About campaign goals in Google Ads

Using a goal eases your decision-making when you create a campaign in Google Ads by guiding you to the specific features designed to help your campaign succeed. When you create a campaign, you can select a goal. The goal you select should align with the main thing you want to get from your campaign, for example, Sales or Website traffic. After selecting a goal, you'll see relevant, recommended features and settings to help you achieve the results that matter most to your business.

This article explains how goals work and defines what each goal can do to help improve the performance of your campaigns.

Note: When creating a Google Ads campaign, some users may be asked to select their campaign goals before the campaign type.

How goals work

When you create a campaign, select a goal that corresponds to the main thing you want your campaign to achieve for your business.

For example, if after viewing your ads you want people to visit your website, you can select the "Website traffic" goal. As you set up your campaign after selecting this goal, you'll see recommended features and settings that can help generate visits to your website.

You can add or remove a goal at any time and, if you want, choose to not use a goal and create your campaign without seeing a goal's recommendations. To see more information about each goal type and some of the highlighted features each goal recommends, simply place your cursor over a goal.

After you select campaign goals, you can select the type of campaign you'd like to run, which determines where customers see your ads, as well as the settings and options available to you. Once you specify a campaign type, you go on to select the networks in which you’d like your ads to appear.

Learn more about ad formats

Create a campaign with goals

Goals for Search campaigns

Goal	When to use it	Types of features
Sales	Drive sales or conversions online, in app, by phone, or in store Engage with customers who have already contacted you or are close to making a purchase decision	Features that start the purchasing or conversion process, such as bidding strategies aimed at clicks, extensions, and ads that show to potential customers as they browse sites, videos and apps that partner with Google
Leads	Encourage relevant customers to express interest in your products or services by signing up for a newsletter or providing their contact information	Features that start the conversion process, such as audience targeting, extensions, and ads that show to people as they browse sites, videos, and apps that partner with Google
Website traffic	Drive potential customers to visit your website	Features that help researching customers find potential product options, such as ads with relevant, dynamically generated headlines, extensions, and bidding strategies that can help increase visits to your site

Goals for Display campaigns

Goal	When to use it	Types of features
Sales	Drive sales or conversions from customers who are ready to act Engage with customers who have already contacted you or are very close to making a purchase decision	Features that start the purchasing or conversion process, such as visually striking ads, automated bidding and targeting, and other features that help you reach people who are actively browsing, researching, or comparing the products and services you sell
Leads	Encourage relevant customers to express interest in your products or services by signing up for a newsletter or providing their contact information	Features that start the conversion process, such as automated bidding and targeting, visually striking ads, and other features that help you collect email addresses, newsletter signups, or other relevant contact information from people interested in your business
Website traffic	Drive potential customers to visit your website	Features that help researching customers find potential product options, such as automated bidding, targeting, and ad creation, as well as features that can help you build a list of visitors you can later reconnect with
Brand awareness & reach	Increase awareness of your products or services Introduce customers to what you offer when releasing a new product or expanding your business into a new area	Features that help you build brand recognition, such as compelling visual ads, bid strategies that drive views, and other features that help attract new customers and capture their attention

Goals for Shopping campaigns

Goal	When to use it
Sales	Drive sales or conversions online, in app, by phone, or in store Engage with customers who have already contacted you or are close to making a purchase decision
Leads	Encourage relevant customers to express interest in your products or services by signing up for a newsletter or providing their contact information
Website traffic	Drive potential customers to visit your website

Goals for Video campaigns

Goal	When to use it
Sales	Drive sales or conversions from customers who are ready to act Engage with customers who have already contacted you or are very close to making a purchase decisions
Leads	Encourage relevant customers to express interest in your products or services by signing up for a newsletter or providing their contact information
Website traffic	Drive potential customers to visit your website
Product and brand consideration	Encourage potential customers to consider your brand or products when they are researching or shopping for products Engage with people who've demonstrated interest in your brand Encourage people to consider your brand or products in the future
Brand awareness and reach	Reach a wide audience while using your brand efficiently Increase awareness among relevant audiences Use a variety of ad formats designed to get users to recognize your brand Reach audience at desired weekly Target frequency to increase brand recognition

Goals for App campaigns

Goal	When to use it
App promotion	Drive app installs and engagement with an automated campaign showing ads on the Google Search Network, the Display Network, Google Play, within other apps, and on YouTube.