Most Google Ads accounts get broken in the first hour. Settings the Google rep helpfully turned on. Defaults that suit Google's revenue more than yours. A budget set with the gut, not the maths. Five fixes get the account onto solid ground before the first impression is bought.
Five settings most SMBs get wrong on day one
- Search Partners turned on : Google's network of low-quality sites. Turn it off. Always.
- Display Network attached to Search : two completely different channels, smushed together. Run them in separate campaigns or not at all.
- "Maximize Clicks" bidding : Google's friend, not yours. Switch to Manual CPC for the first 30 days until you have conversion data.
- Broad-match keywords : will burn your budget on irrelevant searches. Start with phrase and exact match only.
- Location targeting set to "presence or interest" : shows your ads to anyone who's ever searched your suburb. Change to "presence" only.
Conversion tracking — before the first click
If you can't measure a lead, you can't manage the account. Three things must be working before the first ad runs.
- Google Tag : installed sitewide via Tag Manager, firing on every page.
- Conversion actions : phone calls, form submissions, booking confirmations — one per important action.
- Enhanced Conversions : passes hashed customer data back to Google for offline matching. Adds 15–25% accuracy.
We won't switch on a campaign until these are tested and firing. A campaign without tracking is an expense without a return — which is a topic that compounds on the ad spend markup note.
Audience exclusions on day one
Exclude people who already converted (you're paying to re-acquire them). Exclude past customers if your conversion is "new lead". Exclude job-seekers via the in-market audience for "Jobs and Education". The first two are five-minute jobs; the third saves real money on tradie accounts.
A starting budget that respects the maths
The arithmetic is straightforward. Take your cost per click (Google's Keyword Planner gives an estimate), divide your monthly budget by it, and look at the click count. If the maths says you'll get 30 clicks a month, your account won't have enough data to optimise — increase the budget or reduce the keyword set.
For a tradie running Search in one metro, the floor is around $1,500 a month in spend. Below that, the account is too noisy to manage. We'll say so when a budget conversation lands there — we won't take a paid media client whose budget can't generate signal.
The 30-day review agenda
Thirty days in, the first real meeting. Five things on the table.
- Search-term report review : what we paid for vs what we wanted to.
- Conversion data : how many, what they cost.
- Negative keywords added this month : the running list.
- Budget recommendation : up, down, or hold for the next 30.
- One question we can't answer yet : framed for next month.
This is the shape of every monthly report we send. Same five things, every account.
The takeaway
Day one of a Google Ads account is the most important day. Settings locked, tracking proven, budget grounded in maths, exclusions configured. Get this hour right and the next six months get easier. Get it wrong and you're managing damage for as long as the account runs. If you'd rather hand the hour over, that's what the paid media offer is for — and the numbers are published.