Scope: This is a quick analysis of selected accounts that we manage, not all accounts or the whole market.

Analysis period: 90 days of analysis. Year-on-year comparisons use the same 90-day period in the previous year.

The story in one paragraph

Ask Google which campaign type to use and the answer is all of them. Ask the data, and a clearer story appears. Across the selected accounts we manage, in one 90 day quarter, Demand Gen delivered around 30 million impressions and around 1.37 million clicks for a client whose buyers discover before they search. Search delivered click-through rates of 8.31 percent and, with Performance Max alongside, 17.87 percent, from people typing exactly what they wanted. And an e-commerce client running Search, Performance Max and Shopping together grew clicks 29 percent and CTR 59 percent. Three formats, three different jobs, each one provable in the same quarter's data.

The short answer

This is a quick analysis of selected accounts that we manage. In 90 days of analysis, the campaign type data across those accounts showed: Demand Gen as the scale engine, with a client at a 4.56 percent CTR on around 30.1 million impressions; Search as the intent engine, with CTR up to 8.31 percent on a Search-only account and 17.87 percent on an account running Search with Performance Max; and the combination of Search, Performance Max and Shopping as the e-commerce engine, with a client's clicks up 29 percent year on year.

The scale story: Demand Gen

Demand Gen works the top of the funnel, YouTube, Discover and Gmail, where people browse rather than search. Judged on impressions it always wins, which is why it must be judged on clicks instead.

A client's Demand Gen campaigns turned around 30.1 million impressions into around 1.37 million clicks, and improved while doing it: clicks up 106 percent year on year, CTR up 113 percent to 4.56 percent, cost per click down by close to half. Scale that improves its own quality is rare, and it happens when creative and audiences are worked, not merely funded. That story is told in full in its own blog in this series.

The intent story: Search, with and without Performance Max

Search is where intent is typed out loud. A Search-only client doubled its CTR to 8.31 percent this year, holding its clicks on about 43 percent less spend, a precision story told in full in its own blog in this series.

Alongside it, an account running Search with Performance Max reached a CTR of 17.87 percent and turned that precision into return: conversion value up 208 percent and return on ad spend up from 11.8x to 51.2x, on less spend. Performance Max, given a tight Search core and real conversion value to aim at, extended the intent instead of diluting it.

That pairing is the pattern worth copying: Search to capture and prove intent, Performance Max to widen the same intent carefully, both judged on conversion value, never on clicks alone.

The e-commerce story: Search, Performance Max and Shopping together

The e-commerce client in the selected accounts ran all three: Search, Performance Max and Shopping. Its quarter showed clicks up 29 percent year on year, from around 66,100 to around 85,600, and CTR up 59 percent, from 2.09 percent to 3.33 percent, across around 2.57 million impressions.

Shopping puts the product and its price in the ad itself, Performance Max finds buyers across Google's surfaces, and Search catches the people who type the product name. Together they cover the whole journey a buyer takes, from browsing a shelf to searching for the exact item. Growth in both clicks and CTR at once says the coverage got better, not just bigger.

What this means for your choice of campaign type

Stop asking which type is best. Ask which job is undone in your account. If nobody knows you exist, that is a Demand Gen job. If buyers search and find your competitors, that is a Search job, with Performance Max as the careful extension. If you sell products online, Shopping belongs in the mix from the start, with Performance Max widening it.

Then judge each type on its own job, the way this quarter's data does: Demand Gen on clicks and CTR at scale, Search on CTR and conversion value, the combination on growth in both clicks and return. Accounts in this set are enabled for Seria's regular syncs and briefs, checked through Seria for Google, because a format judged on the wrong metric gets cut for the wrong reason.

Frequently asked questions

Which Google campaign type is best?

The one matched to the job that is undone. In this data: Demand Gen for discovery at scale, Search for typed intent, Performance Max as the extension of proven intent, and Shopping for products. Best is a job description, not a format.

Can Demand Gen deliver quality, not just impressions?

Yes. A client here delivered a 4.56 percent CTR and around 1.37 million clicks in the quarter, with CTR up 113 percent year on year. Quality showed up because creative and audiences were worked continuously.

Does Performance Max replace Search?

Not in this data. The strongest return in the set came from an account running Search with Performance Max together, where Search proved the intent and Performance Max widened it. They are a pairing, not a replacement.

How should each type be judged?

On its own job: Demand Gen on clicks and CTR, Search on CTR and conversion value, Performance Max on conversion value and return, Shopping on product-level sales. One blended judgment misjudges all of them.

Talk to Wassp

Not sure which Google formats your business actually needs? WASSP will map the formats to your jobs, using data like this, checked through Seria Analytics. Email wasspsolutions@wassp.co.za or call +27 11 450 4634. 5 Riley Rd, Bedfordview, Gauteng.

Related services: Paid Media, Seria Analytics.