How to Use Google Ads With a Small Budget

It’s not easy.

And it likely makes sense to wait until you have more budget to allocate to Google ads.

Let’s make that clear right up front.

What’s Considered a Small Budget?

“Small budget” can be subjective but I’d generally say anything under $100/day is a low budget.

With that said though, your category and niche might actually mean that anything under $300 or even $500 a day is a low budget.

It’s going to vary.

But there’s just not a whole lot of categories anymore where anything less than $100/day goes very far.

NOTE: This article and the advice inside are geared towards Search and Shopping. Other ad inventory like Youtube and Display is a completely different animal.

Why Small Budgets are Difficult with Google Ads

The quick and easy answer is competition.

If the keyword makes sense for you to bid on, then it also makes sense for everyone else in your category to bid on it.

The more competition there is, the higher the cost-per-clicks(CPCs).

Let’s say you have $50/day to spend and the average CPC in your category is $3.

That means you’re only getting 16 clicks/day.

That may sound good to you but consider the fact that a large percentage of all your clicks will be a mix of users who just aren’t ready to commit, accidentally clicked and even click farm and bot traffic.

That may sound scary and deter some from using Google ads, but its a reality that comes with using any digital marketing platform. It’s not just Google Ads.

Ramping up a New Google Ads Account

Google Ads relies heavily on machine learning and historical data to optimize campaigns.

When working with a small budget, fewer clicks and conversions occur, which means there’s less data for Google’s algorithms to analyze and optimize performance.

Fewer conversions mean it’s harder for the system to identify patterns, like which times, demographics, or keywords perform best. Without enough data, Google Ads can’t effectively adjust bidding – resulting in poor performance. You can be stuck “spinning your wheels” on small budgets.

Small Budget + Google Ads Best Practices

Alright.

With the warnings out of the way, let’s jump into how to use Google Ads with a small budget.

1) Conversion Tracking

Do NOT launch any campaign until you have confirmed that Google Ads can “see” your main conversion action or actions.

Please.

I cannot tell you how many audits I’ve done where the advertiser isn’t tracking conversions at all or tracking something ridiculous like a page view instead of a purchase or form submit.

2) Use One Single Campaign

Yes. Really. If you have anything less than $100/day, do not try to split that up between multiple campaigns.

It’s just not enough for Google to work with. You’re setting yourself and Google’s algorithm up for failure if you add multiple campaigns that all share the one small budget you have.

• Lead Gen/Service Business: Use the good ole fashioned Google Search campaign type (with Search Partners and Display Expansion turned off)
• Ecommerce: Use the Standard Shopping campaign type (ignore the recommendation to use Performance Max at this stage)
  • If you have hundreds of products in your feed, segment your first campaign out into just your best sellers or highest margin products to begin with. Exclude the rest for now
    

3) Bidding Model

Starting your new campaigns out on Max Clicks to start with has been an ongoing practice for quite some time now.

The theory makes sense.

You don’t have any conversion data yet, so you’re telling Google to bring you as many clicks as it can with the budget you’ve given it.

The problem is that Max Clicks means just that.

A bunch of clicks, regardless of the likelihood of a conversion.

Google’s own internal recommendations (from reps) is gradually shifting towards starting on a Conversion based bidding model immediately.

So Max Conversions instead of Max Clicks.

The next problem is that it’s hit or miss in my experience.

Sometimes the campaign just won’t run on Max Conversions until you change it over to Max Clicks.

So my recommendation is to go ahead and try Max Conversions to start with, but you’ll likely need to switch to Max Clicks.

Be sure to give it a few days. If it’s still not running (and there’s no other obvious errors) after 3 or 4 days, go ahead and switch over to Max Clicks.

The Differences with Shopping at this Stage

You won’t have the option to use a Target Return on Ad Spend(ROAS) bidding model when first starting a new account.

This means you need to start your new Standard Shopping campaign on Manual CPC.

So you’ll be manually setting your bid.

It varies wildly depending on category but typically bids less than a dollar aren’t going to get you very far.

But you can test it! Maybe start at $0.75 and work your way up depending on the quality of search terms and impression share you’re getting

Speaking of search terms…

4) Keywords and Search Terms Reports

It’s an absolute must to choose your keywords correctly and you need to watch your search terms reports like a hawk.

For example, choosing the right keywords as a locksmith might look like: [locksmith near me], “locksmith in my area” or [best locksmiths].

An example of a bad keyword for a locksmith would be adding in a general keyword like [door locks].

Remember, just because a keyword has a bunch of search volume, it doesn’t always mean it makes sense to bid on it.

Think of your ideal customer and how they would search for your service or product.

Put that into Google’s keyword planner for ideas.

You also don’t need hundreds of keywords. Find a good selection of keywords that are the most relevant and start there. Start getting some data in.

Google will scream at you at every turn to use Broad Match keywords.

At this stage of the game, DO NOT USE BROAD MATCH KEYWORDS.

Make sure you’re adding in your keywords as [Exact Match] and “Phrase Match” only.

Even those match types don’t work exactly the way they used to, but going Broad in the beginning without Conversion data will eat your budget up very quickly.

You should also think proactively on potential irrelevant phrases that Google might try and serve your ad for.

Going back to our locksmith example. Maybe you only serve residential and not commercial. Or you don’t service a certain type of lock.

Google loves to match your ads up to competitors in the same space as you. There’s a time and a place to experiment with that, and that time isn’t now.

Make sure those sorts of things are added in as NEGATIVE keywords.

And for those ecommerce advertisers starting up a new Standard Shopping campaign: You need to check your search terms reports every day without fail for a few weeks. As you see irrelevant keywords, add them in as negatives to help Google’s algorithm understand the right searches for your products.

5) Location Targeting

It may sound obvious but another common mistake in Google Ads accounts is serving ads to people who aren’t in your service area.

Make sure you’ve got only the exact locations set and starting with a smaller radius may help your budget go a little further.

You can always expand later.

It’s better to start small.

And be sure to choose the “Presence: People in or regularly in your included locations” option here:

6) Ad Copy and Website

Make sure your ad copy is appealing and matches the theme of your best keywords.

You want the user to have a cohesive experience from searching on Google, to seeing your ad, to landing on your website.

Google is less likely to serve your ad if you’re bidding on keywords that are way off from the ad copy and landing page of your website.

You can take a look at what other advertisers are running for ad copy but keep in mind you also want to stand out.

Think of “outside the box” ideas on what will get searchers to stop and pay attention to your ad.

Your website must be clear, trustworthy and match what you’re bidding on.

And again, don’t launch a campaign until conversion tracking is set up!

7) Hold! Trust the Process

Look.

Starting a new Google Ads account is a painful experience.

There is absolutely no way around the difficult beginning period.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you.

In the beginning, you will absolutely have to spend money while making no money.

But this difficult period is meant to get data in and help Google understand your products and services better.

You do this by having clean, clear conversion tracking and keeping the guardrails up by staying on top of search terms. Make use of those negative keywords.

Everyone understandably wants to know how long it’ll take before their campaigns are working consistently.

There’s just no surefire answer to that. It will always vary. Just too many variables.

With that said though, I’d expect to see at least a conversion during your first month.

I’d recommend having analytics set up too. Something like Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

Keep a close eye on the traffic coming in from your campaign.

Make sure at least some of the traffic is viewing content, multiple pages and staying around for a reasonable amount of time.

If they are and your search terms are looking good:

Hold.

Keep going and trust the process.

Good luck!