Campaign structure decides what you can measure, bid on, and scale. Here’s the framework top-performing accounts use.
Why Structure Matters
Google Ads structure is like a chart of accounts — you can’t control what you can’t separate. Mixed-theme campaigns share budgets, making it impossible to scale a winning keyword without also scaling a losing one. A clean structure lets you bid per theme, control budget per service, and read performance reports that actually tell you what to do next. Most underperforming accounts are structurally broken, not bid-wrong.
What Belongs at the Campaign Level
A campaign is your unit of budget and geo targeting. Split campaigns by: (1) service line with meaningfully different economics (a ‘Residential’ and ‘Commercial’ plumber should be separate campaigns), (2) geo when bids or budgets differ by region, and (3) match type only if you’re running at scale and need budget separation. Don’t split by ad group-level details like devices — use campaign-level bid adjustments for that.
Ad Group Structure
Each ad group should own one tight theme. If you can’t write a single ad that’s relevant to every keyword in the group, it’s too broad — split it. Aim for 3–7 keywords per ad group. SKAGs (single-keyword ad groups) are overkill for most accounts but make sense for high-intent head terms where every cent of CPC matters. Name ad groups descriptively: ‘Emergency — Downtown Toronto’ beats ‘AG 1.’
Keyword Level
One keyword can have multiple match types (exact, phrase, broad) — this is fine and often desired. But use negatives between match types: the exact match ad group should have its keyword added as negative to the phrase ad group, so the phrase version doesn’t steal traffic that belongs to exact. Without cross-negatives, your reporting becomes useless and Google will pick the cheapest winner in the same ad group.
Ads and Assets
Run 1–2 responsive search ads per ad group with 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Pin headlines 1 and 2 with keyword-matched and location-matched copy for Quality Score; leave the rest unpinned for Google to test. Add shared assets at the customer level: 6+ callouts, 4+ sitelinks, a structured snippet, and a call extension. Ad assets boost Ad Rank more than most bid adjustments.
When to Split a Campaign
Split when: (1) budgets need to differ by 2x or more, (2) geos have meaningfully different CPAs, (3) one ad group is eating 80%+ of campaign budget, or (4) reporting gets muddy and you can’t tell what’s actually working. Don’t split because ‘it’s cleaner’ — more campaigns means thinner conversion data per campaign, which hurts Smart Bidding. Only split when control outweighs the data dilution.
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