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How Do Account, Campaign, Ad Group, and Ad Form the Google Ads Hierarchy?

What Is the Correct Google Ads Account Structure Hierarchy?

Understand the correct hierarchy of a Google Ads account: Account → Campaign → Ad Group → Ad. Learn how this top-down structure organizes your budgets, targeting, and individual ads.

Question

What is the correct hierarchy of a Google Ads account?

A. Account → Ad → Campaign → Ad Group
B. Account → Campaign → Ad Group → Ad
C. Ad Group → Campaign → Account → Ad
D. Campaign → Ad Group → Account → Ad

Answer

B. Account → Campaign → Ad Group → Ad

Explanation

The Google Ads platform is designed with a strict top-down, three-layer hierarchy. The Account is the foundation, managing access, billing, and overarching settings. Inside the account, you create Campaigns, which control high-level settings like budget, location targeting, and network distribution.

Inside each campaign, you build Ad Groups, which organize your themes and hold your targeting criteria (like keywords). Finally, inside those ad groups sit the individual Ads that are shown to users based on the ad group’s targeting.