Google advertising for a small business: how to start and what to check first

Picture the owner of a small driving school who heard from a colleague that Google ads bring enquiries. They open an account, enter a card and launch an ad. A week later they see dozens of clicks and not a single phone call.

The idea was not bad. It just was not prepared. Google advertising is not switched on like a light, it is set up, and most of what decides the outcome happens before the first click.

How Google advertising works

When someone types a search, Google runs an auction for the ad spots. Each ad gets a score called Ad Rank. It depends on a few things: how much you are willing to pay for a click (your bid), how useful and relevant the ad and the page it leads to are, and the context of the search, such as location and device. An ad also has to clear minimum thresholds to be shown at all.

That is why the highest bid does not always win. Google's documentation says that ad and page quality can mean a lower price per click. A bigger budget does not buy a good position if the page does not answer the search.

In search you usually pay for a click, not for an impression. That price is called CPC (cost per click).

How the budget is spent

You set the budget and can change it whenever you like. Google works with an average daily budget: on a given day it may spend up to twice that amount, but over a month no more than 30.4 times the daily budget. For example, a campaign with a budget of 10 euros a day does not go over roughly 304 euros a month.

How much budget makes sense

There is no single right number, and anyone who names one before seeing your figures is guessing. You work backwards: how much a new customer is worth to you, what share of enquiries become customers, and so how much you can afford to pay for one enquiry.

For example, with made-up numbers: if a new customer brings you 20,000 dinars in profit and one in ten enquiries becomes a customer, an enquiry is worth 2,000 dinars at most. Beyond that the campaign loses money, no matter how many clicks arrive.

That is why cost per enquiry is the real measure, and cost per click is only a tool. A very small budget often means too little data to conclude anything.

What must be ready before the first campaign

Measurement. Google says conversion tracking records the actions you define as valuable, such as a purchase, a sign-up or a call, and shows which keywords, ads and campaigns bring them. Without it you pay and do not know what for.

A page that answers the search. Someone searching for a category B driving licence should land on a page about that, not on the home page.

Someone who replies. An enquiry that waits until tomorrow has often already gone to someone else.

A site that works on a phone. Many people search from their phones, so open the page on mobile data and count the seconds.

What happens after launch

The ad goes through a review first. Google says most ads are reviewed within about one business day, and any change to an ad restarts the review. The first weeks are for seeing what actually works, not for final conclusions.

The most useful report is the search terms report. It shows exactly which searches triggered the ad, so the ones that bring clicks without enquiries can be excluded.

When Google ads are not the right choice

They do not help if nobody searches for what you sell, because a search ad answers an existing need, it does not create one. They do not help either if you cannot answer the enquiries they bring.

And nobody, neither an agency nor Google, can guarantee the number of enquiries or the cost per enquiry in advance. SEO is slower, but it does not charge per click. Ads give faster results, but they stop when the budget stops.

A check before the first campaign

• Can you say how much one enquiry is worth to you in dinars?
• Is at least one conversion set up, and is it recording data?
• Does the ad lead to a service page rather than the home page?
• Does someone reply to an enquiry within an hour?
• Is the account in your name, and do you have access to the search terms report?

We describe the most common mistakes in campaigns that are already running in our article on seven mistakes that waste budget. If you would rather have someone else set the campaign up, take a look at our Google Ads services.