A marketer’s life is constantly evolving: online marketing is always changing, and we have to adapt to new tools and strategies to keep our campaigns running at full speed. Lately we’ve had to dive into the Samurai world with a new Google Ads campaign strategy: Hagakure, literally “the way of the warrior.”
What is Hagakure? What is it for? What can it achieve for our campaigns? If you want to find out, you’ve come to the right place. Trilogi is a Google Partner agency and we always stay on top of what’s new in Google’s tools.
You know that since Google Ads launched, both the interface and campaign structure have changed enormously. Accounts have become more complex, with an increasingly fragmented structure of many ad groups, targeting options and keywords. Does this still hold?
The Hagakure method, or how to make the most of the algorithm.
Hagakure sets out the new “way” we should follow in our Google Ads accounts. A change in strategy and mindset. It means leaving behind everything we’ve learned, splitting into campaign groups and keywords, and focusing on maximizing the amount of data.
We need to trust the algorithm and give it enough data to optimize our campaigns. There’s a golden rule: an ad group must reach 3,000 impressions a week for this to work.
What is the Hagakure campaign structure?
The theory is all very well, but what does simplifying campaigns mean in practice? What would our new ad structure look like?
To start with, note that this applies to Search ads. Within our Search campaign we should create:
- One DSA (Dynamic Search Ads) ad group
- Ad groups with broad match keywords that, remember, reach 3,000 impressions a week.
Ultimately, we want the algorithm to optimize this campaign automatically, and to do that we have to feed it data.
- Focus on the landing page URL, not on keywords.
- Broad match keywords so as not to limit the algorithm.
- DSA campaigns to cover searches with unknown keywords.
How to apply the Hagakure method in Google Ads
Finding this interesting? Of course: a simpler structure, more automation… but we all know we need to be careful when making big changes in Google Ads so we don’t break campaigns that work. How do we prepare our account to apply the Hagakure method?
1. Analyze our structure.
We need to ask ourselves why we have the campaigns we have: whether they’re split by geographic location, star products or other variables. Which of these campaigns could we merge to get more data volume?
For example, we might have 4 campaigns: “Shirts + Brand,” “Men’s Shirts,” “Women’s Shirts,” “Generic Shirts”… Can they be combined? Hagakure suggests creating a single, broader campaign to make the most of the data.
Identify the ads we could group so their combined impressions reach 3,000 a week.
2. Launch a Hagakure campaign.
Create and launch a Hagakure campaign. If you’re duplicating existing campaigns, remember to keep a paused copy to be safe. Remember to give Machine Learning 15 days before evaluating results.
3. Adjustments and optimization
Adjust the campaign budget and analyze results. Google recommends making gradual adjustments within a 10–15% range per week, for both budget and ROAS.
Benefits of using the Hagakure method in Google Ads
Before we get to the conclusions of this post, remember that this strategy is useful for accounts with landing pages that reach 12,000 impressions a month, so the algorithm has data to work with.
If you have an account that meets the requirements and you’re considering the Hagakure method, what are the benefits?
- More control over the account. With a simpler structure, you can better control and manage your campaigns.
- Drive customers to the specific URLs you care about, since it’s focused on URLs rather than keywords.
- More time to analyze the account and add value for your client.
What about you, will you join the Hagakure method?
