Performance Max, Search, or Demand Gen: Which Campaign Type and When?

Choosing the right campaign type in Google Ads has a direct impact on how efficiently your budget works. Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and App campaigns each serve different goals. In this guide, we break down which one to use and when, in plain language.

Search campaigns

These are the text ads that appear when a user is actively searching for something. They’re ideal for capturing high-intent demand. If you want to reach users who are ready to buy or sign up right now, Search campaigns are usually your first choice.

Performance Max

Performance Max reaches all of Google’s inventory (Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps) from a single campaign and optimizes automatically toward your goals. It’s a powerful option for advertisers who want broad reach and conversion-focused automation and can supply quality assets (images, headlines, video). Clear conversion goals and solid conversion tracking are essential.

Demand Gen

Demand Gen focuses on generating demand across visually rich surfaces like YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. It’s a good fit for building awareness and interest among audiences who aren’t actively searching yet but may be interested in your product.

App campaigns

These are built to drive mobile app installs and in-app actions. Google automatically promotes your app across a variety of surfaces.

Which one should you choose, and when?

• To capture existing demand: Search.
• For conversion-focused automation across every channel: Performance Max.
• To create new demand and awareness: Demand Gen.
• To grow your app: App campaigns.

Building campaigns with AI

With Opus Growth, you can create any of these campaign types in natural language. When you say “Draft a Performance Max campaign with this goal,” the connector shows you a preview before anything is built; once you approve it, it goes live. That way, you keep speed and control together.

👉 Related: Account audit · Managing with Claude

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