Practitioner · Lesson 1 of 4
PPC basics: structuring Google and Meta campaigns
About 11 minutes · Yogender Kumar, Managing Partner
By the end of this lesson you'll be able to
- Explain what Google Search and Meta each reward
- Structure campaigns so brand and non-brand results stay separate
- Calculate when a blended CPA is hiding a loss
Why this matters
Google and Meta both sell ads, but they work in opposite ways. Set them up the same way and one of them will waste money. Mix your brand searches in with everything else and you won't even see it.
The core idea
Google Search rewards intent. People type what they want. You choose keywords, and Google shows your ad when the search matches and your ad is relevant. Relevance and the landing page affect your price as well as your position.
Meta rewards creative. On Facebook and Instagram, nobody is searching. Meta decides who sees your ad using what it knows about people and how they react to the ad. With broad audiences, the ad itself does much of the targeting.
Meta's automated set-ups, called Advantage+, choose audience, placement and budget for you. You still supply the creative, the conversion goal and any exclusions, so check results for new and existing customers separately.
So the two are structured differently:
- Google Search: campaigns split by theme, with tight groups of keywords and ads that repeat the searcher's words. Your brand searches go in their own campaign.
- Meta: fewer ad sets with broad audiences, and plenty of different creatives for the system to test. Too many small ad sets split the data and slow the learning.
Both platforms can bid automatically towards a target cost per sale. Automated bidding learns from conversions, so it works best with accurate tracking and a healthy number of them.
What each platform rewards
Google Search: intent
Meta: creative
Worked example
Corrie Coffee is an imaginary UK coffee subscription, so the figures are illustrative. Its target is £30 per new subscriber. It spends £6,000 a month on Google Search, all in one campaign.
The account reports 343 sign-ups, which is £17.49 each. Comfortably inside target.
Its channel strategist splits the campaign by search type:
- Brand searches ("Corrie Coffee"): £1,000 for 200 sign-ups. That's £5 each.
- Non-brand searches ("coffee subscription UK" and similar): £5,000 for 143 sign-ups. That's £34.97 each.
Most brand searchers already know Corrie and would likely find it anyway. The real test of the account is non-brand, and that's over target by about £5 a sign-up. The blended figure hid it.
Corrie gives the two their own campaigns and budgets. It judges brand on protecting its name for little cost, and non-brand against the £30 target. Then it works on non-brand: removing searches that don't convert and matching landing pages to the ads.
My view: never judge a search account on a blended number. Brand traffic flatters everything it's mixed with.
Corrie Coffee's Google Search, split by search type
In practice
- Put brand searches in their own campaign, with their own budget.
- Group keywords by theme, and write ads that repeat the searcher's words.
- Check the search terms report weekly and exclude what doesn't convert.
- On Meta, keep ad sets few and broad, and test several creatives.
- Make sure conversion tracking is accurate before switching on automated bidding.
- Judge non-brand and Meta prospecting against your target CPA.
Common mistakes
- Brand and non-brand in one campaign. Cheap brand sign-ups hide expensive non-brand ones. Split them, and check the search terms report, because some automated campaign types pick up brand searches too.
- Too many small Meta ad sets. Each one learns slowly from too little data. Consolidate.
- Automated bidding on bad tracking. The system optimises towards whatever you count. Fix the count first.
Try it yourself
A search account spends £8,000 a month and reports 400 sales, or £20 each. Brand campaigns spend £1,200 for 240 sales. Your target is £30. What's the CPA on non-brand, and is it inside target?
Show answer
Non-brand spend: £8,000 − £1,200 = £6,800. Non-brand sales: 400 − 240 = 160. Non-brand CPA: £6,800 ÷ 160 = £42.50. That's £12.50 over target, even though the blended £20 looks fine.
Quick check
Not scored. Pick an answer to see the explanation.
On Meta, what does much of the targeting when audiences are broad?
Brand spend is £500 for 100 sales. Non-brand spend is £4,500 for 100 sales. What's the blended CPA?
Key takeaways
- Google Search rewards intent. Meta rewards creative.
- Keep brand searches in their own campaign and budget.
- A blended CPA can hide a non-brand loss.
- Automated bidding is only as good as your conversion tracking.