One of the most overlooked pieces of a high-performing Google Ads account is how you name things. After auditing and scaling dozens of accounts, we’ve seen the same pattern: clear conventions speed up work and unlock scale; sloppy names slow everything down.
Why naming conventions matter
A naming convention is a repeatable recipe you follow whenever you create a campaign, ad group, or asset. Consistent, logical names make management faster and prevent confusion across teams and tools.
Without it, performance tracking, reporting, and optimization get harder—like searching for a tool in a cluttered garage. Put everything in the right place and the work just flows.
A strong convention ensures you, your team, and your analytics can instantly understand and filter items—no detective work required.
How to structure your convention
Use a compact pattern that encodes the essentials. A proven format for Search campaigns looks like this:
Region_Theme_Search_Language_MatchType_Device
- Region: Where the campaign targets (e.g., NA, EMEA, APAC).
- Campaign Theme: Brand, Non-Brand, Competitive, RLSA, or Content.
- Search Type: identifies search campaigns.
- Language: EN, ES, etc.
- Match Type: Exact, Phrase, Broad.
- Device: AllDevices, Desktop, Mobile.
Pro tip: replace spaces with underscores and connect multi-word labels with hyphens. This makes searching and filtering in Ads, BigQuery, or spreadsheets predictable.
Examples of naming conventions
NA_NonBrand_Search_EN_Exact_AllDevices— North America, non-brand, English, exact match, all devices.EMEA_Content_Search_EN_Phrase_Mobile— EMEA, content theme, English, phrase match, mobile only.APAC_Brand_Search_EN_Phrase_Desktop— APAC, brand, English, phrase match, desktop.NA_Competitive_Search_EN_Phrase_Desktop— NA, competitive, English, phrase match, desktop.EMEA_RLSA_Search_EN_Broad_AllDevices— EMEA, RLSA, English, broad match, all devices.
Benefits of a good naming convention
- Faster performance tracking: names carry useful context, so you can spot trends without drilling into settings.
- Cleaner collaboration: new teammates understand campaigns at a glance.
- Quicker reporting & filtering: export once, then slice by region, match type, or device instantly.
Should we use the same names across platforms?
Yes—consistency wins. Use the same pattern on Google, Meta, LinkedIn, etc. You may add platform-specific details where needed, but keeping the core structure consistent makes cross-channel analysis simple and reliable.
To sum up
A clear naming convention costs nothing and pays you back every week. Put it in place, and scaling campaigns gets easier—fewer mistakes, faster iterations, better reporting.
Want help applying this framework to your account? Book a call and we’ll map it to your funnel.