Google Ads Tutorial for Beginners: Run Your First Campaign Step by Step

The shortest version of a Google Ads tutorial is this: open the account with a Google Account, set up billing, finish conversion tracking first, then build a Search campaign with a few keyword groups, a daily budget you can live with, and a landing page that matches what people searched for. Google Ads has no minimum spending commitment and you set your own budget, but a budget so small that it buys a handful of clicks a week leaves the system almost nothing to learn from.

This guide is written for Thai business owners and marketers who want to run Google Ads themselves and want to know what mechanism sits behind each step. If you are after an overview of social ads such as Facebook, the picture is very different, because Google Search ads work from what people type, not from interests the platform infers for you.

Running Google Ads yourself, step by step

A workable order for a first account has seven steps. Following it avoids the most common failure: a campaign that runs for days while nobody knows how many real customers it produced.

1. Prepare the landing page. One page per offer, for example an air-conditioner repair service page rather than the homepage. It must load fast on mobile and show a call button, a LINE button or a form without scrolling.
2. Open a Google Ads account with a Google Account the company owns, not one employee's personal email.
3. Set up billing. Enter the business details and payment method, and check that the company name and address match the documents you will use for tax invoices.
4. Set up conversion tracking. Create conversion actions for things that count as real outcomes, such as form submissions, calls or purchases, and test that they fire.
5. Build the keyword list with Keyword Planner inside the Google Ads account, grouped by intent rather than by word length.
6. Create one Search campaign with two to four ad groups, each with a Responsive Search Ad that speaks directly to that group's keywords.
7. Review the search terms report every few days at the start and add negative keywords for irrelevant queries.

Steps 1 and 4 are easy to skip because neither sits on the campaign creation screen, so both look optional. Without a good landing page, click money goes to people who arrive and leave. Without conversions you cannot pick good keywords at all, because all you can see is clicks.

What you need to open a Google Ads account

The list is short, but having it ready from day one saves trouble if the account is later asked to verify its identity.

• A Google Account owned by the business. A company-domain email is best; add other users with their own access instead of sharing a password.
• A website or landing page you own, with clear business contact details.
• Billing information: legal entity or individual name, address, and a payment method the account supports in your country.
• Identity or company documents. Google may ask advertisers to complete advertiser verification using the business's legal details, so use the name that matches your documents from the start.

When you create a new account, the flow may push you straight into an automated campaign setup. If conversion tracking is not ready yet, look for the option to create the account without a campaign, or switch to Expert Mode, so you see every setting yourself.

Ownership matters more than it seems. If you later hire an agency or freelancer, give them access by adding users or linking a manager account, not by letting them open a new account in their own name, because the history, conversion data and keyword lists all stay with that account.

How much daily budget a beginner needs

Google Ads has no minimum spending commitment. You set an average daily budget for each campaign. What beginners need to understand is how that average works, because it does not mean the same spend every day.

• On a busy search day a campaign may spend up to twice its average daily budget.
• Over a month you will not be charged more than 30.4 times the average daily budget, 30.4 being the average number of days in a month.
• If you budget monthly, divide the monthly figure by 30.4 to get the daily budget.

Illustrative example (hypothetical figures): an air-conditioner repair shop sets an average daily budget of 300 baht. Some days the system may spend up to 600 baht, other days 150 baht, but the month will not exceed 300 x 30.4 = 9,120 baht. If the owner has a 6,000 baht monthly budget, the daily setting should be 6,000 / 30.4, about 197 baht.

A more reasoned starting budget works backwards from cost per click. Use Keyword Planner to see the bid range for your main keywords, then decide how many clicks a day you want. Illustrative example (hypothetical figures): if the main keyword costs around 15 baht per click and you want 20 clicks a day, you need roughly 300 baht a day. If the site turns 5 percent of clicks into enquiries, that is about one enquiry a day. These numbers are not market averages; they only show the calculation. Real costs depend on the industry, the area and who else is bidding.

Signs the budget is too small: the campaign shows "Limited by budget" nearly every day from the morning, or it gets only a few clicks a week. In that case, trimming the keyword list to the terms closest to a purchase usually works better than spreading a small amount across dozens of keywords.

Search or Performance Max

For a first campaign, Search is usually the easier place to start. You choose the keywords, you see the search terms that triggered your ads, and you control the ad text.

Performance Max (PMax) is a goal-based campaign type. Google describes it as one campaign that reaches all Google Ads inventory: Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps. The system combines your assets, settings and bidding goals to find conversions, so setup starts with telling it which conversion actions you care about. Without reliable conversion data, the system has no good signal to work with.

One more thing to know: when a search query matches an exact match keyword in a Search campaign, the Search campaign is prioritised to serve over PMax. PMax search themes carry the same priority as phrase and broad match keywords. Running both side by side means deciding which queries you want Search to hold.

Choosing keywords and match types

Good keywords for a first campaign are the ones people type when they are ready to contact or buy, such as "air con repair Bang Na" or "accounting service small company", not broad words like "air con" or "accounting" that also catch people who only want information.

Keyword Planner sits in the tools menu of your Google Ads account at no extra cost. Use it to find new terms from seed words or your website URL and to see approximate bid ranges. Search volume figures are ranges, not exact counts.

There are three match types. As Google puts it, broader match types capture all the queries of narrower match types, plus more.

• Broad match is entered with no symbols. Ads may show on searches related to your keyword. Google says it is critical to use Smart Bidding with broad match.
• Phrase match uses quotes, for example "air con repair". Ads may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword.
• Exact match uses square brackets, for example [air con repair bang na]. Ads may show on searches with the same meaning or intent as the keyword. It gives the most control and the least reach.

With a limited budget and too few conversions for Smart Bidding to learn from, starting with phrase and exact match is easier to control. Once conversions build up, test broad match in the groups that already perform.

Negative keywords matter as much as the main list. Examples of negatives a service business might use are words like "free", "jobs", "DIY" and "pdf", but build yours from your own search terms report. Do not copy someone else's list wholesale, because some businesses sell to exactly the people searching those words.

Watch-outs for Thai-language keywords

Keep both Thai and English keywords in the same ad group when the intent is the same, and set the campaign's language targeting to cover both Thai and English if customers use phones set to English.

Location settings deserve a look too. The default location option usually covers people in the area and people interested in the area. A shop that only serves one district of Bangkok may want only people who are in, or regularly in, that area, so check this option before launch.

Writing ads that match the keywords

A Responsive Search Ad takes up to 15 headlines of up to 30 characters each and up to 4 descriptions of up to 90 characters. The system rotates combinations itself. At least two or three headlines should repeat the searched phrase directly; the rest should say what sets you apart, such as service area, opening hours or warranty. Add assets such as sitelinks and calls, which give people more options before they even reach the site.

Set up conversion tracking before you launch

A conversion is an action you count as a result: a form submission, a call from an ad, a tap on the LINE button, or a payment. Without conversions, Google Ads can only report clicks and cost, and automated bid strategies such as Maximize conversions have nothing to optimise against.

There are two main ways to set it up. The first is to create a conversion action in Google Ads and install the Google tag on the site, directly or through Google Tag Manager. The second is to link Google Analytics 4 and import the key events you set up in GA4 as conversions in Google Ads. If your GA4 structure is not in order yet, fix that first; see the Google Analytics 4 setup service for what that involves.

Pre-launch checklist:

• Submit one real test form and check that the conversion action shows a recorded conversion.
• Set only one or two main conversions as goals. Do not let page views or scrolls count as primary goals, or the system will chase people who do those easy things instead of real customers.
• If most customers contact you through LINE, count LINE button clicks as a conversion, and accept that it measures intent, not closed sales.
• Note the date of any change to conversion settings, because numbers before and after that date are not directly comparable.

The landing page is the other half. A page that loads slowly on mobile or has no contact button on the first screen keeps conversions low however good the ad is. If your current page was not built to receive ad traffic, see landing page design.

Mistakes that cost money and return nothing

Another mistake is letting a Search campaign run on other networks without noticing. The campaign settings include a Networks section that may have Search partners and the Display Network ticked. If you want to measure Google search alone at first, check both options. The last is editing the campaign every day. Smart Bidding needs time to learn, and frequent changes to bid strategy settings, targets or conversion settings can put it back into a learning period.

What to watch after launch

In week one, check that ads are showing, that they get clicks, and that conversions record correctly. Do not judge which keyword is best yet; there is too little data.

After that, the regular metrics are cost per conversion, conversion rate by ad group, search terms that spend a lot without converting, and impression share lost to budget versus rank. Loss to budget means there is more demand than the budget covers. Loss to rank means your ad quality or bids are not yet competitive.

An honest limit: conversion counts in Google Ads are not sales. Someone who calls may not buy, and a buyer may see your ad and later search your brand name. Comparing real sales in your back-office system with the account data every month keeps you from deciding on ad-side numbers alone.

What is different in the Thai market

If customers contact you through LINE or calls, the path is search, ad click, landing page, then a tap to add LINE or call. If you only measure forms, none of those contacts is counted, so count LINE and call button clicks too.

Language shapes account structure as well. Thai has no spaces between words, so the same query can be typed with or without spaces. The search terms report shows which wording customers actually use, which may differ from the names the marketing team uses for products internally.

When to hire an agency

Running Google Ads yourself suits businesses with a few products or services, a clear service area, and someone on the team with time to review the account every week. Signs you need a specialist:

• You have spent for months and still cannot say how many customers came from Google Ads.
• You have hundreds of products, or need Shopping and PMax alongside Search.
• You need to feed sales data from a CRM or back-office system back into Google Ads.
• Nobody on the team has time to read the search terms report and adjust the account regularly.

If you do hire someone, ask whether the account sits in your business's name, what the reports will measure, and which conversions they count. Those three answers say more than any promise about rankings or click volume.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum spend for Google Ads?

Google Ads has no minimum spending commitment, and you set your own average daily budget. Set it high enough to buy a steady number of clicks each day, or you will have almost no data to decide on.

Why did a campaign spend more than its daily budget on some days?

Because the budget is an average: on busy days a campaign may spend up to about twice the average daily budget. Over the month you will not be charged more than 30.4 times the average daily budget.

Should a beginner start with Search or Performance Max?

Most beginners find Search easier to start with, because they choose keywords and see real search terms. PMax is built from conversion goals, so it fits once conversions are measured correctly and the assets are complete.

Does Keyword Planner cost money?

No, Keyword Planner is included in your Google Ads account at no extra cost. It finds keywords and shows approximate bid ranges, and its search volumes are shown as ranges.

Can I run Google Ads without a website?

Most campaign types need a destination URL, so a landing page of your own with clear contact details is worth preparing before you start. It also lets you measure conversions.

This guide is enough to start a first account with a sound structure. If you want a team that works in ad accounts every day to set up the structure, conversions and budget, see Google Ads management or Google Search ads.