Google Ads lets you pay to put your business in front of people on Google Search, YouTube and websites and apps in Google's network, with you deciding the budget, the audience and what counts as a result. For most beginners the right first step is one Search campaign, a short list of keywords that show buying intent, conversion tracking that actually records enquiries or sales, and a daily budget you can afford to learn with.
How does Google Ads work?
You choose where your ads can appear, write the ads, set a budget and pick a bid strategy. On Search, you choose keywords; when someone searches for something that matches them, your ad competes in an auction with other advertisers' ads, and on most Search campaigns you pay when someone clicks.
Google also gives each keyword a Quality Score from 1 to 10. Google describes it as a diagnostic tool, not an input in the auction, built from three parts: expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. A low score usually means the ad, keyword or page does not match the search.
Which campaign type should a beginner choose?
Pick the campaign type that matches what you sell and how people look for it.
| Campaign type | Where ads show | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Text ads on Google search results | Services and products people actively search for. The usual first campaign. |
| Shopping | Product listings on search results and the Shopping tab | Online shops. Needs a Merchant Center account with your products in it. |
| Performance Max | All Google Ads inventory from one campaign | Advertisers with reliable conversion tracking and good images and video. |
| Display | Image ads on websites, apps and Google-owned properties such as YouTube | Reach, and showing ads again to people who visited your site. |
| Video | Video ads on YouTube and other websites | Brand awareness, or conversions when you have strong video. |
A local service business should almost always start with Search. A shop with a clean product catalogue can start with Shopping or Performance Max fed by Merchant Center.
How do you set up your first campaign?
- Decide what a conversion is. A purchase, a form, a phone call. Set up conversion measurement before you spend anything; without it you cannot tell which keywords bring customers, and Smart Bidding has nothing to work with.
- Research keywords. Keyword Planner suggests related keywords and shows estimates of how often they are searched and what they cost to target. Favour phrases that signal intent to buy or book ("emergency plumber", "buy standing desk") over broad research terms.
- Group keywords by service. One ad group per service or product line, so each ad can speak directly to the search.
- Write responsive search ads. You can enter up to 15 headlines of up to 30 characters and up to 4 descriptions of up to 90 characters, and Google tests combinations. Say what you do and why someone should choose you.
- Add assets. Sitelinks, call buttons, location and other assets make the ad larger and more useful. Google does not charge to add them; clicks are charged as usual.
- Send each click to the matching page. An ad for boiler repair should land on the boiler repair page, not the home page.
How do keyword match types and negative keywords work?
- Broad match is the default. Ads can show on searches related to your keyword, including ones without its exact words. Google says it is critical to use Smart Bidding with broad match.
- Phrase match ("tennis shoes") shows ads on searches that include the meaning of the keyword: more reach than exact, less than broad.
- Exact match ([red shoe]) shows ads on searches with the same meaning or intent, giving the most control and the least reach.
Negative keywords stop your ads showing for searches you do not want. Google's own example is an optometrist excluding "wine glasses" and "drinking glasses". Note that negatives do not match close variants: excluding "flowers" blocks "red flowers" but not "red flower". The search terms report shows the actual searches that triggered your ads, and reading it every week is where most wasted spend is found.
How does the budget work, and which bid strategy should you start with?
You set an average daily budget. Spend varies by day, but Google states you will never pay more than your daily spending limit, "two times your average daily budget for most campaigns", on any day, or your monthly limit, "30.4 times your average daily budget for most campaigns", in a month. To budget from a monthly figure, divide it by 30.4.
For bidding, Google notes that Maximize Clicks can suit new campaigns that lack conversion data. Once conversions are being recorded, move to Maximize Conversions, or Target CPA if you know what a lead or sale is worth to you. Shops that track revenue can use Target ROAS or Maximize Conversion Value. Before you commit money, our free Google Ads planner gives a rough forecast of clicks and leads for your budget and checks whether your site is ready to convert them.
What should you check every week?
- The search terms report: add negatives for irrelevant searches.
- Conversions by keyword and ad group: move budget towards what produces enquiries, pause what does not.
- Whether conversions are still being recorded. Broken tracking after a website change is common and silently ruins automated bidding.
- The landing page. If clicks are fine but enquiries are not, the problem is usually the page, which is where conversion rate optimisation earns its keep.
What mistakes waste a beginner's budget?
- Running with no conversion tracking, or tracking page views instead of real enquiries.
- Using broad match with manual bidding and no negative keywords.
- Splitting a small budget across too many campaigns, so none gathers enough data.
- Sending every ad to the home page.
If your site already gets visitors who do not enquire, read why a website gets traffic but no leads before adding paid traffic on top. And if you would rather have Google Ads-certified specialists set up and tune the account, our PPC and paid media team reviews search terms, bids and budgets every week on the accounts we manage.
Questions people ask about Google Ads
How much does Google Ads cost?
There is no fixed price. You set an average daily budget, and for most campaigns Google will not charge more than 30.4 times that in a month. What each click costs depends on the auction for your keywords, your competitors and the quality of your ads and landing page.
How quickly does Google Ads bring results?
Ads can start showing soon after the campaign is approved, so traffic can arrive quickly. Turning that traffic into a profitable, steady flow of leads takes longer, because you need enough conversion data to see which keywords and ads work and to let automated bidding learn.
Should a beginner use Performance Max?
Only if conversion tracking is reliable and you can supply good images, video and product data. Performance Max optimises towards your conversion goals across all of Google's inventory, so weak tracking leads it in the wrong direction. Most service businesses learn more, faster, from a well-built Search campaign.
Is Google Ads better than SEO?
They do different jobs. Ads buy visibility immediately and stop when you stop paying; SEO builds visibility that lasts but takes months. Many businesses use ads to get enquiries now and to learn which searches convert, then put that knowledge into their SEO.
Further reading
Official guidance on the subject, from the platforms themselves: