As a Google Ads specialist, you likely devote most of your time to fine-tuning Search, Shopping or Performance Max campaigns. That’s logical — the Google SERP is the core of the Google Ads ecosystem. However, there’s a major opportunity hiding in plain sight within your account that far too many advertisers overlook. I’ll say it outright: Demand Gen is the most undervalued campaign type in Google Ads, and that needs to change. If you’ve been reluctant to try Demand Gen, or you tested it once and decided “it doesn’t work,” take this as your cue to bring it into your 2026 strategy. Demand Gen represents a fundamental shift in how we can leverage Google’s ecosystem to drive growth with paid media.
Demand Gen campaigns are like Meta Ads… but on Google
The easiest way to understand Demand Gen is to stop thinking in terms of keywords. Instead, imagine you’re running Meta (Facebook or Instagram) campaigns, but using Google’s inventory. With Search, you’re responding to a user’s query. With Demand Gen, you’re responding to the user themselves. You’re proactively serving creative — images and/or videos — to people based on who they are, not just what they’re searching or doing in that specific moment.
Where can Demand Gen ads appear on Google?
Demand Gen placements span Google’s “owned and operated” properties, including:
- YouTube (Shorts, In-stream, In-feed)
- Gmail
- Discover
- Google Maps (coming soon!)
I suggest beginning with all…