Why your Google Ads account needs fewer campaigns, not more

Every new campaign splits your budget and your data. Google's bidding needs volume to learn, and a small campaign never gets enough of it. The result is higher costs and reports nobody can read.

The problem with more

When we audited Oakline last year they had 64 search campaigns. Thirty of them spent less than £20 a day. None of those thirty had enough conversions for smart bidding to work.

What consolidation looks like

We group by intent and margin, not by product line. One campaign for people ready to buy, one for people comparing, one for brand. Everything else is a test with an end date.

We stopped asking which campaign to add and started asking which one to switch off.

Our four step rebuild

1. Export every search term from the last 12 months.

2. Group terms by intent and by gross margin.

3. Rebuild into no more than ten campaigns.

4. Review weekly and kill anything without a clear job.

What happened next

Within eight weeks Oakline's cost per demo fell 38% and their weekly report shrank from four pages to one. The account is easier to run, and the bidding finally has enough data to work.