Campaign builder

Five decisions, in the order you actually meet them when you open a new Google Ads campaign. Pick an option at each step and read why it matters; at the end you get a campaign plan you can keep. Nothing you choose here is sent anywhere.

Decisions made

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{# The steps arrive from BuilderView in a fixed, test-asserted order (campaign_type, structure, match_types, bid_strategy, budget), so each is bound once by position here instead of every section re-scanning the whole list for its own key. #}

Which campaign type?

This is the first choice Google asks you for, and it decides how much of the targeting you keep. Each type trades control for reach differently.

Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, Display, Video, Shopping and App — each trades control for reach differently. Campaign types

Google ranks ads on bid, ad and landing page quality, search context, and expected asset impact. Ad Rank

Search campaign Keyword-driven text ads on the results page. Maximum control over intent. Performance Max Cross-inventory automated campaign; you supply assets, audience signals and goals instead of placements. Demand Gen Visual-first campaigns across YouTube, Discover and Gmail for demand creation rather than capture. Shopping campaign Product-feed-driven listings whose performance depends mostly on feed quality.

{# Trap sourced from 01-campaign-structure.yml: "Running both, with clear separation of what each is responsible for, is normal." #}

Running more than one campaign type at once is normal — but only with a clear separation of what each one is responsible for. Search gives you control over keywords and match types; Performance Max hands placement and targeting to Google and asks you for asset groups and audience signals instead.

How many ad groups?

The ad group is where the audience, the schedule and the optimisation event live. How you split them decides how much conversion signal each one gets.

Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, Display, Video, Shopping and App — each trades control for reach differently. Campaign types

A fixed field order for campaign, ad set and ad names that survives platform redesigns and staff changes. Naming convention

{# These two options are shapes, not products, so no single atom names them. Each cites the naming-convention atom that backs the structural reasoning, and the wording is taken from 01-campaign-structure.yml. #}

Few, well-funded ad groups One ad group per closely related group of keywords, each with enough budget to gather signal. One ad group per theme or market Use when you must guarantee spend per market, product line or client, and accept worse efficiency.

{# Trap sourced from 01-campaign-structure.yml, "Stop building one ad set per idea" and its list items. #}

Splitting your budget across many thin ad groups gives each one a fraction of the signal, so each learns slowly and competes with the others for the same people. Testing creative does not require a new ad group — several ads inside one ad group is usually the right test.

{# Naming convention: the same field-order idea module 01 teaches, so the builder and the module cannot disagree. #}

Name it before you build it

Campaign : {platform}_{country}_{objective}_{product}_{yyyymm}
Ad group : {theme}_{match-type}
Ad       : {format}_{creative-id}_{hook}_v{n}

Lowercase and hyphens only — spaces break exports and URL parameters. Do not encode budget or status in the name; those change, and names should not.

Which keyword match type?

The match type decides how far Google may travel from the words you typed. This is the control-versus-reach dial of a search campaign.

Broad match Matches on meaning, not wording. Widest reach, weakest control. Phrase match Matches queries that include the meaning of your phrase in order. Exact match Matches the same meaning as the keyword itself. Tightest control, smallest volume.

{# Traps quoted from the negative-keywords and search-terms-report atoms rather than embellished. #}

Blocks queries you do not want to pay for. The single highest-leverage routine in a Search account. Negative keywords

What people actually typed, as opposed to what you bid on. Where negatives come from. Search terms report

Which bid strategy?

The bid strategy decides what Google optimises towards, and how much of the bidding you hand over.

Manual CPC You set the click bid. Full control, no conversion-signal optimisation. Beginner Maximize conversions Spend the budget for the most conversions, optionally with a target CPA. Beginner Target CPA A CPA target the smart bidding system aims for on average, not per conversion. Intermediate Maximize conversion value Optimise for revenue rather than conversion count, optionally with a target ROAS. Intermediate Target ROAS A revenue-per-spend target; requires accurate, differentiated conversion values. Intermediate

{# The precondition each smart-bidding atom states for itself (tROAS "requires accurate, differentiated conversion values") traces back to how the conversion action is defined. #}

Every strategy above except Manual CPC optimises on conversion signal, so it is only as good as what you count as a conversion. The named conversion definition, including its counting method, value and window. Conversion action

What daily budget?

Budget is a campaign-level setting. Enter a daily figure and an expected cost per click, and the page shows how many clicks a day that buys — arithmetic only, not a forecast.

Daily budget

Expected cost per click

That buys roughly this many clicks a day

—

Volume, competition and forecast estimates for keyword and budget planning. Keyword Planner

Spend divided by clicks — the joint result of CPM and CTR. CPC

Spend divided by conversions. An outcome of CPC and CVR — never a lever you set directly. CPA

Your campaign plan

Every choice you made, with the reason and the official source behind it. Built in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

The options and the explanations on this page come from the feature index, so each one links to Google's own documentation. This is a planning aid, not a prediction of results.