Google Discovery Ads

Google Discovery Ads appear in the Google app feed on iOS and Android, as well as on the mobile homepage of Google.com.

Users can customize their feeds to see content that interests them. Unlike Google Search ads, users don’t need to enter a search query for these ads to appear. Google classifies users into audiences based on their activity and serves them relevant ads.

What Are Google Discovery Ads?

Discovery Ads are image-based, mobile-optimized ads that leverage user intent. These ads rely on Google signals from website visits, app downloads, videos watched, and map searches.

Discovery Ads target audiences instead of keywords (similar to in-market audiences) and can appear on the YouTube mobile homepage, Gmail Social and Promotions tabs, and the Google Discover feed.

Key Things to Know About Google Discovery Ads

• Audience targeting, not keywords: Google allows you to select audiences such as remarketing lists, detailed demographics, in-market audiences, life events, and affinity/custom intent audiences.
• Limited campaign settings: You cannot adjust manual bidding strategies, contextual targeting, location targeting, device targeting, ad rotation, frequency capping, or delivery method.

The Discovery feed in the Google app is not available for users in Germany, Australia, and France. Therefore, campaigns targeting these countries will be limited to YouTube and Gmail feeds.

Imagine reaching users just when they are ready to discover new products and services. Google Discovery Ads enable advertisers to capture attention before the user even searches, giving you a competitive advantage.

What Makes Discovery Ads Different?

Rather than being triggered by a search query, these ads are powered by Google AI. This means the goal is to anticipate user needs and answer their questions before they type anything in the search bar.

As users engage with the Discover feed, the AI learns their interests and delivers more precise content. If results are inaccurate, users can refine preferences or exclude certain keywords.

Benefits of Google Discovery Ads

Running a Discovery campaign allows your brand or business to reach a wider audience and achieve performance goals. According to Google, key benefits include:

• Reach more people across Google with a single campaign.
• Drive engagement with richer, more relevant ads.
• Visually rich ads that are natively displayed across Google properties at scale.
• Automated bidding options to help achieve media performance objectives.

Strengths of Discovery Ad Campaigns

Discovery Ads are particularly effective for these performance objectives:

• Brand awareness: Capture interest from potential customers willing to try new brands.
• Conversion driving: Increase website visits, newsletter sign-ups, or sales.
• Remarketing: Re-engage users who are already familiar with your brand.

These ads leverage machine learning to focus on user intent, helping Google deliver your ad at the optimal moment based on user signals.

How Google Discovery Ads Reporting and Metrics Work

Discovery Ads offer extensive marketing metrics tracking. Automated bidding is designed to maximize performance based on marketing goals, bids, and budgets. Campaign setup is simplified as Google’s algorithm handles much of the optimization. Key metrics include:

• Impressions: Number of times the ad is shown.
• Clicks: Number of clicks on your ad.
• Engagement rate: Clicks on your ad divided by impressions.
• Click-through rate (CTR): Clicks to your website divided by ad impressions.
• Cost per click (CPC): Total campaign cost divided by number of clicks.
• Interactions: Total number of paid clicks and interactions with your ad.
• Interaction rate: Interactions divided by ad impressions.
• Average cost: Average cost of paid interactions with your ad.