SKAGs Unplugged: Revisiting Their Relevance in Today’s Context

Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs) have long been recognized as a powerful strategy in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. It is a Google Ads bidding strategy that focuses on creating and managing individual ad groups for each keyword allowing advertisers to target their ads more precisely and improve their click-through rate (CTR).

With SKAGs, each ad group is only created for a single keyword. This means that your ads will only be shown when someone searches for that exact keyword. This can help to improve your CTR because your ads will be more relevant to the searcher’s query.

What are SKAG?

All of the keywords in a SKAG ad group are variations of the same keyword or are closely related to the keyword. For example, if you are targeting the keyword “shoes,” you could create a SKAG ad group that includes the keywords “running shoes,” “sneakers,” and “athletic shoes.”. The concept behind SKAG is to create highly relevant and targeted ad groups that closely match the user’s search intent. By having a one-to-one relationship between keywords and ad groups, advertisers can craft ad copies that precisely align with the specific keyword, increasing the relevance of their ads and improving the chances of attracting clicks from highly qualified users.

SKAG in current times

Although SKAGs were once and to some extent are regarded as an effective method to enhance ad relevance and performance, their ongoing efficacy has been a topic of discussion among advertisers and PPC experts. This debate stems from the increasing complexity of search algorithms and the growing importance of machine learning in PPC campaign management. With platforms like Google Ads constantly evolving and enhancing their targeting and ad delivery abilities, it’s crucial for advertisers to stay up to date on the latest trends and tactics in order to remain competitive.

How SKAGs Elevate Your Ads

Improves Quality Score: Using SKAGs can enhance your Quality Score by providing a more precise match between keywords, ad messaging, and user search queries. This, in turn, can lead to cost savings with reduced CPC and improved ad performance.

Greater Control and Optimization: SKAGs provide a granular level of control over your campaigns. You can easily track and optimize the performance of individual keywords, making data-driven decisions on bid adjustments, ad scheduling, and budget allocation for each specific keyword.

Efficient Negative Keyword Management: SKAGs make it easier to manage negative keywords. Since each ad group focuses on a single keyword, you can more effectively identify and add negative keywords to specific ad groups, further refining your targeting and minimizing irrelevant clicks.

When it is suitable to use SKAG?

• Campaign Objectives: SKAGs may be more suitable for certain campaign objectives, such as driving highly targeted traffic for specific keywords or maximizing the relevance of ad copies.
• For High Intent Keywords: Using SKAGs ensures your ad message aligns perfectly with the search keyword’s intent, avoiding missed opportunities with potential customers. Connecting the dots from the search query to the ad messaging and landing page intent becomes crucial in delivering relevant and targeted advertising. For instance, bidding on the exact search term ‘car insurance’ rather than ‘auto insurance’ ensures your ad is precisely matched to the user’s intent, enhancing the effectiveness of your campaign and achieving your business objectives.
• While Using Dynamic Keyword Insertions (DKI) in ad groups with multiple keywords, there is a potential risk of the ad messaging not matching the inserted keyword, leading to a disconnect between the user’s search intent and the displayed ad. However, by implementing Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs), you can mitigate this issue as each ad group is dedicated to a single specific keyword. This allows you to craft ad copy that precisely matches the targeted keyword, ensuring that the dynamically inserted keyword provides a cohesive and relevant ad experience that aligns with the specific keyword’s intent.
• For Geo-Targeted Campaigns: When running geographically targeted campaigns, SKAGs can be valuable to ensure that ad copies are tailored to each location’s preferences or specific language variations.
• Low Competition Keywords: In less competitive markets or for long-tail keywords, SKAGs can provide a competitive advantage. They enable you to precisely target these specific keywords and avoid diluting your ad relevance by combining unrelated terms in broader ad groups.
• Targeting High-Value Keywords: For keywords that generate significant revenue or have high conversion rates, SKAGs allow you to allocate dedicated budgets and closely monitor performance for each individual keyword, maximizing returns on those high-value terms.

When it is not the best strategy to choose?

• Low-Volume or Limited Keywords: If your campaign targets a niche market or specific industry with very few relevant keywords, creating separate ad groups for each keyword may result in too many ad groups with limited traffic. In such cases, a more consolidated ad group structure might be more practical.
• Large-Scale Campaigns: For massive campaigns with a vast number of keywords, creating individual ad groups for each keyword can become extremely time-consuming and challenging to manage. In such instances, employing automated bid strategies and other optimization techniques may be more efficient.
• High Budget Constraints: SKAGs may not be the best fit for campaigns with limited budgets. Creating separate ad groups for each keyword can lead to budget fragmentation, making it difficult to allocate sufficient funds to effectively test and optimize ads.
• Seasonal or Short-Term Campaigns: Setting up individual ad groups for each keyword might not be practical for temporary or seasonal promotions where speed and efficiency are crucial. A more streamlined approach might be more suitable for quick implementation.

Consequences that you might need to consider

• Not as effective for long-tail keywords: SKAGs are not as effective for long-tail keywords. This is because long-tail keywords are typically less competitive and less likely to generate a lot of traffic
• Higher Management Overhead: SKAGs require a higher level of micromanagement than any other campaign strategy.
• Create multiple ad copies: For low-volume keywords, SKAG may require various combinations of ads so that it is able to gather enough data to optimize the ads for better performance
• More time-consuming: It can be more time-consuming than other bidding strategies. This is because you will need to create a separate ad group for each keyword that you are targeting.
• Ad Copy Repetition: When keywords within a SKAG are closely related, ad copy variations might be limited, leading to repetitive ad messaging and reduced ad performance.
• Mismatches can happen: It is crucial not to rely solely on the assumption that your ad will get matched to any other keyword within the same ad group. Google’s matching algorithms may not always perfectly match synonyms, and mismatches can happen, leading to less relevant ad impressions and lower performance.

Here are some tips for using SKAGs effectively:

• Choose the right keywords: When choosing keywords to target with SKAGs, it is important to choose keywords relevant to your business and with a high search volume.
• Create relevant ad copy: Your ad copy should be highly relevant to the keywords that you are targeting. This will help to improve your CTR and your Quality Score.
• Track your results: It is crucial to track the performance of your SKAG campaigns so that you can make adjustments as needed. This will help you to get the most out of your SKAG campaigns.
• Don’t go overboard: The Pareto Principle when applied to PPC implies a significant portion of conversions (about 80%) typically comes from a smaller set of high-performing keywords (around 20%). Based on this principle, it is ideal to consider creating a maximum of 50 Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs) for your account, targeting the most significant and high-converting keywords.
• Monitor performance of synonymous terms: When using synonyms in Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs), it is essential to monitor their individual performance closely. If a keyword or its synonym performs poorly, it is advisable to separate it into its own dedicated ad group and control its performance by modifying bids and ad copy.
• It is crucial not to rely solely on the assumption that your ad will get matched to any other keyword within the same ad group. Google’s matching algorithms may not always perfectly match synonyms, and mismatches can happen, leading to less relevant ad impressions and lower performance.

STAG: A Game-Changer in the World of PPC?

STAG (Single Theme Ad Group) involves creating ad groups with multiple keywords with a common theme. This can allow for greater flexibility in ad copy and landing page creation while still maintaining a high level of relevance. STAG can work well for campaigns that target broader themes or topics, such as informational queries or brand awareness.

Benefits: STAGs simplify campaign management, reduce setup time, and enable advertisers to focus on broader themes while maintaining ad relevancy.

Downsides: STAGs may not achieve the same level of ad precision as SKAGs since keywords within an ad group can have varying search intents.

How they differ from each other:

• SKAGs have one keyword per ad group, while STAGs have multiple keywords related to a common theme in a single ad group.
• SKAGs prioritize ad precision and relevance at the keyword level, while STAGs prioritize theme relevancy across multiple keywords.
• SKAGs offer more granular control over each keyword’s ad copy and bid management, while STAGs provide a more generalized approach.
• SKAGs may be more suitable for campaigns where targeting specific keywords and ad relevancy are critical, while STAGs may work well for broader campaigns with related keywords under a common theme.

While the decision to implement SKAGs relies on various factors as explained in the post, you can experiment with a few targeted keywords. If it proves to be a game changer, you might consider adopting the approach or pivot to an alternative strategy.

Related Links:

• Using ChatGPT to identify Negative Keywords for your paid search campaign
• How often we should generate negative keywords?
• Steer Clear of These 12 Common Google Ads Mistakes