"What is a key benefit of display campaigns?" and "how does Google Display Ads grow marketing results for advertisers?" are questions from the Google Ads Display certification, and they are also the questions a B2B team should answer before moving budget out of Search. Display campaigns work very differently from search ads, and most disappointing display results come from judging them by search standards.
Short answer: the key benefit of display campaigns is reach. Google says display campaigns "can reach people worldwide across 35 million websites and apps, and on Google-owned properties (YouTube and Gmail)", which lets you "expand your reach beyond just Google Search". Display grows results by reaching people at every stage of the buying cycle, "from people with demonstrated interests to customers just about to buy", with AI-driven targeting, bidding and ad formats. Source: Google Ads Help, About Display ads and the Google Display Network.
The Benefits Google Lists
Google's display overview names these benefits:
- Reach people in multiple places: millions of websites and apps plus YouTube and Gmail, not only people who search.
- Build campaigns around your goals: sales, leads, website traffic, or awareness and consideration.
- Optimized targeting: uses signals such as keywords on your landing page to find audiences likely to convert. It is on by default.
- Smart Bidding: bids for conversions or conversion value in each auction.
- Responsive creative: you provide headlines, images and logos, and Google assembles ads that fit the available spaces.
Google's Display Network glossary entry adds that Display Network sites "reach over 90% of Internet users worldwide", citing Comscore (Display Network: Definition).
How Display Grows Results: Demand, Not Capture
Search captures demand that already exists. Someone types a query, you answer it. Display reaches people before or between searches. That is why the honest way to say "display grows marketing results" is: it widens the pool of people who know you, keeps you in front of people who already visited, and feeds future searches.
For B2B, three uses tend to justify display budget:
- Remarketing to site visitors. Most B2B visitors leave without converting. Showing them a relevant next step brings some back when they are ready.
- Consideration with intent segments. In-market and custom segments reach people researching your category. See which targeting option is best for awareness vs consideration.
- Account focus with your own data. Customer Match and website visitor segments let you concentrate impressions on known accounts, which pairs naturally with account-based marketing.
Optimized Targeting Reads Your Landing Page
One detail matters for anyone who owns the website: Google says optimized targeting "uses information such as keywords on your landing page to help you reach new and relevant audiences". The page you choose as the final URL is an input to who sees the ad. A vague homepage gives the system vague signals. A focused page about one use case, written in your buyers' words, gives it a clear one.
That makes the landing page part of targeting, not just conversion. Two practical steps:
- Point each display ad group at a page about one problem or offer, not the homepage.
- Use the same terms on the page that your buyers use in search. Our list of buyer intent keywords is a good source.
Measuring Display Without Fooling Yourself
Display clicks behave differently from search clicks, so compare a click-through rate only with other display placements. People were reading something else when they saw your ad, so many sessions are short. Judge display on the metrics that fit its job:
| Display job | Primary metric | What not to judge it on |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | Reach, frequency, branded search trend | Demo requests from the first click |
| Consideration | Engaged sessions, visits to pricing or comparison pages | Last-click conversions alone |
| Remarketing | Conversions and assisted conversions | Click-through rate in isolation |
Attribution matters here because display often assists rather than closes. Our post on how personalization attribution works covers holdout comparisons, which are the cleanest way to see whether a channel adds anything.
Worked B2B Example (Illustrative)
Illustrative scenario: a cybersecurity vendor has steady Search performance but has run out of relevant keywords; more budget only buys broader, weaker queries.
- They add a display campaign with three ad groups: remarketing to pricing-page visitors, a custom segment built from competitor URLs, and Customer Match for open opportunities.
- Each ad group gets its own landing page: a pricing FAQ, a comparison page, and a case study page.
- They judge each line on its own metric for six weeks: assisted conversions for remarketing, engaged sessions for the custom segment, and meetings influenced for Customer Match.
- They hold out a share of the remarketing audience from seeing ads to estimate the true lift rather than trusting view-through numbers alone.
The search budget did not grow, but the number of target accounts that saw the brand did, and the remarketing holdout gave a defensible lift estimate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a key benefit of display campaigns?
Reach. Display campaigns show ads across millions of websites and apps plus YouTube and Gmail, so you can reach people beyond those searching on Google.
How does Google Display Ads grow marketing results for advertisers?
By reaching people at all stages of the buying cycle with AI-assisted targeting, Smart Bidding and responsive ad formats, and by letting you build campaigns around a specific goal such as leads, traffic, awareness or consideration.
Are display campaigns good for B2B lead generation?
They work best for remarketing, consideration targeting and account-focused campaigns. Expect fewer direct conversions than Search and measure assisted conversions and engagement as well.
What ad format do display campaigns use?
Responsive display ads by default. Read when to use responsive display ads for how the format works.