Structure Your Google Ads Campaigns the RIGHT Way in 2024

Summary

This video covers essential strategies for structuring Google Ads campaigns in 2024. The presenter explains the importance of planning the right campaign structure, considering factors like keywords, audiences, demographics, and locations. Different types of campaigns such as search, Performance Max, shopping, and display are reviewed, with a focus on how they fit various business goals. The video also introduces a campaign planner tool to help viewers design effective Google Ads structures and highlights the benefits of joining the 10x Google Ads community for additional support.

Takeaways

• 📊 Structuring Google Ads campaigns correctly is key to achieving success in 2024.
• 🎯 It's essential to understand not just keywords but also audiences, demographics, and locations for better targeting.
• 📱 Google Ads offers targeting by device types like mobile, tablet, and laptop, which can optimize campaigns.
• 🔄 Many Google Ads accounts suffer from a 'slapstick' approach, leading to inefficiency and missed opportunities.
• 🔑 Using the right campaign type, such as Search or Performance Max, is crucial for specific business goals.
• 🚀 Performance Max campaigns include a mix of ad formats like text, image, video, and shopping across multiple Google networks.
• 📍 Google Ads campaigns should be divided into 'always on' business-building campaigns and 'seasonal/promotional' campaigns.
• ⚖️ Control over keyword and audience targeting varies by campaign type; search campaigns offer the most control, while Performance Max offers less.
• 💡 Campaigns can be categorized into business-building, defensive, aggressive, or promotional to achieve different business goals.
• 🛠️ Planning the exit strategy from promotional campaigns is essential to avoid losing momentum after a sales period.

Q & A

What is the core foundation for success in Google Ads in 2024?

Using the right campaigns with the correct structure is the core foundation for success in Google Ads in 2024.

What are the four main options for targeting in Google Ads?

The four main options for targeting in Google Ads are keywords, audiences, demographics, and locations.

Why is it important to take a step back and plan out your Google Ads campaigns?

It is important to plan your Google Ads campaigns to ensure that each campaign is intentional and suited for your business, rather than taking a 'slapstick' approach that lacks strategy.

What is the difference between search campaigns and Performance Max campaigns in terms of control?

Search campaigns offer high control over keyword and audience targeting, while Performance Max campaigns provide lower control, with Google handling more of the targeting and ad creation.

When is it ideal to use Performance Max campaigns?

Performance Max campaigns are best used after you have a collection of conversions, ideally 30 conversions in 30 days, as they are built for conversion-focused performance.

What are the pros and cons of search campaigns in Google Ads?

Search campaigns provide the highest level of control over keywords and audiences, making them flexible for various conversion endpoints. However, Google is gradually rolling out more automated ad assets, which reduces some control over ad copy.

What are the four types of campaigns that the speaker recommends structuring your Google Ads account around?

The four types of campaigns are business building, defensive, aggressive, and promotional campaigns.

How should you approach Performance Max campaign asset groups for success?

For success with Performance Max, asset groups should be based on subcategory products or keyword themes, as these provide better targeting alignment with Google’s system.

Why is it important to separate always-on campaigns from sales or promotional campaigns?

Separating always-on campaigns from sales or promotional campaigns helps maintain consistent momentum in regular campaigns while ramping up for special promotions without damaging long-term performance.

What is the benefit of using the 'How to Win at Google Ads' planner mentioned in the script?

The 'How to Win at Google Ads' planner helps users design a Google Ads account structure tailored to their business, ensuring strategic campaign setups and better overall performance.

Outlines

00:00

📊 Structuring Your Google Ads Campaign for Success in 2024

This section emphasizes the importance of using the right campaign structure in Google Ads for 2024. The speaker highlights the common mistakes people make when setting up their campaigns, such as taking a 'slapstick' approach or simply following trends without understanding their strategy. The key takeaway is that planning and organizing the Google Ads account effectively is crucial to achieving success. The speaker offers access to a 'how to win at Google ads planner' and mentions the four main targeting drivers: keywords, audiences, demographics, and location, along with the significance of planning each carefully.

05:01

🎯 Understanding Targeting and Campaign Types in Google Ads

This paragraph dives into the specifics of Google Ads targeting and campaign types. It explains the four key elements of targeting: keywords, audiences, demographics, and locations, noting that targeting isn't just about keywords but about understanding the audiences and demographics behind them. The speaker provides insights into different Google Ads campaign types—Search, Performance Max, Shopping, Display, and Demand Gen—and explains how each works best for certain business models. The importance of matching campaign types with the business's goals and how to optimize them is emphasized.

10:02

🔑 Pros and Cons of Various Google Ads Campaigns

Here, the speaker compares different types of Google Ads campaigns in terms of keyword/audience targeting, ad copy control, and conversion points. For example, Search campaigns offer high control over keywords and audiences, while Performance Max offers low control but is optimized for conversions. The speaker advises against starting new accounts with Performance Max, recommending Search or Shopping campaigns instead. The importance of aligning the campaign type with the intended conversion goals is also stressed, especially for e-commerce and service-based businesses.

Keywords

💡Campaign Structure

Campaign structure refers to the way Google Ads campaigns are organized to maximize success. The video emphasizes that using the correct structure is fundamental for achieving the best results in Google Ads. A well-planned structure involves understanding your goals, audience, and the types of ads you will run, which is key to improving performance.

💡Targeting

Targeting in Google Ads refers to the process of identifying and focusing on specific audiences based on search terms, demographics, interests, and location. The script highlights the importance of selecting the right targeting options to align with your business goals. For example, keywords, audiences, demographics, and locations all work together to optimize ad performance.

💡Search Campaigns

Search campaigns are a type of Google Ads campaign where text ads appear on the Google Search Network in response to user queries. The video explains that these campaigns offer high control over keyword targeting and are ideal for service-based, e-commerce, and SaaS companies. They are a recommended starting point for new accounts due to their flexibility and precision.

💡Performance Max

Performance Max is a campaign type in Google Ads that automates targeting and ad creation across multiple Google networks (Search, Display, YouTube, etc.). The video describes Performance Max as effective for conversion-focused campaigns, but with lower control over ad copy and targeting compared to search campaigns. It’s best to implement Performance Max after achieving a certain number of conversions with other campaign types.

💡Audiences

Audiences in Google Ads are groups of users defined by their interests, behaviors, and demographics. The video discusses how targeting the right audience is crucial for success, with options ranging from custom audiences to remarketing. The audience targeting expands beyond just search terms and considers the overall behavior and preferences of users.

💡Shopping Campaigns

Shopping campaigns are used by e-commerce brands to display product listings in search results and across Google’s shopping network. The video explains that these campaigns offer high control over targeting through product titles and descriptions, making them ideal for businesses looking to drive online sales. The success of these campaigns depends heavily on optimizing the product feed.

💡Display Campaigns

Display campaigns in Google Ads are designed to show image ads on the Google Display Network, which includes websites, apps, and videos. The video highlights their use for general branding and promotional purposes, offering a moderate level of control over targeting and ad copy. These campaigns are effective for reaching a broader audience with visual content.

💡Conversion Endpoints

Conversion endpoints refer to the specific actions that advertisers want users to take after interacting with their ads, such as making a purchase, signing up, or filling out a form. The video notes that different campaign types (e.g., search, Performance Max) offer varying degrees of control over conversion goals, which are critical for measuring success.

💡Negative Keywords

Negative keywords prevent ads from appearing in searches that are irrelevant to the business. In the video, the importance of building a negative keyword list, especially in Shopping campaigns, is emphasized to avoid showing ads to users searching for unrelated products or services. This helps optimize the budget by focusing on relevant traffic.

💡Always-on Campaigns

Always-on campaigns are continuously running ads that promote a business's core products or services throughout the year. The video discusses these as part of a stable campaign structure that drives consistent traffic and conversions, regardless of sales or promotional events. These campaigns are contrasted with temporary or seasonal campaigns.

Highlights

Using the right campaigns with the right structure is essential for success in Google Ads in 2024.

Setting up your Google Ads account the right way is crucial for maximizing success.

Many Google Ads campaigns suffer from a slapdash approach, leading to suboptimal results.

Planning and structuring your campaigns carefully is key to achieving the best results.

Targeting in Google Ads goes beyond keywords—consider audiences, demographics, and locations.

Understanding the different types of Google Ads campaigns and their purposes helps in selecting the right ones for your business.

Performance Max campaigns combine various ad formats and networks, including search, display, and video.

It's essential to know that Discovery campaigns have been replaced by Demand Gen, focusing on new client acquisition.

Search campaigns offer the highest control over keyword and audience targeting.

Performance Max campaigns are recommended only after achieving a certain number of conversions.

Shopping campaigns require careful keyword focus in product titles and descriptions for optimal targeting.

Business building, defensive, aggressive, and promotional campaigns are the four types of campaigns to consider.

Always-on campaigns should be maintained throughout the year, focusing on core services and products.

Sales and promotional campaigns should be separate from always-on campaigns to maintain momentum post-promotion.

Performance Max campaigns should be structured around product categories or keyword themes for success.

Transcripts

using the right campaigns with the right

structure is a core foundation for

success in Google ads in 2024 because

let's face it if you're using the wrong

campaigns or they've been set up the

wrong way you're never going to see the

full amount of success that you could be

seeing with Google ads for your business

in 2024 so that is why in this lesson of

get Google ready I'm going to be taking

you through how to structure and

organize your Google Google ads account

the right way one of the biggest issues

I see with Google ads campaigns when I'm

going through and doing reviews of

accounts is that I can see that just

people tend to have a bit of a slapstick

approach to their Google ads accounts

and what I mean by that is that they you

know they hear that it's a good idea to

do search they run a search campaign and

then they hear that it's someone else

says to do performance Max so they do

performance Max for Success at Google

ads the key is to take a step back and

actually take the the time to plan out

why you're doing certain things in your

Google ads account and that's why I want

to give you access to what's called my

how to win at Google ads planner and you

can get that just by following the link

in the description below and once you've

answered all of those questions you are

then able to design your own Google ads

account structure which is going to be

best for your business so once again if

you want to get access to that how to

win at Google ads planner just follow

that link in the description below now

because this is such an important topic

what we are going to do is we're going

to move into an extended screen share

because I've prepared some teaching

slides for you so I can take you through

this content in the most clearest way

possible so right now let's get straight

into the teaching the first question you

need to ask when it comes to planning

your Google ads account structure is you

need to go through what and who you will

Target and you need to remember that in

Google ads there are four main options

for targeting it's not just about

keywords obviously keywords are the

Search terms that you are targeting so

these are the Search terms which you're

going to add to your Campaign which are

going to trigger your ads but it goes

beyond that it's also the different

audiences so these are the groups of

people with specific interest intents

and demographics that Google Groups

together then there's also your

demographics so that's your age your

gender income range and also other

things like parental status and then

there's the location the physical

location that people live so when I

think about Google ads and the targeting

that we go through it's not just about

the keywords that they're searching it's

also what groups of people in different

locations are searching those terms

which are giving me the best results and

that's the way that you need to think

about it it's not just keywords it's

keywords audiences demographics and

locations all together so once you've

got that built out and you know that

there's four main drivers of

optimizations that we're looking at with

those keywords the audiences the

demographics and the locations you can

also Target by devices so whether it be

a mobile or a tablet or a laptop the

next thing is is the different types of

Google ads campaigns the reason for why

this is important is because if you have

an understanding of the different types

of campaigns and what the purpose of

each campaign is you can then better

work out which campaigns are going to be

right for your business and time and

time again I see accounts where

campaigns are either used the wrong way

so they're not used in the intention

that Google has designed it and they're

just not suitable for their business so

this is a corol understanding that you

need to have so what I'm going to be

breaking it down to is the type of ads

the network so that's where the ads

appear who it's suitable for and also

what it can focus on so with their

search campaign obviously these are text

ads they appear on obviously the Google

search Network I find these suitable for

service based e-commerce and software as

or service companies and you can also

have a separation between new clients

existing clients and remarketing

audiences then when it comes to

Performance Max thing you need to

remember with performance Max is that

you are getting not only text ads but

shopping ads image ads and Google Map

ads and also video ads and that's then

also search display Gmail and YouTube

for shopping shopping is once again is

only on the shopping network and it's

only for e-commerce Brands when it comes

to display it's important to know that

with display is for your image ads and

that only appears on the Display Network

now discovery which has now been updated

to the demand gen so Discovery campaigns

no longer exist and they are image ads

and video ads and they're very much

focusing on the YouTube shorts and then

there's also your video ads which is on

YouTube only so the thing when you look

down here the only thing that I would

say about this bottom section is just

know that with your demand gen or your

Discovery campaigns which we now know

are demand gen they are very much for

new clients only you don't have the

options to really set it for remarketing

or for existing clients think of that as

the top of the funnel and I haven't

spent too much time on it but then

there's obviously your app campaigns

which makes sense that you need an app

to run that campaign so what I want to

do now is just quickly run you through

the pros and cons for the different

types of Google ads campaigns and we're

going to break this down into keyword or

audience targeting and the control of AD

copy and what conversion endpoints work

the best so with search this is where

where you have the highest amount of

control over your keyword and audience

targeting so you can have you know exact

match keywords or broad match now they

are not as exact as they were previously

but still search campaigns is where you

have the highest level of control and

for your audiences you can even still

set up targeted audience campaigns now

the reason for why with the control of

AD copy I've put the little asteris

there is that throughout 2023 and also

as we move into 2024 Google is going to

be rolling out more and more

automatically created assets at the

moment we still do have op outs but it's

just something to keep in mind and for

conversion endpoints I find search

campaigns great you can pretty much

tailor it for all of the different types

of end points you'd want and the main

reason for that is because you can also

tailor your ad copy and really start

letting people know in the ad copy what

conversion action you want them to

complete now with performance Max it's

low control on keyword and audience

targeting you do add in keyword and you

do add in audiences but for performance

Max you have to be very very mindful

that these are only suggest questions

and then you also have a low control

over the ad copy but you know you do

have a lot of different conversion end

points it is important to remember that

performance Max is built for conversions

so on a new account I would not be

starting with performance Max I'd be

starting with either search or shopping

and then adding in performance Max once

you have a collection of conversions

still I'm giving the recommendation of

30 conversions in 30 days shopping is

pretty much similar to search in that

you have a high control over the keyword

and audience targeting Now search is

different in that you don't select the

keywords but you can build out your

negative keyword lists so shopping

campaigns the keyword targeting comes

from your product titles and your

descriptions and that's why it's really

really important to have a good keyword

focus in your product title and then you

can build out a negative keyword list to

limit where your ads are showing and

when I say you've got a control of the

ad copy it is high control but

remembering that's coming from your

shopping feed not from within Google ads

and obviously shopping it's all about

sales display once again you have a high

control over the keyword and audience

targeting the reason for why I'm saying

High control is because you can still

select the individual audiences that you

want your ads to appear you have a

moderate control over your ad copy and

the reason for that is cuz more and more

Google is rolling out responsive ads and

similar to your search campaigns I'm

saying that you can use display for all

of the different endpoints once again

because you can add in the ad copy once

you're wanting the use it to do

Discovery once again we're talking about

demand gen there low control on

everything you have low control over the

keyword targeting and low control over

the ad copy and video now for your

keyword and audience targeting you do

have moderate control this is actually

getting less and less but the one thing

you do have a high control over is the

ad copy and the reason being is because

you're creating the video ads so once we

built on how you can Target your Google

ads campaigns and also the different

types of Google ads campaigns you can

use another Paradigm that I use when it

comes to setting up my Google ads

accounts and how I structure them is I

think of campaigns in four different

types they are either business building

they are either defensive aggressive or

promotional let me explain that so

business building these are what I call

you always on campaign they'll be

running every week of the year and they

are promoting your core services and

products so whether you're running a

sale or whether you're not running a

sale they are your always on campaigns

that you you know you'll be going to be

running for as long as your business is

open then there's your defensive

campaigns and these are campaigns that

are set up to stop or limit the benefits

that competitors can get from bidding on

your brand or your core service keyword

so unfortunately after you've

established a brand for yourself you

will get some other people that will

come in and try and move in on your

brand and that's where you find a lot of

the time a brand campaign is a necessary

evil some people don't like spending on

their brand but in many cases you just

have to do it and then there's an

aggressive campaign where it's flipped

where you're intentionally targeting

your competitors and you're bidding on

their name or their core products

because you want to take over their tier

one service market share and then

there's the promotional seasonal

campaigns that only run for a period of

time so think Mother's Day sales

Father's Day sales Black Friday new

product launches or seasonality so if

you're selling swimwear obviously

leading into summer you will be

increasing your spend to to sell more of

those products so there're the four

different types of campaigns that you

can run and now it comes to the all

important Google ads structure so

obviously we've got our Google ads

account now I break this into two core

ways we've got our always on campaigns

and our sales or promotional campaigns

and in our always on campaigns I'm

generally using search obviously for our

brand and our competitor campaigns

that's our aggressive and defensive

campaigns I also do go through and use

and search for a non-brand core product

or keyword themes so these are the

keyword themes or the product

categories that you want to dominate

they don't have your brand name in it

and if you wanted to you can also have

in some Dynamic campaigns now for

e-commerce Brands you obviously then

have those factors can either be in

either search or shopping and then what

I'm still doing at the moment is that if

we're getting any really high performing

search themes or product category sales

I then move them over into their own

performance Max Campaign which is built

around product categories or asset

groups that are different keyword themes

so it's really really important to note

that with your performance Max is that

you need to have your asset groups based

on subcategory products or keyword

themes the reason for that is remember

that with performance Max you can't add

say three audiences and go they're the

only audiences that I want you to Target

and that's where people are falling down

with performance max they're trying to

bring an old school Paradigm to a new

type of Paradigm for Google ads which is

that rather than you giving Google

targeting options you're giving Google

recommendations but for success with

performance Max you need to also make

sure got a high level of conversions

already and if you want to you you can

have um some display and video campaigns

that you use for General branding with a

focus on app downloads or email

subscribers then when it comes over to

here with my sales and promotional

campaigns this is very much where I use

display in YouTube and the reason why I

use that is because if we're coming into

a sales or promotional period what we

don't want to do is just ramp up the

budget on our always on campaigns and

then lose all momentum when we come out

of it because when you come into a sales

on promotional period what you need to

always be thinking of is how are you

going to exit that sales and promotional

period I've seen time and time again

where people spend 12 months building up

really highly successful always on

campaigns and then they ruin it because

they triple the budget or do something

silly like that in a week for a

promotion and then they can't get the

performance back that's why you break it

out into different display or YouTube

campaigns or even Dynamic campaigns that

are targeting sale pages so that's the

process that I go through and now

remember if you follow that link in the

description below you can use that

format which I gave you to create your

own campaign structure Google ads thank

you for sticking around I now I know

that that was probably an extended

screen share more than what I would

usually do on YouTube but because this

is such an important topic I really

really wanted to be able to break down

how you can correctly set up the best

structure for your Google ads accounts

and what I do also want to let you know

that if you do go through and download

that link for the how to win at Google

ads planner you are also going to get

some extra information about my paid

Community which is my 10x Google ads

community and I may be biased but this

is the absolute best community that you

can get support for in Google ads in

2024 and it would be absolutely amazing

to see you in that community so thanks

for joining me and I look forward to

seeing you on the next video of get

Google ready for 2024 and in that video

we're going to be talking about bidding

strategies and you can watch that video

by following this playlist right here

see you