How to Run your First Google Ad Campaign

Read on to find out how you can use this tool to drive more conversions for your brand today. From reaching new customers to maximising credit scores, we’ve got you covered.
How to Run your First Google Ad Campaign

The Google Ads Ecosystem


Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is Google's online advertising platform. It operates on a PPC model, where advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their ad. Google Ads consists of three main components:

  • Campaigns: The highest-level structure, where you set your advertising goals, budgets, and targeting options.

  • Ad Groups: Within each campaign, you create ad groups to organise your ads based on specific themes, products, or offerings you might have.

  • Ads: The actual advertisements you create and display to users, including text, images, and videos. These forms of media can be photo and or video, and can also be referred to as assets.

Bidding and Credit Scores


Bidding: Bidding is the process of specifying how much you are willing to pay for each click on your ad. Google Ads uses an auction system, where advertisers compete for ad placement within the Google search results page.

How your ad appears in search results is a combination of your actual bid amount, as well as the quality score of your ad.

Credit Scores: Also known as a Quality Score, this is a unit of measurement that Google Ads uses to evaluate the relevance and quality of your ads, landing pages, and other website-related links.

A higher quality score can lead to better ad placements and lower costs per click. It's determined based on factors like click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and overall landing page experience.

Step-by-Step Campaign Setup

Setting up your first Google Ad campaign involves several key steps:

  • 1. Define Your Goals: Determine your campaign's objectives, such as lead generation or sales, and set clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs).

  • 2. Keyword Research: Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the keywords and phrases your target audience uses when searching for your products or services.

  • 3. Campaign Creation: Create and choose a new campaign type that aligns with your goals (e.g., Search, Display, Shopping, or Video).

  • 4. Ad Group Setup: Organise your ads into ad groups based on related keywords and themes. This helps you tailor your ads messaging while keeping it concise.

  • 5. Ad Creation: Craft compelling ad copy that speaks directly to your audience and includes relevant keywords. Consider including ad extensions to provide additional information.

  • 6. Budget and Bidding: Set your daily or monthly budget and specify your bidding strategy, such as manual bidding or automated bidding.

  • 7. Audience Targeting: Define your target audience by demographics, location, interests, and more, to ensure your ads reach the right people.

  • 8. Ad Extensions: Utilise ad extensions like callout, sitelink, and location extensions to enhance your ad's visibility and functionality.

  • 9. Conversion Tracking: Implement conversion tracking to measure the success of your campaigns and make data-driven adjustments.

Monitoring and Evaluating Performance

Once your campaign is live, it's crucial to continuously monitor and evaluate its performance. Google Ads provides various metrics and tools to help you do this:

  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): Measures the percentage of users who clicked on your ad after seeing it. A higher CTR indicates more effective ads.

  • Conversion Rate: Tracks the percentage of users who completed a desired action on your website after clicking your ad, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.

  • Quality Score: Reflects the relevance and quality of your ads and landing pages. Higher quality scores lead to better ad placements and lower costs.

  • Keyword Performance: Analyse which keywords are driving traffic and conversions, and adjust your bidding and targeting accordingly.

  • A/B Testing: Experiment with different ad variations to identify what works best for your audience.

Types of Campaigns

Google Ads offers various campaign types, each suited to different business goals:

  • Search Campaigns:

  • Pros: Ideal for businesses looking to capture users actively searching for specific keywords.
  • Cons: Competition can be high, leading to increased CPCs in some industries.

  • Display Campaigns:

  • Pros: Great for building brand awareness through image and video ads.
  • Cons: Lower conversion rates compared to search campaigns, as users may not be in the buying mindset.

  • Shopping Campaigns:

  • Pros: Perfect for e-commerce businesses to showcase products with images, prices, and descriptions directly in search results.
  • Cons: Requires regular product feed management and can be competitive.

  • Video Campaigns (YouTube):

  • Pros: Effective for visual storytelling and reaching a wide audience through video ads.
  • Cons: Video production costs and competition on YouTube.

  • App Campaigns:

  • Pros: Designed to promote mobile apps, driving app downloads and in-app actions.
  • Cons: Requires a mobile app and a budget for app promotion.


Running your first Google Ad campaign may seem like a daunting task, but can also prove to be immensely rewarding when done strategically. Hopefully after taking the time to digest the information in this guide, you’ll have a better idea of what exactly goes into designing and executing a Google Ad Campaign to its fullest potential.

Remember, choose the campaign type that aligns best with your specific business objectives, and stay consistent with optimisation and adjustment in order to stay competitive.

Have a question about Google Ads?

Drop us a message today.

‍

Candice Eliaes

Candice Eliaes

Marketing & Social

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