As the world’s largest advertising platform, Google Ads give businesses of all sizes the opportunity to reach millions of potential customers. But with so many options and features, it can be difficult to create and manage effective Google Ads campaigns.
One of the most common questions we get asked centres around the amount of keywords used in a Google Ads Ad Group. Our personal preference comes down to in part budgets to manage the campaigns, but also relevance, keyword quality and organisational goals. This will ensure that your ads are relevant to the keywords you’re targeting, without being too broad or too specific and keeping fees at optimal rates.
Keyword Ad Group Relevance and quality
Consider your ads and keyword relevance to those ads in your Google Ads Campaigns. Relevant keywords allows you to ensure your target audience is seeing ads that appeal to them. This also will benefit your click through rates on ads, conversions and in turn costs associated with your Ad Groups and Campaigns. Quality scores are an important factor to consider when managing Google Ads campaigns.
Google Ads uses a quality score for your ad campaigns. This quality score assists you to determine how well your ad campaigns are performing and is based on a number of factors, including your click-through rate (CTR), the relevance of your ad, and the quality of your landing page. A high-quality score means that your ads are more likely to be clicked on, and a low quality score means that your ads are less likely to be clicked on.
Make use of quality scores when managing Google Ad Campaigns.
You can use your quality score to improve your ad campaigns by making sure that your ads are relevant to your keywords and landing pages. You can also improve your CTR by making sure that your ads are well-written and targeted to your audience. If you’re not sure how to improve your quality score, Google offers a number of resources, including a quality score checklist and a quality score guide.
It’s not just about the number of keywords, it’s also about the types of keywords being used and how well your campaigns are structured.
With the demise of broad match modifier in Google Ads, keywords have become somewhat more difficult to manage, especially if you are targeting niche specific keywords. Google has multiple keyword matching types that can be used which are Broad match, Phrase match and Exact match.
Broad match is the default option and will match your keywords to a variety of different searches. Phrase match will only match your keywords to searches that include your keyword phrase in the same order. Exact match will only match your keywords to searches that include your keyword phrase in the same order and without any other words before or after. So in short, Broad match and Phrase match may in fact increase the amount of keywords you are actually using to 100’s or 1000’s of keywords, subject to your campaign.
Broad Match, exact match and phrase match keywords in Google Ads all have different purposes. But when relying on Broad Match keywords alone, search engine marketing tasks become a whole lot more difficult and the need to use negative keywords to eliminate any unwanted keyword matching generates an additional level of search engine marketing tasks. You may find that there are too many irrelevant keywords being used by the Google Algorithm. Leading to more Search Engine Marketing work for you and more costs for your organisation or client.
Less keywords, simpler ad group management – Organised campaigns and Ad groups
Well-structured Google Ads campaigns and ad groups, with relevant names, keywords and ads will allow for optimal tracking of your campaign performance. One of the most important keys to success with Google Ads is structure. A well-structured campaign with relevant ad groups and targeted keywords will allow you to track your campaign performance and make the necessary adjustments to improve results.
Our recommendation
The number of keywords you choose for a Google Ads ad group depend on several factors, including your business goals and the competitive landscape. However, as a general guideline, we recommend choosing between 1 and 20 keywords per ad group and subject to your business goals, as many phrase and exact keywords as possible. But remember, it’s not just about the number of keywords you use; it’s also about how your campaigns are organised.
Here are a few tips for creating a well-structured Google Ads campaign:
1. Choose the right campaign type for your goals.
2. Create relevant ad groups to your campaigns.
3. Use targeted keywords, match types to suit your needs
4. Write effective ads.
5. Set up campaign tracking and conversion tracking
6. Regularly check ad quality scores
By following these tips, you can create a Google Ads campaign that is structured for success.