This guide will give you 90% of the foundational knowledge of Search Ads you need to be successful. Let's dive in.

There are ~8.5 billion searches on Google every day.

Without Search ads, only the most mature and established companies would get any traffic from Google searches since they’d have the most content and history to win the top search results.

Search ads let new companies and products buy the top slot on Google — until they can get there themselves with time, SEO, and good content.

Being in the top results matters. Some estimates say 95.3% of clicks go to the top 4 results.

Organic search results (meaning, search results that aren’t ads) still get more most clicks than paid results—although that continues to decrease as Google gets increasingly aggressive with ads and more queries are resolved by AI>

But it depends on the type of search: For high-commercial intent searches — which we care about the most — such as searches including the word “buy,” paid ads get twice as many clicks (65%) as organic results do.

Search ads are an absolute must-test for almost any business.

Keywords

At its core, Search ads work by targeting keywords. Keywords are triggered by the words people use in their searches. For example, if you are trying to sell organic supplements, you may have keywords like the following:

• buy supplements
• organic supplements
• healthy supplements
• buy organic supplements‌

Then when someone googles something related to those keywords (such as best organic supplements), your ads can be shown right above the organic results. Whether your ads do get shown is a different conversation.

Note: “Keyword” is confusing since a single keyword can include several words. The four examples above are each considered a keyword.

What Search ads are best for

This is a great graph that illustrates which companies Search ads (SEM) are best for:

You'll see Google SEM as the big bubble in the top middle.

In short, because people need to be searching on Google, they need to be aware of the problem and in search of a solution.

For Search ads, you’re targeting almost entirely based on what someone is Googling, with only basic location, demographic, device, and language targeting.

This is called intent-based targeting.

You’re marketing to people who show intent and interest in your product (by searching for something related to it).

On other ad channels, like Meta, X, TikTok, or LinkedIn, you’re targeting people based on things like their interests, job titles, likes, whether they’re a parent, whether they’re traveling, their operating system, where they grew up, and more.

This is demographic-based or interest-based targeting.

You’re showing ads to them for products that you assume will interest them, even though they aren’t explicitly showing any interest in them.

This is why you see Google SEM firmly in the "customer is actively looking for a product like mine" and the other ad channels are firmly in the "customer is NOT actively looking for a product like mine."

With this in mind, Search Ads work best for…

Brands, products, and product categories that people know and understand, and are acutely feeling the pain of

Because you’re at the mercy of people searching for terms related to your product, you rely on people knowing that they have a problem and that a solution may exist.

As a result, brand new and innovative products/product categories, or those that are just "nice to haves" will not perform as well since people are not actively searching for them.

People with high intent to buy

If someone knows they want to purchase, and are just looking for the best option, they are the ideal person to hit with a Search ad because they are searching for the solution your product provides.‌

That's why keywords that signal high intent ("landscaper near me") cost more to target than ones that are very generic or signal someone isn't ready to buy "free lawn care tips."

You can target people looking for terms like “best X” or “buy X,” or even your competitors’ names, to intercept people with high intent.

Capturing people from other ad channels

This is an extremely common flow:

• Day 0: Browsing Instagram, gets shown an ad for a product, scrolls past
• Day 4: Get hit with a different ad on Instagram and clicks it
• Day 6: Yet another ad on Instagram, scrolls past and thinks
• Day 6: Googles the company name

When someone clicks or sees an ad on Instagram/Facebook, they often end up googling (either immediately or a few hours or days later) the name of your brand/product or your product category to find similar products or reviews.

Having paid Search ads increases your presence as they do these searches, increasing the likelihood of getting their sale instead of your competitors. In fact, Display and YouTube ads often lead to conversions from people seeing the ad and later googling the product—and not direct clicks on the ad.

Account structure‌

Thanks to advancing AI, the optimal way to structure Google Ads accounts has changed significantly. Previously it required creating tons of different campaigns and ad groups and doing very granular trageting.

Now, we put more faith in the Google AI algorithm.

Here's what we recommend as an overall hierarchy of Search account:

📌 1. One Search Campaign with Multiple Ad Groups (Consolidation > Segmentation)

• Create 2-3 ad groups based on intent themes
• Use broad match for keyword discovery (Google's AI is now smart enough).
• Use smart bidding (Maximize Conversions → Target CPA when stable).

Example:

Let's use a Grass-Fed Lamb Chow premium dog food business in this example:

Campaign: Search – Core Keywords

• Ad Group 1: High-Intent Purchase Keywords
  • Keywords: Broad match terms like “buy [product]”, “[product] pricing”:
    • buy grass-fed lamb dog food
    • high protein dog food for active dogs
    • best raw lamb dog food
    • grain-free lamb dog food
  • Ad Copy: Strong CTA, price-based offers
    • Headline 1: "Grass-Fed Lamb Dog Food – Free Shipping!"
    • Headline 2: "High-Protein, Grain-Free – Vet Approved"
    • Description: "Try our all-natural, grass-fed lamb chow. Great for sensitive stomachs. Order now & get 10% off!"
  • Landing Page: Product page or homepage (depending on product)
• Ad Group 2: Problem-Solution Keywords
  • Keywords: “[problem] solution”, “best [product] for [use case]”
    • best dog food for allergies
    • dog food for sensitive stomachs
    • healthy raw diet for dogs
    • best dog food for coat health
  • Ad Copy: Focus on pain points, problem-solving
    • Headline 1: "Sensitive Stomach? Try Grass-Fed Lamb!"
    • Headline 2: "Vet Recommended for Allergy-Prone Dogs"
    • Description: "Our lamb-based formula supports digestion & skin health. See the difference in 30 days!"
  • Landing page: Talk directly to the problem and solution (allergies)
• Ad Group 3: Competitor Terms (Optional)
  • Keywords: Competitor brand names + qualifiers like “alternative”
    • Blue Buffalo lamb dog food alternative
    • Orijen lamb dog food vs
    • best Honest Kitchen dog food alternative
    • is Stella & Chewy’s good for dogs
  • Ad Copy: Positioning against competitors
    • Headline 1: "Better Than [Competitor]? Try This!"
    • Headline 2: "Grass-Fed Lamb – No Artificial Fillers"
    • Description: "More meat, no fillers, and healthier digestion. Compare us to [Competitor] & see why dogs love it!"
  • Landing Page: Comparison page

Okay, perhaps some of these concepts (keywords, ad group, campaign) are new to you.

These are easiest to explain from lowest to highest in hierarchy.

Keywords

Keywords are added to Ad Groups.

In the example above, keywords look like "best dog food for allergies" and "high protein dog food for active dogs"

When someone Googles anything, if their query (query: the words they type) is related to the keywords you specified, Google will trigger the Ads (which have headlines and descriptions) within the same ad group.

Google's AI is smart enough now that it includes all kinds of things that are similar to the keyword:

• Gluten-free (instead of grain-free)
• Top dog food (instead of best dog food)
• best husky food (instead of dog food)

And it tries to filter out things that aren't directly related (cat food or snoop dogg food).

We'll talk more about keywords later. But this is a good first intro :)

Ads‌

Ads live inside ad groups and contain the ad copy that will entice someone to click through to your website or app.‌

Ads should be very straightforward and get across what your product is. Quickly.

You only want the right people to click.

The ad copy should break the rules of most copy you'll ever write for marketing. You want to actively discourage some people from clicking

Why is that?

Unlike on email or other ad channels where each click is free, on Google, you pay whenever someone clicks on your ad.

So it’s essential that your ad copy discourages people from clicking if your product is not relevant to them.

For example, if you sell a luxury product, you want to discourage someone looking for a cheap version of the product. You could do this by using words like "luxury" or by directly saying the price.

Repeat the terms used in the keywords in your ad.

Not only does this make the ad more relevant to the user, Google also boosts ads that are closely related to the keywords. Impressions, clicks, and cost per click will all be better.

Your paid ad won’t replace your organic search result. In fact, many of our clients have both an ad and an organic result show at the same time. This is actually ideal, because it gives the searcher twice as many opportunities to go to your site.

Some people never look below the ads, so you don’t reach them if you only show up in the organic results.

Search ads give you a lot more control over what the user sees and where you send them. You write the copy for the ad within the Google Ads UI and point the ad at whatever web page you like. You don’t have to send them to your site’s homepage, you can—and should—send them to tailored landing pages. We’ll dive into this later.

Assets/Extensions

You can also add “assets” (previously, "extension") to your ads to enhance them.

For example, the organic result above has “sitelink” assets that link to other pages on the site. We’ll cover these as part of the module.

Ad groups

Ad Groups are contained within Campaigns. You create ads within ad groups, and choose the keywords you’re going to target within ad groups.

Unlike in Facebook, where you configure most settings and targeting on the ad sets (an ad set is basically the same as an ad group), you do very little targeting on ad groups themselves. Instead, most settings are configured on campaigns, and ad groups are mostly used to group related ads and keywords together.

Before AI got so smart, ad groups used to house only extremely similar keywords, now instead we group them based on user intent.

For example with the dog food brand that could be:

1. High-Intent Buyers – People ready to purchase now.
   • Keywords: buy grass-fed dog food, best organic dog food, grain-free lamb dog food
2. Health-Conscious Dog Owners – People researching the benefits of premium dog food.
   • Keywords: best dog food for allergies, dog food for sensitive stomachs, healthy dog diet
3. Competitor Alternatives – People searching for competitor brands and alternatives.
   • Keywords: Blue Buffalo lamb dog food alternative, Orijen vs Honest Kitchen dog food
4. First-Time Dog Owners – People new to buying premium dog food.
   • Keywords: best dog food for puppies, what is the healthiest dog food, best puppy chow
5. Raw & Natural Diet Enthusiasts – People looking for minimally processed dog food.
   • Keywords: raw diet for dogs, organic lamb dog food, high-protein dog food
     

Why do I group by intent and not just one big ad group?

There are a few reasons why you don't want just one massive ad group:

• Ad Relevance & Quality Score
  • Google still matches ad copy to search queries.
  • If you mix different intents (e.g., purchase vs. research queries), the same ad will show for both.
  • This lowers click-through rate (CTR) and Quality Score, increasing cost per click (CPC).
  • ✅ Grouping by intent ensures ad copy closely matches what searchers are looking for.
• Better Landing Page Matching = Higher Conversions
  • Someone searching “buy grass-fed dog food” expects a product page.
  • Someone searching “best dog food for allergies” may need an educational page first.
  • A single ad group would send everyone to the same page, hurting conversions.
  • ✅ Intent-based ad groups send the right audience to the right landing page.
• Better Budget Control & Performance Insights
  • If all queries are in one ad group, you can’t tell which intent type is driving conversions.
  • You can’t adjust budgets by intent, meaning low-intent keywords could waste spend.
  • ✅ Intent-based ad groups help optimize budget allocation based on performance.
• More Efficient Bidding & Optimization
  • Google’s Smart Bidding optimizes based on past conversion data.
  • If all keywords are in one ad group, Google may waste budget testing low-intent searches.
  • Separating purchase intent vs. research intent allows you to adjust Target CPA/ROAS separately.
  • ✅ Prevents Google from over-prioritizing low-value searches.
• Better Negative Keyword Control
  • If all queries are in one ad group, negative keywords apply to everything, which can block good searches.
  • With separate intent groups, you can apply negatives strategically (e.g., block “cheap” in purchase groups, but allow it in research groups).
  • ✅ This reduces wasted spend while still capturing high-intent searches.
    

So in summary:

• ❌ Too many ad groups = bad (data gets fragmented).
• ❌ One giant ad group = bad (low relevance, wasted budget).
• ✅ A few intent-based ad groups = best balance between automation and advertiser control.

Campaign‌

A campaign is an overarching group that contains ad groups. Unlike ad groups, there are a ton of different ways that you can configure campaigns.

With campaigns, you're able to configure the following:

• Objective – Defines what Google optimizes for. Options include Sales, Leads, Website Traffic, Brand Awareness, App Promotion, or Local Store Visits.
• Bidding Strategy – Controls how Google bids in auctions. Common options:
  • Maximize Conversions (default for new campaigns)
  • Target CPA (tCPA) (once conversion data is available)
  • Target ROAS (tROAS) (for revenue-based optimization)
• Budget – The total spend Google can allocate daily.
• Networks – Determines where ads appear:
  • Search Network (Google Search, Shopping tab, partner sites)
  • Display Network (YouTube, Gmail, other websites)
• Locations – Defines geographical targeting. Can be countries, states, cities, or radius around locations.
• Languages – Filters users based on their browser language settings.
• Ad Schedule – Sets specific days/hours when ads can run.
• Conversion Tracking – Defines what actions count as conversions (purchases, sign-ups, calls, etc.).
• Audience Targeting (Optional) – Signals Google’s AI to prioritize specific user groups (e.g., past website visitors, in-market shoppers).
• Negative Keywords (Optional) – Blocks irrelevant searches at the campaign level.

Okay wow that's a lot of things. Let's talk about why you would decide to create different campaigns.

You create different campaigns for a few reasons:

1. Different Budgets for Different Goals
   • Example: You want to spend more on high-intent purchase searches and less on research-based searches.
   • Separate campaigns allow you to control budget allocation more effectively.
2. Different Bidding Strategies
   • Example: You want to use Target ROAS for purchase-intent searches but Maximize Conversions for competitor terms.
   • Google’s Smart Bidding works best when campaigns are optimized for one clear goal.
3. Geographic Targeting
   • Example: You sell in multiple countries and need different messaging, pricing, or regulations for each.
4. Branded vs. Non-Branded Keywords
   • Branded campaign: Targets searches with your brand name (e.g., “XYZ Dog Food”).
   • Non-branded campaign: Targets generic high-intent terms (e.g., “best organic dog food”).
   • Keeps brand traffic separate from prospecting for better budget control.
5. Search vs. Competitor Terms
   • If bidding on competitor keywords, separating them prevents Google from prioritizing them over your own high-intent terms.

What should I do as a new account?

For a startup or newer advertiser with a smaller budget (<$3K/month), one Search campaign is usually enough to keep things simple.

• Start with: One well-structured campaign with intent-based ad groups.
• Expand later if budget and performance justify segmenting into multiple campaigns.

PHEW. That was a lot of info.

But now you honestly know 90% of the foundational knowledge. Let's start getting to work building your campaign.