Gmail Ads for Real Estate: how to get in front of 1.2 billion Gmail users

If you’re one of the 1.2 billion users of Gmail, you may have seen these ads at some point:

Above all of your leads and client communications, you’re getting served ads right in your inbox. Gmail ads (also known as Gmail Sponsored Promotions) are part of the Google Ads suite of advertising tools. 

If you click into these ads, you’ll see something like this:

As you can see, this isn’t a standard email. It’s an ad, targeted to you based on things like your area, demographics, and recent searches. I got this ad because I was researching Project Fi.

If you’ve ever wondered how these ads end up in your inbox, or want to run them for yourself, here’s everything you need to know.

Setting up Gmail Ads

Gmail Ads are run through the same platform as Google Ads, which used to be called Google Adwords. If you’ve ever run search ads with Google, you’re already a step ahead. If you haven't, you can create a Google Ads account to get started.

Once you’re logged in, you’ll create a new Campaign. Just select “Campaigns” in the left-hand panel, then click the big blue plus sign to start a new campaign.

Next you’ll get to choose from a series of goals. Hover over each one to see what they mean. More than likely, you’ll choose Leads or Website Traffic.

Then, select your campaign type. While Google Ads are run on Search, GMail ads are considered Display, so click that.

Finally, select “Gmail Campaign” and enter your website address.

Now you’re into the stage of setting up your campaign. Fill in the following fields:

• Campaign name: something that describes the bigger picture, like “Pittsburgh Homebuyers”

• Bidding strategy: Google will recommend a bidding method for you. If you’re advanced, you can set your preferred bidding method. Otherwise, make sure you can manually set your bids so you’re not charged more than you want to pay. Unfortunately I can’t tell you what a “good” bid is. It varies by target, keyword, market, etc.

• Budget: this is what you want to spend per day. We usually start our clients with $5-15/day testing budgets, just to test the waters.

• Ad Group name: what is the common theme for this group of ads? That’s a good way to name it. So if your Campaign name is “Pittsburgh Homebuyers” your ad group could be something like “South Hills First Time Homebuyers.”

Here comes the tricky (but amazingly powerful) part: defining who you want to get these ads.

• Keywords: you can type in a list of words related to what you’re advertising. So if people have searched for “realtors” you might show up in their inbox later.

• Audiences: audiences are groups of people whose online behavior indicates that they’re in the market for something. This is SUCH a rich area. There are In-Market Audiences for renters, people interested in houses for sale, people interested in new houses… are you kidding me?! This is an advertiser’s dream, especially for real estate!

• Demographics: I’m a little leary about these areas (age, gender, etc.) because of HUD/Fair Housing requirements. I would leave these blank to avoid discrimination.

Next you set up your ads. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Business name (20 characters, so you might need to abbreviate) 
• Headline (25 characters) 
• Description (90 characters) 
• Final URL (the webpage you want to send people to)
• Images or videos. Google has made this incredibly easy. You can upload your own images, scan your website for images, or browse their free stock library. Use simple, clean, text-free images because they’ll get cropped and resized in all kinds of ways for different devices. 
• More options: you can adjust colors, CTA languages, and teaser text.

The first time I explored these display campaign options, I was floored by how rich the options were, yet how simple the setup was. You can set up banner ads from this area of Google Ads just by selecting Standard Display campaign instead of Gmail, by the way, and it's no more complicated. Do you feel like an ad guru now?

The only limitation is that theses ads are super simple and barebones. You only get 25 characters to convince someone to click the ad, and then 90 characters to convince them to click or call. So put your best, most compelling offer into these short terms.

Bottom Line

Gmail Ads are just one of the ways to use contextual targeting to get in front of people searching for homes, real estate agents, apartments, and more. Unlike Search ads, these aren't wildly competitive - yet - so jump in while the water's warm!