Google Ads Demand Gen Campaigns: From Disappointment to Improvement

Demand Gen campaigns in Google Ads have fallen victim to some of Google’s typical nonsense over the past few years. This campaign type was marketed as an amazing “wonder” product. In reality, it was far from it. 

But, like PMax, Demand Gen has gotten better over time.

In this blog, we’ll share how new features from Google Ads may help you get better visibility into just how well Demand Gen campaigns are working.

First Things First: My Beef with Demand Gen Campaigns

The problem, simply put, is the name. 

Demand Generation, as a practice, involves driving leads throughout the funnel and nurturing leads throughout the conversion process. This includes Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu). It requires presenting users with the right offer within their funnel/lifecycle stage. 

It is a full-funnel strategy aimed at not just driving leads, but driving customers/opportunities.

Demand Gen as a Google Ads campaign targets ToFu and MoFu customers. Google can target users on YouTube, Shorts, Discover, Gmail, and now Display. It can’t hit those BoFu placements like Search or Shopping.

The name “Demand Gen” is misleading and would make more sense if it were called “Upper Funnel” instead.

Demand Gen Campaigns vs. Other Social Platforms

Now that we’re familiar with Demand Gen campaigns, we can get into the real issue: Attribution.

If you’re using Demand Gen campaigns for ToFu and MoFu, you likely noticed that the results are far less impressive than what’s reported on Meta, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or other social platforms. 

The reason? Google Ads is the best at BoFu targeting.

Branded Search, non-branded Search, and Shopping are monsters in driving MoFu/BoFu volume. So they can (rightfully) take credit for conversions away from Demand Gen campaigns. Other platforms don’t face this issue because they lack the same BoFu targeting, which can muddy attribution when so many touchpoints exist within a single platform.

Take a look at this customer journey that includes five touchpoints:

Because Facebook is independent from Google Ads (and therefore can’t see additional Google clicks)...

Only one touchpoint from Facebook is here, and the conversion credit would be:

However, Google Ads sees far more touchpoints, as shown below (it can’t see Facebook):

If Google were attributing the conversion using Data-Driven Attribution (DDA), it might look something like this:

We won’t ever know because of DDA, but you get the picture. The additional MoFu/BoFu touches interfere with Demand Gen’s credit. 

With the change of Platform Comparable Conversions, Demand Gen would look like this:

Why This Change Makes Sense

This is much more on par with other social platforms and should allow advertisers to view Demand Gen from a ToFu standpoint, similar to social ads.

Unlike Google’s previous approach, this change smells of the “Golden Era of Google” where advertisers have the option to view this metric in a standalone column, or hide it altogether. Conversions are not changing. This is an added conversion type that offers more flexibility.

Anytime we as advertisers can get more data, even different data, we should celebrate. This metric may help your clients or higher-ups buy into Demand Gen campaigns more by separating the various Google Ads touchpoints.

The best part?

If you hate it, you have the choice to never view that column again.

Want to stay ahead of the curve with Google Ads? Reach out to us to learn the latest updates!