Knowing how to create a Google Ads campaign is only half the job. Before you touch the interface, you need a plan for how your account will be organized. Getting structure right from day one saves you from untangling a mess three months later. This guide walks you through every step, from account planning to post-launch monitoring.
Before You Create a Campaign: Plan Your Account Structure
Most tutorials start with the campaign creation screen. That is the wrong place to start. Before you touch the interface, you need a plan for how your account will be organized. Account structure determines how you allocate budget, measure performance, and optimize over time. A poorly structured account makes reporting confusing and optimization difficult. A well-structured account gives you control over where every dollar goes.
Why Structure Comes First
Think of your Google Ads account like a filing cabinet. Campaigns are the drawers. Ad groups are the folders inside each drawer. Ads and keywords live inside the folders. If you throw everything into one drawer, you will never find what you need.
The most common approaches to structuring campaigns are by goal, by product or service, or by audience. A SaaS company might have one campaign for branded keywords, one for competitor keywords, and one for each product category. An e-commerce business might organize by product line. The right structure depends on your business, but the principle is always the same: separate things that need different budgets, different messaging, or different performance targets.
Naming Conventions That Scale
Name your campaigns so you (and your team) can understand them at a glance. A useful naming convention includes the campaign type, the target, and the goal. For example: Search | Project Management Software | Lead Gen or Shopping | Running Shoes | ROAS. Consistent naming prevents confusion when your account grows from 3 campaigns to 30.
How Many Campaigns to Start With
Key Point
Start small. Two to four campaigns is enough for most businesses launching on Google Ads. One branded Search campaign. One or two non-branded Search campaigns targeting your highest-priority products or services. Maybe a remarketing campaign if you already have website traffic. You can always expand later when you have performance data to guide decisions.
Choosing the Right Campaign Type for Your Goal
Google Ads offers several campaign types, and each serves a different purpose. Choosing the wrong one means your budget works against you instead of for you.
Search Campaigns
Search campaigns show text ads to people actively searching for what you offer. This is the campaign type most marketers should start with. You control the keywords, you control the messaging, and you get clear performance data. If someone searches "project management software for agencies" and you sell that product, Search puts your ad in front of them at the moment of intent.
Display Campaigns
Display campaigns show image and text ads across Google's network of websites. These work well for brand awareness and remarketing (showing ads to people who already visited your site). Display campaigns reach people who are browsing, not searching, so expect lower intent and lower conversion rates.
Shopping Campaigns
Shopping campaigns show product listings with images, prices, and your store name. If you sell physical products online, Shopping campaigns are essential. They require a Google Merchant Center account and a product feed. Shopping ads consistently deliver strong ROAS for e-commerce businesses because they show users exactly what they will get before they click.
Video Campaigns
Video campaigns run ads on YouTube and across Google's video partner network. These are primarily for awareness and consideration. Video works when you need to explain a complex product, build brand recognition, or reach audiences at the top of the funnel.
Performance Max Campaigns
Performance Max (PMax) runs ads across all Google properties, including Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Maps. Google's algorithm decides where your ads appear based on your conversion goals. PMax can deliver strong results, but it requires solid conversion data (at least 30 conversions per month) and gives you less control over placements and targeting. If you are new to Google Ads, start with Search. Move to PMax when you have enough data for the algorithm to optimize effectively.
For a detailed guide on setting up Performance Max, see our Performance Max campaign guide.
Demand Gen Campaigns
Demand Gen campaigns are Google's newer format for reaching users on YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. They replace the older Discovery campaign type and focus on generating interest through visual, scroll-friendly ad formats. Consider these when you want to reach users in browse mode with engaging creative.
Goal to Campaign Type Mapping
| Your Goal | Recommended Campaign Type |
|---|---|
| Capture high-intent search traffic | Search |
| Sell products from an online store | Shopping |
| Retarget website visitors | Display (remarketing) |
| Build brand awareness | Display or Video |
| Reach users across all channels | Performance Max |
| Generate interest with visual ads | Demand Gen |
Step-by-Step: Creating a Search Campaign
Here is how to create a standard Search campaign in Google Ads. This walkthrough follows the current interface.
Click "New Campaign" and select your objective
Choose "Leads" or "Sales" depending on your business goal. If you want full control over settings, select "Create a campaign without a goal's guidance." This prevents Google from pre-selecting settings you may not want.
Select "Search" as your campaign type
Google may suggest other types. Stick with Search for now.
Name your campaign and configure network settings
Use a descriptive name following your naming convention. Uncheck "Include Google Display Network." This is checked by default, but leaving it on means Google will spend part of your Search budget on Display placements, which typically perform worse. Keep this clean. Search budget should go to Search.
Set your location targeting
Choose the geographic areas where your customers are. Here is a critical detail most tutorials skip: change the default from "Presence or interest" to "Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations." The default option can show your ads to people outside your target area who merely showed interest in it. If you sell to customers in the United States, you want people physically in the United States, not someone in another country researching US travel.
Set your language
Match the language your target audience speaks.
Configure audience targeting
For a new campaign, add relevant audiences in "Observation" mode. This means Google collects data on how those audiences perform without restricting who sees your ads. You can switch to "Targeting" mode later once you have data.
Set your daily budget
See the next section for how to calculate this correctly.
Choose your bidding strategy
See the next section for when to use each option.
Set ad scheduling if needed
If your business only operates during certain hours, or if you know from experience that conversions happen primarily on weekdays, set ad schedules accordingly. Otherwise, start with all days and hours, then adjust based on data.
Review and launch
Double-check every setting before clicking "Publish." Changes after launch can be made, but starting clean saves time.
Setting Your Budget and Bidding Strategy
Budget and bidding are where many campaigns fail before they even start. Setting them correctly from day one gives your campaign the best chance of generating useful data.
Daily Budget vs. Monthly Budget
Google Ads uses daily budgets, but most marketers think in monthly terms. The math is simple: divide your monthly budget by 30.4 (the average number of days in a month). A $3,000 monthly budget means a daily budget of roughly $99.
Important Note
Google can spend up to twice your daily budget on any given day. Over the month, it averages out, but individual days may spike. This is normal behavior, not a bug. Just know it happens.
Choosing a Bidding Strategy
Your bidding strategy should match your data maturity:
| Bidding Strategy | When to Use It |
|---|---|
| Manual CPC | When you want full control and are willing to adjust bids yourself. Good for learning and low-volume accounts. |
| Maximize Clicks | When you need traffic data and don't have conversion data yet. A starting point, not a long-term strategy. |
| Maximize Conversions | When you have conversion tracking set up and at least 15-30 conversions per month. |
| Target CPA | When you have a clear cost-per-acquisition target and enough historical data (50+ conversions per month is ideal). |
| Target ROAS | When you track conversion values and want to optimize for revenue. Best for e-commerce. |
Start with Maximize Clicks or Manual CPC if you have no conversion history. Switch to Maximize Conversions once you have at least 15-30 conversions per month. Graduate to Target CPA or Target ROAS when you have 50+ monthly conversions and a clear efficiency target.
Budget Mistakes That Waste Spend
Setting a budget too low for your bidding strategy is a common mistake. If your target CPA is $50, a $10/day budget gives Google very little room to find conversions. You need a daily budget of at least 2-3x your target CPA to give the algorithm enough room. That means $100-150/day for a $50 CPA target.
Stay on Budget
Setting a budget is the easy part. Knowing whether you are on track throughout the month is where most marketers lose control. Budget Control in marketingOS gives you a 90-second check: are you pacing ahead, behind, or on track across all your channels. No spreadsheets, no surprises.
Building Your Ad Group Structure
Ad groups sit inside campaigns and hold your keywords and ads. How you structure them determines how relevant your ads are to user searches.
Themed Ad Groups
Group keywords by theme so the ads in each ad group can directly address those keywords. For example, if you sell project management software, one ad group might contain keywords about "project management for agencies" and another about "project management for startups." Each ad group gets ads tailored to that specific theme.
Match Types and Structure
Google Ads offers three keyword match types: broad match, phrase match, and exact match. Broad match gives Google the most flexibility to show your ad for related searches. Exact match restricts your ad to searches very close to your keyword. Phrase match sits in between.
For new campaigns, start with phrase match and exact match. Broad match can work well with smart bidding, but it requires enough conversion data for Google to optimize effectively. Using broad match without conversion data or negative keywords is how budgets get wasted on irrelevant traffic.
Negative Keywords from Day One
Key Point
Set up negative keywords before you launch. Think about searches that include your keywords but don't match your offering. If you sell paid project management software, add "free" as a negative keyword. If you serve businesses, add "personal" or "individual" as negatives. Review your search terms report weekly after launch and keep adding negatives. This is one of the highest-impact optimization activities you can do.
How Many Ad Groups
Start with 3-7 ad groups per campaign. Enough to cover your core keyword themes without spreading budget too thin. You can always add more as you identify new opportunities from search terms data.
Writing and Launching Your Ads
Your ads are the first impression users have of your business. Getting them right matters.
Responsive Search Ads
Google Ads uses Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) as the standard format. You provide up to 15 headlines (30 characters each) and 4 descriptions (90 characters each). Google tests different combinations and shows the best-performing versions.
Write at least 10 headlines and 3 descriptions. Include your target keyword in at least 3 headlines. Make sure headlines work independently and in combination. Each headline should make sense on its own because Google pairs them in different orders.
Focus headlines on the benefit to the user, not just the feature. "Save 5 Hours Per Week on Reporting" is stronger than "Automated Reporting Tool." Be specific. Include numbers, outcomes, or differentiators that separate you from competitors.
Ad Assets (Formerly Extensions)
Ad assets expand your ad with additional information. Add these from the start:
- Sitelinks: Link to specific pages (pricing, features, case studies)
- Callouts: Short phrases highlighting benefits ("Free Trial," "No Setup Fee," "24/7 Support")
- Structured Snippets: Categories of what you offer (e.g., "Services: Strategy, Analytics, Reporting")
- Call Extensions: If phone calls are valuable, add your number
Ad assets increase your ad's visibility and click-through rate. They also give Google more information to match your ad to relevant searches. There is no reason to skip them.
For a deeper guide on writing effective ad copy, see our Google Ads copy guide.
Targeting and Audience Settings
Beyond keywords, targeting settings control who sees your ads and where.
Location Targeting: Presence vs. Interest
Important Warning
This bears repeating because it causes so much wasted spend. Always change the default location targeting from "Presence or interest" to "Presence" unless you have a specific reason not to. The default setting shows your ads to people who are not in your target location but have shown interest in it. For most businesses, this is wasted budget.
Audience Segments
Google offers several audience types:
- In-market audiences: People actively researching products in your category
- Affinity audiences: People with demonstrated long-term interests
- Custom audiences: Audiences you build based on search terms or URLs
- Remarketing lists: People who visited your website
Start by adding relevant audiences in Observation mode. This collects performance data by audience without restricting your targeting. After 2-4 weeks, review which audiences convert best. You can then bid higher on high-performing audiences or switch to Targeting mode to focus exclusively on them.
Demographic Adjustments
Google lets you adjust bids by age, gender, household income, and parental status. Don't make demographic adjustments until you have at least 2-4 weeks of data. Assumptions about who your customer is don't always match reality. Let the data show you.
How to Set Up a Smart Campaign (and Why You Probably Should Not)
Smart campaigns are Google's simplified campaign type for small businesses without marketing teams. They handle almost everything automatically: keywords, bidding, targeting, and ad placement.
The problem is that simplicity comes at the cost of control. With Smart campaigns, you cannot choose keywords, you cannot see a full search terms report, and you cannot control where your ads appear. For a small local business with no marketing expertise, Smart campaigns are better than nothing. For performance marketers who need clarity and control, standard Search campaigns are the better choice.
If you are reading this guide, you are probably the type of marketer who values control over convenience. Standard campaigns give you that control.
Setting Up a DSA Campaign
Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) use your website content to automatically generate ads and target relevant searches. Instead of choosing keywords, you tell Google which pages to use, and it matches user searches to your content.
DSA campaigns are valuable for large websites with many products or services. They help you discover search queries you had not thought to target. They are also useful as a supplement to standard Search campaigns, catching long-tail searches your keyword lists miss.
To set up a DSA campaign, choose "Dynamic Search Ads" in your ad group settings. Specify page feeds or URL rules to control which pages Google uses. Write descriptions (Google generates headlines automatically). Start with your highest-value pages and expand from there.
Important Note
Monitor your search terms report closely with DSA campaigns. Google will match your pages to searches you may not expect. Negative keywords are even more important here than in standard campaigns.
Lead Generation Campaign Setup
If your goal is generating leads rather than direct sales, your campaign setup needs a few specific adjustments.
Conversion Tracking for Leads
Set up conversion tracking before launching your campaign. Track form submissions, phone calls, or whatever action defines a lead for your business. If you launch a campaign without conversion tracking, you are flying blind. You will have no way to measure what is working. For a complete setup walkthrough, see our conversion tracking setup guide.
Lead Form Extensions vs. Landing Pages
Google offers lead form extensions that let users submit their information directly from the ad. These generate higher volume but often lower quality leads because the barrier to submission is so low. Landing pages give you more room to qualify the lead before they submit. For most B2B businesses, landing pages produce better results. Test both if you can.
Bidding for Lead Quality
Maximize Conversions optimizes for volume, not quality. If 30% of your leads are junk, the algorithm does not know or care. To improve lead quality, import offline conversions from your CRM back into Google Ads. This tells Google which leads actually became customers, and the algorithm optimizes toward those signals instead.
What to Do After Launching Your Campaign
The campaign is live. Now the work shifts from creation to monitoring.
The First 48 Hours
In the first 48 hours, check that your ads are approved, impressions are being served, and conversion tracking is recording data. Do not make any optimization changes yet. You need data before you can make informed decisions.
The Learning Period
Google's smart bidding strategies need 2-3 weeks to learn and optimize. During this period, performance may fluctuate. Resist the urge to change bids, budgets, or targeting during the learning phase. Significant changes reset the learning period and waste the data already collected.
Setting Up Alerts
Create automated alerts in Google Ads for critical scenarios: daily spend exceeding your budget, conversion rate dropping below a threshold, or ads getting disapproved. Alerts prevent small problems from becoming expensive ones.
From Launch to Ongoing Monitoring
Launching a campaign is step one. Monitoring it is where results come from. Instead of logging into Google Ads multiple times a day, build a daily check-in routine that takes minutes, not hours. Google Ads Manager in marketingOS gives you a clear view of campaign performance so you can focus on the signals that matter and act early when something needs attention.
For a complete optimization framework, see our Google Ads optimization guide.
Common Campaign Creation Mistakes
These mistakes waste budget and slow your progress. Avoid them from the start.
Using broad match without negative keywords
Broad match gives Google wide latitude to match your ads to searches. Without negatives, you will pay for clicks from people searching for things unrelated to your business.
Setting budgets too low for the bidding strategy
If your target CPA is $50 and your daily budget is $10, the algorithm has no room to work. Budget at least 2-3x your target CPA per day.
Accepting Google's default recommendations blindly
Google often suggests adding Display Network to Search campaigns, enabling broad match for all keywords, or using recommendations that increase spend. Evaluate each suggestion on its merits. Google's interests and yours are not always aligned.
Not setting up conversion tracking before launch
Without conversion data, you cannot measure ROI, and Google cannot optimize bidding. Set up and test tracking before your campaign goes live.
Targeting "people interested in" a location
The default location setting shows ads to people who may not be in your target area. Always switch to "Presence" targeting.
Skipping ad assets
Sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets increase CTR and give you more real estate in search results. There is no downside to adding them.
Launching too many campaigns at once
Start with 2-4 campaigns. Gather data. Learn what works. Then expand. Launching 15 campaigns on day one spreads your budget thin and makes it hard to identify what is driving results.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Resources
Budget Control
Track budget pacing across all your ad channels. Know in 90 seconds whether you are on track, ahead, or behind.
GuidePerformance Max Campaign Guide
Detailed setup and optimization guide for Google Ads Performance Max campaigns.
FeatureGoogle Ads Manager
Monitor Google Ads performance and spot trends across all your accounts in one place.
GuideGoogle Ads Optimization Guide
A complete optimization framework for improving Google Ads campaign performance over time.
Keep Your New Campaign on Budget From Day One
You have built the campaign. Now make sure it stays on track. Budget Control in marketingOS shows you real-time spend pacing across all your channels. Built by performance marketers, for performance marketers. A 90-second check tells you whether you are on track.