{"id":16994,"date":"2021-08-05T10:34:02","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T05:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=16994"},"modified":"2022-08-09T15:29:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T09:59:42","slug":"google-ads-smart-campaigns-vs-search-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/google-ads-smart-campaigns-vs-search-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"How Google Ads Smart Campaigns Differ From Search Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"lead\">Google Smart Campaigns, does the hard work so that the advertisers can focus on other things. However, some features are missing, that offer substantial insight otherwise. How much of that carries relevance, takes a backseat, as eventually, the success of the campaign depends on how it helped in achieving your goals<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are Smart Campaigns?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Smart Campaigns previously called AdWords Express is a quick way to create your business ads. It reduces the effort taken in controlling the many settings such as keywords, ad creation, targeting, etc. Advertisers have to make minor settings and basis your budget and goals Google displays your ad across their various platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some of the smart campaign settings that differ from that of the search campaign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-keyword\"><strong>Keyword<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Target Keyword Themes<\/strong> &#8211; Unlike search campaigns, advertisers can create keyword themes that cover multiple words and phrases in smart campaigns. For example, a keyword theme such as PPC ads will also show you ads for terms such as PPC ads management, PPC ad services, PPC ads software, etc. So you need to choose your theme wisely, as you might end up getting clicks triggered from unwanted search queries<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No Match Type Association<\/strong> &#8211; The other thing to note, is that you can&#8217;t assign a keyword match type to your themes. So basically your keyword themes work on a broader scale unlike a phrase match keyword in a search campaign which restricts the ad&#8217;s eligibility<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bid Adjustment Not Available<\/strong> &#8211; You can&#8217;t adjust your bids for a specific keyword theme. This option isn&#8217;t available in smart campaigns<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No Keyword Performance Tracking<\/strong> &#8211;  There is no way to find how your keyword themes are performing and which theme is working \/ or not performing. The breakdown of keyword-level data isn&#8217;t given in smart campaigns, unlike search campaigns where you get deep insights into your performing and non-performing keywords<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Importance of Negative Keywords<\/strong> &#8211; Since the keyword theme reaches a wider spectrum of search queries, advertisers must review the search query data to check for any irrelevant term. These irrelevant terms must be added as negative keyword themes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Limited Search Terms Insight<\/strong> &#8211; The search terms report insight is limited to clicks and impressions, unlike search campaigns where you can customize the reporting metrics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-negative-keyword\"><strong>Negative Keyword<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Negative Keyword Blocks The Keyword Theme<\/strong> &#8211; While assigning a keyword as a negative keyword, remember that you are not blocking just that keyword but the entire keyword theme. There is a higher probability of you ending up blocking even some relevant terms. So do a double check on the reach of the keyword theme that you choose as a negative keyword theme<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Negative Keywords Have No Match Types<\/strong> &#8211; Unlike search campaigns, here you can&#8217;t assign a match type to your negative keyword themes. Match types infuse control on how your keyword behaves, but with the option not being there, choose your negative keywords carefully<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Adding Close Variants As Negative<\/strong> &#8211; Much like in search campaigns, negative keyword themes in the smart campaigns don&#8217;t match close variants. So for close variations of your theme, your ad might still end up showing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ad-performance\"><strong>Ad Performance<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ad Performance Can&#8217;t Be Tracked <\/strong>&#8211; In smart campaigns, you can create multiple ad copies but you cannot assess which ad is performing better than the other. So, basically, you don&#8217;t get performance insights at the ad level to determine which ad to continue with and which ad to pause<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-reporting\"><strong>Reporting<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Only Dashboard Insights<\/strong> &#8211; There are no downloadable reports available for smart campaigns. Whatever insight is available, is available on the dashboard<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-change-history\"><strong>Change History<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Change History Can&#8217;t Be Viewed<\/strong> &#8211; For the search campaign, you can easily view the history of changes made to the campaign. This helps understand if the change has had a positive impact or not. But the performance after a change has been made in the smart campaign cannot be tracked. You would need to manually keep a record of the changes made to understand how it has impacted your campaign performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-bid-adjustment\"><strong>Bid Adjustment<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You Can&#8217;t Make Bid Adjustments <\/strong>&#8211; There is no way to increase or decrease your bids for anything on smart campaigns. So, unlike smart campaigns, you can&#8217;t adjust bids for ad scheduling, device, keywords, location, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-b-testing\"><strong>A\/B Testing<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In search campaigns, you can run an A\/B test to check the efficacy of a different campaign setting, budget, targeting or ad copy, etc. But in the smart campaign, you cannot run an experiment to determine that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-targeting\"><strong>Targeting<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Targeting Options Limited To Keyword &amp; Location<\/strong> &#8211; Your ads are targeted basis the keyword themes you choose and the geographies that you have selected. However, no audience, demographic targeting options are available<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Geographic Targeting Reporting<\/strong> &#8211;  For the geographical targeting also, there isn&#8217;t any performance breakdown available<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-device\"><strong>Device <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reviewing Device Performance<\/strong> Under the performance details, you can get an insight into which device type, location, demography your ad showed most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/smart-campaign-dashboard-device-google-ads.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/smart-campaign-dashboard-device-google-ads-1024x438.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17025\" width=\"768\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/smart-campaign-dashboard-device-google-ads-1024x438.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/smart-campaign-dashboard-device-google-ads-300x128.png 300w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/smart-campaign-dashboard-device-google-ads-768x329.png 768w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/smart-campaign-dashboard-device-google-ads-1536x658.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/smart-campaign-dashboard-device-google-ads.png 1623w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Can&#8217;t Optimize For Device Types<\/strong> To view the breakdown of your device performance, you need to go to the left panel option &#8216;Devices&#8217;. The information that is not presented in the dashboard reporting can be viewed here. However, none of these insights can be used to make any changes to your campaign or optimize your campaign for a specific device type, in this case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/device-type-performance-smart-campaign.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/device-type-performance-smart-campaign-1024x290.png\" alt=\"device type performance smart campaign\" class=\"wp-image-17024\" width=\"768\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/device-type-performance-smart-campaign-1024x290.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/device-type-performance-smart-campaign-300x85.png 300w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/device-type-performance-smart-campaign-768x218.png 768w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/device-type-performance-smart-campaign-1536x436.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/device-type-performance-smart-campaign.png 1661w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-destination-url\"><strong>Destination URL<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One Landing Page Per Campaign<\/strong> &#8211; There is only one landing page that can be assigned for a campaign. In search campaigns, you can create ad copies with multiple landing pages, however here the option is not there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-placement\"><strong>Placement<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About Excluding Placements<\/strong> You can&#8217;t choose or exclude placements. The ads show on Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and on Google partner websites<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Limited Insight <\/strong>You get insight into which placements received the clicks, however, there is no other information offered such as on which placements the ads were shown <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/smart-campaign-placement-insight.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/smart-campaign-placement-insight.png\" alt=\"smart campaign placement insight\" class=\"wp-image-17039\" width=\"728\" height=\"511\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/smart-campaign-placement-insight.png 971w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/smart-campaign-placement-insight-300x210.png 300w, https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/smart-campaign-placement-insight-768x539.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Is there any other difference that you have found? We would be happy to know about it in the comment section below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/identify-negative-keywords-through-google-ads-search-terms-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How To Identify Negative Keywords Through Google Ads Search Terms Report?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/adwords-search-campaign-checklist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Ads Search Campaign Checklist<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/google-ads-audience-targeting-in-search-campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Using Google Ads Audience Targeting in Search Campaign<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Smart Campaigns, does the hard work so that the advertisers can focus on other things. However, some features are missing, that offer substantial insight otherwise. How much of that carries relevance, takes a backseat, as eventually, the success of the campaign depends on how it helped in achieving your goals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-googl-search-tips"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kirti","author_link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/author\/kirti\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16994"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20125,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994\/revisions\/20125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}