Google Ads Account Structure: Campaigns, Ad Groups, Keywords

A clear Google Ads account structure puts each budget and goal in its own campaign, splits each campaign into tightly themed ad groups, and gives every ad group its own ads and landing page. Settings such as location and budget live at campaign level, and keywords and ads live in ad groups, so the structure decides what you can control. This guide is part of our paid advertising guide.

You'll need admin access to a Google Ads account and a list of what you sell, with the page for each. Conversion tracking helps from step 9 on.

How a Google Ads account is organized

Google describes an account in three layers. The account holds billing and access. Campaigns each have their own budget and settings, which decide where ads can appear. Ad groups sit inside campaigns and hold a set of similar ads and keywords.

That split matters more than it looks. Anything you want to control separately, such as how much a service can spend or which areas it targets, needs its own campaign. Anything that should share a message and a landing page belongs in one ad group. Get those two decisions right and most of the rest follows.

The campaign type sets the frame. Google offers Search, Display, Video, Shopping, Demand Gen, App and Performance Max campaigns, and each type has its own targeting and ad formats. This guide focuses on Search campaigns, where keywords and ad groups do most of the work.

Steps

1. 01
   List what you sell, where you sell it and the page for each.

   Write every product or service on its own line, with the areas you serve and the best page on your site for it. Mark which ones matter most to the business. This list becomes the map for every campaign and ad group, and it shows quickly where a landing page is missing.

2. 02
   Create one campaign per budget and goal.

   Start a new campaign only when something needs its own budget, location, schedule or goal. A service you want to fund separately gets its own campaign. Searches for your business name usually do too. Everything else can share. Each extra campaign splits your budget, so keep the number as low as your controls allow. We discuss starting spend in our post on the minimum ad budget.

3. 03
   Set location, language and network at campaign level.

   These settings apply to every ad group inside the campaign, so set them carefully. Choose the areas you can serve, the language your customers use and whether ads may show on search partners. Name the campaign clearly: Google notes that campaign names aren't shown to customers, so they can be as descriptive as you need.

4. 04
   Split each campaign into tightly themed ad groups.

   Group keywords that one set of ads and one landing page can answer. Google's own example is a jeweller keeping "engagement rings" and "wedding bands" in separate groups. If an ad group's keywords need different ads to make sense, split it. If two ad groups share the same ads and page, merge them.

5. 05
   Add keywords once, with deliberate match types.

   Broad match reaches the widest set of related searches and also covers phrase and exact matches. Google says very similar keywords are treated as duplicates, with only one bid in the auction. So add each idea once, in the ad group where it fits best. Google pairs broad match with Smart Bidding, which needs conversion tracking to work well.

6. 06
   Write ads and choose a landing page for each ad group.

   Each ad group needs ads written for its theme, and a landing page that matches the search. Google recommends at least two responsive search ads per ad group. Send each group to the most specific page you have, not the homepage. We cover ad writing in how to write Google search ads.

7. 07
   Add negative keywords at the right level.

   Put searches you never want, across the whole account, in an account-level negative list. Use shared negative keyword lists for exclusions that apply to several campaigns. Add campaign or ad group negatives to stop campaigns competing for each other's searches. Our negative keywords guide explains how to find them.

8. 08
   Name everything to one convention.

   Use the same pattern for every campaign and ad group, such as type, service and area, in a fixed order. Consistent names make filters, reports and future changes much faster. Write the convention down, so anyone who joins the account later follows it.

9. 09
   Check the plan before launch, then let it learn.

   Review the plan for gaps: services with no campaign, ad groups with no landing page, keywords that appear twice. After launch, Google says new campaigns go through a learning phase, and advises against big changes to targeting, creative or bidding during it. Wait, then adjust one thing at a time.

If you'd rather have the account planned, built and run for you, our in-house ads team handles paid search alongside the ad creative.

An example structure

Here is how a hypothetical landscaping company might lay out a small Search account. Each campaign exists because something needs to be controlled separately.

Where Performance Max fits

Performance Max is a campaign type that can show ads across Google's inventory, including Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover and Maps, from one campaign. It doesn't use ad groups and keywords in the same way. It uses asset groups and signals instead.

When an account runs both, Google gives priority to a Search campaign when the search exactly matches an exact match keyword. Other overlaps are decided by relevance and Ad Rank. So if you add Performance Max, keep your most important searches covered by exact match keywords in Search, and use brand exclusions and negatives where needed. Our Performance Max campaigns guide explains how it works.

Troubleshooting

One service uses up the whole budget

Cause: several services share one campaign, and therefore one budget. The service with the most searches, or the cheapest clicks, takes most of the money, even if it's not the one the business most wants to sell. The campaign looks fine overall while other services barely show.

Fix: move the service that needs a set share of spend into its own campaign, with its own budget, using the rule from step 2. Keep its ad groups, keywords and ads the same when you move them, so you're only changing the budget control. Watch both campaigns for a few weeks before you move anything else, and review the split again when goals change.

The wrong ad shows for a search

Cause: keywords overlap between ad groups or campaigns, so a search for one service triggers an ad written for another. Broad match keywords in one group can match searches that another group was built for. Missing negatives let campaigns compete for the same searches.

Fix: check the search terms report for the searches involved and which keyword matched them. Add each keyword idea once, in the group where it fits, as in step 5. Add negatives so each campaign or group stays in its lane, and add exact match keywords for your most important searches. Then check the report again after a week.

Reports are too fragmented to read

Cause: the account has many campaigns and ad groups with little traffic each. Every report shows dozens of rows with a handful of clicks, so nothing is clear and automated bidding has too little data per campaign. Inconsistent names make it worse, because nothing can be filtered or grouped.

Fix: merge campaigns that share a budget, area and goal, and merge ad groups that share ads and a landing page. Rename everything to one convention, as in step 8, so you can filter by service or type. Use labels for reporting groups, such as service lines, instead of creating extra campaigns just to see numbers side by side.