ARTICLE

From Spending on Ads to Precise Investment

Many business owners feel overwhelmed by the numerous buttons when first encountering the ad platform. Practical experience shows budget shortage is rarely the main issue; problems usually stem from poor structure, lack of negative keywords, and landing pages directing to the homepage.

If you have read the introductory strategy article and understand paid ads, keyword matching and bidding basics, this article will guide actual backend operations.

This is an operation manual. Each section explains the exact screen, button location and value to fill. It is recommended to open the backend and follow along.

Creating an Ad Account

Registration Process

1. Go to ads.google.com and click "Get started"
2. When prompted to create the first campaign, click "Switch to Expert Mode" at the bottom
3. In Expert Mode select "Create an account without creating a campaign"
4. Confirm country/region, time zone and currency
5. Done, you now have a clean account

Why skip Smart Mode? Smart Mode lets the system decide keywords, bids and audiences automatically, leaving users unable to see what is happening. Unless testing for only a short period, Expert Mode is recommended.

Billing Setup

After entering the account, set up payment first:

1. Click top-right "Tools & Settings" → "Billing" → "Billing settings"
2. Choose credit card or bank transfer
3. Fill in company information
4. Monthly electronic invoices will be received

Understanding the Backend Interface

After login there are five main areas:

• Left navigation: switch between levels
• Top toolbar: date range and filters
• Central data table: shows selected dimensions
• Top summary cards: quick performance preview
• Top-right "Tools & Settings": account settings and conversion management

Common Quick Actions

Campaign Structure and Levels

The account uses a four-layer structure:

• Account: corresponds to one ad account
• Campaign: independent budget, location and schedule
• Ad group: semantically related keywords and ads
• Keywords & Ads: trigger conditions and displayed content

Structure Design Principles

One campaign corresponds to one marketing goal.

One ad group corresponds to one theme. Keywords within the same group should be highly related so precise ad copy can be written.

Creating the First Search Campaign

Step 1: Choose campaign goal

1. Click left "Campaigns" → blue "+" → "New campaign"
2. Select "Leads"
3. Check the conversion actions to track
4. Select "Search" type

Step 2: Campaign settings

• Campaign name: use clear naming, e.g. Search_Service_WebDesign_Taipei
• Networks: uncheck partners and Display Network
• Location: select specific cities
• Language: Traditional Chinese, English
• Daily budget: set daily cap

Step 3: Bidding strategy

Recommended flow for new accounts:

Step 4: Create ad groups

1. Enter ad group name
2. Enter keywords, one per line, suggest 10-20, mix phrase and exact match

Step 5: Write ads

This part is detailed in the Responsive Search Ads section later.

Step 6: Review and publish

Before publishing confirm: location correct, daily budget reasonable, keywords use phrase or exact match, ad copy contains keywords and call-to-action, ad points to correct landing page.

Keyword Strategy and Management

Using Keyword Planner

1. Tools & Settings → "Planning" → "Keyword Planner"
2. Select "Discover new keywords"
3. Enter 3-5 core terms
4. Review average monthly searches, competition and bid estimates

Keyword grouping strategy

Using a web design company as example, groups can include brand, service, location and price-related terms.

Keyword Match Types Explained

The platform provides three match types plus negative keywords.

Broad Match

Enter directly without symbols. Widest reach but easily triggers irrelevant searches. Not recommended for new accounts.

Phrase Match

Add quotes. Search must contain the phrase. Suitable for most situations.

Exact Match

Add brackets. Most precise but smallest reach. Suitable for brand and high-converting keywords.

Practical advice

• New ad groups: start with phrase + exact mix
• Check search terms report weekly
• Once stable, raise bids on high-converting keywords

Negative Keyword Management

Negative keywords are an important way to control budget.

Creating negative keyword lists

1. Left "Keywords" → "Negative keywords" → blue "+"
2. Choose to use negative keyword lists

Essential negative lists

Regardless of industry, almost always exclude: free, tutorial, job, academic, irrelevant locations.

Search terms report analysis

This is weekly must-do work. Suggest spending 15 minutes every Friday checking relevant and irrelevant search terms.

Responsive Search Ads Writing

The platform promotes Responsive Search Ads. Provide multiple headlines and descriptions and the system automatically combines the best versions.

Ad fields

Headline writing strategy

Allocate 15 headline slots proportionally: main keywords, unique selling points, calls-to-action, promotions, brand names.

Description writing tips

• First sentence states the point directly
• Naturally include 1-2 keywords
• Use numbers for credibility
• End with a call-to-action

Landing page selection

Landing pages should be highly relevant to ad copy. If the ad promotes a specific service, link directly to the service page instead of the homepage.

Ad Assets

Ad assets increase exposure for free.

Essential ad assets

Setting path

1. Left "Ads & assets" → "Assets"
2. Select asset type
3. Can set at different levels

Quality Score and Ad Rank

Quality Score directly affects ad rank and cost per click.

Three elements of Quality Score

Expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience.

Why Quality Score matters

The ad rank formula is bid multiplied by Quality Score. Higher Quality Score can lower cost per click.

Viewing Quality Score

1. Left "Keywords" → "Search keywords"
2. Check Quality Score related columns
3. Focus on keywords scoring below 5

Bidding Strategy Selection and Setup

The platform offers multiple bidding strategies from manual to automated.

Manual bidding

Manual CPC suits new or small-budget accounts. Enhanced CPC can automatically raise bids when conversion is expected.

Automated bidding

Bidding strategy progression path

Stage 1: Manual CPC to accumulate data. Stage 2: Enhanced CPC to let the system learn. Stage 3: Maximize conversions to let AI take over. Stage 4: Target CPA for precise cost control.

Conversion Tracking Setup

Without conversion tracking, all optimization is guesswork.

Common conversion actions

Setting conversion via Google Tag

1. Tools & Settings → "Measurement" → "Conversions"
2. Click "New conversion action" → "Website"
3. Enter website URL
4. Choose manual setup
5. Fill conversion name and category
6. Choose installation method: paste directly or manage via GTM

Importing conversions via GA4

If events are already set in GA4, they can be imported directly into Google Ads.

Conversion tracking verification

Use Google Tag Assistant to verify the code fires correctly.

Audience Settings

Besides keywords, audiences can narrow or expand reach.

Audience types

Observation vs Targeting

Observation does not restrict reach and is used first to collect data. Targeting only shows ads to the selected audience.

Remarketing

Remarketing shows ads to previous visitors who did not convert. Conversion rates are usually 2-3 times higher than regular ads.

Setting up remarketing

1. Confirm Google code is installed site-wide
2. Tools & Settings → "Shared Library" → "Audience manager"
3. Create remarketing lists

Creating remarketing campaigns

1. New campaign → "Display"
2. Select remarketing list
3. Exclude converted visitors
4. Budget suggestion: 10-20% of total budget

Campaign Type Selection Guide

Besides Search, other campaign types are available.

Search campaigns

Suitable for services or products with clear search intent. Highest conversion rate.

Display campaigns

Suitable for brand exposure and remarketing. Lower cost.

Shopping campaigns

Suitable for e-commerce and retail. Requires Merchant Center setup.

Video campaigns

Suitable for brand stories and product demos.

Performance Max

Suitable for cross-channel delivery. Recommended after sufficient conversion data exists.

Reports and Data Analysis

Core metrics

Custom reports

1. Left "Reports" → "Reports" → "+" Custom
2. Choose report type
3. Drag dimensions and metrics
4. Set schedule for automatic sending

Search terms report

This is the weekly must-read report. It reveals irrelevant searches and new potential keywords.

Google Ads and GA4 Connection

After connecting, GA4 can display ad data and import audiences and conversion events.

Connection steps

1. In Google Ads: Tools & Settings → "Linked accounts" → "Google Analytics (GA4)"
2. Find GA4 property and click "Link"
3. Check import options

GA4 metrics available after connection

Engaged sessions, average engagement time per session, engaged sessions per user.

Account Optimization and Weekly Checks

Weekly optimization checklist

Search terms check (most important, 15 minutes weekly), ad performance check (10 minutes weekly), bid and budget check (10 minutes weekly), Quality Score check (monthly).

Google recommendations

The "Recommendations" page shows optimization suggestions, but do not adopt blindly. First verify relevance and reasonableness.

Budget Planning and Control

Budget setting logic

Daily budget is an average. Actual daily spend may fluctuate up to 2x, but monthly total will not exceed daily budget × 30.4.

Spending control tips

• Set account-level monthly cap
• Use ad scheduling
• Exclude poor-performing time slots
• Device bid adjustments

Common Issues and Troubleshooting

Ad approved but no impressions

Possible reasons: bid too low, budget exhausted, keyword search volume too low, location too narrow, account still under review.

Many clicks but no conversions

Possible reasons: landing page mismatches ad, landing page loads too slowly, keywords too broad, conversion tracking broken, form or CTA unclear.

Cost per click too high

Possible reasons: Quality Score too low, competition too fierce, match type too broad, bidding strategy unsuitable.

Conversion tracking shows 0

Troubleshooting steps: confirm code installed with Tag Assistant, confirm conversion action status, manually trigger one conversion, wait 24-48 hours for data.

Conclusion: Continuous Learning, Data-Driven

Google Ads is a system that requires ongoing learning and tuning. The first 1-2 months are a learning period focused on data collection. Once data exists, gradually optimize keywords, copy, bids and audiences. It is recommended to run for at least 3 consecutive months and review data weekly to see compounding optimization effects.