Using an objective eases your decision-making when you create a campaign in Google Ads by guiding you to the specific features designed to help your campaign succeed. When you create a campaign, you can select an objective. The objective you select should align with the main thing you want to get from your campaign, for example, Sales or Website traffic. After selecting an objective, you'll view relevant, recommended features and settings to help you achieve the results that matter most to your business.
This article explains how objectives work and defines what each objective can do to help improve the performance of your campaigns.
How objectives work
When you create a campaign, select an objective that corresponds to the main thing you want your campaign to achieve for your business.
For example, if after viewing your ads you want people to visit your website, you can select the "Website traffic" objective. As you set up your campaign after selecting this objective, you'll view recommended features and settings that can help generate visits to your website.
In some campaigns, you can add or remove an objective at any time and, if you want, choose to not use a goal and create a campaign without viewing an objective's recommendations. To view more information about each objective type and some of the highlighted features each objective recommends, simply place your cursor over an objective.
After you select campaign objectives, you can select the type of campaign you'd like to run, which determines where customers view your ads, as well as the settings and options available to you. Once you specify a campaign type, you go on to select the networks in which you’d like your ads to appear.
Learn more About ad formats available in different campaign types
Create a campaign with objectives
Objectives for Performance Max campaigns
Objective | When to use it | Types of features |
---|---|---|
Sales |
|
Features that start the purchasing or conversion process, such as bidding strategies aimed at clicks, assets, and ads that show to potential customers as they browse sites, videos and apps that partner with Google |
Leads |
|
Features that start the conversion process, such as audience targeting, assets, and ads that show to people as they browse sites, videos, and apps that partner with Google |
Objectives for Search campaigns
Objective | When to use it | Types of features |
---|---|---|
Sales |
|
Features that start the purchasing or conversion process, such as bidding strategies aimed at clicks, assets, and ads that show to potential customers as they browse sites, videos and apps that partner with Google |
Leads |
|
Features that start the conversion process, such as audience targeting, assets, and ads that show to people as they browse sites, videos, and apps that partner with Google |
Website traffic |
|
Features that help researching customers find potential product options, such as ads with relevant, dynamically generated headlines, assets, and bidding strategies that can help increase visits to your site |
Objectives for Display campaigns
Objective | When to use it | Types of features |
---|---|---|
Sales |
|
Features that start the purchasing or conversion process, such as visually striking ads, automated bidding and targeting, and other features that help you reach people who are actively browsing, researching, or comparing the products and services you sell |
Leads |
|
Features that start the conversion process, such as automated bidding and targeting, visually striking ads, and other features that help you collect email addresses, newsletter signups, or other relevant contact information from people interested in your business |
Website traffic |
|
Features that help researching customers find potential product options, such as automated bidding, targeting, and ad creation, as well as features that can help you build a list of visitors you can later reconnect with |
Awareness and consideration |
|
Features that help you build brand recognition, such as compelling visual ads, bid strategies that drive views, and other features that help attract new customers and capture their attention |
Objectives for Demand Gen campaigns
Objective | When to use it | Types of features |
---|---|---|
Sales |
|
Features that start the purchasing or conversion process, such as visually striking ads, automated bidding and targeting, and other features that help you reach people who are actively browsing, researching, or comparing the products and services you sell |
Leads |
|
Features that start the conversion process, such as automated bidding and targeting, visually striking ads, and other features that help you collect email addresses, newsletter signups, or other relevant contact information from people interested in your business |
Website traffic |
|
Features that help researching customers find potential product options, such as automated bidding, targeting, and ad creation, as well as features that can help you build a list of visitors you can later reconnect with |
Awareness and consideration |
|
Features that help you build brand recognition, such as compelling visual ads, bid strategies that drive views, and other features that help attract new customers and capture their attention |
Objectives for Shopping campaigns
Objective | When to use it |
---|---|
Sales |
|
Leads |
|
Website traffic |
|
Objectives for Video campaigns
Objective | When to use it |
---|---|
Sales |
|
Leads |
|
Website traffic |
|
Awareness and consideration |
|
Objectives for App campaigns
Objective | When to use it |
App promotion |
|