D. Working with Ad Groups

altUp
to this point, when talking about running ad campaigns through AdWords,
we’ve focused primarily on the campaign level. We’ve touched somewhat
on the various elements of an AdWords campaign, and now, we’ll drill
down even further into those elements.

A campaign consists of one
or more ad groups. An ad group is a collection of ads that target a
particular keyword or set of keywords.

Seeing the words “collection of ads” may lead you to wonder why you should have more than one ad. Two reasons stand out:

  • One important reason is to see which kinds of ads do better in terms of click-throughs and conversions than others.
  • Another
    reason is that different segments of your ad group’s target audience
    may respond to different ads when searching on your keyword.

In
any event, developing more than just a single ad enables you to see
what works and what doesn’t, so you can maximize your campaign results.

So let’s return to the AdWords account and see what you can do with individual ad groups in your campaign.

Ad Group Details

Return to the Campaign Summary page, and click on a campaign to take you to the Campaign Details page for that campaign.

Then, click on a campaign name on the Campaign Details page. This takes you the listings of ad groups for that campaign.

The Campaign Details page provides four tabs containing information for each ad group. The tabs are:

  • Summary — This provides the data overview of the ad group, including the following information:
    • The campaign settings for the ad group
    • The current cost-per-click amount you are bidding to run ads on this ad group
    • The number of clicks accrued for ads in this ad group
    • The number of impressions each ad receives on Google
    • The click-through rate for each ad in the ad group
    • The average cost per click for each ad
    • The actual cost each ad has incurred
    • The average position for each ad (this is dependent on your cost-per-click bid and the keyword for which the ad is intended)
  • Keywords
    — This indicates the keywords that the ad group is using. Notice that
    the tabs attached to this page are similar to that of the Summary page;
    however, the data contained here pertains specifically to your
    keywords. With the Keywords section, you can do the following:

    • Use
      Google’s Magnifying Glass icon to find out whether a keyword is showing
      your ads. Moving your mouse over the icon will give you a small pop-up
      telling you either that ads are running or explaining what is
      preventing your ads from appearing.
    • Add new keywords (a keyword tool is available if you need help finding new keywords; we’ll cover that later in this section)
    • Edit your current keywords
    • Edit the cost-per-click bids assigned to each keyword
    • Search the entire ad group for a particular keyword in terms of certain parameters, such as statistics or specific text
  • Placements
    — This gives you a synopsis of the placements you have selected for
    each ad in your ad group and the performance associated with each
    placement. Similar to the Keywords tab, the Placements tab enables you
    to do the following:

    • Add new placements for your ad (a placement tool is available if you need help finding new URLs in which to have your ad placed)
    • Edit your current placements
    • Search the entire ad group for a particular placement in terms of certain parameters, such as statistics or specific text
  • Ad Variations
    — Here, Google refers to all ads within an ad group as variations. This
    tab displays all the ads you have created within your selected ad
    group. Here, you can do the following:

    • Create new ads (we’ll cover this in the next section)
    • Edit existing ads
    • Pause, unpause, or delete ads
    • Look
      through data from all ads and conduct an ad-by-ad statistical analysis
      to see which ads work best with your target audience.

Conducting an Ad Group Strategy

Your Ad Groups should be granular. It is important to both:

  • Organize your campaign around a single objective related to your selected niche or product within that niche.
  • Make sure each ad group within that campaign is focused on a single objective within a subgroup within that niche.

Focusing on a broad topic may contribute to missing your mark.

Take golf, for instance.

Golfers
make up an important, and at times well-heeled, target audience.
However, not all golfers seek the same exact thing all the time. Some
golfers are seeking the latest in clubs, balls, and other equipment.
Others are seeking help with their golf swing — but not just with their
swing. Some may want more distance from their driver, while others need
help with hitting a ball out of the sand. And then there are those who
want to travel to play golf and are looking for deals, either within
the U.S. or abroad.

So focusing on the golf niche is much too
broad. Instead, consider organizing a campaign around the single
objective of reaching golfers who want to learn how to hit a ball out
of the sand.

The same group of Google users within a niche can
have widely different needs at any particular time. The keywords you
use for each of those needs should be tied together according to a
common theme, because this theme is the basis of an ad group.

When
you do your keyword research, be sure that you devise not only a list
of keywords, but also a list of themes for which you can group the
keywords. Give each theme a specific name that is easy to recall and
easy to detect the theme from it.

If you utilize a
placement-based strategy (and if you are a newbie, we advise that you
not do this until you have more experience with AdWords), consider also
the various websites where each group within your target audience may
visit.

Detecting and Fixing Problems with Specific Ad Groups

Not
all ads for a particular ad group get off the ground running smoothly.
Sometimes there are issues associated with these ad groups that may not
be detected right away, but that can easily be fixed. Here is a listing
of the most common such issues:

  • Cost-per-click bids and Daily Budget
    — Your ads will not run if your daily budget is less than your
    cost-per-click bid for your ad group. To fix this, go to the Campaign
    Details page, check the box next to the affected ad group, and click on
    Edit Bids.
  • Ad Group Status — Your ads will not run if you have set the status for the affected ad group to Pause or if you have deleted the group.
    • For paused ad groups, go to the Campaign Details page, check the box next to the affected ad group, and click Resume.
    • For
      deleted ad groups, go to the Campaign Details page, check the box next
      to the affected ad group, and click Undelete Ad Group.
  • Ad Approval Status —
    Your ads will not run if they fail to meet the editorial and policy
    guidelines that Google has laid out. If Google deems your ad to be
    unacceptable, it will insert an alert box next to your account and stop
    running the ad. When this happens, go to the Campaign Details page,
    check the box next to the affected ad group, and click View reason(s).
    You can then go to Tools > Disapproved Ads and make the necessary
    changes to get your ad running again.
  • Adult Content — Google will not run an ad that contains adult material and is tied to a non-adult material keyword.
  • Missing Elements —
    When an ad group runs in AdWords, at least one keyword and one ad must
    be tied to it. Your ads will not run if you have not assigned one of
    these elements to your ad group.

Troubleshooting Your AdWords Ads

When
you find that one or more ads in a particular ad group is not running
on AdWords, it’s important to find the reason so that you can give your
ad group the best possible chance of success. However, the reason why
an ad is not running is not always immediately obvious, and you may not
have a lot of time to diagnose the problem yourself.

Fortunately,
Google provides an Ads Diagnostic Tool that can help you detect the
problem in a fraction of the time. This tool helps you detect the
following:

  • Whether your ad is running on the first page of search results
  • Why a particular ad may not be showing
  • Why a particular keyword may not be triggering the appearance of your ad
  • Possible methods for increasing the ranking or display frequency of your ad

You
can access the Ads Diagnostic Tool via either the Ad Group Details page
within Campaign Details, or via the Tools page under Campaign
Management.