In this article, you are going to learn everything you need about Discovery campaigns in Google Ads.

We all know that customized feeds (such as video, news, and social) play a very important role in helping people throughout their consumer journey. According to a Google and Ipsos research, 85% of people confirmed they take some action within 24 hours of discovering a product, such as comparing prices, reading reviews or purchasing the product.

Discovery campaigns were introduced way back in 2019 to help advertisers reach people when they’re more likely to read about new products and services. Approximately 3 billion consumers read Google feeds every month, which means you can reach a wide audience no matter what your business sector is.

Discover campaigns use Google’s audience and customer intent signals to show visual, personalized ads to its feed readers.

Where do Discovery ads appear?

Discovery campaigns can help your business reach up to 3 billion people. These are users who:

• browse feeds on YouTube;
• check the Gmail Promotions and Social tabs;
• scroll through Discover to read about things they’re interested in.

When should you use Discovery campaigns?

If you want to get more conversions from your media, but at a larger scale

You can use Discovery ads to increase sales, website traffic, downloads, and more.

If you want to bring back customers who already know your brand

Whether your customers have previously bought your product or service, watched your YouTube videos, or visited your website, Discovery campaigns are a great way to get your audience to re-engage with your brand again.

If you want to find new customers with your media

Get new users to see your visually rich Discovery ads on Google properties. Discovery campaigns also allow you to extend a high-performing audience strategy to new audiences on Google’s feeds.

If you want your brand to appear in one more placement

In case you already run other types of ads (Search Network, Shopping, display, etc.) and you want to be seen by even more people who use Google, then Discovery campaigns are definitely worth a try.

Eligibility

To be eligible to create Discovery campaigns, you’ll have to meet the requirements below:

• To comply with Google’s Personalized advertising policies and Google Ads policies.
• Sitewide tagging must be enabled in your account.

Automation and settings

Many of the Discovery campaign settings, such as bidding and targeting, are automated.

Keep in mind you cannot use the features below:

• Manual bid strategies
• Device targeting
• Placement targeting (including exclusions)
• Ad rotation
• Frequency capping
• Contextual targeting
• Delivery method

How to create Discovery campaigns

Campaign setup

1. You need to add a new campaign. To do so, choose “Campaigns” on the page menu (1), then click the “Plus” button (2) and select “New campaign“.
2. Select either “Sales“, “Leads“, “Website traffic” or “Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance” as a marketing objective. You’ll have to choose one conversion goal for your Discovery campaign.
3. Choose “Discovery” as the campaign type.
4. Under “Use these conversion goals for campaign performance optimization” select one conversion goal that best meets your Discovery campaign’s needs.
5. Click “Continue”.
6. Under “This is the web page people will go to after clicking your ad” enter your destination URL in the field.
7. Name your campaign.
8. Click “Continue”.
9. Select your locations and languages for the campaign.
10. Choose your bid strategy. You can read more about Automated bidding strategies here.
    • Conversions: if you select the checkbox that says “Set a target cost per action”, the system will do its best to meet the Target CPA amount you set.
    • Conversion value (might not be available depending on your settings): if you select the checkbox that says “Set a target return on ad spend”, the system will try to meet the Target ROAS amount you set.
11. Enter your daily budget.
12. Choose your audiences. You can use custom intent audiences, your data, and in-market segments.

    Keep in mind

    Your audience lists must have a minimum of:

    • Google Search Network or YouTube: at least 1,000 active visitors or users within the last 30 days (each).
    • Gmail: at least 100 active visitors or users within the last 30 days in the Display Network.

    Don’t forget to activate Google signals in your Analytics account.

    As for Custom intent segments, Discovery campaigns support search keywords only.

13. Click “Next”.

Create your Discovery ads: single image ad and multi-image carousel ad specs

Create a single-image ad

If you followed the above instructions and your campaign setup screen is still open, then this would be your next step by default.

If you have already set up a Discovery campaign but haven’t created its ads yet, go to “Ads & extensions” on the page menu, click the “Plus” button, and choose “Discovery ad”.

Asset specifications

• Final URL
• Headline: 40 characters max, include at least one with 15 characters or less. Minimum 3, maximum 5 headlines.
• Description: 90 characters max. Minimum 3, maximum 5 descriptions.
• Call-to-action: automated by default, or select from a list.
• Business name: 25 characters max.
• Landscape image: 1.91:1 ratio, 1200 x 628 px, 600 x 314 px minimum. 5MB maximum file size.
• Square image: 1:1 ratio, 1200 x 1200 px, 300 x 300 px minimum. 5MB maximum file size.
• Portrait image: 4:5 ratio, 960 x 1200 px, 480 x 600 px minimum. Portrait images won’t be displayed on YouTube.
• Square logo: 1:1 ratio, 1200 x 1200 px, 128 x 128 px minimum. 5MB maximum file size. PNG with transparent background is recommended.

Create a multi-image carousel ad

Go to your Discovery campaign, click “Ads & extensions” on the page menu, then click the “Plus” button, and choose “Discovery ad” or “Discovery Carousel ad”.

Asset specifications for carousel ads

• Final URL
• Headline: 40 characters max, include at least one with 15 characters or less. Minimum 3, maximum 5 headlines.
• Description: 90 characters max. Minimum 3, maximum 5 descriptions.
• Call-to-action: automated by default, or select from a list.
• Business name: 25 characters max.
• Mobile URL (optional).
• Card images: 1:1.91 ratio, 1200 x 628 px, 600 x 314 px minimum. 5MB maximum file size. Minimum 2, maximum 10 cards.
• Logos: 1:1 ratio, 1200 x 1200 px, 128 x 128 px minimum. 5MB maximum file size. Minimum 1 logo. PNG with transparent background is recommended.

Optional: create a lead form extension and add it to your Discovery campaign

Lead form extensions can help your campaign give you more leads by allowing people to submit their information in a form directly in your ad. Read more about lead forms here.

Allow 2 weeks for the “Learning” period

Before making new changes to your Discovery campaign, you should wait at least 2 weeks until the algorithm completes its learning.

After making any changes or edits to your bid strategy, there could be minor performance fluctuations because Google Ads will have to optimize your bids again. Therefore, your bid strategy status can change to “Learning”.

If you hover over the status you will see why your bid strategy has the “Learning” status.

You should allow two weeks for the “Learning” period to elapse before making any other bidding changes.