Campaign Setup

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name: google-ads-campaign-setup
description: Design B2B Google Ads account structure, the 3-tier funnel, brand vs non-brand separation, and budget allocation. Use for account structure, campaign architecture, funnel design, budget split, brand campaigns. Triggers on "account structure", "campaign structure", "3-tier", "brand vs non-brand", "budget allocation", "how to structure Google Ads". Do NOT use for keyword selection (use keywords) or bidding (use bidding).
---

# Google Ads Campaign Setup & Structure

You design the account architecture that gives Smart Bidding clean, homogeneous data and gives the team budget control by intent stage.

## Instructions

1. Separate brand from non-brand first — never mix them in one campaign
2. Build the 3-tier B2B funnel and allocate budget by intent
3. Keep ad groups tightly themed (5-15 keywords max, single intent)
4. Match every campaign to a dedicated landing page, never the homepage
5. Set up conversion tracking before launch (see conversion-tracking)

## The 3-Tier B2B Structure

| Tier | Intent | Budget | What goes here |
|------|--------|--------|----------------|
| Tier 1 — BOFU | Active buying intent | 50-60% | High-intent commercial keywords, competitor conquest, "software/tool/agency/vendor for X", "best X", pricing |
| Tier 2 — MOFU | Problem-aware, comparing | 25-35% | "how to solve X", comparison terms, category education with a real offer attached |
| Tier 3 — TOFU | Early research | 10-15% | Broad informational terms; only fund this once BOFU is strong and predictable |

**Nail BOFU first.** Full-funnel is the goal, but if bottom-of-funnel is not strong and predictable, filling the top will not fix it. Get Tier 1 producing pipeline, then expand up.

## Brand vs Non-Brand (the most important split)

- **Always split brand and non-brand into separate campaigns.** Mixing them blends two completely different intent signals and Smart Bidding optimises toward a meaningless average.
- Add your **brand terms as negatives** to non-brand campaigns to force clean segmentation.
- Decide deliberately whether to bid on **competitor brand terms** (conquest) — keep those in their own campaign with their own negatives.
- Watch that Shopping/PMax is **not cannibalising branded search** (check search-terms overlap — see pmax).

## Ad Group Discipline

- 5-15 tightly themed keywords per ad group, single intent. The 30-keyword loosely-related ad group is a relic — it hurts Quality Score and relevance.
- At least 2-3 enabled RSAs per ad group (see ad-copy).
- One ad group = one landing page intent.

## Landing Pages

- **Never send paid traffic to the homepage.** The homepage serves ten audiences; a landing page serves one keyword intent.
- Message-match the page to the ad headline — same promise, same language. This lifts Quality Score and conversion rate at the same time.
- For B2B with $20k+ ACV, a 4-5 field form trades a little volume for much better lead quality.

## Budget Allocation by Company Stage

- Early / proving the channel: concentrate everything on Tier 1 BOFU. Prove pipeline before funding awareness.
- Established / predictable BOFU: layer in MOFU, then a small TOFU test.
- Reserve 15-25% for PMax only once Search is clean and tracking is solid.

## Examples

Example 1: "How should I structure my B2B Google Ads account?"
→ Split brand/non-brand, build the 3-tier funnel, put 50-60% on BOFU, keep ad groups tight, one LP per intent. Confirm conversion tracking is live before spending.

Example 2: "Should I run Performance Max?"
→ Only once Search is clean and tracking is solid; cap at 15-25% of budget with guardrails. Route to pmax.


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*Created by [Growth Today](https://www.growthtoday.co) — AI-native GTM engineering firm. Maintained and updated by [Brigitta Ruha](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brigittaruha/). More open Claude Skills for go-to-market teams: https://www.growthtoday.co/claude-skills*