Notes for owners · Digital marketing
Your first Google Ads account: the structure a small advertiser should start with
A starting layout for a small Google Ads account: one campaign per service, exact and phrase match, call assets and a negative keyword list from the first day, with a build sheet to copy.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
On this page
- Why one campaign per service?
- What does the account look like on paper?
- How should you use exact and phrase match?
- Which settings should you check before publishing?
- What goes in the negative keyword list on day one?
- An invented example: a Thrissur wedding videographer
- How do you set the daily budget?
- What to do this week
Start with one campaign for each service you want enquiries for, and a few ad groups inside each. Use exact and phrase match, switch on call and location assets, and write a negative keyword list before the first rupee is spent. Keep it boring. A small advertiser does not need clever structure. It needs to be readable, so that you can say which service paid for itself and which did not.
Why one campaign per service?
Budget in Google Ads is set at campaign level. If "AC repair", "AC installation" and "AC annual contract" share a campaign, the cheapest, most clicked service takes the money, and you cannot see what the other two are doing. Separate campaigns let you give each service its own daily budget, location and landing page.
There is one exception. If you sell one thing, one campaign is right. And if a service gets almost no searches in your area, fold it into its nearest neighbour rather than starving a campaign of its own.
What does the account look like on paper?
Draw it before you open the account. For an imagined AC service business in Pune it could read:
Account
Campaign 1: AC repair
Ad group: AC not cooling
Ad group: AC gas refill
Ad group: AC repair near me
Campaign 2: AC installation
Ad group: split AC installation
Ad group: window AC installation
Campaign 3: AC service contract
Ad group: annual maintenance contract
Each ad group holds keywords that mean the same thing, and one set of ads that repeats the customer's own words. If you cannot name an ad group in the words a customer types, it is too vague.
How should you use exact and phrase match?
Exact match shows your ad for a search that means the same as your keyword. Phrase match shows it when the search contains your keyword's meaning with extra words around. Both keep you close to what you chose. Broad match lets Google decide, which is a way to find new words later and a costly way to start.
Write each keyword the way the customer says it, not the way the trade does. "AC gas filling cost" is closer to a customer's search than "air conditioner refrigerant recharge services". Use phrase match for your main terms and keep exact match for the two or three you know convert. Then read the search terms report.
Which settings should you check before publishing?
| Setting | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Networks | Search only, display partners off | Clicks from partner sites are harder to tie to a phone call |
| Location | The towns or pin codes you serve, "presence" only | "Presence or interest" shows ads to people elsewhere |
| Language | The language your customers search in | A Kannada search comes from a different customer than an English one |
| Ad schedule | Your phone hours, if calls matter | A call at 2 am goes nowhere |
| Call assets | Your number, shown with the ad | Some buyers would rather ring than fill a form |
| Location assets | Linked to your Business Profile | Shows the address and a map pin for walk-in trades |
| Conversion tracking | Calls from ads, form submissions, WhatsApp taps | Without it you only see clicks |
Call extensions are now called call assets, and both names appear in the help pages. Whichever you see, turn them on and set the hours.
What goes in the negative keyword list on day one?
Negative keywords stop your ad appearing for words you list. Write the first list before you launch and add to it from the search terms report. For a service trade, begin with words that signal a job seeker, a student, a do-it-yourself reader or a different product: "jobs", "course", "training", "salary", "manual", "pdf", "free", "diy", "second hand". Add the brands you do not service and the towns you do not cover. A longer starter list is in the post on negative keywords.
An invented example: a Thrissur wedding videographer
Say a videographer in Thrissur sets up one campaign called "Wedding videos" with every keyword in it: "wedding videographer", "candid wedding video", "pre wedding shoot", "baby shoot", "photography course". The ad reads "Wedding photography packages" for everyone. Calls come, but half are for baby shoots the studio does not take, and two are students. There is no way to tell which keyword paid.
Rebuilt, there are two campaigns, "Wedding videos" and "Pre-wedding shoots". Each has phrase match on "wedding video thrissur" and exact match on "wedding videographer thrissur". "Course", "baby" and "jobs" go in as negatives, and the call asset runs from 9 am to 8 pm. Calls drop at first. That feels like a loss. The calls that remain are from people who book.
After a few weeks the search terms show that "pre wedding shoot locations" brings readers, not buyers. The studio adds "locations" as a negative, and the money moves to the terms that produce calls. It still takes a month of reading terms to get the list right.
How do you set the daily budget?
Start from the customer. Work out what one enquiry is worth to you and how many your team can answer properly. Split that across the campaigns, giving the most to the service with the most real demand. When the ads are live, the post on how to write Google Ads copy covers the words, and conversion tracking is the next job after launch.
Skip all this if your service has almost no search demand where you work. A well-kept Business Profile and a few referrals may bring enquiries at a lower cost, and it is better to start there.
What to do this week
Draw the account tree on paper, write the starting negatives, and set the phone hours before you open the account. Then open it with one campaign, not three. See our Google Ads service, and the marketing hub lists the other channels. If you want a second pair of eyes on the layout before money goes in, tell us what you need.
