Creating a Google Ads Account
Goal: Create a Google Ads account and prepare it to launch your initial advertising campaign.
Ideal Outcome: Gain access to your campaign dashboard and explore the full suite of Google Ads tools.
Prerequisites: No prior experience with Google Ads is required.
Why It’s Important: With billions of daily searches and a massive Display Network, Google Ads offers a powerful platform to reach your target audience.
Where to Do It: Within the Google Ads platform.
When to Do It: Whenever you need to establish a new Google Ads account.
Who Does It: The person responsible for paid advertising.
Creating a Google Ads Account:
- Visit https://ads.google.com/home/ and click the blue “Start Now” button.
- If you have existing Google Ads accounts under your current login email, choose “New Google Ads Account.”
- Skip the Guided Setup: We recommend skipping the default setup as it pushes you to create an ad immediately. This allows you to utilize other tools (like Keyword Planner) for better campaign planning.
- Scroll down and click “Switch to Expert Mode.”
- Then, click “Create an account without a campaign.”
- Enter your details and click “Save and continue.” Note: Select your billing currency carefully as it cannot be changed later.
- Congratulations! You should now be in your account dashboard. (Remember, you haven’t set up a payment method yet.)
Enabling Campaign URL Options (Previously Auto-Tagging):
While optional, this Google Ads feature is highly recommended.
- Log in to your account at https://ads.google.com/.
- To enable Campaign URL Options, create a dummy campaign (it won’t be live or spend any budget). Click “New campaign.”
- Follow the prompts to create a dummy “Search Network” campaign with website visits as the goal and your website URL.
- After naming your campaign, proceed to the bid settings. Choose your desired bid type and enter a maximum cost-per-click limit (optional).
- Under “Customer acquisition,” consider selecting the option to target new customers for this campaign. Existing customer lists can be used later.
[Optional: Advanced Targeting]
For new Google Ads users, additional targeting options are available.
a. If you’d like to focus on new customers, click “define existing customer list.” b. Click “Audience manager” and update your customer segments as needed.
- On the campaign settings page, define your targeting parameters:
- Locations
- Languages
- (Optional) Audience segments
- In the ad group, click “Get Started” to explore relevant keywords for your ads.
- Paste your website URL for automatic keyword suggestions.
- Enter a few product or service-related words and click “keyword suggestions.”
- Include any additional relevant phrases or keywords.
- Now, add details and creative assets for your ads, including:
- Final URL
- Headlines
- Descriptions
- Business name and logos
- Sitelinks
- Callouts
- Set your average daily budget on the budget page and click “Next.”
- Review your campaign settings and click “Publish campaign” once satisfied.
- With your dummy campaign published, you can now enable Campaign URL Options. Click the Google Ads logo in the top navigation bar.
- In the sidebar, navigate to “Settings” → “Campaign URL Options.”
- Enter your campaign’s landing page URL.
- Utilize the final URL suffix field to add parameters for tracking information.
- Customize the parameters and test them to ensure proper tracking setup.
- Click “Save.”
[Optional: Dynamic Search Ads]
- (New recommendation) Activate “Dynamic Search Ads” to leverage your website URLs for automatic ad creation based on user searches. Enter your website URL and preferred language, then click “Save.”
- That’s it! You should begin to see Google Ads traffic data populating your Google Analytics reports within 24 hours of your ads running.
15. Remember to pause or remove your dummy campaign after completing these steps. You can pause it from the ad campaigns page.