Table of contents
To set up Google Ads for a local business, create the account in your own name, switch to Expert Mode, set up conversion tracking before anything else, then build one Search campaign for your best service. Show it only to people in or regularly in your area, use phrase and exact match keywords with a starter list of negatives, and turn off the networks you did not ask for. Most wasted money in a new account comes from leaving a handful of Google's defaults as they are.
Every setting name and default below was checked on Google's own help pages on 12 November 2026. The screens do change, so if a label looks different in your account, go by Google's current help page.
What do you need before you open Google Ads?
You need three things in place before the first click: a page on your website for the service you will advertise, someone to answer the phone in the hours the ads run, and a rough idea of what one new client is worth. Without them, the account can be set up perfectly and still lose money.
Say Aisha runs a three-person electrical firm in Reading. She wants more consumer unit replacements, not more "electrician near me" call-outs for a single socket. So her first campaign is for consumer units only, sends people to her consumer unit page (not her home page), and runs on weekdays when her office manager is at the desk.
Step 1: How do you create a Google Ads account in your own name?
Sign up at ads.google.com with an email address the business owns, not a staff member's or an agency's. Google's sign-up page, checked on 12 November 2026, recommends creating "your account before creating a campaign", and lets you skip the campaign Google suggests during sign-up.
Three choices during sign-up are hard or impossible to undo:
- Account type. Google's page on conversion measurement says organisation and individual account types "are permanently fixed upon creation and cannot be changed". A limited company should choose Organisation, which is the default.
- Time zone. Google's sign-up page warns that "your reports, statistics and billing are all affected by the time zone that you select, so choose carefully". Pick London.
- Billing country and payment method. Pay with the business's own card or bank account, so the ad spend goes straight to Google from you.
If someone else will run the account for you, they should ask for access through their own manager account, which you accept. You stay the owner, and if you part company you remove their access and keep the account, its history and its tracking.
A new advertiser offer goes in during billing setup; our guide to Google Ads promo codes in the UK explains who qualifies and what the spend requirement means.
Step 2: Should you use Smart mode or Expert Mode?
Use Expert Mode for a Search campaign you control. Smart campaigns are the simplified option: Google's comparison page, checked on 12 November 2026, says that in a Smart campaign "Google AI generates keywords based on your keyword themes" and creates your ad assets for you, while in a Search campaign you set the keywords, match types and ad groups yourself.
Google's help pages also say Smart campaigns "can only be created in Smart mode", and that an account created for Smart campaigns starts in Smart Mode, where "you can change to Expert Mode at any time". If your new account opens with a single simplified dashboard and asks for "keyword themes", you are in Smart mode. Switch before you build anything.
Step 3: Why set up conversion tracking before the first click?
Because Google learns from what you count. Set up tracking for calls from your ads, calls from your website and form enquiries before the campaign goes live, so the first pound you spend is already measured.
In Google Ads this starts under Goals, then Summary, then "Create conversion action", according to Google's help page on web conversions checked on 12 November 2026. For a form, the simplest version counts visits to the thank-you page that appears after someone sends an enquiry. Calls from the ad itself are tracked through call reporting, which uses a Google forwarding number; Google lists the United Kingdom among the countries where those numbers are available.
Keep things that only look like enquiries (direction clicks, page views) out of the count Google bids on. Our guide to Google Ads conversion tracking shows how to set up each one and how to check it works.
Step 4: Which location setting should a local business use?
Choose your area by radius or by named towns, then change the location option to "Presence". Google's help page on location options, checked on 12 November 2026, describes Presence as reaching "people in or regularly in your targeted locations".
The default is different. Google calls "Presence or interest" its "default and recommended option", which also reaches people "who have shown interest in your targeted locations". For a hotel or a wedding venue that makes sense: people plan from far away. For an electrician in Reading, a click from someone in Glasgow reading about Reading is a click Aisha pays for and cannot serve.
Two details from the same help pages:
- Google does not allow "radius targeting under 1 km around any given location".
- Excluded locations work on presence by default, so excluding a town you do not cover stops ads to people located there.
Google's location options page has the current wording of each option.
Step 5: Which keywords and match types should you start with?
Start with a short list of searches that name your service, in phrase match and exact match. Google's help page on keyword matching, checked on 12 November 2026, says broad match is "the default match type that all your keywords are assigned", so unless you change it, every keyword you type is broad.
| Match type | How you type it | What Google says it matches | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad | consumer unit replacement | searches "related to your keyword", which "can include searches that don't contain the direct meaning" | Later, once tracking shows steady enquiries |
| Phrase | "consumer unit replacement" | searches that "include the meaning of your keyword" | Most of a first campaign |
| Exact | [consumer unit replacement] | searches with "the same meaning or same intent" | Your best few searches |
Google's own page notes "it's critical to use Smart Bidding with broad match", which needs conversion data a new account does not have yet. That is the reason to hold broad match back, not a rule that it never works. Google's match types page explains each one in full.
Group keywords by service, one ad group each: "consumer unit replacement" and "fuse box replacement" together, "EICR certificate" in a separate group with its own ad and page. If the setup offers to turn on AI Max, leave it off for your first campaign. Google's help page says it expands your keywords "using broad match and keywordless technology", and that it "won't be effective if campaigns are limited by budget", which most small campaigns are.
Step 6: What negative keywords should a new account have?
Negative keywords stop your ads showing for searches you name, and a new local account needs a starter list on day one. Google's help page on negative keywords, checked on 12 November 2026, says they "won't match to close variants", so you need to add plurals and synonyms yourself, though misspellings are handled for you.
A starter list for most local service firms:
- Work and training: jobs, job, vacancies, salary, apprenticeship, course, courses, training, qualification
- Do it yourself: DIY, how to, video, guide, tutorial, YouTube
- Price hunters you cannot serve: free, cheap (only if you are not the cheap option)
- Things you do not do: for Aisha, that might be "solar", "EV charger" or "commercial", if she does not do them
Add the list at account level so it covers every campaign. Then look at the search terms report every week for the first two months: it shows the actual searches that triggered your ad, and each irrelevant one becomes a new negative.
Step 7: How do you write the ads and add assets?
Write two responsive search ads per ad group, each with as many distinct headlines as you can. Google's help page, checked on 12 November 2026, says a responsive search ad needs at least three headlines and takes up to 15, of up to 30 characters each, plus two to four descriptions of up to 90 characters.
Google mixes the headlines, so each must make sense alone. Name the service, the area and a reason to pick you: "Consumer Unit Replacement", "Electricians in Reading", "NICEIC Registered" (if true), "Fixed Quote Before We Start" (if true). Use pinning only for text that must always appear, such as a regulated claim. The page the ad sends people to affects what you pay; our guide to Google Ads quality score explains how.
Then add assets:
- Call asset. Do not type your phone number into the ad text: Google says doing so "may lead to the disapproval of the ad". A call asset adds a call button, and Google lets you show it "only when your business can accept calls".
- Sitelinks. Links under the ad to specific pages, such as other services, reviews or your service area.
- Callouts and location. Short phrases such as "Same-week appointments", and your address if you link your Business Profile.
Step 8: How much should you budget, and how should you bid?
Set a daily budget you could lose for a month while you learn, worked out from a monthly figure. Google's budget page, checked on 12 November 2026, says "if you're working with a monthly budget, divide that number by 30.4", and its billing page says you will not be charged more than 30.4 times your daily budget in a month, even though a single day can run to twice it.
Here is Aisha's sum, with assumptions she can swap for her own:
- Monthly budget: four hundred and fifty pounds, so about fourteen pounds eighty a day.
- A click on "electrician near me" cost about seven pounds in Google's own UK estimates in October 2026 (see how much Google Ads cost). Her consumer unit searches may cost more or less.
- That buys about 64 clicks a month. If one visitor in ten gets in touch, that is about six enquiries; if she wins one in three, two jobs.
Whether two jobs are worth four hundred and fifty pounds depends on her margin, and that is the whole decision. For bidding, a new account with no conversions yet usually starts on Maximise clicks with a maximum cost-per-click limit, which Google's page says lets you "steer the maximum amount that you're willing to pay for each click". Once tracking shows a steady run of real enquiries, Maximise conversions becomes the better choice.
Step 9: When should your ads run?
Run ads only when someone can answer the phone. Google's help page on ad scheduling, checked on 12 November 2026, says campaigns are set to show ads "All day" by default, which means paying for clicks at 11pm that nobody returns until morning.
Aisha sets Monday to Friday, eight till six. An unanswered call still cost the click, and a customer who reaches voicemail may well ring the next firm instead. If you take emergency work out of hours, run it as its own campaign, with its own budget, once you know you can answer.
Step 10: Which networks should you switch off?
Untick Google search partners and make sure the Google Display Network is not included, so your first campaign shows only on Google Search. Google's help page on the Search Network, checked on 12 November 2026, says that when you create a Search campaign "search partners are included by default", and that clicks from some partner sites "may not always reflect highly-targeted traffic".
The Display setting sits in the same "Networks" section, as a box labelled "Include Google Display Network": make sure it is clear. That control is changing this winter. Google's page on channel prioritisation and budget allocation says new controls started rolling out on 15 October 2026, letting you mark Google Search, search partners and Display as high or low priority. If you set a low-priority channel's allocation to 0%, "Google won't spend on that channel". From February 2027, Search campaigns with Display Expansion switched on will move to the new controls automatically.
Whichever version your account shows, aim for Search only until tracking proves the campaign works.
Which Google Ads defaults should a local business change?
This is what Google's help pages said each default was on 12 November 2026, and what we would set for a firm like Aisha's.
| Setting | Google's default | Set it to |
|---|---|---|
| Location option | Presence or interest | Presence |
| Keyword match type | Broad | Phrase and exact |
| Search partners | Included | Off for the first campaign |
| Ad schedule | All day | The hours you answer the phone |
| Account type | Organisation | Organisation for a company (it cannot be changed) |
One more to check is automatically applied recommendations, covered in the questions below.
Common questions
Does it cost anything to set up a Google Ads account?
No. Opening the account is free and you pay for clicks once ads run. Google's sign-up page says a card may show "a temporary authorisation" that is typically removed within a week, and Google may ask for a small prepayment for verification, which funds future ads and is refundable if you close the account.
How long does it take to set up Google Ads?
Google says a Smart campaign "can be set up in just 15 minutes". A Search campaign done properly takes longer: allow an afternoon for the account, tracking, one campaign, two ads per ad group and a negative list, plus a day or two for tracking to show it is working before you switch it on.
Is ten pounds a day enough for Google Ads?
It can be, for a narrow service in a small area. At ten pounds a day, Google will charge no more than about three hundred and four pounds in a month. If clicks in your trade cost seven pounds, that is about 43 clicks, so focus it on one service and a tight area rather than spreading it thin.
Should I let Google apply its recommendations automatically?
Not at the start. Google's help page lists recommendations that can be applied automatically, including "Add broad match keywords", "Add keywords" and "Remove conflicting negative keywords", plus bidding changes. You want to know what changed and why, so keep auto-apply off, read each recommendation yourself and accept only the ones that fit.
What to do this week
Open the account in the business's name, set the time zone and account type carefully, switch to Expert Mode and get tracking working on calls and forms before you build anything else. Then build one campaign for your most profitable service, with Presence, phrase and exact match, a starter negative list and your answering hours.
If you already run ads and want to know how your setup compares, our free Google Ads audit asks fourteen questions, scores the account and names the three fixes worth making first. For how ads fit with the rest of winning work, see our guide to Google Ads for small businesses.