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Gmail Ads

Gmail ads are interactive ads. They are shown at the top of the user’s mailbox, and they look not like an ad but as a new unread message. They marked with an “Ad” tag and expand into email-sized ads with images and videos when clicked. The expanded ad can include images, video, or embedded forms. Gmail ads help you connect with potential customers in a more personal format.

How targeting works

Here are different ways you can reach specific audiences with your Gmail ads:

  • Affinity audiences: Select from these audiences to reach potential customers and make them aware of your business. For example, a sports apparel advertiser could select relevant topics like "Fitness" and "Sporting Goods" or reach people in the "Health & Fitness Buffs" or "Running Enthusiasts" affinity audiences.
  • Custom Intent Audiences: Reach your target audience in your Display and Video campaigns by applying keywords, URLs, apps, or YouTube content to identify customers that are actively researching a related product or device.
  • Automated targeting: Automatic targeting helps optimize your targeting across Gmail, letting you reach people your targeting wouldn't otherwise reach, at around the same cost per person--automatically.
  • Customer match: Lets you show ads to customers based on data about those customers that you share with Google. Learn more about customer match.
  • Demographics: Lets you reach people on the Display Network who are associated with certain demographic categories, like gender, age range, or household income.
  • In-market audiences: Select from these audiences to find customers who are in the market, which means that they're researching products and are actively considering buying a service or product like yours.
  • Life Events: Reach customers in key life moments like moving, marriage, or college graduation.
  • Remarketing: You can also reach people who've already engaged with your company's products and services, including past visitors to a website, mobile app, videos or your own lists. Remarketing lists targeting Gmail ads must have a minimum of 100 active visitors or users within the last 30 days for your ads to show.

How to create a Gmail campaign

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Click Campaigns in the page menu. 
  3. Click the plus button , then select New Campaign. 
  4. Select one of the following goals: Sales, Leads, or Website traffic. Or, choose not to use a goal. 
    1. If this step doesn’t reflect what you’re seeing in your account, select a campaign type first then select a goal. Learn more about goals in the new Google Ads experience.
  5. Select the Display campaign type.  
  6. Select Gmail campaign, then finish creating your campaign.

Using a personalized feed

Gmail ads also support dynamic remarketing for Hotels & Rentals and HPA feeds. While you are creating or editing your Gmail campaign:

  1. Click Additional settings from under the "Daily budget" section.
  2. Click the check box next to "Use a data feed for personalized ads"
  3. Click the drop-down menu to select the feed you want to apply to your Gmail ads.

There are two ways to create ads:

1. Create: 

  • You can upload your text, image, and video assets and we will optimize your creative for you. 

2. Upload: 

  • You can upload a single image ad. Learn more about Gmail ads. 
  • You can create a fully customized HTML ad and upload via a zip file containing an html file, images, a collapsed ad image, and a teaser.txt file. Learn more about Custom HTML. 

​Before your ads show to customers, they're reviewed to make sure they meet Google advertising policies. Your ad should be approved within 2 business days. 

How to create a Gmail ad

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Choose Display campaigns from the navigation panel. 
  3. In the page menu on the left, click Ads & extensions. 
  4. Click the plus button .
  5. Select Gmail ad.
  6. Provide the required information to create a Gmail ad. 

How to upload a Gmail ad

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Choose Display campaigns from the navigation panel. 
  3. In the page menu on the left, click Ads & extensions.
  4. Click the plus button. 
  5. Select Upload Gmail ads or select Upload display ads then select a Gmail campaign.
  6. Provide the required information to create a Gmail ad.