The digital advertising landscape has been changing for a long time.
In the past, marketers developed very strategic campaigns with highly focused targeting to reach their target audience. Messaging was tied very closely to campaign keywords, sometimes perfectly, and performance was usually driven by high relevance of the ad to the user’s query.
More recently, machines have been able to focus much more for us, and honestly, they can do a lot better. They make decisions based on combined and aggregated user behavior rather than a one-time search.
This has led many in the space to say that keywords are dead and that intent-based marketing is the way forward.
While I agree that intent-based marketing is imperative to seeing performance in paid media, I don’t think the keyword is dead. It is what it has always been: a tool. But the function of this tool has changed now, and we have to use it differently than before.
In this article, I’ll talk about how keywords are still an integral part of your Google Ads campaigns but how they should be used differently than before.
Contents
How Google Ads Are Shifting from Keywords to Intent
For this article, I won’t go too far into the actual details of how query mapping and matching differ on Google Ads. This information can be found in other articles, and while it may be interesting to some, you don’t need to learn a whole lot to create Google Ads campaigns that lean into its strategies.
For our purposes today, here’s what you need to know:
- Google is not giving up on keywords. They are simply layering additional signals on top of them.
- Keywords will tell Google what your business cares about. Intent signals will help Google understand who is most likely to convert now.
Here’s a set of intent signals Google uses to determine whether or not to show your ad:
- Recent search behavior
- Browsing activity on all Google-owned platforms
- Signals from in-market and committed audiences
- Device
- Location (and any geographic intent)
- time of day
- Previous ad iterations
- Website visits
- Remarketing behavior
- Customer Match Data
- 1st party conversion values (when using value-based bidding)
While there are some differences by match type (specifically exact and phrase vs. broad), this is indicative of the goal because our match types aren’t as precise as they used to be.
As a reminder, here’s a visual breakdown of how match types work in Google Ads and some examples of which queries will match which keywords.
Summary: Two users who search for the exact same query will no longer be treated the same by the signals they gave to Google above.
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What does conversion from keywords to intent look like?
Let’s consider a few examples of what this transition might look like.
First, let’s look at “kitchen remodeling” by taking two separate people.
The first person has the following characteristics:
- Recently explored financing options for home renovations and HELOCs.
- Looking at reviews of local contractors.
- The market for home renovations is in the audience.
Other user:
- Watching DIY videos on YouTube.
- Searched for “how to replace kitchen backsplash”.
- There is no commercial engagement.
In a traditional query matching model, each of them would have been served a single ad by a contractor. But in the new model, a contractor’s ad campaign will bid higher for the first user and may not appear for the second, even though the query matches the keyword they’re targeting.
These results will likely vary for users in the same region.
As another example, let’s look at Revenue Operations Software’s B2B SaaS offering. Sometimes, companies know they need something, but aren’t sure what. This is something I see a lot with the startups I work with.
While we will target keywords like “rev ops software” and “platforms designed for production operations,” we know the volume is low. Google may use the keywords we provide, then follow the intent signals of potential customers and match search queries such as “increase customer revenue” and “improve rev ops performance”. While these terms may not exactly match the keywords we have, these customers’ goals are what a SaaS company can provide.
Here’s a visual of what A new search experience It looks like this:
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How to Adjust Your Campaign Strategy for Intent Signals
Now we can get down to brass tacks. What adjustments do you need to make to your Google Ads setup to get the most out of these intent signals without abandoning your keyword strategy altogether?
1. Place keywords as anchors
While your Google Ads strategy may not revolve around keywords, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them. Continue to use keywords in search campaigns exactly as you always do.
But also, leverage keywords where you can in Performance Max campaigns. For these campaigns, they aren’t technically “keywords” like search themes, but you can approach choosing them in the same way as you do for your search campaigns.
🔎 Find the right keywords for your strategy with our free keyword tool.
2. Don’t throw in negative keywords.
Hopefully you’ve always used negative keywords, but to see good results, I encourage you to stay away from using negatives to avoid synonyms that you feel are irrelevant and use them to avoid mismatches of intent.
For the rev ops example above, the question “increasing customer revenue” is not specifically related to “rev ops software” or “platforms designed for revenue operations” except for the word “revenue”, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t relevant. Especially if the user is already looking for software or reading a lot of material about the performance of rev ops. These are indicators that Google can consider that we advertisers can’t when deciding who to bid on.
3. Strengthen the campaign structure.
Since we’ve already talked about how many keywords can have the same intent, this also means that campaign structures look quite different than before. No more highly segmented campaigns and ad groups with only minor variations in terms. As long as the intent is the same, you can group more keywords together.
Here’s a look at how I might take a traditionally structured account and refine it for a new intent-infused landscape.
The bottom structure uses the room of the house to be remodeled, broken into its own campaign. Then, ad groups are used to differentiate between cost vs. contractors or people just looking for general queries.
The updated version for 2026 combines all rooms into a single campaign because they all focus on someone looking for the contractor’s services (ie, a single conversion action), but also takes into account that the ad copy and landing page speak to (and possibly show) different rooms to the user.
My general rule of thumb: If the messaging and landing page are the same, you can probably group the terms together. If your messaging or landing page must be different, you’re likely to separate them.
Bonus: This shift has an added benefit as well. If you’re using any kind of automated bidding strategy, Google works best when combining conversion actions. More data in one place means a cleaner, easier signal to optimize.
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4. Write ads for different intent stages.
Since we’re accepting that Google will show our queries to users with different intents, this means we need to lean into their dynamic ad serving system and Provide assets Which can be used for most of these use cases.
Here are some things to try to include in ads:
- Address pain points
- Offer education.
- Include evidence.
- Highlight your difference from competitors.
- Discuss customer objections.
- Address frequently asked questions.
Try to include options to cover users who are problem-aware, solution-aware, and ready to make a decision. We’re not just crafting ad copy to repeat keywords. Without compelling messages that can capture what the person is looking for, you’ll be missing out on potential revenue. (Use This guide to the most used marketing phrases (to avoid your ad copy!)
5. Be a platform manager, not a button pusher.
Machines and systems always seem to work the same way: good data in, good data out.
That’s what we’re going for here. We need to provide Google Ads with as much targeting data as possible. It can look like many different things:
- add Brand instructions To develop and serve advertising assets.
- Add values with conversion operations to help define which is more important.
- Import offline conversions where possible to understand the full impact of campaigns.
- Upload first-party customer lists to the model to expand and understand customer lifetime value.
Make the transition from keyword to intent seamless
Keywords are not dead. Purpose is not just a method of targeting. But strict restrictions on Google’s algorithm are likely causing you to underperform and miss out on good opportunities. Don’t plan to rip off the Band-Aid and redo everything all together, but outline a plan to start taking advantage of extended targeting and possibly even loosen previous negative keyword guards to start seeing the effects of Google’s user intent signals.
Want help changing your strategy? See how we can help.