Have you ever taken over a paid search account and thought, “What were they thinking?” Make sure you don’t make those mistakes! Account structure is an important but often overlooked part of paid search success. At Hero Conf London, Sean Murphy showed us the most impactful changes you can make to your account structure to drive paid search performance.

1. Title
Subtitle
Body text
Four Principals for
Better Account Structure
Sean Murphy
Senior Associate Paid Media

2. Sean Murphy
Paid Media Senior Associate, Red Ventures
Industry Experience: Education,
Telecommunications, Satellite Internet,
Satellite TV, Home Security
Fun Fact: Father of 3. Abundance of dad
jokes and diapers.

3. Where I’m From
Performance marketing agency based
in the United States that combines
deep brand partnerships with
proprietary strategic assets.
Primary Verticals:

4. Learn the principals behind solid account structure.
See case studies of the principal in action.
Get tactical tips on how to implement the principals on your account.
Learner Outcomes
1
2
3

5. Account Structure
[ə-kount strək-chər] (noun)
The decisions made in dividing searches,
searchers, and settings into a usable PPC account.

6. The 3 S’s
Searches
Search Queries
Keywords
Ads
Searchers
Audiences
Geographies
Languages
Settings
Search Network
Negative Lists
Ad Scheduling

7. 4 Principals For Better Account Structure
Don’t Work Too Hard

8. Campaign or
Ad Group
Ease of Management
Campaign
Segmentation
Match Type Baseline KPIs
Ad ScheduleLocation Targets Languages
Client Reporting Devices
Ad Serving

9. Ease of Management
Symbiotic Relationship
Account
Structure
Routine
Account
Tasks
Appropriate Budgets
Campaign Settings Check
No Stale Ad Tests
URL Tracking Correct
Account Structure Check
Negative Keyword Audit
Campaign Names Correct

10. Ease of Management
Tactical Tips (Go Home and Do This)
1. Standardize your campaign and ad group names.
2. Split your campaigns by match type and start using negative keyword lists.
3. Split out your client’s VIP keywords into their own campaigns for better
reporting.

11. 4 Principals For Better Account Structure
Don’t Work Too Hard Don’t Paint Everything Brown

14. Don’t Paint Everything Brown

15. Query Mapping
[ˈkwir-ē map-ing] (noun)
The process of ensuring search terms match
to the most optimal keywords in your account

16. Something I know well…

17. +Diapers [Baby Diaper Deals]
Intent
Bid
Ad Copy
Low
$1.00
Generic
High
$2.40
Specialized

18. +Diapers
Low Bid,
Low Position
Generic
Headline
Minimal
Keyword
Matching

19. [Baby Diaper Deals]
Keyword in
Headline High Bid,
High Position
Keyword in
URL

20. +Diapers [Baby Diaper Deals]
CTR
Position
Quality
Score
4%
2.6
6
24%
1.1
10
+Diapers [Baby Diaper Deals]

21. Query Mapping
Ad Relevance
Primary KPIs: CPC, CTR
Improving consistency of ad relevance
will drive up CTR, improving quality score
and causing CPCs to fall.
Conversion Rates
Primary KPIs: ROAS, Profit
Better grouping search queries around
conversion rates will improve bidding
decisions and help eliminate wasted spend.
Ideal query mapping decisions
enhance both metrics.

22. Query Mapping
Tactical Tips (Go Home and Do This)
1. Identify problematic mapping (Same search term multiple keywords)
2. Check CTR and conversion rate to find best mapping area
3. Apply negative keywords to the ad groups that were mismatched
4. Optimize bids on both keywords

23. Query Mapping
Results
-
5,000
10,000
15,000
80%
85%
90%
95%
100%
January February March April
Query Mapping Mistakes
Query Mapping Mistakes % of Profitable Ad Groups
-10%
CPCs

24. 4 Principals For Better Account Structure
Don’t Work Too Hard Don’t Paint Everything Brown Data (Density) is King

25. Data Density
[dā-tə den-sə-tē] (noun)
The amount of impressions, clicks, and
conversions (collectively, ‘data’) coming
through your keywords and ad groups.

26. Keywords:

27. [internet deals for
senior citizens]
Impressions
Clicks
Orders
55
16
1

28. Keywords:

29. Group keywords based on intent to make faster, more accurate decisions.
[internet deals for
senior citizens]
+internet +deals
Impressions
Clicks
Orders
55
16
1
8,100
1701
110

30. Utility Account Restructure
Electricity Specials
Electric Specials
Electricity Specials Near Me
Electricity Special Offers
Electric Special Plans
……………………..
6,000
Keywords

31. Utility Account Restructure
+Electric +Specials
+Electric +Companies
+Electric +Service
+Electric +Rates
+Electric +Providers
+Electric
24
Keywords

32. Utility Account Restructure
75
Location Targets

33. Utility Account Restructure
1
Location Target
75
Geo Bid Modifiers

34. Utility Account Restructure
+20%
Leads
- 450K
Ad Groups
- 30%
CPA

38. Data Density
Tactical Tips (Go Home and Do This)
1. Find all your low search volume keywords and roll them up.
2. Look for keywords that get <30 conversions per month and ask if they can
be rolled up to a higher volume keyword.
3. Ensure that your negative lists are updated to match your new structure.

39. 4 Principals For Better Account Structure
Don’t Work Too Hard Don’t Paint Everything Brown Data (Density) is King Segment Meaningfully

40. Internet Deals In
New York!
Internet Deals In
London!Internet Deals In
{City}!
Internet Deals In
{City}!
Geo-Modified Ad Copy Case Study

41. Geo Modified Testing Plan
Does the geo ad
improve performance?
Do Google geo
customizers perform
similarly?
Use BMM ad group w/
geo customizer ad.
Keep broken out into
separate ad groups
Roll out general ad

42. As expected, using geo-specific
ad copy drives massive results.
Metric Delta
Impressions +44%
CTR +45%
Clicks +69%
Conversions +75%

43. Geo Modified Testing Plan
Does the geo ad
improve performance?
Do Google geo
customizers perform
similarly?
Use BMM ad group w/
geo customizer ad.
Keep broken out into
separate ad groups
Roll out general ad

44. Using Google geo ad customizers
lead to flat clicks and orders with
a simpler setup.
Metric Delta
Impressions -4%
CTR +8%
Clicks +4%
Conversions +3%

45. Geo Modified Testing Plan
Does the geo ad
improve performance?
Do Google geo
customizers perform
similarly?
Use BMM ad group w/
geo customizer ad.
Keep broken out into
separate ad groups
Roll out general ad

46. So What’s The Balance?

47. Opportunity
Top
Performers
Overhead
Tail
Keywords
Account Balance
Split these important
keywords into separate ad
groups or even campaigns.
Split these out as you have
capacity to treat them differently.
Roll these up to the most similar
broad match keyword and move on.
Difference
Size
Figure out what the right
special treatment for these is.
Optimize!

48. Segment Meaningfully
Tactical Tips (Go Home and Ask This)
1. Does it perform differently?
2. Is it big enough to be treated differently?

49. Final Takeaways
Make your routine account
maintenance easier.
Match search queries
to the right campaigns.
Roll up overhead
keywords
Split out keywords that
act differently

50. Questions?

51. Appendix
More Tactical Tips

52. Ease of Management
Tactical Tips: Segmentation
1. Standardize your campaign and ad group names
A. Use pipes || for easy text-to-columns in Excel
B. Use abbreviations like ^M for Mobile and #B for Brand
C. “z.” campaigns you won’t be using again.
2. Separate campaigns by match type and make campaign negative lists.

53. Ease of Management
Tactical Tips: Negative Lists Everyone Should Have
List Negative From
Irrelevant Terms (Employment Terms, Celebrity Terms,
Returning Customer Terms)
All Phrase & Broad
Competitor Terms Non-Competitor Generic
Client Restrictions All Campaigns
Brand Head Terms All Non-Brand
Exact Match Keywords (+Close Variants) All Phrase & Broad
Phrase Match Keywords (+Close Variants) All Broad
More Specific Broad Match Keywords Broad Match Head Terms

54. 1. Use the Search term report to identify problematic mapping. (Same search term
multiple keywords.)
2. Check CTR and conversion rate to find best mapping area.
3. Apply negative keywords to the ad groups that were mismatched.
4. Optimize bids on both keywords that will see a mix shift in volume.
Query Mapping
Tactical Tips: Solving Query Mapping Problems

55. Data Density
Tactical Tips: Rolling Up Low Volume
1. Find small exact match keywords with similar intent and group them together
using broad match modified keywords.
2. Remove segmentation you aren’t using meaningfully (like geo). Replace with
aggregated audience or geo bid modifiers.
(https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2732132?hl=en)
3. Use ad customizers to tailor your ads to particular people.
(https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2375447?hl=en)
4. Use dynamic ValueTrack parameters to track down-funnel performance of
those segments. (https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2375447?hl=en)

56. 1. Top Performers: These are special keywords that should be given special
treatment. Split them into their own ad groups or even campaigns
2. Tail Keywords: Split them out as you have capacity to treat them
differently. These keywords perform differently and should be treated
appropriately, but will never be as crucial to your success as the TP
bucket.
3. Overhead: This is a waste of space, roll this up to the most similar broad
match keyword and move on.
4. Opportunity: These keywords are large enough that the right special
treatment would do them good. Figure out what that is and do it. Optimize!
Segment Meaningfully
Tactical Tips: