PPC Beyond Google Search: YouTube Ads, Display, and Performance Max Explained

When most UK business owners hear “PPC,” they think Google Search ads — the text listings at the top of search results. And while Search remains the backbone of most paid media strategies, limiting yourself to a single channel means missing audiences at critical moments in their buying journey. Understanding PPC channels beyond search — YouTube Ads, Display campaigns, and Performance Max — can transform a good paid strategy into an exceptional one.

This guide breaks down each channel, explains when to use it, and gives you practical benchmarks so you can make informed budget decisions rather than guessing.

Why Should You Look Beyond Google Search?

Google Search ads work because they capture existing demand — someone actively searching for what you offer. But here’s the limitation: if nobody is searching for your product or service, Search ads can’t help. And even when search volume exists, the competition at the bottom of the funnel is fierce, driving CPCs ever higher.

The broader Google Ads ecosystem lets you reach potential customers at different stages:

• Awareness — YouTube pre-roll ads, Display prospecting
• Consideration — YouTube in-stream ads, Discovery/Demand Gen campaigns
• Decision — Search ads, Shopping ads, remarketing across all channels
• Post-purchase — Remarketing for upsells, reviews, referrals

Relying solely on Search means you’re only present at the decision stage. A multi-channel approach builds familiarity and trust before the search happens, often resulting in higher conversion rates and lower CPAs when they do finally search.

YouTube Ads: The Most Underused PPC Channel for UK Businesses

YouTube is the UK’s second-largest search engine and the world’s second-most visited website. Over 57 million UK adults use YouTube monthly, spending an average of 45 minutes per session. Despite this, most UK SMEs either ignore YouTube advertising entirely or dismiss it as “only for big brands.” That’s a costly misconception.

Types of YouTube Ad Formats

YouTube Ads Performance Benchmarks (UK, 2025-2026)

Based on aggregate data from UK campaigns we manage and industry benchmarks:

• Average cost per view (CPV): £0.02-£0.06
• View rate (skippable): 25-35%
• Click-through rate: 0.5-1.5% (higher for remarketing)
• Brand lift (aided recall): 15-25% increase after exposure

When to Use YouTube Ads

YouTube works best when you have a clear video creative and a specific audience to reach. Strong use cases include:

1. Product demonstrations — showing your product in action is far more compelling than a text ad
2. Retargeting website visitors — reminding people who visited your site but didn’t convert, with a video that addresses common objections
3. Competitor conquesting — targeting viewers of competitor channels or related content
4. Local awareness campaigns — a London-based gym targeting fitness content viewers within a 10-mile radius
5. Recruitment — employer brand videos targeted at relevant professional audiences

You don’t need a Hollywood production budget. A well-shot 30-second video on a smartphone, with clear messaging and a strong opening hook (first 5 seconds are critical for skippable ads), can outperform expensive productions if the content resonates with the audience.

Google Display Network: Remarketing Is Where the Value Lives

The Google Display Network (GDN) reaches over 90% of internet users worldwide through banner and text ads across millions of websites, apps, and Gmail. It sounds impressive, but the reality for cold prospecting is often disappointing: low click-through rates (0.05-0.10%), high bounce rates, and questionable traffic quality from low-tier placements.

However, remarketing via Display is a different story entirely. Showing banner ads to people who have already visited your website — especially those who viewed specific products or service pages — is one of the most cost-effective PPC tactics available.

Display Remarketing vs. Cold Display Prospecting

Setting Up Effective Display Remarketing

1. Segment your audiences — create separate remarketing lists for homepage visitors, service page visitors, pricing page visitors, and cart abandoners. Each deserves different messaging.
2. Set frequency caps — showing someone your banner 50 times in a week doesn’t build trust; it builds resentment. Cap impressions at 3-5 per user per day.
3. Exclude converters — once someone has bought or enquired, stop remarketing to them (or switch to an upsell/cross-sell list).
4. Use responsive display ads — Google will automatically assemble and optimise your ad from the headlines, descriptions, images, and logos you provide. They consistently outperform static banners in our testing.
5. Set a membership duration — for most businesses, a 30-60 day remarketing window is optimal. After 90 days, the visitor has likely moved on.

Performance Max: The All-in-One Campaign Type

Performance Max (PMax) is Google’s most automated campaign type, launched in late 2021 and now a core part of most advertisers’ strategies. A single PMax campaign can serve ads across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Maps simultaneously, using machine learning to allocate budget to whichever channel is delivering the best results.

How Performance Max Works

You provide Google with:

• Asset groups — text headlines, descriptions, images, videos, and logos
• Audience signals — your best customer lists, custom segments, demographics, and interests (these are suggestions to the algorithm, not hard targeting)
• A conversion goal — what you want to optimise for (leads, sales, store visits)
• A budget — daily spend, with an optional Target CPA or Target ROAS

Google’s algorithm then decides which combination of assets, channels, and audiences to show your ads to. You get less granular control but access to placements (like Maps and Discover) that aren’t available in any other campaign type.

When Performance Max Works Well

• E-commerce with product feeds — PMax has largely replaced Smart Shopping campaigns and performs well for online retailers with extensive product catalogues
• Multi-channel reach with limited management time — if you don’t have the resources to manage separate Search, Display, and YouTube campaigns, PMax offers a consolidated alternative
• Accounts with strong conversion data — the algorithm needs at least 30-50 conversions per month to optimise effectively

When Performance Max Falls Short

• Lead generation with long sales cycles — PMax optimises for the conversions you track, which for most B2B businesses means form submissions, not actual closed deals. Without offline conversion imports, PMax can optimise for low-quality leads.
• Brand control concerns — you can’t prevent PMax from showing on certain placements or searches with the same precision as standard campaigns. Brand terms in particular can be problematic, as PMax often cannibalises existing brand search traffic.
• Transparency — reporting is limited compared to standard campaigns. You can see aggregate performance but less detail on exactly which placements, audiences, or search terms drove results.
• Small budgets — with less than £50/day, PMax doesn’t have enough budget to learn across all channels and often produces inconsistent results.

Demand Gen Campaigns: The Newer Alternative

Demand Gen campaigns (which replaced Discovery campaigns in 2023) run across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. They sit between Search (high intent) and Display (broad reach), targeting users in “scrolling” mode who are open to discovering new products and services but aren’t actively searching.

Key features of Demand Gen:

• Lookalike segments — target people similar to your existing customers
• Rich visual formats — image carousels, short-form video, product feeds
• Lower CPMs than YouTube standalone — because placements include Discover and Gmail, which are less competitive
• Good for mid-funnel — reaching people who are interested in your category but haven’t searched yet

For UK businesses with visually appealing products or services, Demand Gen campaigns can be an efficient way to build consideration at a lower cost than YouTube alone.

How to Allocate Budget Across Multiple PPC Channels

There’s no universal formula, but here’s a starting framework for UK businesses investing in multi-channel PPC for the first time:

Start with Search as your foundation. Once Search campaigns are profitable and you have reliable conversion data, layer in remarketing Display and YouTube. Only add Performance Max once you have sufficient conversion volume (>30/month) for the algorithm to optimise.

If this feels like a lot to coordinate, our PPC management services can handle the multi-channel strategy while you focus on running your business.

Building a Connected Multi-Channel Strategy

The real power of multi-channel PPC comes from how the channels work together:

1. YouTube builds awareness — a potential customer watches your 30-second product video
2. Display remarketing stays visible — they see your banner ad on a news site the next day
3. Search captures the conversion — when they’re ready to buy, they search your brand name or product, and your Search ad is there

This “surround sound” effect means each channel amplifies the others. Google’s own research suggests that advertisers using three or more channels see an average 20% improvement in overall conversion rate compared to using Search alone.

The key is attribution: don’t judge YouTube or Display by direct last-click conversions alone. Use data-driven attribution (the default in Google Ads since 2022) to understand how each channel contributes to the overall conversion path. A YouTube view that leads to a Search click that leads to a conversion should credit both channels, not just the last click.

Combining multi-channel PPC with a strong organic foundation through SEO services creates the most resilient digital marketing strategy — paid channels drive immediate results while organic rankings build long-term, compounding value. For a deeper look at how to prevent wasted spend across all these channels, see our article on why PPC campaigns waste budget.

Related reading: Explore our guides on smart bidding strategy, reduce wasted ad spend, and how to rank higher in google maps for more actionable insights.