One Simple Change That Can Improve Feed-Based Campaigns — And How Skai Makes It Easy

Search marketing is full of ways to improve performance. Marketers can adjust bids, refine audience targeting, test different creatives, and optimize landing pages. And over the years, Google and third-party platforms like Skai have exponentially increased these optimizations. Each of these tactics can drive results, but managing them effectively takes time and resources. With so many options, it can be challenging to know where to focus.

One way to simplify the process of managing paid search is to automate wherever possible. Automation reduces manual effort, minimizes errors, and ensures campaigns stay up to date without constant oversight. By letting technology handle repetitive tasks, marketers can focus on strategy and performance optimization rather than day-to-day maintenance.

For example, Feed-based campaigns (FBCs) have been a long-standing automation best practice, especially for brands managing large inventories. But in today’s competitive paid search landscape, simply automating campaign structure isn’t enough. With more advertisers vying for the same search traffic, making automation work harder has become necessary. Those who go beyond basic automation and refine their approach can gain a real edge—ensuring their campaigns stay relevant, responsive, and primed for better performance.

In today’s post, we’ll look at how to take this automation one step further, making it more adaptive and effective in a way that gives your search campaigns a real advantage.

FBCs Handle the Structure, But What About the Messaging?

Feed-based campaigns automate creation and updates based on real-time inventory changes, reducing manual work and improving accuracy. They help marketers scale search programs without having to manage every detail by hand. Instead of manually adjusting ad groups, bids, and keywords for every product or service update, advertisers can rely on FBCs to handle these changes automatically. This is especially valuable for industries with large inventories or frequent price and availability shifts. 

However, structuring campaigns efficiently is only half the equation—what users actually see in the ad is just as important.

But automating campaign structure isn’t enough. Ad copy needs to be just as dynamic as the campaign setup itself. If your messaging doesn’t adjust in real time to match search intent, you’re not taking full advantage of automation. A well-structured FBC campaign won’t drive results if the ad copy remains static while competitors tailor their messaging to match evolving search behavior. 

To fully optimize performance, both the campaign framework and the ad creative need to work together dynamically. And given the shift toward privacy regulations and restricted data access, marketers can no longer rely on the same level of audience insights they had five or ten years ago. That’s why leaning into Google’s own data signals to dynamically serve the best ads is more important than ever.

This is where the many benefits of Responsive Search Ads come in.

Adjust messaging dynamically to match user intent

RSAs allow Google Ads to test multiple headlines and descriptions, automatically selecting the best-performing combination for each search. This means that instead of relying on a single static ad, Google’s machine learning evaluates context, query patterns, and real-time performance signals to generate the most effective ad for each user. 

When combined with FBCs, RSAs ensure that ad messaging evolves alongside campaign updates, keeping ads relevant no matter how often the product feed changes. With Google’s behind-the-scenes data—including search history, contextual signals, and user behavior patterns—RSAs can surface ad variations that individual marketers wouldn’t be able to predict manually.

Improve ad relevance, leading to stronger clickthrough rates and better performance

Relevance is key to search marketing success. When ads align with user intent, they earn higher Quality Scores, which can lead to lower costs and better placements. RSAs improve relevance by continuously refining the combination of headlines and descriptions shown to users. 

And it’s not just RSA’s ability to test iterations of paid search ads. With privacy changes limiting direct access to consumer data, Google’s ability to algorithmically match RSA assets with searcher intent fills that gap, ensuring that the right message reaches the right person at the right time. The result is a more engaging and compelling ad experience, driving stronger clickthrough rates (CTR) and overall performance.

Help marketers scale campaigns without sacrificing control over messaging

One of the biggest challenges in scaling search campaigns is maintaining control over messaging. RSAs offer the flexibility to adapt to different queries while still allowing advertisers to define key messages. By pairing RSAs with FBCs, marketers get the best of both worlds: structured automation for efficiency and dynamic ad variations for better engagement. 

Google’s machine learning takes on the heavy lifting, using billions of data points across search behavior to refine messaging in ways that manual ad creation simply can’t match. This approach makes it easier to scale campaigns without losing control over brand voice or strategic messaging.

Marketers have less direct access to audience data than they did a decade ago, but Google has more behind-the-scenes data than ever. By pairing FBCs with RSAs, search advertisers can tap into Google’s machine learning to serve the right message at the right time—without the manual effort. 

RSAs and FBCs are a winning combo—so why aren’t more marketers using them?

Google Ads doesn’t natively support the seamless integration of RSAs within FBCs, but it is possible with select third-party tools. However, the process is often complex, requiring advertisers to manually manage templates, map assets, and structure RSAs in alignment with their feed.

Without a streamlined solution, handling these moving parts can quickly become overwhelming—especially for teams managing large-scale search programs. The added complexity creates friction, preventing many marketers from fully leveraging the benefits of RSAs and FBCs together. While RSAs can significantly improve performance, the manual effort involved in setting them up properly often deters teams from implementing them at scale.

Skai Handles the Complexity—So You Can Focus on Performance

Skai makes it easier to combine RSAs with FBCs by automating the setup and ongoing management. Instead of manually building ad variations and mapping feed attributes to campaigns, advertisers can rely on Skai’s automation to handle the process efficiently. By removing the complexity, Skai ensures that advertisers can unlock the full potential of RSAs and FBCs—without the extra work.

Campaigns and RSAs are created and updated automatically

Manually structuring RSAs within FBCs can be time-consuming and prone to human error. Skai automates the entire process, ensuring that campaigns and RSAs are built correctly from the start. As inventory or business needs change, campaigns update dynamically without requiring manual intervention, allowing search teams to focus on strategy rather than maintenance.

Dynamic templates pull directly from inventory feeds

Keeping ad messaging aligned with real-time inventory changes is critical for maintaining relevance. Skai’s dynamic templates automatically pull data from product feeds, ensuring that ads remain accurate, up-to-date, and reflective of the latest product availability, pricing, and promotions. This eliminates the need for manual updates and reduces the risk of running outdated or irrelevant ads.

A centralized dashboard provides full visibility

Managing RSAs and FBCs separately can make it difficult to track performance and optimize effectively. Skai consolidates everything into a single dashboard, giving advertisers clear visibility into how their RSAs and FBCs perform together. This allows teams to make informed decisions, fine-tune their strategy, and ensure they’re maximizing the impact of automation.

Scaling automation without sacrificing control

Skai removes the complexity of pairing RSAs with FBCs, making it easy to apply this best practice at scale. By streamlining setup, improving accuracy, and providing real-time insights, Skai enables marketers to take full advantage of automation while still maintaining control over their messaging and campaign strategy.

Conclusion: FBCs Set the Foundation—RSAs Deliver the Results

Scaling campaign structure is one challenge; optimizing messaging in real time is another. Feed-based campaigns (FBCs) streamline the build-out process, while Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) ensure the right message reaches the right audience. But without combining the two, marketers miss out on key efficiency and performance gains.

With privacy changes limiting direct access to audience data, leveraging Google’s machine learning to dynamically match ad variations has never been more valuable. Yet, while the benefits of RSAs and FBCs are clear, execution is another story. Google Ads doesn’t natively support this integration, and most third-party tools require multiple steps, manual work, and ongoing maintenance—slowing teams down.

Skai simplifies the process, seamlessly integrating RSAs with FBCs so campaigns stay dynamic, accurate, and optimized—without the extra workload. Search marketing is complex enough; your campaign setup shouldn’t be. If you’re running FBCs without RSAs, now’s the time to rethink your approach. Automation should work at every level, from campaign structure to creative optimization.

Pairing feed-based campaigns and responsive search ads is the absolute correct approach—and Skai makes it simple.