How to Win Competitor Traffic with Demand Gen and Negative-Intent Conquesting

Google’s Demand Gen campaigns let advertisers target audiences who have searched for specific terms or shown particular interests, using custom audience segments and lookalike audiences. The first targeting option after the title is a custom segment that can be populated with competitor brand names, allowing ads to appear across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail at a lower cost than traditional search clicks. Negative‑intent conquesting focuses on users searching for alternatives or cheaper options, such as “companies cheaper than X” or “dupe for X,” and requires a single ad group with keyword variations. Ads should highlight unique customer service or value propositions while avoiding direct competitor mentions to comply with trademark policy. Landing pages for both Demand Gen and negative‑intent campaigns must clearly state the offer, include social proof, and feature a prominent call‑to‑action that aligns with the ad messaging. By targeting competitor‑aware audiences before they commit and during consideration, advertisers can capture traffic that would otherwise go to competitors.

The article emphasizes that high‑quality video and image assets perform best across Demand Gen networks, and that negative‑intent campaigns are useful when such assets are unavailable. It also notes that existing competitor search campaigns are expensive because users are already close to decision.

Overall, the strategy is to use Demand Gen custom segments for competitor terms, build negative‑intent keyword lists, and design dedicated landing pages that address competitor weaknesses and showcase differentiators.