Course description

Google Ads can bring enquiries the same day you switch it on. It can also spend a month's budget on searches that were never going to become customers. This course teaches you to run Google Search campaigns carefully on a small budget, from working out what an enquiry is worth to reading the reports and closing the leaks, so every pound has a job to do.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 51 written lessons. You follow Navdeep, a part-time marketing assistant at a family carpet cleaning firm in Reading, as she takes over the account from the owner's old Smart campaign, plans and builds a Search campaign, launches it on £15 a day and reviews six months of results. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, key points and original checklists, diagrams or spreadsheets, and Section 10 has a final project with a brief, search terms data and a model answer.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: how search ads and the ad auction work, what Ad Rank means, working out what an enquiry is worth to you, and setting up an account safely in Expert Mode.
• Account structure and settings: campaigns, ad groups and campaign types in plain words, a lean structure for a small budget, the settings that decide where your money goes, and building a campaign paused.
• Keywords and match types: thinking like a searcher, Keyword Planner, broad, phrase and exact match today, and a first keyword list of 20 to 40 keywords.
• Negative keywords and search terms: how negatives really work, a starter list, shared lists, reading the search terms report and a short weekly routine.
• Responsive search ads: headlines and descriptions within the limits, display paths and final URLs, pinning, Ad Strength and asset reports, and Google's policies and the UK advertising rules.
• Assets: sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, calls, locations, lead forms, images, prices and promotions, and the assets Google creates for you.
• Landing pages and conversion tracking: pages that match the search, checking them on a phone, the Google tag, conversion actions for forms and calls, and UK consent rules and consent mode.
• Budgets and bidding: how daily budgets work, the bid strategies explained, a safe path from clicks to conversions, ad schedules and locations, and budget status messages.
• Reports and wasted spend: the figures that matter, a saved view and change log, Quality Score and impression share, judging Google's recommendations, and a monthly wasted spend checklist.
• Beyond Search and your plan: Performance Max and Smart campaigns in outline, local businesses, trying two versions fairly with experiments, a month-by-month plan, a final project and a six-month review.

Who it's for

Small business owners who want to advertise on Google themselves, and marketing assistants who've been handed the account and need to run it sensibly and explain it to the owner. You don't need any advertising experience. The course covers UK rules, including the CAP Code and consent for tracking cookies, and doesn't repeat our SEO or Google Analytics 4 courses. Everyone in the course is fictional, and every figure is an invented example.

What will I learn?

• Explain how Google's search ad auction and Ad Rank work, and work out what an enquiry and a click are worth to your business
• Set up a Google Ads account safely, and plan a lean campaign and ad group structure for a small budget
• Research keywords with Keyword Planner and choose broad, phrase or exact match for each one
• Block wasted spend with negative keywords, shared lists and a weekly search terms routine
• Write responsive search ads that stay within the limits and follow Google's policies and the UK advertising rules
• Add sitelinks, callouts, call, location, price and other assets, and keep them accurate
• Improve landing pages and set up conversion tracking for forms and calls, with cookie consent and consent mode
• Choose a daily budget and a bid strategy, and know when to move from clicks to conversions
• Read the reports, judge Google's recommendations and run a monthly wasted spend check
• Plan, launch and review your own Search campaign month by month for the first six months

Frequently asked questions