A simple Google Ads account structure
Use one campaign for each decision you want to make about money, and one ad group for each thing a person might be searching for. If you would never move budget between two services, they belong in separate campaigns. If two searches deserve the same ad and the same page, they belong in the same ad group.
What each level is actually for
| Level | What it controls | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign | Budget, locations, schedule, bidding | One per budget decision |
| Ad group | Which keywords share which ads | One per search intent |
| Keyword | Which searches you show for | Few, and deliberate |
| Ad | What the person reads | Two or three per ad group |
Most messy accounts are messy because these got mixed: a single campaign holding every service, so you cannot fund the profitable one without funding the rest.
Splitting campaigns
Split a campaign when you want separate control, not because something feels different. Ask: would I ever want to give this more money while giving the other less? If yes, split.
- Services with very different margins — a A$200 job and a A$5,000 job should not share a budget.
- Locations you value differently — your own suburb versus an hour away.
- Brand searches versus everything else. People searching your name are cheap and convert well; mixed in, they flatter the rest.
Every extra campaign thins your data, so stop splitting the moment you cannot name the decision it lets you make.
Ad groups: one idea each
An ad group exists so the ad can match the search. If one group holds "emergency plumber" and "bathroom renovation", no ad can speak to both, and the page you send people to will be wrong for one of them.
- 01Write down the handful of things people actually search for when they want what you sell.
- 02Group the ones that deserve the same headline and the same landing page.
- 03Give each group five to fifteen keywords, no more.
- 04Write two or three ads per group that repeat the words of that group.
Naming so you can read it later
You will look at this list on a phone in six months. Use a pattern and stick to it — location, then service, then type.
- Search — Melbourne — Emergency plumbing
- Search — Melbourne — Hot water systems
- Brand — Australia — Our name
In Atlas you can also give a campaign a plain nickname without touching its name in Google, so reports read the way you talk.
Common structural mistakes
- One campaign, one ad group, ninety keywords — nothing can be read or fixed.
- A campaign per keyword — budgets too thin to learn anything.
- Brand mixed with everything else, hiding a poor cost per sale behind cheap brand clicks.
- Ad groups whose keywords all point at the home page instead of the relevant page.
Common questions
- How many keywords should an ad group have?
- Five to fifteen closely related ones is plenty. If you need more, it is usually two ad groups.
- Should I have a separate campaign for my brand name?
- Yes, if people search your business by name. It is cheap traffic that converts well, and keeping it separate stops it flattering your other campaigns.
- How many ads per ad group?
- Two or three. Enough for Google to compare, few enough that each gets sufficient traffic to judge.
- Do I need to restructure an old account?
- Only if you cannot answer "which of these makes money" from the current layout. If you can, leave it alone and spend the time on keywords and landing pages.