Introduction to Campaigns and Ad Groups

Objective: Learn how to create campaigns and ad groups.

Introduction
Account Structure
Create a New Campaign

Introduction

Work more efficiently in Microsoft adCenter by learning how to create campaigns and ad groups. Campaigns and ad groups make it easy to organize and monitor the performance of your ads.

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Account Structure

Microsoft adCenter accounts are comprised of campaigns, which are usually centered on a theme or objective. For example, a travel company could create campaigns around Caribbean cruises or honeymoon getaways.

Each campaign you create will have its own budget. Within each campaign, you can create individual ad groups that contain one or more ads and keywords.

You can use ad groups to organize your ads in meaningful ways. For example, a "Caribbean Cruises Campaign" could include ad groups named "Family Getaways" or "Singles Adventures."

By using Microsoft reporting and optimization tools, the travel company can see which campaigns, ad groups, and even individual ads are getting the best results.

The following graphic illustrates adCenter account, campaign, and ad group structure.

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Create a New Campaign

This section describes the steps to create a new campaign in adCenter.

After you sign in to Microsoft adCenter, you'll see the Select a Campaign page. This is where you will create your campaign. To create a new campaign you must also create a new ad group because an ad group must be linked to a campaign. Complete the following steps to create a new campaign:

  1. Click the Campaigns tab.
  2. Click Create Campaign.
  3. In the Name text box, type the name of the new campaign.
  4. If you want to turn on conversion tracking, click Advanced options, and then select the Track conversions check box. For more information about conversion tracking, see How conversion tracking works.
  5. If you want to add negative keywords to your campaign, first click Advanced options, and then in the text box type the negative keywords you want.

To create an ad group, complete the following steps:

  1. Under Ad group settings, in the Name box, type a name for your ad group. You can also use the default name entered by adCenter.
  2. To set a start date for your ad group, under Ad group settings click Advanced options, click the calendar button next to the Start date box, and then select the appropriate date.
  3. To set a specific end date for your ad group, under Ad group settings click Advanced options, select End by, click the calendar button next to the End date box, and then select the appropriate date. Select No end date if you want your ad group to run indefinitely.
  4. In the Target your customers section, under Current language and a region for this ad group, select the language and region of the Live Search site where you want your ads and keywords to appear.
  5. The Target your customers section is optional. For information about targeting, see About targeting.

For more information about setting up campaign and ad groups, see these topics in Microsoft adCenter Help:

As next steps, you may want to:

  • Target your ad groups
  • Write your ads
  • Choose keywords

And, you can always pause, resume, or delete a campaign.

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