One format, called Discovery ads, offers suggested content in the form of a clickable image and text ads for the feed under the search box in the Google mobile app, in Gmail under the social and promotions tabs, and in the YouTube home feed.

The term “discovery,” specifically refers to the fact that you don’t need to enter a query at that time, in order to see the segment-targeted ad.

Seventy percent of users have indicated to Google that they are very interested in coming across new content without active effort.

What you need to know about Discovery Ads:

They are immersive and interactive

In addition to Display, Shopping, and YouTube, Google advertisers will now have yet another way to show prospects tangible images, and tell visual stories about their products.

Advertisers who leverage Discovery ads will have the ability to showcase a single image of their product or service, or multiple images in a swipeable carousel format.

Machine learning plays a important role

When advertisers go to set up Discovery ads, they’ll enter one landing page URL, at least one image, a logo, and up to five headlines and five descriptions.

From there, Google will use machine learning to serve the best combinations of your headlines, descriptions, and image creative to your prospects—across the best-performing placements (which we’ll get into in a second).

Google Discover is now ready for ads

Speaking of placements—where will Discovery ads live?

The reason Discovery ads are going to be important for Google is that it gives them a wholly unique way to monetize Google Discover, which replaced Google Feed just last year.

Google introduced Discover to contend with three fundamental shifts in search behavior—the shift from answers to journeys, from queries to the queryless, and from the text-based to the visually-inspiring.

Reach goes beyond Discover

Speaking of reach: It’s not just Discover’s 800 million global users that advertisers will have access to when they leverage Discovery ads.

They’ll also be able to serve Discovery ads on YouTube’s mobile home feed, and in Gmail’s social and promotions tabs.

New campaign type, same targeting

Another indicator that Discovery ads are going to be important for Google? It has its own campaign type. So you’ll need to run a Discovery campaign if you want to use Discovery ads.

Again, this is a pretty plug and play process—after selecting your campaign type, you’re merely uploading and inputting your creative. Google handles optimization and delivery of your ads across multiple placements.

Short conclusion

Discovery campaigns highlight was in which Google is taking advantage of its multiple properties and host of audience data to automate ad targeting and serving across its ecosystem.

It’s also an indication of Google looking beyond search intent to cover the entire funnel.