Yes! You are allowed to use competitors’ names as keywords in your Google Ads campaigns. This means you would be eligible to show up in the SERPs when people are searching for your competitors; however, it also means that your competitors can do the same.

Including competitors as part of your Google Ads strategy won’t be right for everyone. If your industry doesn’t have a ton of competition or is newer to the market, the search volume might not be there to make it a worthy addition to your strategy. Competitor keywords will almost always have a higher cost per click due to their decreased relevancy and therefore lower quality score. Google knows you are not your competitor, so you’re going to pay more to show up in the SERPs.

The benefit to bidding on competitor keywords is that it gives you the opportunity to connect with an audience that is actively searching for products or services similar to yours. It can also be a good way to build some brand awareness if you’re new to your industry by positioning yourself beside your competitors.

Best practices for using competitors’ brand names in your ads strategy

Bidding on competitors’ names can be a great way to grab some extra visibility with people who are already looking for or using similar products or services. If you’re interested in testing, or you’re in an industry where bidding on competitor names is common (we see this often in personal injury law, SAAS, and HVAC industries), here are a few tips:

1. Create a separate campaign for the competitors you’d like to target. This helps you maintain control over your total ad spend and properly measure performance.
2. Build a landing page that compares your offerings or products with your competitors. This will increase keyword relevancy and help your audience make informed choices. This also helps differentiate your brand from your competitors and benefits your overall content strategy and SEO for brand visibility.
3. Use your ad copy to highlight unique selling points that differentiate you from your competitors.
4. Bid on the competitors most like you in terms of size, offerings, etc. Bidding on a big-name brand with way more budget and offerings is unlikely to see results.

It depends! You are allowed to use a competitor’s name in the second-level domain of your ad’s display URL, even if it’s trademarked.

Additionally, you can technically use a company’s name (trademarked or not) in your ad copy as long as you’re not using it in a deceptive or misleading way. However, if your competitor sees this and submits a complaint, your ads are likely to get disapproved. This is part of Google’s update to their Trademark Policy, which was announced in 2023 but only fully rolled out as of February 2025. Under the old policy, trademark owners could proactively submit a form and have their trademark disapproved for all advertisers in their industry, meaning if you tried to use a trademarked term in your ad copy, it would come back automatically disapproved.

Under the new policy, things operate under a more “innocent until proven guilty” approach. Trademark restrictions only apply to advertisers that have been identified in a complaint, so you’re eligible to use a trademarked name unless someone complains and says otherwise.

Penalties for getting caught using your competitor’s name in your ad copy can range from ad disapproval (for using a competitor’s brand name) to immediate account suspension (if you’re hit with a misleading representation policy violation). It’s a dangerous game to play, and for that reason, we don’t recommend it!

I sell products from other brands. Can I use their trademarks in my ad copy?

Yes! And the good news is that Google recently made this process easier. With the old process, you needed the trademark owner’s permission to use their name in your ads. The owner of the trademark would fill out a Third Party Authorization Request and include your Google Ads account ID in the Authorized Entities section.

Recently (Feb 2025), that form disappeared! You are now eligible to use a trademarked name unless someone complains and says otherwise.

Adding your competitor’s name to your ad copy may help with ad relevance, but it is often more trouble than it’s worth. By bidding on a competitor’s brand name, your ads are already prone to misclicks. If a user doesn’t take the time to read your whole ad (and let’s be real, lots aren’t), they might be disappointed when they reach your website instead of the brand they were searching for. Including a competitor’s name in your ad copy is likely to increase misclicks, leading to wasted budget. On top of that, you could be dealing with ad disapprovals (or worse, account suspension) as your competitors submit complaints. To avoid these issues, it’s best to leave competitor brand names out of your ad copy.

There are lots of ways to make your ad stand out without using your competitor’s name. Highlight what makes your company different. Bonus points if you can customize these features for each competitor. (Example: You know that your software handles reservations better than competitor A. Or, you offer 24-hour support and competitor B doesn’t.) Here are some examples of competitor headlines you can test in your account:

• [Your Brand] Does it Better
• Try [Your Brand] Instead
• Have You Considered [Your Brand]?

Keyword insertion will place any of your keywords matching a user’s search query into your ad headlines (as long as it fits the character limit). It’s a great tool to increase the relevancy of your ad copy, but it can get you into trouble if you’re using it in your competitor campaigns. Using keyword insertion in your competitor campaigns will place your competitor’s brand name into your ad copy in a way that will most certainly look like you’re impersonating the business. This opens you up to disapprovals from Google, potential legal issues, and angry competitors.

Another way to accidentally include your competitor’s name in your ad copy is by turning on “automatically created assets” at the campaign level. As per Google:

“[Automatically created assets] are generated based on your ad’s unique context, which includes your landing page, existing ads, and keywords in your ad group.”

If you are bidding on competitor keywords and have your competitor’s names on your landing page, it’s very possible that it will get pulled into your ad copy, and probably not in the way you’d like.

It is interesting that Google will violate their own policy, but hey, here we are. Make sure you’re in control of your ad copy by leaving this feature turned off for competitor campaigns. You can check this by going to your campaign’s settings and looking under the “Automatically created assets” tab.

A quick Google search is all you need to see if other businesses are bidding on your brand. If you do see competitors showing up for your name, here are a few things you can do to protect your brand.

1. Create a branded campaign. Bidding on your own brand name is a great way to protect your traffic from competitors. Relevance will be high (it is your brand, after all), so clicks are typically on the cheaper side and you’re more likely to show up at the top of the SERPs vs. a competitor.
2. Reach out to the business directly. Many of our clients have ‘handshake deals’ with their competitors agreeing that they won’t bid on each other’s brand names or use their names in ad copy. This is often a very effective strategy, especially if you reach out in an earnest, non-confrontational manner. Putting these types of agreements in place reduces the cost per click (CPC) for branded terms and allows you to spend time focusing on your other, typically more profitable, campaigns. Keep in mind there are situations in which a competitor might be using your name in their ad copy accidentally (see pro tip sections)! It’s often worth reaching out to them first before filing a complaint with Google.
3. Register a complaint with Google. Remember, people are allowed to bid on your branded keywords; however, if you notice a competitor using your brand name in their ad copy, you can submit a complaint to Google using this form. Business name not trademarked? You still might have a case. Try reporting the ad under the copyright policy using the same form. Note: When submitting a trademark complaint, your email address domain must match a corporate domain or website. Make sure you’re using the correct email to avoid any confusion!
4. Continue to monitor your branded SERPs. Previously, you were able to take a proactive approach and submit your trademark to Google, which was a time saver because it allowed Google’s automated system to look for trademark violations. Today, it’s a more reactive approach. Google now only accepts and processes trademark complaints against specific advertisers and/or ads. This means that if you have three competitors who are using your brand name in their ad copy, you would have to file three separate complaints. It also means that you have to stay on top of your branded SERPs to catch any new issues that might pop up. This can be done manually or by using paid tools like Adthena or Spyfu.

Still have questions on how to navigate Google’s trademark policy? Check out their Trademark Troubleshooter for additional information.

Whether you’re leveraging competitor keywords to capture new customers or protect your brand name, the key is to stay strategic, compliant, and data-informed. While it can be tempting to focus on competitor keywords for immediate visibility, it’s important to prioritize your own brand and products/services first. Building a strong campaign structure with your unique offerings will set you up for long-term success and give you the opportunity to test other targeting strategies (like a competitor’s campaign) with less risk.

Optimization score (Optiscore) is a real-time metric that assesses how well your campaigns are set up to perform, ranging from 0% to 100%, with higher scores indicating better optimization.

Optiscore recommendations can change based on many factors, including your account settings and trends in the ads ecosystem. Typically, you’ll see recommendations in relation to:

• Increasing your budget
• Implementing a new smart bidding strategy
• Refining or adding keywords
• Creating new assets and campaign types
• Setting up additional targeting parameters

Why you should be cautious with Google Ads recommendations

Is the optimization score really as important as it seems? No.

Think of the optimization score as added insights into how well your account and campaigns are set up, but proceed with caution—Google’s suggestions may not always be the best choice for your goals.

While a high score suggests good optimization in Google’s eyes, it’s important to remember:

• Optiscore does not impact the ad auction. Instead, your campaign’s placement and performance in the auction are impacted by Ad Strength and Quality Score.
• It doesn’t guarantee success. While it’s good practice to monitor your optimization score and keep it on your radar, it does not accurately reflect your campaign’s effectiveness and performance.

How much should you improve your optimization score?

Getting caught up in the optimization score can lead you to overlook more important aspects of your campaign. Aiming for a perfect 100% optimization score isn’t necessary, and in some cases, it can be counterproductive.

However, it is a useful tool for identifying potential opportunities for your account. It’s a great health indicator, but at the end of the day, you know your business best and some of the opportunities it recommends may not make sense for your business (or budget).

Turning Optiscore recommendations into experiments

While a lot of Google’s recommendations are poor, you shouldn’t completely disregard all of them. Instead, you should look through them, apply them manually when relevant, and analyze the results of the change in the future.

For example, if you’re considering a bid strategy change, like Google’s common suggestion to switch from “Maximize Clicks” to “Maximize Conversions”, try setting up a 60-day experiment to compare both strategies.

After 60 days, if the new strategy shows better results (i.e. increased conversions at a lower cost), you have data-backed proof that Maximize Conversions is a good fit for your campaign!

No, you should not enable the auto-apply setting for Google Ads recommendations.

Instead, manage recommendations manually to maintain full control over your account and ensure only relevant changes are applied.

While the optimization tool can be helpful, many recommendations won’t align with your business goals. Relying on auto-apply could lead to wasted spend and unnecessary complications.

For example, imagine you’re a lawn equipment rental business and enable the “Add new keywords” auto-apply recommendation. Google might suggest keywords like “lawnmower” instead of specific ones like “lawn mower rental.” This could attract traffic from people looking to buy rather than rent, resulting in wasted ad spend and extra work to clean up your account.

Some other common auto-apply recommendations include:

• Adding ads & assets (ex. add responsive search ads)
• Making changes to keywords & targeting (ex. remove conflicting negative keywords)
• Adjusting bidding (ex. adjust your CPA or ROAS targets)

Clearing irrelevant recommendations is already frustrating—don’t add to the hassle by enabling auto-apply. And don’t feel pressured by Google reps who often push auto-apply as a “best practice.”

Remember, while Google Ads’ auto-apply recommendations might seem like a time-saver, manually reviewing and testing certain recommendations while ignoring others is the smarter approach. You’ll ensure that your ads remain relevant, well-targeted, and cost-effective!

Note on non-serving keywords: While there is still an auto-apply recommendation for removing non-serving keywords, starting in June 2024, Google will automatically pause keywords that have had 0 impressions in the past 13 months, even if you don’t have this auto-apply recommendation enabled!

Yes, you absolutely can! Google updates its recommendations sometimes on a weekly basis, and it’s hard to keep your optimization score above Google’s recommended 70%. The quickest way to improve your score is by dismissing irrelevant recommendations each week.
Always evaluate each suggestion with a grain of salt to see if it truly aligns with your objectives before applying it.

Ask yourself, “Why would I do that?” Followed by “Why wouldn’t I do that?”

It’s essential to understand the impact of each suggestion on your account and dismiss those that don’t align with your objectives.

Note on dismissed recommendations: If you accidentally dismiss a good recommendation, don’t worry! You can check the “dismissed tab,” or Google will likely add it back in a few weeks.

Note on performance and Google Partner eligibility: Dismissing recommendations doesn’t impact the actual performance of your campaigns. However, maintaining a higher score can make you eligible for Google Partners status, which may be worth considering depending on your goals. Learn more about Google Partners eligibility.

While some recommendations can be beneficial, others have proven to be poor practices for managing Google Ads. Here are a few to watch out for:

Expand your reach with Google search partners

Google search partners include search engines such as Ask.com, Lycos.com, and Dogpile.com.

While they might seem appealing, the traffic from these search partners tends to be lower quality and less relevant.

Recommendation: If you’re curious about it, try running your campaigns with search partners enabled for a short period and segment your data by “Network (with search partners).” This will help you determine if it’s worth keeping.

If you’ve already tested and disabled search partners, don’t worry when Google recommends you enable them again. Simply dismiss it because you’ve already made the call based on your data.

Use display expansion

Display expansion allows your search ads to appear on the Display Network. However, search ads are designed to perform in search results, not on display placements, which often leads to suboptimal results.

Recommendation: If you’re interested in display advertising, create a separate display campaign to test independently from your search campaigns. This way, you can measure the effectiveness of display ads properly.

Enable automatically created assets

Google’s “automatically created assets” feature generates additional headlines and descriptions for your ads based on your existing content. While it aims to improve ad relevance, it doesn’t always deliver useful results.

Imagine you’re a mental health practitioner running ads for depression counselling. If Google identifies that your site mentions that you have male therapists, it might add “Male Therapist” as a headline to your depression-focused ads. While this could be relevant for some searchers, it may alienate others who might not be interested in a male therapist, or maybe you only have one and this isn’t something you want to highlight.

Recommendation: Dismiss this recommendation to maintain full control over your messaging and ensure relevance.

Removing redundant keywords

Google sometimes flags keywords as “redundant” when they are very similar within the same ad group. However, this can be misleading because the search intent behind these keywords can differ.

For example, keywords like “party rental supplies” and “party rental suppliers” may be flagged as redundant, even though they target different types of search queries.

Recommendation: If Google flags keywords as redundant, consider reviewing your campaign’s keyword structure. Splitting keywords into different ad groups based on distinct search intents can help Google better target your audience and will reduce the likelihood of Google marking those keywords as redundant.

Note on Performance Max: If you’re using Performance Max campaigns alongside your Search campaigns, you might notice Google flagging more redundant keywords due to overlaps. But don’t worry—Search campaigns usually outperform Performance Max in search results, and Google factors this into its decision-making when choosing which ads to show.

Think of Performance Max as a cross-channel support system, filling in the gaps where other campaigns might miss. To stay ahead of redundant keyword recommendations, keep a close watch on your search terms and add your top-performing ones as exact match keywords to your Search campaigns. This approach helps you maintain control so you can confidently dismiss Google’s redundant keyword alerts.

Ultimately, trust your knowledge of your business. You know better than Google why these keywords were added to your account.

Add broad match keywords

Google often recommends upgrading your keywords from phrase or exact match to broad match. While broad match may increase your reach, it can also result in less relevant traffic.

In general, exact match is found to outperform broad match, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be exceptions.

Broad match casts a wider net, which attracts more volume, but doesn’t always align with your target audience. That said, some of our team members have had success with broad match, seeing an improved cost-per-conversion through careful testing.

Recommendation: If you’re looking to discover new keyword opportunities and expand your reach, testing broad match can be worthwhile. Just remember to:

• Monitor closely: Especially in the early stages, track the search terms triggering your ads.
• Use negative keywords: Add irrelevant search terms to your negative keyword list to prevent wasting spend.
• Use smart bidding: Pair broad match keywords with smart bidding strategies to optimize performance and reach.
• Add broad match to current ad groups: Incorporate broad match keywords into your existing ad groups instead of creating separate match-type ad groups.

If broad match consistently outperforms other match types in your testing, then you can consider making it a permanent part of your strategy.

Bid more efficiently with a different smart bidding strategy

Google will recommend Smart Bidding strategies like Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, Target CPA (tCPA), and Target ROAS (tROAS).

While these strategies can be effective, it’s important to approach them thoughtfully. Blindly following Google’s bidding recommendations may not align with your business goals and needs.

Recommendation: Start with Maximize Clicks to gather data quickly and scale your campaigns without needing constantly tweak individual CPCs.

• Give it time: Make sure you have at least 20 conversions before trying out Smart Bidding strategies like Maximize Conversions.
• Test it out: Run an experiment to see how Smart Bidding stacks up against Maximize Clicks.
• Take it slow: If you’re testing a new tCPA or tROAS, keep your targets realistic. Avoid making big changes—it’s better to adjust gradually so Google can optimize effectively.

However, Google Ads is constantly evolving, and Google Reps are now advising account managers to:

• Start with Maximize Conversions instead of Maximize Clicks.
• Once you have at least 5 conversions, test out Target CPA (tCPA).
• Once you have at least 15 conversions, test Target ROAS (tROAS).

Our verdict: For now, we still recommend starting with Maximize Clicks as it remains a reliable strategy. Meanwhile, we will be testing more variations as the platform evolves!

Managing Google Ads is an ongoing balancing act of optimization and experimentation. By carefully reviewing recommendations, making data-informed decisions, and continuously testing, you’ll ensure your campaigns remain aligned with your business goals. Trust in your knowledge and approach, and don’t be afraid to test and iterate to find what truly works for you!

To qualify for your Google Ads Credit, you need to spend $500 within your first 60 days of becoming a Google Ads user. Then, the $500 ad credit should be applied as soon as you qualify. However, in some cases, Google Ads users reported that the credit took longer to appear in their accounts, so don’t be surprised if the credit doesn’t show up as soon as you spend $500.

Also, remember that the credit expires 60 days after it is applied to your account. Once the credit is applied, keep your campaigns active to use the full $500 credit within the next 60 days. Don’t pause your campaigns after qualifying, as this could lead to missing out on the promotional credit.

For full details on qualifying for the $500 credit, check out Google’s guide on promotional offers.

Google provides several channels for advertisers to run their ads, each with unique features and advantages. The campaign type you choose will determine where your ads will show. Here’s a quick overview:

Search

These ads appear in the search results on Google. You can show ads by bidding on keywords that are relevant to your business. Search campaigns are great for capturing demand! (And are a nice shortcut to get your business at the top of the search results.)

Display

Google shows banner ads across millions of web pages, apps, and other properties within the Display Network. Due to their high exposure, they are excellent for remarketing and brand awareness. However, since they appear alongside content users are viewing, they can sometimes be seen as intrusive. Unlike search ads, which target high-intent users based on several different factors, display ads rely more strongly on audience signals.

Video

If your brand has engaging video content, video ads can be a powerful tool. These ads can appear before, during, and after videos on YouTube, as well as across third-party apps, games, and websites. They aim to reach highly engaged users, so it’s crucial to set specific audience signals for better targeting.

Demand Gen

With Demand Gen, your ads can appear on Google’s Discover feed, YouTube, and Gmail. Demand Gen campaigns offer extensive reach, and are a great place to test your best performing video and image assets.

Performance Max

This is Google’s ultimate optimization initiative, using machine learning to display your ads across all Google advertising channels (Search, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Display). Google uses the assets you provide to create tailored ads for each channel. While this might sound ideal, it offers limited control over targeting, where your ads appear, and can make it difficult to track if your campaigns are overlapping or cannibalizing each other.

This guide will primarily address Search campaigns, as we focus on setting up your first campaign. Search campaigns provide the most control, help you collect insightful data, and are the easiest to launch effectively with the right setup.

If you’re a new business struggling to rank high in Google search results, search ads can help you appear at the top, significantly increasing your visibility. By targeting users with the right intent with relevant keywords, you can drive qualified traffic to your website.

While you may want to qualify for your $500 ad credit as soon as possible, it’s crucial to have a good strategy in place so your money isn’t wasted.

When thinking about your target audience, you need to make sure you understand the types of search queries that they will use to find information about your services.

Start with a tool like Google Ads Keyword Planner, which you can access after setting up your Google Ads account. This tool helps you find relevant keywords related to your business.

Narrow The Results

Google will typically provide thousands of keywords. Here’s how to narrow down the list:

• Set your location: Google defaults to showing keywords popular within your entire country. To make the list more relevant, narrow it down to the area your business serves.
• Use filters: Use filters like “keyword -> does not contain” to exclude irrelevant terms. For instance, an Edmonton business might filter out “Calgary” or a massage therapist might exclude “TMJ.” Filtering makes it easier to focus on relevant keywords.

Keywords to Add

Now that your list is narrowed down, sort the keywords by Avg. Monthly Searches to focus on those with the most traffic. I like to consider these categories:

Brand-Related Keywords

Look for variations of your brand name. For example, if your brand is the Edmonton Public Library, keywords like “edmonton public library edmonton” or “epl edmonton” may appear. Choose which ones to target directly and add any missing variations.

Location-Related Keywords

You want to target users looking for local services, as these people have a better search intent. A massage therapist might use keywords like “massage therapist in austin” or “massage therapist austin tx.” Additionally, incorporating “near me” keywords like “best massage near me” can help you capture more relevant local search queries. Location-related keywords are a great way to target users actively seeking your services within your area.

Offering-Related Keywords

Identify high-traffic keywords related to your services that not only drive traffic but also align with your business objectives. For instance, a mental health therapist might discover that keywords like “ADHD testing adult” to be particularly effective in attracting potential clients. These insights help prioritize which services to promote and guide your campaign strategy effectively.

It’s important to focus on services that contribute significantly to your business’s revenue or areas where you need more leads while also going beyond generic keywords. For example, you can target broad terms like “psychologist,” but also consider highlighting specific services such as “couples therapy,” or “anxiety treatment.” This targeted approach ensures your ads are highly relevant to individuals actively seeking specialized services within your niche.

Keywords to Avoid

With so many keywords that Google provides you, it’s equally important to know which keywords to avoid. Here are some examples:

• Unrelated offerings: Exclude keywords unrelated to your services—you’re unlikely to convince someone to choose a service that they’re not searching for. For instance, a massage therapist who doesn’t do Swedish massages wouldn’t want to bid on this term.
• Informational queries: Avoid keywords like “library hours” or “massage therapist hiring,” as they are unlikely to generate leads.
• Competitor names: We recommend avoiding targeting competitor names to start, as this can be expensive (higher cost per clicks).

These keywords should all be added to a negative keyword list, so your ad spend will be more effective.

Check Keyword Relevance

A great way to check keyword relevance is by using Google’s search results and the Google Ads Keyword Planner. This helps you avoid low-search volume keywords and highly competitive keywords dominated by big players.

In Keyword Planner, I like to look at the average monthly searches and top-of-page bid to gauge keyword popularity. I also use Google’s search results to see the types of results a search query brings in and confirm if what I am promoting aligns with the other search results.

For example, while “social media service” may be a relevant keyword for your business, the keyword planner shows that its traffic is quite low when targeting all of Alberta.

When I search for the keyword on Google, results are flooded by freelancers and SaaS companies with large advertising budgets, leaving little room for local services to stand out.

Instead, I can use more specific keywords like “social media service edmonton.” The Keyword Planner shows keyword ideas that are more relevant to my niche.

When I search for “social media service Edmonton” on Google, I find ads from local service companies, making it clear that this keyword targets a more relevant audience.

Using specific keywords like “social media service Edmonton” is more effective than generic ones like “social media service” because they better target local audiences and increase your chances of appearing in relevant searches.

Now that you have a list of relevant keywords that you want to use to reach your audience, you need to organize them into campaigns and use them to inspire your ad copy.

Campaign Structure

Your first campaign should typically be a “Branded” campaign. This ensures your website appears first in brand-related searches and protects your traffic from competitors. In this campaign, set up an ad group with all the keywords related to your brand name. We recommend using exact match for these keywords to avoid unrelated searches. For more details on match types, check out our post about the 9 Google Ads Mistakes That Are Hurting Your Business.

Next, take the keywords you found in your research and organize them by topic, such as offerings or location. From there, sort the keywords in each campaign by theme, and assign each theme to its own ad group.

For example, if you’re a Lawyer, you could organize your campaigns by services, like so:

• Civil Litigation Lawyer | Vancouver | Search
• Wills & Estates Lawyer | Vancouver | Search
• Employment Lawyer | Vancouver | Search

From here, you can take all your keywords relating to Employment Lawyer, and organize them into themes, like so:

• Employment Lawyer
• Labour Lawyer
• Workplace Lawyer

Now you have offerings-focused campaigns, and ad groups organized by keyword themes, which will make it easy to keep track of your goals and performance.

Ad Copy

Now that your keywords are organized, you can use them to inspire relevant ad copy. For example, if a user types in “Plumber Near Me,” which ad would they be more compelled to click based on the headlines:

Your goal is to have your ad copy match your audience’s query (the keywords in your ad group) while also giving you the opportunity to mention your features, benefits, brand name, or a call to action.

Questions to consider:

• Do your plumbers offer same-day service?
• Are they certified and insured?
• Can people book online?
• Do you have competitive pricing?
• Is there a limited-time discount they should know about?

By creating ad copy that is relevant to both the keywords and the landing page, you offer your audience a positive and seamless experience, guiding them toward becoming customers.

Ad Elements You Need To Optimize:

When creating Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), there are 4 major ad components that you need to optimize for prospective customers on Google:

• Display URL path: This text shows up in 2 sections and you can use a maximum of 15 characters for each path (you can use up to 2). The display path allows you to provide information on the contents of the landing page and increase relevance for the searcher.
• Headlines: This is one of the most important elements of your ad, as it’s key to grabbing a searcher’s attention and enticing them to want to read the rest of the copy and click through to the ad landing page. You can create up to 15 headlines for each RSA, with a maximum of 30 characters per headline, and Google will show 2-3 of those headlines each time your ad shows up, with each headline separated with a | or – .
• Descriptions: The job of your ad description is to convince the searcher to want to learn more about your business, service, or product. Here is where you can create excitement and a strong call-to-action that convinces the person to click-through to the ad landing page. You can create up to 4 descriptions, with a maximum of 90 characters per description, so you need to be compelling and concise.
• Ad assets: Assets are a great way to increase your click-through rate, providing searchers with more information about your business, highlighting your offerings, and offering additional resources. We’ll talk more about the best assets to implement later in this blog post.

  Free Resource: Google Ads Editor Template

Like when making a cake, you now have all the ingredients and are ready to mix them together and put them in the oven. But you want to trust your oven not to burn the cake after you put in all the hard work and resources.

When you go to set up a new campaign, you will:

• Select the campaign type (Search in our case),
• The campaign name (based on the campaign theme), and then
• Google gives you more options that need to be set up.

Below is a rough template of what we recommend.

Network

Focus your budget on Google Search results by disabling both the Search Network and Display Network.

Search Network

Google search partners include engines like Ask.com, Lycos.com, and Dogpile.com. Since you are likely working with a lower budget, it’s best to disable this feature for now. You can always test enabling it later.

Display Network

Keep the Display Network off. Display expansion allows search ads to appear on the Display Network, but these ads are designed for search results and often don’t perform well on the Display Network. Display campaigns should always be separate.

Location

Google will default to “All countries and territories”. Instead, you’re going to select “Enter another location”. Here, you can use the advanced search to pinpoint the exact geographic area where you want your ads to appear.

Next, you have 3 target options: Presence or Interest, Presence, and Search Interest. We recommend choosing Presence, as it’s the most relevant audience for local businesses. This option targets only people who live in your selected location.

Budget

Remember, you need to spend $500 USD ($600 CAD) within 60 days after opening your account to qualify for the credit. Assuming you want to stretch your budget rather than spending it all right away, I recommend aiming a bit higher to avoid underspending, especially since your campaigns will be in the learning period and may initially spend less than expected.

To calculate your minimum daily budget:

1. Determine how many days are left until the offer expires.
2. Divide your required budget by this number of days.
3. Add an additional $100-$200 as a buffer to ensure you meet the spending requirement.

For example, if you have 50 days left and need to spend $500 USD, your calculation would be: $500 / 50 days = $10 per day

Adding a buffer: $10 + ($100-$200 buffer / 50 days) = $12-$14 per day

This approach helps ensure you meet the spending requirement and qualify for the ad credit.

Bid Strategy

For your brand campaign, use the Target Impression Share bid strategy. Here you are bidding for visibility vs clicks or conversions. This ensures that when someone searches for your brand name, they are more likely to see your brand at the top, protecting your brand from competitors trying to appear in those searches.

For your other campaigns, start with the Maximize Clicks bidding strategy. This automated bid strategy allows Google to test your keywords out and helps you see the type of traffic you can attract without overspending on clicks. You can also set a Max CPC (cost per click) to prevent your account from spending too much on any single keyword. You can swap from Maximize Clicks to Maximize Conversions once your campaigns have some historical conversion data (however, you won’t have control over CPC).

As you start collecting conversions, you can review your campaigns (keywords, budgets, ad copy, and campaign structure) to identify areas for optimization or removal. This process ensures that your campaigns continue to improve and deliver better results over time.

Complete the setup of these essential elements to ensure you get the most value from your Google Ads account. This will help protect you from wasted ad spend and provide insightful data on your performance.

Negative keyword lists

Negative keywords are a key part to keeping irrelevant audiences away from your ads. For example, if you are a lawyer, you want your ad to show up for people looking for legal services. However, due to close match variants, Google may show your ads to people searching for similar terms that are not relevant, such as law schools, scholarships, jobs, and internships. As such, it is important to curate a strong list of negative keywords that you can continue to build on as you see the types of search terms your ads appear for.

Free Resource: Get Our Google Ads Editor Template Which Includes A List of Negative Keywords

Conversion tracking

To measure the success of your Google Ads campaign, especially as a small business with a limited budget, you need accurate data on how many purchases, form fills, or contact points your audience makes on your site after clicking on your ad.

We recommend using the Google Ads tag for conversion tracking, which requires Google Tag Manager (GTM). This method provides the most precise tracking and integration. However, if you’re a small business managing this on your own, importing conversions from GA4 into Google Ads is a simpler option that still provides valuable insights and is much better than having no conversion tracking at all.

If you don’t have a GA4 property set up, now is the perfect time. Check out Dana’s guide on how to set up your GA4 property and ensure your conversions show up in your Google Ads account.

Ad Assets

Assets aren’t guaranteed to appear, but they can greatly increase your click-through rate when they do! There are multiple asset types available—here are the ones you should look at setting up in your account first:

Callout Assets

Callouts are bulleted lists of selling points that follow the description of your ad. They are a great opportunity to highlight important notes about your company.

Sitelink Assets

Sitelinks are a great way to highlight other pages on your site, such as your contact page, other service pages, and anywhere else searchers might want to visit.

Location Assets

Location assets are great for local service businesses. It allows your Google Business Profile listing to appear as an ad on Google Maps and show location details in search results.

To do this, link your Google Ads property to your business’s Google Business Profile (GBP). If you don’t have a GBP, now is the perfect time to set one up!

Do not enable auto apply settings

While we appreciate that Google Ads has automated certain aspects, such as bid strategies and certain campaign types, the Auto-Apply settings cause many mixed results. Google recommends having a minimum of 10 auto-apply recommendations set up. However, the majority of the recommendations that Google automates can have a detrimental impact on your account. Our recommendation is to stay away from Auto-Apply and to go through the recommendations manually.

Don’t use broad match

“Let’s be clear: Google wants you to use broad match because they’ll make more money”. As time goes on, broad match become more and more muddy, bringing in stray search terms that have no relation to your keywords. This can lead to your ads showing up for highly irrelevant searches, wasting your budget on clicks that don’t convert.

With a small budget, we don’t recommend starting with broad match—stick with phrase and exact match instead. However, if you want to test it later, we recommend pairing it with a smart bidding strategy, strong negative keyword lists, and conversion data. Smart bidding, such as Maximize Conversions or Target CPA, helps Google optimize your bids to get the best results, but even with this, broad match can quickly drain your budget if not managed carefully. A strong negative keyword list is essential to filter out unrelated searches and prevent wasted spend.

Own your ads account

Working with an agency can ensure your Google Ads account is setup for success and strategically optimized, but your company should always be the main owner. You can invite the agency as a partner on the account, avoid any agency that does not operate like this.

If you stop working with the agency or the agency closes, you don’t want to lose access to your account, in which case you would have to create a new one and start from scratch, losing all your Google Ads data.

There are unfortunate situations where businesses will spend $500 with Google Ads within 60 days, but will then be ineligible for the $500 credit.

Unfortunately, Google Ads coupons have expiry dates and conditions attached. Google doesn’t guarantee this promotion to all new Google Ads accounts, so it’s important to check your eligibility and make sure you meet the requirements for the credit. Once you have spent the required amount, the credit should automatically be applied to your account within 35 days, and you should be able to see it in the Promotions section under Billing.

Note: if you are a Canadian business, remember that you need to spend $600 CAD within the first 60 days.

While this can be very frustrating, keep in mind that you are not alone, and that you were able to start seeing success in Google Ads, which is huge!

Also, this is a great opportunity to reach out to Google Ads support and pester them for answers. We recommend reaching out to support as soon as you reach the spending threshold, as it takes time for them to review your case and to make sure that they have everything needed to grant the $500 credit.

Navigating Google Ads as a new business can be daunting, especially when you’re trying to make the most of a $500 USD credit. Reading this guide means you’ve taken the first steps toward setting up a successful Google Ads campaign that maximizes your budget and targets the right audience.

By applying these strategies, you can optimize your Google Ads campaigns to drive qualified traffic, generate leads, and, ultimately, grow your business. Remember, the key to success in Google Ads is continuous monitoring, testing, and refining your approach based on the data you collect.

Don’t forget to download the Google Ads Editor Template (Keywords + Ad Copy) to help make the most of your $500 Google Ads Credit.

Good luck, and happy advertising!

Have an ad group labelled “generic keywords”? Uh oh. Or maybe you had an ad group that did have a strong theme, but over time you kept adding new keywords, and now it houses, well, almost everything.

Take a hard look at your ad groups and ask yourself: does it make sense if people search for any of the keywords in my ad group for them to see the same ad? If the answer is no, then you need to split out your keywords into more ad groups.

Scenario: you’re a lawyer with multiple practice areas. Instead of creating one ad group to capture all of these searches, you’d want to create specific ad groups for each type of practice area.

Generic Ad group

“family lawyer”
“business lawyer”
“divorce attorney”
“employment lawyer”
“estate planning lawyer”
“lawyer in edmonton”

Themed Ad group

“family lawyer”
“family law attorney”
“family lawyer near me”
“family lawyer edmonton”

Organizing your ad groups into themes also ensures that your ad copy and landing page align with what the user is searching for. In the above example, you wouldn’t want people searching for “family lawyer” to see a generic ad or an ad unrelated to family law—instead, create ads that highlight your experience with family cases that use a landing page focused on family law. Set yourself up for success—create well-themed ad groups!

In the future, you might do more keyword research and discover themes such as “divorce lawyer” and “child custody lawyer.” It will be tempting to add these keywords to your Family Law ad group, but you shouldn’t! Create new ad groups to test these different themes and customize your ad copy.

Broad match, phrase match, exact match… so many match types!

Let’s be clear: Google wants you to use broad match because they’ll make more money.

Broad match has a bad reputation, and for a good reason—it has a long history of being . This match type works differently than it used to. It’s a little bit smarter now—Google makes it try to sound like the best choice by calling it comprehensive matching.

If you want to test broad match keywords, pair it with Smart Bidding to compete in the most relevant auctions. I also recommend using broad match within ad groups that already have phase and exact match keywords—by having other keywords in your ad groups, broad match can better understand the intent.

Phrase match (moderate matching) comes in handy when you want a wider reach than exact match but don’t want to open it up as much as broad match. In the past, phrase match was used when the order of the keywords mattered. Now, Google doesn’t care so much about the order as long as it doesn’t change the meaning of the keyword. Google is now smart enough (or thinks it is) to match up the meaning of your keyword with a searcher’s intent.

Exact match (tight matching) is another great match type to choose, although exact match is not true to its name anymore—your ads can also appear for close variations or searches that match the meaning of your keyword (e.g. lawyer and attorney).

I recommend starting with exact match and phrase match keywords, observing performance, and then in the future test how broad match keywords impact performance.

To see what search terms you’re appearing for, select the keyword a to view the search terms report for that specific keyword. (You can also look at this at the ad group level if you want to see search terms for all keywords in an ad group.

When reviewing search terms, if you find yourself constantly having to add a ton of negative keywords, it’s time to reconsider (narrowing) your match type!

Negative keywords are keywords you don’t want your ads to appear for, and you can add them at the campaign level or at the ad group level. Negative keywords save you money! Use them.

If you’re running multiple campaigns and want them to use the same negative keywords, you’ll want to create a negative keyword list so you can apply that list to all campaigns—this way, you’re only maintaining one list, which makes it easier to keep track of and manage your negative keywords (versus adding them individually at the campaign level).

Ideally, before you start running your campaigns, you would have proactively added negative keywords that you don’t want to appear for, such as “free,” “pictures,” and “cheap.” Check out this list of negative keywords and add negative keywords to your campaigns to prevent wasted ad spend.

Scenario: Let’s just say you’re a plumber and you have “plumbers edmonton” as a keyword. It looks like it’s performing well when you look at the keyword report—you’re getting a ton of clicks. But then you look at the search terms report and find out that you’ve actually been appearing for keywords like “plumber jobs in edmonton” and “plumber salary edmonton”. Oh no! You forgot to add jobs and salary as negative keywords, so you add them immediately.

But that’s not all you should do! You’d also want to add job and salaries as negatives (the singular and plural counterparts) as well as other keywords related to jobs such as career, careers, hire, and hiring. You could even go one step further and add negative keywords such as resume(s) and interview(s)—you might not think that someone would search for plumber resume examples, but someone will.

Negative keywords work a bit differently compared to the keywords you target. You also need to ask yourself, “Are there any other synonyms, misspellings, or other close variations? Do I have both the singular and the plural version of the keyword?”

Of course, match types of negative keywords behave differently than match types of regular keywords. Google has some nifty charts to help you decide what match types you should use for your negative keywords.

Save yourself from spending money on irrelevant clicks. Use negative keywords!

Or even worse—maybe you’re only running old Text Ads or Expanded Text Ads (both ad types have been retired, and you can’t create new ones anymore). If you set and forget your Google Ads account, you might not know about the new ad type in town: Responsive Search Ads (RSAs).

RSAs are great because you can test multiple headlines and descriptions in a single ad. That being said, you might be thinking that you can get away with just having one RSA in an ad group. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. You should still test different ad templates—Paid Media Pros has a great video that talks about the different ways you can test RSAs in your ad account. Give it a watch!

Even if you have multiple ads for each ad group, you still might not be seeing great results. What’s wrong? Take a hard look at your ad copy. Is it compelling? Is it clear? Is there a CTA? Remember to write for your audience, use emotional triggers to your advantage, and emphasize why people should choose your business.

Also, do a few quick Google searches to see how your competitor’s ads look compared to yours. Is their offer better? Is their copy more enticing? Learn from your competitors and adjust your ad copy.

So you’ve created ads; that’s great! But Google Ads offers many more opportunities to make your ad stand out with assets. If you add assets, it doesn’t guarantee that they will appear (they may appear in different combinations or not at all if your quality score is low), but when they do show, your ads will yield higher CTRs! Assets used to be called extensions—as the old name suggests, they are an extension of your ads.

Types of Assets:

• Callouts: Use callouts to highlight important information, such as features or benefits. What makes your business unique? Do you offer free shipping? Do you answer the phone 24/7? Do you offer same-day repairs? Include it as a callout!
• Sitelinks: Add links to related pages on your site, such as pricing, how to contact you, related services/products, etc. You might be thinking, “But why would I want people to go anywhere but my landing page?” Don’t worry—people are still going to mostly click on your ad headline. Sitelinks give searchers an idea of what other relevant information they can find on your site.
  • Tip: to check how your sitelinks are performing, segment by This asset vs Other.
• Call: Want people to call your business? Add a phone number! You can schedule it to appear only during business hours, so you don’t get calls when you’re not there to answer the phone. This asset is clickable on mobile but just appears as text on desktop.
  • Tip: we recommend using CallRail to track phone calls that come directly from your ads. With CallRail, you can set up a phone number for the call asset, as well as a website pool to track phone calls on your website!
• Structured Snippets: This asset is great, but there are some limitations with it because it has a limited selection of choices for the header. If you don’t see something on the list that works for you, try using “Types” and include a list that relates to your ad. You also need a list (at least 3 items) to use this asset.
• Location: If you’re a local business, the location asset is a must. All you have to do is connect Google Ads with your Google Business Profile. The asset will show searchers your address, phone number, and when you’re open. People can click on your location to open up your listing on Google Maps. By adding this asset, your location can also appear as an ad on Google Maps.
• Price: Price is a sticky subject for some companies, but if price is your competitive advantage, consider using the price asset to highlight the price of your product or service.
• Promotion: Have a sale? Highlight it with the promotion asset! You can use this asset to let searchers know that you have a 20% off sale for a limited time, and you can add a promo code.
• Message: If you have the capability, and if it makes sense for your business, this asset enables people to text you straight from your ad.
• App: If you have an app, you can have it appear underneath your ad with a call-to-action to download it.
• Lead Form: This asset allows people to fill out a form directly from your ad without having to click-through to your website. The downside: there are a very limited number of fields that you can include!
• Image: This asset allows images to appear alongside your ad. You can include photos of your office, employees, or images that represent your services or products to see what performs best!

Make your ad stand out with ad assets. Which ad would you click on?

Ad assets have a huge impact on CTR! Remember to set up your ad assets, but don’t set and forget. Review, test, and see what performs best.

Check-in on your assets often to ensure that they’re approved and running! Sometimes Google’s system will erroneously flag an asset as limited due to their policy. It often makes mistakes—you can appeal their decision if the option is available. If not, contact Google support to get your assets up and running again.

By default, Google will keep “Include Google Display Network” checked when you go to set up a search campaign. This is good for Google but bad for you.

Always keep search campaigns separate from display. By including display with search, you’re sacrificing control—and if there is one thing you want to be extra careful with, it’s giving Google too much control.

You’ll want to have separate strategies for search and display campaigns, and be able to control how much budget you’re allocating towards the two different networks. You can’t do that with display select enabled.

Keep search and display separate. Enough said.

So, you set your campaign to target the city your business is located in. Don’t stop there! Click “Location options” to expand a very important targeting feature.

Ask yourself: do I want people from other states, provinces, or countries to see my ads? The answer is likely no, so select “people in your or regularly in your targeted location” instead.

You can try the recommended setting, but in our humble opinion, this setting is recommended for Google because they get more of your money. If you choose “People in, or who show interest in, your targeted location,” keep a close eye on the user location report to see if people from outside of your targeted location are converting, or if they’re just costing you money.

Getting lots of traffic from Google Ads to your site, but no one is converting? It could be that the search terms you’re appearing for don’t have the right intent. But if your keywords are solid, and you’re appearing for relevant searches, it’s time to review your landing page.

Ask yourself:

• Is the page designed in a way that makes the content easy to read?
• Are you speaking to your audience (focusing on their wants and needs), or are you talking to yourself (focused on how awesome you are)? Is the content compelling?
• Does your landing page load fast? (If it’s slow, people will bail.)
• Is your site mobile-friendly? (Google primarily crawls and indexes the mobile version of sites!)
• Does your landing page match your ad copy, or is there a message mismatch? (This is so, so, so important!)
• Do you have a clear CTA?

You can have the best Google Ads campaign set up of all time, but a bad landing page will spoil the results. Use a session recording tool to see how people are interacting with your page and identify where they are getting hung up, and use an A/B testing tool to test landing page changes and see what performs best.

Any of these conversions sound familiar?

• Visited two pages on your site
• Scrolled 80% down the page
• Viewed a specific page

Are any of these things making you money? No. So why are you tracking them as conversions? A conversion should be someone filling out a form, calling you, purchasing a product, or booking an appointment. These things lead to more business, whereas someone visiting two pages on your site doesn’t make you money.

If you aren’t tracking conversions at all, it can be hard to see how Google Ads is impacting your business. Sure, you turn Google Ads on, and you see more leads or sales, but which keywords are performing the best? Which keywords are you spending a lot of money on that just aren’t working? Without conversion tracking, you won’t be able to optimize your campaigns. Set up GA4 and start tracking conversions!

Help Google make smart choices

Optimizing your campaigns takes time and effort, but in the long run, it’s worth it. Google Ads can be the difference between your phone ringing off the hook and your phone never ringing. Ads can bring you more business than you ever thought you’d get, or it can drain your marketing budget in a hurry. You get out of it what you put in—don’t set and forget your campaigns, and don’t blindly trust all of Google’s recommendations (they really, really want your money).

A comScore study in 2013 found that 54% of display ads are never seen. Maybe they were displayed on the page, but they were below the fold, or the person left the page before the ad was fully loaded, or a million of other issues.

This feels like the in-joke of the internet, a wink-wink between traditional agencies and publishers—those that sell display ads to unsuspecting clients and the sites that accept ad revenue.

Both of these parties know that display ad metrics aren’t just inaccurate, they’re a heaping pile of bullshit.

Impressions have ended up being the “look how great we are!” measure that agencies that are more focused on trying to obfuscate what’s really going on so that they look good, rather than report on real results. It’s a big number and it looks amazing to say that your ad had 1 million impressions instead of the sad trombone of 10 clicks. This kind of reporting is particularly rife within so-called “traditional” advertising agencies, who are used to reporting on offline campaigns and are still struggling to understand all this internet stuff.

Impressions are also sacrificed to the altar of vague reporting metrics such as “brand awareness”.

We had a real-life example of this when working with another agency for a mutual client. They claimed that an ad had resulted in “brand awareness” due to the large number of impressions the ad received. But in reality, the creative was boring and blended into the site. There wasn’t even a call to action. Just because your ad had 1,000 impressions, it doesn’t mean that:

1. 1,000 more people know about your company.
2. 1,000 more people feel good about your company.
3. 1,000 people looked at your ad at all.

If you need to measure brand awareness, try measuring it on social media or count people visiting your landing page. Did someone talk about your brand on social? Did they go to your site, maybe sign up for your newsletter? That’s brand awareness! Someone glazing over your display ad on a webpage that they viewed for two seconds isn’t brand awareness.

(Facebook is also guilty of this. The “boost” button on page posts is paying per impressions, although they call it reach. Reach is also a poorly understood metric that’s becoming a stand in for impressions on social media. Buyer beware.)

How did we get here? In the beginning of advertising, we paid per impression. Billboards cost a certain amount depending on how many cars drove by. Nielsen ratings determined how much advertisers should pay for TV shows—sweeps weeks were how television shows inflated their numbers so they could charge more. We didn’t have a better way to measure things.

Then, the internet happened. Instead of thinking “hey, we can measure all kinds of things now!”, pageviews became the default metric of success because it was comfortable and nobody in advertising had to shift too much. You could say “this site gets 10,000 pageviews a day”, put down your client’s money and then tell them that they got 10,000 ad views. Just like buying a radio ad, right?

Pageviews should never have been the default measure of advertising. It’s resulted in awful clickbait headlines (You won’t believe what happens next!) and multipage slideshows (I’m looking at you, Huffington Post). But pageviews are a metric that could be easily measured and sold to people who understood the old school of advertising.

What they didn’t understand (or willfully ignored) was banner blindness. Spend 5 minutes on the internet, and you’ll start to zone out the ads. Some pages make it hard by shouting at you, showing popups, and pushing giant page takeovers, but loud isn’t the new good. You can’t make someone want to pay attention to your creative that was recycled from a billboard.

The internet is not just a cheaper billboard. If your ad isn’t compelling, if it doesn’t speak to me, then you might as well save your money and take yourself out for a nice dinner instead.

The internet, while still a baby, is learning really fast. We can target based on behaviour, what you’re searching for, your age, your Facebook interests, whether or not you already visited our site—a million different ways to show exactly the ad that you’ll be interested in at the moment you see it. But instead, most advertisers submit webpage visitors to the blunt force trauma of multiple ad impressions, hoping for a nice big number they can show on their PowerPoint presentation the next time they’re at a client meeting.

People on the internet aren’t lemmings, just waiting around to be shown something flashy so they can jump off a cliff after it. We all see ads every single day, and we’re smart enough to decide what’s interesting and what’s just more crap to ignore. Recycled creative and scattershot advertising isn’t just lazy, it’s disrespectful to you and to your client. Reporting on impressions reinforces the idea that if you show an ad enough times, we’ll just have to give in to the message. And we all know that isn’t true.