Create your first Google Ads Search campaign (2026)

7 min read

What you’ll have at the end

Before you start

Steps

1. 1. Open Google Ads and sign in

   Go to ads.google.com and sign in with your Google account.

2. 2. Add your business information

   When asked, enter your business name and your website address. Google uses them to fill in later steps.

3. 3. Choose to create the account without a campaign

   At this stage Google offers the option to create an account without a campaign. Please choose it. Google's help recommends creating the account first, and it lets you build the campaign at your own pace from step 6. The wording of this option can differ on your screen.

4. 4. Choose your billing country and time zone (can't be undone)

   Google says your account's time zone and currency are set permanently when the account is created, and can't be changed later.

   Select your Billing country, then check the time zone shown. Your reports, statistics and billing follow these, so please choose the ones you do business in.

5. 5. Enter your payments profile (asks for personal and payment details)

   You can pause screen sharing while you fill in this page, and continue afterwards.

   On the Enter your account and payment details page, Google creates a payments profile. The type defaults to Organization; you can change it to Individual if that fits you for tax purposes. You enter your name and address.

   You may then be asked to Add payment method, such as a card or bank account, before Submit. The options you see depend on your billing country and currency. If you use a card, Google may place a temporary hold on it, which Google's payment help says is usually removed within a week.

   If you'd rather not enter these details yet, you can stop here and come back.

6. 6. Open your campaigns

   In your Google Ads account, go to Campaigns within the Campaigns menu on the left.

7. 7. Start a new campaign

   Click the plus icon to create a New campaign.

8. 8. Choose an objective

   Choose Sales, Leads or Website traffic. If none fits, choose Create a campaign without a goal's guidance.

9. 9. Choose Search

   Under "Select a campaign type", select Search.

10. 10. Keep at least one conversion goal

    Under "Use these conversion goals for campaign performance optimization", keep or choose at least one goal. Google needs one to create a Search campaign, even without a goal's guidance.

11. 11. Click Continue and name the campaign

    Click Continue, then type a name you will recognise, such as "Search – plumbing – Pune".

    From here Google saves your work as a draft automatically. You can leave and come back: drafts sit at the top of the Campaigns list, and Resume and continue opens one again.

12. 12. Choose what bidding focuses on

    Google suggests Conversions if you want sales or leads and track them on your website, and Clicks if you want people to visit your website. Please choose the one that matches what you want.

13. 13. Choose where the ads show

    Include Google search partners lets your ads appear on other search engines too. Display Network lets them appear on other websites. Leave both unticked if you want your ads on Google Search only.

14. 14. Choose locations

    Select the places where people should see your ads, such as your city or country. You can also exclude places within them. Location options lets you choose how people relate to those places, for example people in them or people searching for them.

15. 15. Choose languages

    Enter the languages your customers search in. Your keywords and ad should be written in these languages.

16. 16. Skip audiences for now

    Audience segments are optional. You can leave them for a first campaign.

17. 17. Add assets if you have them, then continue

    Sitelink, callout and call assets appear by default and are optional. Add any you have ready, such as your phone number, then click Save and continue.

18. 18. Name your ad group

    Keep Standard as the ad group type, and give the ad group a name for one service, such as "Leak repairs".

19. 19. Enter keywords

    Type the searches you wrote down, one per line. By default they match a broad set of related searches. To narrow them, put quotation marks around a keyword for phrase match ("leak repair"), or square brackets for exact match ([leak repair]). Then click Save and continue.

20. 20. Enter the final URL

    Type the address of the page people should land on when they click your ad.

21. 21. Write the headlines

    Fill in the headline boxes with short lines about your service. The ad editor shows how many it needs and how long each can be.

22. 22. Write the descriptions

    Fill in the description boxes. Each can be up to 90 characters.

23. 23. Finish the ad

    Click Done, then Save and continue.

24. 24. Set a daily budget

    Enter the average amount you're willing to spend each day, or pick one of Google's suggested amounts. Google may spend more on some days and less on others; over a month you won't be charged more than 30.4 times this amount, as Google's budget help explains. If your screen asks for the budget earlier, enter it there.

25. 25. Read the review page, and stop before PublishSpends money

    This step spends money. Whether to go ahead is your decision, and you’re welcome to stop here.

    The review page lists anything that needs attention, such as missing keywords, an invalid final URL or a billing issue. Click Fix it next to each one.

    Publish is the step that lets your ads run and spending begin once billing is in place. This guide stops here, and the decision is yours. Until you publish, the campaign stays a draft and no ads from it run.

If something looks different

Would you rather learn Google Ads properly? There’s a free six-session course.