Set Up Google Display Ads for Your Business

What Exactly are Google Display Ads?

Google Display Ads are visual advertisements — typically image-based banners or responsive ads — that appear across the Google Display Network. This network includes over two million websites, apps, and Google-owned properties such as Gmail and YouTube.

Unlike Google Search Ads, which only appear when someone is actively searching for a product or service, display ads are served based on audience targeting. You define who you want to reach — by interests, demographics, browsing behaviour, or a previous visit to your website — and Google places your ads in front of those people as they move around the web.

Display ads are most commonly used for two things. Brand awareness campaigns introduce your business to people who fit your target audience but have not yet discovered you. Retargeting campaigns re-engage people who have already visited your website or taken a specific action, keeping your brand front of mind until they are ready to act.

 

How the Setup Works

Step 1 — Your Google Ads account is reviewed and a new Display campaign is created with the correct campaign type, objective, and settings for your business goals.

Step 2 — Audience targeting is configured — combining remarketing audiences from your website visitors, custom intent audiences for people researching relevant topics, and demographic or interest-based targeting to reach new prospects.

Step 3 — Ad creative is set up using Google’s responsive display ad format, which requires you to provide headlines, descriptions, logos, and images. These assets are combined automatically by Google to produce ads that fit any available placement.

Step 4 — Bidding strategy and daily budget are configured based on your goals — whether that is maximising visibility, generating clicks, or optimising for a specific conversion action.

Step 5 — Brand safety settings and placement exclusions are applied to prevent your ads from appearing on low-quality sites or content that does not align with your business.

Step 6 — Conversion tracking is confirmed and linked to the campaign so performance can be measured accurately from the moment the ads go live.

 

Why Display Advertising Matters

Search ads are effective at capturing demand that already exists. But not everyone who would benefit from your business is actively searching for it right now. Display advertising reaches people earlier in the decision process — before they have identified a need — and keeps your business visible to people who are already considering their options.

This is particularly relevant for retargeting. The majority of people who visit a website for the first time do not enquire or buy. Display retargeting allows you to re-engage these visitors with your ads as they continue browsing — increasing the likelihood that they return when they are ready to act.

Without display advertising, your marketing presence effectively disappears the moment someone leaves your website or stops searching. With it, your brand stays visible throughout the buying journey.

 

Why Most Display Campaigns Underperform

Display advertising has a reputation for producing low-quality results. In many cases that reputation is earned — but the problem is almost always the setup, not the channel.

The most common mistake is broad audience targeting with no exclusions. Without proper audience segmentation, display ads are shown to people with no interest in what you offer, driving up costs with no meaningful return.

Poor creative choices compound the problem. Generic images and weak copy produce low click-through rates, which signals to Google’s algorithm that the ads are not relevant — leading to higher costs and fewer quality placements.

Many businesses also fail to separate their campaign objectives. Brand awareness campaigns and retargeting campaigns require different settings, bidding strategies, and creative approaches. Combining them in a single campaign produces results that serve neither goal well.

A properly structured campaign — built with the right targeting, creative, and settings from the start — performs significantly better than one assembled without a clear methodology.

 

What We Will Do During Your Google Display Ads Setup

• Create and configure a new Google Display campaign with the correct objective, campaign type, and settings
• Build remarketing audiences from your website visitors and configure targeting for any awareness campaigns
• Set up responsive display ads with all required assets — headlines, descriptions, logos, and images
• Apply brand safety settings and placement exclusions to protect where your ads appear
• Configure bidding strategy and daily budget aligned with your campaign goals
• Connect and verify conversion tracking to measure results from day one
• Confirm the campaign is live and delivering correctly before handover
• Provide a brief summary of how the campaign is structured and what to monitor going forward

 

You Need Google Display Ads When

• You want to stay visible to people who visited your website but did not enquire or buy
• You are running Google Search Ads and want to extend your presence across the wider web
• You are launching a new product, service, or offer and want to build awareness quickly
• Your sales cycle is longer and you need consistent visibility throughout the decision process
• You want to reach potential customers before they start actively searching

 

What We Need From You to Set Up Your Display Ads

To complete the campaign setup, the following access and information is required.

• Access to your Google Ads account (or confirmation that one does not yet exist)
• Confirmation that conversion tracking is in place, or access to set it up
• Your website URL
• Your target audience — who you want to reach and any geographic restrictions
• Your approximate daily or monthly budget for display advertising
• Brand assets — your logo in a high-resolution format and any approved images for use in ads
• Any placement restrictions or content categories you want to avoid

If you do not have all of this ready, it can be gathered during a short call before the work begins.

 

When You Should Set Up Display Ads

Google Display Ads work best when the foundations of your Google advertising are already in place. If you have not yet set up Google Search Ads and conversion tracking, these should be prioritised first. Search campaigns capture active demand and generate the conversion data that display campaigns depend on for effective retargeting.

Once your search campaigns are running and your website is receiving traffic, display advertising becomes a natural next step. It extends your reach, recaptures visitors who did not convert, and builds brand recognition in a way that search alone cannot.

If you are planning a product launch, seasonal campaign, or promotion, display ads should be set up in advance so the campaign is ready to go live when the offer does.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

How are display ads different from search ads? Search ads appear when someone types a specific query into Google. Display ads appear as people browse websites, use apps, or check Gmail. Search captures active demand. Display builds awareness and recaptures visitors at other points in their day.

Do I need to provide the images? You provide the raw assets — logo, images, and copy — and Google assembles them into ads that fit available placements automatically. Guidance on the specific image sizes and file formats required is provided before the setup begins.

How soon will I see results? Display campaigns typically take one to two weeks to exit the learning phase, during which Google optimises delivery. Retargeting campaigns tend to show results more quickly because the audience is already familiar with your business.

 

Want Your Google Display Campaign Set Up Correctly?

Getting display advertising right from the start requires more than creating a campaign and uploading images. Audience structure, targeting logic, creative configuration, and campaign settings all determine whether your ads reach the right people or generate irrelevant traffic.

At 10x Marketing Lab, the setup is handled by a specialist who structures the campaign based on your goals, applies the correct targeting, and verifies that conversion tracking is working before anything goes live.

You receive a campaign that is ready to run — correctly built, properly measured, and set up for the kind of results display advertising is capable of producing.