SKAG stands for “Single Keyword Ad Group”. It’s a specific way to structure advertising campaigns by using ad groups with only one keyword. This method allows full control over ad texts, making them as relevant as possible to user search queries. This relevance improves Quality Score and lowers Cost Per Click.
What is it about?
- What is SKAG in Advertising?
- Comparing SKAG campaign structure to STAG
- Match Types for SKAG
- How can SKAGs improve your ad relevance and Quality Score
- Advantages of SKAG compared to STAG
- Conclusion
What is SKAG in Advertising?
The main goal of using the SKAG concept is to increase the Quality Score of your ads. Ads that align with keyword goals tend to receive more clicks and lead to higher conversion rates. Such relevance to user needs is favored by search engines. For example, in Google Ads, the Quality Score is a critical factor in evaluating ads. The higher the Quality Score, the lower the Cost Per Click (CPC) will be compared to auction insights.
Google may suggest a couple dozens keywords per ad group. While this allows you to target low-volume queries and reach a broader audience, it can be challenging to create ads that are fully relevant to all these keywords, but with only 3 text ads and 15 headlines each, you can’t cover all long-tail variations in your ad copies.
For instance, if a user searches for “beautiful red dresses for women” and the ad text only includes the words “dresses” and “dress”, without descriptive words like “beautiful”, “red”, or “for women”, the ad might not fully meet the user’s needs.
For example:
Macy’s has in headlines words: “women”, “red”, “dresses”:
It means that this website has good QS, but if someone else puts the whole keyword phrase in the headline and description: “Beautiful Red Dresses Women”—Ad with this headline will have better QS and CPC.
Also, CTR will be higher, because the user sees long tail words “red”, “women”, etc., may click the link and start searching for the desired color or style in the catalog. If other competitors have the same correct URL for red dresses, but not mentioned red color in Ads, or not pinning the first headline—most users will click on a well-crafted ad that precisely matches the specific keyword. The potential customer is likely to choose that ad instead.
Another issue with campaigns that do not use SKAG is low conversion rates and high bounce rates. A website may attract a lot of visitors who do not find the exact terms they were looking for in the ad text. If the product in question is not available (as indicated by the specific keyword description), the user may be disappointed and leave the page without taking any action. In this case, the advertiser pays for the click but gains no benefit, and the SEO of their site may suffer due to the high bounce rate.
Comparing SKAG campaign structure to STAG
SKAG is often contrasted with the STAG method. The latter involves creating thematic ad groups, meaning each theme or category of products has its own ad group. A single ad group may include an average couple dozens of keywords. This concept is ideal for low-volume keywords, as generating individual ads for large, less popular keywords can be difficult without automation tools.
SKAG, on the other hand, involves creating more campaigns than STAG.
For example, in a search campaign for selling generators. If you sell b2c and b2b diesel and gas generators.
In STAG structure, you may have one campaign for generators with three ad groups:
- generators
- diesel generators
- gas generators
In the SKAG structure, you will have the same idea, but at the campaign level:
- generators
- diesel generators
- gas generators
If the volume of keywords is high or CPC is expensive, it’s better to set up campaigns using the SKAG strategy. For low-volume keywords, the STAG structure is simpler to implement (if you don’t use automation tools). However, SKAG will always impact the Quality Score, particularly factors like the expected click-through rate and ad relevance.
The main difference in managing long-tail keyword campaigns is that best practices, for example with diesel generators, suggest extending keyword research and adding additional segmentation, such as:
- portable/small/smallest diesel generators
- diesel generators for home
- diesel generator generac
- diesel kubota generator
- diesel generators rv
- generator onan diesel
- 20 kw diesel generators
- industrial diesel generators
In SKAG, the best practice is to create separate campaigns. Without an automation tool, this takes more time.
A dozen separate campaigns in SKAG will allow you to use different campaign bid strategies (helps if different products have different margin), and usually have better ROI than one STAG campaign with a dozen groups (for different margin products also better in STAG use separate campaigns).
Match Types for SKAG
There are 3 main types of keyword matching, for “home diesel generators” may shown:
- Broad match—general synonym—”electrical inverter solar generators”
- Phrase match— close synonym + long tail—”diesel generators for home near me buy”
- Exact match—very close synonym—”diesel generators for home”
The main difference for SKAG in match types is that it’s better to avoid broad match types. If you use broad—check search terms and constantly add negative keywords, because in related to broad were changes in Google algorithm last years (About changes to phrase match and broad match modifier – Google Ads Help About keyword and search theme prioritization within a Google Ads account Matching the most relevant keyword to every search – Google Ads Help ) and quality of correct synonyms depends.
In STAG strategy, when all keywords in one group—search terms rely on dozens keywords and works better.
In SKAG strategy, when just one keyword if you use broad types—in search terms will be duplicates, which not ok for inbound account competition and general results.
For SKAG strategy, we recommend using exact + phrase types.
How can SKAGs improve your ad relevance and Quality Score?
Quality Score is a diagnostic tool meant to give you a sense of how well your ad quality compares to other advertisers.
In short, it checks whether the exact keyword phrase is present in the ad copy (headlines, description, path) and on the landing page. The last one more website content management and SEO part, but CTR and add relevance is PPC.
Implementing SKAGs into your Google Ads strategy positively impact on 2 out of 3 factors that affect the Quality Score of your ads.
Looking, for example, with “diesel generators for home”, having:
- All words (diesel, generators, home) and special USPs for home diesel generators in Ad Copy—improves CTR;
- Exact phrase “diesel generators for home” in Headline and Description—improves Ad Relevance;
- Having phrases and USPs in the website—improves Landing Page Experience.
Google derives a significant portion of its revenue from search network advertising. Ads that are highly relevant to search queries are always prioritized. These ads have the highest potential CTR and generate the most clicks.
Advantages of SKAG compared to STAG
The key advantages of using a Single Keyword Ad Group structure include:
- Positive impact on Google Ads ROI (improving CTR, and QS which improves CPC).
- Allows for greater focus on keyword research and ad copies on campaign level.
- Ad groups created according to the SKAG concept are “self-sufficient.” You won’t need to exert extra effort to manage such ads (if you’ve done full keyword research and included all possible synonyms).
- Another important advantage is flexible bid management at the campaign level. You can decide how much to pay for each campaign based on your site’s conversion rate, profit margins, and ROI.
- Mastering SKAG campaign creation with Yakiv Ads tool is straightforward. A business owner or marketer can easily and quickly train a novice to create SKAG campaigns.
- SKAG is a versatile approach. This method can be effective across various advertising platforms: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter Ads. High detail levels ensure excellent bid control and improve campaign performance.
Overall, incorporating SKAG into a paid search strategy helps optimize campaign structure on campaign level. The method is labor-intensive, which deters some users. However, specialized automation tools simplify the task, so you don’t necessarily need to spend too much time working with SKAG.
Disadvantages of using SKAG
Using Single Keyword Ad Groups has its downsides. Without automation tools, these disadvantages can hinder progress. SKAGs differ from traditional campaign structures mainly due to their labor-intensive nature. Creating separate ads for each keyword takes considerable time if done manually.
Among other challenges of using SKAG campaigns, the high likelihood of keyword duplication stands out. You may miss some variations of query formulations, leading to a loss of target traffic.
The main reason marketers and business owners shy away from SKAG is the constant updates to Google Ads. Only with specialized advertising campaign automation tools can you keep up with platform requirements and compete with ads created using traditional structures.
Implementation time may be longer than when each ad group combines 10-20 keywords on a common theme. SKAG requires the most time to set up for large accounts. However, SKAG is 100% suitable for promoting specialized products or services, as it allows for precise targeting of ads to relevant search queries.
In highly competitive niches, SKAG increases CTR (Click-Through Rate) and lowers the cost per click. In some cases, this strategy should be avoided. Additionally, creating SKAGs is considered inefficient for keywords with minimal search volume and similar queries.
To optimize SKAG, add the keyword not only to the main headline, and description, but also to the “paths”. These are texts in optional fields that give users an understanding of where they’ll land when clicking on the ad. Google not always shows paths, but it counts in QS ranking.
Conclusion
SKAG is an effective but labor-intensive Google Ads strategy. It involves creating separate campaigns where a single keyword corresponds to a single ad group. This approach improves the Quality Score and, when set up correctly, reduces advertising costs and improving ROI.
SKAG campaigns are ideal for high-volume keywords. In contrast, low-volume queries should be managed with STAG, where each ad group contains 5 or more keywords. You can combine these strategies, using each at different stages of business development and for advertising different products. Of course, if precision in settings, analytics, and bid and conversion control is important to you, SKAG is the optimal method.
SKAG provides better control over ad texts, landing pages, and enhanced bid management. The campaigns structure when using SKAG is as clear as possible, simplifying navigation within the advertiser’s account.
It’s relatively easy to learn how to create such campaigns, but managing and testing ads with one keyword per ad group can be time-consuming and complex. To avoid mistakes and prevent unnecessary resource expenditure, ensure you have a Yakiv Ads Google Ads automation tool in place.