Google Ads Questions and Answers: Simple PPC Explanations

🎯 Running Google Ads can feel overwhelming without clear answers. This Google Ads Questions and Answers guide is here to simplify things — covering common doubts, platform basics, and practical tips for advertisers at any level. 💡

👉 Just getting started? Check out our Google Ads Glossary for key terms and definitions.

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What are Google Ads?

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google that allows businesses to display ads on Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, and across the Google Display Network. Advertisers bid on keywords and pay when users interact with their ads (e.g., clicks or views). The platform supports various campaign types, including Search, Display, Video, Shopping, App, Performance Max, and Demand Gen, to help businesses achieve goals like website traffic, leads, sales, or brand awareness.

What is the Google Ads Auction and how does it work?

The Google Ads Auction is a system that determines which ads appear on Google’s search results pages and their positions. It works by evaluating bids and ad quality. When a keyword is searched, Google calculates Ad Rank by combining bid amounts with a Quality Score. Ads with higher Ad Ranks are shown more prominently.

What are Google Search Ads?

Google Search Ads are text-based ads that appear on Google’s search results pages when users search for specific keywords. Advertisers bid on keywords, and their ads are displayed based on their bid and relevance.

What is Google Search Network?

The Google Search Network is a group of websites and apps where Google Search Ads can appear, including Google’s search results and Google’s search partners like YouTube, Google Maps, and other search-related websites.

What are keywords in Google Ads?

Keywords in Google Ads are words or phrases that advertisers select to target their ads. When users search for these terms on Google, the ads associated with those keywords may appear in the search results. Keywords help match an ad with relevant search queries, ensuring the ad reaches the right audience.

What are Keyword Match Types in Google Ads?

Keyword Match Types in Google Ads are settings that determine how closely a user’s search query must match your keyword for your ad to appear. The main types include Broad Match, Phrase Match, Exact Match, and Negative Match, each offering varying levels of targeting precision.

What are Negative Keywords?

Negative Keywords in Google Ads are words or phrases that you specify to prevent your ads from appearing in search results for those keywords. By using negative keywords, you can filter out irrelevant traffic, ensuring your ads only show for relevant searches, which helps improve your return on investment (ROI) and reduces wasted ad spend on unrelated clicks.

What are Google’s Responsive Search Ads?

Google’s Responsive Search Ads are a flexible ad format in Google Ads that allows advertisers to create multiple headlines and descriptions. Google then automatically tests different combinations to find the best-performing ad variations for each search query. This format helps optimize ad relevance and performance by matching the most effective messaging to the user’s search intent.

What is the difference between Responsive Search Ads and Expanded Text Ads?

Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) and Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) differ mainly in control and flexibility. ETAs allow advertisers to create a fixed ad with up to three headlines and two descriptions, ensuring the exact combination shown to users. In contrast, RSAs let advertisers provide multiple headlines and descriptions, with Google’s machine learning dynamically testing and displaying the best-performing combinations based on user intent. While ETAs give advertisers full control over messaging, RSAs adapt automatically to improve relevance and performance, making them the default ad format since ETAs were phased out in 2022.

What are Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) in Google Ads?

Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) in Google Ads are a type of ad that automatically creates headlines and targets landing pages based on the content of your website, without requiring specific keyword targeting. DSAs help advertisers reach users searching for products or services related to their site content.

What is a Page Feed in Google Ads?

A Page Feed is a file (usually a spreadsheet) that contains a list of specific URLs from your website that you want Google Ads to use for Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs). It allows you to control which pages are targeted and helps improve ad relevance.

What are Google Ad Assets?

Google Ad Assets (formerly known as Extensions) are additional pieces of information that enhance your search ads by providing users with more details and clickable options. These assets improve ad visibility and increase engagement by allowing users to interact with your ad in multiple ways, such as clicking on specific product pages, calling directly, or finding your business location.

What are Remarketing Lists for Search Ads?

Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) are a Google Ads feature that allows advertisers to target people who have previously visited their website or interacted with their content. By using these lists, advertisers can customize their search campaigns to show ads to these users when they perform related searches. This helps reach users who are already familiar with your brand, improving the chances of conversion by serving relevant ads based on their past behavior. RLSA can be used to increase bids, tailor ad copy, or adjust targeting to drive more meaningful interactions with returning visitors.

What’s the difference between remarketing and retargeting?

The key difference between remarketing and retargeting lies in their methods. Remarketing typically involves re-engaging users through email campaigns, such as sending personalized offers or reminders to those who have interacted with your website or app. Retargeting, on the other hand, uses cookies or pixel tracking to display targeted ads to users across websites and social media, encouraging them to return and complete a desired action. While both aim to drive conversions, remarketing focuses on direct communication, while retargeting relies on ad placement.

What is Audience Manager in Google Ads?

Audience Manager in Google Ads is a tool that allows advertisers to create, manage, and analyze audience lists for more effective targeting. It centralizes all audience data, enabling advertisers to build and customize audience segments based on user behavior, demographics, or interactions with their business (e.g., website visits, app usage, or customer data). These lists can be used for various campaign types, including remarketing and targeting similar audiences.

What are Audience Segments in Google Ads?

Audience Segments in Google Ads are groups of users categorized by shared characteristics, such as demographics, interests, behaviors, or interactions with your business, used to target ads more effectively and improve campaign relevance.

What are Google Display Ads?

Google Display Ads are visually engaging ads that appear on websites, apps, and YouTube through the Google Display Network (GDN). They use images, banners, and rich media to target users based on interests, demographics, and browsing behavior. Display ads help increase brand awareness, retarget visitors, and drive conversions beyond search results.

What is Google Display Network?

Google Display Network (GDN) is a vast network of millions of websites, apps, and YouTube channels where Google Display Ads can appear. It helps advertisers reach a broad audience through visually engaging ads, targeting users based on interests, demographics, and browsing behavior. GDN is ideal for brand awareness, retargeting, and engaging potential customers beyond Google Search.

What are Responsive Display Ads?

Responsive Display Ads are a flexible ad format in Google Ads that automatically adjust their size, appearance, and format to fit various placements across the Google Display Network. Advertisers provide multiple headlines, descriptions, images, and logos, and Google uses machine learning to create and optimize the best-performing ad combinations.

What are Dynamic Display Ads?

Dynamic Display Ads are a type of Google Display Ad that automatically show personalized content—like products or services—to users based on their past behavior or interactions with a website or app. These ads pull information from a product feed or data source, making them ideal for remarketing and e-commerce campaigns.

What are Google Video Ads?

Google Video Ads (YouTube Ads) are video-based advertisements that run on YouTube and across Google’s video partner sites and apps. These ads help brands reach audiences through engaging video content, targeting users by demographics, interests, search behavior, and more.

What are App Campaigns in Google Ads?

App Campaigns in Google Ads are automated campaigns designed to promote mobile apps across Google’s largest platforms—including Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover, and the Google Display Network. Advertisers provide ad assets like text, images, and videos, and Google automatically creates and optimizes ads to drive app installs, in-app actions, or app engagement based on campaign goals.

What are Shopping Ads in Google Ads?

Shopping Ads in Google Ads are product-based advertisements that display detailed information about a product, such as its image, title, price, store name, and more. These ads appear on Google Search, the Shopping tab, YouTube, and across the Google Display Network. They are powered by product data submitted through Google Merchant Center and are ideal for e-commerce businesses aiming to showcase their inventory and drive online or in-store sales.

What is a Product Feed?

A Product Feed is a structured file that contains detailed information about the products a business wants to advertise on Google. It includes attributes like product titles, descriptions, prices, availability, image URLs, and more.

What is Performance Max in Google Ads?

Performance Max is a goal-based campaign type in Google Ads that allows advertisers to access all of Google’s advertising channels—Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Maps—from a single campaign. It uses Google’s AI to automatically optimize ad placements, creative combinations, and bidding strategies based on the advertiser’s specific goals, such as sales, leads, or online traffic.

What are Search Themes in Google Ads?

Search Themes are a feature in Performance Max campaigns that lets advertisers provide Google with specific keyword ideas or topics they want their ads to show for on Search and Search Partner sites. These themes help guide Google’s automation to better match ads with relevant searches, especially when there’s limited first-party data or conversion history.

What is an Audience Signal in Google Ads?

Audience Signal is a feature in Performance Max campaigns that allows advertisers to provide Google Ads with audience information—such as interests, demographics, and past behaviors—to help the algorithm quickly identify and target high-performing users. While Performance Max uses machine learning to find potential customers, audience signals act as starting points to speed up learning and improve campaign performance.

What are Demand Gen Campaigns in Google Ads?

Demand Gen (Demand Generation) campaigns are a campaign type in Google Ads designed to drive interest and action from potential customers before they actively search for your product or service. These campaigns focus on visual, engaging formats to spark discovery across YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail. They are ideal for brands looking to build awareness, generate leads, or boost consideration among new audiences.

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