How To Promote YouTube Videos Using Official Google Ads

Posted on September 24, 2025 by James Martin

We promote YouTube videos the same way we’d promote our own—by using official Google Ads. That’s it. No bots, no “mystery traffic,” and definitely no risky shortcuts. Your videos get shown to real people who actually care about the kind of content you make.

And when you’re in front of the right audience, the results feel different. You’ll notice watch time going up. Likes start showing up without you begging for them. Comments actually mean something, and the subscribers you gain are the ones who stick around.

In this post, I’m going to walk you through exactly how we set up a YouTube promotion campaign, step by step, so you can see how it all works from start to finish. Let’s jump in.

1. Selecting the Campaign Objective
Before starting an ad campaign, at first you need to select the right campaign objective. It depends on your campaign goal—how you want to engage your users by showing the ad.

Let’s break down the points:

• Sales
• Leads
• Website Traffic
• App Promotion
• Awareness and Consideration
• Local Store Visits and Promotions
• Create a Campaign Without Guidance

2. Select a campaign type
Once we select the right campaign objective, the next step is to choose the campaign type. There are several

campaign types:

• Search
• Performance Max
• Demand Gen
• Display
• Shopping
• Video
• App

We definitely select the video campaign because here we only promote YouTube videos.

3. Select a Campaign Subtype:
After selecting the campaign type, we choose a proper subtype for you. There are several subtypes depends on your goal.

• Video Views
• Video Reach
  • Effective Reach
  • Non-skippable Reach
  • Target Frequency
• Drive Conversions
• Ad sequence
• Audio Reach

In most cases, we select the Video Views subtype because the majority of our clients are from the Music, Health, and Education sectors, and this subtype allows us to meet their requirements accurately. When we get clients from other sectors, we adjust the subtype according to their specific goals.

4. Ad Formats
Since we promote YouTube videos at Vedzzy, choosing the right ad formats is very important. Each ad format holds its own special significance. We select the ad format after analyzing the YouTube videos, their genre, and the campaign goals.

Now, let’s discuss the different types of ads:

• Skippable In-Stream Ads:

This is a popular ad format. When you use it to promote your video, your ad can appear before a video starts, during the video after a certain point, or at the end of the video. Viewers have the option to skip the ad after 5 seconds. This format works well for music videos, as well as service- or business-related videos, because it captures the viewer’s attention within the first 5 seconds.

Why we use it:

This ad format is excellent for reaching new audiences. It helps introduce your new music, service, or product to YouTube users who may not know you yet, and gives you the chance to convert them into fans, subscribers, or potential customers.

• In-Feed Video Ads (Previously Discover Ads)

This ad format appears in YouTube search results, related videos, and the homepage feed. It is effective for reaching users who are actively searching for new videos or who are already familiar with your music, service, or product. If your video has an attractive thumbnail, an SEO-friendly title, and a compelling description, this format can work very well.

 Why we use it:

In-Feed Ads are perfect for targeting people who are searching for or interested in content similar to yours. This format is especially helpful for growing a music channel, increasing followers of a specific genre, and attracting fans of a particular artist.

• Short Ads:

These days, we are all familiar with YouTube Shorts, and because of our limited free time, most of us prefer watching short videos.

With the Shorts ad format, you can grab people’s attention very quickly—especially if your short video is made following proper guidelines. If you have short-form content, teasers, or advertising shorts, we can use this format to promote them for the best results.

Why we use it:
Engaging short videos have a high chance of going viral quickly. This ad format is very effective for musicians, content creators, and anyone looking to promote a service, brand, or product.

5. Location Targeting:
We start a proper YouTube ad campaign by selecting the location of your targeted audience. However, this entirely depends on you—where you want your YouTube videos to be shown.

• All Countries and Territories:

If you want to promote your YouTube video worldwide, we will select “All Countries” and start your campaign accordingly.

• Enter Another Location:

If you want to promote your video in a specific location where your target audience is based, we will run the campaign accordingly.

When a campaign is targeted to a specific location, it becomes more focused, and naturally, the budget may increase. However, even if you choose worldwide targeting, we still exclude certain locations by default before running the campaign.

6. Audience Targeting:
When you run YouTube ads, showing your videos to the right people makes all the difference. If it’s shown to random folks, most will just skip it. But if it’s shown to people who already like this type of content, they’re way more likely to watch, maybe like it, even subscribe. That’s how you actually grow.

• Demographics

We can set some basics here, like age, gender, parental status, or household income. For example, if you’ve got music that’s more for younger listeners, we can focus on that age group. Or if your product is family-related, we can target parents. But we don’t always do this — sometimes leaving it open works better.

• Interests & Detailed Demographics

This is where we can get a bit more specific. YouTube lets us target people based on what they’re into or what they’re searching for. There are “In-Market” audiences (people actively looking for something) and “Affinity” audiences (people with a long-term interest).

Some examples:

• Advertising & Marketing Services
• Social Media Enthusiasts
• Media & Entertainment
• Lifestyles & Hobbies
• Music Lovers
• Pop Music Fans

ETC Mixing both — demographics and interests — usually means the ads end up in front of the people who actually care, which means better results and less wasted budget.

7. Keyword Targeting – Show Up When People Search
Keywords are just the words people type when they’re looking for something on YouTube. If we pick the right ones, your video shows up right when they’re searching.

Example:
latest rap music
guitar tutorial for beginners
how to start a YouTube channel

That way, you’re not just throwing your video at random people — you’re showing it to folks who are already looking for something like yours. Way more chances they’ll click and watch.

8. Topic Targeting – Be in the Right Crowd
This one’s not about specific search words, it’s about the type of content your ad appears on. If your video is about music, we can put it on music-related channels or videos. Same goes for fitness, beauty, gaming, tech — whatever fits your topic.

Think of it like hanging a poster where your kind of people already hang out. They’re already in the mood for it, so it feels natural to them.

9. Placements – Pick the Exact Spot
Sometimes you want more control. Maybe you don’t just want “music fans” — you want fans who watch a specific artist or a certain channel. We can make your ad play before trending videos, on top genre channels, or right next to similar artists’ content.

It’s more direct, so your video pops up exactly where your future fans are already spending time.

Final Thoughts
Promoting a YouTube video with Google Ads isn’t about luck — it’s about strategy. From picking the right campaign objective to choosing the best ad format, every step matters. When done properly, your video gets shown to real people who are genuinely interested in your content, not random clicks or fake views.

At Vedzzy, we treat every campaign as if it were our own. That means carefully setting up targeting, keywords, placements, and budgets so that your content reaches the audience most likely to engage with it. The end result? More meaningful watch time, better engagement, and subscribers who actually stick around.

If you’re serious about growing on YouTube, this is the safest and most effective way to do it — no shortcuts, no risks, just official promotion that works.