Google Ads on a Small Budget: The Honest Playbook

Only run Search campaigns to start

Ignore Performance Max, Display and YouTube for now. They eat small budgets alive and give you almost no data to learn from.

Search campaigns show your ad when someone types your service. It's the highest-intent traffic on the internet, and it's what your budget deserves.

Exact match, phrase match — no broad

Broad match is Google's default and its most profitable feature — for Google. It sends your ad to loosely related searches and burns through budgets fast.

Start with exact and phrase match keywords only. You'll get fewer impressions and much better clicks. Add negative keywords weekly for anything that leaks through and isn't relevant.

One campaign, tight ad groups

On a small budget, don't split into ten campaigns. One search campaign, one or two ad groups per service type, three keywords per ad group. Cleaner data, better learning, easier optimisation.

Set up conversion tracking on day one

If you're not tracking calls and form submits, you're gambling. Google's own conversion tracking is free and takes 20 minutes.

• Track phone calls from the ad (call extensions)
• Track phone calls from the website (with a dynamic number swap)
• Track every form submission with a thank-you page
• Set a conversion value — even a rough one — so bidding can learn

When to pause

Give it 4–6 weeks of consistent budget and daily-ish attention before judging. If after that you're not getting leads at a cost you can afford, pause and rethink — don't double the budget hoping it fixes itself. It won't.