> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.snowdoughnut.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Search theme register

> Every live Google Search theme in one table, with its keywords count, customer profile, landing page, and copy brief. Check it before planning a new theme, and file a row when one launches.

One row per theme. A theme is not finished until it has a row here.

The register answers two questions that a folder of separate briefs cannot. Does a theme already exist for this intent, and is every live theme actually pointing at a profile, a page, and a copy brief.

<Info>
  Rows are filled from a completed [search theme brief](/google-search-theme-brief). Themes are grouped by the campaign they run in, because two themes only compete when they can enter the same auction, and that is decided at campaign level.
</Info>

## Before you add a theme

<Steps>
  <Step title="Read the coverage table below">
    If an existing theme already covers this intent, extend it rather than adding a second one.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the boundary against its nearest neighbour">
    Name what the new theme covers that the neighbour does not. If you cannot, it is not a new theme.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fill in the brief, then add a row">
    A row with no brief behind it is a name, not a theme.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## The register

Each row should have a link in every column. An empty cell is the finding, not a formatting gap.

*Rows 1 and 2 show examples using Doughnut Labs, a SaaS company that sells disruptive Doughnut Technology. Delete them and fill in your own.*

| Short form          | Theme                       | Campaign                                         | Keywords  | Customer profile                              | Landing page                                    | Copy brief                                        | Brief                       | Status                        |
| :------------------ | :-------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------- | :-------- | :-------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------ | :-------------------------- | :---------------------------- |
| *E.g.* `REPORTAUTO` | *E.g. Reporting automation* | *E.g.* `Google-FBS-Search-Trial-tCPA-DAPRO-TOFU` | *E.g. 12* | *E.g. [Mid-market RevOps lead](https://link)* | *E.g. [/lp/reporting-automation](https://link)* | *E.g. [COPY\_reporting-automation](https://link)* | *E.g. [link](https://link)* | *E.g. Live*                   |
| *E.g.* `COMPET`     | *E.g. Competitor terms*     | *E.g.* `Google-FBS-Search-Trial-tCPA-DAPRO-TOFU` | *E.g. 8*  | *E.g. [Mid-market RevOps lead](https://link)* | *E.g. [/lp/switch](https://link)*               | *E.g. [COPY\_switch](https://link)*               | *E.g. [link](https://link)* | *E.g. Live, watched for cost* |
| \[add theme]        |                             |                                                  |           |                                               |                                                 |                                                   |                             |                               |

## What each theme covers

The overlap check. Two themes whose intents cannot be told apart in one line are competing, whatever their keyword lists say.

| Short form          | Intent, in one sentence                                             | What it deliberately does not cover                         |
| :------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------------------ | :---------------------------------------------------------- |
| *E.g.* `REPORTAUTO` | *E.g. Find a way to stop building the same weekly report by hand.*  | *E.g. Queries naming a rival product. Those go to* `COMPET` |
| *E.g.* `COMPET`     | *E.g. Work out whether a named rival is worth switching away from.* | *E.g. Problem-aware queries with no product named*          |
| \[add theme]        |                                                                     |                                                             |

## Status values

| Status  | Meaning                                                 |
| :------ | :------------------------------------------------------ |
| Planned | Brief filled in, nothing built yet                      |
| Built   | Ad group exists in Google Ads, paused                   |
| Live    | Serving                                                 |
| Watch   | Live, with a stated concern such as cost or query drift |
| Merged  | Folded into another theme. Note which one               |
| Retired | Paused or removed. Note the date and the reason         |

<Note>
  Merged and retired rows stay in the register. A theme that was tried and folded into another one is the most useful row here, because it stops the same theme being proposed again in six months.
</Note>

## Review

Themes accumulate. Nothing in Google Ads ever suggests that a group has stopped earning its place, so the review has to be scheduled rather than triggered.

At each review, for every live theme:

* Does the search terms report still match the intent statement, or has the theme drifted?
* Does any search term appear under two themes? That is a [boundary](/glossary#theme-boundary) problem, not a bidding one.
* Is the landing page still live, and does it still carry the promise the brief recorded?
* Did the theme prove what the brief said it would prove?

## Related resources

* [**Search theme brief**](/google-search-theme-brief) The workbook a row here is filled from.
* [**Search theme template**](/google-search-theme-template) The blank sheet for a theme you are adding now.
* [**Search theme concepts**](/google-search-theme-concepts) Why themes overlap, and what to do about it.
* [**Google campaign brief**](/google-campaign-brief) Where the campaigns in this register are defined.
* [**Campaign library**](/campaign-library-overview) Where the campaign briefs themselves are filed.