If you’re running Demand Gen campaigns and wondering where the hell your ads are showing up, you’re not alone. It’s one of those questions that sounds simple, but Google doesn’t make the answer super clear.
The problem? You can’t optimize what you don’t fully understand. If you don’t know where your ads are being served, you’re flying blind—and wasting money.
So, where do Demand Gen ads actually show?
Demand Gen campaigns show across several high-visibility Google properties:
- YouTube – including the Home feed, Watch feed, and Shorts.
- Discover feed – that Google content feed you see on Android and in the Google app.
- Gmail – Promotions and Social tabs.
That’s it. No Search. No Display placements outside these specific Google-owned spots.
Why should you care?
Because this placement mix is all about visual storytelling and native-style ads. It’s not the place for hard-sell search ads. You need to:
- Use strong creative – think bold images, videos, headlines that stop the scroll.
- Test different formats – especially videos for YouTube and swipeable carousels.
- Track placement performance – use breakdowns and placement reports in GA4 or YouTube Analytics to see what’s working.
Let’s not pretend these are low-effort campaigns. If you treat them like Display or Discovery, they’ll flop.
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