How to Set Up Your First Google Ads Without Wasting Money

A Google Ads search campaign shows a short text ad when someone searches Google for words you've chosen, and you pay when they click. Set up carelessly, it can spend a month's budget on clicks from people outside your area or looking for something you don't sell. This guide sets one up in the order that protects your money: count results first, narrow who sees the ad, then spend.

Each step follows the Google Ads help page linked in it, as those pages read in October 2026. Google renames menus often, so if a screen looks different, look for the setting by its name.

1. 01

   Decide what counts as a result

   Before you write a single ad, decide what a good outcome looks like. For most local businesses it is a phone call or a filled-in quote form, not a website visit. Write it down, because every later step is judged against it.

2. 02

   Set up conversion tracking first

   Google calls a counted result a conversion. Its conversion overview describes it as the action you choose to value, such as a purchase, a sign-up or a phone call. Without it, the account can only report clicks, and a click isn't a customer.

   In Google Ads, open the Goals menu, choose Summary, then + Create conversion action. Enter your website address and Google scans it for an existing Google tag. Google's web conversions guide then offers two routes:

   • Without code, by counting a page load, such as the thank-you page your form shows after someone sends it.
   • With code, for a button click or anything that doesn't have its own page.

   Then count phone calls. Google can track calls made straight from your ad, calls to a Google forwarding number shown on your website, and taps on your phone number on the mobile version of your site. For call conversions you set a minimum call length, so a quick wrong number isn't counted as a lead.

   Test it before going further. Send your own form, then check the Status column next to that conversion under Goals and Summary. Google's Tag Assistant can also confirm the tag is on the page.

3. 03

   Create a Search campaign

   Create a new campaign and choose Search as the type. If the sign-up screens offer a Smart campaign, note that Google says Smart campaigns can only be created in Smart Mode. This guide uses a standard Search campaign, which gives you direct control over every setting below.

   You can pick an objective such as Leads, or Create a campaign without a goal's guidance. Either way, Google's Search campaign guide asks for at least one conversion goal: choose the one you set up in step 2.

4. 04

   Switch off the networks you didn't ask for

   The campaign's Networks setting has two boxes. Google's help says search partners are included by default in a new Search campaign, and the Display Network box lets the campaign show ads on websites and apps as well. For a first campaign, untick both, so every ad appears on Google Search to someone who typed the words you chose. You can try partners later, once you know what a call from Google Search costs.

5. 05

   Show ads only where your customers are

   Under Locations, enter the towns, ZIP codes or radius you actually serve, and exclude any places inside that area you don't want. Then open Location options, the setting most first campaigns miss.

   Google's default, Presence or interest, also reaches people who have only shown interest in your area, such as someone in another state researching it. Google's location options page describes the alternative, Presence, as reaching people who are in, or regularly in, the places you target. For a business that serves people where they live or work, Presence is usually the safer choice. Google notes most campaigns get fewer impressions after switching, which here is the point.

6. 06

   Choose a short list of keywords

   Keywords are the searches you want your ad to show for. Start with one ad group per service, each with a handful of keywords a customer ready to hire would type, such as "roof leak repair" or "emergency roofer". Google's free Keyword Planner, under the Tools menu, estimates how often each is searched and what a click may cost.

   Each keyword has a match type that sets how loosely it matches searches. Google's match type guide describes three:

   • Broad match, typed plainly: roof repair. Reaches searches related to the keyword, even ones that don't contain its words. Google says it's critical to pair broad match with Smart Bidding, which learns from your conversions.
   • Phrase match, in quotation marks: "roof repair". Reaches searches that include the meaning of the keyword.
   • Exact match, in square brackets: [roof repair]. Reaches searches with the same meaning or intent, and gives you the most control.

   On a small first budget, phrase and exact match keep spending close to the searches you picked. Broad match can come later, once conversions are being counted.

7. 07

   Add negative keywords before launch

   Negative keywords stop your ad from showing on searches you don't want. Most businesses can list a dozen before the first click: jobs, careers, salary, free, DIY, how to, training, used, and every service you don't offer. Add them to the campaign, or type them in the keyword box with a minus sign in front.

   Two details from Google's negative keyword guide matter here. Negative keywords don't match close variants, so add singular and plural forms and synonyms yourself: blocking "job" doesn't block "jobs". They do account for misspellings and capital letters, so you can skip those.

8. 08

   Write ads that match the page they open

   A responsive search ad takes up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, with at least 3 headlines and 2 descriptions. Headlines can run to 30 characters and descriptions to 90. Google mixes and matches them, and not every line shows every time, so each headline has to make sense on its own.

   • Name the service and the area in at least one headline.
   • Give a reason to choose you that you can back up, such as your hours or how quickly you call back.
   • Say what happens next, and only promise a free estimate if the estimate really is free.
   • Send each ad group to the page about that service, not your home page.
   • Add your phone number as a call asset, so people on phones can call straight from the ad.
9. 09

   Set the budget, the bid strategy and the hours

   The budget is an average per day. Google's spending rules let a campaign spend up to twice the daily amount on a busy day, but you won't pay more than 30.4 times the daily amount in a month. To find the daily figure, divide the monthly amount you're willing to spend by 30.4.

   For bidding, Maximize conversions requires conversion tracking and is built to spend the full daily budget. If you'd rather start with clicks while conversions build up, Maximize clicks lets you set a maximum cost per click, so no single click costs more than you're prepared to pay.

   By default, ads can run all day. If nobody answers the phone after 6 pm, add an ad schedule so ads only run while someone can pick up.

   Google may also offer AI Max, an opt-in set of features that matches your ads to more searches, adjusts the ad text and can send people to other pages on your site. Leave it off for a first small campaign, until you have a few weeks of search terms to compare against.

10. 10

    Read the search terms report every week

    Once ads are running, the search terms report shows the actual searches that triggered them. Find it under Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Each week for the first couple of months:

    • Add searches that don't fit your business as negative keywords.
    • Add good searches you hadn't thought of as keywords.
    • Check which keywords and searches led to calls and forms, not just clicks.

    Google leaves out searches made by very few people, for privacy, so the report won't list every term you paid for.

When to get help

If you've run ads for a month and can't say what a phone call cost you, stop and fix the tracking before spending more. Help is also worth it when you advertise several services across several towns, or when calls come in but don't turn into jobs. Our Google Ads service sets up the counting before the first ad, keeps the account in your name and reports what each call or form cost.

Contractors who get busy after storms can see how the office software we built for a home-exterior contractor plans when roof repair ads run, area by area, from weather warnings and damage reports. And because ads send people to your website, run the pages they land on through our free website speed test before you pay for the traffic.