Three tips for a cost-effective account structure in Google AdWords

There are more ways to structure an AdWords account than there are websites in cyberspace.

As an AdWords specialist, I have encountered several of these, and many agencies or in-house specialists like to preach that their structure is the best. That said, there are still three basic rules that I have personally found to be important and never compromise on. By following these three tips, you maximize the optimization potential of the account, and ultimately also the results of your advertising.

Single Keyword Ad Groups

Single Keyword Ad Groups, meaning you only have one keyword in each ad group. Many probably sigh here and think this is a huge amount of work and maybe even unnecessary.

Therefore, I’m not saying your account needs to be structured this way from the start if you don’t have the time (although that’s how I do it, and of course strongly recommend it). It’s better to start with multi-keyword ad groups than not to start AdWords at all. However, the long-term goal should be an account with only Single Keyword Ad Groups.

Why? Because in the long run, this is absolutely the best way to achieve results with your advertising and it increases the opportunities for developing the account.

• You get full control over which ads are shown for which searches. This way you can easily steer away irrelevant traffic, and of course the same the other way around — you know on a keyword level exactly what actually works and should be developed.
• Relevance becomes high, which will be reflected in the so-called Quality Score (Google’s relevance rating). Higher Quality Score means cheaper clicks. And, of course, a better user experience.
• The CTR increases because the user sees an ad that directly correlates with the search (which you know since you only have that keyword for that ad), increasing the chance that they actually click the ad.
• This type of account also makes you think more carefully, in the sense that you only use keywords that are relevant to your advertising. Since the keyword also has to be in the ad for best relevance, the chance that you use words you just “throw in” and that often lead to irrelevant ads for users is minimal.

Exact Match Keywords

When we AdWords specialists analyze other accounts, we often see that these are forgotten or combined with broad match keywords.
To explain what exact match keywords are: they are shown in the account with brackets [keyword].

The reason I recommend an account with exact match keywords is the high relevance it provides, which in turn gives higher Quality Scores and lower cost per click — resulting in as profitable advertising as possible.

All keywords in your account should therefore exist as exact match, and to return to the previous point, each exact match keyword should have its own ad group.

Of course, you should combine these with ad groups or campaigns (I advocate the latter) that contain keywords in other match types, for example broad modified with plus signs +keyword. This is to actually be able to develop the account and not just appear for what you already know works. An important rule here is to keep track of the search terms report in your broad match campaigns. If a search term gets many impressions, clicks, and perhaps even conversions, it should be added as an exact match keyword as soon as possible and excluded from the broad match campaign. This way your account doesn’t become static but has the opportunity to grow.

At Least Two Ads per Ad Group

Another thing we AdWords specialists often see when analyzing others’ accounts is that ad groups often only have one lonely ad. That’s why I want to include this point — because it’s important.

Two or more ads per ad group provide opportunities for continuous improvement. Which has the highest CTR? Which has the highest conversion rate? These are questions you can easily answer with more than one ad. And the one with lower CTR or conversion rate — how can it be improved to perform better? Can you make it more like the better performing ad but still keep some differences to keep testing? Maybe it will perform better than the previous one, and so on.

However, remember not to have too many ads in the ad group, which we specialists also see quite often. Many ads with different headlines, descriptions, and variations make it hard to see which combination actually works. My advice is to start with two or three ads, A/B test, and then test new ones to replace the poorer performers.

These are, in my opinion, the three most important points for a good, clear, and manageable AdWords account with potential for development, while also making it easy to keep track of profitability. Of course, I could write ten or twenty more points on this topic since it’s often a passion for us specialists, but if you have these three in place, you have a much better chance to succeed with your AdWords advertising — and that’s enough for me!