How do I structure account, campaigns, and ad groups?
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Expert take from Dmytro Snihur
Account structure is one of those topics that sounds boring until it starts costing you money. A messy account drains budget, confuses Smart Bidding, and turns reporting into a guessing game.
The Core Problem
Most underperforming Google Ads accounts aren't broken because of bad copy or wrong keywords. They're broken because they're either too fragmented or too consolidated. Over-segmented accounts starve the algorithm of signals; over-consolidated ones blur every KPI into one unreadable number.
Why Over-Segmentation Hurts
The old SKAG-everything approach is dead. Smart Bidding needs density — enough conversions per ad group for the model to learn. Twenty ad groups each getting two clicks a day produce nothing the algorithm can act on. The campaign technically runs; it just never gets smart.
Why Over-Consolidation Hurts
The opposite mistake is one mega-campaign targeting every product, every geo, and every funnel stage. Budgets get pulled toward whatever converts cheapest — usually existing demand — and high-value segments quietly starve. Reporting averages into mush, and you can't tell which dollar earned which conversion.
What to Do Instead
Use a simple structure and only split when there's a real reason:
- One account per business entity. Keeps conversion tracking and audience data centralized. - Split campaigns only by goal, budget, or geography. Different target CPA? New campaign. Different country with its own budget? New campaign. Otherwise, keep them together. - Aim for 1–3 themed ad groups per campaign, each grouping 5–10 closely related keywords by intent — not by exact match variation. - Keep top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel campaigns separate. Their CPAs and bidding logic are different by nature.
Add a clean naming convention — something like [Network] | [Offer] | [Geo] | [Bidding] — and reporting stops being an archaeology project.
The Bottom Line
Good structure isn't about how many campaigns you have. It's about giving each campaign enough signal to learn and enough separation to be measured. Start consolidated, split only when the data demands it, and let structure follow performance — not the other way around.