06: Search

Search

Google Ads is the search platform for political advertising; Microsoft/Bing now prohibits political ads outright, so it isn't a search option for this kind of campaign.

Election Ads Verification: A separate, additional verification Google requires before an advertiser can run ads featuring a candidate or officeholder, distinct from general account verification. It confirms the identity of the actual advertiser (the campaign or committee, not the agency running it) and unlocks a required "who paid for this" disclosure on the ad itself.

Restricted Targeting for Election Ads: Once an ad falls under Google's election ads policy, targeting options narrow considerably. Geographic location and contextual signals (placements, topics, keywords) are allowed, but audience targeting, remarketing, uploaded contact lists, and radius targeting around a location are not. This is a firm platform rule, not a suggestion. It is important to plan targeting around this rule rather than assuming standard options apply.

Account Structure (Campaign → Ad Group → Keyword): Campaigns hold your overall budget and goal. Ad groups organize things by theme. Keywords and the actual ads live inside each ad group.

Quality Score: Google's own 1–10 rating of how relevant your ad is, how likely people are to click it, and how good the page it links to is. A higher score can mean a better position and a lower cost.

Match Types: "Broad match" shows your ad for a wide, loosely related range of searches. "Phrase match" needs the core meaning of your phrase to be present. "Exact match" needs something very close to your exact wording. The wider the match, the more searches you show up for, but the less precise it gets.

Search Network vs. Display Network: Search ads appear on the results page when someone actually searches for something. Display ads appear on a network of partner websites and apps based on targeting. It is worth noting that for verified election ads, Display's normal audience-based targeting is largely off the table (see Restricted Targeting, above).

Smart Bidding: Google's automated bidding strategies, which use machine learning to adjust how much you bid in real time, based on how likely each opportunity is to convert. Bidding automation isn't the same as audience-targeting automation, so this generally still applies even under election ad restrictions, but confirm with your Punch contact.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page): The page you land on after typing a search. Both regular search results and paid ads show up here.

Ad Rank: The formula that decides where your ad shows up on the page (or whether it shows up at all), combining your bid, your Quality Score, and how well your ad format is expected to perform.

Negative Keywords: Search terms you specifically block your ad from showing up for, to keep out traffic that isn't actually relevant to you.