In short: the most common mistake with campaign types isn't setting them up badly, it's choosing the wrong one. The rule that orders everything: start where there is intent (Search, and Shopping if you sell products), add remarketing once you have traffic, and leave PMax and video for when measurement is solid and there is conversion history.
There is one campaign type left to introduce, and then the important part: how to decide which one to use. Because the most common mistake with campaign types is not configuring them badly, it is picking the wrong one for the stage the business is at.
What are App campaigns?
If you promote an app (Android or iOS), Google Ads has a specific, fully automated campaign type: you provide text, images and videos, a budget and an objective (installs, or in-app actions such as sign-ups or purchases), and Google advertises it across Search, the Play Store, YouTube, Display and Discover. You do not choose keywords or placements: it is a PMax for apps, predating PMax.
What makes it different is the measurement: the conversions happen inside the app, not on a website, so you need Google's SDKs (Firebase) or an app measurement partner, with all their privacy quirks on iOS. Without that measurement, the campaign can only optimise towards installs — and cheap installs are, very often, installs nobody opens.
If you do not have an app: skip it. If you do: it is the only reasonable way to promote it on Google, and the work lies in the measurement and the creative.
Which campaign type should you choose for each objective?
| Your situation | Campaign type | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You are starting out; you sell a service or product with existing demand | Search | Intent, measurable, the best first euro |
| You sell physical products online | Search + standard Shopping | Product listings convert; the feed is your keyword |
| You already have traffic and want to win visitors back | Display (remarketing) or Demand Gen (remarketing) | Cheap, measurable, aimed at people who already know you |
| Clean measurement with values, volume and a feed | Performance Max | Reach across every network with data to learn from |
| You want awareness or to launch a brand | Video (skippable + bumpers) / Demand Gen | Reach and recall; demands creative and a budget of its own |
| You promote an app | App | The only type designed for it |
| You want to protect your name | Brand Search (impression share) | Cheap, converts on its own, and stops PMax or the competition taking it |
In what order should you add campaign types?
- Search (generic) + brand Search, with measurement in place from day one (Module 6).
- Standard Shopping if you have products, as soon as the feed is clean.
- Remarketing (Display or Demand Gen) once there are enough visits.
- Performance Max once there are 30+ conversions a month, values and a brand campaign to protect.
- Video / acquisition Demand Gen once the budget allows you to invest in awareness without taking it from what converts.
Each step adds a campaign without dismantling the previous ones, and every new campaign comes in with its own budget and its week of observation before you judge it (Module 5).
What should you ask before creating a new campaign?
- Which conversion will it chase, and is it properly measured? If there is no clear answer, you do not create it.
- Where does the budget come from? If it comes from a campaign that works, think twice.
- How will I know in four weeks whether it worked? Write it down before launching; it prevents kidding yourself afterwards.
💡 Ninja trick: every script in the Suite is built around a campaign type: Search (QS Analyzer, RSA Optimizer, negatives), Shopping (Shopping Ninja), Display and PMax (Ninja Shield), Demand Gen (DG Optimizer), and the cross-cutting ones (Guardian, Smart Bidding, the Agent). The sequence above is also the sequence in which the scripts start paying off: first the Search and measurement ones, then the rest.
What you should remember
- App campaigns: only if you have an app; the challenge is in-app measurement.
- Search first (generic + brand), then Shopping, remarketing, PMax and, last, acquisition video.
- Every new campaign: one clear conversion, its own budget and a success criterion written down in advance.
End of the Basic level. You now have the complete map of Google Ads: how it works, how it is organised, how results are measured and which campaign type serves which purpose. The Intermediate level goes into each piece in depth: advanced Search, Smart Bidding, Quality Score, ad optimisation, Shopping and feeds, Display, advanced measurement, planning... and the scripts that do the heavy lifting.