Source: https://oguzerol.com/en/advertising-on-google/

Google Ads

# How to Advertise on Google: Step-by-Step Guide and Costs (2026)

[Oğuz Erol](https://oguzerol.com/en/about-me/)  |  20 min read  |  Published: 4 August 2024  |  Updated: 13 October 2026

## Quick summary

How to advertise on Google in 8 steps, real cost-per-click ranges by industry, a budget calculation, payment and VAT, review times and 6 costly settings.

To advertise on Google, you open a Google Ads account at ads.google.com. You build a Search campaign, enter your keywords and a daily budget, and add a payment method. Google reviews the ad; once approved, it shows to people searching for those keywords with a “Sponsored” label. With Search ads, you spend money when someone clicks the ad.

This guide is for a business owner advertising for the first time. I walk through the steps in order, with real cost-per-click ranges by industry, and the payment and VAT details for Türkiye, where I work. At the end you’ll find the settings that waste most of a first campaign’s budget. Opening the account and building the first campaign usually takes an hour or two. The hard part is the decisions you make during that setup.

## How do you advertise on Google, step by step?

1. **Open the account with your own email.** Go to ads.google.com and create the Google Ads account with your own Google account. You should be the full owner; an agency or consultant is added later as a user (the first question below explains why).
2. **Pick the right currency and time zone.** Neither can be changed later (details just below).
3. **Switch to Expert Mode.** On first setup Google may steer you into the simplified Smart Mode (see below).
4. **Set up measurement.** Define what you want from the ads (a sale, a form, a phone call) as a conversion and add the Google tag to your site. A campaign launched without measurement cannot tell you what worked. Details: [what conversion tracking is](https://oguzerol.com/en/what-is-conversion-tracking/).
5. **Build a Search campaign.** Location, language, keywords, ad copy and landing page. I’ve collected the budget-wasting settings in the checklist below.
6. **Enter a daily budget.** Use the cost table and the worked example below to decide how much.
7. **Add a payment method and submit the ad for review.** Google reviews it and approved ads start running.
8. **Check search terms every day in the first week.** See which searches trigger your ad and turn irrelevant ones into negative keywords.

### Two account settings you can’t undo

According to Google’s help page ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9842104?hl=en)), currency and time zone are set permanently when the account is created and can’t be updated. If you picked the wrong one, the only fix is a new account. For a business in Türkiye that usually means Turkish lira and Istanbul time. The time zone drives your ad schedule and reports: an ad you set to “start at 9 a.m.” in the wrong time zone starts at a different hour.

### Smart Mode or Expert Mode?

According to Google’s help page ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7457632?hl=en)), Smart campaigns can only be created in Smart Mode, while advertisers not using Smart Mode can run the other campaign types. Button names change over time, so check which options your own account shows.

My advice: if you want to set location, networks and keywords for a Search campaign yourself, start in Expert Mode. Smart Mode makes it easier to start in a few clicks, but Google then chooses most of the settings below for you.

## How much does Google advertising cost?

There is no fixed fee for advertising on Google. You set the daily budget. What really drives the cost of Search ads is the amount you pay when someone clicks, and that depends on the industry, the city and how much competitors bid. Google’s budget page doesn’t state a minimum amount, so I don’t give an “at least this much” figure either.

I pulled the table below from Google’s own tool, for searches small businesses in Türkiye commonly advertise on. It shows Turkish-language searches in Türkiye, with bids in Turkish lira (TRY), not euros; use it to see how the numbers relate across industries, not as a price for your own market:

| Query (Turkish) | Meaning | Monthly searches (Türkiye) | Top-of-page bid per click (TRY, Turkish lira) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| araç kiralama | car rental | 823,000 | 15 – 53 TRY |
| çilingir | locksmith | 246,000 | 19 – 82 TRY |
| veteriner | vet | 201,000 | 12 – 39 TRY |
| kombi servisi | boiler repair | 74,000 | 24 – 123 TRY |
| evden eve nakliyat | home removals | 74,000 | 61 – 222 TRY |
| ingilizce kursu | English course | 33,100 | 62 – 514 TRY |
| diyetisyen | dietitian | 33,100 | 14 – 50 TRY |
| oto çekici | tow truck | 27,100 | 60 – 192 TRY |
| saç ekimi | hair transplant | 22,200 | 33 – 228 TRY |
| klima servisi | AC repair | 18,100 | 37 – 147 TRY |
| web tasarım | web design | 18,100 | 41 – 166 TRY |
| su kaçağı tespiti | water leak detection | 14,800 | 68 – 206 TRY |
| böcek ilaçlama | pest control | 12,100 | 46 – 153 TRY |
| düğün fotoğrafçısı | wedding photographer | 2,900 | 11 – 44 TRY |
| muhasebe bürosu | accounting office | 210 | 8 – 54 TRY |

*Source: Google Ads Keyword Planner. All of Türkiye, Turkish language, Google Search network; I pulled it from my own Google Ads account on 13 October 2026. Monthly searches are the average of the last 12 months. Bid ranges cover the last 30 days. By Google’s definition ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/3022575?hl=en)) the low end approximates the 20th percentile and the high end the 80th percentile of what advertisers have paid to show at the top of the page. For some queries, such as health and legal services, the tool returned no data, so they aren’t in the table.*

Three things to keep in mind when reading it:

- **These are bids, not your bill.** What you pay per click depends on the auction, your ad’s quality and your competitors. The table tells you the order of magnitude to expect.
- **The figures cover all of Türkiye.** In a single city or district, competition and search volume differ. If you advertise in another country, the numbers will be different too. You can run the same tool for your own keyword and location under Tools > Planning > Keyword Planner in your Google Ads account.
- **The range can be very wide within one industry.** For English courses the high end is more than eight times the low end. Generic keywords are expensive. More specific searches like “kadıköy kombi servisi” (boiler repair in Kadıköy) usually get fewer searches but show clearer intent.

### How do I calculate my daily budget?

In Google Ads you enter an average daily budget. According to Google’s budget page ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6385083?hl=en)), for most campaigns Google may spend up to twice that amount on a given day. Over a month, you never pay more than 30.4 times the average daily budget.

You can work out your own number like this. It’s my calculation method, not a Google rule:

1. Decide how many clicks you want per day. Example: 5 clicks a day for boiler repair.
2. Estimate what you’ll pay per click. Pick an assumption from the table’s 24–123 TRY range. Example: 60 TRY.
3. Multiply: 5 × 60 = 300 TRY a day. The monthly cap is 300 × 30.4 = 9,120 TRY. These example amounts are in Turkish lira because the table above is a Türkiye pull; if your account uses another currency, take the same steps with your own numbers. (The euro amounts for my work-hour blocks elsewhere on this site are a separate price list and have nothing to do with ad spend.)

After a few days your real cost per click shows up and you adjust the calculation. How many clicks turn into customers, though, you can only see if measurement is set up.

### Is there credit for new advertisers?

Google sometimes runs promotions for new advertisers. According to Google’s help page ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6388096?hl=en)) these offers are ad credit, not cash or a refund. To receive the credit you must meet the offer’s spend requirement and other eligibility conditions. Amounts and terms vary by offer, so I don’t quote a figure. Check Billing > Promotions in your account.

## How do payment and VAT work in Türkiye?

- **Payment settings:** Google ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375432?hl=en)) defines three settings: automatic payments, manual payments and monthly invoicing. Which ones you can use depends on your country and currency; check the payment method section of your account.
- **Automatic payments:** Costs are charged to your primary payment method on the first of the month or when you reach your payment threshold. Google recommends adding a backup payment method.
- **Manual payments and monthly invoicing:** With manual payments, ads stop when the prepaid balance runs out. Monthly invoicing requires an application and is for businesses that meet certain criteria.
- **VAT:** According to Google’s tax page ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375370?hl=en)), Google Ads accounts served by Google Türkiye pay VAT at the standard Turkish rate, which can change by government decision. If you are fully exempt from VAT, you need to send your exemption certificate through Google’s form. Google provides a monthly statement. Ask your tax adviser whether you need to calculate VAT yourself; Google doesn’t give tax advice.

## When does my ad go live, and when do I see results?

- **Approval:** According to Google ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722120?hl=en)), most ads are reviewed within one business day, and more complex reviews can take longer. If an ad has been under review for more than 2 full business days, Google suggests checking its status. A disapproved ad doesn’t run anywhere. Every edit to an ad restarts the review.
- **First clicks:** An approved Search ad can start getting clicks the same day if your budget and bid are enough. The real work in the first days is checking search terms and weeding out irrelevant searches.
- **Results settling:** Google doesn’t give a fixed number of days for Search campaigns. Automated bid strategies have a learning period. According to the help page ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13020501?hl=en)), calibrating a bid strategy to a new target can take around 50 conversion events or 3 conversion cycles. Manual CPC has no learning period. If you get few conversions, results can take weeks to settle. Don’t keep changing bids and targets during that time.

## 6 settings that burn the budget in a first campaign

In newly opened accounts, most of the money is lost in the settings below. Go through this list one by one before you launch the campaign.

![Sample screen: six settings in a first Google Search campaign for a boiler repair business. Location option set to Presence, Search partners and Display Network switched off, exact-match keywords, a negative list of provinces, ad schedule 08:00–20:00, phone calls and forms counted as conversions while page views are not; daily budget 300 TRY, monthly cap 9,120 TRY, ad under review](https://oguzerol.com/gorseller/google-reklam-verme/ilk-kampanya-ayarlari-en.webp)

 \*Sample screen: a first Search campaign for a boiler repair business. The budget figures match the worked example above.\*

1. **Set the location option to “Presence”.** If you don’t pick “Presence” under Locations > Location options in campaign settings, your ad can also show to people elsewhere who are merely interested in your area. If you get clicks from cities you don’t target, this is the first place to look.
2. **Switch off Search partners and the Display Network.** These two options appear under Networks when you build a Search campaign. I recommend switching off both, so the whole Search budget goes to Google search results.
3. **Use mostly exact-match keywords.** Google recommends broad match, but in a first campaign it spreads the budget far too thin. Even exact match no longer triggers only on the identical search. For one of my clients, the exact-match keyword \[varis tedavisi\] (varicose vein treatment) was triggered by searches like “how do varicose veins go away” and “how are varicose veins treated”. If exact match has loosened that much, broad match is far wider. That’s why I mostly use exact match.
4. **Add negative keywords.** Check the search terms report every day in the first days and add irrelevant searches as negatives. For a local business I also add a negative list of the provinces you don’t serve.
5. **Schedule ads for the hours your phone is answered.** If customers call you, a click that comes in when nobody picks up is wasted.
6. **Don’t count fake actions as conversions.** A page view or browsing the site is not a conversion. Automated bidding multiplies whatever you teach it: count page views as conversions and it will bring you people who look at a page and leave.

Once the campaign is running, Google will show you recommendations and auto-applied recommendations. The questions below explain why you shouldn’t accept them blindly.

## Which type of Google ad should I choose?

For most local businesses the first campaign should be a Search campaign: the person searching for your service sees you at that exact moment. The other types are:

| Campaign type | Where it shows | When it makes sense |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Search | Google search results | First campaign; reaching people who search for your service |
| Performance Max | Across Google’s channels, from one campaign | After the Search campaign has settled (see the question below) |
| Shopping | Search results and the Shopping tab, with product image and price | If you sell products online; needs Merchant Center |
| Demand Gen | YouTube, Discover, Gmail, Maps and the Display Network | Building interest with images or video; Gmail ads run from here |
| Video | YouTube | If you have video and want awareness |
| App | Across Google’s channels, for app installs | If you have a mobile app |

The placements for Demand Gen campaigns come from Google’s [Demand Gen page](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13695777?hl=en) (as of October 2026).

## If your website isn’t ready, fix that first

The ad brings visitors to your site. The site is what helps them find what they came for and act. Advertising before the site is ready wastes money. Before you advertise, check:

- **Does the site load fast?** Visitors close a page that loads slowly on their phone without waiting.
- **Does the landing page ask for one thing?** What you want the visitor to do (call, message you on WhatsApp, fill in a form, add to cart) should be clear on the first screen.
- **Are there trust signals?** Customer reviews, guarantees, certificates, real photos of your work.
- **Does the page deliver what the ad promises?** Someone who clicks a “boiler repair” ad should land on the page about boiler repair, not the home page.

If you want to show up on Maps, open and complete a free Google Business Profile before advertising. It isn’t an ad, but it also links to your ad account for the Maps visibility I describe below.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Should I get expert help to advertise on Google Ads?

Whoever you work with, be the full owner of the ad account. Open it with your own email address and add the agency or consultant as a user later. That way, if you stop working with someone, the account, its history and the payment details stay with you, and you can easily give access to someone new. This is the most important rule.

Whether you work with an expert is up to you. My advice: do the first setup, the first 5–6 hours, together with an expert. That way you avoid the budget-burning settings from day one. Don’t sign a one-year contract; get a short consultation, then carry on yourself if you like.

### Should I choose a campaign objective when creating a campaign?

I prefer to start a new campaign without an objective; that option is at the end of the screen that lists the objectives. When you choose an objective, Google steers the setup toward it and suggests some settings itself. Starting without one lets you see all six settings above with your own eyes.

### I want my phone number to show on every ad. Is that possible?

It is, but for most businesses it isn’t a good idea. Only the “call-only ad” type in a Search campaign shows the number every time. Responsive search ads, Smart campaigns and [Performance Max](https://oguzerol.com/en/what-is-performance-max/) can also show the number, but you can’t control when.

If you’re a locksmith or a roadside assistance service, customers don’t look at the website; they call right away. A call-only ad can make sense there, and even then it’s debatable. For a dental clinic I wouldn’t recommend it. Everyone wants their number to show, and clicks cost more in these campaigns. A more expensive click means showing up in fewer searches on the same budget.

### Should I apply Google Ads recommendations? Does the optimization score matter?

After you build the campaign, you’ll see Google’s suggestions under Campaigns > Recommendations. They can be accepted with one click, but they aren’t always in your interest. Read them one by one and apply only what makes sense to you. When I check some clients’ accounts 15 days after setting them up, I find irrelevant keywords have been added. The change history shows the client accepted the wrong recommendations and that’s what broke the campaign.

I also don’t recommend turning on auto-applied recommendations. Google Ads representatives may ask you to turn them on. Some are harmless, but keep most of them off.

The optimization score, by Google’s definition ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9061546?hl=en)), is an estimate of how well your account is set to perform. Both applying and dismissing recommendations change the score. So a low score doesn’t mean your campaign is performing badly. Don’t accept recommendations just to raise the score.

### What’s the difference between a keyword and a search term?

You choose the keywords. A search term is what the user types into Google. If a user’s search term triggers one of your keywords, your ad shows. The search terms report shows which searches you actually appeared for; that’s where you find negative keywords.

### How do I choose my keywords?

In your Google Ads account, go to Tools > Planning > Keyword Planner and start by entering a competitor’s website address. Use the ideas it returns for brainstorming.

There’s a rule I always repeat: don’t add a keyword where you think “10% of the people searching this might be interested in me” on the grounds that ten is better than zero. First add the keywords where “90% of the people searching this are interested in me”, as exact match. After the ad has run for 2–3 days, check whether those keywords are enough to spend your budget. If not, you’ve closed the tap too far. Then add new exact-match keywords or switch one to phrase match.

### Can each keyword in a Search ad send people to a different page?

Yes. In the keywords list you can enter a separate address in the Final URL column for each keyword. Whichever keyword the search term triggers, the user goes to that keyword’s address. Keywords you leave blank use the ad’s own address.

### How do you advertise on Google Maps?

Google Ads has no separate “Maps ad” campaign type. Search and Performance Max campaigns can, with the right settings, also promote your business on Google Maps. First create a Google Business Profile and link it to your Google Ads account (next question). Then choose a radius around your business as the campaign location. Keywords that include a place, like “restaurants near me” or “suadiye restaurant”, also help you show for map-related searches.

### How do you link Google Business Profile to Google Ads?

In your Google Ads account, go to Tools > Data Manager > Linked products > Google Business Profile and select your business profile. Then check that the location asset under Assets is on in your active campaigns.

### How do you advertise on Gmail?

Gmail ads aren’t a separate campaign type. According to Google’s help page ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13695777?hl=en)), Demand Gen campaigns run on YouTube, Discover, Gmail, Maps and the Display Network, and you can choose the channels yourself when you set up the campaign. To show on Gmail, you create a Demand Gen campaign and select Gmail as a channel.

### What do I need for Shopping ads?

If your site sells directly, you need a Google Merchant Center account for your products to show on Google Shopping. Link the two accounts so your product data flows from Merchant Center into Google Ads regularly. Make sure this is ready before you launch Shopping ads.

### Should I run a Performance Max campaign?

My advice is to set up a Search campaign first, without exception. Open a Performance Max campaign once the Search campaign has settled, with a budget of at most half of the Search budget.

If you’re a local business there’s another use: running Performance Max within a very narrow radius around your business. That way display and video ads reach potential customers in your immediate area.

### How should I target display ad campaigns?

If you move into display ads, plan two or three campaigns with different goals, not just one.

The first is remarketing: showing ads to people who have visited your site. This needs the Google tag installed on your site. Switch off optimized targeting in the ad group settings, or the ad will also show outside the audience you chose.

The second is a custom segment: you group people who searched for certain things into an audience. You do this under Tools > Shared Library > Audience Manager > Custom Segments.

Finally, choose where your ads appear yourself. Add a list of reputable sites under Placements. That keeps your ads off unrelated children’s and gaming sites.

### How do my business name and logo show in ads?

According to Google’s help page ([as of October 2026](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/12497613?hl=en)), to use business name and logo assets your account needs Search campaign spend in the last 28 days and a completed advertiser verification. The verification page has been renamed “Account”: you start it from Admin > Policy > Account with “Start verification”. If the business name doesn’t exactly match the verified domain or legal name, the asset won’t be approved.

### Can I advertise without setting up conversions?

You can, but I don’t recommend it. A conversion is the action you want from the ad: a purchase, a form, a phone call, a newsletter signup, an app install. Without conversions you lose two things. You can’t see which campaign or keyword brings you business. And automated bid strategies can’t know what to get more of. I explain how to set it up in the conversion tracking article linked in step 4 above.

One warning: counting phone or WhatsApp clicks as conversions in display ads can be misleading. These ads get many accidental clicks. Don’t expect those conversions to be reliable in a display campaign.

### Does how often my ad shows depend only on my budget?

No. How often your ad shows depends on your bid and your ad’s quality as well as your budget. Quality Score is a diagnostic tool that shows that quality through three components: expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Rather than chasing the score itself, improving those three components helps your ads perform better. Details: [what Quality Score is](https://oguzerol.com/en/what-is-quality-score/).

## If you’d like to set it up together

If you like, I can connect to your computer remotely and help with your setup. The smallest work block is 5 hours; setup support usually uses part of it, and the remaining hours stay with you and don’t expire. If it’s already set up, I can use the remaining hours to review your account’s optimization. See the [Google Ads expert](https://oguzerol.com/en/google-ads-expert/) page for the scope of the service.

[Back to top ↑](https://oguzerol.com/en/advertising-on-google/#icerik)

## You may also find these useful

[Google Search Ads | Search Network Campaign ManagementGoogle Search ads: campaign setup, match-type strategy, and bid management. Ad group structure that captures the highest-intent, ready-to-buy searcher.](https://oguzerol.com/en/google-search-ads/)[Keyword Optimisation | Google Ads Keyword ManagementIn Google Ads, cutting the wrong keyword matters as much as picking the right one. Match types, search term analysis and negative keyword discipline.](https://oguzerol.com/en/keyword-optimization/)[Google Shopping Ads | Performance Max ManagementShopping and Performance Max campaigns for your e-commerce store. Product feed, conversion tracking, and ROAS optimization, all in one place.](https://oguzerol.com/en/google-shopping-ads/)

[Browse all articles →](https://oguzerol.com/en/articles/)

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## How do I work?
Work-hour packages

Tell me about your business and what you need on WhatsApp or by phone; we agree on **a work block of somewhere between 5 and 40 hours** and I start doing what is needed. What you get is not a calendar window — it is net working hours spent directly on your business. I can use 40 hours working three days straight, or deliberately spread it out and finish it over a year — whatever the work calls for. I do not spend my time estimating how long something will take, I spend it doing the work; every hour I spend leaves a lasting result in your business. We keep going for as long as you find it useful.

WORK BLOCKS

## Why not monthly?
Is 40 hours a week?

On a fixed monthly fee both sides are watching the wrong thing: you watch a fixed cost, the other side watches how many more contracts like this they can line up. Working by the hour puts us both in front of the same thing — the real value of the work that got done. I know not having an upfront answer to "how much will this cost in total?" is the natural cost of this model. But instead of paying a fixed fee for months to a setup that is not producing results, you only pay for the qualified time spent on your work — and you see exactly where that time went, start to finish. That is why my clients keep coming back.

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