The 13-Step Guide to Creating a Google AdWords Campaign from Scratch

10 Jul The 13-Step Guide to Creating a Google AdWords Campaign from Scratch

We know that when it comes to AdWords, the most important acronym for our clients is ROI, and why shouldn’t it be!? In this article, we are going to walk you through everything you need to know when it comes to creating a profitable Google AdWords campaign from scratch.

Introduction to AdWords (now Google Ads)

Google AdWords, now known as Google Ads, is Google’s flagship platform for online advertising. With Google Ads, businesses of all sizes can create targeted campaigns that reach potential customers right when they’re searching for products or services on Google Search, browsing YouTube, or visiting websites across the Google Display Network. Ads can also appear across the Google Search Network, which includes search engines, web pages, and partner sites, providing even broader reach for advertisers. Google Play is a key platform for app promotion, and app campaigns are designed to promote mobile applications across Google Search, YouTube, Google Play, and the Display Network. Whether you’re looking to boost brand awareness, drive more site traffic, or increase sales, Google Ads offers a flexible and powerful way to connect with your target audience. In addition to Google Ads, understanding the basics of Amazon Advertising can further expand your digital strategy across different e-commerce platforms. Understanding how to create and manage a Google Ads campaign is the first step toward unlocking the full potential of digital advertising and reaching more potential customers through the Google search ecosystem. A Google account is required to access and manage Google Ads.

Define Your Campaign Goal

Before you dive into creating your first Google Ads campaign, it’s crucial to define exactly what you want to achieve by setting a clear advertising goal. Are you aiming to drive more traffic, generate high-quality leads, boost online sales, or increase sign-ups for your service or newsletter? Google Ads offers a variety of campaign types—such as search ads, video ads, shopping ads, and display ads—each tailored to different business objectives. For example, if your goal is to increase website traffic, a search ad campaign targeting relevant keywords and choosing the right keywords will help your business appear in Google Search results when potential customers are actively looking for your products or services. If you want to showcase products visually, shopping ads can display your offerings directly in the Google Shopping tab. By clearly defining your campaign goal, you’ll be able to choose the right campaign type and set your Google Ads campaign up for success.

13 Steps to Creating a Google Ads Campaign

Google Ads are an incredible lead-generating resource, which, when executed well, becomes a powerful, conversion-driven sales funnel. The Google Ads platform serves as the core system for managing ad campaigns and facilitating the entire paid advertising process on Google. In this guide, we’ll cover how to create, manage, and optimise both PPC campaigns and various types of ad campaigns within Google Ads. So, let’s get started so you can begin creating a profitable Google Ads Campaign.

1: Create a Google Ads Account.

First things first. Visit the Google Ads Website and set up your account. During the setup process, you will be prompted to enter your business name and website, which are essential for establishing your online presence. If you are having any issues, you can call and get assistance from a Google Ads specialist. Tip: Have your financial information ready to complete the setup process. Accurate billing information is required to fund your campaigns and ensure your ads can go live.

Once your account is set up, you can proceed to create your first campaign by following the guided steps provided by Google Ads.

2: Understand Ad Groups

Ad groups are the building blocks of any successful Google Ads campaign. Each ad group contains a set of ads that share common targets, such as keywords, ad copy, and landing pages. Organising your campaign into well-structured ad groups allows you to tailor your messaging and offers to specific segments of your audience. For instance, if you run an online store, you might create separate ad groups for different product categories—like shoes, accessories, or dresses—each with its own set of relevant keywords and customised ad copy. This approach not only improves the relevance of your ads but also helps you track performance and optimise your Google Ads campaign more effectively. By leveraging ad groups, you can ensure that your ads resonate with the right audience and drive better results from your ad spend.

3: Conduct Competitor and Keyword Research

A successful Google Ads campaign starts with thorough competitor and keyword research. Understanding what your target audience is searching for—and how your competitors are positioning themselves—gives you a strategic edge. Use Google Ads’ Keyword Planner to discover high-potential keywords that align with your products or services and to gauge search volume and competition. Dive deeper with tools like Auction Insights to see how your ads stack up against competitors, and consider third-party platforms like Ahrefs or SEMrush for a broader view of the competitive landscape. Analyse which keywords or web pages generate the most traffic to further refine your keyword and content strategy. By analysing which keywords your competitors are targeting and identifying gaps in their strategies, you can refine your keyword list and craft ads that better capture your target audience’s attention. This research phase is essential for building a Google Ads campaign that stands out and delivers results.

4: Set Up Keywords and Match Types

After identifying your target keywords, it’s time to set them up in your Google Ads campaign using the right match types. Google Ads offers several match types—broad match, phrase match, and exact match—each controlling how closely a user’s search query must align with your chosen keywords for your ad to appear. Broad match casts the widest net, showing your ads for related searches and variations, while phrase match targets searches that include your keyword phrase in order. Exact match is the most precise, only triggering your ad for searches that match your keyword exactly. For example, targeting the exact match keyword [women’s shoes] ensures your ad only appears for that specific search, while broad match might include searches like “best shoes for women.” When your keywords match a user’s query, your ads can be displayed on search results pages, increasing your visibility where potential customers are actively searching. Choosing the right mix of match types helps you balance reach and relevance, ensuring your ads connect with the right audience at the right time.

5: Choose Your Bidding Strategy

Google Ads operates on a bidding system where advertisers bid for ad placement in search results and across the Google network. Selecting the right bidding strategy is key to maximising the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaign while controlling your costs. Google Ads offers several bidding strategies tailored to different goals, such as cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), and cost-per-acquisition (CPA). In this bidding system, the maximum bid is the highest amount an advertiser is willing to pay for a click or impression. Advertisers pay either per click or per impression, depending on the chosen bidding strategy.

If your main objective is to drive conversions, a CPA bidding strategy allows you to set a target cost per conversion, and Google Ads will automatically optimise your bids to help you achieve that goal. After describing automated strategies, it’s important to note that manual bidding allows advertisers to set their own maximum bid for each keyword or ad group, providing more control over costs and enabling fine-tuning based on performance data. For campaigns focused on brand awareness, CPM bidding lets you pay for every thousand times your ad is shown, making it ideal for reaching a broad audience. By aligning your bidding strategy with your campaign objectives, you can make the most of your ad budget and ensure your Google Ads campaign delivers measurable results.

6: Budget

At the start of your Google Ads campaign, it’s essential to set a daily budget to control your advertising spend and ensure you don’t exceed your limits.

Before jumping into the deep end, make sure you can afford to target specific keywords in your niche. To do this, you need to calculate your ideal maximum cost per click (CPC). Your maximum CPC bid is a crucial factor in the Google Ads auction process, influencing your ad’s placement and visibility. Google’s calculation for the Actual CPC is based on your set Maximum CPC, Quality Score, and the Ad Rank of competitor ads. The Max CPC values need to be based on your website, your prices, and your profit margins. In many cases, the minimum bid for certain keywords can be just a few bucks, making Google Ads accessible for advertisers with various budgets.

When considering your ad spend and maximum CPC, also plan and adjust your monthly budget to align with your business goals and industry benchmarks.

Google has some great information on how to calculate this on their Google Ads help page.

It’s important to strategically spend money and manage your ad budget to ensure you are spending money efficiently and maximising your return on investment. Allocating more money to your campaigns can improve ad visibility and performance, especially in competitive markets.

7: Check Out the Competition

Once you have an idea for your direction, it’s time to research your customers, keywords, and competitors. Researching competitors involves analysing which search queries they are targeting to understand how they attract customers. Uncover your competitors’ keyword strategy using smart tools like SpyFu. Identifying your target market and customising your advertising strategy to reach this specific audience segment and target people based on their search behaviour, location, and interests for more effective campaigns is essential for effective keyword research.

8: Create AdWords with a powerful USP

A strong USP (unique selling point) is what makes you stand out from the rest. For this reason, it is essential to create a USP to generate more sales and increase conversions.

9: Ad Copy & Images

The images and copywriting in your ads need to grab the attention of prospective customers. Image ads are particularly effective on the Google Display Network for capturing user attention. Your ad needs to stand out from the millions of other campaigns out there. Choose the best images, work on your eye-catching headers, and create compelling copywriting.

Ad creation involves developing both text ads for search results and responsive search ads, which allow you to input multiple headlines and descriptions for Google to optimise automatically. Starting with a few ads in different ad formats, including various ad types such as app ads, video ads, and display ads, each tailored to specific campaign objectives, allows you to test and refine your approach for better results.

10: (a) Optimise your Landing Page

Your landing page is where people “land” after clicking on your ad. Your landing page conversion

rate is one of your biggest leverage points in online advertising. Tips for this are to ensure you have an attention-grabbing headline, remove distractions, and make it clear and concise.

10: (b) Optimise your Product Pages.

It is essential to optimise your product pages so that Google understands which keywords your product should appear for. Optimising your product pages also helps your product listings appear more prominently in Google search results and shopping ads.

To do this, use keywords in your product title, page title, meta description, image alt text, and product description copy.

Well-optimised product pages can directly contribute to more website sales by making it easier for customers to find and purchase your products.

11: Create a Call to Action

The number one thing you can do is make it as simple as possible to contact you. Don’t hide the details away; make it clear.

12: Set up Tracking

Conversion tracking measures the sales generated by your AdWords campaign. If you’re not properly tracking your conversions and sales, you will be throwing away your investment. Make sure that all relevant tracking is set up across all website form submissions, sales, phone calls, etc.

Recommend either starting with the Google tag or syncing up with Google Analytics (GA4) and importing goals from the account.

13: Negative Keywords

It’s a good idea to make sure you’re not receiving clicks from unrelated searches. To achieve this, you should add a negative keywords list to your ad campaign. In AdWords, you can set up negative keywords at an ad group or campaign level.

You are on your way to Creating a Profitable Google AdWords Campaign. We hope these 10 tips help you save time and avoid eating into your marketing budget. Feel free to reach out to our team online or email [email protected].

Best Practices for Google Ads Campaigns

To get the most out of your Google Ads campaigns, it’s important to follow proven best practices that can help you reach your target audience, drive more conversions, and maximise your ad spend. Here are some essential tips to keep your campaigns on track:

• Conduct thorough keyword research: Start with Google’s Keyword Planner to uncover relevant keywords and search queries your potential customers are using. Focus on finding a mix of high-intent and long-tail keywords that align with your business goals.
• Organise your ad groups: Structure your ad groups logically, grouping similar keywords and ads. This ensures your ads are highly relevant to the search queries you’re targeting, which can improve your Quality Score and lower your cost per click.
• Write compelling ad copy: Your ad copy should be clear, concise, and persuasive. Highlight your unique selling points and include a strong call-to-action to encourage users to click your ads.
• Use ad extensions: Enhance your ads with ad extensions like sitelinks, callouts, and call extensions. These provide extra information, increase your ad’s visibility, and can boost your click-through rates.
• Set up conversion tracking: Use Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion tracking to measure the actions users take after clicking your ads. This data is crucial for understanding what’s working and where to optimise.
• Monitor and optimise regularly: Don’t set and forget your campaigns. Regularly review your performance data, test new ad copy, adjust your bidding strategy, and refine your keyword targeting to continually improve your results.

By following these best practices, you’ll set a strong foundation for your Google Ads campaigns and position your business for ongoing success.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even experienced marketers can fall into common traps when running Google Ads campaigns. Avoiding these mistakes can save you money and help you achieve better results:

• Skipping keyword research: Without in-depth keyword research, you risk targeting irrelevant keywords that don’t attract your ideal customers. Always use tools like Keyword Planner to find the most relevant keywords for your business.
• Poor ad group organisation: Mixing unrelated keywords in a single ad group can lead to generic ads that don’t match user intent. Keep your ad groups tightly themed for better relevance and performance.
• Weak ad copy: If your ad copy doesn’t stand out or clearly communicate your offer, users are less likely to click. Invest time in crafting compelling, benefit-driven ads.
• Ignoring ad extensions: Not using ad extensions means missing out on valuable real estate and additional information that can set your ads apart on the search results page.
• Neglecting conversion tracking: Without conversion tracking, you can’t accurately measure the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns or make informed decisions about where to allocate your budget.
• Failing to optimise: Running Google Ads is not a one-time task. Regularly review your campaigns, test new strategies, and make data-driven adjustments to avoid wasted spend and improve your ROI.

By steering clear of these common mistakes, you’ll ensure your Google Ads campaigns are more effective and your ad budget is put to the best possible use.

Advanced Google Ads Topics

Once you’ve mastered the basics of running Google Ads campaigns, you can explore advanced features and strategies to further boost your results:

• Automated bidding strategies: Google Ads offers automated bidding options like Target CPA (cost per acquisition) and Target ROAS (return on ad spend) that use machine learning to optimise your bids in real time, helping you get the most value from your ad spend.
• Smart campaigns: For businesses looking for a more hands-off approach, Smart campaigns use Google’s automation to manage targeting, bidding, and ad creation, making it easier to reach your marketing goals with less manual effort.
• Video ads: Expand your reach with video ads on YouTube and the Google Display Network. Video ads are a powerful way to engage your audience, build brand awareness, and drive action.
• Shopping ads: If you sell products online, Shopping ads allow you to showcase your product listings directly in Google search results, complete with images, prices, and your business name, making it easier for shoppers to find and buy your products.
• Google Ads scripts: For advanced users, Google Ads scripts let you automate routine tasks, customise reporting, and manage large-scale changes across your campaigns using simple code.

Exploring these advanced Google Ads features can help you stay ahead of the competition, reach new customers, and make your campaigns even more effective.

Conclusion

Google Ads is a dynamic and powerful platform that can help you reach your target audience, drive conversions, and achieve your marketing goals. By following best practices, steering clear of common mistakes, and embracing advanced strategies, you can continually optimise your Google Ads campaigns for better performance and greater ROI. Whether you’re launching your first campaign or looking to refine your existing ads, staying informed and proactive is key to making Google Ads work for your business. Keep learning, keep testing, and watch your results grow.