BEST Google Ads Campaign Structure in 2026 (REAL Case Study)

Summary

The video presents a framework for structuring Google Ads accounts around business goals, budget, product economics, and conversion volume. Its core recommendation is to build a strong, conversion-focused foundation before investing in campaigns higher up the marketing funnel.

Campaign Structure Framework

Match campaigns to the marketing funnel

• Bottom of funnel (conversion): Search, Performance Max, Shopping, brand campaigns, and retargeting. These campaigns capture existing demand.
• Middle of funnel (consideration): Demand Gen and Display campaigns aimed at higher-intent audiences across YouTube, Display, Discover, and Gmail.
• Top of funnel (awareness): Broader Demand Gen and video campaigns that educate audiences about the brand and its products.

Match investment to business maturity

• New advertisers and small-to-medium businesses should generally prioritize bottom-of-funnel campaigns.
• Larger-budget advertisers and mature brands can expand into mid-funnel campaigns; enterprise businesses may also invest in awareness.
• Avoid generating demand before the business can effectively convert existing demand.

Choose the number of campaigns

Base campaign structure on four factors:

1. Product or service catalog: More diverse offerings may require more campaigns.
2. Conversion volume: Low volume favors consolidation, because campaigns need sufficient data for automated bidding.
3. Margins and unit economics: Consider separating products or services with materially different margins, price points, or bidding targets.
4. Business goals: Different goals may require distinct campaign types and bidding strategies.

Brand and Non-Brand Separation

• A dedicated brand Search campaign is recommended for most accounts, except when competitors do not bid on the brand and it ranks first organically.
• A brand Performance Max campaign is optional and should be tested based on the account.
• Exclude branded searches from non-brand campaigns using negative keywords in Search and brand exclusions in Performance Max. This keeps performance and reporting distinct.

Consolidation Case Study

Two Performance Max campaigns were each generating about 15 conversions per month and promoted products with similar margins and price points. The agency paused them and launched one campaign combining their asset groups.

The new campaign started with Maximize conversion value for about three weeks, then switched to target ROAS. After the switch, conversion value and conversion value-to-cost improved significantly. Spend initially fell, then began to recover.

The consolidated campaign reached about 40 conversions in the last 30 days, giving automated bidding more data to optimize. The example supports consolidating campaigns when conversion data is limited and the products have similar economics.

When to Segment

If a campaign already has well over 30 conversions per month, inspect its ad groups for those with:

• High conversion value-to-cost compared with other ad groups
• Low Search impression share

These ad groups may be candidates for their own budget and bidding target so they can scale independently.

Ad Groups and Asset Groups

Search ad groups

• Organize ad groups around search themes.
• With a small budget, begin with roughly 5–10 of the most important and profitable themes. Expand as budget and results justify it.
• Keep each ad group focused on a theme. As an agency-tested practice, use one landing page per ad group.
• Start with relevant, high-intent keywords that have adequate search volume and affordable CPC, then refine over time.
• Generally, use one responsive search ad per ad group on smaller budgets. Add a second when running a specific ad-level test.

Performance Max asset groups

• Organize asset groups around product or service categories, or search themes. Pair relevant products, creative, landing pages, and audience signals.
• Avoid splitting asset groups solely by audience. Audience signals are not strict targeting, and Google may expand beyond them. Multiple relevant audience signals can be used in one asset group.

Retargeting

• A typical setup combines Demand Gen retargeting and Display retargeting, since Demand Gen may not spend sufficiently on Display placements by itself.
• Website visitors are usually the most valuable retargeting audience. Video viewers and other engagers can also be included.
• A simple setup can use one ad group for all website visitors. With sufficient traffic and data, segment audiences by the site sections or product categories they viewed, then tailor ads and landing pages accordingly.
• Each audience needs at least 100 active visitors to begin serving. Avoid creating separate ad groups for low-traffic pages that cannot meet this threshold.

Mid- and Top-Funnel Execution

• Group campaigns by campaign type, goal, and bidding strategy. At the ad-group level, align audiences or customer personas with relevant content and landing pages.
• Start with the most important product categories and valuable customer personas. Expand after finding effective creative and securing the budget.
• For non-retargeting Demand Gen, the presenter cites Google’s recommendation to aim for at least $100 per ad group per day.
• Higher-funnel campaigns depend heavily on strong creative, especially visuals, storytelling, and emotional relevance. Account for creative production costs.

Key Metrics and Thresholds

• 15–30 conversions per campaign per month: The stated minimum range for Smart Bidding to optimize effectively; more is preferable.
• About 40 conversions in the last 30 days: Achieved by the consolidated Performance Max campaign in the case study.
• At least $100 per day per non-retargeting Demand Gen ad group: The presenter’s cited Google recommendation.
• At least 100 active visitors per retargeting audience: Required for the audience to start serving.
• 5–10 Search themes: Suggested starting range for small-budget accounts.

Presenter and Source

Max, of Google Ads Nerd, who says he works at performance marketing agency ROImonks.