Google Ads can put your business at the top of Google today, for the exact searches your customers type. It can also burn through your budget in a week if it is set up carelessly. This guide covers the basics for South African businesses running their first campaign.
How Google Ads works
You choose the searches you want to appear for and how much you are willing to pay. When someone searches, Google runs an auction among the advertisers who want that search. The winner is not simply the highest bidder: Google also weighs how relevant your ad and landing page are. You pay when someone clicks, not when the ad is shown.
That means a small business with a clear, relevant ad can compete with bigger companies.
Start with the right searches
Think like a customer who is ready to buy, not someone who is just curious.
- Good: "emergency plumber Randburg", "accountant for small business Cape Town", "solar installation quote Durban".
- Too broad: "plumbing", "accounting", "solar".
Use Google's free Keyword Planner to see how often people search for each term and roughly what advertisers pay. Start with a short list of high-intent searches, then add more once you see what works.
Use negative keywords
Negative keywords stop your ad showing for searches you do not want. A paid service might add "free", "jobs", "course" and "DIY". Check the search terms report every week and keep adding to the list. This one habit saves more money than almost anything else.
Target the right places
South Africa is big, and most businesses do not serve all of it. Set your location targeting to the provinces, cities or a radius around the areas you actually cover. In the location settings, choose to target people in or regularly in your areas, rather than people who are only interested in them. Otherwise someone overseas researching Johannesburg can click your ad.
Set a budget you control
You set a daily budget, and Google keeps your monthly spend in line with it. Start with an amount you are comfortable losing while you learn, run it for a few weeks, then judge it on enquiries, not clicks. Billing can be in rand, so you avoid surprise exchange rate swings.
Send clicks to the right page
Do not send every ad to your home page. If the ad is about bathroom renovations in Pretoria, the click should land on a page about bathroom renovations, with the same words, a phone number at the top and a short form. A matching landing page lifts results and can lower what you pay per click.
Track what counts
Clicks are not customers. Set up conversion tracking so Google Ads records the actions that matter: form enquiries, calls from the ad, WhatsApp clicks and bookings. Without it, you are guessing, and Google's automatic bidding has nothing useful to learn from.
Add ad assets
Assets (previously called extensions) make your ad bigger and more useful. Add your phone number, links to key pages, short callouts such as "Same-day quotes" and your service areas. They are free to add and often lift the click rate.
Common mistakes
- Using broad match on every keyword and never checking the search terms.
- Running ads day and night when nobody is there to answer the phone.
- Letting the campaign run for months without looking at it.
- Judging success on clicks instead of enquiries and sales.
- Turning the ads off after a week, before there is enough data to learn from.
Google Ads or SEO?
Ads bring results quickly but stop the moment you stop paying. SEO is slower but keeps working. Most businesses do best with ads for quick wins and SEO for the long run. Our article on SEO versus pay per click covers how to choose.
Want help?
We set up and manage Google Ads campaigns for South African businesses, with conversion tracking, weekly search term checks and plain-English reports. If you already run ads, we can review your account and show you where the money is going.