Google Ads campaign types: Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen and App

A search campaign kicks in when the user types their need in their own words. Intent is at its peak, which is why for most accounts this is the type with the lowest cost per conversion. Control is highest too: keywords, match types, negatives and ad copy are in your hands.

Its limit is the size of demand. If nobody searches, a search campaign does not sell. For a new product or a need that has no name yet, it is not enough on its own.

Performance Max distributes across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover and Gmail automatically in one campaign, driven by a conversion goal. You supply the assets, the budget and the goal; Google handles the allocation.

It is strongest for ecommerce and accounts with a product feed. It is weakest on transparency: you see only a limited view of which surface delivers what. If conversion tracking is broken, PMax scales the wrong signal fast; auditing measurement before moving to this type is essential.

Demand Gen reaches people who are not yet searching, with image and video-led ads on YouTube, Discover and Gmail. It works with lookalike and interest targeting; its aim is not the click but the interest that later turns into a search.

A new home appliance brand, for example, shows the product with Demand Gen first and, as brand searches rise a few weeks later, a search campaign captures that demand. Judging Demand Gen on its own without reading the two together is misleading.

App campaigns optimise for Google Play and App Store installs or in-app events, serving automatically across Search, Play, YouTube and Display. Control is limited: you provide text and image assets and the system runs the rest.

An install can be cheap but worthless; choosing an in-app event such as the first purchase as the goal brings pricier but more meaningful users.

New account and limited budget: Search first. Ecommerce with a product feed and correct conversion values: Search plus Performance Max. A product whose market does not exist yet: start with Demand Gen and keep Search ready. A mobile app: an App campaign with an in-app event as the goal.

The shared rule never changes: whatever the type, conversion tracking first, campaign second. The accounts that lose the most budget are the ones that got measurement wrong, not the type.

Combining types as the budget grows is natural, but letting the previous type run steadily for at least a month before adding a new one lets you read which change affected what.

Tecrube's Pro plan covers all four types: Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen and App. In Claude or ChatGPT, “build a Performance Max campaign using my product feed, target ROAS 300 percent, $50 daily budget” returns the campaign in a single preview; you approve and it is created paused.

Asking “did my conversion actions receive data in the last 30 days” before the build prevents starting PMax blind. Reads spend no credits; the 75 free credits cover the first campaign build.

When Search and Performance Max run in the same account, both campaigns can compete for the same query. Google generally prefers the Search campaign whose keyword matches the query exactly, but on close matches Performance Max may step in. The result is brand searches bought through PMax at a higher price or in a way that is invisible in reporting.

The way to prevent it is to use brand exclusions in Performance Max and compare the search terms of the two campaigns regularly. In Tecrube, “compare the search categories that appeared in both the Search and Performance Max campaigns over the last 30 days” makes the overlap visible.

The relationship between Demand Gen and Search is the reverse: one creates demand, the other captures it. Evaluate them together, against total conversions and the brand search trend, rather than one by one.

If, after launching a Demand Gen campaign, you see brand searches rise and a lower cost per conversion in Search, the low conversion count in Demand Gen's own report is misleading; its real contribution shows up on the Search side.