Google Ads PPC Campaigns: A Beginner’s Guide (+ Checklist)

Google PPC allows brands to display ads across the Google network. Advertisers only pay when an ad is clicked and you can reach a massive audience — but before getting started, there are some basics you need to know.

Google PPC, or pay-per-click advertising, is a digital marketing channel that allows brands to advertise across the Google network.

With an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 spent, Google Ads PPC campaigns offer the largest reach and return on investment (ROI) for digital marketers — but not every business should launch a campaign right away.

We spoke with HawkSEM CEO and Co-founder Sam Yadegar about what large and small businesses alike should know about Google Ads — from costs to setup and everything in between.

What is Google Ads PPC?

Google Ads PPC is Google’s advertising platform, based on the pay-per-click model, where the advertiser only pays when someone clicks on their ad.

Google’s PPC ads can run across Google’s entire network, including:

• The search engine results page
• Google search partner sites (like YouTube)
• Websites and apps that are part of the Google Display Network (like Gmail)

Benefits of Google Ads PPC

The Google network reaches a whopping 90% of internet users globally, making the likelihood of connecting with your target audience higher than on any other digital platform.

And because Google Ads target users based on their search behaviors, you’ll reach people with high intent. In other words, they have shown recent interest in making a relevant purchase.

The different campaign types

There are seven different types of Google Ads campaigns. This guide walks you through them all — but here’s a quick overview:

• Search campaigns: Search ads appear on the Google search engine results page (SERP) above the organic Google search results.
• Display campaigns: Display ads are banner ads that appear on websites on the Google Display Network.
• Video campaigns: Video ads appear on the YouTube video platform and other Google video partner websites.
• Shopping campaigns: For ecommerce businesses, Google Shopping ads showcase products with images, prices, and details directly on the SERP, the Shopping tab, and other Google properties.
• App campaigns: App campaigns promote mobile apps across the Google network, including Search, YouTube, the Display Network, and Google’s app store, Google Play.
• Demand Gen campaigns (formerly discovery): Demand Gen campaigns nurture a high-intent target audience through targeted ads across Google’s visual platforms like YouTube, Gmail, and Discover (a Google Search feature that shows content relevant to a searcher’s perceived interests).
• Performance Max campaigns: The Performance Max campaign is essentially multiple PPC campaign types all rolled into one. Google automatically creates your ads and displays them across all of its channels.

How do Google Ads campaigns work?

With most Google campaigns, the advertiser chooses relevant keywords (search queries) to target with their ads.

The advertiser then sets a budget, letting Google know how much they would pay to appear for each keyword.

When someone conducts a Google search, an auction happens behind the scenes in seconds. Here, Google decides which ads to show based on the competing advertisers’ bids and ad relevance.

The cost of a click depends largely on the search volume (competition) and other advertisers’ bids.

This process also looks a little different for Performance Max or Display ads, but the auction remains the same.

How much do Google Ads campaigns cost?

From our client data, businesses typically spend $9,000-$10,000 on Google Ads on average (with an average cost per click of $2–$5).

This cost will vary pretty widely depending on factors like ad spend, PPC management, tools, and asset creation.

How to start a Google Ads PPC campaign: 10 steps

If Google Ads seem like the right move for your business, these 10 steps will help you build and launch your first campaign:

1. Determine your advertising goals
2. Create a Google Ads account
3. Create a campaign
4. Pick a campaign type
5. Configure targeting options
6. Configure budget and bidding options
7. Set extra features
8. Choose keywords and configure Ad Groups
9. Create your ads
10. Set up conversion tracking

1. Determine your advertising goals

Your advertising and greater business goals will guide your campaigns and help measure your success.

Common goals include:

• Build brand awareness
• Increase website traffic
• Generate new leads and potential customers
• Remarket to an existing audience
• Increase conversions

(Image: Adobe Stock)

PPC advertising goals are crucial to determine which kinds of ad campaigns you run, what ad copy you use, and what landing pages you create.

Here, you can read more about choosing ad goals (and other ROI-driven pro tips).

2. Create a Google Ads account

If you don’t have a Google Ads account, you’ll need to create one. Otherwise, log in to your dashboard using your Google credentials at ads.google.com.

Pro tip: As a bonus for new accounts, Google will give you $500 in ad credits once you spend $500 to help get you started. 

3. Create a campaign

Google has a guided ad creation experience you can use called Smart Mode. However, this mode is a limited version and hides most of the Google Ads’ essential features.

Instead, we suggest you switch to Expert Mode.

When Google asks your main online advertising goal, scroll down and click “Switch to Expert Mode.”

Next, you can choose a campaign goal or “create a campaign without a goal’s guidance.”

Choosing a goal allows Google to preferentially show your paid search ads to people they think are most likely to convert and help you achieve your goal.

Is Google always right? Nope. That’s why it’s often better to choose a goalless campaign for more control to specify your targeting and monitor conversions yourself.

4. Pick a campaign type

Now you’ll need to pick one of the various campaign types. Generally, we recommend starting with a search campaign to get started.

5. Configure targeting options

First, name your campaign. We recommend something descriptive of the goal, campaign type, and offer you’re presenting.

Now, Google provides a lot of choices when it comes to audience targeting — you can narrow in on demographics, interests, or even life events.

However, choosing the wrong targeting options is one of the most common mistakes businesses make with Google Ads.

“A general rule of thumb is to make your target audience as narrow and focused on your goal as possible,” says Yadegar.

“The more specific you are with your targeting settings, the better Google is at presenting your ads to the most relevant audiences.”

For example:

• Location targeting can be focused on targeted locations and even exclude people who aren’t in that location.
• You can use language targeting if your audience is bilingual or you have alternatives you can show them.
• Keyword targeting, which is most important for search campaigns, will center your audience around people who search for your key phrases. More on this later.
• Audience targeting is an advanced option that allows you, for example, to connect your Google Analytics to Google Ads and run ads targeting people who have already visited your site before.

6. Configure budget and bidding options

Another common mistake with Google Ads is inefficient bidding.

Google will happily take as much money as you throw at them, and while they’ll make an effort to spend that money positively, they won’t complain if you don’t optimize your ad spend.

To save money, set your budget caps first.

You can set a daily budget cap, which is extrapolated into monthly spending limits.

However, Google uses somewhat fuzzy math to enable them to draw on tomorrow’s budget if your ads are performing exceptionally well today.

Next, set a bidding strategy.

You can let Google optimize your strategy according to your goals and ad settings, but instead, we suggest you select a bidding strategy directly.

Then, pick one of the appropriate options. Google has Smart Bidding strategies to optimize for specific campaign goals like return on ad spend, cost per action, or conversion value.

You can also choose manual CPC bidding to assign a specific bid to specific keywords. This step is where the best possible optimizations come in, but it also requires a lot of manual fiddling, so it’s best left for advanced users.

7. Set extra features

There are some bonus features provided by Google that you may want to take advantage of, including ad scheduling and ad extensions (now called assets).

Ad scheduling

Ad scheduling allows you to choose specific days of the week and times of the day your ads should (and shouldn’t) display.

This option can be helpful for time-sensitive offers or products where ads shown at the right time perform much better.

For example, a restaurant might advertise their lunch specials anytime between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. only. Alternatively, you might find that your ads perform better during a specific time in the day, and you may decide you only want to show your ads during that window.

Ad extensions (or assets)

Ad extensions (now called assets) are additional features or links that display below your ad copy. These include:

• Callouts of helpful information relevant to a query
• A visible phone number a user can call
• Location and hour information on display
• App install buttons
• Sitelinks
• Pricing information pulled from your site directly
• A range of other options and calls to action

If they’re relevant to your ads, add them — they’re free and enhance your ads significantly.

They increase your click-through rate (CTR), help your ads stand out from competitors, take up more real estate, and often positively impact your conversion rate.

8. Choose keywords and configure Ad Groups

The core of any ad on Google comes down to your keywords and copy.  Choosing the right keywords with preliminary and ongoing keyword research is essential.

(Google’s Keyword Planner is a great tool to start.)

Generally, you want:

• A core focus keyword as your main search term for your PPC campaign
• Sets of focused keywords for individual ads
• Groups of longer-tail keywords to use for individual ad groups
• Negative keywords you want to exclude due to irrelevance to your offer.

9. Create your ads

Ads need a few components to be complete.

• A destination URL is the landing page for your ad. You should tightly focus this link on the offer as much as possible; you want maximum congruence between the ad and the landing page for Quality Score purposes.
• The display URL is what your URL looks like in the SERPs. The display URL might be different from the destination URL. If your landing page URL is longer or “uglier” with UTM tags and tracking data, you can trim it down here and make it look nicer.
• Headlines. You can choose up to three headlines per text ad, up to 30 characters each. Each variation should be aligned with your offer, but testing variations of keywords.
• Descriptions. You can specify up to two different descriptions, up to 90 characters each, as the primary copy for your ads.
• Media. You can add your images or videos here if you’re using display ads.

As you choose a format and build out your ads, Google generates a preview of what your ad will look like. Make sure to double-check for typos and other issues before you submit your ad for review.

10. Set up conversion tracking

Conversion tracking allows you to track exactly how many conversions you acquired directly from your ads.

Here, you’ll link your Google Analytics account with your Google Ads account to get the most comprehensive data.

Further reading: This guide walks you through each step of setting up your tracking.

After launching: Monitor results and optimize

Now that you’ve put your ads together, it’s time to go live.

If you haven’t already added your billing information, Google will prompt you for it before submitting your ad for review.

Google will generally review and approve (or deny) your ads within a day, though your first ads might take a bit longer.

Run your ads for a while — anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

It can be tempting to modify underperforming campaigns right away. But you need enough data to make decisions about your ads’ true performance.

This requires enough time, money, and audience to gather those metrics. Once you’ve collected that information, you can audit your ads to get an idea of what’s working and what’s not.

Make changes to your targeting settings, ad copy, and keywords to test further variations and optimize your ads. This marketing strategy is an ongoing process, so be prepared to return regularly to keep your ads working at peak performance and under budget.

If you want a shortcut to actionable insights that can dramatically improve your ad performance, check out ConversionIQ.

This is our exclusive tech platform that syncs your important campaign data, helps you pinpoint more qualified leads, pulls the plug on wasted ad spend, and more.

The takeaway

Google Ads PPC campaigns can be a powerful way to boost revenue. But for this marketing strategy to work, your website needs to have SEO in place as a sturdy foundation.

Otherwise, your campaigns may be less cost-effective and result in some loss.

But if your business is equipped to scale, Google Ads is the next step. If you need some help with your Google campaigns, SEO, or social media strategy, reach out.

This post has been updated and was originally published in October 2022.

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This post has been updated and was originally published in October 2022.