Google Ads for Mobile Apps: App Campaigns, Demand Gen or Web to App Connect? (2026)

Google Ads for mobile apps is not one campaign type but a choice between three paths. App campaigns buy installs, re-engagement or pre-registrations directly. Demand Gen promotes an app with visual, audience-led ads on YouTube, Discover, Gmail and the Google Display Network. Web campaigns with Web to App Connect send ad clicks straight into an app that is already installed. Which one fits depends on your goal, your platform and what you can measure.

This guide maps those paths and when to use each. It does not repeat App campaign setup and optimization step by step; for that, read our Google App Campaigns guide.

First, advertising an app is not the same as monetizing one

Searches for "Google Ads for mobile apps" mix two different jobs:

• Promoting your app (getting installs or bringing users back) is done in Google Ads, the platform where you buy ads. That is what this article covers.
• Earning money by showing ads inside your app is done with AdMob, Google's app monetization platform. AdSense plays the same role for websites.

If your question is how much ads inside your app will earn, you are on the publisher side and Google Ads is the wrong tool. The rest of this guide assumes you are the advertiser.

The three paths at a glance

The first three rows are subtypes of one campaign type. Google Ads Help ("About App campaigns") names them as App campaigns for installs, App campaigns for engagement, and App campaigns for pre-registration.

Path 1: App campaigns, the default for installs

App campaigns are the Google Ads campaign type built around your app store listing. According to Google Ads Help, they show ads across Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover on Google Search and the Google Display Network. You supply text, images, videos and HTML5 assets, and Google Ads tests combinations of them.

Three things define this path:

• The campaign is built on a store listing. You search for your app on Google Play or the App Store during setup. Pre-registration is the exception for Android apps that have not launched yet.
• One platform per campaign. Setup asks you to select Android or iOS, and Google's setup guide suggests putting the operating system in the campaign name. An app on both stores is normally run as two campaigns with their own budgets and targets.
• You do not pick keywords or placements. Delivery is automated and driven by your bidding goal, assets and conversion data.

Choose App campaigns when installs or in-app actions are the result you want to pay for. Bidding goals, asset specs and the learning period are covered in the App Campaigns guide.

Path 2: Demand Gen for visual app promotion

Demand Gen is Google's campaign type for YouTube, Discover, Gmail and the Google Display Network. When you create a Demand Gen campaign, Google Ads Help lists App promotion among the advertising goals, alongside goals such as Sales, Leads and Website traffic.

What makes Demand Gen different from App campaigns is control over creative and audience:

• You build the ads yourself in video, image or carousel formats rather than handing over a pool of assets.
• Channel controls let you choose where each ad group serves, such as YouTube Shorts, YouTube in-feed, Discover, Gmail or the Google Display Network.
• Targeting is audience-first, including lookalike segments built from your own data.

Demand Gen is also where YouTube action campaigns now live. Google Ads Help's notice on Video Action Campaigns says they are being upgraded to Demand Gen: creating new Video Action Campaigns was removed in April 2025, and the remaining ones were scheduled for automatic upgrade by April 2026. If an older tutorial tells you to promote your app with a Video action campaign, that path has closed.

Consider Demand Gen when strong video or image creative is your advantage, when you want to choose which surfaces the ads appear on, or when you want to reach lookalikes of your best users. Keep App campaigns as the baseline for pure install volume.

Path 3: Web campaigns with Web to App Connect

Many businesses already run Search, Shopping or Performance Max campaigns that send people to a mobile website, while some of the people clicking already have the company's app installed. Web to App Connect addresses that gap. Google Ads Help describes it as a way to help your current web campaigns, including Search and Performance Max, direct traffic into your app.

In a September 5, 2025 announcement, Google extended Web to App Connect to YouTube ads, Hotel ads and Demand Gen campaigns, in addition to Performance Max, Search and Shopping. The same announcement introduced Web to App acquisition measurement, which shows how web campaigns drive new app installs and first in-app conversions.

The technical requirements are strict:

• Industry-standard deep links only. Google Ads Help states that the feature only supports deep links that do not use redirects: App Links on Android and Universal Links on iOS. Third-party solutions that rely on redirects are not supported. Our mobile deep linking guide explains how these link types differ from custom URI schemes. Users who do not have the app installed are sent to the matching page on your mobile website.
• An app SDK and linked accounts. Setup starts with an SDK in your app (Google Analytics for Firebase or a third-party app analytics provider), then linking that app measurement account to Google Ads.
• In-app conversions that bidding can use. You import in-app conversion actions and use Smart Bidding. See our Smart Bidding guide for how that works.

Google Ads Help cites an average 2.8 times higher conversion rate for ad clicks that land in the app compared with the mobile website. Read that as Google's cross-advertiser average, not a forecast for your account; a controlled experiment in your own account is the only way to learn what it does for you.

Choose this path when you already have healthy web campaigns and an app that handles the same actions (browse, add to cart, book, sign in). It does not replace App campaigns for acquiring new installs; it makes existing web traffic convert in the app.

How to choose by goal

A sensible sequence for most teams: measurement first, App campaigns for installs second, then engagement or Web to App Connect once there is an installed base, and Demand Gen when creative production can keep up. If you are deciding between cost and value targets, our Target CPA vs Target ROAS comparison walks through the trade-off.

Android and iOS are not symmetrical

Plan the two platforms separately:

• Pre-registration runs through Google Play, so it is an Android option.
• Separate campaigns per platform mean separate budgets, targets and learning periods.
• iOS measurement is harder. Google's App campaign best practices suggest evaluating the SKAdNetwork measurement framework for iOS campaigns and considering the ATT prompt and on-device conversion measurement to increase observed conversions. Expect less granular iOS reporting and set targets with that in mind.
• Deep links differ. Android uses App Links; iOS uses Universal Links. Each has to be implemented and verified on its own platform.

Measurement comes before any path

Every path above optimizes toward conversions it can see. App conversions can come from Google Play, from Google Analytics for Firebase linked to Google Ads, or from a third-party app attribution partner.

If you already use a mobile measurement partner (MMP), link it rather than running two sources of truth, and decide which events Google Ads should import. Our mobile attribution SDK guide covers what the SDK has to capture. The practical rule is the same on every path: pick one in-app event that reflects value and happens often enough to learn from, and import it before launch.

Where a PWA fits

App campaigns are built on an app store listing, so a progressive web app cannot use them. A PWA is a website, which means it runs on web campaigns: Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen with a website goal, and Display. For advertisers who cannot or do not want to ship through an app store, that is the realistic route. Our article on progressive web apps for advertising looks at that trade-off.

Common mistakes

• Running App campaigns before tracking works. Without imported in-app conversions, the system can only optimize toward installs, which is the shallowest signal available.
• Treating one campaign as cross-platform. Android and iOS need separate campaigns, budgets and expectations.
• Following Video Action Campaign tutorials. That campaign type has been folded into Demand Gen.
• Using redirect-based deep links with Web to App Connect. Only App Links and Universal Links are supported.
• Assuming Demand Gen and App campaigns are interchangeable. App campaigns hand placement and asset choice to Google; Demand Gen gives you creative and channel control. They answer different questions.
• Confusing Google Ads with AdMob. One buys ads, the other sells ad space inside your app.

FAQ

Can I advertise a mobile app on Google Ads without App campaigns?

Yes. Demand Gen lists App promotion as a campaign goal, and web campaigns such as Search, Shopping and Performance Max can send clicks into an installed app through Web to App Connect. App campaigns remain the campaign type built specifically around the app store listing and install or in-app action bidding.

Do I need separate Google Ads campaigns for Android and iOS?

In practice, yes. An App campaign is set up for one app on one platform, so an app available on both Google Play and the App Store is run as one campaign per platform.

What is Web to App Connect in Google Ads?

It is a set of tools that lets web campaigns, including Search, Shopping and Performance Max, open your app for people who already have it installed instead of sending them to your mobile site. It requires App Links on Android, Universal Links on iOS, an app SDK linked to Google Ads and imported in-app conversions.

Is AdMob part of Google Ads?

No. AdMob is Google's platform for app developers who want to earn revenue by showing ads inside their apps. Google Ads is where advertisers buy ads, including ads that promote apps.