Google’s Demand Gen ads offer something most ad formats can’t: the ability to create interest before a user starts searching. While Search Ads and Performance Max (PMax) are powerful tools for capturing demand, they fall short in proactively building it.
If your brand relies solely on “buy now” intent, you’re missing a massive piece of the puzzle. Here’s how Demand Gen closes that gap—and why it often performs better for growth-focused businesses.
1. Demand Gen Reaches People Before They’re Searching
Demand Capture vs Demand Creation
Search ads are great at converting people who already know what they want. They type in a query, you serve an ad. Done.
But what about the people who don’t know yet?
Demand Gen campaigns place your brand in front of users while they browse YouTube, check their Gmail, or scroll through Discover. It’s proactive, not reactive. That means you can plant the seed before the buyer even knows they need you.
Expand Into the Awareness and Consideration Stages
Demand Gen works across the full funnel. Where search lives at the bottom, Demand Gen helps you:
- Build brand familiarity
- Influence decision-making earlier
- Capture future demand—not just current
2. It Uses Visuals to Stop the Scroll
Rich Creative > Text-Only Messaging
Search ads are text-based—no visual flair, no emotional pull.
Demand Gen lets you showcase products, services, or your story with:
- YouTube Shorts and in-stream video
- High-impact image ads
- Carousels and product feeds
It’s tailor-made for storytelling, brand-building, and lifestyle positioning.
Show, Don’t Just Tell
Visual creative taps into emotion and aspiration in a way a few lines of text never will. That’s a win for:
- New product launches
- Brand awareness campaigns
- Complex offerings that need demonstration
3. More Places to Show Up = More Ways to Be Discovered
Search ads are limited to search results pages.
Demand Gen ads appear across:
- YouTube Home Feed, Watch Next, and Shorts
- Google Discover
- Gmail Promotions and Social Tabs
This placement diversity means more touchpoints, more impressions, and more chances to capture those pivotal “I wasn’t even looking but this caught my eye” moments.
Drive Unplanned Purchases
People often discover new products in visual-first environments. According to Insight 2025, over 80% of businesses still find social and video-led discovery channels the most effective for engagement and brand awareness.
4. Targeting Goes Beyond Keywords
Search depends on keywords. Demand Gen uses audience signals and intent data to do more:
Smarter Audience Segmentation
You can target:
- In-market segments (people showing buying intent)
- Affinity audiences (based on lifestyle and interests)
- Life events (e.g., moving, getting married)
- Lookalike audiences (mirroring your best customers)
This behavioural and interest-based targeting gives you precision that goes beyond guessing which keywords matter.
5. Demand Gen vs PMax: Why It Often Performs Better
Performance Max is Google’s “black box” – it distributes across all Google properties but gives you very little control or creative optimisation.
Demand Gen, by contrast:
- Offers more creative control
- Lets you test visual storytelling formats directly
- Provides deeper insights into which placements are working
PMax is great for automation and scale, but if you want brand lift, creative testing, and mid-funnel impact—you need Demand Gen in the mix.
Quick Comparison: Demand Gen vs Search Ads
| Aspect | Demand Gen Ads | Search Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Create demand | Capture demand |
| User Intent | Browsing, discovery | High-intent, action-driven |
| Format | Visual: video, images | Text-based |
| Placements | YouTube, Discover, Gmail | Google Search only |
| Targeting | Behavioural, AI, life events | Keywords |
Who Should Be Using Demand Gen?
Demand Gen ads are especially powerful for:
- Startups that need to build awareness fast
- Consumer brands with visual appeal or impulse-buy potential
- B2B marketers looking to nurture interest before the RFP
- Retailers launching new products
- Brands with long sales cycles
If you’re spending heavily on search but struggling to scale your pipeline, this is where you should be testing next.
Combine It With Search for Full-Funnel Domination
Here’s the move: Use Demand Gen to build awareness and warm up audiences. Then use Search Ads to convert that interest once people are ready to buy.
The result? A full-funnel digital strategy that creates momentum at every stage of the buyer’s journey—no matter where or when they start engaging with you.
Conclusion: Demand Gen is the Ad Format Built for Growth
Demand Gen is Google’s answer to modern buying behaviour. It’s built for visual-first engagement, curiosity-driven discovery, and smarter targeting.
For many businesses, it’s the missing link between brand awareness and conversion.
If your media strategy is built entirely around capturing demand—you’re playing defence. It’s time to switch to a full-field game.
