Google Ads is one of the most effective digital marketing tools available, allowing businesses to target potential customers directly through search results and various online platforms. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just starting out, understanding how to set up a Google Ads campaign step-by-step is crucial to maximizing your ad spend and achieving your business goals.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the entire process of setting up your Google Ads campaign in 2025. From account creation to ad copywriting and targeting the right audience, you’ll learn exactly how to create a high-performing Google Ads campaign that drives results.
What Is Google Ads and Why Is It Important?
Before diving into the step-by-step process, it’s essential to understand what Google Ads is and why it’s so important for your business.
Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) is an online advertising platform that allows businesses to display ads on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs), YouTube, Google Display Network, and other Google properties. It operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Google Ads gives businesses the ability to reach potential customers at the right time—when they are actively searching for products, services, or solutions similar to yours.
By setting up a Google Ads campaign, you can:
- Reach a targeted audience: Google Ads allows you to target specific demographics, locations, interests, and even behaviors.
- Track performance: Google Ads provides robust analytics to track your campaign’s performance and optimize it for better results.
- Achieve immediate results: Unlike organic SEO, Google Ads campaigns can drive instant traffic to your website as soon as they are live.
Now that you understand the significance of Google Ads, let’s get started with the step-by-step process.
Step 1: Create or Log Into Your Google Ads Account
The first step in creating a Google Ads campaign is to either create a new account or log into your existing one.
How to Create a Google Ads Account:
- Go to the Google Ads website: Navigate to Google Ads and click on “Start Now.”
- Sign in with your Google account: Use your existing Google account or create a new one if necessary.
- Set up your billing information: You’ll need to provide billing details, including your business address and payment method (credit/debit card or bank transfer).
- Choose your campaign goal: Google will ask you about your campaign objectives, such as website traffic, leads, or brand awareness. Choose the goal that best matches your needs.
Things to Keep in Mind:
- Make sure your billing information is accurate to avoid issues with your campaign.
- Business information (such as your business address) should be accurate for targeting and tracking purposes.
Step 2: Choose Your Campaign Type
Google Ads offers several campaign types, each designed to meet specific marketing goals. You’ll need to choose the right one for your objectives. The main campaign types include:
Search Network Campaigns:
- Best for: Businesses looking to target users who are actively searching for specific products or services on Google.
- Example: A plumbing service running ads for keywords like “emergency plumber near me.”
Display Network Campaigns:
- Best for: Brand awareness and remarketing campaigns. Your ads will appear on websites across Google’s Display Network.
- Example: A clothing brand showing ads to users who previously visited their site but didn’t make a purchase.
Video Campaigns:
- Best for: Businesses that want to advertise through video ads on YouTube and other video platforms.
- Example: A new product launch that uses video ads to engage customers.
Shopping Campaigns:
- Best for: E-commerce businesses that want to display products directly in the Google Search results.
- Example: An online store showcasing a range of products like shoes or electronics.
For beginners, Search Network Campaigns tend to be the most effective, as they allow you to target users who are actively searching for the products or services you offer.
Step 3: Set Your Campaign Budget and Bidding Strategy
Once you’ve selected the campaign type, the next step is to set your budget. This is a critical part of your Google Ads campaign setup because it determines how much you’re willing to spend.
How to Set a Budget:
- Daily Budget: Google Ads allows you to set a daily budget. This is the maximum amount you’re willing to spend each day on your campaign.
- Total Campaign Budget: You can also set a total budget for the entire campaign if you have a specific cap.
Choosing the Right Bidding Strategy: Google Ads offers a variety of bidding strategies based on your campaign goals. Here are the most common ones:
- Maximize Clicks: This strategy automatically sets bids to get you the most clicks within your budget.
- Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): This strategy aims to get the most conversions at a target cost per action.
- Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Google will optimize your bids to get as much return as possible based on your set ROAS goals.
- Manual CPC (Cost Per Click): With this strategy, you manually adjust your bids for individual keywords.
Pro Tip: If you’re just starting out with Google Ads, it’s best to start with Maximize Clicks or Maximize Conversionsfor automatic optimization.
Step 4: Define Your Target Audience
Targeting the right audience is one of the most powerful aspects of Google Ads. By defining your target audience, you ensure that your ads reach users who are most likely to convert into customers.
Ways to Target Your Audience:
- Keywords: Choose keywords that are relevant to your business and that users are likely to search for.
- Location: Set your targeting by location to only show ads to people in your desired geographical area.
- Language: Target users who speak a specific language (e.g., English, Spanish).
- Device: Choose whether you want to show your ads on desktops, mobile devices, or tablets.
- Audience Interests and Demographics: Google allows you to target users based on demographics (age, gender) and interests.
Pro Tip: Use the Google Keyword Planner to discover popular search terms related to your products or services.
Step 5: Write Your Ad Copy
Now comes the creative part—writing your ad copy. Your ad copy will determine how engaging and relevant your ad is to the user, which can directly impact your Quality Score and overall campaign performance.
Ad Copy Best Practices:
- Headline: Craft a compelling headline that includes your primary keyword and directly speaks to the user’s intent.
- Description: Provide a clear and concise description of what the user will get by clicking on your ad. Highlight benefits and use action-oriented language (e.g., “Shop Now,” “Get a Free Quote”).
- Call-to-Action (CTA): Your CTA should encourage the user to take immediate action. For example, “Call Today for a Free Estimate.”
Step 6: Choose Your Keywords
Selecting the right keywords is key to driving quality traffic. You want to target terms that potential customers are searching for.
Keyword Research:
- Use Google Keyword Planner: This tool helps you find relevant keywords and provides data on search volume, competition, and estimated cost-per-click (CPC).
- Long-Tail Keywords: These are longer, more specific phrases that often have less competition but can yield higher conversion rates.
- Match Types: Google Ads allows you to control how closely your keywords match with the search queries by using match types like Broad Match, Phrase Match, and Exact Match.
Step 7: Set Up Ad Extensions
Ad extensions give you more space to showcase your business and increase your ad’s visibility. By using ad extensions, you can add additional information, such as your location, phone number, or more links to your website.
Types of Ad Extensions:
- Sitelink Extensions: Links to specific pages on your website.
- Call Extensions: Adds your phone number to your ad, allowing users to call you directly.
- Location Extensions: Show your business address and location on Google Maps.
- Callout Extensions: Add extra text to highlight offers or unique selling points.
Step 8: Launch and Monitor Your Campaign
Once everything is set up, you’re ready to launch your campaign. But the work doesn’t stop there.
Ongoing Campaign Management:
- Track Performance: Regularly monitor your campaign performance using Google Ads’ built-in analytics tools.
- A/B Testing: Experiment with different ad copy, keywords, and bidding strategies to find what works best.
- Adjust Budgets and Bids: Based on your campaign performance, adjust your budget and bidding strategies to optimize results.
Understanding Google Ads Keyword Matching Options
A vital step in the process of creating a Google Ads campaign is to select the right keywords (+ keyword match types). Choosing your keywords—and the correct match types—can make or break the success of your campaign. In this part, we will explore in depth the keyword match types, one of the most important — because fundamental — segments of a Google Ads campaign set up and how they affect your results.
What Are Keyword Match Types?
Google Ads keyword match types control how closely your ad needs to match a user’s search query to be shown. You can do this by using the appropriate match types, which dictate how much traffic you want your ad to receive and if it will be relevant traffic or not.
Keyword match types in Google Ads: Here are the keyword match types that every Google Ads advertiser should know:
Broad Match
The broad match is a default option for keywords on Google Ads. By choosing broad match, your ad may show up for searches that include variations of your keyword, synonyms, related terms, and other relevant searches, even if they don’t match the keyword you’ve selected exactly.
For instance, if your keyword is running shoes, your ad might appear for queries such as buy sneakers, best sports footwear, or best shoes for jogging.
Pros: You’ll have a wider audience and will get more impressions. “It’s best for advertisers who want to broaden their reach and potentially identify new keywords that convert,”
Pros: Everyone can expand to a wider audience simply by choosing broader keywords.
Cons: Because of broad match, your ad might get displayed for wider searches, which could lead to less targeted traffic. This could lead to higher CPC (cost-per-click) and lower ROI.
Phrase Match
Phrase match allows you slightly more control than broad match but still leaves some leeway. With phrase match, your ad will appear for searches that include your exact keyword, or close variations of that keyword, with more words on either side of it.
For instance, if your keyword is “running shoes,” your ad might appear for queries like “best running shoes for beginners” or “buy cheap running shoes.”
Pros: Phrase match is much more targeted than broad match meaning your ad will be shown to users who have a more actionable intent. This can lead to better-quality traffic.
Cons: Though it’s more specific, with phrase match your ad might still appear for some irrelevant queries, so you will need to regularly monitor and optimize keywords.
Exact Match
The most control over your ad’s targeting comes with exact match. When you choose this option, your ad only shows for searches that exactly match the keyword or for close variant searches, such as misspellings, plural forms or slight rewordings.
For example, if your keyword is “running shoes,” then your ad will display only when someone types the exact word “running shoes,” or very close variations of it, such as “running shoe.”
Pros: Exact match delivers the most relevant traffic as exact match will only display your ad for searches with the exact keyword or very closely related terms. It is usually works out to have the best ROI.
Cons: The downside of exact match is that it can restrict how widely your ads are served, meaning you could potentially lose customers whose searches do not contain the same phrases but whose intent is similar.
Negative Keywords
The negative keywords you select are equally as relevant as the positive ones. Negative keywords help you exclude your ads from irrelevant searches. As an exercise, if you are selling high-end running shoes, you may want to add “cheap” as a negative keyword so that your ads don’t show up when people search for “cheap running shoes.”
For example, if you have a keyword ”luxury running shoes,” you could use a negative word “cheap running shoes” and “discount running shoes.”
Pros: Add negative keywords and match types to get rid of irrelevant clicks, saving your ad budget for traffic that’s highly relevant to your product or service. They make sure your ads don’t spend money on users who probably won’t convert.
Cons: If your negative keyword list is not in good shape, you may miss opportunities for relevant traffic. You should review and refine your negative keywords regularly.
Importance of Keyword Match Types for Your Campaign’s Success
Proper keyword and match type selection in Google Ads can determine the success or failure of your campaign. This is why it’s important to get to grips with and use match types correctly:
Budget Friendly: More specific match types such as Exact Match allow you to minimise wasting your budget on ineffective keywords. By only targeting very relevant searches, you minimize lost spend on clicks that probably won’t convert.
Better Conversion Rates — With every more specific match type, the chances are that people that click on your ad want what your offering. This increases the likelihood of a visitor to convert into a paying customer.
Broader Reach Vs. More Precision — If your goal is to uncover new search terms and generate more visits, use broad match. However, if your objective is to target high-intent users who are prepared to convert, Exact Match will almost certainly perform the best.
FAQ Section:
1. What is the best Google Ads match type?
- Broad Match: Best for broad reach and discovering new keywords.
- Phrase Match: Balanced targeting, useful for specific phrases.
- Exact Match: Most targeted, ideal for high-conversion keywords.
- Negative Keywords: Exclude irrelevant searches to save budget.
2. How do I select the right keywords?
- Use tools like Google Keyword Planner.
- Focus on high-intent keywords like “buy now.”
- Consider long-tail keywords for lower competition and better conversions.
3. How do I optimize my Google Ads campaign?
- Refine keywords and use negative keywords.
- Improve ad copy and test different variations.
- Adjust bids based on keyword performance.
4. How much should I spend on Google Ads?
- Set a budget based on your goals and CPC.
- Start small and scale up as you see positive results.
5. Can I target specific locations in my Google Ads campaign?
Yes, you can target specific countries, cities, or set a radius around a location.
6. How do I track Google Ads performance?
- Use conversion tracking and monitor key metrics like CTR, CPC, and conversion rate.
- Link Google Ads with Google Analytics for detailed insights.
Conclusion
How to Set Up a Google Ads Campaign Step-by-Step, choosing the right keyword match types is an integral part of setting up your Google Ads campaign. Each match type offers different levels of reach and targeting, and selecting the right one depends on your goals, whether you’re looking to cast a wide net or focus on specific, high-intent searchers. By understanding the pros and cons of each match type—broad match, phrase match, exact match, and negative keywords—you can make more informed decisions and optimize your campaign for the best results. In addition to keyword selection, remember to monitor and adjust your campaign regularly to ensure it’s delivering the highest return on investment.
Call to Action:
Want to create a Google Ads campaign that delivers maximum results? Start by understanding the keyword match types and applying them strategically. Dive deeper into other critical elements of Google Ads by following this step-by-step guide and start optimizing your campaigns for better performance today!