget and conversion tracking

Google's Demand Gen performance guide groups the bid strategies:

• Efficiency: Target CPA and Target ROAS.
• Volume: Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value, with no target set.
• Clicks: Target CPC and Maximize clicks. Google says click-based bidding should not be used for conversion efficiency, and does not need conversion tracking.

For conversion bidding, Google's own requirements and recommendations are specific:

• Set up conversion tracking and check the Google tag works. Google suggests also tracking lighter actions such as "add to basket" or a site visit, set as non-biddable goals so the campaign learns faster while it bids on the action you care about.
• Set a budget of at least 10 times your target CPA. Google calls a low daily budget "usually the top reason a new Demand Gen campaign underperforms."
• Expect the campaign to need at least 50 conversions to build an understanding of what works, and wait for 30 to 50 conversions before judging a change.
• Avoid changes during the learning period, move bids by no more than 15% at a time, and start a new campaign instead of changing the conversion goal of a live one.
• Keep the structure consolidated: Google advises against creating too many ad groups.

If your tracking is not reliable, fix that first; our Google Tag Manager basics and offline conversion import guides cover the setup. Every ad also needs somewhere good to land: see landing page basics.

Display and video campaigns are moving into Demand Gen

Demand Gen is also becoming the home for older campaign types. Google's page on Display campaigns moving to Demand Gen says that from June 2026 eligible advertisers can move Display campaigns with a migration tool, which carries over up to 42 days of performance history; later, new Display campaigns can only be created within Demand Gen and the rest will be migrated automatically. A migrated campaign cannot be reverted, and Display-only buying remains possible. Video action campaigns have already gone the same way: Google's upgrade page says new ones could no longer be created from April 2025 and the last were upgraded automatically by April 2026.

Before you launch

• You have images in several ratios and at least one video, including a vertical version if you want Shorts.
• Conversion tracking is tested, with the main goal biddable and lighter actions non-biddable.
• The daily budget is at least 10 times the target CPA you plan to set.
• Each audience with its own message has its own ad group, and Lookalike segments sit in a separate one.
• You know whether your Lookalike segments run as a suggestion or a constraint.
• Exclusions are set for existing customers if the goal is new customers only.
• The landing page matches the ad and loads quickly on a phone.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Demand Gen and Performance Max?

Google says Performance Max finds converting customers across all of its channels, including Search, Shopping and Maps, from one campaign. Demand Gen focuses on visual surfaces such as YouTube, Discover and Gmail, and gives more control over creative testing, audience targeting and placements.

Can I run Demand Gen ads only on YouTube Shorts?

Yes. Channel controls are set per ad group, and the Let me choose option lets you pick YouTube Shorts alone. Google recommends All Google channels for most advertisers, so test a narrow setup against a broad one.

Do Lookalike segments still limit who sees my ads?

Not by default. Google is moving Lookalike segments in Demand Gen to a suggestion mode during 2026, where the seed list is a signal and ads may reach people outside the similarity thresholds. Google offers an opt-out to keep the previous behaviour.

What budget does Google recommend for Demand Gen?

For target CPA bidding, Google recommends a budget of at least 10 times your target CPA. It also says the campaign needs at least 50 conversions to learn what works.

Do I need conversion tracking for Demand Gen?

For conversion and value bidding, yes, and Google asks you to check the Google tag works before launch. Click-based bidding such as Maximize clicks does not need conversion tracking, but Google says it should not be used for conversion efficiency.

Want landing pages and tracking ready before you spend on Demand Gen? See our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].