Ready for a buzzword topic? SKAGs, Single Keyword Ad Groups, have been a hot topic in the PPC industry for the past few years. In this post, we’re going to cover the good, the bad and the ugly of using SKAGs and whether it’s the right strategy for your PPC account.
I have worked with teams who have been on both sides of the fence. I know some people who champion it as the only way to effectively run an account, and others who think it over-complicates things for little gain.
Over the past 5+ years, I have worked with SKAGs and traditional accounts. Read on for my experience and whether or not you should use them.
But first, what is a SKAG?
WHAT IS A SINGLE KEYWORD AD GROUP?
There are two ways to set up a Google Ads account:
The traditional way of organizing 10-20 keywords into themed ad groups
The more granular approach of SKAGs - one keyword per ad group with three match types (broad match modifier, phrase and exact match)
You can break both structures down further by match type at the campaign level -- it’s a lot of work, but I’ve always found it useful in controlling broad match modifier spend and negatives -- but that’s a whole other blog post.
So what does this look like?
Google Ads doesn’t have any documentation regarding SKAGs in their Google Ads Support documentation, so it may seem a bit odd that PPC blogs have been buzzing about this topic for the past few years. Let’s dig deeper into why.
The Pros of SKAGs
Here are the following benefits to SKAGs:
Strong CTRs. Since you have one keyword mapping to your ads, your ads will be extremely relevant to what the user is looking for, leading to strong CTRs and more click volume.
Better Quality Scores. Quality Scores are determined by ad relevance, expected CTR and a few other factors. The more relevant your ad is to a user’s search, the better the quality score.
Lower CPCs. Better Quality Scores lead to lower CPCs as the Google Ads’ auction will reward your keywords for their good Quality Scores.
Control. PPC managers LOVE control. We like to know exactly what led to a click and how we can control cost. I have met more PPC managers with automation trust issues than ones with poor Excel skills. We love digging into the data and being able to tell what the exact story is. SKAGs allow complete control over the keyword’s landing page and ad copy.
The Cons of SKAGs
Those pros look pretty good, right? While there are a lot benefits of a SKAG structure, there are also some drawbacks:
Set up is time consuming. If your account isn’t new, it’s likely you have hundreds of keywords. Now think about putting all of these keywords into their own ad groups. With 3 unique ads each.
They can make the account messy. With so many ad groups and ads, it’s easy to see how the account can become cluttered and how you can hit Google Ads’ account limits. Though the limits are quite high, I have seen accounts hit the limits and it’s time consuming to clean up.
Google is shifting its focus on a user’s intent. Google has made moves towards focusing on a user’s intent rather than their exact keyword search. Exact match no longer means exact match, and Google has made strides towards voice search as well. With this focus on user intent, SKAGs may slowly lose their relevancy.
Should you make the switch?
The benefits of SKAGs look pretty appealing, despite the cons. Should you make the switch?
If the following apply to you, then you should reconsider your dive into SKAGs.
You already have a high Quality Score. One of the biggest benefits of SKAGs is the increase in Quality Score. If you already have strong Quality Scores, it doesn’t make sense to pursue this structure.
You have a lot of keywords with low to no impression volume. SKAGs are great for those high volume/high cost keywords, but you’re creating extra work for yourself by setting it up for all your low impression volume keywords as well.
A lot of your keywords are similar. Keeping Google Ad’s exact match change in mind, if you have a lot of keywords that are similar you may just be setting up more work for yourself.
Still interested in testing SKAGs? I recommend setting the test up for your top 8 exact match keywords. Run these keywords in the SKAG format for about a month (depending on volume) and compare results to the previous structure. Did CTRs and conversion rates improve? CPCs lowered? Quality Scores improve?
Focus your test on exact match to limit variables that other match types (broad match modifier) can create.
In my experience, I have seen SKAGs work extremely well, when further segmenting the keywords by match type (exact and broad match modifier). This structure allowed me to limit budget used by broad match modifiers (more expensive, lower conversion rates but good for looking for new exact match keywords), and ensure the stronger exact match keywords get the budget and attention they need to succeed.
SKAGs can be a powerful tool, when used correctly especially for very expensive keywords or high volume keywords. I’ve worked on accounts where SKAGs are the way to go (hello, keywords with $200 CPCs!) and on accounts where focusing on ad groups grouped by user intent are the way to win instead. There is no ‘right’ answer when it comes to SKAGs, but through testing and data analysis, you’ll figure out what works best for you.
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