Get Organized

An ad group is a single set of ad options run against a specific set of keywords in Google Ads. They are used to keep your Google Ads account organized.

An ad group contains one or more ads that share similar targets. You set a bid, or price, to be used when an ad group's keywords trigger an ad to appear. This is called a cost-per-click (CPC) bid. ... Use ad groups to organize your ads by a common theme, such as the types of products or services you want to advertise. ~Google

Ad Groups are essential component of pay-per-click marketing. Creating effective Ad Groups help you drive more visitors and leads at lower costs to your website, while increasing the number of conversions. 

Think of an Ad Group as the container for your keywords in your search marketing campaigns. Here is an example from WordStream, an online advertising company.

Ad Groups glossary of terms

PPC advertising is structured that you create an account, then create an ad campaign, which is home to Ad Groups.

Those Ad Groups then house:

  • Keywords
  • Text Ads
  • Landing pages

So, this means Ad Groups are the main tools used for organizing your PPC account in a meaningful hierarchy.

Ad Groups are important because search engines look to your Ad Group organization to determine a few things like:

  1. Which keywords your ads will show in response to
  2. What your ad will say when it runs
  3. Where the visitor will be taken when they click on your ad

While you are deciding:

  1. Who to advertise to
  2. What to say to get their attention
  3. How you will make your final pitch when you set up an Ad Group

How to Create Ad Groups That Really Work

According to WordStream, "Really work" here means Ad Groups that cost less and convert more. Basically, in creating an Ad Group, you want to ensure that you're offering integration and consistency:

  • Integration - Create a system where you're consistently creating keyword groups, ad text, and landing pages that are tightly integrated with one another.
  • Consistency - This integration should lead to messaging consistency. Your ad text and landing pages should speak directly to the searches users are typing in to reach your site.

There are two central reasons these things are so important to you and to your business:

  • Lower Costs - Because of a system known as Quality Score, creating well-aligned Ad Groups means that you'll be paying less money for the same clicks.
  • More Conversions - If I search for "graphic design services" and your advertisement talks about your graphic design services, and then you send me to a page about those same graphic design services, I'm much more likely to convert than if your ad text or landing page have nothing to do with one another or aren't well integrated with your keywords.


What goes in your Ad Groups? Text ads!

Callahan
Callahan

Andrea Callahan inspires passionate & purpose-driven brands to maximize their strengths to craft an image that represents their WHY, and then use that WHY to position themselves as Industry Influencers; who share experiences that attract their Ideal Buyers. Callahan is a speaker, seminar leader, and the author of, "It's Your Brand ~ Make Your Identity Clear." Callahan is also the principal brand manager @ACIagency, a high-end boutique, integrated-marketing agency, specializing in helping locally-owned brands share their WHY.

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