Smart campaigns in Google Ads

This guide is built from Google Ads Help, mainly How Smart campaigns work, Create a Smart Search campaign, About keyword themes in Smart campaigns and Compare Smart campaigns with other Google Ads campaign types, plus the pages linked below. How Smart campaigns sit next to the other types is in our campaign types guide; how the auction and keywords work in general is in our Google Ads basics guide.

What Smart campaigns are

Google describes Smart campaigns as "Google's efficient, easy solution for small businesses". You write an ad, choose a few keyword themes and set a budget; Google handles bidding, keywords and placements. Ads can show on Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, Google partner websites and the Google Display Network.

Each campaign has one of four goals:

• get more calls;
• get more website sales or leads;
• get more visits to your physical location;
• get more views and engagement on YouTube.

The first three run text ads that you pay for per click. The YouTube goal runs a video ad, charged when someone watches 30 seconds of it (or the whole video if shorter) or interacts with it; that goal has its own settings for demographics and interests, and this guide focuses on the other three.

Smart Mode and Expert Mode

Every Google help page on the topic opens with the same note: "You can only create Smart Campaigns in Smart Mode." Accounts that aren't in Smart Mode (Google calls the other mode Expert Mode) create Search, Performance Max and the other campaign types instead, which is why many advertisers never see Smart in the campaign list.

Google's manager account page says an account created as a Smart campaign account starts in Smart Mode, and "you can change to Expert Mode at any time, where other Google Ads campaigns can be created." Agencies can link Smart campaign accounts to a manager account, where standard reporting is available for them.

Creating a Smart campaign

Google says setup "takes just a few minutes". The steps in its create page:

1. Under Campaigns, select the plus button, then New campaign, then create a campaign without a goal's guidance and choose Smart.
2. Pick one of your connected businesses from your Business Profile list, or enter a new business name.
3. Enter your website; Google scans it.
4. Choose the goal.
5. Review the ad Google writes from your website (3 headlines and 2 descriptions), edit it, and optionally add a call button with your phone number.
6. Add keyword themes, set locations and set the budget.
7. Review, then install a Google tag to track conversions, or skip that for now.

The Business Profile matters. Google's linking page says a profile "must be associated with the Smart campaign during campaign creation" and can't be linked afterwards. Only one profile can be linked per campaign, and the same email address needs to be an administrator in Google Ads and an owner or manager on the profile. Linking lets the ad show your address and directions. Our Google Business Profile guide covers setting one up.

Keyword themes

Smart campaigns don't use keywords and match types. They use keyword themes, where "A single keyword theme represents multiple similar words and phrases": Google's example is that the theme "bakery" can show your ad for "bakery near me," "local bakery," and "cake shop."

Google's guidance on themes:

• Aim for 7 to 10 themes at most. More can mean your ad shows for less relevant searches.
• No punctuation, URLs or phone numbers, and no more than 20 characters each.
• Use the words customers use, and keep themes to what you want to advertise, not everything you sell.
• For different products or services, run separate campaigns, each with its own themes and budget.

Negative keyword themes stop ads showing on searches that aren't relevant, such as "wine glasses" for an optometrist selling eyeglasses. Google notes they "don't match to close variants", so ads can still show on close variations. Both are edited on the "Keyword themes & search terms report" card.

The ad

A Smart campaign ad has 3 to 15 headlines of up to 30 characters and 2 to 4 descriptions of up to 90 characters. Google adds the rest:

• sitelinks generated by Google AI;
• a map pin and your address, if the campaign is linked to a Business Profile;
• your phone number, once you verify you own it.

Google also creates and tests alternate ads from your business information and website, and may replace headlines with your business name, phone number or address. Ads that do better run more often. A Smart campaign supports at most one landing page, so point it at the page that matches its keyword themes.

Budget

Per Google's budget page, you set a maximum monthly budget; an average daily budget is multiplied by 30.4 to give it. Spend varies from day to day, but "the total amount that you spend in a month won't exceed your maximum monthly budget", and you pay only for the clicks you get. When you create the campaign, Google recommends budgets based on the average click volume for your business type and location; you can enter your own. You can change the budget at any time. Our budgets and bidding guide explains daily budgets in other campaign types.

Location settings

You choose a radius around your business, or ZIP codes, cities or regions, and can exclude areas. Per Google's location settings page, ads show to people in or regularly in those places and to people who show interest in them, for example by searching for a nearby city name. Google warns: "If your settings are too broad, you may end up paying for interactions with users who aren't potential customers." Once ads run, the location report (desktop only) shows impressions, clicks and spend per location, and lets you exclude locations from it.

What the reports show

Smart campaigns use a simplified dashboard instead of the detailed reports of other campaign types. It includes:

• Reported calls from the campaign, next to clicks.
• Location actions: clicks on your map pin and requests for directions.
• The search terms report: the searches that showed and got clicks on your ad, with clicks and spend. Select poor matches and add them to negative keyword themes. If many terms don't fit, Google says to tighten your keyword themes first.
• Website actions, through a Google tag or by linking Google Analytics.

You can also set an ad schedule and schedule a temporary pause that resumes automatically, which Google suggests for seasonal businesses. The campaign's own change history is available too.

Smart or standard Search

Google's comparison of Smart and Search campaigns, in short:

• Bidding: Smart manages it within your budget; Search needs a bid strategy you choose.
• Keywords: Smart generates them from themes; Search uses keywords and match types you set up in ad groups.
• Assets: Smart creates sitelinks, callouts, location and call assets itself; Search needs some set up by hand.
• Reporting: a simple dashboard against reports down to keyword and search term level.
• Placements: Smart shows ads across Search, Maps, YouTube and partner sites automatically; Search lets you choose networks.
• Landing pages: one per Smart campaign, several per Search campaign.

So Smart campaigns suit a local business with one main service, a small budget and no one to manage the account. Once you need several landing pages, keyword-level control, conversion-based bidding or detailed reports, a Search or Performance Max campaign in Expert Mode fits better.

How we use them

This is our own practice, not Google's guidance:

• For a single-location business starting out, a Smart campaign with a linked Business Profile is a reasonable first step; we check the profile is complete before creating it.
• We keep keyword themes narrow and read the search terms report every week for the first month, adding negatives.
• We set the location radius to the area the business really serves, then trim it from the location report.
• We install the Google tag at setup rather than skipping it, so there is data for a later move to Search or Performance Max.

If you want help setting up or moving on from a Smart campaign, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I find Smart campaigns in Google Ads?

Smart campaigns can only be created in Smart Mode. If your account is in Expert Mode, you see Search, Performance Max and the other campaign types instead.

Do I need a Google Business Profile for a Smart campaign?

Google's create page says Smart campaigns are only available once your Business Profile is linked to Google Ads, and the profile must be chosen when you create the campaign; it can't be linked later.

How many keyword themes should a Smart campaign have?

Google suggests 7 to 10 at most, each up to 20 characters without punctuation. Too many can show your ad on less relevant searches.

Can a Smart campaign spend more than my budget?

Daily spend varies, but Google says the total in a month won't exceed your maximum monthly budget, which is the average daily budget times 30.4.

Can I switch a Smart campaign account to Expert Mode?

Yes. Google says a Smart campaign account can change to Expert Mode at any time, where other Google Ads campaign types can be created.

For more on Google Ads for local businesses, see our guides to location assets, call ads and search terms and negative keywords.