Guides / Run ads
Google Ads campaign structure
A readable Google Ads account is one campaign per offer and geography, ad groups split by theme, and ads that repeat the theme of their keywords. Match types and bid strategies sit inside that, not instead of it.
About 50 US searches a month for “google ads campaign structure”. Updated October 4, 2026.
- 1CampaignBudget, bidding, location, and the offer. One of each.
- 2Ad groupOne theme: a product line, a problem, or a brand term.
- 3KeywordsThe phrases a person with that theme would type.
- 4AdsHeadlines that use the theme’s words, pointed at the matching page.
- 5NegativesShared at the campaign once a query has proven it wastes money.
Why structure still matters
Smart bidding hid a lot of the old micro-management, and it did not hide a messy account. When every theme shares an ad group, you cannot tell which message spent, and the ads cannot match the query.
The walkthrough from an empty account is on how to run Google Ads.
Themes, not match types
Splitting an ad group into exact, phrase, and broad copies tripled the account and taught you very little. Keep the theme together. Use phrase and exact until the search terms are clean, then consider broad on a theme that already converts.
Match types and the negatives that keep them honest are on Google Ads search terms.
When a second campaign is real
A second campaign is a different offer, a different country, or a different campaign type (Search versus Demand Gen). It is not a place to put the keywords you are nervous about. Those are negatives, or a tighter ad group.
Demand Gen’s structure is its own thing: audiences and creative, not keywords. It is on Google Demand Gen.
Questions
How many keywords go in an ad group?
As many as share one theme and one landing page. Ten close variants of one product is an ad group. Ten unrelated products is ten ad groups, or the ads will speak to nobody.
Should brand terms have their own campaign?
Yes, when you buy them. Brand queries convert differently and should not share a budget with prospecting. Keep them in their own campaign so a prospecting spike cannot starve them.
Does Performance Max need this structure?
Performance Max does not have ad groups you control in the same way. The structure above is for Search. Keep Search readable even if Performance Max is spending beside it.
Keep going
Put it in the account
Connect the ad account. Sprites reads it, drafts the change, and waits for your approval before anything spends.
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