The video lessons in this course demonstrate how to use a Google Ads account that is already active. This reading provides an overview of what is required to set up a new Google Ads account.
Note: The information in this reading is provided for reference purposes only. You don’t need to set up a Google Ads account to complete any of the activities in this course.
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
Before you set up a Google Ads account, you need a:
- Google account (you can use an existing Google account, or follow these steps to create a new Google account)
- Website for your business
If you don’t have a website, you can still use Smart campaigns. The Smart campaigns feature enables you to advertise on Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and certain Google partner websites without necessarily having a dedicated website.
Note: This reading doesn’t cover how to create ads.
Steps to set up an account
The following steps need to be completed to set up a new Google Ads account:
- Determine a campaign goal
- Choose the campaign type
- Configure campaign settings and features, based on your chosen campaign type
- Decide if you’ll use an ad group
- Create the ad
- Enter billing information, including a payment method
Steps 1 through 3: Campaign goals, types, and settings
When you create a campaign, select a goal. It should be the primary objective for the campaign. For example, if your main objective is to increase the number of people visiting your site, you would select Website traffic as the goal.
The following table summarizes the categories of goals used in various types of campaigns. Campaign settings will differ and will depend on the campaign type you select.
| Campaign Type | Sales goal | Leads goal | Website traffic goal | Brand awareness and reach goal | Product and brand consideration goal | App promotion goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search | x | x | x | |||
| Display | x | x | x | x | ||
| Shopping | x | x | x | |||
| Video | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Mobile app | x |
Steps 4 and 5: Ad groups and ads
An ad group contains one or more ads that target a shared set of keywords. Ad groups are extremely helpful to organize ads based on keywords so you can select the right ads for a campaign based on the most relevant keywords. Fewer and larger ad groups that are split by business objectives consolidate traffic and increase the number of impressions per ad.
Step 6: Billing
The payment methods for your account depend on the currency and the country where your business is registered.
Certain billing information is required when you create an ad, and will include:
- Billing country: determines the other billing options
- Time zone
- Account type (Business or Individual)
- Billing name and address for the account
- Name, phone number, and email address for the account’s primary contact.
- Payment method information
Resources for more information
You can refer to the following links for more information about setting up Google Ads:
- Create a Google Ads account: How to sign up: Start with this article for instructions to create a new account and set up your first ad campaign
- Choose the right campaign type: Describes the different campaign types and why you would choose one over the other
- About campaign goals in Google Ads: Describes goals available to choose from
- How ad groups work: Landing page with links to specific topics related to ad groups
- Google Ads sign-up guide: Set up billing: How Google Ads billing works