Gmail ads will sunset as a standalone campaign as of July. Instead, Gmail ad targeting will only be available via Discovery campaigns.
What are Gmail ads?
Gmail ads appear at the top of the inbox tabs, some of which are expandable. Upon clicking on the ad, it will open a larger, email-sized ad with pictures or videos. The ad can direct users to the advertiser’s website. Gmail ads are a great way to boost sales and leads, create brand awareness, or increase product awareness. Currently, two formats exist for this ad type:
- Single business ads: these ads only show one business at a time. It can include headlines, descriptions, images or videos, and more. This ad can link to a marketplace, client site and include options such as click-to-call.
- Multi-retailer ads: these ads show more than one advertiser and multiple products at once within the body of the ad itself. Upon clicking the ad, the user will be directed to a landing page on the advertiser’s website.
Migration Tips
Google and Chacka suggest when migrating your Gmail campaigns to Discovery, to first consider the budget. The Discovery ads campaign should be more than your Gmail ads campaign. Google goes as far as to suggest doubling it to achieve the incremental growth that comes with Discovery campaigns. Ad targeting settings should resemble your Gmail ads audience targeting too. We would recommend a custom audience approach that is properly tailored for your business needs – whether that be a top keyword approach, geo-targeting, or audience makeup.
Why the Change?
It is worth mentioning that as of July 1, 2021, any active Gmail ads will become ‘read-only,’ meaning that no changes can be made to it or the ability to create new Gmail ads either.
Google is migrating Gmail ads to Discovery campaigns because it can reach a much larger audience. Discovery ads don’t just touch Gmail but other Google properties like YouTube Home, Watch Next Feeds, and Discover. We can suspect marketers aren’t leveraging discovery ads as much as Google would like, so they are forcing our hands. Additionally, Google does not have an incentive to support Gmail as an independent entity. It’s easier to just roll Gmail ads under the Discovery campaign umbrella.”
– Aubree Rose, Associate Director of Paid Search
Chacka is in communication with clients that this change will pertain to and will have more to share in the coming months.