One common mistake I see businesses make is cramming too many keywords into a single ad group. This might seem like a good way to target more searches, but it can actually backfire and hurt your campaign's performance.
Here's why: when you have a large number of keywords in one ad group, it becomes difficult to create ads and landing pages that are relevant to all of them. This can lead to lower click-through rates (CTRs) and poor Quality Scores, which in turn can increase your costs and reduce your ad's visibility.
That's what happened to Jasmine. She worked with a consulting company, and booked a Google Ads coaching call with me because her ads weren't performing well.
When we looked at Jasmine's campaigns, I noticed that each Search ad group was stuffed with 50 or more keywords, making it nearly impossible to create targeted ads and landing pages.
To address this, I recommended that Jasmine segment her keywords into smaller, more tightly themed ad groups. Instead of having one giant ad group for all of her keywords, she could create separate ad groups for different product categories, service offerings, or customer intents.
By doing this, Jasmine could create more targeted ads and landing pages that are relevant to the specific keywords in each ad group. This would improve her CTRs, Quality Scores, and overall campaign performance.
My mother's fashion advice applies perfectly to Google Ads keywords: less is more!
Here's how you can find the right keyword balance, like Jasmine:
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Segment your keywords: Aim for 5-15 keywords per ad group, and group those keywords by intent. Some people call this the "STAG" strategy: single theme ad groups.
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Create targeted ads and landing pages: Make sure your ads and landing pages are relevant to the specific keywords in each ad group. For example, if you offer couples therapy and therapy for depression, make sure you have a landing page that talks about your couples therapy services, and a different landing page about how you help people living with depression.
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Keep an eye on Quality Score: While the Quality Score metric that you see in Google Ads is not a direct auction input, it is a very helpful diagnostic tool. Aim for Above average Ad relevance, and Average to Above Average Expected CTR. If your keywords are falling short, review the two bullet points above :)
Don't settle for so-so Google Ads results. Book a call with me and we'll uncover hidden opportunities in your ads.
One more thing...
Here's what you may have missed recently on the Inside Google Ads podcast:
- Episode 62 - Apr 3, 2025: Are Exact Match keywords expensive in Google Ads?
- Episode 63 - Apr 10, 2025: Can you still use custom segments in Google Ads?
- Episode 64 - Apr 16, 2025: Buy my book today on Amazon!
- Episode 65 - Apr 24, 2025: Should you use bid adjustments in Google Ads?
