#1 most frequent
United States of America
47.4%1,194 installations of 2,521
What is Google Ad Manager?
Google Ad Manager is a platform for publishers that combines the former DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange products.
Categories & Use Cases
Top Performing Features
DSP integration
Integration with DSP platforms for ad buying
Category average: 7.8
Ad campaign creation
Allows users to programmatically create ads and build new campaigns within the tool.
Category average: 6.7
Display advertising
Supports banner and rich media display ads, including video, audio, mobile, etc.
Category average: 7.6
Areas for Improvement
Ad conversion tracking
Tracks ad conversions by campaign and type of conversion—the customer might have clicked on the ad and then purchased a product, subscribed to a newsletter, filled out a form, or downloaded a whitepaper, etc.
Category average: 6.4
Ad dashboards
Dashboards for analyzing and/or optimizing ads are clean, easy to use, and easy to understand.
Category average: 7
Ad forecasting and optimization
Ad forecasting models predict campaign performance to assist with optimization.
Category average: 6.3
Who Buys & Uses Google Ad Manager
#2 most frequent
India
7.2%181 installations of 2,521
#3 most frequent
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
6.6%166 installations of 2,521
Pros
- Centralized management of diverse advertising campaigns across platforms
- Streamlined campaign setup and scheduling processes
- Provides valuable performance insights and keyword identification for optimization
Cons
- Dashboard clarity and overall user experience require improvement
- Complex setup and navigation, particularly for conversion tracking
- Limited reporting flexibility, especially for organizing data by client
Could Be So Much Easier with Improved UX
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I run ad campaigns for my small business clients who have relatively small budgets. The objective for most clients is to drive traffic to targeted landing pages and to achieve conversion to ecommerce sales or leads for services. It also provides a way to put the brand at the top of Google's search results pages. The idea of the manager is to allow me to see all my clients and campaigns in one place.
Pros
- Allows you to see keyword search volumes, competition, and estimated auction pricing.
- For the most part, makes it easy to set up a search campaign.
- Shows you which keywords are performing well.
- You can select and save negative keywords.
Cons
- It's more complicated than necessary to set up conversion tracking correctly even with Google Tag Manager.
- Google is so busy trying to sell you on their automated programs, like Performance Max, that they're not making the best recommendation for the type of campaign you should actually be running.
- The dashboard provided should make it clearer as to whether your campaign is working or not. For example, X number of people hit your landing page and Y number of people filled out a form.
- The dashboard as a whole could be much clearer and include the most important information, not what Google wants you to see.
- I'm not sure it's easy to see campaigns by client vs. than by campaign.
- Overall, the tool could have a better UX.
- Setting up my client as the one paying the bill after we had set up the account under my agency was a nightmare, and I had to involve my client in it, even though I had permissions.
Return on Investment
- It doesn't have any direct impact on my business objectives as an agency.
- It only slightly saves me time when setting up client ad campaigns.
- I'm able to provide clients with some level of reporting, but it's limited.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Meta Business Manager
Other Software Used
Airtable, Softr, Ghost
A heavy-duty Ad Manager for complex needs
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Google Ad Manager to organize and control ads and publicity that we can run across our digital channels. It help us manage what campaings need to go live, where they will appear and the schedule.
It helps to organize all of that in one place and help solve problems of organization to keep operations simple and centralized.
Our use case is focused on managing digital advertising across these online environments, to publish and monitor those promotional contents in a more pratical way.
It helps to organize all of that in one place and help solve problems of organization to keep operations simple and centralized.
Our use case is focused on managing digital advertising across these online environments, to publish and monitor those promotional contents in a more pratical way.
Pros
- Campaign Management and Scheduling
- Cross-Platform ads
- Monetization visibility
Cons
- It is complex to be used
- Reporting flexibility
- Documentation is not so clear at some points
Return on Investment
- Better operational efficiency and less manual work
- Stronger control over campaign delivery
- Improved monetization visibility and decision-making
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Google AdSense, Google Ads and Meta Business Suite
Other Software Used
Codecks, Whimsical, Autodesk 3ds Max, Blender, Unreal Engine, Coda by Grammarly, Miro, Notion, ElevenLabs Prime Voice AI
A for Google Ads Manager.
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Google Ads Manager provides our team with a comprehensive platform to manage all our paid Google ad campaigns in one location, with multiple logins. It eliminates the need for multiple platforms to deploy, optimize, and report on our clients' ongoing campaigns. It's a great tool to use for ad agencies.
Pros
- Reporting
- Analytics
- Campaign Launch.
- Optimization
Cons
- Additional keyword suggestions.
- Easier navigation during conversion tracking.
- Call only ad completion.
Return on Investment
- Increased agency productivity.
- Allowed for growth in client ad budget.
- Removed the middleman of unnecessary software.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
StrataFlows
Other Software Used
StrataFlows, ChatGPT, Microsoft 365
Essential tool to have in Marketing
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use it to run ads for search and youtube videos. Mainly used at acquiring new users for the platform. Search ads are useful to capture the brand related keywords and youtube videos are more to connect with the younger audiences.
Pros
- Targeting
- Budget management
- Audience creation
Cons
- Targeting could be improved further
Return on Investment
- Positive ROI - for retargeting ads
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Smartly.io, Pinterest for Business, Microsoft Advertising, Yahoo Ads, Instagram for Business and Meta Business Manager
Other Software Used
Meta Business Manager, Smartly.io, Microsoft Power BI
Its good - but I wish for.....
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I use Google Ad Manager to track my campaigns, see my spending, and see my results as they happen. My scope for use is to know how things are going and how my campaigns are performing in real time. If we get the results in real time, we can make changes on the fly to boost what is not working and continue to expand on what is working.
Pros
- Tracking in Real Time.
- Giving advice on what is and isn't working.
- Being able to make changes right then & there.
Cons
- It's not as clean as other dashboards.
- It took a while to get to the interface - and it's detailed.....
- Color-Coded and more user friendly would be a nice change.
Return on Investment
- It has made the data from this accessible for all of my team to see.
- The ability to make changes can be bad - if the team does not agree.
- Getting current results lets us decide what needs to be changed and take their advice to see how things could improve.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Kevel, OpenX and Adform FLOW
Other Software Used
Kevel, Meta Business Suite