What is An Ad Group in Google Ads and How to Create One? 

Ad groups are one of those Google Ad components that play a quiet but powerful role in deciding how your campaigns perform. Yet, many advertisers overlook their importance. 

But the truth is, before diving into creating ads, configuring their bids, and other settings, you should know how ad groups work. This understanding will help you build campaigns that are far more organized, effective, and easier to manage.

And that’s where this blog will help. Through it, we will be covering Google Ads ad groups in detail. 

We will discuss their definition, key functions of ad groups (such as bidding, performance tracking, etc.), and also how you can create them effectively for the best results.

Are you ready? Let’s get started.  

Understanding Ad Groups in Google Ads 

Ad groups in Google Ads include a set of similar ads and keywords. They are often centered and organized around a common theme, such as the products or services you want to advertise. 

It is via ad groups that you can set CPC bids and decide how much you will pay when a particular keyword belonging to that group triggers your ad.

Each ad group enables Google’s systems to better match your ads with the right searches. This creates stronger relevance between a user’s search query, your ad copy, and your landing page. And strong relevance improves click-through rates, reduces wasted ad spend, and supports better overall campaign performance. 

Important Note:  Ad groups can be created for almost all Google Ads campaign types. However, the name under which they appear and the functionality they offer may differ. So, for example, Search and Display campaigns use ad groups, while PMax campaigns use something known as “asset groups.”  Regardless of the naming, ad groups or any similar structure serve the same purpose: to categorize or subdivide campaign elements around a common theme. This ensures your Google Ads campaigns maintain a clear structure, giving you better control over targeting, bidding, and overall performance.

Where Do Ad Groups Fall in the Google Ads Account Structure? 

Ad groups exist within a campaign as per the hierarchical structure that all Google Ads accounts follow. That structure is shared below: 

1. At the top, you have your Google Ads account, which is associated with a unique email, password, and billing information.
2. Then you have campaigns that include their budget settings and also determine where your ads will appear. 
3. Underneath campaigns, you have ad groups. As discussed earlier, these include similar ads and keywords. 
4. And then there are ads and keywords that come under an ad group. 

This means that if you make any changes to your ad campaigns, those will also apply to your ad group. So, if you pause or remove a campaign, then your ad groups won’t run, respecting the Google Ads account hierarchy. 

How to Create Ad Groups in Google Ads? 

You can easily create ad groups in Google Ads by following this step-by-step process: 

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account. 
2. Click on the ‘Campaigns’ icon from the left-hand side menu. 

3. Click on ‘Ad groups.’
4. Then, click on the blue plus ‘+’ button. 

5. Select a campaign for which you are creating this ad group. 

6. Then select the ‘Ad group type’ from ‘Standard’ or ‘Dynamic.’ 
7. Then add your ‘Ad group’ name. 

8. Click on ‘Next.’ 
9. In the next step, you will have to add keywords and create your ads. 
10. When you finish this step, you can click on ‘Save and continue.’ 
11. The process will be complete, and your ad group will be created. 

Note: The process shared above for creating ad groups was for Search campaigns. For other campaign types, the flow can be a bit different. You can also create ad groups using the Google Ads API. Read this Google Developer page for more information.

How to Edit An Ad Group in Google Ads? 

To edit a Google Ads ad group: 

1. Go to ‘Campaigns’ from the left-hand side menu and then click on ‘Ad groups.’ 
2. You will see the list of all ad groups within your account. 

Note: You can also select a particular campaign from the top of the ‘Ad groups’ dashboard, and then you will only see ad groups belonging to that particular campaign.

3. Hover your cursor over any ad group. 
4. There, you will find a settings option with a ‘gear’ icon. Click on it. 

5. Then you can easily edit any particular setting of that ad group. This means you can: 

• Change the name of the ad group
• Adjust its bids 
• Enable Search term matching (beta feature) if you are also using AI Max in your campaign, etc. 

6. Once you make any updates, save the changes, and they will apply to that particular ad group. 

What is Ad Group Status and How to View it?

Ad group status shows whether your ad group is active or inactive. Checking the ad group status can help you understand if: 

1. Your ad group is eligible to run
2. Any ad in the ad group has any issues or is violating any Google policy 
3. Any ad is under review from Google’s side 
4. Different elements of the ad group (such as keywords or ads) have been set up properly or not. 
5. Your campaign has any type of issues 

The different ad group statuses that can appear in your Google Ads account include: 

1. Eligible 
2. Eligible (limited) 
3. Paused
4. Removed 
5. Pending
6. Incomplete 
7. Not Eligible 

How to View Ad Group Status in Google Ads? 

You can view an ad group’s status in Google Ads by following this process: 

1. Inside your Google Ads account, go to ‘Campaigns’ from the left-hand side menu. 
2. Click on ‘Ad groups.’
3. Against any ad group in your account, check for the ‘Status’ column. It will show whether your ad group is active, inactive, or has other issues. 

Note: Ad group status differs from that of an ad, campaign, and keyword status. But all three of them are interconnected and affect each other.

Best Practices for Setting up and Managing Ad Groups in Google Ads 

Let’s also go through some best practices for creating ad groups effectively in Google Ads: 

1. Name Ad Groups Wisely: Give ad groups clear, descriptive, and distinctive names that align with their themes. This will allow you to manage them easily, even when you scale. 

2. Thematic Keyword Grouping: Ensure that you organize your ad groups by narrow themes. This also means that the keywords that you add to a particular ad group should be related to its specified theme. 

Also, Google recommends adding at least one of your main ad group keywords in an ad’s headline. This will help users see your ad as more relevant when their search matches your keyword. And this will help Google’s systems to better deliver your ads. 

3. Create Three Ads In Every Group: Google also recommends creating at least three ads for each ad group, along with optimized ad rotation. This will enable its systems to determine which message resonates most with your potential customers, helping your campaign achieve the best results. 
4. Align Landing Pages with Ad Groups: Your landing page should align with the theme of your ad group. As a rule of thumb, try your level best to dedicate one landing page per ad group. And within that landing page, ensure that you use language and content that reflect the keywords and ads of that ad group. That will boost relevance and also the conversion likelihood. 
5. Add Audience Targeting to Ad Groups: You should also add audience segments to your ad groups so that your ads reach those users who match your ideal customer profile. 

Pro tip: Choose segments based on interests, behaviors, or past interactions to refine your targeting.

6. Maintain Ad Group Quality: Google also allows you to access essential performance metrics related to each ad group. Review them regularly (such as CTR, Impressions, etc.) to understand if your ad group is performing well or not. 

High-performance metrics will indicate that your keywords, ads, landing pages, etc., align well with each other. On the other hand, underperforming metrics will be a sign that your ad group(s) might need refinements such as adjusting ad copies, pruning irrelevant keywords, etc.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Ad groups are a core component of Google Ads and play a major role in how well your campaigns perform. When set up correctly, they improve relevance, targeting, and results across your entire account.

The key takeaways from this blog include:

• Ad groups contain ads and keywords that share similar targets. They allow you to better structure and manage your Google Ad campaigns.
• Ad groups exist within campaigns in the Google Ads account hierarchy. This means any changes that you make at your campaign level will reflect in your ad groups.  
• You can create and edit ad groups easily inside Google Ads. Just go to ‘Campaigns’ > ‘Ad Groups’ > Click on the blue ‘+’ button and create an ad group easily. The flow is simple, but the exact steps may change based on the campaign type you choose, so review the setup options before creating one.
• Ad group status helps you understand whether your ad groups are active or not. They help you check if there are any policy violations, missing elements (ads or keywords), or other concerns concerning your ad groups. 
• Whenever setting up or managing ad groups, ensure that you name them clearly and distinctively. Apart from that, create ad groups around narrow themes, and assign them one (as much as possible) landing page that aligns with that theme. If required, use audience and demographic targeting with your ad groups. 

Over to you! Good luck! 

FAQs

1. What is the use of ad groups in Google Ads?

Ad groups help you organize your ads and keywords into tightly themed sections. This improves relevance, allows you to control bidding better (for eligible campaign types), and helps Google match your ads to the right searches. 

2. How many ad groups can I create per campaign?

Google allows up to 20,000 ad groups per campaign.

But from a practical setup point of view, 5 to 10 well-structured ad groups are usually a good range for most campaigns. This keeps your campaign structure simple, easier to optimize, and also provides you with the flexibility to organize common products, services, or business objectives into separate groups. 

3. Do video campaigns have any special rules for ad groups?

Yes. In video campaigns, an ad group can include video ads only if they use the same format. 

Additionally, if you want to run both TrueView in stream and TrueView in display ads, you need to create two separate ad groups.

4. What is the role of ad groups in a Shopping campaign?

Ad groups in Google Shopping campaigns help you organize your products for bidding and reporting. They let you group products by themes like brand or category so you can set bids, add negative keywords, and review search terms more effectively.

5. Why does Google pause ad groups for low activity?

Google automatically pauses ad groups that haven’t received any impressions for over 13 months. This helps keep your account organized, easier to navigate, and focused on ad groups that still drive results. You can re-enable a paused ad group if you expect it to receive impressions soon.

6. What is a Single Keyword Ad Group (SKAG) in Google Ads?

A Single Keyword Ad Group (SKAG) is an ad group that contains just one keyword (often with different match types) and ads tailored very closely to that specific term. The goal behind creating SKAGs is to maintain precise control over relevance, bid settings, and the ad content shown for that keyword.

7. Are Single Keyword Ad Groups still useful today? 

SKAGs can still work in very specific, high-value cases, but they are often too time-consuming and granular for most accounts today. With Google’s evolving match types and automation, it’s usually better to create small, intent-based ad groups instead of building a separate ad group for every keyword.

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