Online Advertising Examples: Common Formats and When to Use Them

Search ads: reaching people who are already looking

Search ads are the text results marked "Sponsored" at the top and bottom of Google or Bing. You bid on keywords, such as "accountant near me" or "emergency plumber Brooklyn", and your ad appears when someone types them. You usually pay only when someone clicks.

Search ads work best when demand already exists. If people search for your service by name, a search ad puts you in front of them at the moment they are ready to call or buy. They work less well for new products nobody knows to search for yet.

Social media ads: creating demand from scratch

Social ads appear in feeds and stories on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and Pinterest. Instead of keywords, you target people by location, age, interests, job title or behavior. A typical example is a restaurant showing a photo of a new menu to people within a few miles, or a software company showing a demo offer to operations managers on LinkedIn.

These ads suit products people don't actively search for, local offers and anything visual. Because people are scrolling rather than shopping, the ad has to stop them quickly with a clear image and a short, specific message.

Display and banner ads: staying visible across the web

Display ads are image or animated banners shown on websites, news sites and apps, often through the Google Display Network. They come in standard sizes and can target by topic, audience or specific websites.

Display ads are cheap per view but rarely clicked, so they are better for awareness and reminders than for immediate sales. They make most sense when combined with another format, especially retargeting.

Retargeting ads: following up with past visitors

Retargeting (or remarketing) shows ads to people who already visited your website, viewed a product or started a form without finishing. If you have looked at a pair of shoes and then seen them in ads for a week, that is retargeting.

Because the audience already knows you, retargeting often converts better than ads aimed at strangers. It works best for businesses with steady website traffic and a considered purchase, where people compare options before deciding. Privacy rules and cookie consent requirements affect how these audiences are built, so they should be set up carefully.

Video ads: explaining and showing

Video ads run on YouTube, inside social feeds and on streaming platforms. Formats range from six-second bumpers to longer skippable ads. A contractor showing a before-and-after renovation, or a founder explaining a product in 30 seconds, are typical examples.

Video is strong when your offer needs to be shown or explained, or when trust matters. The first few seconds decide whether people keep watching, so the key message should come early. Our guide to video advertising online covers the formats in more detail.

Shopping, native and sponsored email ads

A few other formats are worth knowing:

• Shopping ads: product listings with an image, price and store name in Google search results. Essential for most online stores.
• Native ads: sponsored articles or recommendations that match the look of the site they appear on, such as "recommended for you" links under news stories. Good for content that educates before it sells.
• Sponsored newsletter ads: paid placements in someone else's email newsletter. Useful for reaching a specific niche audience that trusts the newsletter's author.
• Marketplace ads: sponsored listings inside platforms like Amazon, Etsy or Yelp, where people are already comparing sellers.

How to choose the right format for your business

Start with where your customer is in their decision. People who already know what they need are best reached with search and shopping ads. People who don't know you yet are better reached with social, video and display. People who visited but didn't act are the audience for retargeting.

Most businesses get better results from two or three formats working together than from spreading a small budget across everything. A common setup is search ads to capture demand, plus retargeting to bring back visitors who left. Our online advertising platforms guide compares where each format runs.

Why ad copy decides whether any format works

Whatever the format, the words do much of the work. A search ad has a few short lines to beat the competitors next to it. A social ad needs a headline that makes someone stop scrolling. A landing page has to keep the promise the ad made.

Online advertising and copywriting are both services we offer, so we can plan the campaign and write the ads and landing pages that go with it. If you are unsure which format fits your business, we offer a free consultation to talk it through.