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Shooting and editing a video is the first step to starting your YouTube journey. The real struggle is to make it widespread and reach the right audiences. That’s when running YouTube ads comes to your rescue.
Advertising on YouTube not only helps you earn more money on your videos, but also ensures your content reaches its target audience. It is quite different from starting a social media campaign, so you must know the features and format Google introduced in recent years. The best part? You can also track and optimize your YouTube ads easily.
You’ll have to do many things to advertise on YouTube successfully. This includes evaluating cost-per-conversion, analyzing ad performance, and targeting audiences based on their Google search history.
So, if you have already created a YouTube short or video, it’s time to advertise it on YouTube and start your ad campaign. Simply follow the below steps to get started!
Step 1: Upload the Video on YouTube
First, you will have to upload the video on your YouTube channel that you want to advertise on YouTube. Click on your profile icon and choose Your channel from the menu. Then, select Upload video and Select Files on the next screen.
Step 2: Sign in to Google Ads
Once your video is uploaded to your YouTube channel, you are all set to start your ad campaign. However, first, you must log in to your Google Ads account or sign in if you don’t have one. You can use your Google Workplace email or Gmail to sign up for Google Ads.
Once you sign up, the next screen will ask you several questions to set up your account. Simply answer all of them to finish setting up your account. Soon, you will be directed to the Google Ads dashboard.
Step 3: Start a New Google Ads Campaign
On your dashboard, select the + New Campaign option to begin your journey.
Step 4: Choose Your Campaign Goal and Type
The next screen will ask you to enter your campaign type and the goal you want to achieve from advertising on YouTube. You will have multiple options, such as Sales, Website traffic, App promotion, Brand awareness and reach, and more. Select the one that matches your advertising goals the best.
Then, view the options below Select a campaign type and choose the ad you want to run.
Step 5: Devise Your Strategy
Now, you will have to choose your ad campaigns subtype. You will have different options here, such as Video reach campaign, Ad sequence, and Outstream.
Select Video reach campaign, which includes skippable in-stream ads, bumper ads, and non-skippable in-stream ads.
Scroll down to choose the strategy you want to implement to reach your advertising goal. The available methods include Efficient reach and Non-skippable in-stream.
Step 6: Add Your Campaign’s Name
The next step is to name your Ad campaign. Enter the name in the Campaign name section and leave the Bid strategy to Target CPM.
Step 7: Set Your Budget
It’s time to enter your daily budget for the entire duration of the campaign. Setting a budget for every day is better, especially when you have just started advertising on YouTube. It will keep your total ad budget low and maximize it fully.
The Campaign total budget will give you the estimation of your spending for the entire campaign. Consider it an investment. You will also have to choose the starting and ending date of the campaign.
Step 8: Modify the Campaign’s Settings
Now comes the part where you’ll have to modify the necessary settings for your ad campaign. This includes setting the Language, Networks, and Locations. In the Networks section, you will choose the place where you want your ad to run. You will have three options:
- YouTube Search Results: Choosing the will make your video ad appear in the search results on channel pages, homepage, and video pages.
- YouTube Videos: With this option, your ad will appear before or during YouTube videos as skippable in-stream ads.
- Video Partners on the Display Network: This option will make your ad appear before or during videos in the Google Display Network.
If you want to advertise on YouTube in all the above ways, you should start separate campaigns for each. This way, you can easily monitor and optimize each option’s performance metrics since the criteria are quite different for all.
Now, move on to the next setting, which is choosing the location of viewers you want to show the ad to. You can include and exclude any location for better targeting. Finally, choose your target audience’s preferred language. You can select more than one.
Step 9: Choose Content Exclusions
In this step, you will have to choose content exclusions, meaning selecting the type of videos you want to advertise on. This option is quite helpful if you do not want to advertise on videos with sexual content or profanity. In the Inventory type section, you will have three options to choose from: Expanded inventory, Standard inventory, and Limited inventory.
Expanded inventory doesn’t advertise on videos with excessively sensitive graphic content or profanity. On the other hand, Standard inventory excludes content with high profanity, and Limited inventory doesn’t involve videos with a bit of profanity.
In the Excluded types and labels section, You can choose different options to prevent your ad from displaying in specific YouTube videos. You can also exclude videos by checking their content labels, i.e., G, PG, MA, T, etc.
Step 10: Add Related Videos
YouTube also gives you the option to increase engagement on your videos through Related videos, which usually display below your video ad. These videos provide the viewers with better experiences that help them understand your ad’s message. You can add a maximum of five related videos to a single ad.
Step 11: Change Your Campaign’s Advanced Settings
You can also specify your ad’s devices, operating systems, and carrier for better targeting. This option is helpful if you want your ads to appear on mobile apps. You can also change your bid amount accordingly.
YouTube also lets you modify your ad campaign’s starting and ending dates in the Advanced settings option. Not only that, but you can also make your schedule for the ad to be displayed. Moreover, you can choose the Impressions and views limit for your daily users.
Step 12: Choose Audience Demographics
Choose your audience demographics for granular targeting. These include age, gender, income, parental status, etc. You will also have the option to target individuals based on their interests, such as makeup artists, shopping enthusiasts, and cinema lovers.
The best strategy is to start different campaigns for each demographic group. This way, you can quickly identify the audience most engaged or interested in your products. It will help you narrow down your audiences for more effective targeting.
Step 13: Choose Keywords, Topics, and Headline
Choosing the right keywords, topics, and headlines for your video ad is the key to making it successful. Keywords help your audiences find the most relevant answer to their questions. So, always research thoroughly and see which keywords lead to more conversions or views. Then, use them for your ads.
Choose relevant topics for your ads to help people find them easily. For example, if you own a bakery, you should select “Food & Drink.” You can also re-target your customers with your video ads to engage with them again.
Step 14: Start Bidding
Next, choose your Target CPM bid, which refers to the amount you want to pay for every thousand impressions of your ad. First, evaluate the maximum cost you can afford for every view.
You can modify this amount anytime to boost your video’s estimated views. Google Ads will keep optimizing your bid within your set Target CPM bid to help you gain maximum reach.
Step 15: Enter the Video Link to Advertise on YouTube
Now, copy the link of the video you want to advertise on YouTube and paste it into the New video ad section. Then, choose if you want the video to appear as an in-display or in-stream ad.
If you choose an in-display ad, you must enter a short description and a title for your video. Add both of these things in two separate lines. For the title, you have a limit of 25 characters, and 35 characters for the description.
With the in-stream option, your ad will be displayed via a URL on the top of a YouTube video. The best way is to opt for a vanity URL that sends users to a different final URL to make it more noticeable. You can also choose advanced URL options.
Soon, your ad will appear as a preview on the right side with a banner image. This is how your ad will be displayed. Once satisfied with how it looks, choose Done and Create Campaign.
Google will then ask you to provide your credit card information for billing and payments. You may not see this prompt if you’ve already entered your card details. And that’s it!
Step 16: Link Your YouTube Channel with Google Ads Account
Finally, link your YouTube channel with the Google Ads account to run the ad. Search Tools & Settings at the top of your screen and click on it. A Setup menu will open. Choose Linked Accounts and then YouTube.
You’ll then have a prompt confirming whether you want to link YouTube to Google Ads. Click Add Channel to complete the process. And you’re done!
Wrapping Up
YouTube advertising is an easy way to promote your content and make it reach wider audiences. However, the process may overwhelm you if you don’t know how things work.
First, you’ll have to record the video you want to advertise on YouTube. Then, sign in to Google Ads and create a campaign there. We have explained how to do it in detailed steps. Finally, link the video with the Google Ads campaign and see it reaching your target audience quickly!
