How to prepare the perfect Google Ads campaign structure

There are many tools for advertising products and services across the Internet, but Google Ads remains the most common and effective one. With a proper digital marketing strategy and consistent approach advertisement via Google Ads will suit any niche and can make a huge impact on the business (in form of revenue or customer retention as well). See how our Google Ads agency do it.

However, for your ads to be efficient, it is necessary to ensure that each ad campaign is properly structured according to its type. Numerous targeting options and settings must be carefully selected and adjusted so as not to waste money instead of making a profit. 

In this article, we are going to consider my favorite proven method of organizing ad campaigns that will definitely bring you the expected result. Let’s make your ads work for you!

SKAG: FUNDAMENTALS OF THE METHOD 

The essence of a SKAG (ad group with one keyword) is based on grouping keywords in such a way as to put only one keyword in one ad group in three match types: exact, phrase, and broad match modifier. 

Putting keywords exactly in three-match types is an important point. In this way, our keyword will resemble the user’s search query as much as possible. It, in turn, will help to increase ad relevance, while reducing cost per click. Google displays ads on the keyword that is most similar to a search query, and therefore the cheapest one.

google ads

Why is it needed? Resorting to SKAG structuring method means paying maximum attention to ad relevance. It is achieved through the use of keywords in the headlines and ad text for each ad group. In such a way, your ads will look more “customized” to the user. User-tailored advertising will have a competitive advantage, which will definitely increase CTR (click-through-rate). 

Quick Tip: When creating an ad campaign in Ads Editor, go to expanded text ads and highlight all ads. Enter any value in Headline 1 (e.g. “111”). Click Ctrl+H and in the opened tab put your value. Replace this value with [Adgroup]. Done! Now each of your ads has a keyword in Headline 1. 

google ads

Well, regarding keywords is clear, but how many ads should be in each group? 

As Google Ads Help says: “Every ad group should have at least 3 quality ads. That way, the system can optimize your performance, and you can check your performance data to learn what message resonates best with your audience.

Since SKAG is focused on the relevance of the ads – 3 options are the optimal number. Try to make them different to keep track of user needs. In addition to this rule, I will give you a little useful advice. Use dynamic headline insertion {KeyWord} in one of three ads. Dynamic keyword insertion allows calling the Keyword for which the ad was shown. If the keyword is too long, the user will be shown an alternative, suggested by you. All these small details can greatly improve your ad performance.

Quick Tip: Do not forget to mention your unique and valuable propositions in the descriptions as well as distinctive features. 

google ads

TOP 3 ADVANTAGES OF SKAG STRUCTURE

SKAG is a favorite ad campaign structure for many skilled PPC Specialists.  All thanks to its relatively fast setup and high efficiency. But there are other reasons as well. Here they are:

Ease of managing and optimization.

You can easily assess the performance of each separate keyword in its ad group. Let’s imagine you have adgroup with the keyword buy chocolate in three match types. Most likely that this keyword in broad modifier will spend a lot of money since it will be shown on search terms mentioning your brand, the brand of your competitors, and the different types of chocolates you can sell or not. 

After analyzing the statistics, you can turn it off over time without significant losses in transactions, since this keyword will continue to work in two other match types. You can also easily make a decision about excluding entire groups of keywords if they do not show the required effectiveness.

Quick Tip: To prevent budget leakage, carefully gather negative keywords at the stage of collecting semantics. Do not forget to update this list every day by analyzing search terms.

Flexible bid management.

Most business niches have very few keywords with minimal competition level. It means that if the proper level of control over rates is not ensured, the budget will be wasted. In turn, by setting bids correctly, you can attract profitable traffic. In order to set bids correctly, the conversion of the website, the marginality of the products, as well as the auction insights data should be taken into account.

Quick Tip: Add a “Search lost top impression share (budget)” column on the keyword level to get insightful information of how efficient your bids are. The more the percentage – the less effective your bids.

Increased number of сonversions due to improved CTR

You know CTR reflects the ratio of clicks to impressions. With the most relevant ads and the correct bids, you will be able to achieve excellent CTR. Further maths is simple – the more clicks, the more conversions. Then you can work to retain customers.

Quick Tip: Make sure your website is well optimized and has a fast page loading speed, otherwise users who come from ads will leave without any purchases.

A FEW MORE DETAILS FOR THE PERFECT AD CAMPAIGN

When the basic structure is ready it is only half of the success. One insignificant detail that many people overlook so often can greatly increase your campaign CTR. This detail calls extension. With the help of extensions, you can make your advertisements as detailed as possible by placing more useful information there. 

Extensions help to increase the CTR, bringing the most relevant traffic to the website. It is achieved due to the fact that all the data the user needs at the initial stages of the funnel will be already displayed in the ad. This will make it easier for users to decide whether to visit your site. Below we will talk about the most common and effective extensions for your ads.

Sitelink 

This extension is the most important one.  Firstly, site links make your ad more noticeable in search results (as it will take up more space), so users will definitely take a look at your ad. Secondly, placing more links with descriptions can increase traffic, since the user may not be interested in the page to which the advertisement leads, but it may be interested in some other one mentioned in the extension. 

Important note: In the search result, 4 links will be displayed. Place at least 4 links at the extension to fill the maximum space under the ad. The more links you include to the site link extension – the more possibilities Google will have to identify and show the most performing ones.

Callout and structure snippet

Both of these extensions aim at providing the users with all data connected with offered products and services. Thus, making incoming traffic more relevant. Put in callouts values and unique features of your business, letting the user understand why you should be chosen among competitors. In structured snippets, particular aspects of the products or services provided by the company should be disclosed.

Important note: Create as many callouts as possible, preferably not less than 8. Regarding structure snippets – 2 will be enough.

Call 

This extension will be useful, especially in cases where the purchase can be made not only through the website but also by phone. The call is very convenient because users can call immediately from the search results without clicking on the ad, which saves your money. 

Important note:  The possibility to call from search results only available from mobile devices, so do not forget to select mobile devices as preferable.

Price

Due to this extension users can see the price of your products, and if the price suits, they can immediately go to the product card and buy it. If the price is not suitable, then you will not pay for a non-relevant click.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Of course, there are other ways to structure an advertising campaign, but this one has already proven its effectiveness many times in a row. It is also commonly used not only for search campaigns but for shopping (in this case it is called SPAG) and display as well. The essence is similar, the only difference is that shopping will have products instead of keywords, and a display campaign will have audiences. In addition to all the written above, this method is one of the easiest, not to mention the fact that you can master it yourself and easily teach others. 

However, the setup of the ad campaign, even if perfectly structured – is only half the road to success. Proper optimization requires much more knowledge and the right decisions. So always evaluate your capabilities, or contact a specialist to sleep well knowing that your ad is in good hands.