Create an ad group

Starting March 2022, Yahoo! Gemini engine accounts within Search Ads 360 will be migrated to engine track accounts. Learn more.

An ad group contains ads and keywords that relate to each other. Learn more about ad groups and manual campaigns.

Before you can create an ad group, you need to create a campaign.

Create an ad group

1. Navigate to a campaign.

   Steps for navigating to a campaign

   1. In the left navigation panel, click All accounts.
      What if the left navigation pane isn't visible?

   2. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   3. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   4. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser that contains the engine account.

   5. In the "Account" list, click on the engine account that contains the campaign.

   6. In the "Campaign" list, click on the campaign.

   7. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the campaign page.

2. Click the Ad groups tab if it isn't already selected.

3. Click + Ad group, which appears above the reporting table.

   If you are creating an ad group in a Google Ads campaign that is enabled for dynamic search ads, you will see a New ▼ button, instead of a + Ad group button. 

   Click New ▼, and then select Standard ad group or select Dynamic ad group.

   Learn more about Google Ads dynamic ad groups.

4. In the ad group editor, enter the ad group's name.

5. Enter ad group settings as described below.

   • Google Ads settings
   • Microsoft Advertising settings
   • Yahoo! Japan settings
   • Baidu settings
   • Yahoo! Gemini settings

6. Click Save.

   Search Ads 360 creates the ad group and traffics it to the engine.

 

Google Ads ad group settings

Ad group

Default CPC

The default bid for all keywords in the ad group. This bid is the highest you're willing to pay per click for keywords. Each keyword can override this default by specifying its own maximum CPC.

Ad rotation

Specify one of the following options:

• Optimize: Optimizes your ads for each individual auction using signals like keyword, search term, device, location, and more. Powered by Google’s machine learning technology, the "Optimize" setting prioritizes ads that are expected to perform better than other ads within an ad group. 

• Rotate indefinitely: Delivers your ads more evenly into the ad auction, but does so for an indefinite amount of time and does not optimize. Because this option allows lower-performing ads to run as often as higher-performing ads for an indefinite period of time, this option is not recommended for most advertisers.

Learn more about Google Ads ad rotation settings. 

Google Ads ignores this setting if a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy is in effect for this ad group (either by inheriting the bid strategy from the campaign or by applying it directly to this ad group). Instead, Google Ads always optimizes ad rotation to help achieve the conversion goals specified in the bid strategy.

Bidding strategy

Bidding strategy

In Search Ads 360, you can apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy or Google Ads portfolio bid strategy to an ad group to let the bid strategy automatically adjust the ad group's keyword bids. Or, you can manually set bids instead of using a bid strategy.

By default, a bid strategy is inherited by an ad group's keywords unless a keyword is managed by a different bid strategy. You can override an ad group's bid strategy by applying a different bid strategy to a keyword. You can also change or remove campaigns, ad groups, and keywords from bid strategies at any time.

To apply a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy in Search Ads 360, you are required to first create the portfolio bid strategy in Goolge Ads and then run a sync in Search Ads 360.

 

Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings: 

• Manual bidding: By default, keywords in the ad group will not be managed by a Search Ads 360 bid strategy, even if a Search Ads 360 bid strategy has been applied to the campaign that contains the ad group.
• Manual bidding (inherited): By default, all keywords in the ad group inherit the campaign’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy: By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy you select, regardless of any Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings for the campaign.
  Search Ads 360 bid strategies that maximize conversions or revenue (Smart Bidding strategies), can also set or recommend device bid adjustments, remarketing target bid adjustments, and location target bid adjustments.

Google Ads portfolio bid strategy settings:

• No bid strategy (manual bidding): By default, keywords in the ad group will not be managed by a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy, even if a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy has been applied to the campaign that contains the ad group.
• No bid strategy (inherited): By default, all keywords in the ad group inherit the campaign's Google Ads portfolio bid strategy.
• A specific Google Ads portfolio bid strategy: By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the specific Google Ads portfolio bid strategy you select, regardless of any Google Ads portfolio bid strategy settings for the campaign.

Avoid bid strategy conflicts

You can only create Search Ads 360 bid strategies in Search Ads 360. You can only create a Google Ads portfolio bid strategies in Google Ads. You can apply Search Ads 360 bid strategies and Google Ads portfolio bid strategies in Search Ads 360. For best results, don't apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy and a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy to the same campaign, ad group, or keyword because you will get unpredictable results.

Even though Search Ads 360 detects whether a Search Ads 360 bid strategy or a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy is already applied to an item and displays a warning message, Search Ads 360 doesn't prevent you from applying the bid strategy.

 

Ad groups and keywords can inherit a Search Ads 360 bid strategy and a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy

As mentioned earlier, inheritance applies to bid strategies from the same source (Search Ads 360 or Google Ads). That is, a Search Ads 360 bid strategy applied to an ad group overrides the Search Ads 360 bid strategy applied to the ad group's campaign. The same is true for a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy.

A Google Ads portfolio bid strategy doesn't override a Search Ads 360 bid strategy.

A Search Ads 360 bid strategy doesn't override a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy.  

 

Example

If you apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy to a campaign, the campaign's ad group will inherit the Search Ads 360 bid strategy, even if you apply a Google Ads portfolio bid strategy to the same ad group. Both the Search Ads 360 bid strategy and the Google Ads portfolio bid strategy will be trying to manage the ad group's keywords.

 

Targeting

Mobile bid adjustment

You can set a mobile bid adjustment in Search Ads 360 at the ad group level in Google Ads campaigns. This is useful if you have large campaigns and find that your optimal bids for some keywords would require much different mobile bid adjustments within a campaign. 

Mobile bid adjustments that you set at the ad group level will override mobile bid adjustments at the campaign level except when the campaign level bid adjustments are set to -100%.

In the Mobile bid adjustment list, select:

• No bid adjustment for this device: Uses the keyword bid.
• Increase by: Increase bids on mobile devices by up to 900%.
• Decrease by: Decrease bids on mobile devices by up to 90%. Decreasing by 100% will disable mobile bids for the ad group.
• Use campaign bid adjustment (default): Uses the bid adjustment specified in the campaign's settings.

Tablet bid adjustment

Specify a different bid adjustment to target tablet devices.

In the Tablet bid adjustment list, select:

• No bid adjustment for this device : Uses the keyword bid.
• Increase by: Increase bids on tablet devices by up to 900%.
• Decrease by: Decrease bids on tablet devices by up to 90%. Decreasing by 100% will disable tablet bids for the ad group.
• Use campaign bid adjustment (default): Uses the bid adjustment specified in the campaign's settings.

Desktop bid adjustment

Specify a different bid adjustment to target desktop devices.

In the Desktop bid adjustment list, select:

• No bid adjustment for this device : Uses the keyword bid.
• Increase by: Increase bids on desktop devices by up to 900%.
• Decrease by: Decrease bids on desktop devices by up to 90%. Decreasing by 100% will disable desktop bids for the ad group.
• Use campaign bid adjustment (default): Uses the bid adjustment specified in the campaign's settings.

If you apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy that maximize conversions or revenue (Smart Bidding strategy) to a campaign or ad group, the bid strategy can automatically set or recommend device bid adjustments for you.

Remarketing

Because people who have visited your site are more likely to buy, you can create remarketing lists in Google Ads and then apply them to ad groups in Search Ads 360. Google Ads remarketing lists help you target list members by adjusting keywords bids or adjusting bids and displaying ads with a different message.

Remarketing lists can also be used to exclude members from advertising.

Use the remarketing options to indicate your list targeting preference for the ad group. Note that the setting can be inherited from the campaign.

If you have synced Google Ads remarketing lists in Search Ads 360, choose one of the following options:

• Use bid adjustment only (default). You can set a bid adjustment percentage to increase or decrease bids to target that audience. The same ads display for everyone, but you might bid more or less to display the ads for list members.
• Use for targeting and bid adjustment. When you apply a remarketing list to an ad group, you can set a bid adjustment percentage to increase or decrease bids to target that audience and display a different set of ads for the audience members. The ads in the ad group are displayed only for the members of the remarketing list.

Learn more about setting up Google Ads remarketing targets in Search Ads 360.

URL options

URL template

An ad-group level URL template applies a third-party tracking URL or a set of URL parameters to landing page URLs for all ads, keywords, and other clickable items in the ad group.

The template you define here will override any template defined for the engine account or campaign. Likewise, individual ads, keywords, and other items in the ad group can override this template by defining their own template.

In accounts that use parallel tracking, URL parameters that appear in this field may not be sent to the landing page, depending on how you define them. The recommended practice for these accounts is use the Final URL Suffix to specify URL parameters that your landing pages require.

Learn more about URL templates.

Custom parameters (optional)

Defines parameters and values you can add to the URL template for the ad group or any of its ads, keywords, dynamic targets, or product groups. You can also add these parameters directly to the landing page URLs in any of the ad group's ads or keywords. If custom parameters defined for the campaign use the same name as the ones you define here, the parameter values here override the values specified for the campaign.

 

Microsoft Advertising ad group settings

Ad group

Search bid and Content match bid

In a Microsoft Advertising ad group, you can specify two default maximum bids:

• Search bid: The maximum cost-per-click for keywords in the ad group that are targeted to the search network (that is, keywords with a broad, phrase or exact match type).

• Content match bid: The maximum cost-per-click set for keywords in the ad group that with the content match type.

Each keyword can override this default by specifying its own maximum CPC.

Start and end dates

The start date is the date when the campaign begins running. If you specify a date in the future, you can edit the start date any time before that date.

You control how long your Microsoft Advertising campaign runs by setting an end date. The ad group will run through the date that you select.

Ad rotation

If you create more than one ad in a Microsoft Advertising ad group, Microsoft Advertising can either rotate through the ads evenly or predominantly show ads that have the highest click-through rate (CTR). Click one of the following rotation options:

• Optimize: Shows better-performing ads more frequently.

• Rotate: Shows all ads the same amount regardless of their performance, and does so for an indefinite amount of time without ever optimizing.

If you haven't synced the ad group recently, Search Ads 360 doesn't know which setting is in effect. Neither of the ad rotation options is selected. You can see which setting is in effect by signing in to Microsoft Advertising or by syncing the ad group.

Bidding strategy

Bidding strategy

Apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy to the ad group to override the campaign's bid strategy setting.

By default, keywords in an ad group inherit the ad group’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings. You can override an ad group's bid strategy by applying a different Search Ads 360 bid strategy to a keyword. You can also change or remove campaigns, ad groups, and keywords from bid strategies at any time.

Search Ads 360 ad group bid strategy settings: 

• Manual bidding: By default, keywords in the ad group will not be managed by a Search Ads 360 bid strategy, even if a Search Ads 360 bid strategy has been applied to the campaign that contains the ad group.
• Manual bidding (inherited): By default, all keywords in the ad group inherit the campaign’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy: By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy you select, regardless of any Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings for the campaign.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy (inherited):  By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the campaign's bid strategy.

 

Language

Language

Select the language you'll use to write the ads for the ad group. For example, if you select English, your ads will need to be written in English. Once you create the ad group, you cannot change its language.

Targeting

Locations and bid adjustments

Targeting enables you select a more specific audience for your advertising. By default, ad groups inherit all targeting settings from the campaign. Microsoft Advertising ad groups can override some or all of a campaign’s targeting settings and specify their own targeting. For example, if a campaign advertises to the fans of a specific sports team, you can create separate ad groups that target fans in specific locations or on specific devices.

While Microsoft Advertising ad groups can override any targeting setting from the campaign, in Search Ads 360 you can only customize the following targeting settings:

If you're using a bulksheet to create an ad group, the syntax for specifying targeting is slightly different.

Locations 

Target ads in an ad group to appear only in specific countries, metro areas, or other regions that are identified by Microsoft Advertising geographic codes. 

You can use geo codes to specify an entire country, specific region within a country (such as a province or state), metro area, or city.

Download the list of geo codes: XLSX / CSV: Microsoft Advertising

Specify location targets in a new ad group

1. Enter a geo code in the Search box.

   You can use geo codes to specify an entire country, specific regions within a country (such as a province or state), city, or US metro area. You can also target specific postal codes in the US, UK, or Germany.

2. Hover on the location and then click Include or Exclude.

3. Optional. For each included location target,  increase or decrease the bid adjustment to target ads.

   To increase the bid for a location, specify a number (which is the bid adjustment percentage), from 0 to 900. A value of 0 makes no adjustment to the default bid.

   To decrease the bid for a location, enter a number from 0 to 90. Do not include a minus sign to decrease the bid adjustment.

4. Click Save.

 

Specify location targets in an existing ad group

1. In a Microsoft Advertising ad group, click the Targets ▼ tab, and then click Location targets.
2. Click the Ad group location targets tab.
3. Click + Geo location target.
4. Enter a geo code in the Search box.

   You can use geo codes to specify an entire country, specific regions within a country (such as a province or state), city, or US metro area. You can also target specific postal codes in the US, UK, or Germany.

5. Hover on the location and then click Include or Exclude.

6. Optional. For each included location target,  increase or decrease the bid adjustment to target ads.

   To increase the bid for a location, specify a number (which is the bid adjustment percentage), from 0 to 900. A value of 0 makes no adjustment to the default bid.

   To decrease the bid for a location, enter a number from 0 to 90. Do not include a minus sign to decrease the bid adjustment.

7. Click Save.

Notes

• While Microsoft Advertising supports radius targeting, you cannot add or modify radius targeting from Search Ads 360. If you create or edit a campaign from Microsoft Advertising, specify radius targeting in Microsoft Advertising, and sync with Search Ads 360, the radius targets aren't shown in Search Ads 360.

Devices

All Microsoft Advertising campaigns and ad groups target all device types. Similar to Google Ads, the default bid you enter applies to desktop computers, mobile, and tablet devices unless you enter bid adjustments for the devices. This allows you to increase or decrease every bid in your campaign or ad group to bid more or less competitively for searches occurring on the devices.

By default, Microsoft Advertising ad groups inherit device bid adjustments from the campaign (Inherit from campaign setting). You can use the following options to set a different device target in an ad group.

Device	Bid adjustment percent range
Mobile device	-100% to 900%
Tablet	-100% to 900%
Desktop	-100% to 900%

 

 

Set a device bid adjustment

1. Under Devices, click the arrow ▼ next to Inherit from campaign and click Customize for this ad group.

2. In the Mobile, Tablet, or Desktop bid adjustment list select:

   • No bid adjustment for this device (default). Uses the same bid as the keyword to target the device.

   • Decrease by: Decrease bids by up to 100% which will disable bids on the device.

   • Increase by: Increase bids by up to 900%.

     

      

Other options for setting bid adjustments

• You can use a bulksheet to simultaneously set or edit device bid adjustments in multiple Microsoft Advertising ad groups. The Search Ads 360 user interface also enables you to set bid adjustments in more than one ad group at a time.
• Apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy that maximizes conversions or revenue (Smart Bidding strategy) to a campaign or ad group and the bid strategy can automatically set or recommend device bid adjustments for you.

Other Microsoft Advertising targeting settings

Set other targeting settings in Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft Advertising supports additional targeting settings for ad groups, such as time-based targeting and gender targeting. After you create a Microsoft Advertising ad group in Search Ads 360, you can go to Microsoft Advertising and set these targeting settings.

Caution: If you set these additional targeting settings in Microsoft Advertising, and then later change any targeting setting for the ad group from Search Ads 360, Search Ads 360 will traffic all of the ad group’s current targeting settings to Microsoft Advertising. This could have some unintended consequences. Learn more about editing Microsoft Advertising campaigns or ad groups.

URL template

URL template

An ad-group level URL template applies a third-party tracking URL or a set of URL parameters to landing page URLs for all ads, keywords, and other clickable items in the ad group.

The template you define here will override any template defined for the engine account or campaign. Likewise, individual ads, keywords, and other items in the ad group can override this template by defining their own template.

In accounts that use parallel tracking, URL parameters that appear in this field may not be sent to the landing page, depending on how you define them. The recommended practice for these accounts is use the Final URL Suffix to specify URL parameters that your landing pages require.

Learn more about URL templates.

 

Yahoo! Japan ad group settings

Ad group

Default Search CPC

Specifies the default maximum bid for the keywords in this ad group. Each keyword can override this default by specifying its own maximum CPC.

Ad rotation

Specify one of the following options:

• Optimize: Optimizes your ads for each individual auction using signals like keyword, search term, device, location, and more. Powered by Google’s machine learning technology, the "Optimize" setting prioritizes ads that are expected to perform better than other ads within an ad group. 
• Rotate indefinitely: Delivers your ads more evenly into the ad auction, but does so for an indefinite amount of time and does not optimize. Because this option allows lower-performing ads to run as often as higher-performing ads for an indefinite period of time, this option is not recommended for most advertisers.
   

Bidding strategy

Bidding strategy

Apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy to the ad group to override the campaign's bid strategy setting.

By default, keywords in an ad group inherit the ad group’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings. You can override an ad group's bid strategy by applying a different Search Ads 360 bid strategy to a keyword. You can also change or remove campaigns, ad groups, and keywords from bid strategies at any time.

Search Ads 360 ad group bid strategy settings: 

• Manual bidding: By default, keywords in the ad group will not be managed by a Search Ads 360 bid strategy, even if a Search Ads 360 bid strategy has been applied to the campaign that contains the ad group.
• Manual bidding (inherited): By default, all keywords in the ad group inherit the campaign’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy: By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy you select, regardless of any Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings for the campaign.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy (inherited):  By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the campaign's bid strategy.

 

Targeting

Mobile bid adjustment

You can set a mobile bid adjustment in Search Ads 360 at the ad group level for Yahoo! Japan campaigns. This is useful if you have large campaigns and find that your optimal bids for some keywords would require much different mobile bid adjustments within a campaign.

Mobile bid adjustments that you set at the ad group level will override mobile bid adjustments at the campaign level.

You can set ad group mobile adjustments in the Search Ads 360 UI or by upload.

In the Search Ads 360 UI:

• In the Mobile bid adjustment dropdown, the default is to use the campaign mobile bid adjustment. You can choose to:

  • Decrease by: Decrease bids on mobile devices by up to 100% (excluding 91% to 99%).

  • Increase by: Increase bids on mobile devices by up to 300%.

  • No bid adjustment for this device: Use same bid for desktop and mobile.

By upload:

1. Download an editable report that contains the ad groups you want to update.

2. Update the Mobile Bid Adjustment % column.

3. Upload it back into Search Ads 360.

    

If you apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy that maximize conversions or revenue (Smart Bidding strategy) to a campaign or ad group, the bid strategy can automatically set or recommend device bid adjustments for you.

URL template

URL template

An ad-group level URL template applies a third-party tracking URL or a set of URL parameters to landing page URLs for all ads, keywords, and other clickable items in the ad group.

The template you define here will override any template defined for the engine account or campaign. Likewise, individual ads, keywords, and other items in the ad group can override this template by defining their own template.

In accounts that use parallel tracking, URL parameters that appear in this field may not be sent to the landing page, depending on how you define them. The recommended practice for these accounts is use the Final URL Suffix to specify URL parameters that your landing pages require.

Learn more about URL templates.

 

Baidu ad group settings

Name

Enter a name to identify the ad group.
Ad group names are case-sensitive in Search Ads 360.

For Baidu ad groups, the name can be up to 30 characters long.

Default Search CPC

Specifies the default maximum bid for the keywords in this ad group. Each keyword can override this default by specifying its own maximum CPC.

Maximum ad groups per campaign

Each Baidu campaign can contain up to 100 ad groups.

Bidding strategy

Bid strategy

Apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy to the ad group to override the campaign's bid strategy setting.

By default, keywords in an ad group inherit the ad group’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings. You can override an ad group's bid strategy by applying a different Search Ads 360 bid strategy to a keyword. You can also change or remove campaigns, ad groups, and keywords from bid strategies at any time.

Search Ads 360 ad group bid strategy settings: 

• Manual bidding: By default, keywords in the ad group will not be managed by a Search Ads 360 bid strategy, even if a Search Ads 360 bid strategy has been applied to the campaign that contains the ad group.
• Manual bidding (inherited): By default, all keywords in the ad group inherit the campaign’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy: By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy you select, regardless of any Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings for the campaign.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy (inherited):  By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the campaign's bid strategy.

 

 

Yahoo! Gemini ad group settings

Ad group

Search bid price (Search max CPC)

Specifies the default maximum bid for the keywords in this ad group to display ads on the Yahoo! Gemini search network. Each keyword can override this default bid by specifying its own maximum CPC.

Native bid price (Native max CPC)

Specifies the maximum bid for keywords in this ad group to display ads on the Yahoo! Gemini native network.

Bidding strategy

Bid strategy

Apply a Search Ads 360 bid strategy to the ad group to override the campaign's bid strategy setting.

By default, keywords in an ad group inherit the ad group’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings. You can override an ad group's bid strategy by applying a different Search Ads 360 bid strategy to a keyword. You can also change or remove campaigns, ad groups, and keywords from bid strategies at any time.

Search Ads 360 ad group bid strategy settings: 

• Manual bidding: By default, keywords in the ad group will not be managed by a Search Ads 360 bid strategy, even if a Search Ads 360 bid strategy has been applied to the campaign that contains the ad group.
• Manual bidding (inherited): By default, all keywords in the ad group inherit the campaign’s Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy: By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy you select, regardless of any Search Ads 360 bid strategy settings for the campaign.
• A specific Search Ads 360 bid strategy (inherited):  By default, all keywords in the ad group are managed by the campaign's bid strategy.

 

Targeting

Device bid adjustment

Specify a device bid adjustment to target the device. By default, each device uses the campaign's bid adjustment. You can also set the bid adjustments to increase or decrease bids based on the default bid set for keywords. 

• Mobile bid adjustment Specify one of the following:

  • Use campaign bid adjustment if you want to use the same bid adjustment specified in the campaign to target the device.
  • 0% if you don’t want to target the device
  • Increase or decrease bids by a specified percent.

• Tablet bid adjustment Specify one of the following:

  • Use campaign bid adjustment if you want to use the same bid adjustment specified in the campaign to target the device.
  • 0% if you don’t want to target the device
  • Increase or decrease bids by a specified percent.
• Desktop bid adjustment Specify one of the following: 
  • Use campaign bid adjustment if you want to use the same bid adjustment specified in the campaign to target the device.
  • 0% if you don’t want to target the device
  • Increase or decrease bids by a specified percent

Location targets and bid adjustments

By default, Yahoo! Gemini ad groups inherit the location targets specified in the campaign. If you want an ad group to target different locations than the campaign, specify the location targets on the Ad Group Location Targets tab. 

Note that you can't set location targets in the ad group editor.

 

Dates

Start and end dates

Specify the time range that you want ads  to display. If you don’t specify dates, the campaign runs until it is out of budget.

Next steps

Create ads and keywords.