Step-by-Step Guide to Launch Your First Google Ads Campaign

There are certainly benefits to organic marketing, such as SEO, content, and social media marketing. As a brand, if you want to stand out from the crowd and quickly boost your ROI, pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is your best bet. However, it may not be so easy to stand out because you most likely have competitors who will be using the same keywords and search terms you wish to use. That’s where this blog post comes in. We will walk you through setting up your first Google Ads campaign and provide a step-by-step guide.

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What is a Google Ads campaign?

A Google Ads campaign is a form of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising where your ads appear on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) or across its partner networks.

Ads are structured within campaigns, which are divided into ad groups that house individual ads, keywords, and landing pages. For example, within your Google Ads Campaign for “female clothing,” you may have different ad groups for skirts, blouses, and shoes. In turn, each ad group can have a unique set of keywords.

Steps to Run Your First Google Ads Campaign

Here’s how to set up and run Google Ads like a pro.

Step 1: Create Your Account & Switch to Expert Mode

Starting your Google ads campaign right off from scratch? No worries. Simply head on to ads.google.com and click “get started.”
Opt for “Switch to Expert Mode” if you want more customization options instead of the default Smart campaigns.
The signing up process for your Google Ads account and the creation of your first campaign may automatically include setting up your payment method. You do not need to hesitate to share your Account & Billing information during this stage, as you will not be charged until you start getting clicks for your fully set-up ad campaign. You also have the option of turning it off after the registration stage.

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Step 2: Choose a Goal and Campaign Type

Your campaign’s goal dictates its structure. Your next step is to choose a goal and campaign type for your Google ad. The type you choose should depend on the purpose of your ad. The usual Google interface prompt for goal options includes getting more calls, website sales or signups, or more physical visits.

Campaign types include:

Search Ads: Text ads appearing on SERPs.
Display Ads: Visual ads shown on partner websites.
Video Ads: Ads displayed on YouTube.
Shopping Ads: Ads featuring product images and prices.

If you aim to build website traffic or generate improved awareness, sales, or some other conversion, you could choose website traffic as your objective so that you can create a Search ad. However, note that you are free to subsequently run other campaign types that align with your marketing goals as time goes on.

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Step 3: Fill in the business description

Provide essential details about your business, including:

Business Name: Ensure consistency with your branding.
Website URL: This will be your ad’s destination page. It’s best to link to a page that aligns with the campaign goal. For instance, if your goal is lead generation, Link to a form or sign-up page. If your goal is product sales, provide a link to the specific product page or your online store.
Business Description/Category: Write a clear and concise description of your business using keywords. Google uses this to suggest relevant keywords and audiences.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Highlight what makes your business stand out. For example, “Same-day delivery” or “100% organic products.”

For example, if you own a bakery, your business description might read:

“Freshly baked artisanal bread, cakes, and pastries crafted with organic ingredients. Offering same-day delivery across London.”

Step 4: Set Up the General Campaign Settings

This step is crucial as it defines how and where your ads will run. It ensures your campaign is tailored to your business goals and helps you reach the right audience at the right time. Here’s how to set it up effectively.

A) Campaign Name: Choose a descriptive name like “Holiday Sale 2025” for easy identification. Avoid generic names like “Campaign 1,” which can lead to confusion when managing multiple campaigns.

B) Campaign Type: Google Ads offers several campaign types. Your choice here impacts how and where your ads appear:

Search Campaign: Text-based ads that appear in Google’s search results. Ideal for driving website traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales.
Display Campaign: Visual banner ads shown on websites in Google’s Display Network. Ideal for brand awareness and retargeting.
Shopping Campaign: Product ads that include images, prices, and store details. Ideal for e-commerce businesses selling physical products.
Video Campaign: Video ads are shown on YouTube and other Google partner sites. Ideal for building brand awareness and engaging audiences.
Local Campaign: Ads designed to drive traffic to a physical store or location. Ideal for: Local businesses with a physical presence.
Performance Max Campaign: This campaign uses automation to show ads across multiple Google platforms. Ideal for maximizing conversions across Google’s entire ad inventory. While this can increase ad reach at a lower cost, it may be more difficult to receive a high impression share.

Pro Tip: Start with a Search Campaign if you’re new to Google Ads, as it’s straightforward and focuses on intent-based searches.

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C) Networks (Search and Display)

Search Network: Choose whether your ads appear on Google’s Search Network only or also on search partner websites (e.g., YouTube, Google Maps). Including search partners can increase reach but may dilute your budget if you’re targeting a specific audience.
Display Network: If you choose a Search Campaign, you’ll have the option to extend your ads to Google’s Display Network. While this expands visibility, it may not be suitable if you’re focused on high-intent clicks.

Recommendation: For beginners, stick to the Search Network only to keep your campaign focused.

D) Start & End Dates: Schedule when your campaign will run. Use an end date for time-sensitive promotions.

Pro Tip: If you’re running an evergreen campaign (e.g., “Ongoing Plumbing Services”), leave the end date blank, but set a daily budget to control costs.

E) Ad Rotation: Ad rotation determines how often Google shows different ads in your campaign:

Optimize (Recommended): Google automatically prioritizes the best-performing ads to maximize clicks or conversions.
Do Not Optimize (Even Rotation): Each ad is shown evenly, allowing you to test performance manually.

Recommendation: Use the “Optimize” option for automated performance boosts, but switch to “Even Rotation” if you’re A/B testing ad variations.

F) Device Targeting

Specify which devices your ads should appear on:

All Devices (Default): Targets desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.
Device-Specific Targeting: Adjust bids to prioritize certain devices. For instance, you can increase bids for mobile devices if you’re targeting on-the-go users. Also, decrease bids for desktops if most of your traffic comes from mobile.

Pro Tip: Use Google Analytics or past campaign data to identify which devices perform best for your audience.

G) Ad Extensions

Add additional information to your ad using extensions. These can improve click-through rates (CTR) and provide more value to users:
- Sitelink Extensions: Links to specific pages (e.g., “Shop Now,” “Contact Us”).
- Call Extensions: Show your phone number for direct calls.
- Location Extensions: Add your business address and map location.
- Callout Extensions: Highlight unique selling points (e.g., “Free Shipping,” “24/7 Support”).
- Structured Snippet Extensions: Showcase specific features (e.g., “Available Colours: Red, Blue, Green”).

Step 5: Set Your Ad Delivery Schedule

Specify the days and times your ads should appear. For instance:

Show ads during business hours to target customers when you’re open.
Avoid showing ads late at night when conversions are less likely.

Step 6: Set location and language

Targeting the right location and language ensures your ads reach the most relevant audience. Here’s how to set it up:

Location Targeting:
- Choose specific geographic areas, such as cities, regions, or countries.
- Use Google’s location options to target:
  - People in the targeted location: Ads only show to people physically present in your chosen area.
  - People searching for the location: Include users outside the area who are interested in it. For local businesses, focus on nearby regions to maximize relevance.
Language Targeting:
- Select the languages your audience speaks.
- For instance, if you’re targeting bilingual areas, you can choose both English and Spanish to maximize reach.

Step 7: Set Your Daily Budget

Your daily budget determines how much you’re willing to spend on your campaign per day. You need to get your Google Ads budget just right because if you do not spend enough, you might not get good results. On the other hand, you’ll likely run through your budget allocation in little time if you spend too much.

Tips for Setting Your Budget

Estimate Costs: Use Google’s Keyword Planner to estimate costs for your keywords. This estimate is your average CPA or CPC.
Start Small: Begin with a modest budget and scale up as you analyse performance.
Calculate Your Daily Budget: Divide your monthly ad spend by 30.4 (average days in a month).
Monitor Performance: Regularly review your spending and adjust as necessary. You can gain good insight into daily and monthly spend projections from the Google Ads budget report. Continuously reviewing the results can help you know when to adjust your budget.

Note: Daily budgets are not exactly flat in practice. Google may charge as high as $16 on some days to get more clicks and conversions and as low as $10 on other days to even out the spend if your daily budget is set to $12.

Step 8: Pick a Bidding Strategy

The bidding strategy as deployed by Google depends on your budget and your goals. Google offers two primary types. The steps to pick your bidding strategy involve the following:

Click the “Or, select a bid strategy directly (not recommended).” option

Manual Bidding:

Set a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) for your keywords.
Provides more control but requires regular monitoring. However, the amount you specify shouldn’t be so low that it limits the performance of the ad.

Automated Bidding:

Google adjusts bids to maximize conversions within your budget. Here, you can monitor the data to gain some insights on the potential cost for clicks on the ad.

Ideal for beginners as it reduces complexity.

So, what bidding strategy should you choose? If you’re starting, you may choose automated bidding until you get a grasp of what works best for your brand or business. Then, you can start using manual bidding.

By default, Google usually leaves the “ad rotation” setting on the best-performing ads. You may leave it on that setting to gain the most for your money, regardless of the ad Google decides to show. However, you may put it on an even rotation if you wish to test ads against others or use different types of ad copy.

Step 9: Set Up Keywords

Keywords trigger your ads when users search for specific terms. Your target audience uses certain words and phrases (keywords) when they search on Google. Your ads will show up for these keywords when your bid on them is successful.

Give names to your ad groups (collection of thematically organized ads and keywords). The way you name your ad groups can influence how well-organized and optimal your Google Ads account structure and campaigns are. For example, you may have different ad groups for ads and keywords for Nike sports shoes and Adidas sports shoes.

If you prefer manual bidding, you can set your max CPC bid in the default bid section. While you may use Google’s automatic theme suggestions (given based on the content of your website), you need to adapt these suggestions and customize them.

Tips for Creating a Strong Keyword Strategy

1. Keyword Research:

Use Google’s Keyword Planner or tools like SEMRush and Wordstream’s Free Keyword Tool to identify relevant terms.
Look for high-volume, low-competition keywords. For instance, you can choose location-based keywords such as “plumber New York” if you’re doing local PPC.

2. Match Types: Use the right match types to limit your keyword count and indicate to Google what variations of your keywords to prioritize.

Broad Match: Your ad shows for related terms (e.g., “running shoes” matches “best jogging sneakers”).
Phrase Match: Your ad appears for searches with your exact phrase (e.g., “buy running shoes”).
Exact Match: Your ad only shows for precise terms (e.g., “cheap running shoes”).

3. Negative Keywords:

- Exclude irrelevant terms to prevent wasted clicks (e.g., “free” if you sell premium products).

4. Organize Ad Groups:

- - Group keywords by themes or product categories for better targeting.

Step 10: Create Your Ad

Crafting compelling ad copy is crucial to grabbing attention and driving clicks. The three key components of a Google ad include the Headline, Description, and Destination URL.

Headline: The headline should contain relevant search terms, but be mindful that the three sections have a 30-character limit.

Write engaging, keyword-rich headlines.
Example: “Free Shipping on Organic Coffee – Order Today!”

Description

Highlight benefits and a clear call-to-action (CTA).
Example: “Discover our 100% organic coffee. Free shipping on orders over $50. Shop now!”
Note that both sections have a 90-character limit. Do not worry, you can tweak the tone or content if you do not get it right the first time.

Display URL

Use a clean, concise URL (e.g., “ www.exclusiveblueprint.com/hireghostwriter”)

Ad Extensions

Add sitelinks, phone numbers, or promotional offers to increase engagement.

Step 11: Review and Set Up Billing

Before submitting your campaign:

Double-check all settings, including targeting, keywords, and ad copy.
Test your ad preview to ensure it displays correctly.
Set up billing:
- Add a credit card or billing method.
- Google only charges when users click your ads.

Step 12: Submit and Monitor Performance

Finally, once you are satisfied, you can hit submit to launch your first Google Ads Campaign.

If you wish to create more campaigns later, you can go to the menu on the left and click campaigns. Thereafter, you can click the blue “plus” button to choose “New Campaign.”

After launch, you can;

Monitor Key Metrics: It is important to be familiar with major PPC metrics and to continue optimizing your campaigns as time goes on

Click-through rate (CTR)
Conversion rate
Cost-per-click (CPC)

Refine Campaigns:

Use A/B testing to experiment with different headlines, descriptions, and images.
Pause underperforming keywords or ads. Also watch out for mistakes that can lead to ad disapprovals.

Analyze Reports:

Google Ads provides detailed insights into ad performance. Use this data to optimize future campaigns.

If You Wish to Cancel Your Campaign

To pause or cancel your campaign:

Log into your Google Ads account.
Click on Campaigns in the left-hand menu.
Select the campaign you wish to stop.
Click Edit and choose Pause or Remove to deactivate the campaign.

Ensuring a Successful First Google Ads Campaign

Running your first Google Ads campaign doesn’t have to be daunting. By following this step-by-step guide, you’ll set yourself up for success. Continuously monitor performance, refine your strategy, and optimize your campaigns to maximize ROI. Remember, the key is to continuously monitor performance, refine your approach, and experiment with optimizations like A/B testing to improve engagement and conversions. With practice and persistence, you’ll master the art of Google Ads and drive meaningful results for your business.

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If you need expert guidance or prefer to leave the details to professionals, we’re here to help. Visit our Contact Us page and reach out to us today. Let’s work together to create a high-performing campaign tailored to your business goals! For powerful blog content to promote your business, visit Exclusive Blueprint, a digital marketing blog powered by Buzztide Technologies. Our blog provides valuable tips, trends, and tools that can help you stay ahead in the competitive landscape of digital marketing.

You can read other valuable content and trending topics on E-commerce, content marketing, technology, and industry news by checking out our latest articles and expert advice on Exclusive Blueprint today!

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Step-by-Step Guide to Launch Your First Google Ads Campaign