George Michie advocates using ad groups when managing content network campaigns, but when it comes to plain old paid search, he says that running huge campaigns using ad groups may actually be a
barrier to success.
One keyword can have multiple attributes, from customer targets, to SKUs, to holiday usage--and forcing it into an ad group based on one particular category can limit its
flexibility. This is why the search team at The Rimm-Kaufman Group places keywords into ad groups only if they share all of the same attributes, not just one or two, as the PPC management platforms
would suggest.
Michie says that the client drawbacks to this method are minor. Yes, clients may get reports directly from the engines saying that they're "not using ad groups
correctly," and at times, it may be difficult to for them to find specific keywords or phrases within the accounts. But the benefits of making swift copy changes across multiple campaigns (without
having to break up and recombine ad groups) as well as not constraining bidding according to predetermined, sometimes arbitrary, groupings outweigh the cons tenfold. Besides, with full service
campaign management, clients are welcome to dig into any of the accounts they'd like--but they shouldn't need to.
Read the whole story at Rimm-Kaufman Blog »