How to Use Google Ads Demand Gen Campaigns

Google Ads Demand Gen campaigns represent one of the most significant shifts in paid media strategy for UK businesses in recent years. Designed to reach potential customers across YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Gmail, and the Discover feed, Demand Gen campaigns combine the visual storytelling power of social-style advertising with Google’s unrivalled audience data — creating a uniquely powerful tool for businesses looking to build awareness, generate interest, and drive conversions at scale.

If your business has been relying on traditional Search and Display campaigns alone, you are leaving a substantial opportunity on the table. Demand Gen campaigns sit at the intersection of brand awareness and performance marketing, enabling you to engage audiences who are not yet actively searching but are highly likely to convert based on their interests, behaviours, and online activity.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about Demand Gen campaigns — from strategic foundations and audience targeting to creative best practices, bidding strategies, and real UK business case studies that demonstrate measurable results.

What Are Google Ads Demand Gen Campaigns?

Demand Gen campaigns are Google’s next-generation campaign type designed to create demand among audiences who are not yet actively searching for your product or service. Unlike Search campaigns that capture existing intent, Demand Gen campaigns generate new intent by placing visually engaging ads in front of carefully targeted audiences as they browse YouTube, scroll through YouTube Shorts, check Gmail, and explore the Discover feed on their mobile devices.

Think of Demand Gen as Google’s answer to paid social advertising on platforms like Meta and TikTok — but with the advantage of Google’s first-party data, cross-platform reach, and AI-powered optimisation. The campaign type uses machine learning to serve the right creative to the right audience at the right moment, across multiple touchpoints in a single campaign.

For UK businesses, this matters because consumer attention is increasingly fragmented. Your potential customers are watching YouTube Shorts during their commute, checking Gmail at their desks, and scrolling Discover feeds during their lunch break. Demand Gen campaigns allow you to reach them seamlessly across all of these moments with a consistent, compelling message.

Key Features of Demand Gen Campaigns

• Multi-format creative — serve image ads, video ads, and carousel ads from a single campaign
• Cross-platform placements — YouTube in-feed, YouTube Shorts, Gmail Promotions tab, and Google Discover
• Lookalike audience segments — reach new users who resemble your best existing customers
• AI-powered optimisation — Google’s machine learning automatically selects the best creative and placement combinations
• A/B testing built in — native experiment functionality lets you test creative variations at scale
• Conversion and awareness objectives — optimise for clicks, conversions, or conversion value depending on your goals

The Transition from Discovery Campaigns to Demand Gen

If you previously ran Google Discovery campaigns, you will have noticed that Google automatically upgraded all Discovery campaigns to Demand Gen in late 2023 and early 2024. This was not merely a rebrand — Demand Gen represents a substantial expansion in capability over the original Discovery format.

Discovery campaigns were limited to image and carousel ads across Discover, Gmail, and YouTube’s home feed. Demand Gen campaigns extend this with video ad support (including YouTube Shorts), lookalike segments, enhanced A/B testing, and more sophisticated bidding strategies. If you were already running Discovery campaigns successfully, Demand Gen gives you significantly more tools to work with.

Feature	Discovery Campaigns (Legacy)	Demand Gen Campaigns (Current)
Ad formats	Single image, carousel	Single image, carousel, video, short-form video
Placements	Discover, Gmail, YouTube Home	Discover, Gmail, YouTube In-Feed, YouTube Shorts, YouTube In-Stream
Lookalike audiences	Not available	Available (narrow, balanced, broad)
A/B testing	Limited manual testing	Native experiment functionality
Bidding strategies	Maximise conversions, target CPA	Maximise conversions, target CPA, maximise clicks, maximise conversion value
Reporting	Basic performance metrics	Placement-level reporting, asset-level reporting, audience insights
Creative AI	Basic asset selection	AI-powered creative optimisation across formats

Understanding Demand Gen Placements

One of Demand Gen’s greatest strengths is its ability to serve ads across multiple Google-owned surfaces. Each placement has distinct characteristics and serves a different role in the customer journey. Understanding these placements is essential for crafting effective creative and setting realistic performance expectations.

YouTube In-Feed and In-Stream

YouTube remains the world’s second-largest search engine and the UK’s most-watched video platform. Demand Gen ads appear in the YouTube home feed and search results (in-feed) as well as before, during, or after other videos (in-stream). These placements are ideal for longer-form storytelling and product demonstrations, where you have the viewer’s attention in a content-consumption mindset.

YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts receives over 70 billion daily views globally, and UK usage has grown dramatically. Short-form vertical video ads (up to 60 seconds) appear between organic Shorts content, mimicking the native experience. This placement is particularly effective for reaching younger demographics and driving brand awareness through punchy, attention-grabbing creative.

Gmail Promotions Tab

Gmail ads appear in the Promotions tab, presenting as expandable cards that look similar to native email. When a user clicks, the ad expands to reveal a full-width creative with a clear call to action. This placement is especially effective for e-commerce, retail promotions, and lead generation, as users are already in a transactional mindset when browsing their Promotions tab.

Google Discover

The Discover feed is Google’s personalised content feed, available on the Google app and the left swipe on many Android home screens. Ads appear natively within the feed alongside articles, news, and recommended content. Discover placements tend to drive high engagement and strong click-through rates because users are actively browsing content aligned with their interests.

Demand Gen vs Traditional Display Campaigns

Many UK advertisers ask whether Demand Gen campaigns should replace their existing Display campaigns. The answer depends on your objectives, but for most businesses focused on driving measurable results, Demand Gen offers significant advantages.

The key distinction is that Demand Gen campaigns only serve on Google’s own properties (YouTube, Gmail, Discover), which means higher engagement, better brand safety, and more premium ad experiences. Traditional Display campaigns reach across millions of third-party websites in the Google Display Network, offering broader reach but significantly lower engagement rates and less control over ad placement quality.

Audience Targeting Strategies for Demand Gen

Targeting is where Demand Gen campaigns truly shine. Google provides a comprehensive suite of audience targeting options that allow you to reach precisely the right people at the right stage of their buying journey. Here is a detailed breakdown of every targeting option available.

Targeting Type	Description	Best Used For	Typical CPA Impact
Lookalike Segments (Narrow)	Users most similar to your seed audience (top 2.5% match)	High-value lead generation, premium products	Lowest CPA, smallest reach
Lookalike Segments (Balanced)	Users similar to your seed audience (top 5% match)	Balanced growth campaigns, e-commerce	Moderate CPA, good reach
Lookalike Segments (Broad)	Users broadly similar to your seed audience (top 10% match)	Brand awareness, market expansion	Higher CPA, maximum reach
Custom Intent Audiences	Users who have searched for specific keywords on Google	Capturing demand from competitor searches	Low–moderate CPA
In-Market Audiences	Users actively researching or comparing products in your category	Driving conversions from high-intent users	Low CPA, high conversion rate
Affinity Audiences	Users with long-term interests aligned to your brand category	Top-of-funnel awareness and consideration	Higher CPA, strong brand lift
Customer Match	Upload your CRM data to target existing customers or create seed lists	Upselling, retention, lookalike seed creation	Very low CPA for existing customers
Remarketing Lists	Users who have visited your website or engaged with your content	Re-engaging warm prospects, cart abandonment	Lowest CPA overall
Life Events	Users experiencing major life changes (moving, graduating, getting married)	Financial services, property, insurance, retail	Moderate CPA, high relevance
Demographics	Layer age, gender, household income, and parental status	Refining any audience segment for precision	Varies based on combination

Lookalike Segments: Demand Gen’s Secret Weapon

Lookalike segments are exclusive to Demand Gen campaigns within Google Ads and represent one of the most powerful targeting capabilities available. They work by analysing your seed audience — typically your Customer Match list or remarketing audience — and finding new users across Google’s ecosystem who share similar characteristics, behaviours, and interests.

For UK businesses, lookalike segments are particularly valuable because they allow you to expand your reach beyond your existing customer base whilst maintaining targeting precision. A London-based financial services firm, for example, can upload their existing client list, and Google will identify new prospects across the UK who exhibit similar online behaviours and financial interests.

Custom Intent Audiences: Capturing Search Behaviour

Custom intent audiences allow you to target users based on what they have recently searched for on Google. This is remarkably powerful because it bridges the gap between Search and Demand Gen campaigns. You can target users who have searched for your competitors’ brand names, specific product categories, or related service queries — and then serve them visually engaging Demand Gen ads as they browse YouTube, Gmail, or Discover.

For example, a UK SaaS company could create a custom intent audience targeting users who have searched for “best project management software UK,” “Monday.com alternatives,” or “enterprise task management tools” — and then show those users a compelling video ad on YouTube Shorts showcasing their product’s unique features.

Creative Best Practices for Demand Gen Campaigns

Creative quality is arguably the single most important factor in Demand Gen campaign performance. Unlike Search campaigns where text ads dominate, Demand Gen is a visually-driven format that competes for attention alongside organic content in feeds and video streams. Your creative needs to be exceptional to stand out.

Image Ad Best Practices

• Use high-resolution, lifestyle imagery — stock photos with generic business people will not cut it; invest in authentic, brand-specific photography
• Include a clear value proposition — your headline and description must communicate the benefit within two seconds of viewing
• Upload multiple aspect ratios — provide landscape (1.91:1), square (1:1), and portrait (4:5) versions to maximise placement eligibility
• Limit text overlay to 20% of the image — ads with excessive text consistently underperform across all placements
• Use contrasting colours — ensure your ad stands out from the surrounding content without feeling jarring

Video Ad Best Practices

• Hook viewers in the first three seconds — lead with your most compelling visual or statement; do not build up slowly
• Create vertical (9:16) videos for Shorts — repurposing horizontal videos with black bars is ineffective; create native vertical content
• Keep Shorts ads under 30 seconds — shorter is almost always better for this placement
• Include captions — a significant proportion of mobile viewers watch without sound, particularly in commuting contexts
• End with a clear CTA — tell viewers exactly what to do next: visit your site, sign up, request a quote

Carousel Ad Best Practices

• Tell a sequential story — each card should build on the previous one, not repeat the same message
• Use the first card as your hook — it must be strong enough to compel users to swipe
• Limit to 4–6 cards — too many cards lead to drop-off; keep the journey concise
• Vary the visual style slightly — maintain brand consistency but add enough variety to sustain interest

Bidding Strategies for Demand Gen Campaigns

Choosing the right bidding strategy is critical to achieving your campaign objectives. Demand Gen campaigns offer four primary bidding options, each suited to different goals and stages of campaign maturity.

Maximise Clicks

This strategy tells Google to get as many clicks as possible within your budget. It is the best starting point for new campaigns where you do not yet have conversion data. Maximise Clicks helps you gather initial traffic and conversion data quickly, which you can then use to transition to a conversion-based strategy.

When to use: New campaigns, brand awareness objectives, gathering initial data, driving traffic to content or landing pages.

Typical budget: Start with £30–£50 per day minimum for UK markets to generate sufficient data volume.

Maximise Conversions

Once you have accumulated at least 50 conversions over a 30-day period, you can switch to Maximise Conversions. Google’s algorithm will optimise your bids to generate the highest number of conversions within your daily budget. This is the most popular bidding strategy for performance-focused UK businesses.

When to use: Established campaigns with sufficient conversion data, lead generation, e-commerce sales.

Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

Target CPA allows you to set a specific cost you are willing to pay per conversion. Google will then optimise bids to achieve conversions at or near your target cost. This is the most controlled performance bidding strategy and is ideal for businesses with clear unit economics and defined acquisition cost targets.

When to use: Mature campaigns with stable conversion history, strict budget controls, scaling profitable campaigns.

Setting your target: Start by setting your target CPA 10–20% higher than your current actual CPA. This gives Google’s algorithm room to optimise. Once performance stabilises, gradually reduce your target CPA in 5–10% increments.

Maximise Conversion Value

For e-commerce businesses tracking revenue, Maximise Conversion Value optimises for total revenue rather than conversion volume. This is particularly useful when your products or services have varying values and you want Google to prioritise higher-value transactions.

When to use: E-commerce with varied product values, subscription businesses with different tier pricing, service businesses with varied project sizes.

Campaign Structure Best Practices

How you structure your Demand Gen campaigns has a significant impact on performance, reporting clarity, and your ability to optimise effectively. Here is the campaign structure we recommend for UK businesses based on managing hundreds of Demand Gen campaigns across various sectors.

Recommended Campaign Architecture

Campaign Level: Separate campaigns by objective (awareness vs conversions), budget allocation, and geographic targeting. For UK businesses targeting multiple regions, consider separate campaigns for London, other major cities, and national targeting — as CPCs and conversion rates vary significantly by location.

Ad Group Level: Structure ad groups by audience segment or product/service category. Each ad group should contain a single, cohesive audience targeting strategy paired with creative that speaks directly to that audience. Avoid mixing fundamentally different audiences in the same ad group, as this dilutes Google’s ability to optimise creative selection.

Asset Level: Within each ad group, provide a minimum of five image assets (across all required aspect ratios), at least two video assets (including one vertical for Shorts), three to five headlines, and three to five descriptions. The more high-quality assets you provide, the more combinations Google’s AI can test.

Example Structure for a UK E-Commerce Business

Campaign	Objective	Ad Groups	Bidding Strategy	Daily Budget
DG – Prospecting – UK	New customer acquisition	Lookalike (Narrow), In-Market, Custom Intent	Target CPA (£18)	£75–£150
DG – Awareness – UK	Brand awareness and reach	Affinity, Broad Lookalike, Life Events	Maximise Clicks	£40–£80
DG – Remarketing – UK	Re-engage warm prospects	Website Visitors (7d), Website Visitors (30d), Cart Abandoners	Maximise Conversions	£30–£60
DG – Customer Upsell	Increase existing customer value	Customer Match (all buyers), Customer Match (high-value)	Maximise Conversion Value	£20–£40

Measuring Brand Awareness and Conversions

Demand Gen campaigns serve dual purposes — building brand awareness and driving measurable conversions — which means your measurement approach needs to account for both direct and indirect impact.

Direct Conversion Metrics

At the performance level, track the standard metrics you would monitor in any conversion-focused campaign: cost per conversion, conversion rate, conversion value, and return on ad spend (ROAS). Google Ads reporting provides these at campaign, ad group, and asset level, allowing you to identify exactly which audience and creative combinations are driving the best results.

Brand Awareness Metrics

For awareness-focused campaigns, direct conversions are only part of the story. Equally important are: impressions, reach, view-through conversions, brand search lift, and engagement rate. Google offers Brand Lift studies for larger advertisers, which measure the direct impact of your Demand Gen ads on brand awareness, ad recall, and consideration through randomised surveys.

View-Through Conversions

View-through conversions are particularly important for Demand Gen campaigns. These track users who saw your ad but did not click, then later converted through another channel (typically organic search or direct visit). Demand Gen campaigns often show modest click-through conversion numbers but strong view-through performance, reflecting their role in the upper and middle funnel.

We recommend setting a 7-day view-through conversion window for most UK businesses. This captures the typical consideration period without over-attributing conversions that were likely driven by other factors.

A/B Testing Creatives in Demand Gen

Demand Gen campaigns include native A/B experiment functionality that makes it straightforward to test different creative approaches, audiences, and landing pages. Structured testing is essential for continuous improvement and is the single biggest lever for reducing CPA over time.

What to Test

• Creative concepts — test fundamentally different visual approaches (lifestyle vs product-focused, emotional vs rational messaging)
• Video vs image performance — compare campaigns running video assets only against those with images only to understand format preferences by audience
• Headline variations — test benefit-led headlines against urgency-driven or curiosity-driven alternatives
• Audience segments — run the same creative against different audience types to identify your highest-performing targets
• Landing pages — test different post-click experiences, such as dedicated landing pages vs category pages vs product pages
• Lookalike breadth — compare narrow, balanced, and broad lookalike performance for the same seed audience

Testing Methodology

To run a valid A/B test in Demand Gen, follow this process:

1. Define a single variable — only change one element at a time; testing multiple changes simultaneously makes results uninterpretable
2. Set a sufficient budget — each test arm should receive enough budget to generate at least 50 conversions during the test period
3. Run for at least 14 days — shorter tests are susceptible to day-of-week variations and algorithm learning periods
4. Use statistical significance — do not call a winner until you have at least 95% confidence in the result
5. Document and iterate — record every test, its hypothesis, and its outcome; use winning insights to inform the next round of testing

UK Business Case Studies

To illustrate the real-world impact of Demand Gen campaigns for UK businesses, here are three case studies from different sectors that demonstrate the versatility and effectiveness of this campaign type.

Case Study 1: London E-Commerce Fashion Retailer

A mid-sized fashion retailer based in East London was spending £8,000 per month on traditional Display campaigns with a CPA of £32 and a ROAS of 3.2x. After transitioning to Demand Gen campaigns with a combination of lifestyle video content and carousel ads targeting lookalike audiences based on their top 20% of customers by lifetime value, they achieved remarkable results within 90 days.

• CPA reduced from £32 to £19 — a 41% improvement
• ROAS increased from 3.2x to 5.1x — driven by higher-quality traffic from lookalike targeting
• YouTube Shorts accounted for 38% of all conversions — their vertical video content resonated strongly with the 25–34 demographic
• Brand search volume increased by 27% — a clear halo effect from increased visibility across Google properties

Case Study 2: Birmingham B2B SaaS Company

A Birmingham-based SaaS company offering HR management software to UK SMEs was struggling to generate qualified leads beyond Search campaigns. They launched Demand Gen campaigns targeting custom intent audiences (users searching for competitor brand names and HR software comparison terms) alongside in-market audiences for business software.

• Cost per qualified lead reduced from £85 to £52 — a 39% reduction
• Demo request volume increased by 63% — primarily from custom intent audiences seeing video explainer ads
• Gmail placements drove 22% of all leads — HR professionals were highly responsive to ads in their Promotions tab
• Sales cycle shortened by 11 days — prospects arriving through Demand Gen were better educated about the product before first contact

Case Study 3: Manchester Professional Services Firm

A Manchester-based accounting firm wanted to expand their client base beyond word-of-mouth referrals. They launched Demand Gen campaigns targeting life events (users starting a business, moving home) and in-market audiences for financial advisory services, combined with testimonial video content and educational carousel ads.

• New client enquiries increased by 84% — from an average of 12 per month to 22 per month
• Average cost per enquiry was £34 — well within their target of £50, given an average client lifetime value of £4,200
• Discover feed generated the highest conversion rate at 4.7% — business owners browsing industry content were highly receptive
• Video testimonials outperformed static images by 2.3x — reinforcing the importance of authentic, trust-building creative

Common Demand Gen Campaign Mistakes to Avoid

After managing Demand Gen campaigns across dozens of UK accounts, we consistently see the same mistakes costing businesses money and limiting their results. Avoid these pitfalls to maximise your campaign performance from day one.

Getting Started: Your First Demand Gen Campaign

If you are ready to launch your first Demand Gen campaign, follow this step-by-step process to give yourself the best possible foundation for success.

1. Define your objective — decide whether you are optimising for awareness (Maximise Clicks) or conversions (Maximise Conversions / Target CPA) and set clear, measurable KPIs
2. Prepare your seed audiences — upload your Customer Match list (minimum 1,000 users), set up remarketing audiences, and identify relevant in-market and custom intent segments
3. Create platform-native creative — invest in high-quality images across all aspect ratios and create vertical video content specifically for YouTube Shorts
4. Set up proper conversion tracking — ensure your Google Ads conversion tracking is firing correctly and that you are tracking both primary conversions and micro-conversions
5. Launch with adequate budget — allocate at least £50 per day for UK campaigns to ensure sufficient data collection during the learning phase
6. Monitor and optimise weekly — review performance by audience, creative, and placement; pause underperforming assets and add new variations based on what is working
7. Scale what works — once you have identified winning audience and creative combinations, increase budget allocation and expand lookalike segments to drive volume

Demand Gen campaigns represent a significant opportunity for UK businesses to reach new audiences, build brand awareness, and drive measurable conversions across Google’s most engaging platforms. Whether you are a London e-commerce retailer, a Birmingham B2B company, or a Manchester professional services firm, the combination of visually compelling creative, sophisticated audience targeting, and AI-powered optimisation makes Demand Gen one of the most effective campaign types available in Google Ads today.

The businesses that will benefit most are those who invest in high-quality creative, structured testing, and patient optimisation — treating Demand Gen as a core component of their paid media strategy rather than an afterthought. With the right approach, Demand Gen campaigns can become your most efficient source of new customer acquisition.