This article explains how to create campaign templates in Search Ads 360. You'll learn about the different settings and options available for each stage of the template creation process, including pre-stage, template settings, campaign settings, and confirmation.
Create a campaign template
- Sign in to your Search Ads 360 account.
- Navigate to the relevant sub-manager account.
- From the page menu, under “Tools & settings”, click the Templatesdrop-down.
- Click Templates.
- Click the plus button
.
- Click + Campaign template.
- Follow the instructions in the sections below, starting with Campaign template pre-stage .
- Click Continueto complete each stage and proceed to the next one.
For information about configuring dynamic template elements, refer to the articles About custom columns in templates and Configure custom columns in templates . These dynamic settings are highlighted in gray in the "Stage 2: Campaign settings" table.
For dynamic settings, examples based on a flight theme are provided. For more information, refer to the below flights feed table.
Flights feed table
In this example, the "Flights" feed table contains the following columns of product data supplied by a Search Ads 360 customer, Example Airways.
Example Airways operates 2 brands. Albatross Flights sells transatlantic tickets between the US and European destinations, while Golden Eagle Flights markets route tickets within Europe.
The example feed table only contains information for one route for each brand to ease understanding.
| Feed column name | Column description | Column value example 1 | Column value example 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
"product_id"
|
Flight origin airport international air transport association (IATA) code -destination airport IATA code | CDG-LHR | SEA-CDG |
|
"brand"
|
The brand name for the flight | Golden Eagle Flights | Albatross Flights |
|
"availability"
|
Flight ticket availability | Available | Not available |
|
"seats_left"
|
Number of unsold seats on the flight | 11 | 0 |
|
"origin_iata"
|
Flight origin airport’s IATA code | CDG | SEA |
|
"origin_name"
|
Flight departure location | Paris | Seattle |
|
"origin_country"
|
Flight origin country’s name | France | USA |
|
"destination
_iata" |
Flight destination airport´s IATA code | LHR | CDG |
|
"destination_name"
|
Flight destination's name | London | Paris |
|
"destination_country"
|
Flight destination country’s name | UK | France |
|
"price_usd"
|
The flight price in US dollars | 400 | 900 |
Click the headings below to learn about each stage in the template creation flow, including stage settings and dynamic content examples.
Campaign template pre-stage
- Select the applicable accounts or plan template parents.
- For a client-account template, select the feed data source.
- If you select a plan template parent, the feed is inherited.
- Add optional feed filters.
Stage 1: Campaign template settings
Stage 1"Template settings"
"Template name"
- Required
- Must be unique at sub-manager level
- Name your campaign template.
- Inherited from the pre-stage, but only editable for an account parent. Inherited plan parents can't be changed.
- Inherited from the pre-stage. Not editable.
- Optional filters can be added.
- Multipliers
define the columns from which the unique value combinations are derived. The unique value combinations determine the campaign instances that campaign templates generate. There are 2 options:
- "Use feed columns from the campaign name formula" that's defined in the next step (Recommended) at Stage 2.
- Alternatively, use custom-selected feed columns:
- Click Select multipliers.
- Select the required multiplier columns from the feed columns.
- Click Done.
- (Optional) Add filters to the feed to modify the multiplier.
The recommended "Use feed columns from the campaign name formula" option is selected. The following formula defines the campaign name:
f:"brand" & f:"origin_country" & f:"destination_country"
"brand", "origin_country" and "destination_country" become the campaign multiplier used. For each unique "brand"/ "origin_country/destination_country" combination in the feed, a campaign is generated.
Associate existing labels with template-generated campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords.
Enter static or dynamic values. Learn more about associating labels .
Click Add labelto enter additional values.
Associate existing custom dimension values with template-generated campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords.
Enter static or dynamic values to match against feed data to determine the custom dimension value to be associated. Learn how to Create and apply custom dimensions .
Click Add custom dimensions datato select additional custom dimensions to associate values from.
By default, the template doesn't subdivide your campaign by keyword match type.
If you want to divide your campaign by keyword match type, click the option to Create all keywords in match type-specific campaigns.
When this option is selected, depending on your keyword configuration, this template may create multiple campaigns with names suffixed with "_exact" and "_broad" to match what’s configured as match types for your keywords.
The campaign name created in the template at step 2 is:
f:"brand" & f:"origin_country" & f:"destination_country"
- If the keywords are only of broad and exact match type in the keyword template, and the "Create all keywords in match type-specific campaigns" option is selected, the campaign names generated are:
- Golden Eagle Flights France UK_exact
- Golden Eagle Flights France UK_broad
- Albatross Flights USA France_exact
- Albatross Flights USA France_broad
- If the keywords are all broad match type in the keyword template and the "Create all keywords in match type-specific campaigns" option is selected, the campaign names generated are:
- Golden Eagle Flights France UK_broad
- Albatross Flights USA France_broad
- If the "Create all keywords in match type-specific campaigns" option isn't selected, keyword match types don't affect campaign names:
- Golden Eagle Flights France
- Albatross Flights USA
Coming soon:
"Email notifications"
Select the preferred email result when campaigns are generated:
- No emails
- Every time a campaign is generated
- Select Remove, Pause, or No changesto set the template and both new and existing entity statuses when items are no longer found in the feed.
- If required, select Create campaigns in a paused state .
- If required, select Pause campaignswhen a condition is met, then create your condition using a custom column .
f:"seats_left" < 1
Stage 2: Campaign settings
For all client accounts:
- Enter the campaign name. You can use columns, functions, and operators to create the custom column formula for the campaign name.
If you select "Use feed columns from the campaign name formula" that's defined on the next page as the multiplier in Stage 1, the columns you use become the multiplier and are presented in the setting at Stage 1 as the multiplier. Under the completed name, the feed columns used in the multiplier are shown along with the following message:
Feed attributes used to scale campaign creation.
For specific client accounts:
- Click Add a custom settingto configure network settings based on selected client accounts. Custom settings based on selected client accounts can be used. Learn how to Apply custom settings .
f:"brand" & "/" & f:"origin_country" & "/" & f:"destination_country"
Example output:
- Golden Eagle Flights/France/UK
- Albatross Flights/USA/France
If the option to "Create all keywords in match-type specific campaigns" is selected in Stage 1 "Template settings", and only the keyword match types broad and exact are used, the campaign names generated are:
- goldeneagleflights/france/uk_exact
- goldeneagleflights/france/uk_broad
- albatrossflights/usa/france_exact
- albatrossflights/usa/france_broad
"Budget"
- Required
- Can be dynamic
For all client accounts:
- Enter a campaign budget. This can be static, or dynamic based on a formula you enter in the custom column.
For specific client accounts:
- Click Add a custom settingto configure the budget based on the selected client accounts.
if(f:"price_usd" > 1000, 100, 50)
if
function is used. If the price of the ticket in the feed is > 1000, the budget is set at 100. If the ticket price is < 1000, the budget is set at 50.- Include Google search partners- Ads that this campaign template generates display near Google search results and on other Google sites when users execute a Google search using keywords that are relevant to the keywords associated with this campaign.
- Include Google display network- When this campaign template generates ads that are predicted to be effective, they display in sites and along with videos and apps.
For specific client accounts:
- Click Add a custom setting to configure network settings based on selected client accounts.
For all client accounts:
Start date
- Start once campaigns are created- The campaigns start as soon as the templates generate them and are sent to the client accounts.
- Days from creation- The campaigns start a specific number of days after the templates generate them and are sent to the client accounts.
- Date picker- The campaigns start on a specific date after the templates generate them and are sent to the client accounts.
End date
- No end date- The campaigns never end.
- Days after start- The campaigns stop a specific number of days after they start.
- Date picker- The campaigns stop on a specific date.
For specific client accounts:
- Click Add a custom setting to configure start and end settings based on selected client accounts.
"Bidding"
Available if your bid strategies have been upgraded.
Choose one of the following bid strategies:
- An available automated bid-strategy type , and then select one of the existing portfolio strategies of that type.
- Manual CPC bidding , in which you set your own maximum cost-per-click (CPC) for ads.
Click Add a custom campaign bidding settingto configure bidding for an account type or a specific account. Use the same options described above.
- If you select "Manual CPC bidding" for Google Ads client accounts after adding a custom campaign bidding setting, you also have the option to "Help increase conversions with Enhanced CPC", which lets you optimize for number of conversions or for conversion value.
Note that if you add a custom campaign-bidding setting for a Google Ads client account that includes campaigns that use shared budgets , those campaigns continue to use the shared-budget settings instead of the budget setting in the template.
When you add a custom campaign-bidding setting for a Google Ads client account, you're also able to:- Select existing portfolio bid strategies in Search Ads 360 and Google Ads client account.
- Configure Google Ads client account's standard bid strategies.
"Conversion goals"
Available if you have completed bidding and unified-goal migration.
Choose the conversion goals ( Search Ads 360, Google Ads client account, or both) you want to use for bid optimization. Click one of the following:
- Use account default goal settings
- Use campaign specific goals (click Add goalsto add additional goals to the list)
"Attribution models"
Available if you have completed bidding and unified-goal migration.
By default, Search Ads 360 uses the last-click attribution model.
Click Override attribution models for specific conversion actionsto select different attribution models for specific conversion goals.
- Use the left-hand menu to select a conversion goal.
- Use the right-hand menu to select the attribution model you want to use for that conversion goal.
- Click Add.
- Repeat the process for each conversion goal for which you want an override.
For all client accounts:
- Mobile bid adjustment- Define a percentage increase or decrease in bid amounts for ads that display on mobile.
- Tablet bid adjustment- Define a percentage increase or decrease in bid amounts for ads that display on tablets.
- Desktop bid adjustment- Define a percentage increase or decrease in bid amounts for ads that display on desktop computers.
For specific client accounts:
- Click Add a custom setting to configure these device bid adjustments based on the selected client accounts.
For all client accounts:
- Select locations to target- Target or exclude certain locations).
- Additional client account (Google Ads) only locationoptions - Target or exclude people based on their location, whether they showed interest in your targeted locations, or search for your targeted locations.
For specific client accounts:
Click Add a custom settingto configure these location settings based on selected client accounts.
For all client accounts:
Select the language your customers speak.
- Target specific languages based on users’ language settings and website settings.
For specific client accounts:
Click Add a custom setting to configure these language settings based on selected client accounts.
"Campaign URL options"
- Can be dynamic
For further information about tracking templates, refer to the article Configure tracking URLs and URL templates.
The following is an example of this template type's tracking template, if set:
{lpurl}?campaign=[*Campaign*]&keyword=[*KeywordID]&o_country= & f:"origin_country"&d_country= & f:"destination_country"
Here's how the output appears:
- https://www.example.com/albatrossflights/
us/france?campaign=1234&keyword=6789
&o_country=us&d_country=france - https://www.example.com/goldeneagleflights/
france/uk?campaign=4321&keyword=9876&o
_country=france&d_country=uk
Another option is to simply leave this blank, leaving a tracking template set at a lower level in the template hierarchy to take precedence as the tracking URL.
URLs must start with http:// or https://. This URL uses existing advertising platform parameters (in this case, for Google Ads client account). It also uses custom parameters based on feed columns.
Custom settings based on selected client accounts can be used. Refer to the article Apply custom settings .
For all client accounts:
You can select audience segments on the "Audiences" page after campaigns have been generated.
- "Targeting"
Narrow the reach of your campaigns to audience segments, with the option to adjust the bids.
- "Observation (recommended)"
Don’t narrow the reach of your campaigns, with the option to adjust the bids on audience segments.
For specific client accounts:
- Click Account-specific audience segments to configure these targeting settings based on selected client accounts.
By default, sitelink assets that are template-generated or created manually are allowed.
If you want to disable both, click the option to Disable generated and manual sitelinks.Stage 3: Confirmation
- A sample of the first 100 campaigns are generated for preview.
- Return to previous settings pages to make any changes you require.
- When you’re happy with all settings, click Create templateto complete the campaign template creation process.
