Google Ads Questions, Answered Plainly

Google Ads put your business at the top of Google the moment someone searches for what you sell, and you pay only when they click.

The person has already typed "buy", "price" or "near me". You are not interrupting them, you are answering them, which is why Google search ads bring some of the fastest sales online.

• Pick the buying searches, and block the time-wasting ones with negative keywords.
• Write ads that match the search word for word and send people to a page built to convert.
• Track every call, form and sale, so the budget moves to what is actually paying.
• Review weekly: lower the cost per lead, raise the budget on winners.

Your ad money goes to Google from your own card, never marked up. Want to know what a lead would cost in your market? Ask us and we will estimate it for free.

Read next: Google Ads · Paid advertising

Start with one Search campaign, aimed at people already typing what you sell, and set up conversion tracking before you spend.

• Create the account in your business's name, with your own card.
• Set up tracking for calls, forms and WhatsApp clicks.
• Choose a small group of buying keywords, such as "service + city".
• Add negative keywords to block irrelevant searches.
• Write ads that match the search and send people to a page built for that offer.
• Check the search terms report weekly.

Skip the "Smart" setup Google pushes on new accounts. It hides the controls you need. Every wasted account I have audited started there.

Read next: Google Ads · Paid advertising

Spend enough to buy a meaningful number of clicks each day in your market, or the campaign cannot learn or sell.

Work it out: find the typical cost of a click for your keywords, multiply by the clicks you need to get one enquiry, then by the enquiries you want. If a click costs ₦300 and one in twenty visitors enquires, each enquiry costs about ₦6,000.

Our minimum recommended ad budget and what management includes are on the Google Ads page. Tell us your market and we will estimate a realistic starting figure.

Read next: Google Ads · Business Growth Pricing Plans

There is no fixed price. Each click is sold in an auction, so the cost depends on your keyword, your competitors and the quality of your ad and page.

Searches from people ready to buy, like "emergency plumber" or "lawyer near me", cost more because more advertisers want them. A better Quality Score lets you pay less than a competitor for the same position.

Google's Keyword Planner shows estimated click costs for your keywords and location before you spend anything.

Read next: Google Ads

Clicks without leads almost always come from one of three leaks: the wrong searches, a page that does not convert, or tracking that is not counting.

• Open the search terms report. Are people searching what you actually sell?
• Does the landing page repeat the ad's promise, with a clear way to call or message?
• Does the page load fast on a phone?
• Are calls, forms and WhatsApp clicks tracked as conversions?

Fix them in that order. In the accounts I have taken over, most of the wasted budget was hiding in the search terms report, paid to people searching for jobs, courses and free versions. Send us your account and we will take a free look.

Read next: Google Ads · Conversion rate optimization

If the enquiries arrive but do not buy, the problem has moved from the ad to the offer and the follow-up.

• Reply within 5 minutes. Speed wins more sales than any ad tweak.
• Check the keywords: "free" and "cheap" searches bring bargain hunters.
• Say the price range in the ad to filter people who cannot afford you.
• Follow up at least five times across phone, WhatsApp and email.

Ask your leads why they did not go ahead. Their answers tell you whether to fix targeting, price or follow-up.

Read next: Lead generation · Google Ads

Choose keywords that show the person wants to buy now, and start with fewer than you think.

"Hire", "price", "near me", "book" and "service + city" signal intent. Broad terms like "marketing" or "shoes" bring researchers and students. Group a handful of closely related keywords in each ad group, so the ad can speak to exactly that search.

Ten strong keywords with matching ads and pages beat two hundred loose ones. I would rather launch small and expand from the search terms report than start wide and trim.

Read next: Google Ads

Negative keywords tell Google which searches must not trigger your ad, and they are the fastest way to stop wasting money.

Start with obvious ones: free, jobs, salary, course, DIY, meaning. Then open the search terms report every week and add every irrelevant search you paid for.

A campaign without negatives pays for curiosity. One with a well-kept list pays mostly for buyers.

Read next: Google Ads

Start with phrase and exact match for control, and add broad match later, only with conversion tracking and a strong negative list.

Exact match shows your ad for that search and close variants. Phrase match includes searches containing your meaning. Broad match lets Google decide what is related, which can find new buyers or burn budget.

Broad match needs data to behave. Give it to an account that already has conversions, not a new one.

Read next: Google Ads

Decide what counts as a result, a call, a form, a WhatsApp click or a purchase, then tell Google each time one happens.

The clean setup is Google Tag Manager on the website, conversion actions in Google Ads, and Google Analytics 4 linked to both. Phone calls can be tracked with a forwarding number.

Without tracking, Google optimises for clicks. With it, Google learns to find people who convert. I set this up first on every account before a naira is spent, as shown on our analytics and tracking page.

Read next: Analytics and tracking · Google Ads

Work backwards from what a customer is worth.

Take your profit per customer, decide how much of it you will spend to win one, then multiply by your close rate. If a customer brings ₦100,000 profit, you will spend ₦30,000 to get one, and you close one lead in five, your maximum cost per lead is ₦6,000.

A "cheap" lead that never buys is expensive. Judge campaigns by cost per customer, not cost per lead.

Read next: Lead generation · Analytics and tracking

Quality Score rates how relevant your keyword, ad and landing page are to each other, from 1 to 10. A higher score means lower costs and better positions.

• Group tightly related keywords together.
• Use the keyword's language in the ad headline.
• Send the click to a page about that exact thing.
• Make the page fast and easy on mobile.
• Add extensions such as sitelinks and callouts.

Fix the weakest of the three parts Google shows you: expected click rate, ad relevance or landing page experience.

Read next: Google Ads

Start with Search, because it reaches people who are already looking. Add the others once you have tracking and data.

• Search: text ads on buying searches. Best first campaign.
• Performance Max: Google's automated mix across all its channels. Useful with good conversion data.
• Display and YouTube: awareness and remarketing to people who visited.
• Shopping: essential for online stores.

Automation works on signal. Without tracked conversions, automated campaigns chase cheap clicks.

Read next: Google Ads · Paid advertising

Leads can arrive in the first days, but give a new campaign about two to four weeks before judging it, and longer in a low-volume market.

Google's bidding needs conversion data to learn who to show your ads to. Changing budgets, bids and ads every day resets that learning.

Check the search terms weekly and cut obvious waste, but let the campaign gather enough results before making big decisions.

Read next: Google Ads

Run it yourself if your budget is small and you have time to learn. Hire help when wasted spend would cost more than the management fee.

Google makes it easy to start and easy to overspend. The value of a manager is in the tracking, the negative keywords, the landing page and the weekly decisions about where money goes.

We run campaigns inside your own account, with your card paying Google directly, so you always see the spend and keep the account.

Read next: Google Ads · Business Growth Pricing Plans

A good agency reports leads, cost per lead and sales, shows you the search terms you paid for, and explains what it changed and why.

• You own the account and can log in any time.
• Conversions are tracked and match real enquiries.
• Irrelevant searches are being blocked.
• The report says what happens next month.

Warning signs are reports full of impressions and clicks with no leads, an account you cannot access, and ad spend that passes through the agency.

Read next: Google Ads

Yes, when people already search for what you sell and you track what each click produces.

Google Ads loses money when it is set up loosely: broad keywords, no negatives, no tracking and a home page as the landing page. Set up tightly, it is one of the fastest routes to enquiries because the buyer came looking.

The test is simple: can you see cost per lead and cost per customer? If yes, you can make it pay. If not, fix tracking first.

Read next: Google Ads · Analytics and tracking

Use Google Ads when people search for what you sell, and Facebook and Instagram ads when they need to see it before they want it.

A locksmith, lawyer or clinic wins on Google, because the need comes first. Fashion, food, events and new products win on Meta, because the picture creates the desire.

Many businesses use both: Meta to create demand and retarget, Google to catch people who then search. What do you sell?

Read next: Google Ads · Facebook and Instagram ads

The free route on Google is your Google Business Profile and SEO. Google Ads itself always costs per click.

A complete Business Profile puts you on Google Maps and in local results at no cost. Useful pages on your website can rank in the normal results, also free. Google sometimes offers promotional ad credit to new advertisers, with spending conditions.

Start with the profile today. Our guide shows how to put your business on Google Maps.

Read next: How To Put Your Business On Google Maps And Rank Higher · Local SEO

Remarketing shows ads to people who already visited your website, reminding them to come back and finish.

Most visitors do not buy on the first visit. A remarketing ad with an offer, a review or a reminder brings some of them back at a low cost, because they already know you.

It needs the Google tag on your site, a privacy notice, and enough visitors to build a list. It works best beside a Search campaign, not instead of one.

Read next: Google Ads · Analytics and tracking

A landing page is a page built for one offer and one action. Sending ad clicks to it, not your home page, usually lifts results sharply.

The page should repeat the promise in the ad, show proof, answer the main doubts and make the next step obvious: call, WhatsApp or form. No menu full of distractions.

We check the page before any ads run, because a leaking page wastes every click you pay for.

Read next: Conversion rate optimization · Sales funnels

Cut what is not buying, then make what remains convert better.

• Add negatives from the search terms report every week.
• Pause keywords and ads with spend and no conversions.
• Limit ads to the locations and hours your buyers are active.
• Send each ad group to a matching page.
• Improve the page so more of the same clicks become leads.

Doubling your conversion rate halves your cost per lead without paying Google a naira more.

Read next: Google Ads · Conversion rate optimization

No. Paying for ads does not improve your organic rankings. The two systems are separate.

Ads still help indirectly. They show which keywords bring sales, so you know where to focus SEO, and they bring visitors while your organic rankings build.

Use ads for speed and data, SEO for lasting traffic, and let each inform the other.

Read next: SEO · Google Ads

Our strongest published figures are from Meta campaigns, and I say so rather than borrowing numbers. On Google, our work shows in the organic and local results we publish and in the campaigns we run inside client accounts.

Across the qualifying paid campaigns we manage, Google and Meta together, the average return on ad spend is 6 to 8x, and I have managed millions of naira in client ad spend. What I can show you on request, inside the account, is search term reports, cost per lead and the conversions behind them.

If you want a Google Ads case study written up with screenshots before you decide, ask on WhatsApp and I will send the closest match to your industry.

Read next: Google Ads · Digital Marketing Case Studies

Because the account, its history and its data are yours, and I have seen businesses lose all three when an agency relationship ended badly.

We create or take over the account in your business's name, with your card paying Google directly. We work through manager access that you can remove in one click. You see every naira spent, every search term and every change in the change history.

Agencies that insist on owning the account are usually protecting their margin on the ad spend or their hold on the client. We charge a fee, never a markup, so there is nothing to hide. Google's own account access guide explains the manager setup.

Read next: Google Ads · About

Use automated bidding once you have conversion data. Ignore most of the account recommendations, especially early on.

Smart Bidding, such as maximise conversions or target cost per action, works well when the account records real conversions and has a few dozen a month to learn from. Before that, it chases whatever is easy, which is usually clicks from the wrong people.

Google's recommendations tab mostly suggests spending more, broadening keywords and letting Google write ads. I apply the ones about conflicting negatives and disapproved ads, and ignore the rest. The "optimisation score" is not a measure of your profit.

Read next: Google Ads

Our Google Ads packages and prices, in naira, dollars, pounds and euros, are on the Google Ads page. We price Google higher than Meta because it takes more hands-on work: keywords, negatives, search terms and landing pages need weekly attention.

Monthly plans are a flat fee or 20% of ad spend, whichever is greater, never both. The ad budget goes to Google from your own card and is never marked up.

Tell us your market and monthly budget on WhatsApp and we will say plainly whether management will pay for itself at your scale. Sometimes it will not yet, and I would rather tell you that than take the fee.

Read next: Google Ads · Business Growth Pricing Plans

Keep it tight: one city, buying keywords, call tracking and a page that makes calling easy.

• Target only the areas you actually serve, and exclude the rest.
• Use "service + city" keywords and the emergency and "near me" variations.
• Turn on call extensions and track calls as conversions.
• Schedule ads for the hours someone can answer the phone.
• Send clicks to a page with the phone number at the top, not the home page.

For local services, answering the phone is half the campaign. I have paused ads for clients whose phones rang unanswered, because every missed call was money burned.

Read next: Google Ads · Local SEO

Yes, and I usually recommend it. Ads bring customers while SEO builds, and each one makes the other smarter.

Google Ads shows you within weeks which searches turn into customers. Those are the keywords worth building pages and content for. SEO, in return, lowers your dependence on paid clicks over time, so the same budget buys growth instead of maintenance.

Appearing in both the ad and the organic result for the same search also takes space from competitors. There is no penalty for doing both, and no discount for not advertising.

Read next: Google Ads · SEO

Match the search, state the benefit, prove it, and tell them what to do. In that order, in very few words.

• Headlines: include the keyword, the main benefit and a proof point, such as a rating or a number.
• Descriptions: what they get, why you, and the call to action.
• Use all the headline and description slots so Google can test combinations.
• Add sitelinks, callouts and a phone number.
• Avoid claims you cannot back on the landing page.

A plain ad that answers the search beats a clever one. The search term report will show you the words your buyers use; put those words in the ad.

Read next: Google Ads · Content marketing

On Search, click-through rates of a few percent are common, and well-matched local campaigns often reach 5 to 10% or more. The right benchmark is your own last month.

A low click rate usually means the ad does not match the search or you are showing for the wrong searches. A high click rate with no conversions means the ad promises something the page does not deliver.

I watch click rate as a diagnostic, not a goal. The number that decides whether we continue is cost per lead against what a customer is worth.

Read next: Google Ads · Analytics and tracking

Google can spend up to twice your daily budget on a busy day, as long as the monthly total stays within about 30.4 times your daily figure. A budget that vanishes by noon usually means broad keywords or too wide a location.

• Check the search terms report for irrelevant clicks.
• Tighten match types and add negatives.
• Narrow the location and schedule.
• Lower bids or set a target cost per action.

If the clicks are good and converting, the fix is a bigger budget, not a smaller campaign. If they are not, every hour the campaign runs is waste. Google's own explanation of daily budgets covers the overdelivery rule.

Read next: Google Ads

A proper setup takes one to two weeks from approval, because tracking and the landing page come before the first ad.

• Days 1 to 3: account, billing, conversion tracking and Analytics linked.
• Days 3 to 7: keyword research, negatives, ad groups and ads.
• Days 5 to 10: landing page fixes or a new page.
• Launch, then a 7 to 9 day test before changes.

A campaign can be launched in an afternoon. A campaign that can prove its results cannot. The second kind is the only kind I run.

Read next: Google Ads

Yes, with the right campaign type. Search ads work everywhere; Shopping ads depend on Merchant Center availability for your country and product feed.

For stores, I start with Search campaigns on product and category keywords, and Performance Max once purchase tracking is solid. Where Shopping is available, a clean product feed with prices, stock and images is the whole game.

Meta usually brings the first sales faster for Nigerian stores, because buyers discover products there. Google catches the people who then search for them. Our ecommerce marketing page explains how we combine them.

Read next: Ecommerce marketing · Google Ads

Yes. My Google Ads course runs for five weeks and covers account setup, conversion tracking, keywords, search ads, landing pages, a 7 to 9 day test, then Performance Max and YouTube. Google’s own free Skillshop training is a good companion to it.

Read next: Google Ads Course: Get Customers Who Are Already Searching For You · Google Ads