Using Google Ads to Increase Subscribers of YouTube Channel (In 2024)

Google Ads can help you to drive more subscribers and views to your YouTube channel.

YouTube allows its users to create an ad that appears before or alongside a video on its watch page. It’s as simple as creating an ad, setting your budget, and targeting your audience.

And most importantly, there’s no minimum cost to run your Google Ads. Furthermore, you can change your ads, targeting, and budgets whenever you like. 

In this article, we will discuss how to use Google Ads to drive more subscribers to your YouTube channel.

Focus on your target audience

When launching a Google Ads campaign, it is imperative to define the audience you wish to reach.

Best way to reach relevant audiences through Google ads is by using audiences and mastering how to use them.

There are four main areas of targeting:

1. Who: You may want to choose specific or niche audiences based on demographics, languages, and interests. Suppose, you are targeting audiences for your cooking channel. You can easily target 18-34-year-old female cookery enthusiasts who subscribe to various food channels and watch cooking videos.
2. What: If you want to reach viewers searching for specific content, you can use contextual targeting. You can also select the video or channel on which you want your ads to appear. (YouTube was trying to switch to interest/intent based targeting rather than this approach)
3. Where: If you wish, you may assign a custom location of your audience depending on their country, region, city, or postal code. You can even create custom locations by defining a radius or place of interest.
4. When:  Choose which device your ads will appear on and how often they will be displayed. If your budget is limited, you can pace the delivery of your ads throughout the day.

Take advantage of ad formats

Use specific Google Ads formats for your campaign. You can easily choose an ad format to promote your products and services with video ads, image ads, app or digital content ads, and more.

These formats provide a variety of ways to encourage viewers to engage further with your content.

• TrueView In-Stream ad format

This ad format immediately attracts viewers to your content. After 5 seconds, they can choose whether to skip or continue watching. Most importantly, you will only have to pay when a viewer watches the ad in full duration or interacts with your Google Ads.

Hence, you should use this format if you want your Google Ads to appear before, during, or after a YouTube video.

• TrueView Discovery ad format

You can find this ad format appears next to related YouTube videos, or in YouTube search results, or on the YouTube homepage for desktop and mobile. You can reach people in their discovery moments when they’re searching or browsing videos.

• Bumper ad format

The type of ad format usually plays for six seconds or less before, during, or after another video. Viewers cannot skip the ad, which is shown 1,000 times total. This is good for reaching a large audience with a short, memorable message.

Engage viewers with interactive elements in your video ads

If you want to drive deeper engagement with your Google Ads, you can add interactive elements. Identify the option that is best suited to your campaign goals.

• Call-to-action overlay: It appears as soon as the video begins to play. Viewers can click this and be redirected to the channel or website you specify. 
• Card: It appears as a teaser for a few seconds. You can include links to videos or video playlists on YouTube.
• End screen: At the end of your video, this element will appear for a few seconds. It can reveal more information when viewers click it on desktop or mobile.
• Companion banner: This is a clickable thumbnail that can be displayed with a TrueView in-stream ad. It can direct viewers to take action such as “Watch more” or “Subscribe.”

Create effective ads for YouTube

There’s no single recipe for the perfect video advertisement. But here are a few recommendations we’ve gathered from successful creators to help you succeed.

• Make the first 5 seconds count: Engage viewers early so that they continue to watch.
• Show it in many ways: Make multiple Google Ads and test them across devices and audiences.
• Drive interactions: Engage your audience with interactive elements to improve brand awareness.
• Leverage your best content: Create Google Ads that incorporate concepts or clips from your most popular videos.
• Provide clear next steps: Encourage your viewers to take a specific action, like signing up for your channel.
• Give viewers time to act: In the last 5-10 seconds, include an end screen and a strong call to action.
• Write a friendly title: Titles can influence viewers. So take advantage of this opportunity to pique the interest of viewers with the title.

Implement a relevant strategy

Think about the goal of your Google Ads campaign. Are you looking to expand your revenue or to grow your audience? Keep your goal in mind as you apply your strategy.

You’ll need to monitor the performance of your Google Ads once they go live. Here is a list of metrics available in the Google Ads platform:

• Impression: Counted each time your ad is displayed.
• Views: Each time a viewer watches 30 seconds of a TrueView ad or interacts, it counts towards the channel’s view count. In general, viewing video ads longer than 10 seconds does not count towards the channel’s view count.
• View rate: This shows you the % of viewers who watched or interacted with your Google Ad.
• Average CPV: This shows your average Google Ads cost per view.
• Earned views: If someone views one of your Google Ads and then watches another video on your YouTube channel within a week.

Reach out to your audience

Choose whom you want to see your Google Ads based on location, interests, and more. In search results, your Google Ads will appear before or next to similar videos. This will allow you to communicate directly with potential clients.

Only pay when people watch your ad

Google Ads has a flexible pricing model that fits most budgets. You only pay if someone: 

• Watches the ad for at least 30 seconds, 
• Views the whole ad, 
• Engages with the ad, such as clicking on a call-to-action overlay, a card, or a companion banner.

Discover the real-time insights

You will be able to access additional performance statistics from your Google Ads account when linked to your YouTube channel.

Additionally, YouTube Analytics will help you understand who is watching and how they are interacting with your ads. If you don’t have a Google account, don’t worry. You can even access your Google Ads account without having a Google account. 

Analyze your campaign results and optimize it

You can use metrics such as view rates and conversion rates to measure how your viewers engage with your content. For instance, viewing rates are a great way to determine how many viewers convert to subscribers.

Conclusion

A successful Google Ads campaign to drive more subscribers to your YouTube channel is possible. You can easily achieve your goals as efficiently as possible while adhering to your daily budget.

So, don’t be afraid to make tweaks to improve performance over time and review how you’re doing.

If you need any help with using Google ads to increase the subscribers of your YouTube channel, contact me any time I will gladly assist you 🙂