A Short Guide on How to Manage Competing PPC Campaigns

A PPC campaign is a group of related Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) ad groups that share the same budget, bids, and settings. All of your campaigns should be unique, but there are many cases where you will want to run multiple campaigns with similar settings. For example, if you are running a branded campaign, a local-search-heavy campaign, and a display campaign, you might create just one campaign to manage them all.

The key is to use one campaign to manage the ad groups with similar keywords and share a similar budget, bids, and settings.

If you don’t manage your campaigns carefully, you risk running into internal competition. In this scenario, a single ad group is bidding on the same keywords as an ad group in another campaign. This creates a conflict and drives up your CPCs in the process.

Here is a short guide on how to manage competing PPC campaigns:

1. Differentiate Keywords

If you have low-competition keywords in your campaigns, you can add the same keywords to different campaigns.

Separate your competitor ad groups by adding a negative keyword to each of them. You can also add a negative keyword with a low search volume, typically only searched for by your company.

In addition, you may want to create a separate campaign for your display ads, search ads, and local ads. For local searches, you can use a highly-specific negative keyword like “(zip code)” to prevent your search ads from showing when someone searches for your competitor.

2. Create Different Landing Pages

If you have multiple PPC ads bidding on the same keyword, you will want to make sure that you create a different landing page for each ad.

You can use Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools to measure the landing pages for each ad group. If the landing pages have a bounce rate more than the average, you will want to rework those ads and landing pages to get better results.

3. Use Negative Keyword Lists

Another strategy for reducing internal competition is to use negative keyword lists for all of your PPC campaigns. These lists should contain all of the negative keywords you know your competitors use.

If you are bidding on a keyword that your competitors also use, you can add it to your campaign’s negative keyword list.

If you don’t use negative keyword lists, you risk paying for completely irrelevant clicks. 

4. Avoid Synonyms

By limiting your ad groups to relevant terms, you avoid internal competition by default. This can be a powerful tool for keyword research. For example, if you want to target the keyword “office chairs,” you may use this keyword in three ad groups:

There is a lot of potential internal competition here. You can avoid it by creating a fourth ad group targeting three-word combinations. You can also use this strategy to target long-tail keywords with a lot less competition.

The Bottom Line


When managing keywords for your business, you need to analyze your competitors to see what terms they are using. If a competitor is using a keyword, you can use it, too. If a competitor uses a keyword that you don’t want to target, you can add it to your negative keyword list.

Using this strategy, you can easily optimize your PPC campaign and ensure that you are not bidding against yourself.

Egility Digital can assist you with all your content marketing needs. From search engine optimization campaigns, customized PPC campaigns, and more. Our goal is to provide you with creative solutions and all the tools you need to grow your business and boost your brand. If you want to learn more about marketing solutions, schedule a 15-minute strategy call with us today!