An ad group is a set of ads and related keywords that are defined for a specific campaign. You'll see the Create an Ad Group page as you go through the process of creating a campaign or adding an ad group to a campaign. Use this page to give your ad group a name, select the method for distributing ads, match a search term to an ad, and set targeting preferences.
To complete this step:
If you did not initiate the create ad group request under a specific campaign, then select a campaign in the Campaign Name field (this field is not available if you already initiated the request under a specific campaign).
Enter a unique name for the ad group. The name can be up to 50 characters long and can't duplicate an ad group name in the campaign.
Select your distribution tactic. You can select Sponsored Search, Content Match, or both.
If you select Sponsored Search, select the match type.
Click the Next button.
The distribution tactic is the method used to distribute ads in this ad group. You can select either Sponsored Search or Content Match – or both.
Sponsored Search is a pay-per-click distribution tactic that displays your ads in the sponsored search results at the top, along the side, and across the bottom of search results pages for searches that relate to your keywords.
Content Match is a pay-per-click distribution tactic that displays your ads alongside content such as product reviews, news articles, etc. on the Yahoo! distribution network.
About Match Types (Sponsored Search Only)
If you selected Sponsored Search as a distribution tactic, select the match type for this ad group. The match type determines how a search term is matched to your ads. You can select either Standard or Advanced match type.
Standard match type ads are displayed for exact matches to your keywords, as well as variations in case (that is, differences in upper- and lowercase letters), singular and plural forms of the keywords, common misspellings of the keywords, and topics relevant to the keywords, ad titles, and ad descriptions.
Advanced match type ads are displayed for a broader range of searches related to your keywords, titles, descriptions, and/or web content. The advanced match type may display your ad for more searches by expanding match possibilities. Unlike the standard match type, the advanced match type may display your ads when the keyword is not part of the search phrase or term. For example, with advanced match type, the keyword “plasma television” might match a search for “flat screen tv” or “buy flat screen plasma television.” The primary benefit of the advanced match type is its simplicity – you don't need to enter every variation of a keyword to get matches.
If you set targeting at the ad group level for the selected campaign, then you can specify the new ad group’s targeting settings for demographic bidding, geo-targeting, and ad scheduling. You can set these targeting preferences by clicking the target’s corresponding Edit button.
Note: The targeting settings are not available for the ad group if targeting is set at the campaign level. In this case, you must edit the targeting settings for the parent campaign. You can also change targeting from the campaign level to the ad group level so that you can set targeting preferences for each ad group.