Campaign Builder

Last updated: March 2026 6 min read Campaign Setup & Strategy · Article 9 of 9

The Campaign Builder is where you manage your search campaigns. It’s accessible from the left sidebar and is the main workspace for reviewing, editing, and publishing search ads to your Google Ad Grants account.

Your Default Campaign

When onboarding is complete, Ad Grants Pilot automatically builds your first search campaign with 3–4 ad groups. The platform scans your homepage and all linked pages to identify your organization’s most important content, then selects which ad groups to build based on that. The most common ad groups created are:

Brand — targets users searching directly for your organization’s name. A staple for every Ad Grants account.
Donations — targets users actively searching to donate to your cause.
Learn / Learn More — captures awareness and education queries about your mission.
Advocacy — targets people looking to volunteer, sign petitions, or take action.

These ad groups are ready to review and push live as soon as you log in.

What’s Inside an Ad Group

Each ad group contains everything needed to review and publish:

Keywords — the search terms your ads will target. Each ad group includes 15–20 keywords, all verified for search volume.
Headlines & Descriptions — AI-written ad copy. Google mixes and matches these to find the best-performing combinations.
Ad Preview — a live preview of how your ad will appear at the top of Google search results.
Landing Page — the specific page on your website the ad links to.

Everything inside an ad group is editable. You can add new keywords using the Add Keyword button, edit existing keywords inline, add or edit headlines and descriptions, and change the landing page URL.

Creating New Ad Groups

To add an ad group to an existing campaign, click Create Ad Group. There are two ways to build one:

By Landing Page URL — paste in any page from your website. Ad Grants Pilot scrapes the page content, conducts keyword research, writes all headlines and descriptions, and builds a fully structured ad group optimized for that page. This compresses what would typically take one to two hours into under a minute.

By Keyword Idea — enter one or more related keywords. The platform finds the best matching page on your website, expands the keyword list, validates search volumes, writes all ad creative, and builds the ad group.

Creating Additional Campaigns

You can create multiple search campaigns within the same account. The primary use case is running separate campaigns with different geo-targeting or language settings — for example, one English/US campaign and one Spanish/international campaign. Click Create Campaign, give it a name, and configure its campaign settings independently.

Campaign Settings

Each campaign has its own settings panel, accessible via the gear icon. Settings include:

Daily Budget — defaults to $329/day, the maximum Ad Grants allows. Can be set lower if needed.

Keyword Match Type — defaults to Broad Match, which is the recommended setting for Ad Grants to maximize reach and spend.

Geo Targeting — target by country, state, region, or city. Defaults to United States.

Language — defaults to English. Can be changed for multilingual campaigns.

Negative Keywords — add terms to exclude irrelevant search queries from triggering your ads.

Callout Extensions — short descriptive phrases (up to 25 characters, max 6 per campaign) that appear beneath the ad.

Conversion Goal & Bidding — defaults to Maximize Conversions with account-default goals, already configured to Ad Grants best practices.

Time Bid Adjustments — an advanced setting to increase or decrease bids on specific days of the week. Not recommended for new users.

Campaign settings can be synced directly from Google Ads at any time using the Sync from Google Ads button, keeping your settings in line with the live account.

Publishing Campaigns

Each ad group has its own Push Live button to publish it individually to Google Ads. To publish an entire campaign at once, use Push All Ad Groups Live. All campaigns and ad groups start in Draft status until published.

Search Campaign Management – FAQs

How does Ad Grants Pilot decide which ad groups to build automatically?

The platform scans your homepage and all linked pages to identify your most important content, then selects ad groups based on what it finds. Most accounts get a Brand ad group plus a combination of Donations, Learn/Learn More, and Advocacy ad groups depending on what’s on your site.

Can I edit the keywords and ad copy that were auto-generated?

Yes, everything inside an ad group is editable. You can add or edit keywords inline, update headlines and descriptions, and change the landing page URL at any time.

What’s the difference between creating an ad group by URL vs. by keyword idea?

Creating by URL lets you paste in any page from your website — the platform handles all keyword research and ad writing from the page content. Creating by keyword idea lets you enter one or more related terms — the platform finds the best matching page on your site and builds the ad group from there. Both methods produce a fully structured, ready-to-publish ad group.

Why would I create multiple search campaigns?

The main reason is to run separate geo-targeting or language configurations. For example, you might have one campaign targeting English speakers in the US and a separate campaign targeting Spanish speakers internationally. Each campaign has its own independent settings.

Why is the daily budget set to $329 by default?

$329/day is the maximum Google Ad Grants allows, which works out to roughly $10,000/month. Ad Grants Pilot defaults to the maximum to help your account reach full spend. You can set it lower if needed.

Why is Broad Match the default keyword match type?

Broad Match is the recommended setting for Ad Grants accounts. It maximizes reach and helps the account spend its full budget, which is especially important in the early stages when the algorithm is still learning.

What are callout extensions and should I add them?

Callout extensions are short descriptive phrases (up to 25 characters each) that appear beneath your ad. You can add up to 6 per campaign. They improve click-through rates by highlighting key details about your organization. Account-level sitelinks are set up automatically during onboarding, but callouts are configured per campaign in Campaign Settings.

What does the Sync from Google Ads button do?

It pulls the current settings from your live Google Ads account into Ad Grants Pilot, keeping both in sync. This is useful if changes have been made directly in Google Ads outside of the platform.

Can I publish some ad groups and leave others in draft?

Yes. Each ad group has its own Push Live button, so you can publish them individually. Use Push All Ad Groups Live only when you’re ready to publish the entire campaign at once.

What status are campaigns in before they’re published?

All campaigns and ad groups start in Draft status. They are not visible in Google Ads and do not spend budget until they are pushed live.

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