Google Ads experiments can help you continuously improve the performance of your campaigns. When you test different campaign settings, you reach more customers and drive better results quickly and efficiently for your business.
On this page
How it works
You can create and run an experiment on your campaign to test the impact of your proposed changes. If you split the budget or traffic between the original campaign and experiment, you can easily compare the results over a specified time period. If your experiment produces better results at the end of that time period, you can apply the experiment to the original campaign or replace the original campaign. To set up an experiment, click Experiments in the left page menu of your Google Ads account.
- Manage your experiment statuses and options
- Select a specific experiment type (ad variations, custom experiments, or video experiments)
- View your experiments across channel and experiment types (App, Search, Display, and Video)
- Change the way experiments are displayed by switching between “Cards” or “Table” views
| Type of experiment | How it works |
|---|---|
| Ad variations |
With ad variations, you can review the performance of your variations and apply the modified ads to your account. Ad variations are typically used to test text ads, responsive search ads, or a single change across multiple campaigns. Ad variations are available for Search campaigns. After you’ve set up an ad variation you can view the results and compare how the modified ads perform against your original ads. When you are happy with the ad variation experiment results, you can apply the modified ads to your campaign. |
| Custom experiments for Search and Display |
Custom experiments are typically used to test Smart Bidding, keyword match types, landing pages, audiences, and ad groups. Custom experiments are available for App campaigns and Search and Display campaigns. You can also create an experiment without a draft. This makes it easier to compare the performance of your base campaign and trial campaign. After you’ve selected a base campaign to run an experiment with, you’ll set up the experiment and update the settings you’d like to test. Google's system will create a new trial campaign for you with the new settings. After you've run the experiment and evaluated its performance, you can choose to apply the new settings back to the base campaign or run the experiment as a new independent campaign. |
| Video experiments |
Video experiments are used to determine which of your video ads is more effective on YouTube. Video experiments are available for Video campaigns. You can:
After you set up a video experiment, you can monitor its performance in Google Ads and find the best video ads in the experiment arms. When you understand which ad performed better in the experiment, you can make an informed decision on which campaign to continue and to allocate higher budgets to. |
| Performance Max experiments |
Performance Max experiments are tools in Google Ads that help you to A/B test different features, settings, and campaigns to improve results for your business. You can use experiments to help you measure the uplift of using Performance Max campaigns. |
