Google Display Ads: How They Work, Targeting, Formats & Best Practices

Search ads reach people who already know what they want. Plenty of potential customers never type that query. They read blogs, watch videos and scroll through apps, and many would care about your product if they saw it at the right moment. Visual advertising puts your brand in front of them before they search.

Google Display Ads are the visual side of Google Ads, sitting beside Search, Shopping and video, and they carry the old banner advertising model into Google's auction. This guide covers where they run, how targeting and billing work, which formats to use, and how to build and measure a campaign. It also explains what Google's move to Demand Gen means for your plans.

What are Google Display Ads?

Google Display Ads are visual ads made of images, headlines, logos and sometimes video that appear on websites, apps and Google properties. Advertisers use them to reach people who are not searching and to win back past visitors.

A text ad answers a query. A display ad appears beside content someone is already reading, so online display advertising works as a discovery channel first. Banner advertising is the oldest version of the idea, and Google banner ads run the same concept through Google's auction and audience data. Static Google image ads remain the most common of the Display ad formats.

What is the Google Display Network (GDN)?

The Google Display Network is a collection of websites, apps and Google-owned properties that sell ad space through Google. Google says it reaches more than 90% of internet users worldwide, though that figure comes from Google itself. That reach is why Google Display Network ads suit awareness work.

Publishers and app developers join through AdSense, AdMob or Google Ad Manager and earn a share of revenue when an ad is shown or clicked. Advertisers buy that space through Google Ads, and Google matches Google Display Network ads to people using browsing behavior, page topic, demographics and uploaded lists.

Where do Google Display Ads appear?

Google Display Ads appear on websites and blogs, in mobile apps, on YouTube, and on other Google surfaces such as Gmail, depending on the campaign type.

• Websites and blogs: banner and native-style units beside articles
• Mobile apps: banner and interstitial units inside games and utilities
• YouTube: video and image placements on eligible surfaces
• Gmail and Discover: inbox and feed units, now mostly through Demand Gen

Google chooses most placements based on your Google Display Network targeting, and you narrow the list with exclusions.

How do Google Display Ads work?

Google Display Ads work through an auction. When a page or app with ad space loads, Google compares the eligible ads in milliseconds and shows the one that wins on bid, ad quality and relevance.

How Google selects where to show Display ads

Google checks which campaigns target that person or page, removes ads that do not fit the slot or the exclusions, and ranks the rest. The winner depends on the bid, the quality of the ad and landing page, and how well the audience or context matches your targeting.

Responsive Display Ads add one step. Google assembles the ad from the assets you supply and fits it to the slot, which is why one Display ad campaign can fill many placement sizes.

How Display ads target potential customers

Display ad targeting splits into audience targeting, which finds people, and contextual targeting, which finds pages. Strong campaigns mix both, and each Display ad targeting method below can be layered.

How Google Display Ads are billed

You pay by click, by impression or by outcome, and the choice follows your goal.

CPC suits most beginners, and viewable CPM suits brand campaigns. Automated bidding strategies such as Maximize conversions, Target CPA and Target ROAS adjust bids per auction, but they need conversion tracking and usually a few dozen conversions a month.

What are the different types of Google Display Ads?

There are four main Display ad types: Responsive Display Ads, uploaded image ads, HTML5 ads and dynamic ads. These Display ad types trade creative control against automation, and the right mix of Display ad formats depends on your design time.

Responsive Display Ads - Responsive Display Ads are the standard choice. You upload up to 15 images, up to 5 logos, several headlines and descriptions, and optionally video, and Google builds ads for each slot. Include landscape (1.91:1) and square (1:1) images. Short headlines run to 30 characters; the long headline and descriptions run to 90.

Uploaded image Display ads - Uploaded image ads are the classic banner and the heart of traditional banner advertising. You design each size and upload it, so the ad looks exactly as built. Common sizes are 300x250, 728x90 and 300x600, with files under 150 KB. 

HTML5 Display ads - HTML5 ads are animated or interactive Display ad formats packaged as a zip file of up to 600 KB. They allow motion and small demos, and they take the most work to build and test.

Dynamic Display ads - Dynamic ads pull products from a feed, usually through Google Merchant Center, and fill a template automatically. With remarketing, they show people the exact items they viewed. Retailers get the most from them.

Why should you use Google Display Ads?

Use Google Display Ads when you need reach beyond search, a way to follow up with visitors, or support across the buying journey.

Build brand awareness and reach new audiences

Search reaches only people already looking for what you sell. Online display advertising reaches everyone else. One of the clearest display advertising examples is a project management tool targeting people who read productivity content, long before they search for software.

Retarget website visitors and re-engage prospects

Most visitors leave without converting. Remarketing reaches them again with a new message. Among practical display advertising examples, a case study shown to someone who read your pricing page is a common one. This is where Google remarketing ads usually earn their budget.

Generate leads and drive conversions

Pair an in-market or custom segment with an offer such as a webinar, template or demo to drive leads at a competitive cost.

Support customers across the buying journey

A Display ad campaign can run at several stages at once: awareness creative for cold audiences, proof for engaged visitors, and a nudge to book a call for past leads. A sound display advertising strategy covers that full path, and the strongest one pairs it with search.

How to create a Google Display Ads campaign

To create a Display ad campaign, pick an objective, set up targeting, upload creative, set a budget and bid strategy, then launch and monitor. Your account may route new campaigns through Demand Gen, but the same decisions apply.

Step 1: choose your campaign objective

Pick the goal that matches the action you want: sales, leads, website traffic or brand awareness. The objective sets default bidding options.

Step 2: set up your campaign and select your audience

Set locations, languages and devices, then add audiences: affinity or in-market segments, custom segments and your own lists. Start with two or three audiences, each with its own message.

Step 3: create your display ad assets

Choose the Display ad types that fit your design capacity, then upload images for your Google image ads, plus logos, headlines and descriptions. Check that each image works at small sizes, since Google crops assets, and add a clear call to action.

Step 4: set your budget and bidding strategy

Set a daily budget you can sustain for at least two weeks. New campaigns usually start with Maximize conversions or manual CPC. Move to Target CPA once you have enough conversion data.

Step 5: review, launch and monitor your campaign

Check conversion tracking, final URLs and exclusions before launch. In the first week, watch spend and placements and avoid big changes.

7 Google Display Ads best practices to improve campaign performance

A good display advertising strategy comes down to relevance, clean creative, steady testing and tidy placements. Each practice below supports that display advertising strategy.

1. Match ad creatives to your target audience

Write for the segment, not the average buyer. A founder reading startup news and a marketing manager researching tools need different hooks, so build separate ad groups for each.

2. Use high-quality images and clear ad copy

Use sharp, uncluttered images with one focus and short text. Study display advertising examples from brands in your space and note what stands out on a crowded page. Good Google banner ads make the offer clear in two seconds.

3. Create multiple creative variations

Upload several images, headlines and descriptions so Google can test combinations, and cover more than one of the Display ad formats where you can.

4. Separate prospecting and remarketing campaigns

Keep cold audiences and past visitors in separate campaigns, and run Google remarketing ads on their own budget. They need different budgets, bids and messages.

5. Align your landing page with your ad message

If the ad offers a pricing guide, the page should open on the guide, not the homepage. Mismatches raise bounce rates and cost.

6. Monitor ad placements and exclude irrelevant inventory

Check the placements report every week or two. Exclude apps and sites that drive accidental clicks or sit far from your brand.

7. Test and refresh your creative assets

Creative wears out. If click-through rate falls week over week, replace the weakest assets and test a new angle, changing one variable at a time.

How to measure Google Display Ads performance

Measure Display ads against the goal you set: reach and CPM for awareness, conversions and CPA for leads and sales.

What's changing with Google Display Ads in 2026? The shift to Demand Gen

Google is moving standalone Display campaigns into Demand Gen campaigns. Google confirmed on May 26, 2026, that advertisers can manage their Google Display Network presence inside Demand Gen campaigns, with a migration tool rolling out from June 2026 and automatic migration of remaining campaigns expected in 2027.

Why is Google moving Display ads into Demand Gen?

Google wants its visual formats in one place. Demand Gen already covers YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Maps, and adding Display Network inventory puts everything under one budget and creative library. Google says advertisers who add Display inventory to Demand Gen campaigns see an average 9.5% lift in return on investment. That is Google's figure, so test it against your own results.

What does the transition mean for advertisers?

Demand Gen campaigns lean on automation and richer formats such as carousels. Migrated campaigns have the Display Network switched on by default, and migration cannot be reversed. Some Display features do not carry over, so review placement exclusions and brand safety rules.

Can advertisers still run Display-only campaigns? For now, yes. Existing campaigns remain editable until migrated. Google will later limit new Display campaigns to Demand Gen. Channel controls can restrict Demand Gen to the Display Network. 

What should advertisers do to prepare for the transition?

• Audit current Display campaigns: audiences, exclusions, bids and top placements
• Rebuild your best setups in test Demand Gen campaigns before automatic migration
• Build video and carousel assets, since Demand Gen rewards more than static banner advertising
• Migrate a small batch first and compare results with the old campaigns
• Keep conversion tracking clean so the system has reliable data

Build a more effective Google Ads strategy with Envizon

Online display advertising works best when it connects to the rest of your Google Ads account: search for demand you can capture, remarketing for people you have not closed, and Demand Gen for wider reach.

Envizon helps B2B SaaS teams build Google Ads strategies that tie display, search and content together, from audience planning to reporting. If you are weighing the Demand Gen migration or want a second look at your current campaigns, talk to the Envizon team.

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