In the recent episode of Google’s Ads Decoded podcast, Ginny Marvin sat down with Brandon Ervin, Director of Product Management for Search Ads, to address a topic many PPC marketers have strong opinions about: campaign and ad group consolidation.
Ervin, who oversees product development across core Search and Shopping ad automation, including query matching, Smart Bidding, Dynamic Search Ads, budgeting, and AI-driven systems, made one thing clear.
Consolidation is not the end goal. Equal or better performance with less granularity is.
What Was Said
During the discussion, Ervin acknowledged that many legacy account structures were built with good reason.
“What people were doing before was quite rational,” he said.
For years, granular campaign builds gave advertisers control. Match type segmentation, tightly themed ad groups, layered bidding strategies, and regional splits all made sense in a manual or semi-automated environment.
But according to Ervin, the rise of Smart Bidding and AI has shifted that dynamic.
The big shift we’ve seen with the rise of Smart Bidding and AI, the machine in general can do much better than most humans. Consolidation is not necessarily the goal itself. This evolution we’ve gone through allows you to get equal or better performance with a lot less granularity.
In other words, the structure that once helped performance may now be limiting it.
Ervin also pushed back on the idea that consolidation means losing control.
“Control still exists,” he said. “It just looks different than it did before.”
Ginny Marvin described it as a “mindset shift.”
When Segmentation Still Makes Sense
Despite Google’s push toward leaner account structures, Ervin did not suggest collapsing everything into one campaign.
Segmentation still makes sense when it reflects how a business actually operates.
Examples he shared included:
- Distinct product lines with separate budgets and bidding goals
- Different business objectives that require their own targets or reporting
- Regional splits if that mirrors how the company runs operations
The key distinction is intent. If structure supports real budget decisions, reporting requirements, or operational differences, it belongs. If it exists only because that was the best practice five years ago, it may be creating more friction than value.
Ervin also addressed a common concern: how do you know when you’ve consolidated enough?
His benchmark was 15 conversions over a 30-day period. Those conversions do not need to come from a single campaign. Shared budgets and portfolio bidding strategies can aggregate conversion data across campaigns to meet that threshold.
If your campaign or ad group segmentation dilutes learning and slows down bidding models, it may be time to rethink your structure.
Why This Matters
For many PPC professionals, granularity has long been associated with expertise. Highly segmented accounts, tightly themed ad groups, and cautious use of broad match were once signs of disciplined management.
In earlier versions of Google Ads, that level of control often made a measurable difference.
I used to build accounts that way, too. When I used to manage highly competitive and seasonal E-commerce brands, SKAG structures were common practice for good reason. It was a way to better control budget for high-volume, generic terms that performed differently than more niche, long-tail terms.
What has changed my mindset is not the importance of structure, but the role it plays in my accounts. As Smart Bidding and automation have matured, I have seen firsthand how legacy segmentation can dilute data and slow down learning.
In several accounts where consolidation was tested thoughtfully, performance stabilized and, in some cases, improved. Especially in accounts I managed that had low conversion volume as a whole. What I thought was a perfectly built account structure was actually limiting performance because I was trying to spread budget and conversion volume too thin.
After a few months of poor performance, I was essentially “forced” to test out a simpler campaign structure and let go of hold habits.
Was it uncomfortable? Absolutely. When you’ve been doing PPC for years (think back to when Google Shopping was first free!), you’re essentially unlearning years of ‘best practices’ and having to learn a new way of managing accounts.
That does not mean consolidation is always the answer. It does suggest that structure should be tied directly to business logic, not inherited from best practices that were built for a different version of the platform.
Looking Ahead
If you’re in the camp of needing to start consolidating campaigns or ad groups, know that these large structural changes should not happen overnight.
For many teams, especially those managing complex accounts, restructuring can carry risk and large volatility spikes if it is done too aggressively.
A more measured approach may make sense. Start by identifying splits that clearly align with budgets, reporting requirements, or business priorities. Then evaluate the ones that exist primarily because they were once considered best practice.
In some cases, consolidation may unlock stronger data signals and steadier bidding. In others, maintaining separation may still be justified. The key is being intentional about the reason each layer exists.
