Google Ads for small business: a simple first campaign plan

How Google Ads works for a small business

You choose keywords — the searches you want to appear for — a location, a daily budget and ads. Google runs an auction for every search, and you pay when someone clicks. The price of a click depends on competition for that search, your bid and the quality of your ad and landing page.

A Search campaign is the simplest start: text ads on Google search results for people in your area. Performance Max and Display reach more places, but they need good tracking and more budget to learn.

Why it works for small and local businesses

• People who search “bakery near me” or “emergency plumber” are ready to act.
• You set the budget and the area, down to a city or a radius around your address.
• You see which searches brought clicks and leads, and exclude the rest with negative keywords.
• You can stop or change a campaign at any time — there is no contract.

Your first campaign, step by step

1. Write down 10–20 searches your customers would type, and check their volume and bids in Keyword Planner.
2. Set up conversion tracking first — form submissions, calls or purchases — so Google knows what a good result is.
3. Create a Search campaign for your city with a daily budget you are comfortable with.
4. Write a responsive search ad: several headlines up to 30 characters and descriptions up to 90, with your offer and location.
5. After a week, open the search terms report, add negative keywords for irrelevant searches and move budget to what works.
6. In AdAce Ads, Ace can prepare the campaign in a paused state — you review and approve it before anything runs.

Good to know