To advertise on Google you open a Google Ads account, build a search campaign and add a payment method. All three can be done in an afternoon. Whether the budget then reaches searches that produce enquiries depends on the order of the steps. If tracking is not in place before launch, the first week's spend runs out without showing which searches were worth paying for.
Below is the order we follow when we take a search campaign live. To keep it concrete, we follow one example throughout: a firm making bespoke kitchens in Leeds. Search volumes and bid ranges come from Google Keyword Planner for the United Kingdom, pulled on 30 September 2026; rules and limits come from Google Ads Help, linked in each section.
Opening the account
Google asks for your business name and website, a campaign goal and budget, then payment details; conversion tracking is optional at this stage. The same screen also lets you create the account without a campaign (Google Ads Help, create an account).
Two settings deserve care. The billing country decides which payment methods and currency you can use. The time zone shapes your reports and invoices, and Google asks you to choose it carefully. For a UK business, setting both to the United Kingdom keeps the days and hours in your reports aligned with when the ads actually ran.
Open the account in the company's name, with a company email address. Over the years the account accumulates conversion history and quality data, and that history should stay with the business if an agency or an employee moves on.
Smart campaigns, Google's simplified format, can only be created in Smart Mode (Google Ads Help, Smart Mode). If you want control over keywords, match types and negatives, you need a search campaign in Expert Mode. An account opened in Smart Mode can be switched to Expert Mode at any time.
Advertiser verification
Google is gradually asking every advertiser to verify their identity and business operations. Once verified, your organisation's name and location appear in the ad disclosure and in the Ads Transparency Center (Google Ads policies, advertiser verification).
The process starts when Google selects your account, and it comes with a deadline. Google's review usually takes up to five working days and rarely up to thirty. Deadlines are not extended; if verification is not completed in time the account is paused, and ads may be limited until it is done (Google Ads policies, verification process). Having your registered company details and a director's ID to hand saves time.
Tracking before the first click
Conversion tracking tells Google Ads which clicks turned into enquiries. Setting it up takes three steps: create a conversion action in Google Ads, install the Google tag or Google Tag Manager on the site, and check it with Tag Assistant. If you use Tag Manager you also need the Conversion Linker tag. Until the first conversion is recorded, the action shows as "Unverified" or "Inactive" (Google Ads Help, conversion tracking).
For a service business, the actions worth counting are usually the enquiry form, taps on the phone number on mobile and clicks on the email link. Count the form when the server confirms the submission, so abandoned forms do not show up as conversions. On desktop, a click on a phone number does not mean a call was made.
The UK falls under Google's EU user consent policy, together with the EEA and Switzerland (Google, EU user consent policy). Visitors' consent choices need to be passed to Google through consent mode; without them, measurement and remarketing are affected (Google Ads Help, consent mode). Enhanced conversions add hashed first-party data, such as the email address from the form, to strengthen matching (Google Ads Help, enhanced conversions).
Campaign settings that shape the spend
The search campaign wizard asks, in order, for an objective, campaign type, conversion goals, bidding, networks, locations, languages, audiences, an ad group, an ad and a budget. Even if you proceed without a goal's guidance, a search campaign needs at least one conversion goal (Google Ads Help, create a search campaign).
At the networks step there are two tick boxes: search partners and the Display Network. We leave both unticked in a first campaign. The Display Network shows ads to people who are not searching, which makes the spend hard to trace back to a query. Once search brings in steady enquiries, those networks can be tested in a separate campaign.
For locations, Google recommends "Presence or interest" for search campaigns; it also reaches people showing interest in your area. "Presence" limits the ads to people who are in, or regularly in, the area you target (Google Ads Help, location options). Our kitchen maker only fits kitchens within reach of its workshop, so "Presence" around Leeds gives it the tighter start. The data also shows why city names are a weak signal: across the UK, "bespoke kitchens leeds" is searched about 70 times a month, against 2,900 for "bespoke kitchens" (Google Keyword Planner, United Kingdom, 30 September 2026). Most local buyers type the service without the city, and location targeting does the rest.
The budget is entered as an average daily amount. On busy days Google can spend up to twice that figure, but in a calendar month it will not bill more than 30.4 times the average daily budget (Google Ads Help, budgets and charging limits). A business planning £600 a month would enter a daily budget of about £19.70. For "bespoke kitchens", the top-of-page bid range is roughly £2.46 to £11.70 (converted from the account's Turkish lira at the ECB rate of 28 September 2026), so that budget buys somewhere between two and eight clicks a day. The real cost is set in each auction; treat the sum as a starting estimate. How the cost of a single click is set, and how a budget follows from it, is covered in our post on Google Ads cost.
Keywords, match types and negatives
Keywords decide which searches can trigger your ad. Google defines three match types (Google Ads Help, keyword matching options):
- Broad match needs no symbols and reaches searches related to the keyword. Google recommends pairing it with Smart Bidding. Broad "fitted kitchens" can also appear for someone planning a flat-pack kitchen of their own.
- Phrase match is written in "quotes" and reaches searches that include the keyword's meaning, so "bespoke kitchens" also covers "bespoke kitchens in west yorkshire".
- Exact match is written in [brackets] and reaches searches with the same meaning or intent, such as [bespoke kitchen makers].
In a new account without conversion data, phrase and exact match keep it readable where the money goes. Broad match makes more sense once the bid strategy is learning from real conversions.
Negative keywords keep the ad away from searches you do not want. For the kitchen maker, the Planner already lists the first candidates: "diy kitchen" is searched about 135,000 times a month, "ikea kitchen" 49,500 and "kitchen fitter jobs" 1,000. None of them is looking for a bespoke maker, so "diy", "ikea" and "jobs" go on the list before launch. Negatives do not cover close variants or synonyms, so "jobs" and "vacancies" have to be added separately; lists can be built at account level and shared across campaigns (Google Ads Help, negative keywords).
Writing the ads
Search ads are responsive search ads. Each ad takes up to 15 headlines of 30 characters and 4 descriptions of 90 characters, with at least 3 headlines and 2 descriptions required. Google suggests at least two ads rated "Good" or "Excellent" per ad group, and reports that advertisers who improve ad strength from "Poor" to "Excellent" see on average 15% more clicks and conversions (Google Ads Help, responsive search ads).
Some headlines should carry the search term itself; for the kitchen maker, "Bespoke Kitchens in Leeds". The rest should add something new: "Designed and Built in Our Workshop" for the craft, "Visit Our Leeds Showroom" for the next step, "Free Home Design Visit" if the firm genuinely offers one. Headlines that repeat one sentence with small changes pull ad strength down.
Assets extend the ad. The kitchen maker's sitelinks could point to its gallery, its design process, the showroom and a quote request. Sitelink text is limited to 25 characters, and Google recommends at least six sitelinks with descriptions (Google Ads Help, sitelinks). Phone numbers in call assets are verified and entered in international format (Google Ads Help, call assets).
The page the ad opens should answer the ad's promise on its first screen. Landing page experience is part of ad quality and feeds directly into what you pay per click. You can check that page's mobile speed and heading structure with our free website checker.
Bidding when the account is new
Google points new advertisers, and campaigns without enough conversion data for target CPA or target ROAS, to Maximize clicks (Google Ads Help, bid strategies). Maximize conversions needs working conversion tracking (Google Ads Help, Maximize conversions).
With Maximize clicks, set a maximum cost-per-click limit. Without one, a single click in a competitive hour can cost far more than planned. Our own account currently runs on manual CPC: we set the ceiling for each keyword ourselves and will consider automated bidding once conversion data builds up.
A change of bid strategy, settings or campaign scope puts the campaign into a learning period. Google says it usually lasts one to two conversion cycles (Google Ads Help, learning period); frequent changes during that time restart it.
Paying Google, and the extra lines on the invoice
There are three payment settings: automatic payments, manual payments and, for eligible businesses, monthly invoicing (Google Ads Help, payment settings). There are no flat fees or monthly subscriptions; in search you pay when someone clicks.
Since 1 November 2020 Google has added a 2% "UK DST Fee" to the cost of ads shown in the United Kingdom (Google Ads Help, regulatory operating costs). On VAT, Google explains that it cannot charge VAT where the billing address is outside the European Union and that you may need to self-assess it (Google Ads Help, VAT). Your accountant should confirm the treatment for your business.
The first week after launch
The first week shows which searches the ad really appears for. Four things are worth checking every day:
- Search terms report. The real searches behind each click. Anything with no buying intent goes on the negative list the same day.
- Conversion status. Actions should move to "Recording", and form enquiries should match the conversions Google Ads reports.
- Locations. Impressions should come from the area you target; anything else means revisiting the location option.
- Ad strength and disapprovals. Fix any headline or asset rejected under policy.
Keep bid and budget changes small during this period, and note each one with its date. Weeks later, that log is what lets you tell which change caused which result.
Doing it yourself, or not
A firm selling one service in one area, with a modest budget, can set up its first search campaign by following this order. What management adds is the regular reading of search terms and bid data. When several services, several areas and more than one enquiry channel are involved, that reading becomes a weekly workload.
Our Google Ads management page explains how we connect tracking before launch and how we run the account afterwards. If you are weighing ads against organic search, SEO or Google Ads? looks at that choice on its own.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a minimum spend on Google Ads?
There are no flat fees or subscriptions; you set the average daily budget and can change it at any time. The practical floor is set by the cost per click in your sector: a daily budget that buys only a click or two will not gather enough data to show what works.
How soon do ads go live?
Ads go through Google's policy review before they serve. If advertiser verification has been requested, the review usually takes up to five working days, and ads may be limited until it is complete (Google Ads policies, verification process).
Can the daily budget be exceeded?
On a single day, spend can reach twice the average daily budget. Over a calendar month, you are not billed for more than 30.4 times the average daily budget; anything above that is not charged (Google Ads Help, budgets and charging limits).