Search advertising captures intent at the exact moment someone is looking for a solution — which is why it remains the highest-converting category in all of PPC advertising. Nobody scrolling a search results page is "maybe interested later": they typed a query, they want an answer now, and an ad that matches that query well converts at rates no interruption-based format can match. Google alone processes over 8.5 billion searches a day, and Search plus Shopping together still account for the largest single slice of the company's ad revenue — which is also why this category has fragmented into the most sub-formats of any platform on this list.
Search Ads (Text Ads)
The classic Google/Bing results-page ad: a headline, a description, and a display URL, shown above or below organic results. Advertisers bid on keywords, and Google ranks ads by a mix of bid amount and Quality Score (expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience) — meaning a highly relevant, well-written ad can outrank a bigger budget. Priced on cost-per-click, so you only pay when someone actually clicks through.CPC · High intent
Dynamic Search Ads (DSA)
Instead of you writing headlines for every keyword, Google crawls your site content and auto-generates headlines and landing pages that match whatever a user actually searched for — even long-tail queries you never explicitly targeted. Excellent for large catalogs where manual keyword coverage is impossible, though it demands close monitoring since Google is writing the ad copy, not you.Automated · Large catalogs
Google Shopping Ads
A visual, product-first unit showing image, price, store name and reviews, pulled straight from your Merchant Center product feed rather than from ad copy you write. Shown for commercial, buy-intent queries ("blue running shoes size 10"), and consistently outperforms text ads for e-commerce because shoppers see the price and photo before they even click.Feed-based · E-commerce
Performance Max
Google's most automated campaign type: one budget, one set of assets, and the AI decides in real time how to allocate spend across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps and Discover to hit your stated goal. Powerful for scale, but a black box for control — you feed it creative and a target, and trust the algorithm with placement decisions you used to make yourself.AI-driven · Cross-network
Discovery Ads / Demand Gen
Visual, feed-native ads served across YouTube's home feed, Gmail's Promotions tab and Google Discover — built to create demand BEFORE someone actively searches, unlike every other format in this section. Think of it as Google's answer to a social media feed ad, using its own first-party signals instead of a social graph.Top-of-funnel
App Campaigns (UAC)
Feed Google a handful of text lines, images and videos, and it automatically assembles and places app-install creative across Search, Google Play, YouTube and the Display Network — optimizing toward installs or, better, toward specific in-app actions like a completed purchase.App installs
Local Services Ads
A pay-per-LEAD (not per-click) format for local service businesses — plumbers, electricians, lawyers, cleaners — that appears above regular Search ads with a "Google Guaranteed" or "Google Screened" badge after a background-check process. You only pay when a real lead contacts you, making it one of the lowest-risk formats on this list for local trades.Pay-per-lead · Local
Smart Campaigns
A stripped-down, heavily automated version of Search ads built for small businesses that don't want to manage keywords, bids or match types themselves — you describe your business and goal, Google handles the rest. Less control than standard Search, but a far lower barrier to entry.Small business
Call-Only Ads
A search ad whose only possible action is placing a phone call — no landing page click at all. Built for businesses that convert primarily over the phone (emergency services, bookings, quotes), where a call is a stronger signal of intent than a click ever was.Phone conversions
Microsoft (Bing) Search Ads
The same keyword-auction mechanics as Google Search, running on the Bing/Yahoo/DuckDuckGo/AOL network — a meaningfully older, higher-household-income skewing audience, and typically 20-30% cheaper CPCs simply because there's less competition bidding.Lower CPC
Microsoft Shopping Campaigns
Bing's equivalent of Google Shopping, syncing with a Microsoft Merchant Center feed — a useful second channel for e-commerce advertisers who've already built a Google Shopping feed, since the same feed largely reuses.E-commerce