How to Create Video Action Campaigns in Google Ads

Key takeaways

Steps to follow when creating a new video action campaign include setting your budget and bidding strategy, and adding and configuring settings.

• A video action campaign (VAC) allows you to use brief videos to drive traffic to your business, service, or product.

• Use target CPA smart bidding to set a budget and control how quickly your campaign can optimize for conversions.

• You can optimize conversion tracking and set a higher budget to help reduce optimization time.

Learn more about how to create video action campaigns in Google Ads. If you’re ready to start building your digital marketing skills, consider the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate. In this eight-course series, you can learn the fundamentals of digital marketing and e-commerce to gain the skills needed to land an entry-level job. Upon completion, you’ll earn a shareable certificate to display on your resume or LinkedIn profile.

What are video action campaigns?

Video action campaigns on Google Ads generate multiple versions of ads to fit the most ad formats and connect to your audience. They can help you drive engagement and improve ad campaign performance. Depending on your goals, Google Ads will help optimize your campaign to help you reach your goals faster.

How to create a video action campaign in Google Ads

To create a video action campaign in Google Ads, you’ll:

• Start a new campaign

• Set your budget and bidding strategy

• Add additional campaign settings

• Create your ad in the editor

• Configure ad settings

Let’s take a closer look at each of these steps.

1. Create a new video action campaign in Google Ads.

The first step is to go to your Google Ads homepage and click the Campaigns icon. Next, click the Campaigns dropdown menu, followed by Campaigns for a third time. Click the Plus icon, then New campaign.

Choose between a Sales, Leads, or Website traffic goal. 

Select Video for campaign type, and you will notice that Drive conversions is automatically selected as the campaign subtype. Click continue.

Read more: Gaining a Google Ads Certification: A Step-By-Step Guide 

2. Set budget and bidding strategy.

Next, you will name your campaign, determine your bidding strategy, and set your budget. For a new campaign bidding strategy, you can choose between Target CPA (“cost per action”) and Maximize conversions. After 30 or more conversions, you can change your bidding strategy to Max Conversion Value or Target ROAS (“target return on ad spend”).

You’ll then be prompted to choose between an average Daily budget and a Campaign total budget and to set start and end dates for your campaign. You do not have to enter an end date if you’re running an average daily budget.

3. Add additional settings to your campaign. 

In the next menus, you will need to provide your campaign’s language and location settings and any content you don’t want your ads shown on. You also have the choice to add optional settings, like including a product feed, targeting specific devices, or creating an ad schedule.

Later on, you’ll name the ad group and identify your target audience’s demographics.

4. Create your ad in the editor.

In the ad editor, you’ll first need to enter the URL of the YouTube video you want to use in your video ad. Then, write a call to action, headline, and text description of the product or service.

5. Configure settings and create your campaign.

The last step is to select an image to serve as your companion banner, name your ad, and click Create campaign.

Things to consider when setting up your Google Ads video action campaign

• You will need to enable Conversion tracking before you begin a new video campaign. This means you’ll be able to track actions like when customers “Add to Cart” or visit the site for the first time. Optimizing conversion tracking ahead of time can result in faster results in your video campaign.

• The budget you set will also impact how quickly your campaign will be able to optimize for conversions. You can use target CPA smart bidding if you know your target CPA. When you set your budget five to 10 times your target CPA, Google estimates it will optimize your campaign within three weeks [1]. However, setting your budget to over 15 times your CPA can reduce your optimization time to seven to eight days [1].

Is $500 a month enough for Google Ads?

Spending $500 a month can be enough to generate traffic and create initial conversion data to optimize ads. However, the starting budget varies based on your industry, competitors, and goals. This amount may be sufficient for smaller campaigns targeting specific keywords, but for bigger markets or more competitive keywords, you’ll likely need a higher budget.

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