Introduction to Paid Search Advertising
Paid search buys visibility on expressed intent, so questions focus on keyword structure, match types, negatives, Quality Score and landing-page relevance.
Structure mirrors intent
Group keywords tightly by theme so each ad group has one intent and one tailored ad. Match types control reach: exact for control, phrase for close variants, broad for discovery with strong negatives. Negative keywords are part of the targeting, not an afterthought - review the search terms report on a fixed cadence and move wasted queries to negatives.
Ad Rank and Quality Score
Ad Rank combines bid with quality signals: expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience, plus expected impact of assets and formats. Higher quality can outrank a higher bid, and it usually lowers CPC. Match the ad to the query and send clicks to the page that answers it, not the homepage.
Worked example
A running store bids broad on "running shoes" and finds 18% of spend going to "shoe repair" queries. It adds repair, cobbler and resole as negatives and splits racing shoes from trail shoes into separate ad groups with matching landing pages. Reasoning: the fix is intent separation, so the budget funds buyers rather than browsers.
Traps that cost marks
One giant ad group with mixed intents; ignoring the search terms report; sending every click to the homepage; judging accounts on average CPC instead of cost per conversion; forgetting brand terms are cheap and skew blended metrics.