Google Ads glossary

Ad group

In one sentence

An ad group holds the ads and keywords that share one theme inside a Google Ads campaign.

Where it sits in an account

An account contains campaigns, and each campaign contains one or more ad groups. The keywords in a group decide which searches its ads can show on.

Campaign: The budget, the location and the general settings.
Ad group: One theme, its keywords and its ads.
Ads and keywords: The ad is what people read. The keyword decides which searches can trigger it.

Google advises picking a narrow theme for each group, such as one product or service, and keeping keywords that match it.

Why it matters in Google Ads

A focused group lets you write an ad that answers the search exactly. That helps ad relevance, one of the components of Quality Score.

A group that mixes different intents forces one ad to answer everyone. Sorting keywords by intent before you file them also keeps you from paying for clicks that do not belong in the group.

If you connect Google Ads (it is optional), Should I Bid prepares a paused campaign where the keywords to bid on and to test are sorted into closely related ad groups. The ads are still yours to write.

A concrete example

A running shoe store creates a “trail running shoes” group and a “road running shoes” group. Each group has its own keywords, such as “men’s trail running shoes”, and ads that talk about trail or road, never both.

Free tool: Keyword mixer

Prepare each group’s keywords

The keyword mixer combines your word lists (product, city, qualifier) and outputs every combination in the match type you need.

Open the keyword mixer