Ads guide by Mark Parfenov, published 10 November 2026
Google Search ads reach people at the moment they look for what you sell, which makes them the best first paid channel for most small businesses. They also burn money quickly when they’re set up loosely. This is the setup I use for a first campaign.
Decide what counts as a result: a form, a call, a booking or a sale. Track each one as a conversion in Google Ads, or import it from GA4, and track calls from the ads and from your website. If you can, send qualified leads or sales back from your CRM as offline conversions, so Google learns which clicks became customers.
Search campaigns show text ads for the searches you choose, so you stay in control while you learn. Automated campaign types such as Performance Max can work later, once you have reliable conversion data to feed them.
Group keywords by what the person wants, such as an emergency repair, a price or a specific service, with one ad group per group. Use phrase and exact match to start, so your ads show for searches close to what you sell.
Exclude searches you don’t want to pay for, such as jobs, free, DIY, training or competitors you don’t serve. Check the search terms report every week and keep adding to it; this is where most wasted spend is stopped.
Target only the areas you serve, and choose people in or regularly in those places rather than people who are only interested in them. Run ads at the hours someone can answer the phone or reply.
Use responsive search ads with headlines that repeat what people searched for, your main benefit, proof and a clear next step. Add sitelinks, call and location assets, and link your Google Business Profile so ads can show your address and reviews.
Each ad group should land on a page that talks about exactly that service, with the same words as the ad, a phone number and one clear next step.
Start with a daily budget you can afford for a month or two and a simple bid strategy. Move to automated bidding, such as maximise conversions or a target cost per acquisition, once conversions are tracked reliably and coming in steadily.
Each week, check search terms, cost per conversion and, most of all, which leads became customers. Pause what brings junk, move budget to what brings buyers and change one thing at a time.
What I’ve learned and use in practice, checked against current benchmarks and official checklists on 10 November 2026. Experience and benchmarks, not guarantees.
A tight campaign, measured from click to customer and reviewed every week. For a Bay Area services company, that approach brought 62 qualified leads in eight weeks at about $48 each. Before you start, the ads readiness check and the cost per customer calculator help you set expectations.
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