In this article:
- What is Google Surveys?
- How do you ensure that each question has a representative sample?
- How do you infer demographics of the respondents?
- What are the available demographic and geographic segments?
- Can I target my questions to a particular group?
- How much does a survey cost?
- How long does it take to run a typical survey?
- What are the international targeting options?
- Is the data accurate? What types of testing have you done?
- How should data collected from Google Surveys be cited?
- How do you determine the mix of publisher sites for a given survey?
- What can I do to make my survey run faster?
- Why did my survey run on AdMob?
What is Google Surveys?
Google Surveys is a market-research tool that gathers data from survey questions. Internet users answer survey questions in order to access high-quality content around the web. In turn, content publishers get paid as their users answer. Google then aggregates and analyzes responses through a simple online interface.
When using representative targeting, how do you ensure that each question has a representative sample?
Users are allocated based on the demographic spread of internet-population data in each country.
How do you infer demographics of the respondents?
Demographic information is collected and inferred based on a respondent’s browsing history. The algorithm is the same method Google uses for advertising targeting, and uses signals to determine demographics such as gender and age.
What are the available demographic and geographic segments?
Available segments include gender, age (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, and 45+), and region or province. See the example surveys. Additional audience segment information is available in the reporting view. Learn more.
Can I target my questions to a particular group?
Yes, there are two different ways to target respondents:
- Choose one of the demographic or geographic buckets.
- Ask a preliminary “screening” question, for example, “Are you a small business owner?”, and provide non-binary answers such as “Yes, I own a small business”, “No, but I manage a small business”, “Not yet, but I'm planning to start one”.
Note: Google Surveys does not allow for custom demographic quotas, and was not intended to target survey questions to a designated list of specific users.
How much does a survey cost?
Visit the pricing page.
How long does it take to run a typical survey?
You can expect to see responses almost immediately after our team reviews your survey, with full completion within 7 days. Allow extra time for targeted surveys.
Is the data accurate? What types of testing have you done?
The Surveys team partnered closely with research scientists and statisticians to develop our methodology. We validate results against outside data, such as government-issued statistics, and results are as accurate or more accurate than other online platforms. Read the whitepaper to learn more or see the analysis done by the Pew Research Center.
How should data collected from Google Surveys be cited?
We encourage survey creators to follow these guidelines when citing surveys fielded via Google Surveys.
How do you determine the mix of publisher sites for a given survey?
Each survey is distributed across a network of publishers in different content categories to ensure a wide mix of respondents. It is not possible to select certain publisher categories to target.
What can I do to make my survey run faster?
Sometimes, surveys run slower due to a combination of very targeted screening and/or a limited supply in the target country on the network that you’re using. Generally, the surveys that run on our app publisher network (AdMob) run faster than those run on our news publisher network (Google Opinion Rewards for Publishers), so adjusting your survey so that it’s eligible for that network is a good option for faster surveys. You can see the criteria for AdMob here or contact us for help troubleshooting a specific survey.
Why did my survey run on AdMob?
In April of 2021 we expanded our respondent pool by integrating app publishers into our ‘General population’ respondent network. You can learn more about which surveys get sent to AdMob here.