When Setting Up A Search Network Campaign

How to Structure A Search Network Campaign

Once you've been in PPC for a while, you will find out that campaign structure is vital to your chances of success. Your search network campaigns are intrinsically connected to your marketing strategy and business goals. Therefore, if your account lacks structure, it's unlikely that things will go your way.

google ads campaign structure

In this article, we'll look at how to structure search network campaigns, explore the benefits of multiple ad groups, and give you what you need to set your account up for high returns.

How to Structure Your PPC Account

In Google Ads, a Search network campaign comprises of the following aspects:

Campaign structure
Ad Group Structure
Keyword Structure
Ad Structure
Landing page Structure

Let's take a closer look at each one.

Campaign Structure

It's good practice to have multiple campaigns in your Google Ads account. Imagine you own a shoe store – you could have separate campaigns for men's shoes, women's shoes, and kids' shoes.

When naming your campaigns, think about the audience, and the campaign goals. You can give your campaigns clear, logical names that make them easy to identify and understand at a glance. For example:

UK – Men – Sports Shoes – Increase Conversions
USA – Women – Dress shoes – Brand Awareness

Here are some other essential factors to consider that will help you devise a smart structure for your PPC campaign:

Budget – Each campaign should have different keywords. You can analyze performance to determine which keywords and campaigns generate a higher return on investment (ROI). Knowing this will guide your budgeting and investment decisions You can learn how to plan for PPC spending?
Bid Strategy – It's a straight choice between Automated bidding vs. Manual bidding. In a nutshell, newcomers to PPC advertising should start with manual bidding, as automated bidding requires historical data. Just make sure you set a maximum cost-per-click (Max CPC) bid limit.
Location Targeting – You can refine your targeting based on specific cities, regions, or zip codes. Even if you have a global audience, it's good to create separate campaigns for each location, as it makes analysis easier and more effective.
Device Targeting – Create separate campaigns for each device that your audience uses. With segmented insights for desktop, mobile, and tablet, you can assess your campaigns to see which device delivers the best results.
Brand Vs. Non-Brand – If you are running brand campaigns with branded keywords, slogans, or unique niche products, these will always perform a lot differently to any non-brand campaigns. For that reason, you should always isolate these in separate campaigns.

Learn More: How Analytics Improves Google Ads Device Targeting

Ad Group Structure

Keep these parameters in mind when structuring your account:

Maximum of 7-10 ad groups per campaign
Maximum of ~20 keywords per ad group
Only 2-3 ads per ad group

User intent is an important consideration when creating ad groups. Ideally, you should have separate ad groups for keywords with buying intent and keywords without buying intent.

For example, if you offer home remodeling services, any keywords like flooring, landscaping, painting, and refurbishing could display buying intent. Conversely, the keyword painter is a little different, as the searcher may simply be looking for a painter but have no interest in home repairs or landscaping.

Furthermore, you should avoid too many keywords in each ad group, is it will only become bloated and unfocused.

Think about the following when creating your ad groups:

Match Type Mirroring

Match type mirroring is when you structure duplicate ad groups according to the keyword match type. By creating ad groups that only contain terms of one match type, your account will be more efficient.

Exact Match groups should perform the best as you can display your PPC ads to prospects who search using your exact keyword. Phrase and Broad Match groups usually don't perform as well as they trigger for some irrelevant search queries, which makes them a focus for negative matching.

Another benefit of match type mirroring is that it makes it easier to identify and pause under-performing match types and keywords. Ultimately, this helps you save your budget from undue wasted spend.

One benefit of creating multiple ad groups with a single match type in each is that you can break up a high-volume campaign into smaller sections to make it easier to manage. Effective use of keyword match types in PPC campaigns can leave good impact on your results.

Use SKAG (Single Keyword Ad Group)

SKAGs are ad groups that focus on a single keyword that is closely related to the ads. By design, the keywords have a one-to-one relationship with the PPC ads in the group. Therefore, you can analyze performance with ease and adjust specific terms to optimize your budget.

Learn More: SKAG (Single Keyword Ad Groups) or Not to SKAG?

Use STAG (Single Theme Ad Group)

A STAG is a single-themed ad group. all terms must match one distinguished theme (E.g., services, company, contractors, firms, etc.)

Typically, STAGs focus on topics rather than syntax, ensuring there are three to five similar themed keyword concepts per ad group.

Use SPAG (Single Product Ad Group)

SPAG is a single product ad group. Usually, SPAGs are best for shopping campaigns, but they can also generate results in Search Campaigns if you have Ads related to products.

For example, let's say you have multiple products, and each product has different brands. You could put each product and its brand in one SPAG. E.g., iPhone and all its related brands iPhone 5, iPhone6, iPhone X, etc.

Use Alpha / Beta Ad Groups

To understand what's one benefit of creating multiple ad groups, you should take a look at the Alpha-Beta ad group strategy.

An alpha ad groups use exact match keywords in a narrow keywords theme to deliver quality, focused traffic. By comparison, Beta Ad Groups use modified broad match keywords to remain open to keyword discovery. Over time, the traffic to these beta groups will fall as you add negative keywords to filter out irrelevant users.

If you opt for the Alpha-Beta strategy, you should begin with the beta ad groups to generate some new keyword ideas. After a while, you can shut it down when it no longer delivers useful search terms. The most high-value search terms can be added as exact match keywords in an alpha group.

However, it's prudent to continue creating new beta groups so that you always have a flow of new keyword ideas for your alpha group.

Keyword Structure

If we're completely honest, there is no actual keyword structuring required in Google Ads. After all, keywords are already structured at the Ad Group level.

That being said, there is still plenty to think about when you are performing keyword research and selection. Keep these points in mind when you look for new keywords for your PPC campaign:

Choose keywords with a high search volume and low competition.
You can choose keywords with high competitions as well. It is found that these keywords are more demanding and are convertible but their CPC might be high.
Create sets of keywords that are either branded or non-branded.
Make sure you have a list of negative keywords to filter out irrelevant clicks.
Keywords should be segregated with their match types.

Over time, you can continuously refine your keyword list — and terms to the negative keywords list — to create highly effective campaigns that attract quality traffic that is more likely to turn into leads and conversions.

Ad Structure

When you are working on your ad copy for a PPC campaign, your copy must encapsulate the keyword intent, and also provides enough value to readers to elicit a click.

Here are some things to think about when structuring your PPC ads:

Tailor your brand message clearly and cohesively.
Include numbers/figures to grab people's attention. E.g. 50% discount, 2-for-1, etc.
Focus on long-tail keywords as they are more specific and closely aligned with user intent.
Use ad extensions to provide additional information that will persuade prospects to click on your ads. The main benefit of ad extension is to catch the customer attention.

Landing Page Structure

When you are structuring your search network campaign, the final step is the challenge of aligning your landing page content with your ad. This is crucial to offer a seamless transition. You must flesh out the details of your ad to make a unique value proposition that prospects find hard to resist.

Having detail knowledge about how to make a good landing page is good but at least follow these tips to devise a landing page with a solid structure:

Open with a benefit-oriented headline.
Write clear, relevant, and concise copy.
Focus on getting visitors to take one specific action.
Remove distracting navigational links.
Make the form or checkout option prominent.
Use images and videos where required.
Maintain your brand image throughout.
Provide privacy policy and terms & conditions at the bottom.

The most important thing is that your ad and landing page should align – don't confuse prospects with landing page content that doesn't relate to your ad.

Wrap Up

You have a lot to consider when structuring a search network campaign, and Google Ads is a diverse, expansive platform that can take many years to master.

By creating multiple ad groups, and structuring your account to leverage segmentation, you can simplify your data analysis processes. Whether it's branded vs. non-branded terms, device or location targeting, SKAGs, SPAGs, or STAGs, it's clear that PPC managers can break their campaign down into a vast array of sections.

Whichever way you decide to go, with multiple ad groups, you'll find it easier to get the insights you need to succeed.