Launch your first Google Ads campaign, step by step

What is Google Ads and how does it work?

Google Ads is Google's advertising platform. It lets you show ads on Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps and millions of partner websites and apps. Most beginners start with Search ads: short text ads that appear when someone searches for something you offer.

Google Ads runs an auction every time someone searches. You don't simply win by paying the most. Google combines your bid with the quality and relevance of your ad and landing page to decide whether your ad shows and where. A relevant, useful ad can beat a higher bidder.

You usually pay when someone clicks, which is why this is called pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. You control the daily budget, and Google won't keep spending far beyond it over a month.

Which campaign type should a beginner choose?

For most beginners, a Search campaign is the right first choice. It is the easiest to understand and the most transparent.

With Search, you choose the keywords and can see exactly which searches triggered your ads. That teaches you what customers search for and what a lead really costs. Once tracking is reliable and you have steady conversions, you can test more automated types like Performance Max.

What should you prepare before starting?

1. One clear goal. Phone calls, WhatsApp chats, form leads or online sales. Pick the main action you want.
2. A landing page that converts. It should match the ad, load fast on mobile and make that action easy, with a clickable phone number, a WhatsApp button or a short form.
3. Your numbers. How much is a customer worth? How many leads become customers? From these you can work out how much you can afford per lead. Our budget planner and ROAS calculator help.
4. A realistic budget you can sustain for at least a month while the campaign learns.

How do you set up a Google Ads account correctly?

• Sign up at ads.google.com with your business Google account. If Google pushes a simplified “Smart” setup, look for the option to switch to Expert mode so you have full control.
• Set the billing country to India and the currency to Indian Rupee (INR). Currency and time zone are hard or impossible to change later, so check them carefully.
• Add your GST details if you have them, and complete advertiser verification when Google asks.
• Link Google Analytics 4, and your Google Business Profile if you have one, so location and call details can show with your ads.
• Give access to teammates or an agency through user access settings. Never share your login password.

How do you set up conversion tracking?

Conversion tracking tells Google which clicks turned into customers. Without it, you can't tell good keywords from bad ones, and smart bidding has nothing to learn from.

• Decide what counts: form submissions, purchases, calls from ads, calls from your website, or clicks on your WhatsApp button.
• Install the Google tag on your website directly or through Google Tag Manager, then create conversion actions in Google Ads.
• Test everything. Submit a test form, click the call button and check that conversions appear, using Tag Assistant and the conversion status in Google Ads.
• Mark only real business outcomes as primary conversions. Page views and time on site are not conversions.
• Consider enhanced conversions to improve accuracy, following Google's setup and your privacy obligations.

How do you choose keywords and match types?

Choose keywords that show buying intent, and group them into tight themes. Each theme becomes an ad group with its own ads.

High-intent searches often include words like price, cost, near me, best, book, buy, repair, service or a city or area name. For example, “ac repair near me” or “ac service charges andheri” are better than just “ac”.

On a small budget, start with phrase and exact match so you control where your money goes. Broad match can work well later, combined with smart bidding and strong conversion data.

Negative keywords protect your budget

Negative keywords stop your ads showing for irrelevant searches. Start with a list such as free, job, jobs, salary, course, training, DIY, how to, second hand, adjusted for your business. If you sell courses, for example, “course” is obviously not a negative for you.

How do you write ads that get clicked?

Responsive search ads let you add up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and Google mixes them to find the best combinations. Give it real variety:

• Use the keyword theme in two or three headlines, for example “AC Repair in Andheri”.
• State your offer and a reason to choose you: “Same-Day Service”, “Starting ₹499”, “4.8★ on Google”.
• Answer worries: “No Hidden Charges”, “90-Day Service Warranty”.
• End with a clear action: “Book a Free Visit”, “WhatsApp Us Now”.

Only make claims you can prove, because misleading claims break ad policies and hurt trust.

Add assets (extensions)

Assets make your ad bigger and more useful: sitelinks (links to other pages), callouts (short benefits), structured snippets, call and location assets, plus image and price assets where available. Add as many as are relevant.

What budget, bidding and settings should you use?

• Budget: choose a daily amount you can keep up for at least a month. Google may spend more on some days and less on others, but stays within your monthly limit.
• Bidding: with no conversion data yet, many advertisers start with Maximise clicks and a maximum CPC limit, or manual CPC. Once conversions are tracked and arriving regularly, test Maximise conversions, then target CPA.
• Networks: for a Search campaign, turn off the Display Network. Consider turning off Search Partners at first too.
• Locations: target only areas you serve, and choose “Presence: people in or regularly in your targeted locations”.
• Languages: include English and Hindi (or your regional language) if your customers use them.
• Ad schedule: if you rely on calls or WhatsApp, run ads only when someone can answer.

What should you do in the first 30 days?

Follow up every lead within an hour if you can. Even a perfect campaign fails if nobody answers the phone.

Which numbers should you watch?

• CTR (click-through rate): clicks divided by impressions. Low CTR usually means the ad doesn't match the search.
• CPC (cost per click): what you pay on average per click.
• Conversion rate: conversions divided by clicks. Low conversion rate usually points to the landing page or the offer.
• Cost per conversion (CPA): spend divided by conversions. This is your most important number.
• Impression share: how often your ads showed out of the times they could have. Low share due to budget means you could get more with more spend.

Try these in our free PPC metrics calculator.

What is Quality Score and why does it matter?

Quality Score is Google's 1–10 estimate of how relevant and useful your keyword, ad and landing page are together. It's shown at keyword level and built from three parts: expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience.

Quality Score itself isn't used directly in the auction, but the same factors behind it affect your Ad Rank. Better relevance usually means better positions and lower costs per click. To improve it:

• Keep ad groups tightly themed, so the keyword appears naturally in your headlines.
• Send each ad group to the most relevant page, not your homepage.
• Make the landing page fast, mobile-friendly and clearly about the same thing as the ad.
• Write headlines that answer what the searcher wants: price, location, speed, proof.

What does a simple first campaign look like?

Here's an example structure for a home-cleaning business in Hyderabad. Adapt the themes to your own services.

Each ad group gets its own responsive search ad and its own landing page section. After two weeks, the search terms report will show which services and phrases bring enquiries.

Google Ads or SEO: which should you start with?

Use Google Ads when you need enquiries now, and SEO when you want free visibility that grows over time. Most businesses benefit from both.

A useful habit: take the search terms that convert well in Google Ads and build or improve SEO pages for them. Over time you can reduce ad spend on services where you rank well organically. Read our SEO for Beginners guide to start the free side.

What mistakes waste the most money?

• Running broad match keywords with no negatives on a small budget.
• Sending all ads to the homepage instead of a matching landing page.
• Targeting all of India when you serve one city.
• Changing everything every day before the campaign has data.
• Counting page views or button hovers as conversions.
• Copying competitors' claims you can't back up.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

• Google Ads Help Center
• Google Keyword Planner
• Google Tag Manager Help
• Google Ads policies