Google Discovery Ad Campaigns Are Officially Here

Google is always rolling out new algorithm updates. Some of the biggest, most recent ones over this past year (remember good old BERT, Google’s natural language processing model?) were all geared toward improving Google’s ability to better understand user intent and search queries. Unsurprisingly over this past year, Google has also been working on a way to monetize this enhanced understanding of user intent to generate more advertising revenue!

Google Discovery Campaigns Revolutionize Digital Advertising

Google originally introduced discovery campaigns in 2019 as a limited beta test and has now released this campaign type for advertisers globally. According to Google, this new advertising campaign format will allow advertisers to reach their potential customers everywhere they are in their moments of discovery, precisely when they are most receptive to engaging with new brands and products.
Being a Digital Marketing Specialist here at Top Draw, I hesitated to get too excited about this new campaign type. I had several practical questions about its effectiveness: Will this be like local campaigns, promising to bring in more store visits, and ultimately fail to live up to the hype? Will this new advertising format be the golden magic unicorn to lead new customers to our client’s physical and digital locations?

Innovative Ad Formats for Enhanced User Engagement

The ad formats for this new Google Discovery campaign include the Discovery Carousel which looks pretty similar to the carousel ads we know from Facebook’s advertising platform. Additionally, Discovery Ads are identical to the responsive image ads we have already had access to for the Google Display network since their introduction in 2016.

Visual Examples of Discovery Carousel Ads

Expanded Reach Across Google’s Digital Ecosystem

Advertisers can potentially have these ad formats show up across multiple Google platforms including Gmail, YouTube, Google Discovery feed, and more. In Google’s typical fashion, the “discovery and more” part of the promise is not fully transparent or specifically defined. According to Google, we can expect to also see ads in Google apps, maps, and daily activities customers engage in on Google properties. What this expanded reach truly encompasses is anyone’s guess, and Google has yet to clarify the full extent. If we were to speculate, it could include Google Display Network, as they do not explicitly mention that, and perhaps we will start to see these Discovery ads in our Google calendars, Google Drive, Google photos, or even our Google Hangout accounts.

Audience Targeting Options for Discovery Campaigns

The short and most accurate answer to whether Discovery campaigns offer new targeting options is “no.” The audience targeting capabilities for these campaigns will be identical to what already exists for Google Display campaigns. This includes having access to your own audience lists, custom intent audiences, in-market audiences, and affinity audiences – the same targeting parameters advertisers are already familiar with.

Comparing Discovery and Display Campaign Strategies

So what is the real difference between a regular Google display campaign and the new Google discovery campaign? At an initial glance – not much. Both advertising formats give advertisers access to run responsive assets across Google apps, Google Display Network, and YouTube with the same targeting options.
However, there are a couple of key differentiating factors to note. Discovery campaigns allow advertisers to run creative ad content in Gmail, which previously, could only be accomplished with a dedicated Gmail campaign. Plus, there are those fancy new carousel ad formats and the undefined “daily activities customers engage in” that may offer new placement opportunities.

Evaluating the Potential of Discovery Campaigns

Only time will tell if Google has implemented enhanced targeting algorithms and audience matching capabilities on the backend specifically for Discovery campaigns. One thing is certain, the digital marketing specialists at Top Draw are actively testing this new campaign type out and we’re monitoring their performance closely for signs of success, failure, and optimization opportunities. We’re conducting this thorough evaluation because we want to fully understand Discovery campaigns, determine if they are appropriate for our diverse client needs, and implement them in the right circumstances to ensure they deliver successful advertising outcomes.