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Google Ads

Buy the query the page can answer.

Search ads are useful when the organic page is still climbing, or when the query is worth buying even after it ranks. The click has to land on the URL that owns that search.

Google Ads diagram: search term, matching ad headline and H1, and negative keywords.
Ad and landing page must agree.

Terms, negatives, and the landing page.

We start from the research list, not from a broad match that Google expands for you. Terms that match a service go to the page that explains it. Terms that are jobs, DIY, free, or a neighboring offer you do not sell are cut. Brand searches are protected, and they are not allowed to hide a weak non-brand account.

The ad and the H1 have to agree. Sending paid traffic to the homepage is how a budget disappears. If the page is not ready, the first task is the page, then the spend. That is the same standard as implementation.

Accounts stay few. We would rather know the search terms on a handful of businesses than skim a large portfolio. The weekly read is the one on the marketing page: sort the terms people typed, cut the waste, count the leads.

  • Campaigns built from queries you can fulfill
  • Negatives added from the real search terms, every review
  • Landing pages that match the ad
  • A split between brand and the searches you are trying to win
  • Spend reported next to calls and forms, not next to impressions

A short tutorial: one expensive term.

  1. Sort the search terms by cost.

    Open the top term. Read it as a customer. If it is not the job, it is a negative, today.

  2. Open the page it landed on.

    The headline of the ad and the H1 should describe the same offer. If they do not, fix the page or pause the term. Do not raise the bid.

  3. Check the organic result for that term.

    If you already own it, decide whether the extra calls are worth the overlap. If you do not, the term belongs on the research list as a page, not only as an ad.

Questions on Google Ads

Do you run Performance Max and walk away?

We will use the campaign types that fit the offer. We still read the search terms. An automated campaign that will not show its queries is not where a small account should hide.

What budget do you need?

Enough to learn the terms that convert, which depends on the clicks in your market. We will say what a useful test costs before anything runs. We do not invent a number to look busy.

Can ads run without a rebuild?

Yes, when a current page already answers the query. When it does not, that page is the first task.

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